Friday, July 30, 2010

Photo-Finish Friday

Here is yet another picture of the double petunias on the Bag Lady's deck.
(She really is enamoured of them, isn't she?)
Visible in the background are some of the hollyhocks blooming in the flowerbed.... and the Princess, attacking an itch:
And here is a picture of the rest of the plants in containers on the Bag Lady's deck (more flowers, several kinds of pepper plants and several tomato plants):


Photo Finish Friday is the brainchild of the Bag Lady's cousin, Leah, over at the Goat's Lunch Pail.
Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cranky Baggie

Where does the time go? The Bag Lady can't believe it's almost the end of July. (Un-de-believable, as one of her friends - who is not a native English speaker - says.)

The Bag Lady is full of little complaints (yes, and aches, too) today. She got up early today with the Rancher..... he gets up between 3 and 4 am to leave for work (and doesn't get home until 7 pm - talk about a long day!) and has been battling cramps in her legs (which is why she couldn't go back to sleep for the 2 hours until her own wake time.) The Bag Lady has degenerative disc disease in her back and has been having a bad spell for the last week or so. Something has shifted yet again, causing pain, numbness and muscle weakness in her hips and legs. She has been experiencing so much muscle weakness, in fact, that she will suddenly fall to her knees! Which causes her to exclaim "Jesus!" in as joyous a voice as she can fake, in an attempt to convince people that she's been overcome by a religious fervour (fever?) and is falling to her knees to pray. (It's probably not fooling anyone, but she thought it would be better than saying "Fuck!" in public!)

She saw her doctor about this last week. She asked him rather pointedly exactly what percentage of her lower extremities had to be numb before a specialist would take her seriously. (When she saw a specialist a couple of years ago, he condescendingly told her she wasn't in bad enough shape - he couldn't do anything for her.) When she told her doctor about falling down, he decided that perhaps a CT scan was in order to have a look at what's going on. So now she is waiting for a call from the hospital where the scans are performed.

She's also a little ticked off at Google. She doesn't keep up with a lot of the goings-on around the interwebs, but remembers hearing something about Google and Hotmail joining forces (or something to that effect). Her problem is that she has multiple personalities email accounts, and used to sign in to both, which allowed her to be the Bag Lady at the same time as she was herself. Now, though, when she is signed in as the Bag Lady, Google won't allow her to be herself! So she truly does feel as though she has multiple personality disorder because she isn't allowed to be aware of what her other personality is doing! Sigh.
To make matters worse, Blogger won't let her post any photos this morning, which is why y'all are being subjected to her litany of complaints! She will stop whining soon, though, because she has to go for a mammogram and an ultrasound this morning before she goes to work. Perhaps the idea of having her poor tiny tatas pancaked is contributing to her crankiness.....

Friday, July 23, 2010

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Emel has a "twin" brother!


One of the cows who has been looking after Emel had a calf today, and she has been licking both calves. This may mean that she is willing to feed Emel and adopt him as her own..... if Emel can be convinced to suck her. He's been on a bottle for the entire 23 days of his life, so may not be able to adjust to sucking a cow. The Bag Lady is hopeful, though, that he will, because the cow seems to think he might be hers.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Honeysuckle Clematis

Here is what the Bag Lady's clematis vine looks like today:



Half in bloom, half starting to go to seed. The Bag Lady really needs to do some serious pruning!

The Bag Lady was also quite excited to see these:


The very first raspberries from the raspberry plants she added to the garden this year.
She was a little surprised to see them because she thought the plants wouldn't produce until next year.
Seeing them also means she will have to take a little pail and go for a stroll in the bush... wild raspberries are so-o-o good!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Surrogate Mothers?

Emel has graduated to being outside with the herd. Well, actually, he's outside with only two cows - the rest of the herd has gone to summer pasture. These two cows are supposed to be calving sometime soon (drumming fingers on desk), so they stayed home.

Please note how both cows are keeping an ear on him.....



Tuesday, July 20, 2010

More Flowers

Here's another case for scratch'n'sniff blogging. These are Evening-scented Stock, and they smell fabulous. Spicy. During the day, when the sun is on them, they look rather non-descript and slightly shrivelled, but in the evening, they come alive. The night-owl of the garden.



And these are more double petunias (for Mary Anne in Kentucky) - unfortunately, they are not at their prime, but will be again soon. The Bag Lady will try to remember to take another picture when they are looking good, but she had her camera in hand last night and wanted to show you the frilly bi-coloured prettiness.



Monday, July 19, 2010

The Glamorous Life

This is pretty much what the Bag Lady's life looks like right now. Fancy clothes and charming companions, dining al fresco morning and night. (Well, her companion dines al fresco!)

She also spends a little time with these:

(the single blossom on her snowball bush)

(her recycled coffee can/planter)

(her newest favourite flower, double petunias)
How's your summer going?

Friday, July 16, 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

It's Haying Time Again!

This is the field of alfalfa that will soon be turned into hay. The Bag Lady loves the smell of alfalfa - she wishes she could share it with you, but Blogger hasn't invented smell-a-blogging....yet.


The Bag Lady made a little bouquet for you in order to show you all the different colours of the alfalfa flowers. Aren't they pretty?


(click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Friday, July 9, 2010

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Garden Report

The Bag Lady's garden is a bit of a disappointment this year. There has not been much moisture, and it shows in the progress of the garden.
That aside, she has also had a garden raider! He has enjoyed the peas....

And the broccoli!

Fortunately, he didn't discover the strawberries....


The Bag Lady managed to beat the deer to the strawberries and she thoroughly enjoyed all three of them!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Meet Emel

The Bag Lady had a busy weekend being adoptive mother to this little guy:


She had hoped that another cow would calve right away and be convinced that she had actually given birth to twins, but it didn't happen. At least he has a friend who likes to run and play with him, now that they have become acquainted:



Hilary, of the Smitten Image blog, has suggested that the little guy be called Emel (M.L.... Maple Leaf, since he was born on Canada's birthday) which somehow suits him. Thanks, Hilary! (Of course, the Bag Lady will probably still call him Bobo most of the time - old habits die hard....)

The Bag Lady tried to auction him off to the cows the other night, but none of them could come up with the moo-la. (sorry. Sometimes it's hard to resist.)

Friday, July 2, 2010

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Bag Lady and the Rancher had a change of plans for the weekend.
The Rancher went out to check on the cows yesterday morning. This has been a very long calving season, and he suspected there was a cow ready to have her calf. He was right. Sadly, the cow did not seem the least bit interested in being a mother. The Rancher found the calf out in the middle of the pasture, all alone. He loaded the calf into his truck and took him to his mother. She knocked the calf down and walked away!

The Rancher and the Bag Lady gave her a couple of chances, but her response was always the same, so they put the calf in the barn and fed him.



Yes, that is a whiskey bottle with a big nipple on it..... glass bottles work the best, and this whiskey bottle holds just about the right amount!

The Bag Lady and the Rancher will continue to feed the little calf until such time as he is ready to eat hay. Feeding him twice a day will put a bit of a crimp in camping trips, but the Bag Lady is willing to accept that as a small price to pay.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Happy Birthday!

It's Canada Day!

The day we Canadians celebrate the 'birth' of our country with picnics beer, parades coolers, parties cocktails, and fireworks!

The Bag Lady and the Rancher will probably celebrate by gardening and enjoying the great outdoors. They may even pack up their rickety old motorhome and roll on over to that campspot on the banks of their own little dugout lake, "Drip's Pond"!

Although it doesn't look it, Drip's Pond is quite deep, and one day may even have fish in it. The Bag Lady thinks a rowboat or canoe would be a lovely thing to have so she could float around on the water. Of course, she would also have to have a life jacket or personal flotation device of some kind because she can't swim!

The weather forecast is for today to be sunny and mild, but the weekend is supposed to be cooler with showers. Next week, the temperatures are supposed to be much hotter (record-tying, according to one weather forecasting website!), so perhaps they will leave their motorhome at the "lake" so they can visit there in the heat. After all, it's only about a 5 minute drive from home!

Speaking of driving, this is a sight the Bag Lady saw on her way to work awhile ago. She loved the way the clouds hung so low over the river:




Have a great weekend!