Such a Wonderful Flower!

It happens once a year.

When I was a kid, it happened right around Memorial Day.  The apple trees had just finished their spring time bloom and we would walk out to cut the beautiful pink and white peony flowers from the bushes planted nearby.

When Mike and I bought the Freedom Farm we acquired many things.  A shop, an old barn, an old house with its garage, a hay shed, the big house, and an airplane hanger.  A swather, a baler, two tractors, and a hay trailer.  We also bought a very old peony bush.

Although many people might not find a peony bush to be a valuable asset on a piece of property, this old annual flower swayed me that we were buying the right piece of property.  It’s value is such that anyone keeping the yard is lectured on broadleaf herbicides and other general destructive actions.

The flowers are fragile, starting out as a round, golf ball size bud.  Ants find these buds, eager to profit from the nectar oozing from the edges of the green protective layer around the exploding flower inside.   Folklore says the ants must be present for the flower to open, but this is just that – folklore.  The flowers will open without the ants. 

I picked my flowers on Saturday (note: almost a month after Memorial Day!), enjoyed them with company Saturday night, and brought them home to sit atop the counter.  By Wednesday, the tissue-like magenta petals will begin to litter the top of the island.  By Thursday, most petals will have dropped and my floral arrangement will find its way to the compost heap.  I would feel badly about this pillage of flowering mass if it was not an annual plant.  No matter how many flowers I greedily pick, that plant will be back next year in its blooming splendor for our enjoyment.

That is, assuming no one decides to put a weed killer on its leaves.

Way Cool RV

Mike and I are hosts for a neat RV program called "Harvest Hosts".  Check them out at Harvest Host Site  Since the first of June, we have hosted 10 RVs.  The RV folks call ahead, get directions, pull into our driveway late afternoon/evening, and spend the night at the K Lazy M Ranch.  I have tricked out my little Garden Shed where they can look and potentially buy Copper Pot jams, Galen's maple syrup, a silk scarf, or Mom's sewing creations.  There is a container to leave money.  If electricity is  used, I ask the RV folks to throw in what they think is fair.  There is no charge to stay, but they are urged, as a member of Harvest Host, to support the businesses of the places they stay. 

Here is the unit that arrived last night.  This is the coolest rig ever!!  The tires themselves weigh 400 pounds.  The rig weighs in at 18K pounds.  Inside, custom cabinets hold custom shelving that holds the dishes and cups; designed with clever cushioning to eliminate rattling.  There are solar panels on the roof.  Everything is electric.  Here is a site to learn more about these custom, one of a kind rigs.  Earthroamer Info  They are rumored to cost $250,000!  Mary & Terry, you need one!!

Bees Adore Allium Flowers

The catalog says it - "Bees adore allium flowers." 

As I walked around my yard, one sunny afternoon after work, it proved to be true.  The bees were visiting the beautiful globe allium flowers.

A Day NOT at Freedom

Mike pulled me off the farm.  He wanted to go fishing.  It's not easy to give that place up, I only get Saturday and Sunday and to sacrifice an entire day - a day away from my bees, the gardens, the flowers, and the weeds....well, it is a sacrifice.

The day was fine on the lake.  Warm turning to hot.  Recall, last Saturday, it snowed quite a bit here.  We were hot.  The dogs panted.

Fishing was slow down south and we finally reeled 'em in and headed north.  Luck changed and I hooked into this beautiful 15# lake trout.  Mike did an excellent job of netting (one of the easiest ways to lose a fish is right at the boat; that moment when they get close to the surface and they really don't like it that much).  We weighed the fish, snapped a quick picture and watched it swim away, gills fanned open, tail swishing in the green water.  Back to deeper waters. 

A bit later, Mike landed a 4 pounder which is happily swimming around Jackson Lake as well.  We had burgers for dinner.

It was a good day.  The weeds grew a bit taller yesterday in the heat of a summer Sunday!

Wise Brene

Brene Brown is one of my favorites.  Her book, "The Power of Vulnerability" Buy It Here! is my number one top book pick.  She has a weekly email which I just opened.  Her is a quote from Brene that resonates....

Seems timely after my week of fire investigation training.

Sharing a picture from the Wednesday night fire training.  Our folks are awesome!!

Brief Moments of Nasal Bliss

It does not happen every day.  It does not happen every hour.  It does not happen very often.  But, every once in awhile, I can smell again!

The first time it happened was at the Walton Ranch branding.  Positioned downwind from the red hot branding iron, the head holder – a strong man, willing to anchor calf heads and legs – held the braying calf’s head while I injected a large needle’s worth of growth hormones into that calf’s ear.  If it was a steer calf, he was going through as well the ordeal of being castrated during this life changing moment.  The white smoke surrounded us as we tried to time it just right, sucking in the clean air, before the brand hit the hair and hide, holding our breath until either our job was completed or the smoke cloud moved by.  That was when I smelled the acrid smell of singed hair and burning flesh.

Weird, right?  How strange that this should be my first recognizable smell after the polyps were removed out of my over clogged sinuses.  I was in disbelief all morning until we walked up to the lunch area and there – I smelled a smell again.  The smell of hot vegetable oil, which I was certain was vegetable oil, heated and cooking potatoes for our lunch.  Mmmmmm, that was a good smell.

Since then, I’ve had a most memorable day of smelling last Sunday.  Odors of cut dandelions, oozing with sap as I chopped down their yellow bobbing heads, smelling their dandelion smell wafting up to my position on the lawnmower.  I took a few of my bees with them, sadly.  Dirt.  The sweet earthen smell of dirt as I dug one more hole to plant the asparagus roots which I over-ordered this year in my zeal to have asparagus.  I am certain I now have over 200 asparagus crowns in the ground.  That is the strangest word to spell.  Asparagus.  The dirt smelled fine.

That night, I peeled garlic cloves and drug them across my fine rasp, shearing off paper thin wafers of the aromatic herb. Garlic.  I smell garlic, I swooned to the garlic, as I inhaled deeply.  “Garlic, you smell so good!”

And then the wine.  I could smell the wine.  The rich smell of an inky Petite Sarah.  Will I have a “nose” now when I go wine tasting?!  What a concept!  Someone else can start driving!! 

One can live without one’s sense of smell.  You won’t lose weight, you will still eat enough to keep you “substantial” (as I was once called by a loving friend).  It is one of the senses, but really, if you had to lose a sense, this is the one to lose.  I have been just fine without my sense of smell.  But now that it is back – even if just for ever so brief moments – I have come to appreciate my sense of smell like never before. 

Mmmmm, everything smells so good when I can smell!!

BEE HEAVEN

Ya Gotta Be Tough

The sky cleared, the wind set down, and the cold blanketed the landscape.  The temperature dropped to a frigid 25 degrees around 1:30 am this morning and held until about 4. Sunrise registered in at 28. Apple blossoms, tulips, the purple allium globes and humming birds shivered. Not all will be tough enough. Shadows creep and the heavy frost turns to dew.  The day ahead promises to be stunning. With another below freezing night ahead.

 Sad little dead hummingbird. Not quite tough enough.

It’s not all Sunshine and Flowers

Spending the week in Laramie getting my fire investigation skills honed. I am reminded, there are some really bad people in the world. I mean really bad. Mothers who abuse their children, put them in a plastic bag, wrap them in a sheet, and set them on fire. I am deeply disturbed.

This is just one example. There are others. My cop friend sitting to the right tells me if I keep believing people are good, I will be a victim sooner or later.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Here is the afternoon storm building up above my rig.  I wish people were all good.

100 Miles Per Hour

It's been a bit of a fast-track lately.  Since my birthday, Mike and I have both been going one hundred miles an hour.  One must prioritize when plates start spinning.  I'm sure a few have dropped; I have just not found them yet!! 

I was delighted to be back in Freedom after a long day of driving from Casper Saturday night when this amazing storm blew by the place.  The wind was incredible and I doubt we will ever find the lid to the compost bin that I watched take off like a scene from Somewhere Over the Rainbow!

And speaking of rainbows, check out this full double rainbow!  Rain on the crops, rainbow on the horizon! 

Mom noted some amazing things I sure have never thought about with rainbows.  For example, have you ever noticed how the colors on the outside double rainbow are reversed??  Who knew?!!  Notice how the rainbow touches down in the manure pile on the second picture - a pot of gold!!

Here is an article that helps you understand how rainbows and double rainbows come to be seen Rainbow Science