I guess I was just destined to be a mom…

Now don’t go freaking out… not THAT kind of mom!

It looks like God wants me to be a beaver mom in the worst way, so my fate and destiny are sealed.

When I went in to the BRWC last Tuesday, Peg was filling me in on all of the latest news and about our new ‘patients’. Then she told me that they had gotten a call about a baby beaver that a nice man said he had found in a ditch a couple of weeks ago after we had some heavy rains and storms. Well, we were just SURE that it was a baby groundhog because beavers are only supposed to give birth in the early springtime, NOT in the fall!  After several phone calls an arrangement was finally figured out that Angela, another volunteer that lived closer to the guy, would go and pick up the baby and that I would meet her part way and bring it back to the center. Well, lo and behold it was definitely a baby beaver… a very young and very skinny baby beaver. He/she (don’t know yet) had terrible diarrhea and was not feeling well at all. Obviously, this baby’s mom had not read the textbooks about when she was supposed to be having her babies! We think he/she was born sometime in September.

Anyway, it turns out that since I was the one that took care of Jerri Mathers, that I have the most experience caring for baby beavers at the BRWC… so the little one came home with me and is now ensconced in a ‘den’ in my master bathroom. And since we now know that baby beavers will become very attached to their human moms, it looks like it’s going to be kind of a long term thing cuz we’re not sending this one to Virginia Beach!!

I’ve named he/she  Paddy after another orphaned baby beaver that I read about in a book my Sissy (aka Capri P) found for me at a used book store. That Paddy’s story had a very happy ending so I’m hoping that this Paddy’s story will go the same way.

So, meet Paddy…

 Paddy still doesn’t feel very good, but I noticed an improvement when I took him/her outside to enjoy the sunshine and green grass this afternoon.

Another test result

 

Another test http://blogthings.com/theautumnquiz/  result…   sounds like

Mrs. Schmenkman http://caprik.wordpress.com/ and I are quite alike!

 

Your Autumn Test Results

You are a dynamic, vibrant person. You aren’t afraid to pursue your passions.When you are happiest, you are calm. You appreciate tradition and family. You enjoy feeling cozy.You tend to be afraid of change. You are never ready for things to be different. You find love to be the most comforting thing in the world. You feel at peace when you’re with your loved ones. Your ideal day is active and full. You like to keep busy with your favorite things, and you appreciate a routine. You tend to live in the moment. You enjoy whatever is going on, and you don’t obsess over the past or future

Brain test

My BFF Capri Kel at http://caprik.wordpress.com/  took this test and posted her results on her blog,  http://mindmedia.com/braintest.html
 The results were pretty accurate and it got me curious, so I went and took it too. Here are my results… It got me pegged to a tee I think! So interesting! It doesn’t take long to complete at all.

Caprilis, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and show a preference for visual learning, although not extreme in either characteristic. You probably tend to do most things in moderation, but not always.
Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and structured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to “catch up” with yourself.
Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor. You can “size up” situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to “lose touch” with the immediacy of the problem.
Your logical and methodical nature hamper you in this regard though in the long run it may work to your advantage since you “learn from experience” and can go through the process more rapidly on subsequent occasions.
You remain predominantly functional in your orientation and practical. Abstraction and theory are secondary to application. In keeping with this, you focus on details until they manifest themselves in a unique pattern and only then work with the “larger whole.”
With regards to your career choices, you have a mentality that would be good as a scientist, coach, athlete, design consultant, or an engineering technician. You can “see where you want to go” and even be able to “tell yourself,” but find that you are “fighting yourself” at the darndest times.

Broken Ends and Happy Endings

Several months ago, while working a the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center a call came in about a turtle that had been hit by a car. Some little kids had found it and insisted that they find it some help.

It turned out that it was hit not too far from my house so I left the center and went to pick it up. When I found the address and pulled over, I was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of little boys that I would guess were anywhere between the ages of 4 and 7. They all wanted to be the first one to show me where the turtle was. I was already not very hopeful because of the large puddle of blood in the road, but the kids led me to a bunch of bushes that the turtle had managed to crawl under.  It was bad, the shell was badly broken on the read end of the poor painted turtle.  Some  internal ’stuff’ was showing and I didn’t think the poor thing had a chance. Surprisingly, when I picked it up though it kicked and fought and clearly wanted to be put down!

I thanked the boys for careing about the turtle and for calling the center and told them that our veternarian would do her very best to save him. One boy proudly stepped forward and declared  “ anything I can do to help”… that made me smile.

I then proceeded all the way back to the veternarian’s house which is right near the wildlife center to deliver the turtle; which I was sure would have to be euthanized straight away. When she saw him though she said that it wasn’t completely hopeless although she did have some concerns about some of the ’stuff’ that was showing through the broken shell.

The next week I asked Peg if she had heard anything about it and she told me that the turtle was patched up and doing pretty well although he did lose a bit of shell. After that I kind of forgot about the whole matter until a couple of weeks ago when  Peg asked me if I would mind dropping the turtle off back near where I had picked him up! WOW! So that very day I took the turtle  and released him into his home pond. He was quite happy to be home I think.

 Broken Ends

and… 

HAPPY ENDINGS

A special THANK YOU to all of those little boys, to Veternarian; Belinda Burwell and to the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center… It is SO worth it!

More on the x!@#%*!! Chesley deer

In two weeks my boss’s daughter is getting married at Chesley. I’ve been very busy just trying to keep the gardens watered so everything doesn’t look brown and crispy.  One very prominent garden is situated  in the center of the main parking area right in front of the main entrance.  I hate to brag, but this year it has been just stunning. I was so happy with how well everything was blending together and so full and lush.  I was planning on getting several good pictures last Monday.

So just imagine my devastation when I came in Monday morning to find this…

Those were huge dragon wing begonias and beautiful, thick, lush chartreuse potato vines!

Oh my gosh I was on my way to find a tree stand and a shotgun! But these were the probable culprits…

A mom with triplets! So I don’t guess I could have really done the deed. I sure would have liked to give them all a good spanking though!!

The joy of gardening!

new pictures

When I was in Michigan we Capris did our usual eating/shopping jaunt. Home Goods is always a favorite stop for everyone.  While in the picture area I came across a set of 4 pictures that I just loved… I started putting them into my cart when I realized that I had no where to hang them. A couple of minutes later Mrs Schmenkman came into the same isle and saw the same pictures and was trying to decide where she could put them. Then along came The Decorator and they were discussing it. I walked into the conversation as The Decorator was saying that she should wait until they got further along in the decorating process in Mrs. Schmenkman’s lower level before she bought pictures. I was glad to hear that because I had figured out exactly  where I could put them! 

The decorator liked my idea to put them over my mantle because she has always thought I had too much stuff  up there. (I had exactly 6 things plus a pinecone wreath that my Mama EEEK made for me)

So here’s the end result… whatcha think Decorator lady???

Doing the Happy Dance

FINALLY!!!!!!

God has blessed us with a much prayed for, bee-u-tee-ful, long, slow, soaking rain!

The remanants of tropical storm Fay are passing over us slowly, which is exactly what has been needed for the past couple of months. I’m just sure I can hear the gardens laughing

I can’t work outside at Chesley today so I’m off on a plant shopping trip to look for flowers to replace what the x@#%*X deer have eaten in the gardens out there! The boss’s daughter’s wedding is out there in three weeks so I’ve got to come up with a miracle here.

And since I’ll be in the area I’ll just have to make a quick run through the ‘Big Cheap Store’… should be a good day!

Back to real life

The trip to Michigan was just wonderful. The wedding was simply magical. Spending time with my family and friends… priceless!

This is the gorgeous bride and handsome groom. Under a full moon, they danced to ‘Broken Road’.

 I cried.

The wedding reception was held on a yacht that cruised on the Detroit river. There was a full glowing moon and the weather was perfect, the lights of Detroit and Windsor Canada on either side,  the Ambassador Bridge lined with lights… magic. Oh, did I mention the sunset???…

Here’s me and Mr. C …  not the best hair day for either of us.

What a wonderful night to remember.

Misc stuff…

Today is Mr. C’s birthday. I sure am glad he was born! I do love that man. 

I’m currently trying to figure out what to pack for a trip back to Michigan. My Godchild/ neice is getting married on Saturday. I did manage to lose some of the extra poundage I’ve been hauling around, but not enough in my opinion. I absolutely hate the way all of my clothes look on me. Trying to decide what to pack makes that fact even more apparent! I just wear grubbies and big loose baggy clothes around here cuz I’m always outside working in a garden someplace… no need to try to look cute while doing that. I look like Pig-pen most of the time anyway.

I’m stressing about going away too… always do when I’m about to leave for any amount of time. Like the household will just completely fall apart if I’m gone… yeah right, I’m placing way too much importance on myself. I do really miss my kitties when I go away though… and the turtles, and the chickens, and Jibbitz.

That reminds me, I’ve gotten to giggling at myself a lot recently because I’ve taken to going out on the back hill in the woodland garden where Jibbitz lives and calling for him just about every day. I can’t imagine what the neighbor’s  must think when they hear me yelling  JIBBITZ… JIBBITZ…. JIBBITZ  at all different times of the day! Makes me the think of Margaret, the crazy old lady that used to live behind us when I was a kid who would walk up and down the alley cussing and screaming at imaginary people. I think the poor old soul was schizophrenic, bless her heart.

Yummo

The cukes are coming on strong although the vines look a bit sickly. As my father-in-law would say “my cukes got the blight this year.” Just the leaves look bad though not the fruit.

Anyway, I usually get a good harvest of cukes and there’s just not THAT much you can do with them. Put em in salads of course, or the old stand-by; cukes & onions in sour cream and vinegar dressing. You can eat em raw, sprinkled with salt & pepper or dipped in your favorite dressing. After awhile though you start getting a wee bit tired of them. A couple of years back I came across this recipe and I just can’t seem to get enough of it!

COLD CREAMY CUCUMBER SOUP

You’ll need a good size food processor for this one… or a good blender would probably work too.

Peel,  seed and chop into (1 inch or so) pieces 4-5 large cucumbers

Peel and chop 1 large vidalia or another type sweet onion

Saute onion and cucumbers with a half stick of butter until tender, use a deep dutch oven type pot.

Transfer sauteed and tender cukes & onion into food processor and pulse until smooth. (It will kinda look like grits when you’re done)

Since your pot is now empty, put one and a half cups of chicken broth in it along with a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of dried dill weed and then add back into the pot your processed cukes & onion and stir.

Simmer at a low boil for about 5 minutes or so and remove from heat. Add 1 cup of sour cream and a half cup of plain yogurt and whisk until it dissolves into the warm mixture.  Put it into a large bowl and chill for a 4-6 hours. It’s best really cold!

Garnish with fresh chopped dill right before serving.

I had enough fresh dill for my first couple of batches, but I think these guys are going to get the rest…

They are Tiger-swallowtail caterpillars so I’ll just go ahead and let them feast. I’ll sow more dill seed right away though!

Anyone else got good recipes or ideas for cucumbers?

More pics from around the Hill

Tux is our unofficial Sassy Cat greeter!

I just love this daylily.

A baby Chickadee-dee-dee waiting for mom to come back with some lunch!

What’s Bloomin???

Here’s a few recent pics from around the gardens…

Along the front walkway. Stellas and lavender.

Crocosmia.

The back deck area.

Lovin this Calla lily.

Always a favorite… Stargazer lily

Stuff

When Mrs. Schmenkman was here over Memorial weekend for our annual shopping egg-strav-a-gan-ZA I had two goals for purchases… a new mirror for the guest bathroom and new chairs for  the kitchen table.

I didn’t make either goal that weekend, but I did finally score on the chairs. These are actually outdoor patio chairs from Target but I thought they would do quite nicely. On sale @ 30% off too so that’s even better! They meet the main criteria of being Sassy-Cat scratch proof too!

Anticipation

It’s always a much anticipated event in our household. As the weather warms up we start to think about it. As the days get warmer, and then hotter, we start to salivate. And finally, we are rewarded…

 

 

 

The first tomato of the season…

WOO HOO BLTs for dinner tomorrow night!!!

(open-faced on whole grain bread for me thank you!)

We love Jibbitz

No… not those cute little charms made to go in the holes of Crocs shoes.

This is the Jibbitz we love…

I brought him home from the BRWC last Tuesday.

 A couple had found him as a baby and hand raised him and they had handled him quite a lot. He is VERY human friendly and likes to jump and crawl all over you! I’m not exactly sure why the couple turned him over to the center, but last week I asked Peg… what are we going to do with that overly-friendly squirrel? She responded “release him far away from here!” So, of course I volunteered Sassy Cat Hill  as a release site.

I let him go and he promptly ran up the nearest tree but couldn’t quite figure out how to climb back down as he has lived in cages all of his life and only had to jump from place to place. He caught on very quickly though and he disappeared into the trees.

I never saw him again until yesterday afternoon. I was out watering plants and he showed up on my potting bench right near where I had released him.

 I went and got a handful of nuts and he quickly climbed up my leg to have a snack…

 

He hasn’t lost a bit of his friendliness, that’s for sure!

My dear brother, (aka the Baby-Genius) had given me this knot hole that he salvaged from a tree that had been cut down in my oldest brother’s yard. I made an owl house out of it, but Jibbitz seems to like it quite a lot so it’s a ‘Jibbitz House’ now!

Checking it out.

 Hey, Looks pretty good!

 Yep, I’m moving in!

Great Harvest

It’s berry pickin time!

I remember back in my younger days when even the thought of picking berries was pure torture.

All of us Kolar kids had to endure berry picking in Michigan’s Upper Penisula. I remember it being just awful. Hot, dry and what seemed like a gazzilion deer flies, no-see-ums, and mosquitos making your life pure misery. The deer flies were the worst… they lived not so much to bite you, but to torment you by flying around your head and driving you crazy with their high-pitched buzzing. They packed a mighty mean bite too though.

It was forced labor for sure… my Dad’s favorite little saying was “no pick-y, no eat-y” and the thought of not being able to eat those wonderful blueberry pancakes the next morning was just to much to bear.

I can remember saying that when I grew up I would never, ever pick another berry!

Well, I’ve grown up and I’ve been doing quite a bit of berry pickin the past couple of weeks. I still don’t like it much, but It isn’t nearly as bad when you have the bushes right in your back yard.  The blueberries have been very prolific this year. I had to net them all in because the mockingbird that I used to be happy to share with,  decided to bring along a lot of his extended family and I’m just not that generous! Here’s one of the first pickins… several more have followed since this pic was taken.

I was just outside and noticed that a bunch more are ready to be picked too.

But NOW my very favorite berry is starting to ripen… raspberries. I love them sooooooo much!

My Dad’s cousin’s husband, who lives in Charlottesville Virginia was kind enough to share a couple of plants from his berry patch a few years ago and this is the first year that they are just full of (as my BFF would say) “scrum-tru-lesent” berries. This is the first pickin…

All I’ve got to say is “YUM” 

and I’ve begun to tell Mr. C… “No pick-y, no eat-y!” A chip off the old block, that’s me.

A gift

Last week I was back behind my potting shed putting some impatiens into pots. Jerry Mathers was back there too keeping me company. I decided to take a little break and was sitting down talking to Jerry when I heard a rustling in the weeds on the other side of the fence towards the neighbor’s pasture. I expected it to be a squirrel but the next thing I know this teeny tiny little face was looking at me…

 

 

I couldn’t believe it when she walked right up to me! She was so close I could count the ticks on her ears. I slowly put my hand down as if to touch her head and she got startled but she only took a few steps back and then laid down. She spent most of the day back there with Jerry and I.

Later on I went down to clean out the chicken coops and when I came back up to put my tools back into the shed this is what I found…

I guess she thought she had found a nice place to move into! I had to actually catch her to get her out of there and that’s when she decided she had better make her way back into the woods to wait for her mom to come back for her.

A special gift straight from God. Life is good.

The joy and the sorrow

On June 5th we had some mighty powerful storms blow through these parts. Crazy heavy winds… enough to make me round up all of the sassy cats and head to the basement kind of winds! We lost our power for the night and part of the next day. I called the BRWC to see how they fared and it was much worse for them. Several huge trees down and no power for almost 4 days!

So since they didn’t have power, I went and got Jerry Mathers (my baby beaver) and a few squirrels since they all needed bottle feeding which requires electricity to warm the bottles.  What a lot of work! My hat is off to the real  rehabbers like Peg who do this all day every day!! 

I took them all back on the following Tuesday when I went in. Peg told me that she had found a rehabber in Virginia Beach who had mucho experience raising orphaned beavers and who had the proper enclosures to do the job right. She was willing to take Jerry, but not until sometime the following week. She also suggested that Jerry stay with his primary caregiver (ME) because it would be less stressful for him. JOY!!! I got to bring him home and we had sooooooo much fun!

 Playing in the pond…

Playing in the tub… with a sassy cat audience

Having fun in the front pond.

I took him to Baby-beaver Disneyworld (aka neighbor’s Nick & Jill’s pond) with a running stream and waterfall to play in! He took walks around the yard with me, sat on my lap and ate apples while we watched the news. He would crawl up onto my shoulder and fall asleep while I was at the computer. All of this was not only allowed, but encouraged by the expert beaver rehabber!!  You see, beavers normally have a large family group and have a lot of social interaction and it is necessaryfor their well-being!! I even read in a beaver book that some orphaned beavers have died from being isolated and alone. Apparently they don’t imprint on humans either. Well, they do until a certain age but then they decide they don’t need you anymore and become a ‘real’ beaver again.

So for almost two weeks I was a full time beaver mom. Kudos to all of you moms out there! I think baby beavers are much like real children… temper tantrums, attention demanding, whining, but cute and snuggly and sweet too.  It plumb wore me out though so I’m thinking my decision not to have kids was the right one. I guess I could have done it if it was ok to stick them in a cage when I got tired of them !LOL!!!

And then the sorrow… On Wednesday of this week I had to pack him up and meet the people who would transport him to his new home in Virginia beach. I drove him part way down to Fredericksburg Virginia and met them at a rest stop. There, I had to turn him over to them along with his bed and stuffed pony that he sleeps with at night. I took along some of his favorite snacks to eat on the road. I was a total blubbering idiot. My heart was completely broken and I felt like I was abandoning my baby.

Lesson learned, I cannot be a full-fledged rehabber, I get far to attached. I’ll have to stick with being a part time volunteer at the BRWC.

This pic was on our last day together…

I sure do miss the little goomba, the pond seems so empty without him.

Whole lot of cuteness going on

Geeze… I’m totally in love with my baby beaver. I spent ten hours at the BRWC today and got to feed her/him (can’t tell) several times. Then when the eating is done he/she has to go into the bath tub cuz beavers only poop in the water. (who knew?) How cute is this…

And our baby foxes are growing up so fast…

And I got to bottle feed these little guys…

There are three of them in the pic. So sweet and friendly!

These are the new coyote pups that came in. Their mom was shot. No snuggling with them, they imprint to quickly! (darn!)

I forgot to get a pic of the baby racoons. They are so amusing that you forget to do anything but watch them.

I’ll get one next week.

Well today was certainly interesting!

Yesterday(Sunday) afternoon I got a call from my bosses daughter saying that there was a baby beaver by the upper pond at work and they knew the mother had been killed (we won’t even go THERE right now).

 They didn’t know what to do. They had seen it on Saturday but hadn’t seen it on Sunday at all. They had torn apart the lodge to see if it was inside but it wasn’t. I told them that I would go up and have a look the first thing Monday morning fully expecting not to find anything.

Lo and behold I went up this morning and there was this little baby beaver sitting in the remains of the lodge! So I went over and it slipped into the water but stayed close and was making these pitiful little whining sounds. So what was I to do????

I sat on the bank of the pond and started making the sounds back to him of course! Then I started making other sounds just hoping that one of them might sound like a mama beaver. I felt like the crazy mockingbird  that sits on our chimney mimicking every bird in the neighborhood. Finally I made what must of been the right noise cuz out of the pond came the little beaver! I kept calling him and could tell he wasn’t sure about me in the least but I eventually creeped close enough that I could slip a net over him! He didn’t struggle at all. Oh my gosh he is the softest, cutest little thing!

I took him right over to the BRWC and reluctantly handed him over to Peg. She was kinda stunned that I was able to call him close enough to catch. This is her first beaver rehab so she said she needs to do some research tonight. I got to feed him his first bottle… I’m totally in love!  I can’t wait to go back tomorrow and see him. We just got in two coyote pups and from the looks of our ‘patient’ boards a lot more baby birds have come in too.  Going to be a busy day.

So now I’ll leave you to wonder at this little bundle of pure cuteness…

 what a face!

how sweet is that???

Now you’re all in love too right???

 

LET’S GO REDWINGS!!!!  (I know cheryl… you do not care!)