winter shelter

[picklespickles]

okay. she just woke me up, but ifd has finally learned to bark to keep other dogs off property. yeah. earning her keep!

 

[picklespickles]

that wind has turned really cold here today. change of weather definitely. bites through my clothes.

made ifd a collar today. she seems to really like it. had given up on them before as she always got them off. braided one today from hay baling string and it seems like it may last for at least an hour or two.

cut open a walmart brand dog food bad today. it was a nice plastic material that seems like it is strong as a tarp basically. so now i have a small maybe two by three tarp. maybe i'll ask my neighbors to save their bags. i think most use the same brand. with some duc tape it could be go either for patching tarp over billy goat housing or for putting up against fence as windbreak somewhere else if needed.

still need to de poop porch. i don't see any hands raised out there.

it's like i dont want to do a good job depooping it till i have the time to fully keep the animals off it. so taht is a cycle, of course.

maybe i'll look today for some chicken wire (just needs to keep them out not anything else in) or something in the shed.

i did pick up some spare peices of marble after construction that i'm using to build a floor under my woodstove. that will be nice when i'ts finished, i believe.

 

[picklespickles]

it is freezing here. i mean it is usually freezing here but now it is freezing. maybe five degrees?

the village next to me shows twenty degrees. it is ten less once you go up my mesa. and then we are at the very end by the mountains. i live in about a five block area that will keep snow once it is gone everyhwere else.

so i'm guessing five. i don't know. colder. gee. cooooooooold.

i went outside when it was turning dark to check and see if billygoat hilton needed any patches caues they had predicted snow. (none though.) he was such a pain in the butt. if i thought billy goat soup would taste better......

i did readjust the tarp some. but then his shenanigans made it get off again. so he wounnd up with better than it had been but not how i wanted. but it was cold and i couldnt' breathe good so i went in.

tonight i am contemplating what you can do with wood ash. (dye a billgoat? he is the black sheep.) no good for soil amendment here as it's already alkaline. in fact. in the garden i want to make for next year, if i do it where i want i need to make it raised bed as the people before dumped wood stove ashes there and in those areas none of my seeds grew even one bit. not one. so i guess as an herbicide it will work great. lol.

funny that i can touch billygoat and he is warm even on days like today. i'm thinking the furry thing he has going on really works for him. not just for looks, i guess.

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

Just read this thread. Fantastic writing! Love your style. Amazing mental image. And at the risk of being unpopular, IFD sounds like a keeper.. and quite a bright creature. Love the goat stuff, too. Dh has a moratorium on them right now.. but in the future..

My Dad lived in Hachita for 5 years or so.. crazy difference between NM and Maine.. but it's funny, some things are universal (the cold.. and the endless chores)

Just wanted to ask if you had thought about selling your writing? You have a gift for it!


Meghan

 

[picklespickles]

you are very sweet.

i do make a little money from writing. not much. but every little bit helps.

i must think ifd is a keeper somewhere deep down inside or else she would not still be here. actually i think that is part of the problem, tttttttttooooooooooo smart.

i don't know much about maine. just that hawkeye on mash was from there. not that i'm geographically illiterate or anything.

 

[picklespickles]

just this actual moment ifd finally learned to play ball. (she will go after stick or ball or whatever but then touch it with her nose and then run off like i did it.) but just now she found this turtle toy i'd bought her a long time ago and had given up trying to introduce her to the concept of toys. i heard this noise and looked over and she was tossing it around, dropping it and playing with it. i picked it up tossed it and she brought it back. yeah. so we played for a while. now she is back to herself and chewing on an old creamer carton very contentedly.

 

[picklespickles]

the news said some places in the north here up in the mountains it's been tweny five below at night. eeeeeek. eek. ee. k.

it's not dark yet and the water i put out earlier is already frozen over again. not solid down four inches but large chunks though.

i fed the chickens extra today, the goats and everybody else too. the dog left extras and so did the chickens for a little while. then they came back and finished it off. my freezing little darlins.

i was going to let the cat stay in last night but she kept going after my pork even though she had a full bowl of her own food. i put her out once then let her back in out of sympathy. but she did it again. so out with the cat. common sense won out along with allergies. she can go sleep in the hay or gee, in the cat house i made her at the start of winter. large plastic box on it's side, blanket over top plus faced toward wall so no breeze. then blanket inside plus old dog bed. so, um, yeah. she's fine.

she's meowing just now at the door. she can tell i'm typing about her.

 

[seminolewind]

Very nice story. You are a good writer, thankyou for sharing, looking forward to more

 

[65browneyes]

"Little Ranch on the Mesa"

I just read this thread start to finish and feel like I've watched the Ingall's girls' games or even Festus' stubborn mule. Wonderful read, pickle!! I can hardly wait for the next installment!

As for the cold, I'm in central Arizona and the last couple days have been very cold (although not cold to some of you folks). I despise being cold! That's why I live in Arizona! LOL

 

[picklespickles]

you guys are really wonderful. i have been working on some other pieces about this place and this neighborhood and such. i have been liking my little posts here too, secretly, and been wondering how i can meld them in with my other work. i think it sort of has potential for fitting together.

thank you for helping me belive that they though they are somewhat journally there is still art there and approrpriate to share with others.

you all have all given me a present you will never really understand. thanks.