Hunter, aka Super Destroyer

I've just had the pleasure of spending 4 days with my daughter Sheri and her almost 2 year old son, Hunter.

Hunter, in my opinion, is very appropriately named. This little man would be at home with a little loincloth and miniature spear. His energy and curiosity is a delight to watch even though it can drive his mama a little nuts.

On one of our little outings, Sheri needed to do some shopping alone so I followed Hunter around the mall. He never stopped running. I followed him around the atrium, down the upper level to Sears, to the back of Sears and then all the way back to the atrium again. If we didn't cover 1/2 a mile, I'd be surprised. Why he didn't drop from exhaustion only confirms my impression of him. After an organic chocolate milk, he was on his way again!!!

I love to watch my grandchildren grow. Not being the primary cargiver gives me a chance to observe a little more objectively and to see nuances that I missed with my own kids. When there are loads of laundry to wash, dinner to cook and dishes to wash afterwards, there's just not so much time to observe their little minds at work. I didn't think I'd fall for my grandbabies like I have but they are just so darn cute and smart that I just can't help it!!!!

The only problem with this is that they all live so darn far away!

Faye, Faye, Go Away....part 2

Yes, I know Faye is mostly gone. She's traveled her way north and we are slowing drying out except for our normal afternoon thunder bumpers. Her effects are still here though. The St. John's River (one of the only rivers in North America that flows north) is still cresting. The communites along the river and it's associated lakes are flooding. It's a mess.

But I have some good memories of Faye too. Yes, I did the walking thing and admired the prodigious amounts of moisture that continually bombarded my neighborhood (final score, 18 inches in 4 days!) Even better, I got to do my very favorite and dreamed of storm activities this time.

I washed my hair in rainwater AS IT WAS RAINGING. That's how hard the water came down....I even got all the soap out of my hair and it felt SO soft.

AND, I washed my car in the downpour. That's right folks, I soaped her up, scrubbed her down and let Mother Nature rinse her off. For this Earth Mama, I loved the fact that I didn't have to turn on the hose!!!

Now, our attention is on Gustav and Hanna. I wonder what's in store?

Faye, Faye, Go Away!!!

Okay. I love a good storm. I was raised walking in hurricanes and it's a special connection I have with my Mom. I love the feel of wind through my hair and on my face and the fresh rainwater dripping thick enough to drink. My feet naturally hunt for puddles and my "little girl" has a blast.

But Faye has pushed even MY love for rough weather to the brink.

I mean, hurricanes are supposed to blow through the area in about a day or so. The wind blows, roofs get damaged, rain falls, limbs break off,.... you know, standard stuff. After the storm is gone, you clean up. Simple, right?

Faye didn't read the rules. She has been hanging out in Central Florida for FOUR FRIGGING DAYS!!!!! I mean, enough is enough already. My rain gauge (an empty straight sided bucket) tells me we've gotten 16 inches of rain already with 6 more expected tonight. And we haven't even had the worst of it. Parts of Melbourne (southeast of us) has had 26 inches of rain. People have water up to their waist there.

By the way, my hens have grown webbed feet.

Mama's New Pull Toy!!!

I've been thinking about getting a little trailer for my Sonata for a couple of months. I like to haul things....like manure, hay (for garden mulch), potting soil, the occasional sheet of plywood and yard waste from my neighbors. Yes, I steal people's garbage but only if it's bagged leaves or grass clippings. They combine to make great compost, especially when I combine them with shredded newspaper, coffee grounds from Starbucks and the manure from a nearby horse barn.

Most of the time I call my lovely daughter, Carley, for a car swap. I take the truck, she drives my car. For the most part I don't think she minds and she's never been anything but accomodating. Still, with both of our schedules and lives being as busy as they are, sometimes the swap times are just a pain in the patootie.

So today, I got my trailer, or my Pull Toy as my husband described it. I have a hitch on my Sonata that should discourage anyone from rear ending me. I mean, it extends a good six inches and an extention raises the ball up a bit. Hhhhmmmmm.....anyway, another car will get hurt if it bumps into me. A truck would just laugh and plow through!!

As you can see from the pictures, I hauled plywood today. That wood will be used to create a solid floor on said trailer as well as solid sides and gate. It's just not good manners to track manure over public roads. I will paint it black to match my car and I will love it and pat and feed it and it will have a wonderful life with me.....so much manure, so little time!!!

On Grandma's "Farm"

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've shared my life with you. But I have a good reason!!! I've had my oldest daughter and her two children (MY grandchildren!) here for 9 days. They flew home yesterday and I sure miss them. Still, I have the memories of a ton of fun!!

Alex and I both love to be outside so this trip, I introduced him to some of my hobbies. If you notice, in his right hand is a claw tool, just his size. He used it to dig up that which is in his left hand...some nice juicy earthworms that had taken up residence next to my compost pile. Notice the chickens? THEY got the benefit of those nice juicy earthworms and had no problem eating out of Alex's hand. It didn't even stop him when they accidentally pecked his fingers a bit.

"Mom" got into the action too and I think between them, they gave my birds a good meal!

High and Dry in Central Florida

So, I've been looking for a piece of land to buy...2 or 3 acres somewhere near enough to Orlando to get to work within an hour, dry with a road. Yep. That's what I've been looking for.

The first piece lay south of Groveland which lies west of Orlando. The ad said, "park like acreage, wonderfully isolated rural land. Large mature tree canopy." The agent said that half of it was dry. So one morning, Rich and I had "an adventure." We drove out for over an hour, turned left on route 33 and drove another 15 miles, made a right on some little country road, made another right at the group of mailboxes, and drove VERY carefully over the dirt road whoopti-doos til we came to the FOR SALE sign.

Well, she was partly right. It was lovely. Big trees. And it would have been nice and dry if we were willing to bring in about 250 cubit yards of fill dirt for the house area. The creek on the right side of the property was the kind that drained the surrounding area into a larger swamp downstream. A good hurricane would leave us bogged down for weeks.

We explored another plot (in our price range) today. The owner said there was a hunting road that led to the property but that she'd never been there herself. Still, the aerial pictures looked promising. I could see individual trees and then paler green that I assumed were grassland (and we all know what ASS-U-ME means!!)

So, Rich and I had ANOTHER adventure. We found the entrance to the hunters' "road" tucked close to the HWY 50/HWY520 intersection. Rich parked the truck well on the shoulder of the road and we got out to see that the road was blocked by a welded steel gate with a nice lock on it. Didn't really matter. They did us a favor by preventing us from driving back there. I don't think our little Ford Ranger would have made it through the water on that "road." At any rate, we started walking. Figured we would walk about a mile in and find our land and it would be nice and dry with wild Florida grass pasture...Yep.

We did call the phone numbers on the gate to let the hunters know that we would be walking on the road (and please, don't shoot!) I got the answering service for both numbers though one was kind enough to call back. He just wanted us to know that he had killed a couple of wild boars back there and that there were also bear. Oh, and he'd recently killed a couple of pygmy rattlesnakes within the first few turns on the road. Just be careful, he warned. I looked at Rich and he said don't worry, all the animals slept during the heat of the day. Okay.

So armed only with my trusty camera, a half pint of water and my cell phone, we forged onward. After a half mile (and 10-12 "low spots" on the road where the land was about knee depth below the level of the standing water) the trees finally gave way and we saw what I thought was pasture....WRONG. It was sawgrass. Sawgrass grows in water. Water is NOT high and dry. Though we never got to the surveyed plot, we felt it pretty safe to turn around and go back. On the way back, Rich took the time to point out some animal tracks....raccoon, deer and, oh yes, wild boar! He did manage to bag one speciman of the wild while we were there...a mosquito about as big around as a quarter. You know, the kind that splats with YOUR blood when you hit it. They never bothered me at all.

I emailed the property owner and told her I didn't think this would serve our purposes.