It's officially Fall in Nor-Cal

It's been a couple of weeks since we had any sunshine on a weekend day. Today, we got a little of both. This morning was filtered sun, followed by some lovely brilliant sun, with passing clouds, and now as the day draws to a close, the clouds are coming back in. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I'd love to start the day with a bright, sunny day!

With the coming of Fall, I don't get to spend nearly as much time with my favorite girl. The days end a lot quicker, and daylight savings time is only a week away to compound that problem, and there are fewer ideal days to spend with Willow on the weekends. This is going to get a little difficult...I'm not sure how to work around it all...I think I'll be doing various horsey chores during my lunch break.
I caught Willow in the middle of making a turn here in case you think she looks all out of whack...she kind of should! I'm in the market for a new camera...she doesn't like the way this one sounds. Well...and after a few thousand miles, and being dropped I don't know how many times, it actually is beginning to need to be replaced. I don't know which Nikon the next one will be, but it will be a Nikon. I can attest to their ability to withstand (AB)use! Yes, I confess...my camera is abused...mostly because I'm a klutz.

Here's my other big news...
Yes, indeed! That's a full dozen eggs from the happy chickens here at Huevos Rancheria. Looking from left to right, you might notice that the eggs appear to be two different colors. I'm about to turn cart-wheels here... That's a sure sign at least one, if not both of the Silver Cuckoo Marans are laying again after quite the hiatus. Both of them got broody...it got really hot...this and that... For the longest time we've been getting a single egg, now and then. We're finally starting to get at least an egg a day again. For having 3 hens out there...at least an egg a day is the minimum I should be seeing! LOL! This is the first full dozen I've seen in months! I confess... I used 4 promptly...but it was worth it! Poached "store" eggs just aren't the same as poached "Girly" eggs! Now I'm going to switch over to the other blog and work on ravioli made with homemade pasta!

First Fall Storm

We had a pretty blustery Fall storm come in last night and throughout today. We didn't have any damage to speak of. Thankfully. Our friends at Horse Plus Humane Society weren't so lucky. They suffered some damage to their shelters, but all the animals were ok. Willow did ok too...she was skittish and really spooky, but that was to be expected. She's only experienced a few breezy days and a couple of light showers...NOTHING like gusty winds between 3o and 5o mph.

We kept a watchful eye on Willow all day. When I fed her this morning, she was interested, but jumpy. She was shivering, but didn't seem as cold as she was unnerved, and ready to run at a flicker of an eyelash. That's a mustang for you. Even though she knows me, she's very cautious in uncertain situations. When I talked to her and reached out to stroke her shoulder, she still bolted...not far, just out from beneath my hand. She'd leave her feed to be away from anything that frightened her, and she'd move out into the more open area of her pen where she could keep an eye on everything and scent the air better. That's life with a mustang.


By this evening, Willow was much more calm. She was mostly dry, not shivering, and able to be handled some. She still wasn't in the mood to be towel dried though. Willow was ready to be scratched in some of her more itchy spots though...and I accommodated her and got a mustang hug for my efforts. What a love! Tomorrow we'll be cleaning up some of the muckiness that soft clay dust turned into...but that's ok. It gave us a really good look at what winter will look like. Ish!

At least stormy days have one good thing going for them...beautiful sunsets!

Christmas Frog?

S-He's actually more red than the photo is showing. It likes to sit on my Debbie Mumm tea pot-cup set...that's where I find it coming from. I don't know if it has chameleonic qualities, or if this is its natural coloration. There is certainly one, very likely two, rather likely three different little frogs that either live in my kitchen, or visit me regularly. I finally figured out why I'm so popular, and then realized they're actually a big help to me while being very little trouble. Actually virtually no trouble. Aside from the occasional movement you might see out of the corner of your eye, but anyone who has lived in a 70+ year old house, out in the country in northern California for any length of time has given up being startled by things like that a long time ago. You just make a mental note to take care of the newest guests.

We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes coming in from the garden, so we've had very ripe fruit around the house all the time this summer. With very ripe fruit comes...FRUIT FLIES!!! Argh!! I didn't want to destroy the flavor of the tomatoes by refrigerating them, so they've been in the kitchen with the AC on power-saver. The little frogs have been hanging out in the bowls of tomatoes where there are plenty of tiny fruit flies for them to snack on. So a potentially icky situation has turned into a symbiotic relationship that benefits us both! Now...with Fall coming on...I'll be ushering them out to the garden so they can find their natural "over winter" habitat.

Darn little critters grow on you after awhile....