Sights from around Crooked Acres.
I was outside taking pictures Saturday, when George and Gracie started barking like crazy, running back and forth. It took about five minutes for what they (and all the neighborhood dogs) were barking at to come into view.
It went directly over me, and the two people in it waved and called something to me, but I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying (probably “nice pajamas!” Hey, how was I supposed to know we were going to have company?). George and Gracie chased it across the back forty until it was gone.
George and Gracie are always very proud of themselves when they’ve chased off a hot air balloon or a plane or a songbird. Fiercely protective, those two.
The Morning Glories are blooming. I know they’re invasive weeds, but I think they’re so pretty and I always look forward to seeing them.
The kiwi vine, vining.
That woodpecker (on the tree) came sidling down the tree. He and the finch regarded each other for a moment…
“Don’t mind if I do!”
The autumn clematis is blooming, and it smells diVINE.
The catnip had gotten huge and was starting to flower, so I chopped it back and piled up the branches so I could tie them together and hang them in the tractor shed to dry. The next thing I knew, Stefan was laying on top of the pile of catnip looking happy. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera with me!
Bee on a green bean flower.
Okra flower. So pretty!
Wee tomato. The tomatoes are coming in like crazy, and I’ll be a salsa-making maniac.
The habanero plants bounced back, finally. We haven’t harvested any yet, but it won’t be long.
Pretty, pretty rooster.
::thlurrrp:: “You gots a snack for me, lady?”
Cruella, hanging out.
When George looks this happy, there’s always a snack involved.
Dragonfly, by the pond. They’re usually hard to get a picture of, what with the constant flitting, but I swear this one was posing for me.
Dragonfly #2.
The ducks followed me out to the pond, then decided it was time for a swim.
Grumpy George.
Happy George.
Fruit from the black gum tree. This fall, the gum trees all over the property will drop billions of these. You can imagine how much fun it is to try to walk across a driveway coated with gum balls. I’m surprised I haven’t sprained an ankle yet.
The wallow/pond in the pig yard. The chickens and ducks like to hang out there, because it’s more shaded (and thus a bit cooler) than the big pond.
Brahma hen has places to go.
Gracie, hanging out in the pig shelter. The dogs really like this shelter – it’s going to be a sad day for them, the next time we have pigs and the dogs can’t get in there.
Pretty hen, at the edge of the wallow.
Male duck, chasing the hens. I have ZERO use for ducks, and when they do this ridiculousness, I really, really dislike them.
Instead of protecting his wimminfolk, AS A ROOSTER IS LEGALLY BOUND TO DO, dummy was too busy admiring his back side.
Look, I don’t want to cast aspersions on your manhood, Mr. Rooster, but that’s a sad, feather-deficient tail you’ve got going on there. Roosters are supposed to have fabulous tails, and yours? Not so much. JUST SAYIN’.
Don’t work too hard, pups.
The Rock Star, growing out her most recent unfortunate haircut.
PLEASE NOTE: SPIDER SECTION COMING UP. CLICK HERE IF SPIDERS OOK YOU OUT AND YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THE FABULOUS DOLORES.
making
space
for
the
spider
hatahs
who
hate
spiders
but
how
could
anyone
hate
dolores
i
ask
you?
Mister Dolores is gone. One day he was there, the next he was gone and Dolores was eating a really big snack. I didn’t look any closer, ’cause I just didn’t wanna know.
Dolores, showing off her gams.
You can’t tell from this picture, but she got really big. Then Monday morning, Fred told me that Dolores had finally laid (?) her egg sac. “She looks really tired,” he said. “And she’s like half the size she was yesterday!”
And yep. He wasn’t kidding!
I was taking this picture, and a leaf fell onto my arm. I about had a heart attack.
I have no idea how long we’ll be waiting for baby spiders to show up. Google says either they’ll hatch in a few weeks, or they’ll overwinter. I wouldn’t expect them to overwinter (the weather here should be mild until early Novemberish), but I guess we’ll see!
Making
space
for
the
aforementioned
Dolores
haters
who
hate
Dolores
and
all
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Sweet girl.
She’s such a goofball.
Snuggly girl.
Gorgeous, too!
Tricki went to the vet yesterday to get her rabies shot, and I asked them to weigh her while we were there.
That tiny girl, at 1 year and 3 months old, only weighs 5.7 pounds!
She’s in perfect health, though, as long as we don’t try to move her away from the “sensitive systems” food she’s on. I think she’s the tiniest adult cat I’ve ever seen.
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Grumpy Newt.
“LADY. How’m I gonna throw myself to the dirt and roll around on my back in front of you so you almost trip over me, if you just STAND there?!”
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Previously
2013: Da Bird-ing with the Starks and Norbie.
2012: “AM BOSS OF YOOO. FEAR ME.”
2011: No entry.
2010: Every mancat needs some pink floof in his life.
2009: So we have our solution and we’re ready to move ahead!
2008: At least she’s got Zoe and Kaylee to keep her company and to play with.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Fantastic post! I love Crooked Acres Thursdays! But tell me why all the hate for ducks? I always kinda liked them myself. Do they have an evil side I’ve never seen?!
Heyyyy, it’s only Wednesday! Why are you messing with my mind?
I used to LOVE ducks, and while I still sort of LIKE them (they ARE cute after all), I have to say I can’t blame Robyn. The males are jerks. Without getting into too many gory details (you can look it up on the web and there are even videos of it), they are extremely aggressive towards females in their mating habits, to the point where they could be called rapists/murderers. You know it’s bad when the female duck anatomy has had to evolve to try to foil attempts at unwanted copulation!
Yes, this. The females are okay, but I loathe the males. They spend a lot of time chasing around our female chickens, trying to have sex with them. And the roosters are just USELESS, and stand there and watch.
Ok so why do you have ducks? You don’t seem fond of the females and their choices in nest either. You don’t seem interested in their eggs or ducklings too.
Are these Fred’s ducks?
Oh, they are 100% Fred’s ducks. The entire reason he wanted them was because he likes the way they walk around and quack under their breath. I never thought we needed them (they were awfully cute when they were little, though.)
I do occasionally bake with duck eggs.
LOVE LOVE this post! Thank you! Did you notice the clump of fur on the ground in the picture “When George looks this happy, there’s always a snack involved.” ?
I am gonna cross my fingers that you just happen to be there with your camera when the baby spiders “hatch”!!!
Ha – I did, actually! That came from Fred’s most recent round of dog-brushing. 🙂
Tricki is so sweet and adorable, where are her people?? And tiny! Who doesnt love a tiny cat?
I can’t believe you werent waiting for Dolores to lay her egg sack so you could smoosh it! The thought of hundreds of those things hatching makes my skin crawl! What are you going to do when they hatch? Let them all live there if they want? *having a major case of the heebie jeebies*
Sure, they can live there if they want – but I should point out that the web (and sac of eggs) is by the garage, which is across the driveway from the house. I’d probably be a little more freaked out if that was hanging right outside the house. 🙂
Tricky! Leetle kitty! Wow, she’s IBKC’s Wylla Stout levels of tiny. 🙂
*pets the dogs* You tell that hot air balloon who’s boss, you two.
Do you do anything special with all the gum balls, or do you just sweep them up and chuck them? Not chuck them *at* anything/body, mind, although I imagine you could do that if you wanted!
I actually bring a few inside the house, because the cats like to play with them and bat them around. The rest just get swept off the driveway, and eventually picked up with the sweeper (or raked up) and tossed in a pile.
Why has nobody picked up that tiny panther? I didn’t realize she was that small!
I think it’s kind of hard to tell how tiny she is from the pictures – and I suspect that if people realized that she’s fully grown, and not a kitten, there might be more interest!
I love the Crooked Acres posts!
Your spider alert is GREATLY appreciated!!
I wouldn’t want to give anyone nightmares! 🙂
They actually crack me up! I think…”big babies”! LOL…just kidding! If they were of palmetto bugs…I would skip over them. Only critter that creeps me out!!
Oooh, you should TOTALLY submit your bee photo to Bumble Bee Watch. They care for the bees or at least track them. And you already have the photo. http://bumblebeewatch.org
Oh, cool – I’ll check it out!
Robyn, WHAT did you do to poor Rock Star chicken? My goodness! 🙂
I love it when hot air balloons fly over. The burners make a really distinctive sound, but unfortunately it freaks out my cats.
Do you plant catnip with your squash plants? I read recently that squash bugs hate hate HATE catnip, so it acts as a natural pesticide.
I am SO not a hairdresser, obviously. 🙂
I actually didn’t know that squash bugs hate catnip. I think I’m going to give it a try next year!
Hmmm. Now that I think about it, someone mentioned that catnip repels mosquitoes, too. I wonder if a catnip spray would repel squash bugs!
Pet spiders aren’t as ooky as just spiders living on the street. “Hood spiders” if you will. Dolores reminds me of Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web. There were 3 babies that stayed behind in that case.
So much to applaud and appreciate in this post, not least Stefan. Well played, young sir!
So what size are your habaneros when you pick them? I have three on my one plant right now, all nice orangy red and a little bigger than a quarter.
And I was so happy to see the Joe and Tony RH Pickle updates on Facebook!! I’ve been reading the past posts and wondered how the Terrible Pickle was doing!
I’d say they’re… maybe an inch and a half across, and the same lengthwise? I’ll try to get a picture when we start harvesting them!
I am not a fan of spiders, but I adore Delores. 🙂
I don’t even understand how that egg sack came out of Delores. I really should just heed your warning and avoid looking at pictures of her but I can’t help myself… it’s like when you pass a train wreck and you just can’t help but rubberneck… dammit!
I agree with the poster above …. your tiny house panther is so irresistable I cannot fathom why people are not lined up to fill out applcations to take her home. Especially since it would be like having a well behaved kitten around 24/7!
Is it weird that I kind of wish I’d been able to watch her lay the eggs (or however they do it)? But yeah, it’s amazing that something that size came from her!
Great post !!!
My little calico LadyBug was very tiny. I think she barely weighed 5 pounds. When people met her they thought she was a kitten !! You can see her here………http://catoftheday.com/archive/2007/February/21.html. She has since gone to the rainbow bridge, but loved every day.
What a sweet girl!!!
I was wondering how the water in the pig yard wallow/pond keeps from getting mucky and full of mosquito larvae. Are there fish in there? Please educate me as I am very curious!!!
Good question! It actually is kind of mucky, but the ducks like to get in there and paddle around, and I know there’s at least one turtle who lives in there. I don’t know if Rouen ducks eat mosquito larvae (I know Muscovy ducks do), but I think they might.
those have to been the goofiest “guard” dogs ever…barking at hot air balloons and then laying around 🙂
Come on Tricki’s family….doesn’t everyone need a tiny house panther?
They would like you to know that at night, when the humans are sleeping, they’re hard at work deterring predators. (Or maybe they just lay in the pig shelter and occasionally bark if they hear something. One or the other!)
I know that you can’t keep all of your fosters but when Tricki looks up at you like taht, I can’t imagine letting her go.
Will Dolores die, now that she laid her egg sac? Oh, I cried and cried and cried when Charlotte died after she laid hers. Not Dolores, too!!
As far as Mr. Dolores goes, he prolly deserved it. Like he left the cap off the fly-flavored toothpaste for the 50th time or left the toilet seat up or something.
Someone asked my mum about our “kitten” the other day. They were talking about my 18 year old cat. She’s extremely tiny, but she knows *and gets) exactly what she wants.