2026, My year of Garden Narcissism

[ducks4you]

Poor Tegan. She Is housetrained, but she has been asking to go out sometimes 3x in a row to do...nothing. So, she spent 90 minutes in her crate this morning to think about it.
Eva would sometimes sneak downstairs to the basement and leave me a mess to clean up and dogs sense of smell is pheNOMINAL. I was thinking that Tegan smelled it and would think, "I don't need to bother Duckums..."
Meanwhile I fed ponies (still in their stalls), threw hay in the broken manger 1/2, and (gulp!) put hay on the dry gunk on the shelter floor bc we have had heavy rain and will be getting heavy rain until Saturday morning. Now that Tegan climbs the loft stairs I can't go up there with her on her 15 barn leash, formerly a 15 ft white cotton lungeline...with a handle that fits around the wooden post in front of the barn.
I plan to take a short nap, then put ponies outside. We are getting highs in the 50's, 60's and 70's this week and their lungs are healthier with the fresh air.

 

[digitS']

Eight days.

How are you?

Critters keeping you busy? Naps are important, too.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Yes, critters are keeping me busy.
Good thing that I have two cars. Driving home from DD's house Wednesday night, came over the top of a hill and hit a raccoon.
Stupid low to the ground Avalon and fiberglass, 14 inches smacked off right Under the bumper, which I dragged 5 miles to get home, IN the dark.
Insurance said that there is a deductible for this, $100, pay $ to have it towed to 1/3 suggested local garages, pay the $100 to Them, then the rest of the bill goes to the insurance company.
We named the 2 ft tall dead raccoon, "Jonesey". It was there the next day, gone the day after. I suspect a coywolf carried the carcass off.
IF I had been driving my Ram truck, I wouldn't have even noticed it.

 

[ducks4you]

Couldn't decide between the dog or cat thread, so here is Tegan and Lynx, "The Lion shall lay down with the Lamb," so to speak.

 

[baymule]

Tegan and Lynx are almost the same color.

I hit a squirrel in my Hyundai Accent. Little car, low to the ground, it did $600 worth of damage to my car. It tore up some kind of plastic shield under the car and cracked the bumper. I took it to a body shop and paid for it. Deductible was $500 so I didn't turn it in.

 

[Marie2020]

Tegan and Lynx are almost the same color.

I hit a squirrel in my Hyundai Accent. Little car, low to the ground, it did $600 worth of damage to my car. It tore up some kind of plastic shield under the car and cracked the bumper. I took it to a body shop and paid for it. Deductible was $500 so I didn't turn it in.

You are having a hard time lately. I am so sorry

How is the dreaded hernia going? I hope you are not straining yourself.

 

[ducks4you]

Tegan and Lynx are almost the same color.

I hit a squirrel in my Hyundai Accent. Little car, low to the ground, it did $600 worth of damage to my car. It tore up some kind of plastic shield under the car and cracked the bumper. I took it to a body shop and paid for it. Deductible was $500 so I didn't turn it in.

With ALL of the spiritual attack going on, with This one I caught a break. We switched to State Farm many years ago, after I saw in court how they fought for their customers.
My total fees for this will be <$200, $100 deductible and extra towing fee (for my rural location.)
I had intended to have it towed today, but we just had a monster storm, 60 degrees yesterday at noon, 26 degrees Now, terrible winds, a Tornado Alert that went off on my phone, power outage--don't worry about Me, our house came with an old generator in pristine condition and we converted it to natural gas that doesn't blow down like a power line.) and sleet/snow all this morning. Roads are crap.
Dead battery in the other car, which got towed Friday to the shop, not ready yet, but they said I could pick it up on Wednesday.
We took my Saturn L200 out to SD years ago and hit a baby deer in Custer State Park. DH had the foresight to Not brake, so No damage to the car. Ranger euthanized the deer on the spot.
IF I had been driving my Mostly Steel Dodge Ram, it would have needed just a wash.
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

[ducks4you]

I cannot Possibly go to this, but I thought to post it anyway for those of you near Westminster Cathedral.

Stabat Mater - Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral Choir and Britten Sinfonia present a Lenten concert of sacred reflection and profound musical devotion, bringing together two masterworks that speak powerfully to the mystery of faith, suffering, […]

westminstercathedral.org.uk

They are performing one of my absolute favorite pieces, this Wednesday, March 18th.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Vaughn Williams cataloged Tallis's medieval sacred songs and composed this piece from it. It didn't develop acclaim during his lifetime. Instead his fans preferred The Lark Ascending
It was composed to be performed by Two small orchestras in a chapel. Sounds like this:

 

[ducks4you]

I made a new dish Saturday, which I am calling Chicken Goulash. Started with 2 pints of the chicken broth I made last week, 3 days worth of cooking down chicken with bones, fresh thyme, parsley and sage from my fridge top herb garden, then: carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated basil and two chicken thighs with the skin/fatcap---Eldest DD, who stayed home while her sister went to Iowa for convention stuff, seasoned with salt and pepper.
I started at 6AM, we let it cook until about 6PM, then I pulled out the chicken, deboned and shredded it, DD added egg noodles, and and we let them cook for another 30 minutes.
I cannot describe the medley of flavors! Since it wasn't full of store bought ingredients everything just digested So well! Plus, great meal for a cold day.
I still have enough chicken to make it 2 more times. I will try to write down a usable recipe.
The 6 pack of chicken thighs wa $3.00 marked down, and the noodles were About $1.50
Cheap and Healthy meal.
The egg noodles soaked up almost all of the extra juices. We are sitting on the fence whether I should add another pint of broth next time.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Ducks4you… Yummy recipe sounds delightful and easy to cook up from scratch. Good job.