Confused Scatterings

I have a lot of photos ... and some stuff to tell ... none of it important or earth shattering. You know, the usual. Here goes.

First, Colleen was in town this weekend.  We didn't do much ... the weather was as lousy as my financial situation.  We managed to have some fun, though.  We went by her property and took a look around, went out for sushi for lunch, putzed around a bit, rented a movie, etc.  Jaenne came over and dropped Zane and Kip off and brought enough Chinese food to feed an army with!  Thanks Jaenne!  Friday went fishing in Marsing, got skunked, so we went shopping.  Started out in Nampa, went to Meridian, and swung down to Kuna to pick up a mattress for the futon frame I got from Glenda.  Came home, ate leftover Chinese food, hung out, and Colleen slept ... like usual.  :-)  "5 more minutes..." she tells me as I was trying to get her to take a shower because we were going out for dinner and drinks with Susan, Katy and Mark.
 
I finally managed to get her butt in gear, and off we went and had a great time!  Colleen, once again, entertained us with her lovely karaoke singing, and Susan belted out an awesome version of Okee from Muskogee!  Loved it!

Saturday morning we didn't really need to be anywhere so everyone relaxed and slept in.  I took the ranch panels I had and made a large pen for the sheep around some brush I wanted cleared so I can plant my zucchini, cucumbers and pumpkins.

That will be eaten down in no time.  In fact, today, they are already starting to complain.

Father & son ...

Close-up of father (Pepe).  He was so adorable when he was just a little lamb.  We used to snuggle him all up and kiss him all the time.  I bet he misses that, especially when he has his head lowered and is thinking about ramming me.

Here's Mama ... my lead ewe.  She can be a bit of a handful, but she's a good momma.

All of the stuff I have planted is doing well, although, not growing much.  We need some sunshine!

In here is mint, pineapple sage, strawberries, morning glory sprouted seeds, and misc. zucchini seeds I threw in and will re-plant somewhere.

In this one is morning glory, mint from the field behind my house, strawberries, and two kinds of rosemary.

I borrowed a hummingbird feeder from the neighbors.  I am sure I'll be taking a gazillion photos of it this summer.  The hummingbirds are pretty fearless and quite plentiful, despite their vacancy in this photo.

Not sure yet what this bush is.  I think Colleen identified it, but now I forgot what she said.  Maybe some sort of honeysuckle?
 

Anyone want some tires with concrete in them?  Or a huge lava rock?  Come get 'em!

Not sure what this weed is.  It isn't milkweed.  And I don't think it's the one the butterflies use because it's not furry enough.  I do have several of them around, though.

The apricot tree is doing well.

Getting quite a bit of fruit on it.

I have three cherry trees, now that they are healthy enough to identify and are all starting to bloom and fruit.

Amazing what some water will do for plants, isn't it?

Not sure what this thing is ,but I like it.  It's taken some abuse by the sheep, but I am trying to keep the sheep out of this area now, so this thing should do better in the coming months.  Here's the bloom on it.

And another mess I haven't gotten to yet ... the area behind the pig house that I just had the sheep chew down.  Look what was under all of those weeds.

Colleen and I burned a lot of that crap wood you see on the ground, so that's gone, but the area needs a good raking and some general TLC.  I'd love to be able to re-do all of the fences back here.  I love the rustic wood, though.

And can you believe it?  The anti-cat lady has THIS growing in her yard!  Catnip!  Sure is pretty up the side like that though.  I like it a whole lot better than cats.

And these two tulips popped up recently!  Will have to put those some place where they fit in better.

And someone once told me what this was, but I forgot.  Any ideas?

Here is a tree that bears some brown fruit that looks like a candy made in Michigan.  (Colleen, did I just do you so proud, or what???)  I can't think of the name of the tree, or the candy.  So, without further adieu...

And I forgot to take a photo of the things it bears.  But here's a bloom.

And what is this poor thing?

Here's a close-up of the bloom.  Would love to find out what this is.  This bush was a giant dilapidated thing last year that had a bird nest in it that I didn't want to cut down.  This still needs another good pruning, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Poor poor Echo Monster.  (Photo taken by Justin.)

I haven't looked up these birds yet, but I would guess they are finches of some sort.  Cute, aren't they?  (Photos taken by Justin.)

Found my handheld GPS and went geocaching today over on the northeast side of the lake.  Too bad the weather sucked.  Anyone know what this is?  Looks like some sort of pumpkin or squash or melon ...?

Lots of cool dead wood.

Found one of these, immediately got the heebie-jeebies, found myself not wanting to step into the brush anymore, which made further geocaching pointless, turned around and went back home.  Found a few caches, so all was not lost, and best part ... I found a new place to take the dogs for a walk.

Gotta go delete some emails.  Apparently, I've made the mailing list of someone's pointless forwarded emails, without so much as a "How have you been?"  Lucky me.

That's all folks!

J

FREE CAT

Call me ... 208-412-6107. We think it's a female. She's quite friendly, needs some TLC. My neighbor is feeding her on their porch. The problem is ... leaving the cat food out attracts the coons. They will be putting a trap out, and whatever lands in the trap will be killed. So ... come save her!

Backyard Exposed

Well, here's a side of my house I don't show that often simply because it is a mess.  However, I hope these photos will make good "before" photos, and I hope I follow through with my desire to clean up this area. 

Here's part of my junk pile.

There is a lot of gravel all over this property.  I am hoping to gather up this gravel, and do some sort of neat, organized flower bed along the side of the house.

More gravel.

This is where I'm hoping to put it.  Great neighbor, Dean, came over and sprayed these weeds, so this should be nice and cleaned up in a few days.

Here's where the dog run used to be.

And when I took this photo, I realized what a mess it was around the small strip behind the pig house.  I fenced it off, brought the walking lawnmowers in, and they had it handled in no time.  I'll have to take more photos tomorrow.

Jaenne came over tonight and we had a really good dinner.  Got a recipe from the awesome neighbors for cooking up some of Wilbur's ribs, and it worked perfectly!  Also had baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and fresh bread I made today.  The reason for Jaenne's visit was to shave bellies on the dogs.  The foxtails are about to dry out, and everyone is starting to get junk caught in their coats.  Zip was a little impatient, but his "junk" is all now shaved, and he's not sure he likes the draft under there yet.  Reese was a squirmer.  She's never even been brushed, no less shaved.  But her belly is done.  She has some very fine wispy hair, so it made shaving it kind of tricky. 

And then there was perfect dog, Echo.  She just laid there ...

... hating me ... and promising to make me pay.

I'm sure she will. And I am afraid!