Starry, Starry Night

Last night, hubby built a fire out back and we had our dinner under the stars. I baked some chicken and made au gratin potatoes, sweet peas (his favorite, but not mine!) and jalapeno cornbread and it was the prettiest night for stargazing. After we finished eating, we just leaned back in our chairs and watched the skies. We saw several airplanes criss-crossing with their blinking lights and Sid saw the first falling star of the night, streak across the sky. It was behind me and I was so disappointed that I didn't get to see it too. We kept watching though, and visiting, telling each other stories about our day and listening to the crickets chirp and all the other night sounds you hear when you live so far out in the boonies. Then, all of a sudden, we both watched as another falling star streaked across the sky right above us! I squealed with delight and was so excited to see it that I forgot to make a wish!

Later, as we loaded up our dishes to go back inside, we heard the distant howl of a coyote. We hear him often at night and he usually howls three or four times, then a few minutes later you'll hear the whole pack come crying down the hillside. It's such an eerie sound with their yelps and sharp cries echoing down the hill. Sends chills up your spine to hear them and know they are so close.

It sure was a nice night, and I'm so glad it's becoming Fall again so we can enjoy the outdoors like that.

Pilfering Pears

We have two pear trees in our front yard and every year they produce the fattest, juiciest pears ever. To look at the trees, you'd never believe fruit could actually thrive and grow on their scraggly branches. One of the trees actually has a huge hole right in the middle of the trunk, but it still gives out fruit every Fall. We've been told that way back before our house was even built, our land had a pear orchard out back, where the donkey pasture is now. These two trees are the only two survivors of that orchard. All through late August, September and October we're picking up pears by the wheelbarrow full and carting them back to the donkeys. Neighbors have been known to come by on their horses on weekends and stop to pick up a couple to snack on during the ride, and we have one lady that comes every year with her husband to pick as many as they can for her famous pear preserves. We bought a special tool that has a basket on a long stick for people to use to pick the high branches, and we store it in the tree with the hole in the trunk, so anyone passing by can use it.

This year, it seems our pear crop might be in danger of surviving the October harvest! I've been noticing we have an abundance of critters pilfering our crop before its even fully ripened. In one weekend alone, I witnessed two squirrels perched high on a branch, both munching away at pears. They pluck them from the tree and sit there gobbling away. I also watched a red-headed woodpecker, pecking away at several pears, squawking loudly while he ate. I've seen deer come into the yard late in the evening, nibbling the pears that had fallen into the yard, and I sat and watched the fattest little groundhog you ever saw, stand on his haunches in the middle of the yard and eat two pears, core and all, and then waddle back into the culvert of our ditch, where he currently lives. Last night three big, black crows came caw-cawing into the trees and I watched one of them knock a pear from the tree and then fly down and spear it with his beak and carry it across the yard. He stopped every few feet and proceeded to peck away at the pear, then speared it again and carried it further across the road. At this rate, we might not have any pears left for that annual batch of pear preserves that sweet little couple makes down the road!

It's fun to see all the joy our two forlorn pear trees are giving all the neighbors though, including the furry and fine-feathered ones! Maybe that's why these two pear trees have hung on so long all these years. The attention keeps them going. I hope and pray they continue to weather the Spring storms, so they can keep us entertained for years to come!

Terrible Tubby! Horrible Hubby!

I have this routine most weekday mornings. A half hour before my alarm goes off, I somehow wake myself up and trudge into the bathroom to turn on my hot rollers for my hair. Then I trudge back to bed and crawl back under the covers until the alarm goes off. I turn it off and usually lay there another 15 minutes. By this time, Tubby has parked himself on my side of the bed and is staring me down because he's ready to go outside and do his business.

I get up, let him out the front door, then proceed to putter around in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, taking my vitamins, putting my hair up in rollers and getting my clothes ready for the day. This takes about 15 minutes, which is usually plenty of time for Tubs to get done sniffing all the tree trunks and peeing on all my plants and flowers. Normally, by the time I get my curlers in my hair, he's sitting on the front porch waiting to come back in, however this morning that wasn't the case!

I stepped out onto the porch and called his name but he was nowhere in sight. I went to the back door and called him, but no Tubby. All three donkeys started yelling to be fed, but I didn't have time for them right now! I had to find my silly dog! Exasperated, I put on my slippers and went back out the front door to try and find him. I walked around the entire house and yard, calling his name (in my pajamas and hair rollers, mind you!) but couldn't find him. Where in the world had he gone? I walked down the fence line toward the back pasture, no Tubby. I looked over toward the neighbor's garden, no Tubby. By the barn across the street, no Tubby. I stood in the middle of the yard, panicked now that someone had driven by and lured him into their car. I was just getting ready to go inside to wake up Hubby and tell him Tubby was gone, when there the little brat was, way over in the neighbor's front yard, staring me down like nothing was amiss. Boy that dog makes me mad sometimes! I called him to me and he took his own sweet lumbering time doe-dee-doeing back over into our yard and up the porch steps. I was so mad my hands were shaking and I was seeing red! I scolded him and told him to get in his crate, but of course he had other plans and proceeded to run through the bathroom and into the bedroom where his Daddy was still sleeping.

I had to go in after him and literally drag his 80 pounds of furry stubbornness out of the room and into his crate. Bratty brat! What a way to start the day! My blood was boiling! Luckily, all the commotion hasn't awakened his sleeping Daddy and I was able to continue to get ready for work. I finished getting my clothes ready and put my make-up on, then stepped out of the bathroom and there was Tubby, laying outside the bathroom door waiting for me! "How in the world did you get out of your crate?" I grabbed him by the collar and proceeded to drag him back in. "No! No! Bad boy!" I must not have latched the door right the first time.

I got dressed and went back into the bathroom to take my curlers out and brush through my hair, spritzed on some perfume and walked back out and there he was again, sitting in the doorway of the living room! Good flippin' grief! How did he get out again? I grabbed him again and this time he extended both of his front legs ram-rod straight right out in front of him and dug his nails into the carpet. He did NOT want to go back to his crate. But back in his crate he eventually went, and this time I made double sure the latch was closed right on the door, all the while wondering in the back of my mind if maybe we had some sort of magic Houdini Dog or a playful ghost!

I was just getting ready to go back into the bedroom to kiss Hubby goodbye when the bedroom door opened and there was Sid standing there with mischief twinkling in his eyes and holding back a terrible case of the giggles. HE WAS THE CULPRIT! That ding-dong husband of mine had been pretending to be asleep when all the while he was sneaking back and forth from one side of the house to the other, letting Tubby out of his crate! And here I was, scolding poor Tubby! That dog was probably so confused. "What the heck? Mom puts me in my crate and Dad lets me out. What's up with that?" I chased Sid through the bedroom and into the bathroom where I could hear him laughing hysterically about what he had done. These boys of mine are giving me gray hair! Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!