At the start of the week I toiled over the issue of fencing between our property and neighbor Jim's. I don't want to go into all the details, but can say (and Joe would agree) that Jim was not being reasonable or easy to deal with about two fences between our properties. Joe and I really want to get along with the neighbors, but feel it is a very one sided 'relationship' and the more we 'give' the more we are asked to give. 
Robert Frost's poem “Mending Wall” (link) revolves around the story of two neighbors who come across each other in spring every year to mend the stone wall that separates their farms. It demonstrates how good fences create good neighbors, and how people can preserve their long-lasting relations with neighbors by founding such walls. People will get along better if they establish boundaries, but to what degree do we need to build barriers?
Monita catching some Zs.
I showered at the gym, came home and ate an early lunch, and was headed to the ranch at 10:45. I stopped in on an estate sale and at Wildwood Stables, so it was 11:30 by the time I got to the ranch.
I had planned to plant flowers, but needed to reorganize things in the barn that were askew from Joe's shaving delivery/off loading. I was also distracted by a few other interruptions (cat, boarder, phone call).
And then before planting, I wanted to put the tub by the power pole up on a rock. And that took time, to get a good rock and level the ground. I pulled all the weeds from both tubs I was going to plant and was just digging the first hole for a flower, when I looked at the time (1:46). This photo was taken the next day.
I hurried to clean up and Joe and I were soon seated with Patty, Shirley, and Karen to listen to the concert.
Jean had a solo, and did very well, She did not appear near as nervous as she later reported feeling.
Unfortunately Jean had to head home to do chores, so we went to dinner without her. We dinned at the Brass Lantern, very tasty, although a tad pricey. Here we are toasting, with water, to Jean and a job well done. The concert had been very enjoyable.
Sunday 5/1 - Happy May Day!
Can you believe April is over already?
Rain was coming so I was fairly quick to get out to the ranch. I wanted to get my flowers planted.
And I finally did, both tubs, in spite of several more interruptions.
Now to keep them watered. Seems I create more work for Jean (and I), but I want the place to look nice.
At one point (yes, one of the interruptions) this mama duck came wandering through the barnyard with her babies right behind her. I had no idea where Wanda was, but was very nervous for this duck family. 
It was easy to convince Mama duck to move on through the barn. And she turned, heading west towards the neighbors where the three black horses are. 
They were last seen going into the brush next door, I assume to the neighbor's pond. Good luck duckies.
Joe had been waiting on me to help build a ladder perch for the chickens. First, Jean helped me move the girls to the other side of the coop, so Joe and I had room to work.
The girls love exploring new places so were busy doing that as we got started on the project.
The job took a LOT longer than expected, due to numerous difficulties and mishaps I won't go into. The girls eventually settled in for a nap amidst the noise of our drilling, hammering, and yes, a little swearing.
We finally got the ladder done! All built with lumber from Carol's farm. Thank you Carol.
Jean arrived home (from her second concert performance) and was ready to unwind a bit, and happy to help me get the new space set up for the growing chicks. (She took all these photos because my phone had died.) And Joe was glad to be done with this (and with me LOL) so headed home. 
Again, the girls were quick to start exploring their new space. They are so very curious. 
And before long, with a little help from their favorite climbing branch, they were able to figure out how to get up on the perches.
They are curious, silly, weird behaving creatures (video). 
It was after 7pm when I got home. I still had tons of chores to do here, but absolutely no energy. The frustrations of the day had also left me feeling exhausted. Dinner helped me re-energize, and I pushed through the jobs and then went straight to bed.
Jean and I were quick to get the horses and tack them up for a ride. She got Zorro 'warmed' up (video) while I was finishing tacking Amiga.
We rode to Lake Kirkstone, across the dam and did part of the loop, riding on the road and trails.
To give you an idea of how 'uninhabited' this area is, we went past less than ten houses and never saw a vehicle on the road during our 4.3 mile, one hour and 46 minute ride.
Stopping along the way, we take photos of each other and of the moss covered rock slab you can see. Good old Rocky Top.
It is difficult to catch both rider and horse looking at the camera with horse's ears forward. In the first photo below, Jean was getting her camera to take a picture of Amiga and I, while Zorro was looking alert.
We had made a wrong turn, per my suggestion (I hadn't ridden back there in quite awhile) so we stopped to look at the trail map at the trail head when heading back to Lake Kirkstone. We saw where we had gone wrong.
Here we are heading up Ava Way to our front gate. It had been a good ride even though Amiga started acting a little lame, but Zorro had been much more relaxed.
And this is when Jean got a text message from her choir director. One of the singers had tested positive for Covid and had possibly exposed everyone in the choir during their two performances over the weekend. UGH!
I arrived home at the 5:00 feeding time, but first took a shower to de-tick, removing two in the process.
I 'crashed and burned' falling asleep on the couch at 7pm. I went to bed when I woke up an hour later, and fell right back to sleep.
My main goal was to plant grass seed, but it was such a beautiful day, I decided spur of the moment, to set up a small enclosure outside the chicken coop to let the chickens explore outside for a bit. The girls were too scared to venture out farther than the doorway, and they hadn't gotten up the nerve to do this until after an hour or so (photos taken later in the day).
Joe dropped in and reported having had a good conversation with Jim, and that a compromise with the fence had been reached. We would let Jim attach his welded wire to our whole wood fence (which we thought we built 6" in from the property line, but apparently two posts were right on the property line).I was moving weedy sod from the gray water area that I had temporarily put there, which was near the coop, so I could kept an eye on the chickens while I worked.
I had planned to move the sod to this area behind the concrete wall by the shop, that we had been filling in with rock, dirt, and then manure. Well, of course, I needed to add soil to fill in a little more and also to act as a barrier between the sod and manure.
These next two photos show the progression, which took a good part of the day. I was hauling dirt with buckets because Joe was using the tractor to bush-hog (which is another long story of the pains of getting that attachment on, and I had used more of my time trying to help him with that).
Using the gator, it took four trips to get all of the sod hauled down from the yard to this area. This photo shows the good dirt I was putting on top of the manure, the two yellow cat litter buckets I was hauling it with, and the gator with the first load (two layers) of sod.
And of course, each time I was up in the yard I had to check on the chickens, and do one modification on the fence so people could gain easier access to the coop (more time 'eaten up').
This last photo shows what it looked like by the wall once I had moved all the sod here.
Another time consuming task was cleaning up the ground along the shop, and leveling it out. There were bumps of buried stuff, mostly plastic and old wood pallets, and some rocks. 
This is an example of the old wood I was removing, and why we wanted to get it all out of here. We had already gotten one flat tire on our big trailer when parking it along here last summer. 
I had finally called it quits down by the shop and went up to the yard to get grass seed planted. The rain predicted for today was to come the following day, so I HAD to get this done. While raking and prepping the soil, Jack and Mary arrived with their big camper, to park it near the shop for a few days. 
Once I got the area around the big rock seeded, I moved to the other side of the house to seed around the gray water area. 
Meanwhile, Mary and Jack were still down at the shop 'setting up camp.' 
As the sun was nearing the horizon, the sky was turning pretty colors. But it was a reminder that the time was getting late and the day was coming to an end. I hadn't even noticed the rainbow when I took these photos.
I quick went back into Amiga and Zorro's loafing shed and got a small wheel barrow load of some more old hay that was spread around on the floor. I finished up and was ready to head home.
It was now dark enough to see how the light Joe installed at the backdoor was working. It lit up the deck and yard nicely. On my way out, I went down to check on Mary and Jack, and learned that they could not get the motor to work to release the trailer from the goose neck mount in their truck bed. They ended up driving the whole rig to their rental condo back in the Glade and I followed them out, shutting the driveway gate behind us.
There has been a lot of noise the past several days at our other neighbors, next door with the three horses. Their 'lot' goes from our drive, all the way west (including the power lines) to Chestnut Hill. So I slowed and took a photo from Chestnut Hill to see what was going on. They are doing a bunch of clearing of the woods before you get to the power lines. Hum, what's in store?
Cowboy was scheduled first with the farrier so Patty and I walked Amiga and Zorro down to the barn once Chris arrived. Patty took this photo while Amiga was enjoying me scratching her belly. She had been lifting her chin with her bottom lip hanging down, but you can't see it in this photo.
Chris removed the loose piece of Amiga's sole on the hoof where the abscess had been. He said it was a little dark underneath but will finish healing just fine.
Once we turned A&Z out on their pasture, Patty started mowing and I went up to plant flowers in the corner where all the marigolds I planted had froze several weeks ago. First I opened the coop door, and this time the girls were quick to come outside. Then I helped Joe move furniture from the garage to our house, and take the table and chairs from our porch back to the ranch.
Next I helped Jean attach hoses to reach the stock tank and she cleaned and refilled it while I planted flowers, which turned out to be a big failure.
I had decided to go with perennial Dianthus, so I don't have to plant flowers here in this corner bed each year. I bought three big pots rather than nine small ones, because it worked out to be cheaper.
Well, when I went to split (cut) the big dark pink flower into three, I discovered that it was actually just one big plant and I ended up splitting it right down the middle of its stem. Dang it. So the two dark pink flowers are the plant I may have killed while trying to divide it. I planted the second, big white flower as one plant, and took the third, big (light pink) one home to plant. I want to get smaller ones to put along the edge of this bed. Also notice that the grass seed in front of this bed has germinated and is doing well, thanks to Jean's watering. 
I chatted with Jean while she had a little chick time before I headed for home. The girls really seem to like and trust Jean. All her time with them has helped tremendously with this bond. She took this (video) and these photos.
The chickens are prey animals so remain skittish and watchful by nature. But they come right up to Jean while she sits quietly and watches. She pointed out that they have different leg colors (some orange, others bluish, and others gray).
There
is also one who appears to have a beak problem, the top and bottom
don't meet, but she eats and drinks well. Here she is seen drinking from the tray of water Jean gave them. We need to research this to
see how we can help her. 
Parm, during a walk, checks out the new and strange birds.
When I got home, Rose was peacefully napping out on the lounge chair. Look how green our woodland out back has gotten. 
I did my kitchen and pet chores early, ate a big salad and fed everybody, and then sat down here at my computer to catch up on this blog during my quiet evening at home while poker Joe was gone.
I immediately got very sleepy and decided to lay down and take a quick power nap. I slept on the couch from 5:30 to 8:30. Well shoot. I needed to walk Maggie so that helped wake me up and then I worked here a few hours before going to bed at 11:00pm.
Thursday 5/5 - Happy Cinco De Mayo.
I set seed out on the front porch each morning. The chipmunks and birds make for good entertainment for the cats and dog.
The cats don't mind the dog and she doesn't mind them underfoot (left to right - Babe, Monita, Maggie, Styx, and Stevie). 
I had planned to spend the day here at home working around the house, but first I needed to get to the gym. I drug myself there and during my warm up on the rowing machine, decided I just didn't have it in me to lift weights today. So I went to the elliptical, which is not near as hard of work. I was watching a good home improvement on HGTV, but after 45 minutes, got too tired to even finish it, and came home. UGH!!!
Rain had been removed from the forecast until tonight, so I decided to work outside.
Thankfully lunch had revived me so I had the energy to get work done. First I cleaned all the leaves, seeds, and pollen off the front porch and the St. Francis statue. I even filled the basin with water and tried the fountain pump. It made a horrible noise and didn't pump water. So I just left the water for a critter watering hole.
I love my two color azalea out front. It is actually two bushes of different varieties, light pink and dark pink, planted right beside each other. They have grown intertwined with each other and look like one bush with two colors of flowers.
Next I started on leaf removal from the front flower bed. This is probably the fifth time I have cleaned leaves from this bed since the beginning of last fall when the leaves were first coming down. Trees drop their leaves early fall, some late fall and others, like hickory and some oak, wait to drop their leaves in the spring.
So
leaves just kept blowing over from the neighbors and the church all fall and early spring.
Sometimes I think about putting up a temporary fence in the fall to keep
neighborhood leaves out of our yard.
Notice, I had moved Maggie, my project supervisor, from the lawn up onto the porch after I had cleaned it. 
I got an update from Jean. All twelve chicks (chickens) were now using the roosting ladder. You can see who the 'top dogs' are. She also sent this sad, rather discouraging and upsetting (video) of the clearing they are doing on the adjoining property west of us. As I mentioned on the Facebook post, they have been clearing woodland for almost a week now and are getting too close for my comfort (I like the trees that are home to so many animals, block the west winds, and give our ranch privacy). I hope they at least leave some trees up around the pond and along the fence line that goes down our whole driveway. 
To get the leaves out of and around from all the plants, I had to use my hands much of the time. I took breaks from leaf removal and weeding, to trim the Japanese Maple and a few shrubs. I also planted the other large, light pink Dianthus I had brought home from the ranch. I put it at the top of the drive in another bed that needs weeding and leaf removal. 
Joe took the dog in, to feed her while I continued to work.
Another 'project supervisor,' actually just Monita waiting for dinner, watching as I finished up for the day. Although the work is far from finished.
Here is a during and after photo comparison.
What I did get done looks much better. I want it looking presentable for when my Mother's Day guests arrive. There will always be more to do.
After feeding cats, doing pet chores, cleaning myself up, and putting on my PJs, I had popcorn & beer for a late dinner while watching Survivor with Joe.
Friday 5/6 - The rain had finally come overnight, sometimes quite hard with thunderstorms.
I love how my cats, napping up on the cat tree, almost appear to be wild feline lounging in overhead branches. One or more of the cats are usually around while I work here at my computer. This is Monita. 
I had a much better workout at the gym, after yesterday's debacle.
Rain was to continue off and on through-out the day. So my plan was for house cleaning.
Jean had woken feeling terrible, called in sick to work, and was going to go into town for a drive through Covid test. The home tests she took Tuesday and Thursday had both been negative. I was hoping she would be coming out of quarantine by now and able to join me to (test drive) ride Robbie.
I left for Celtic Rose (where Robbie was) under a tornado watch, and with a different GPS app Joe had installed to help me find my way. (The map app I always use was no longer on my phone for some reason.)
Well, the GPS app did not 'talk to me' like Joe said it would, the storm (high winds and heavy rain, not tornado) hit while I was searching for the road sign to turn off the highway, and I missed my turn. I pulled off in the torrential downpour to call Joe for help. And this is when I got a text from Jean, that she had tested positive. I was ready to turn around and go home since I should probably now quarantine. But I was so close, I decided to go, and let Jan, Michelle, and Emily know the Covid situation.
I had been exposed to Jean Sunday and Monday, but she probably was not contagious at that point. I had no symptoms, but masked up when I arrived. The ladies said to 'come on in.' We kept our distance, and were in a very well ventilated open air arena.
Emily, the trainer who works at Celtic Rose, showed me Robbie. She rode her at a walk, western trot (slow), English trot (faster and you post), and the canter. Robbie looked and did very well.
Then it was my turn to give Robbie a try. I had finally calmed down (my heart rate and anxiety had lowered) after my hair raising drive in the storm, getting lost, and finding out about Jean having Covid. But I was still worried about riding Robbie because I do not ride English or know any of the signals to the horse for all the dressage type maneuvers.
Robbie is a Morgan, a very different horse than Amiga. She is not gated, nor is she a warm blood, like Paso Finos are. She needed leg to keep her moving, which I am not used to. But she was very responsive, willing, and light to the touch. And her stop was excellent. She will be a very good horse for novice riders, and fun for Jean riding English and I out on the trail.
I have been on the fence about getting another horse, especially a non-gaited one, but buying Robbie seems like a good choice, a reasonable decision.
I hustled to get to the ranch to feed horses and do chores. I delivered a banana from Joe and herbal medicine from Mary to Jean. I checked on the chickens, picked some greens from the garden and headed home.
Where had the day (and week) gone. It was 7:30 after I fed pets, did a few chores, and sat down to eat my garden fresh salad. I was too tired to do any more house cleaning and wanted to download videos I had taken of Robbie, before hitting the hay at 8:30.
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