A Prairie Morn

Sunrise is slow and easy on the prairie,

with only a few morning sounds for accompaniment.

A farmer's dog barking,

the crickets finishing their night-time soliloquy,

the morning birds chirping, at work on their breakfast.

 There are always deer to be found (see their heads?)

Leave it to me to frighten them,

so that they distance themselves from my camera lens.

For some really awesome wildlife photography,

check out my friend Misty's portfolio.

Or her blog.

Misty knows how to sneak up on wildlife!

(Or else she's got a lens a foot long.)

 Barack and Fluff are always with me.

They are most definitely "morning" cats.

Fluff, on alert, as usual.

Today is a Wichita morning.

We need some supplies from the big city.

What's on your weekend plate of "to-do"?

Wednesday Country Cute

I promise to delight every Wednesday with

brand-spankin'-new FRESH country photos.

Might be animals (like today), 
a landscape, a sunrise or a sunset.

Pure country livin' entertainment.

Naked Lady lilies, cut down in their prime during a storm last night

Barack finds a dry island in the morning's dewy grass

Fluff finds her own spot and sniffs the country air

Hottest Summer Ever Marches Forward...

Has it really been a month since I posted last?  I continue to set new "blog absence" milestones.  *sigh*

Our hot, hot summer continues with temps over 100 every.single.day.  I've given up looking at the 10 day forecast.  Each day forward I am only rewarded with the sight of yet another 100-degree day at the end of our 10-day forecast.  Suffice it to say, I am looking forward to autumn very, very much!!

The garden is doing fairly good, in spite of the high temps.  We set up a soaker hose amongst the corn and the cantaloupe plant.  Yes, the cantaloupe plant that we had given up for dead has bounced back with a vengeance.  There are at least 5 good size cantaloupes ripening and we're expecting our first juicy harvest by next week perhaps?

The two spearmint plants that were, for all intents, dead, have also put forth new leaves from their roots.  The four roma tomato plants are bushing out and beginning to get buds, although I think the heat is really sapping their energy to produce fruit.  We also have a row of pumpkins and a good row of pickling cucumbers, which have begun to produce small cucumbers.  Not enough to can yet though.


The guinea eggs are incubating, and due to hatch sometime this week.  Time to get the brooder back out! I put 13 eggs in the brooder initially, and through candling, removed two that didn't appear to be fertile.  Out of the 11 that are left, I still have doubts about one egg, so that would leave 10 good eggs.  This week should provide the answer, and I anxiously await!

The chickens and the guineas are surviving the heat, although they walk around panting most of the day.  Some days we replenish their water twice, just to ensure it's cool enough for them.  We've set up two fans in the coop trying to keep the air cool and circulating.  That's Nater below, our one pearl guinea, telling us she's not happy with something - it seems they are always squawking their disapproval over something!

The original clutch of guinea eggs under our north tree break is still there - one of the guinea hens has added one new egg to it this week.  But we haven't seen any of the hens sit on the nest in over a week, so I'm presuming they won't hatch out.

The pond has pretty much dried up.  We have a puddle there this morning, but only because we got some pretty heavy showers last night.  In the past month, we have been very fortunate to have two days where we've received pretty heavy downpours, which really help to green everything up, if only for a short while.  I know the horses really love the pasture after these rains.  We've been refilling their stock tanks with water every 2 days or so; in a "normal" summer, we probably refill them every 3-4 days.

This will certainly go down as a scorcher of a summer!

I am really looking forward to autumn (did I say that already?!) and getting our fall garden planted.  It was so enjoyable to work with my spinach last fall, when the temps were mild.  With the row cover, the spinach did great well into early December.   This fall, I've already got my seed supply ready -- carrot, radishes, lettuce and spinach, and perhaps some green onion too.  Only a few more weeks to go and I can start planting!  Yippee!!

I'll bid adieu with an early morning photo that makes our greenhouse look alive with light.  I'm also looking forward to utilizing this little greenhouse more over the winter and definitely next spring!

P.S. One more photo I almost forgot about .... CiCi and Baybee have finally worked out their differences.  They are now sharing the air-conditioned guest bedroom!  :-)

Summer, Already?!

95 degrees today with a stiff 25 -30 mph south wind.  Ouch.  

I cleaned and refreshed everyone's water today -- the horses, the chickens, the guineas..... gave them all fresh, clear, cool water.  I noticed a few of the guineas panting today.  Poor things.

Where has spring gone?  It's only May 8th and we're having record heat.  Tomorrow is supposed to hit 100 degrees!  These are July and August temps here in south central Kansas, not May temps!  There's barely been any spring showers, and so our pond is shrinking rapidly.

The little silt pond (below) shriveled up and disappeared a month ago...

In spite of the heat, the chickens are growing big fast... I'm not entirely sure yet, but I'm afraid one or two of my "pullets" might be roosters in disguise.  A few more weeks should tell.  Especially one of my Rhode Island Reds -- definitely looking like a rooster!  If we end up with 2 or 3 roosters amongst our 8 total chickens, well, you know what that means.  One out of 3 will stay, and that will be the rooster with the best attitude.

 Rhode Island Red by feeder that suspiciously looks like rooster.

 My one Ameraucana in back by the waterer,

with pretty copper and blue-gray feathers.

This would be Sally, a buff orpington who is

my friendliest and most curious chicken.

The hubster has been busy, busy, busy these past few months.  With the arrival of our 8 chickens on April 1st, he quickly got to work building a divider in the chicken coop.  They were moved from their brooder to the coop last weekend, and they've adapted well.  We opened their outside door today to the small fenced run, but they chose to stay inside.  I'm sure the 30 mph winds had something to do with their decision.

He has also installed our new front doors, both the inside door and a new screen door.  We're not done with trim yet (obviously), but boy oh boy do these doors make a huge difference.  Now we can leave the door to the front porch open!

This is the old screen door (above) -- the bottom portion was duct-taped and would flap noisily in the wind.  Poor Trixie Lou was afraid of it.  This door is destined for the junk pile. ( I should have taken a picture of the old doors in place.)

Hubby has also put up an economy greenhouse for me near our gardens.  I'm hoping to utilize it more this fall and next spring.  If the cover doesn't hold up to our Kansas winds, well, at least we have a footprint to build a more sturdy greenhouse in the future.

Small garden from last year in front,

newer and larger garden close to greenhouse, and

new "boxes" to hold manure compost to the left of gardens.

Graveled interior with pavers.

Shelves to be added on either side of pavers.

My Grosso and Provence lavender plants,

soon to be planted in the garden.

Hubby is currently working on a stone border around the front porch -- clematis will be planted at this corner to grow up the lattice.

A quick side note:  A big thank you to Laura of A Simple Happy Life for the maple syrup that I won in her contest .... only one person was supposed to win, but she decided to draw a second name and I was the lucky winner!  So Tom and I got to sample her fresh, homemade maple syrup.  I didn't realize how much I missed the real thing -- ever since I moved here to Kansas, it's been just too expensive to buy real maple syrup.  THANK YOU Laura for sending this most delicious treat to us!

 And finally....

.... CiCi wanted to say "hi" to everyone.... although she's a bit miffed at us right now.  You see, we finally took her to the vet on Thursday to be "fixed", so she's been taking it easy this weekend.  She's been confined to our bedroom, and banned from the bathroom where she enjoys jumping high up to the window.

Here's hoping that everyone is enjoying their spring.... I think the rest of the nation IS having spring, just not us.  :-(

The Not-So-Purty Side of Nature

We rarely see cardinals in our neck of the woods. But in the last few weeks, hubby and I had noticed a strikingly beautiful cardinal hanging out around our house and near our tree break.

I found this today.

And this.

 Fluff.  Suspect Number One.

 Barack. Suspect Number Two. 

I've told him repeatedly, NO BIRDS, only rats and mice.  But he is full of cat-titude and has refused to abide by my rules.  We are sad that our cardinal is gone and quite possibly endured a heinous kitteh-style death.

Ringo sez he didn't see anything while we were gone this afternoon.

Hmmmmm ...

looks like he just woke up to me.

Crisp Autumn Morning

Colors aren't as vibrant in Kansas as they are in New England,
but we're getting there.

Fluff loves the cool mornings!

Our *Updated* Menagerie

I'm asked from time to time how many horses we have, what kinds of dogs, and what about the cats? So here's the current stats on our animal roster, updated July 2011.

Our Horses

Close to 27 years old, Murphy is the most senior member of the herd. He's a registered quarter horse, and true to his breed, pretty darn laid-back. I think he's lookin' pretty good for 27 - Purina Equine Senior food sure helps keep him in good horse shape!


At only 11 years old, Stormy girl is just a kid. Don't let her burst of energy here fool anyone - she loves her food and would rather be a pasture ornament than work too hard burnin' calories. This was her first day in the big pasture, early spring 2009. She's just showing off her quarter horse style.


Paint horse = king of the herd. It wasn't always that way - Murphy was the reigning king until we added Stormy, and then with the 2009 let-out to pasture, the herd dynamics changed. Adding the mare had something to do with it, we're sure, and even though Murphy and paint horse are both geldings, well, they're still guys at heart. Paint horse is 11 years old, and only green broke. We hope to finish him.  Someday.

Our Dogs

Ringo is the ranch dog, although he has managed to squeeze his way through the screen door on numerous occasions, especially when it's too hot or too cold outside. He's a chocolate labrador, close to 8 years old, and has honed his mouse and rat killing skills better than the cats. Oh, and the occasional opossum who tries to steal his food.

Update:  Ringo is no longer the ranch dog. 

He absconded guard duties to the guineas. 

He is now a low-ranking house dog.

Tori Mae, my blue merle australian shepherd rescue, was adopted from Heartland Aussie Rescue just north of Columbus, Ohio (no longer in operation). She's almost 8 years old, and is THE frisbee fetch queen. Get a frisbee out, and prepare to seriously damage your rotator cuff. This girl will not stop until you hide the frisbee. All toys are now put away in cabinets in the house, else we are constantly having them thrown in our laps. She's quite serious about her job.


Trixie Lou, the cuddlebug, is 8 years old and not the least bit interested in fetching anything. She's learned her lesson and stays far away from Tori when that girl is working; Tori will mow her down! Trixie is approximately 7/8 australian shepherd and 1/8 border collie, and also a blue merle. The vet said her nerves never stood a chance (she's a big sissy most of the time).

Our Cats

We currently have 4 cats - two inside the house, and 2 barn cats. We had 3 barn cats until 2009 -- the mom, Boogie, mysteriously disappeared. She was the most affectionate of our barn cats, and was the first to jump into our laps and take a nap whenever we sat outside.

We miss you Boogie!

Fluff is Boogie's daughter. She's a great lil mouser, and she loves her big brother Ringo. She especially loves curling up next to Ringo in the autumn.

Barack is Fluff's kid. He's another fantastic mouser but has a bad habit of including some of our resident birds in his catches. Bad cat! We've had both Fluff and Barack "fixed", so here's hoping they hang around for at least a few years to amortize our investment.


Finally, there's Baybee. I rescued her from a litter of feral cats in Ohio. She started spending more and more time on my enclosed front porch there, especially in the winter, until she became a part-time indoor cat. Since my move to Kansas, she has become a full-time indoor cat. I'm not sure that the resident barn cats would take a likin' to her, and I'm afraid she might become coyote bait since she's not accustomed to the wide open prairie.


Newest member to our cat family is CiCi aka Seesers.  She was rescued from the side of the road at approximately 8 weeks old when I was driving home from a visit to Ohio in June 2010. I was only 3 miles from home when I saw her little head whip around sideways as I passed,  and my curiosity got the best of me, so I turned around and went back to see WHAT THE HECK was that - baby owl?  Ohmigoodness, a teeny baby kitty, who came right up to me meowing, wanting to be picked up - definitely not a feral cat!

I kilt that pesky toilet paper, mum.

And now, finally, her and Baybee are buddies.  Well, sort of.
It's an uneasy truce at times.

Our Birds

We started out with 5 guinea keets in the fall of 2010.  This meant we had to remodel, er, rebuild, the chicken coop on our property - hubby tore it down to the studs, and started replacing boards.

Next, we got 8 chicks in the spring of 2011.  Two Plymouth Barred Rocks, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Buff Orpingtons and 1 Ameraucana.  We bought pullets - really didn't want any roosters - then we decided to buy one "pan-fry special" (which means, rooster).  So that upped our Barred Rocks to three chicks.

Now, we have THREE roosters (so much for spending extra for pullets!) and five hens.  Two roosters will be heading to freezer camp within the next 4-8 weeks. One buff orpington and one rhode island red ended up being roosters, in addition to the barred rock rooster we bought ON PURPOSE.

In the last few days, we have added 2 more guineas to our flock.  Well, they are not officially added to the flock yet.  They just hatched a few days ago, so it will be awhile before they are integrated into the coop with the other birds.  It was quite an experience, trying to hatch our own eggs using the incubator!

Last but not least, I have to include my buddy Greystoke even though he's no longer with us. He lived a pretty long and pampered life for a dalmatian (12 years). As my mom used to say, it was a good thing he had such a great home with us; anyone else probably would have dropped him off at the local shelter. He chewed EVERYTHING. He was especially fond of kitchen or bathroom trash; I quickly decided that closed trash receptacles was the way to go with him. I still use them to this day. I mean, why tempt the next generation of dogs?

Next he decided he liked money. He even ate a $20 bill one time; I waited for it to magically appear in the back yard. When it did I took it to our local credit union in a baggie and told them my dog had chewed it up. Well. He did. I didn't lie.

You will always be my first doggie love!