Recent Entries to this Blog More small pleasures
Posted: 29 Sep 2023
Ain't no cure
Posted: 05 May 2023
Men, and women
Posted: 01 Mar 2023
Small Pleasures
Posted: 19 Jan 2023
Place names in Texas
Posted: 06 Sep 2022

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marlingardener's Blog

Farm living and laughing


More small pleasures

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2023 3:36 pm

We still enjoy having our cat to pet and coddle. We also still enjoy watching the wild birds come to the feeders and watering station.
Having herbs to harvest and dry or freeze, using garden produce fresh, or blanched and frozen for winter use, and having enough to share is a true pleasure.
Watching our favorite TV programs in the evening while enjoying a glass of wine is so nice. We don't watch the gory, blow-em-up, car chase programs. We like Jeopardy and try to answer the topics. My husband is much better at that than I.
And cooking--not a small pleasure, but a huge one! I love to cook and bake, and husband likes to eat, so we are a well matched couple.
And the greatest pleasure of all, having a kind, loving, intelligent and humorous spouse. A pleasure and a blessing.

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Ain't no cure

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Fri May 05, 2023 2:42 pm

A comedian, Ron White, has a routine in which he says that poor hearing can be taken care of with a hearing aid, poor eyesight with glasses, but there ain't no cure for stupid.
We have encountered a lot of stupidity. I blame it on the USA's educational system. For example: hummingbirds only live for one day. When I heard this and stopped laughing, I led the speaker through the life cycle of a bird--hatch, fledge, fly, mate, nest, and lay eggs. All withing 24 hours?
Also there was the guy who was going to put a dish of honey in his garden to attract bees to pollinate his garden. When I stopped laughing, I asked him if a gave him raw hamburger, a bun, a slice of cheese and some mustard, or if I gave him a ready-made hamburger from a fast food place, which would he choose? I pointed out that bees made honey to eat, and if it was provided on a nice dish, preferably with tiny napkins, they wouldn't bother gathering pollen and nectar.
Then there was the guy in the checkout line at the grocery who insisted my cart qualified for the "15 or fewer" line. He proceeded to start counting my items, and when he got to 11, I congratulated him on achieving that number without taking off his shoes.
There just ain't no cure . . . .


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Hummingbird fallacies

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 2:04 pm

We love watching hummingbirds. We have fed and enjoyed the little buzzers for about 20 years.



Hummer on Tropical Sage ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )
However, we are constantly amazed at some of the things humans believe about hummingbirds.
#1 Hummingbirds live only one day. This came from a 30ish man born and raised in Texas. When we walked him through "bird", "nest", "eggs", "hatching and feeding" he realized that couldn't be accomplished in 24 hours. He may now believe hummers live for two days . . . .
#2 We were told by a wildlife expert that hummingbirds only feed on tublar red flowers. This while we were sitting on our patio watching a hummer feed on a Peruvian Rock Rose--flat faced flower in a lovely shade of light pink. It then moved to a white Salvia Greggii (grant you that the flower is tubular, but white?)
#3 This is the kicker. Hummingbirds are aggressive and will peck you with those sharp little beaks if they get the chance. The kid next door to us was terrified to come into our yard (not a bad thing) because she might encounter a hummingbird. Let's teach children to be afraid to go outside.
So we continue to enjoy our aberrant hummingbirds that live too long, feed from the wrong flowers, and haven't attacked anything yet, although they occasionally buzz a cat and terrify the poor kitten!




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Why are sports so boring?

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:43 pm

Almost any sport--watch the last few minutes and you've seen the game.
Basketball--very tall skinny people running up and down a shiny floor and bouncing a big orange ball. Then they try to get the ball through a hoop approximately the size of the ball. Well, gee, they have been doing this since they were six so you'd think they would be better at it. Yawnnnnn.
Baseball--if you have an advanced degree in mathematics, you can understand all the numbers and statistics the announcers are throwing out. The game is less about the players' abilities and more about "baseball language." I think it's a secret code decipherable only to a few diehard fans. Yawnnnn.
Thanks to my husband I am acquainted with Formula One racing. This sport has the advantage of being held in very interesting places with pretty scenery. Who knew Italy had so many evergreen trees? Dubai, no. The pit stops are slightly interesting--those guys can move fast! However, watching funny looking cars go around a track laid out to be intentionally difficult is only interesting for about two laps. Then there are the 55 laps to come. Yawnnnn.
Nascar? Oh, please. The only interesting thing about watching these cars go around an oval track is the paint jobs on the cars. If they could jam in one more sponsor logo they would, but they now have logos all over the drivers' suits and helmets. Yawnnnn.
And football--a bunch of steroid sucking neanderthals lumbering up and down a field and occasionally scoring points. The fans with their headdresses (cheese heads) and painted bodies (ugh)are mildly interesting, but one has to sit through four quarters for momentary flashes of interest. Why do they say "four quarters" when "quarter" pretty well says it all? Yawnnn.
Tennis is inherently boring--thock, thock, thock--someone scored a point! I played tennis, and it was boring! Yawnnnnnn.
Rodeo originated in skills needed on the ranch (with the exception of barrel racing). Bull riding is another exception, but I do admit to being a fan. I loved watching the boys from Brazil dominate after the Australians all retired and moved to Stephenville Texas and bought ranches. I still remember an interview with an Aussie and the interviewer didn't understand a word he said.
So, although sports are boring, it seems there is a large audience for sports. That's fine, but please do not expect me to watch them or discuss them ad infinitum!

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We're so fortunate

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 4:21 pm

We love being on our little farm, and while enjoying our morning coffee, watching birds come into the feeders, and cats lounging on the porch, we often reminisce about how fortunate we are.
We don't need other people, which during this pandemic time is a real blessing.
We are happy with what we have and don't want much more (my husband is adamant about not letting me have two mules although I'd really like two mules).
We both have our strong points. His is repairing equipment, mowing, and making furniture in his workshop. Mine is cooking and cuddling cats. Notice neither of us is particularly good at housekeeping.
We both like gardening. He keeps the weeds down as much as possible, and I harvest. I like that division of labor!
So, we agree we are fortunate. Hope y'all are, too!

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We're magnets for the weird

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 4:30 pm

I think I've mentioned before that strange things, and strange people happen to us. Our ability to attract the off-balance had seemed to subside, but no, we are still magnets for the weird.

In the past week, two complete strangers have pulled into our driveway and offered to paint our barn. We have a metal barn (big advantage, it doesn't have to be painted)and, I checked, we don't have a "barn painters wanted" sign anywhere on the farm. The second guy, whom I felt vaguely sorry for, wasn't prepared for my questions. "What color are you planning on painting it? Are you going to use quality paint? And why do you want to paint our barn FOR FREE? I guess he planned on charging us for the pleasure of painting our barn. As we say here in Texas, he skedaddled.

Then, at 6:30 yesterday morning my husband was in the backyard firing the pistol to scare off a skunk. Husband, fully dressed, with a firearm, and a man comes up to our fence and apologizes for waking my husband. Okay, maybe he sleeps fully dressed with a pistol by his side. We don't. He is surely very trusting, because no way would we approach someone in the semi-dark after hearing gunfire!

He wanted to know where he was. My husband bit back the obvious answer, "leaning on my fence" and asked why he wanted to know. It seems he had wrecked his car and wanted to phone a tow truck, at 6:30 a.m. My husband told him what road he was on and the nearest intersection, then the guy wanted to phone his mother and have my husband talk to her! Husband refused and the man went back to his car. We are still trying to figure out how someone has a towing firm's phone number in the addresses on a cell phone. Perhaps not so much "how" as "why"?

So far today has been pretty normal (for us) and we hope it stays that way. We have looked at each other and asked, "why us?"

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Third world living

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:59 pm

Yes,I know we are in Texas, but lately it seems that we are living in a third world country. These are lessons we have learned:
Do not subscribe to a magazine or newspaper. We have a subscription for Time, which may or may not arrive. If we inquire at the post office, they tell us it was delivered. I guess we are to search our neighbor's mailboxes to find our magazine. We now read the magazine on-line, more often than not.
Do not expect phone calls to be returned. My husband picked up his prescriptions, and the blood pressure medicine was missing. The pharmacist said he'd received no prescription for it. Husband called the doctor's office and got the following message, "We are on vacation as of Jan. 3, and will return to the office on Jan. 9". He called in mid-September. After leaving a request for a return call which didn't happen, he called again today and finally got the prescription sent to the pharmacy.
Do not expect contracts to be honored. The Progressive Waste Solutions which is supposed to pick up our garbage has missed more pick-up days than they have hit. The latest is when our Tuesday pick-up was missed, the office told us it would be picked up by Wednesday afternoon, then by the "end of the week" (we should have asked what week, what year). This company is neither progressive nor a solution. I do agree they are a waste.
Do not plan on watching TV. A local station goes off the air frequently and their excuse is that they are having trouble with their transmitter. I missed bull riding yesterday, thanks to their transmitter. My ire was nothing compared to the football fans who missed three quarters of the game!
Do not expect someone to show up when they say they will, and these are not businesses, but neighbors. I call and ask if a dozen free eggs would be acceptable. Enthusiasm, I'll be there this afternoon. No show. I offer garden produce. Enthusiasm, I'll stop by on my way home. No show. Why don't they just tell us their time is more valuable than ours, and we can wait around for them to either find time to stop by or remember?
I love living on the farm, and am grateful that we can get by without mail delivery, garbage pick-up, and TV programs, but my husband's blood pressure is not being improved by the lackadaisical incompetence we keep running into!

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Getting rid of a rooster

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:40 pm

In May we received our order of 12 chicks. One has turned out to be a rooster, and since I don't want to candle eggs or get chased around the coop by a testerone happy chicken, we decided to give him away to someone who had a flock that needed "refreshing."

I made up a nice poster, complete with photo, to put up at the feed store. "Black Australorp Rooster, 8 weeks old. Free!
His offspring will increase your egg quality and quantity. Call xxx-xxxx to arrange for pick-up."

Some of the calls we received were strange, disturbing, and downright funny. One man asked if the rooster was a male, and if he was black. Well, yes, he is and he is.

Another caller wanted me to deliver the rooster. And yet another wanted me to meet them at the feed store with rooster in tow.

The last caller wanted the rooster, but wasn't sure when she could come, or her cousin could come, so I was to be sure to be home when they could stop by to get the rooster. I told her I had made other arrangements.

We now have a rooster who is pretty mellow, so far. I've named him Cogburn (anyone seen the movie True Grit?) He seems to be avoiding the mature hens, who have a tendency to sit on him when he gets obstreperous. Nothing like having a 12 pound hen sitting on you to calm you down!

I hope he stays friendly. If not, he will go somewhere else--there is a guy down the road that has free-range hens that Cogburn would just love!

Who would have thought in an area of farms it would be so darned difficult to give away a purebred, gently raised rooster with impeccable heritage?

This blog entry has been viewed 354 times


Grandfather's and daddy's garden tools, now mine

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:31 pm

We have all the needed garden tools, and a few that we bought on impulse and are still trying to figure out why! It seemed like a good idea at the time, but time has proven us wrong in several instances. Some are flimsier than we thought; some just don’t do the job intended; and some are just for those who garden in an 8” pot.

Our most-used and most-beloved tools are the old ones. Our hoe was used by my grandfather, and by my daddy. When I sharpen the edge, or feel the smooth wood under my hand, I feel connected to family. I can imagine my grandfather’s calloused hands on that hoe. He was a farmer who, when he retired, moved to town to a corner lot of about three acres. He immediately started a big vegetable garden. Daddy spent many an hour hoeing out weeds with that smooth handled hoe. Now I hoe weeds, make rows for planting, and think about grandfather and daddy.

Our hedge clips came down in the family also. I don’t know who bought them originally, but they have held up for over 60 years. I remember daddy clipping the spirea hedge along the driveway, using these clips. I used them as a teenager to shape the same hedge, and later a yew hedge in our upstate NY home. After we moved to Texas, the clips encountered plants they had never heard of, and the bolt holding the cutting edges together had to be replaced. That replacement, and the occasional sharpening, is all they have received over the years. The wooden handles fit my hands perfectly, and I can almost feel daddy’s hands on them.

Our garden rake is a relic of my grandfather’s, also. It is so sturdy it stands up to our “gumbo” soil, and makes a lovely planting row for vegetables. It also has raked up the bedding in the chicken coop and the residue of a hay bale in the pasture. It has a wooden handle (all of these tools were made before the invention of fiberglass) and the tines are still very “toothy” after all these years.

We have a shovel that came from my grandfather, and that daddy used. It has dug so many holes, moved so many perennials, and pried up so many large weeds! It gets sharpened on occasion, and is probably a good four inches shorter than it was originally due to the sharpening. It will still outlast me.

I care for these tools by cleaning, giving them an occasional sharpening, and rubbing some linseed oil into the wooden handles. That’s what grandfather did, what daddy did, and what I do. I also treasure them.



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Losing a company I loved

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 4:36 pm

Why do companies feel compelled to change their websites when there is absolutely nothing wrong with the current site?

I have ordered garden seeds from PineTree Seeds for years, and recommended them highly to fellow gardeners. Well, you guessed it, the website is now "new and improved" and Bill Gates would have trouble navigating it.

On Friday I struggled for two hours to place an order for 15 packets of seeds. Why I didn't throw in the trowel (pun intended) and order from someone else, I don't know. Guess I'm either stubborn or slow to catch on, or both.

Anyway, I finally was able to place my order, and got a confirmation the next day. I also sent an e-mail to customer service (a misnomer if there ever was one) and got an answer today. It seems that I don't know how to use a computer and the customer service representative gave me a brief tutorial on how to use their website. Well, gee thanks honey, but we have a monthly e-newsletter, and I help moderate a gardening forum, so I'm not exactly in the quill and ink group! When I tell you a link doesn't work, it doesn't work.

By now you have guessed that I am not going to order from PineTree ever again. I'm a patient woman, but there are limits and PineTree crossed that threshold on Friday. At least the door didn't hit me in the behind as I exited!



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