Vicki Lane's Blog, page 511

How Did the Cat Eat the Grindstone?

.... Little by little, they say. And that's how we're getting ready for Christmas. The flight of die-cut metal angels has returned to its usual spot. The tree has been wrestled into place.  The Christmas pillow covers have been brought out . . . Once the branches have relaxed, the lights will go on then, come Sunday, we'll string popcorn and cranberries and proceed to decorate the tree.
I have a real feeling that Willa is going to be a challenge -- we may end up leaving the lower part of the tree bare [image error]

The Proper Look for the Season

After a very (over two inches) rainy  Wednesday, the rain turned to thick snow in the night and we awoke to cooler temperatures and a white-frosted world.
The skies were clear and as the sun rose, the fluffy snow began to melt. But it was just enough snow to make me think of sleigh bells and hot cocoa... and to keep me on task getting the house Christmas ready.
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Fading Day

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Time to Dig the Taters

The latest we've ever waited but last Sunday afternoon we finally got to it. Our nephew and his son, our great-nephew, came out for some farm time and to help with the harvest.
As usual, we were fully attended by dogs -- including Willa on a long, long lead. She was let off for a bit and was ecstatic to be running free but when she started down the road she had to be retrieved and releashed.
There were wooden crates lined with hay to store the potatoes . . . Otis feels the cold and was happy to take advantage of the hay.  Pit bull or snuggle bug? You be the judge.

Oops...

Our internet went down yesterday and has just returned . . . I hope to come visiting this evening. Right now I have a bunch of groceries and Christmas shopping to put away . . .

The Jersey Girl and the Full Bull Experience

Silverbell is in season and, though she's had four calves, she's never had the Full Bull Experience since her previous owner used AI (artificial insemination) on all his cows.  We are taking the easy way out -- opting to let Big Red do the job . . .     *** *** ***

Farm Morning

This was around 11 yesterday morning. At this time of year the sun just skims along the top of the ridge to the south.
Xena and Clover are weaned now and enjoying lots of hay. Dexter (below) is still bottle-fed but he's eating hay too.
Looking down the driveway. . .  Tractors are amazingly useful. My friend who took home a truckload of composted manure after Thanksgiving came back for more.
Kate the donkey seems to find her new thick winter coat a little itchy.

Jarscapes

Because sometimes you just don't know what to do with those cool wax lips . . .
or the remains of your kids' action figures from thirty-some years ago. . . driftwood and river rock, broken bits and pieces you thought you'd mend someday . . .marbles and wishbone and that odd little what-ever-it-is...
How many jarscapes to make a collection?

Wordless Willa

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

Janisse Ray's Ecology of a Cracker Childhood is a double-barreled treasure of a book, combining a fascinating personal narrative with beautiful nature writing.  Her memoir of growing up poor in a south Georgia junkyard on the edge of the piney woods blossoms into a lament for of all that has been lost as yet one more old-growth forest is destroyed. 

Ray sees and praises the little things that most of us have missed, hurrying through Georgia to get to the Florida beaches or the Carolina mountains, but her focus is on the majestic long leaf pines that once covered much of the Southeast and she writes of them with beauty and passion. 

As I read, I was reminded how those trees formed a backdrop to my youth. The house I grew up in had quite a few of these looming presences in the yard. Our suburb had been built on what was once cow pasture. . . and before that, pine and palmetto woods. 

I especially recommend this book to those who are familiar with the southeastern US. But Ray's personal journey is inspiring on its own and the study of the ecosystem of her region might well inspire anyone to take a closer look at where they live, to take note of the intertwined lives of flora and fauna therein, to try to imagine it as it was in the past, and to think seriously about how what remains can be safeguarded.

Janisse Ray's website.