All Purls. No Swine.
So. I’ve about wrapped up, absent a bit of trim and the installation of an outdoor-accessible nest box–not an immediate priority because the elderly ladies involved rarely lay eggs anymore–the construction of my assisted-living chicken coop for the geezers. It’s going to have to stay in the driveway for the winter, but it is on… Continue reading And Now For Something Completely Different: Chicken Clucker Edition
October 3, 2023 is the 107th anniversary of the birth of James Alfred Wight, better known to the world as James Herriot, the author of upwards of a dozen beloved books about his Yorkshire veterinary practice from the 1930s onwards, and one of the three most influential authors of my book-filled youth. (The others were… Continue reading Changing My Life, One Book at a Time–Happy Birthday, James Herriot!
My last post on the wonderful Merlin Bird ID app, and how much fun I had with it the first time I really gave it a go, reminded me of circumstances a few years ago, here on the farm. I wrote about them on Ricochet for the first time in 2017, and reprised the post here… Continue reading The Gift–2023 Edition
Cross-posted from Ricochet.com, yesterday, August 19, 2023: Lo, these many years ago, those of us in the early days of the personal computer industry, we who depended on the success of the technology-in-its-infancy for our livelihoods, lusted after something we dubbed “the killer app.” It had nothing to do with actual violence; we longed only for… Continue reading Adventures in Birding
It's been almost exactly eight years since I published a version of the post below on Ricochet. (Time really does fly when you're having fun.) I was reminded of it this week, when I had a rare encounter with health care of the human sort myself. On Monday night (it's now Saturday), I did my… Continue reading Ruminations on the High Cost of Healthcare, and How to Bring it Down–2023
I've known for many years now that there may come a time in my life when it's time to let go. And at this point--when it comes to the edge of my 79th year on this planet--I might be ready: Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower;… Continue reading Moving On. You May Kiss the Bride!
Chinggis is my (by this time) rather elderly rooster, he who once was lost (as have been a startling number of others in my life) and was one of two whom I tripped over on a walk down the road, on a day towards the end of January 2021. His lucky day. After a frantic call… Continue reading Chinggis Makes His Move
After sorting out the gates a few days ago, I moved on to the arch and the climbing rose. Got that done yesterday and this morning. Next--tree planting! (I live in a lovely, shady, rural environment. But over the almost 40 years I've been here, many of the existing--not necessarily all that great--trees have died… Continue reading The Next Project–Because, Out Here, There Always is One
A goat rodeo is a slang term for something going totally, unbelievably, disastrously wrong, and there’s nothing left to do but to sit back and watch the trainwreck. In other words, a goat rodeo is a chaotic situation, fiasco, or, more vulgarly, a shitshow--dictionary.com I've been there. After thirty years as a goat owner, I finally gave… Continue reading Gate Rodeo: Not My First, Nor (Likely) My Last
Years ago, I set up a rain barrel here at Chateau Right, to collect fifty-odd gallons of rainwater at a time that I could use to water the plants in direst need during a prolonged drought. (Yes, I do have running water on the property, but it comes from a well, so I'm careful.) On… Continue reading EarthMinded FlexiFit™–An Unobtrusive, Effective, Rain Barrel Diverter System