Random Jottings

Winter came hard on the heels of a warm wind here. Well I know by US standards freezing is not cold, it's just us wimpy Brits who think more than two days of low temperatures is a new ice age! But still, when a northerly wind cuts like ice and the troughs start freezing over, I am thankful for my all-in-one quilted overall and can (sort of) laugh at the elements. As a Billy Connolly joke goes "........... there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes"! Our older residents get nice warm blankets as well, and it is time for their "soup" to be served hot. In fact Sunny, Jorg's old riding horse, keeps dipping his nose into his cold mash and raising the horse equivalent of an eyebrow in disgust. Mea culpa, but we still don't have the flash heater I bought a year ago fixed up in the tack room - it is next on the list!

The fall leaves are mostly in the yard now, and it still astonishes me how dead the trees always look in winter over here. Maybe it is because there are so many, or the types of trees, but I never remember my homeland trees looking quite so desolate over the winter. I am always surprised, and very pleased, when they spring back into life again.

Our new puppy, Cassie, is proving to be an absolute gem. Well apart from an ethernet cable, my beard trimmer, the back of my cell phone, and sundry tights and stockings (Jorg's not mine!) that is. I had forgotten what having a small child around the house is like. Move everything four feet above the floor until the difference between chewing toys and personal possessions is learnt! However, this is a bright little dog and anxious to learn. She watches everything that is going on and really only gets into mischief when left to her own devices - silly us! I have always wanted a dog that would be a companion, especially around the farm, and she has every sign of being that dog. Once I can get her to remember that, while the other dogs don't mind her seizing them by the leg, a horse might!

We have been putting up with the "desperate" sounds of mothers and calves separated at night, prior to full weaning. Goodness knows what we will have to put up with when we finally separate them for good. Apart from finding a suitable place on the farm out of sight (although probably not out of sound!) of each other, it will put a strain on our "soft" hearts to hear them missing each other. Talk about the children leaving home, this is way worse! (Sorry kids, only fooling!)

Arachnophobia and "Tis the Season"

Now I am not the greatest fan of our eight-legged friends, being a low to medium high arachniphobe depending on the size and and poison potential. I did once stroke the back of a red-kneed tarantula at a zoo exhibition, but there was a keeper with a whip and chair to keep good order. Generally, I prefer them to stay in their place and I'll stay in mine. I have never really got over the shock of discovering that the "Black Widow" spider (Latrodectus mactans is the southern variety) was not only indigenous but prolific. Having heard as a kid in the UK that these mean instant death, I was somewhat dismayed to find one on my bare arm when shifting some stone wall rocks. Thankfully, it seemed more interested in getting back to its cosy damp dark hole than biting me, but my reservations remain. As an aside we only have the one poisonous spider, and one poisonous snake (well more than one of each, but you know what I mean) the Adder (Vipera berus). So again, having heard as a child that to be bitten by one was fatal (we Brits love scaring the pants off our kids!) and not being a great lover of the hissing things, Virginia, and farms in particular, are a constant source of disquiet during the snake mating season. Admittedly we usually only see King Snakes, but as Burns might have a said "a snakes a snake for all that".











Anyway back to arachnids. This year we have been blessed (or not depending on your phobia) with a large number of the black and yellow garden spiders, Argiope aurantia to be exact, and wary as I am of the spider family I cannot help but admire this particular variety. I don't know if they are the largest in this part of the world, but they must be near. I have seen big crickets caught in their webs and wrapped up for later disposal. I am very much a "live and let live" sort of person, so provided they stayed reasonably away from my normal passageways I was happy to have their fly control capabilities on my side. I did draw the line at between the handles of our brushmower, and removed her to a more secluded spot - a long piece of wood since you asked! One by one they have disappeared, presumably as the nights got cooler, until only one remains. Sadly, she does not have the stabilimenta , or zig-zag lines of thread, that characterize the argiope's web, but I did capture her in glorious technicolor. I suspect that in a few more days she too will be gone, leaving her small sack of children behind to hatch out in the Spring.

So the cycle of life goes on, with the seasons still ruling the lives of our animal friends, even if we have given them up in favor of the digital watch and lettuce all year round. The Autumn equinox has come (yesterday) and now the nights get longer than the days. I am sad, as always, to see the long hot days ending, but can look forward with pleasure to mulled wine in front of a real log fire. We have stalls for all the animals, three open fires in the house, milk and eggs every day, and a portable generator (that I might get round to putting somewhere useful) should the big one hit. Crisis!! What crisis? Just remember the Boy Scout motto and "Be Prepared".