You Have To Start Somewhere

  Back behind the canebrake, we have a small peach orchard. Well, we DID have a small peach orchard.  Oh, the trees are still there but, for the past few years, we harvested nary a peach.  For a few years, the trees gave us tons of the plumpest peaches imaginable.  Yes, we lost a few to the squirrels and raccoons but the rest were harvested!  Then, the deer found the trees and that was that.  They even went so far as to knock down a six foot tall fence to get to the fruit.  Now, the deer get to the fruit before it ripens. One bite out of each peach and then drop the remains.  We do not get a single peach.

  Well, all is not lost.  Those peach halves that were dropped contained the seed.  Now, hundreds of tiny peach trees are popping up in the lawn beneath the trees.  I am elated even though these tiny trees will most likely not bear the large juicy peaches that we desire.  They ARE peach trees, however, and you have to start somewhere.  A new orchard closer to the house is in the making!  Tomorrow will find me out back with a shovel and flower pots.  The tiny trees will be dug, planted and babied until they grow to about four feet tall.  Then...the work.  Those dozens upon dozens of peach trees will be grafted with limbs from our one remaining "good" peach tree.  We have one tree that I grew from a seed about five years ago.  We had been on a trip to Georgia to visit our new grandbaby when we purchased some peaches to bring home.  On a whim, I planted a seed and the rest is history!  The tree is amazing!  Small cuttings will be taken from that tree and grafted on the seedling peaches from the back orchard.  

  I am sure glad that Pop taught me all of the farm tricks that he knew.  Sometimes I have trouble remembering just how things were done but if I ponder a bit, the information usually comes back to me.  He always had the best fruit trees and the prettiest garden.  One bit of encouragement still rings in my head.  When I would question how to get a nice orchard or a perfect row of beans, he would  always say in his old easy-going farmer's drawl "Well....you have to start somewhere."  Makes sense...just start.  So the new orchard will start tomorrow with a bunch of seedling peach trees!

Long Before The Deer

  There is one thing good about problems.  They always help you to look for that elusive silver lining that everyone is always saying is there amongst the darkest clouds.  The gloom and doom can be assuage by finding one happy paragraph hidden in between the pages of an otherwise dire novel.  Not all is bad.  Discovering the termites had infiltrated my bookshelves and my books seemed to be an "end-of-the-world" situation.  I fretted over the fact that even though we have been fighting these critters since Hurricane Katrina, there appears to be no winning the war.  The fact that the termites became literary and attacked my books said volumes about their appetites.  They are voracious!  Son started ripping out the built-in book cases as I unloaded hundreds of antique books.  That silver lining was hard to find.

  My mind made up to look through the books and discard some, I sorted them into stacks.  The decision of which to toss, donate or keep was difficult.  I really needed more time and someone who has a keen eye to help me.  That ain't happenin', folks.  I am on my own.  I do not like this job except for the fact that I have found a few books that need reading!  My silver lining had been found.  A new desire to delve into a few of the dusty, old novels filled my brain.  So, I chose one to begin.

  "Bambi".  I did not even know that this was on the shelf.  Hmm?  Time to read this ragged novel that once belong to Aunt Elizabeth way back in the early 1920's.  Now before anyone thinks I am going to sit down and read a happy, little tale about a fawn, I shall explain.  Long before the now known as Disney version of "Bambi", another book was written.  Along about 1914, a noted author, Marjorie Benton Cooke penned a novel about a young woman and her haphazard adventures. Bambi is an impetuous young woman who marries a ne'er-do-well playwright and sets out to "find" a career to support him.  The story is rather sweet yet frustrating at times as today's reader cannot fully grasp why "Bambina" does what she does.  

  With the promotional overload of more modern tales, we are all jaded in our choices.  Gone are the days of classic novels that deserve to be read for pure enjoyment of the reader and not to fill the pockets of big business.  Books like Marjorie Benton Cooke's "Bambi" are lost in the shadows of the more popularized, flashy, movie versions of books by the same title. The classics are considered "old" and therefore not good.  Personally, I would rather hold a timeworn book in my hand and feel what the author wanted to relate than be bombarded with the current literary choices.  Dusty, old books are treasures.

Missed My Chance!

  Sometimes the world silently passes by us when we are occupied with other things.  Look down for a moment and, whoosh!, you have missed an important (or not so important) moment.  Here lately, my important moments revolve around critters and those, too, whoosh right on past without nary a notice. 

   Rare is the day when I do not have my camera with me while I am outside.  I carry the thing around like it is literally attached to my hand.  I feel lost without it but, this morning, I made a mad dash out to the garden without the trusty thing in hand.  Big mistake.  While I was hastily grabbing tomatoes from the plants in an effort to beat a threatening thunderstorm, several of the most beautiful, graceful critters on this old earth passed just a few yards from the garden.  A lovely doe and two yearlings meandered down along the marsh edge. Wow!  I was awestruck!  Then, I spied the buck halfway across the yard towards my brother's place.  The whole family just claimed the lower yard as their own and I am without the camera!

Deer track with 2 1/2 inch camera lens for size reference.  

   After missing the chance of a fantastic photo, I got to thinking about how missed chances happen far too often.  We get too hung up on the business of the day to take the time to be a part of life.  For the past few weeks, things have been a bit hectic around here with work being done on the Little Bayou House and with the garden being on overdrive.  I have not taken the time to really be a part of the life of the Bayou. That has to be remedied.  I figure that tomorrow is a good time to start my before dawn hikes once again.  It just takes getting up a bit earlier and stepping outside BEFORE starting those chores.  Unless, of course, another thunderstorm sweeps in from the Gulf.  Then...I will just have to be happy making those mad dashes out between the rains.  Hopefully, the deer will understand my plight and hang around a bit longer!  Pictures would be nice!

Don't Blink or Roadblocks Will Get You Every Time!

  Google the phrase "Don't blink" and you will hit a veritable jackpot of movie quotes, songs and books.  Yep, it seems that just two little words can have a ton of importance in the entertainment world.  Well, now it appears that those words have hit home in my own little entertainment world.  This morning was filled with several "don't blink" moments (and roadblocks) starting with Darling Daughter's ride to the Bayou from her house.  On the way, she encountered a most unusual roadblock. Geese! A number of Canadian Geese were blocking the only road out of the river area where she lives.  She came to a stop and waited.  The geese would not move.  It seems that these critters had taken a liking to the pavement and were determined to mingle about making small talk with each other.  After a bit, another car approached and honked the horn. Those folks had obviously had a bit more experience with geese than Elizabeth and were not as patient.  The birds left and everyone went on their merry way..except Elizabeth.  She was enjoying the view of the geese even if they were in a very inappropriate area.  

  She arrived to the Bayou safe and sound.  We then proceeded to go to my brother's farm to pick blueberries.  This has been the routine for the past month or so.  Our freezers are filled to capacity with the delightful berries but we just hate to waste any so we pick....and pick.  Now we are filling her freezer!  After two hours of picking, we headed home only to encounter another unusual roadblock.  This time in the form of a young doe.  The deer was literally nibbling grass within inches of the pavement.  Elizabeth, once again, stopped the car and we gazed at the lovely animal as if we had never seen a deer before.  It was exciting! Well, to us it was exciting but probably not to the doe.  She glided back behind some tall grass and played a game of "peek-a-boo" with us.  The deer would raise her head above the grass just long enough for me to focus the camera and then down she would go.  Even though she was just six feet from me, it was hard getting a photograph of this bobbing jack-in-the-box!  Don't blink!  If we did, we missed the shy animal's gaze. Up, down, up, down!  The game went on for a good ten minutes with us blocking the roadway.  We had even offered her a lovely meal of blueberries but the doe shyly declined.

  Finally, the doe must have tired of our intrusion as she eased her way into the wooded area.  I am sure that the other motorists, even though they were highly patient with us, were happy to see the deer leave but Elizabeth and I were still chattering away about our unexpected entertainment.  Then again, she is a lot like me...very easily entertained. Don't blink, folks!  You might miss something wonderful!  Wildlife is exciting!

  

Those Deer Little Ones!

This has been an unbelievably tough year on the garden.  Weatherwise..it should have been perfect!  We had an early spring after an almost "not" winter.  Rains have been perfectly timed and even the winds have been cooperating!  But, still, the garden is in wrack and ruin.  Critters!  Critters of all sorts have taken a liking to my plants!  Actually, all of this started with the seeds.  We planted the hotbed with the usual tomato and pepper seeds.  Out of four packs of each, a mere three peppers and seven tomatoes survived.  I found that I had mole crickets  infesting the hotbed.  These critters did not eat the seeds but the new seedling plants were soon devoid of any tender roots.  This caused my seedlings to wither and wilt.  After just a few days, I was down to less that a dozen plants.  This was no way to start a garden!  Then, the grasshoppers came in and decimated my squash!  Overnight, the ten inch tall squash plants were stripped to a small stalk.  Even the blooms were eaten!  I was heartbroken but vowed to replant.  I would have a garden!

Things went well for a few weeks.  The replanted gardens were starting to thrive!  The squash plants were blooming again and the few tomato plants were starting to fill their cages!  I was happy again!  The empty plots once again resembled healthy gardens.  In the peach orchard, we had planted five rows of Crowder Peas.  I had suggested this as the garden had a hefty, five-foot tall fence around it.  That fence was topped with a single strand of electric wire and had two other strands spaced below that.  This electric wire was not charged enough to truly hurt any animal or bird since it was solar powered but it was there just to make the critters think twice about entering the area.  I was most positive that the peas would be safe there!  I was wrong..oh, so wrong!  Some time during the night, a thief..or maybe several..entered that garden.  My peaches were nipped to the seed and the Crowder Peas were gnawed to the ground!  I had nary a pea plant!  I was quick to blame the birds since I did not think anything else could penetrate this fortress!  Then, I saw the back fence!  The entire fence was on the ground!  The corner post had been hit with such force that it had broken off at the ground.  Now, granted, the post was getting a tad wobbly as it aged..but oh, my goodness!  It was broken in two!  My garden had been violated!  I started scanning the ground for evidence and soon found it!  Hoof prints of a deer!  So that was what was purloining my peaches and pinching my peas!  The very same deer that I had been feeding down in the front yard had now decided to visit the gardens!  My poor peaches and peas!

I am pondering whether to even bother planting anything else this summer.  I still have several hundred jars of home-canned goodies on the shelves and three huge freezers full of seafood.  Do I need the extra work?  Do I need the added stress?  Probably not but today, I pulled out the seeds and started planning a summer garden.  If nothing else..the critters around the Bayou will be nice and fat for the winter!

Oh, Deer!

Down the hill near where the yard sort of runs into the Bayou, there is a large expanse of sand. Not that it belongs there naturally, it was washed in from the beach several years ago during Hurricane Katrina. This storm transferred what is known as Front Beach to my yard..literally. The sand was about six feet deep at some points. This sand like any other good beach sand holds shape well when wet, hence how sand castles are made to stick together. It also holds indentations really well when wet! A couple of weeks ago, I noticed small hoof tracks in this sand. I was excited and as soon as Hubby was within earshot, I started calling to him to come see! Deer tracks! Now this may not sound like momentous news to some people but here it is. I have to explain the fact that around my little Bayou, civilization has encroached crushingly near. There are houses being built almost within a stone's throw from my house. What once was an isolated, woodsy area has now become my own little Eden surrounded by society. This little paradise is perhaps one of the only areas that has enough undergrowth left to support a deer family. I plan on leaving it that way for as long as I possibly can. Now, Hubby was excited about the deer tracks, too, and made a special trip to the Farm Supply store to buy a sack of whole corn feed so I could set some out each evening for the little family. I have been carefully filling a small flat pan with the corn each evening and by morning it is always empty. For the first few nights, I thought the raccoons were eating the feed, but then, after the rain, there were the tracks again! My deer were back! I am elated! Before anyone thinks that I am feeding them so I can shoot them..just the opposite..I am doing this to keep them on our property. Hopefully, here they will be safe. I am quite sure that I might come to regret luring them close to the house and garden as soon as they start munching more than their share of my vegetables. But until that time, I will enjoy the fact that they are here. Oh..and Hubby bought me a sack of grass seed so perhaps that would deter their munchies from the garden! Half of the sack has been planted where I saw the tracks. I hope it does well and they eat to their heart's content!

Another find in the ongoing quest to overcome the chaos in the sewing room! Several finds to be truthful...one falls in the category of "Why in the world did I save that?" Lids! Lots of lids to containers that have no containers! Just lids of all sizes and shapes. Lids of purple, green, blue and white..lids large and small..just lids. No boxes! Well, I did find a few small boxes but they had the lids attached so don't really count! Lids...hhmmpphh!

Find number eight million and something (I told you there was a lot of stuff crammed in the sewing room..stuff that not particularly pertains to sewing!).. Broken wind chimes! Now, once I had good intentions of restringing these wind chimes and hanging them back in the garden. I love wind chimes! I love to hear the tinkling music coming through the open windows in the evening. There is usually a gentle breeze coming off the Bay so wind chimes are a must! There are probably twenty or more sets of chimes in the boxes and I have relegated the job of restringing them to Son. Yeah right..like I said..I have good intentions of restringing these wind chimes some day! They are definitely keepers!

And finally, find whatever number...felt! White felt..albeit grubby white felt! Yards and yards of grubby white felt. This felt came with my new sofa a few years back and the deliverymen were going to toss it!!! Can you imagine that..just toss yards of perfectly good (albeit grubby) white felt??? I rescued it! Now, just what am I to do with this? I have no clue! I suppose it is items like this that cause my children to conclude that I am hoarding things! Not so! I will use it someday! Everyone needs twenty-four yards of grubby white felt! It will stay!