Bunnies in the Garden

I love living out in the country.  It's so peaceful and pretty out here and there's always something new to see.  Every morning on my way to work, or even on the drive back home, I get to see so many neat things that I wouldn't get to see if we lived in town.  This morning I saw a cute little turtle crossing the road with his neck all stretched out in front of him like he was straining with all his might to pull himself across the road.  I saw two newborn baby calves standing by a fence and when I pulled up close to them, they both jumped and ran around kicking up their legs.  I saw some squirrels chasing each other around the base of a tree, some deer eating their breakfast in a pretty green field and a whole family of yellow baby ducks in some one's front yard, pecking in the grass with a bunch of chickens like they all belonged together.  The blackberry bushes are already blooming and you can see them everywhere all along fence rows and clumped together in the middle of farmer's pastures.  Everything is so pretty and green and lush.  The ivy is covering the front of the big red barn across the street and flowers are blooming everywhere.

Last night, I was cleaning the kitchen and while standing at the sink, I looked out the window and saw three bunnies running all around in the yard.  They were just running all around like they were chasing each other, hopping under the trees, through the bushes, across the road and back again, through my bed of irises and back underneath the trees again.  I never saw such active bunnies and it was so cute.  I went to get my camera so I could get a picture and then I thought I glimpsed the neighbor girl outside, so I thought to myself, "Oh, Belle would just love to see those bunnies!"  I looked closer to see if she was watching them, but she had her back to them and was standing there with her fingers in her ears.  I thought this was weird, so I looked closer and saw her Daddy was crouching behind a tree and he had a GUN and was SHOOTING THE BUNNIES!!!!!  No wonder they were running all around willy nilly through the yard!  They were running for their lives!

I ran out the back door and yelled at a grown man as if I was scolding a two-year old boy!  "No! No!" I yelled, shaking my finger and stomping my foot.  "You're bad!" I yelled.  The neighbor man looked over at me with a sheepish grin on his red face and said, "I'm sorry Miss Toni, but the rabbits are eating my garden."  (They moved here from Florida, so maybe they aren't accustomed to country living and this is his first garden.)  I asked him please not to shoot my bunnies, and I told him they lived under my barn and I feed them carrots and lettuce in the evenings.  They are like my very own, even though I know they are wild.  While we were talking, one of the poor little bunnies came running right up to me and came within about two or three feet like he was coming to me for help.  He was shaking like a leaf and I could see his ear was all bloody where the man had shot him.  Poor little sweetie.  I crouched down and called him to me and he stood there looking at me, then scampered off under the barn.  I told the neighbor I'd go inside and look on the computer to find out what he could do to keep the rabbits out of his garden.

I went inside and googled "rabbits in the garden" and found a site that said if you sprinkled black pepper or chili powder around newly planted veggies, the rabbits wouldn't come near them.  It also mentioned bone meal, or blood meal, and putting up chicken wire.  I went back outside and told the neighbor so hopefully he'll try one of these remedies instead of shooting my poor little bunnies!  The last thing I want to see when I look outside my kitchen window is dead bunnies in my yard!

So much for a peaceful existence in the country!  Now my neighbor probably thinks I'm a nut and I feel like a fool for yelling at him.  Maybe I'll stop at the store tonight and buy him a big can of pepper and some chicken wire and take it over as a peace offering.  I guess it couldn't hurt, and maybe my bunnies will be spared.

TV Time with Tubby

Last night there was absolutely NOTHING on tv but repeats.  I can't believe we have over 200 channels and I couldn't find anything worth watching.  I finally settled on Little House on the Prairie and actually found it to be an episode I don't remember ever seeing as a kid.  It was one of the later shows with Albert, the adopted son, and a more grown-up version of Laura.  They had dressed up as Indians for a Halloween party at mean old Nellie Olson's house, but before they left, Ma made them take a nap since they would be up so much later than usual.

As Laura lay sleeping, Albert was reading a book called Massacre at Stony Pass.  As he went through the story, which apparently was about Indians, he fell asleep and proceeded to "dream" the episode.  The comical dream-episode showed he and Laura walking to the party and being mistaken for young Indian braves and captured by another tribe.  There were wild chases on horseback, Indian war cries and whoops and hollers, brightly colored headdresses and faces with warpaint and crazy scenes where the US Cavalry sends in the Blue Coats to save the day, horns trumpeting and gunfire galore.  Quite the entertaining episode, but much more so because Tubby, our sweet, floppy-faced bulldog, was sitting on my lap the whole time watching the screen intently and "woofing" all throughout!

He was absolutely enthralled with those brightly colored Indians and whenever they let out a howl or screamed like banshees, he about fell out of the chair.  His eyes were glued to the screen and his ears kept moving back and forth as he listened to all the different voices and noises.  When the horses were on the screen he sat up straighter and actually shook with anticipation.  He loves horses!  If it hadn't been so dark in our living room at the time, I would have tried to take a video.  I did manage to take a picture, but when the camera went off, Tubby jumped a foot and I started giggling uncontrollably.  Poor old Tubs probably thought one of those wild Indians had snuck up behind him with a hatchet.

He settled right back down though, and finished watching the show.  When all the fun had ended and the show was over (Albert woke up and he and Laura were home safe and sound), Tubs laid his head down on my feet and started snoring away.  I guess all that commotion tuckered the little guy out.

Hot Tamales!

Hubby's Mama paid us a nice long visit earlier this month and boy did we ever have fun!  All we did was cook and shop the entire time she was here.  The first day she was here, we made about four dozen flour tortillas.  I never make a batch that big and it seems like we stood in that kitchen for hours!  She never used measuring cups or spoons, just throws it all in a big bowl and somehow it turns out perfectly.  I, on the other hand, have a little recipe card tucked away in a wooden box and follow the instructions line for line and my tortillas never seem to turn out as good as hers.  Her mounds of dough, which she kneads in her hands one by one, are perfectly formed and ready to roll.  When she rolls them out, they all become precise circles of identical sizes, whereas mine are all jagged around the edges and tend to lean more toward the shapes of the states than round like they're meant to be. 

The next day, Hubby had a friend over and she cooked a crock pot of beans, a big pot of rice and made some carne asada with some of the venison we had from his last hunting spree.  The boys filled their plates and feasted!  Later that night, Mama put two big pork roasts to boiling on the stove and for four hours they cooked until the meat was falling off the bone.  We cooled the pot in a sink of cold water and after the meat had cooled enough, she pulled the meat apart with her fingers and set it aside in a big bowl for our cooking tasks the following day.

The next morning around 10:00, we decided to tackle the tamales.  Mama had mailed us her big, huge tamale pot and tortilla press ahead of time, knowing I wouldn't have those in my tiny little kitchen.  We set up a card table and some garden benches in the middle of the kitchen floor and she put the pulled pork to simmer in a skillet with spices.  We soaked the corn husks in a sink of water so they would become soft and pliable, and Mama started on the masa dough.  Again, here she goes with no measuring cups or spoons.  She just dumped the whole bag of masa into a bowl and started adding warm chicken broth and lard until it was the perfect consistency.  She kneaded the dough with her hands and had masa meal up to her elbows!  Once the masa was done, we took the corn husks out of the sink and she plopped a gob of dough into each husk and spread it out evenly with her fingertips.  My job was to fill the husks with meat and roll them up tightly, tucking the end of the husk underneath to form a perfect tamale.  We sat there for hours filling one after another until we had eight and a half dozen tamales all stacked up on trays.  By 2:00 we were ready to put them into the pot.

Our neighbor had loaned us his outdoor turkey fryer and we used the propane burner to cook our tamales out in the backyard.  We managed to squeeze every single tamale into that big pot with barely an inch to spare, and we put it on the burner to steam.  In a couple hours, our backyard smelled heavenly!  We cooked them back there until about dark and then they were done.  Yum!

The next night, after a day of shopping in town, we made chicken enchiladas and had leftover rice and beans and fresh guacamole.  I'd never eaten so much Mexican food in one single week!  I must have gained 10 pounds in the 11 days she was here, but boy was it ever worth it!

The day after I tearfully took her to the airport for her trip back home, I felt like a zombie.  I was exhausted and lonely and didn't know what to do with myself in that quiet house without her.  It was such a whirlwind of activity for the past two weeks and all of a sudden I felt like I'd hit a brick wall.  Her bedroom was all made up as though she'd never been there, and even Tubby was walking room to room wondering where his Nana had gone.  The only sign that she'd been there was the freezer full of tamales, a few tortillas left on the kitchen counter and a heart full of memories we'd shared while she was here.  Thank you Mama, for everything!  We love you and miss you!

Oh no. . . . .

the Starlings are back! I know I should be grateful for all God's creatures, but there are a few I could just as well do without. For starters, snakes and spiders and most everything creepy-crawly. I don't mind fireflies and fuzzy caterpillars, but all the other bugs and slithery creatures give me the eebie jeebies.
As for birds, I'm usually a lover of all things feathered. I have several feeders all throughout my yard and bird houses nailed to posts and hanging in the trees. I love watching my birds, with the exception of Buzzards, loud-mouthed Crows and pesky Starlings!
Did you know a Buzzard's natural defense against predators is to throw up all over them? Totally gross! If you were to stand underneath a tree where a Buzzard was perched and he thought of you as a threat, he would regurgitate his roadkill breakfast all down upon you. Ick. And why in the world do Crows think they have to caw all the time, day or night? Do they really think what they have to say is so important? Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw! If I had a b-b gun, I'd give them something to caw about!
This morning as I stood at the kitchen sink, looking out the window, I noticed a grouping of Starlings were already out at my feeders bothering my other birds. It's a little early for them, but I guess our lack of Winter has brought them out for an early Spring. I watched as about six or seven of them wreaked havoc on my feeders near the Bluebird house. In fact, one of the spotted nuisances actually entered the Bluebird house and started tearing the nest apart. Hopefully there weren't any Bluebirds in residence already. The Starling was grabbing beak fulls of nest and throwing it out of the house. Bratty brat!
As the other Starlings all descended on the bird feeders, scattering seed everywhere with their greediness, my other birds were having a nervous fit. Two Turtle Doves were pacing back and forth anxiously on the wire above the boxes and my favorite Woodpecker was squawking down to them from high up the hack berry tree.
The Starlings are just awful nuisances! They are messy and mean and make the most irritating warbling sound constantly. They get up in the gutters early in the mornings and make the most awful racket, searching for bugs and worms and who knows what else. And there's never just one Starling, they always travel in great big flocks. I wish there was some way to get rid of them!
If anyone has any ideas on how I can rid my yard of these sorry Starlings, please let me know. I have a feeling it's going to be a long and loud Spring!

XOXO

Today is a day of love. Years of memories past and hope for many more to come. Love songs running through my head, one by one, each with a special meaning, tied to a special moment. My heart bursts with love for you, forever and always, My Special Valentine.

Old Man Winter Retires

I think Old Man Winter has given up on us here in Tennessee this year. He's either gone into early retirement, or he's too busy bringing all that snow and Winter weather to all those poor folks in Alaska to worry with us. I for one am sorry to see that he's apparently looked us over. Here we are at the first of February already and we've only had two single days of snow. Those two days shouldn't really count because if you'd have blinked, you'd have missed the snow anyway! He barely gave us a dusting and it was gone in mere hours.

This morning on my way into work, I spotted clumps of daffodils already peeking their golden heads out in neighboring yards. I saw all the Canadian honkers on Tim McGraw's pond were already back too, which means we'll probably see some downy-headed goslings earlier than usual this year. My pansies are still blooming in my pots on the porch and haven't stopped since last Summer! I've never held onto them that long into another season. Our grass is still green and my donkeys haven't grown nearly as furry coats as they have in Winter's past. With all this warm rain we've been having, I wouldn't be surprised to see the early frogs and turtles playing in the mud puddles on the sides of the roads!

It's just not right! We should be having frost sparkling on the grass in the mornings and icicles hanging from the eaves. I want snow carpeting my yard and capping all the fence posts. Our dog Tubby just loves rolling around and dragging his belly across the snow. He'd stay out there and play for hours if we'd let him, but this year all we've had is one brief day with enough snow for him to get excited about, and later that same day it was all melted away.

Come on Old Man Winter! Please grace us with your arctic presence and bless us with some snowy white wonder. Puff up those billowy cheeks of yours and blow some glacial winds our way! Turn this rain into big, fluffy, magical snowflakes falling down all around us so we can put on our warm coats, hats and fuzzy scarves and gloves and enjoy all that Winter is supposed to be!

Happy Birthday Pretty Girl!

This past weekend, Hubby and I attended a surprise birthday party for a special lady's 80th birthday. Both sets of our own Grandma's have passed on, so a few years ago, we adopted this sweet lady near our home, as our very own Tennessee Grandma. Her name is Everna, but we call her Gran-E (Granny) and just love her to pieces. Sid spoils her like crazy and teases her mercilessly whenever he sees her. She's feisty and teases him right back. She's always got a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye and you always get at least a half dozen hugs every time we see her.

Granny has four sons and a daughter, who threw the lavish party for her. The party was held uptown in a building that was once an old grade school, but now is our community's rec center. It's also the place where Granny works part-time and where we first met her. Her children had the hall decked out when we arrived. There was a banquet hall filled with beautifully decorated tables. There was a huge table at the entry that was overflowing with gifts and next to the table stood a life-size cardboard cutout of Granny in her younger years that everyone was able to sign. They had a table filled with wonderful foods and desserts and another table with a grand, multi-tiered cake with fondant icing and chocolate covered strawberries draped on each layer. It was so pretty! There was a television set up in the back that played a DVD they had made of photos from when Granny was a young girl growing up, and all through the years with her siblings, then her husband, children and ultimately their children too. So many beautiful photos and in every one you could always pick out Granny from her beautiful smile. There were hundreds of happy photos and in all of them you could see what a full and wonderfully happy life of love Granny has led.

Granny's beautiful granddaughter Tara, who is the spitting image of Granny, by the way, was supposedly taking Granny to the Grand Ole Opry for a special treat, so Granny got all dressed up and was on her way when Tara asked if they could please stop off at the rec center so she could use the restroom real quick. Of course when they arrived, we were all waiting quietly in the darkened banquet hall and when they stepped in the door, we flipped on the lights and everyone yelled "Surprise!" You should have seen the look of shock on Granny's sweet face! It was priceless. She just kept looking all around at all the people and waving her arms. We all clapped and hollered and sang Happy Birthday as she went through the room and hugged every single person there. It was so cute. Once all the hugging was done, dinner was served and the Birthday girl was seated in her place of honor at the family table and donned with a sparkly tiara and a pink feather boa. She looked beautiful and was the well-deserved center of attention!

After dinner, Granny's one and only daughter, Linda, took Granny by the hand and led her out of the banquet hall and asked that everyone please follow them into the gymnasium. The gym was all set up with rows and rows of chairs and the stage was set for a concert of Bluegrass, which is Granny's favorite. Our own little Grand Ole Opry in Leiper's Fork! The family had hired a couple of bluegrass singers from Georgia by the name of The Buzzard Mountain Boys and they were fantastic! They played guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin and sang all kinds of funny, sweet, sad and sometimes familiar songs. In between songs, they told jokes and funny stories and kept us all laughing. Granny sat in the front row and was tapping her toes and dancing in her seat the whole time. During one song, one of her great-granddaughters, who couldn't have been more than five or six years old, asked Granny to dance, so the two of them took to the dance floor and held hands, dancing a little jig. It was so adorable. Both of them were grinning ear to ear.

When it came time to cut the cake, the family posed for more pictures. What a beautiful family they made as all four handsome sons and the one beautiful daughter surrounded a beaming Granny. Then once the bulbs stopped flashing and we all thought they were done, Linda calls out for another photo but they were missing one of the sons. I was confused at first, because I saw that all four sons were standing there, but Linda kept saying they were missing a son and pretty soon she called Sid up to the table. He was the fifth son! Sid was so touched by them honoring him as Granny's fifth son and he posed next to her and hugged her to him and whispered in her ear. What a memorable honor for him.

The cake was cut and served and oh was it ever yummy! More music with the Buzzard Mountain Boys followed cake and the party went on and on. I know Granny was just tickled pink with all the love that surrounded her that special night. It was the most beautiful party and we were so lucky to have been invited to share the memories. We love you Gran-E!