Grammys Corgi Country

One thing about Corgis, and Border Collies apparently… they are like cats…(don’t tell them I said that… it’s a “dirty word” to a lot of dogs). They play just like them, though. One of Dott’s favorite things to do is to chase the “fishing pole” type toy that my son made for her. It used to be a long buggy whip and he flicks the long end around and she chases it and sometimes even turns flips trying to follow it and grab it.

I mentioned, the other day, that they all love to chase the “little red bug” (my son’s laser light). In fact, you have to be very careful not to start a fight with that thing, because Sadie, Dott AND B.G. will all start chasing it and then bang into each other, which can cause a fight. It’s a lot like little kids that start playing roughly with each other, and then one gets hurt and they start fighting.

Sadie caught a mouse outside while I was feeding the horses the other day, and she was slapping it back and forth and tossing it in the air exactly like a cat would do. Dott and B.G. do the same thing with a lot of their toys, and it’s hysterical just to watch them.

Ok… so I take pleasure in some of the simple things in life, but letting God take care of my cares, and taking time to smell the roses or watch the Corgis play, makes life so much more satisfying than stressing about things that “may” happen, or things that I can’t do anything about anyway.

That is what is so wonderful about Corgi Country. It is a haven away from traffic, noise, and other sources of stress. I can always turn off the TV and listen to music or even just listen to the birds sing, or the horses munch on their hay. Doing what the Bible says in Matthew 6:34 has become my main philosophy of life I think… At least since I’ve tried to follow it this past year, it has worked for me! Essentially, it says to take one day at a time and don’t worry about tomorrow.

After all, we don’t even know if we will be here tomorrow (freak car accident, stray bullet, meteor coming through the ceiling, etc.). If you’ve taken care of the important things between yourself and God, then THAT isn’t a problem, so just do what you need to do each day, to keep things in running order.

Be careful not to add the world’s problems to your shoulders by feeding your brain depressing stuff you can’t do a thing about anyway… that doesn’t mean not to do your part, like voting intelligently according to your principles, but so many times we sit there and watch T.V. shows that just put junk into our heads. Computer people say, “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” when talking about programming a computer and some of those principles apply to what we allow to go into our brain.

Today, start the New Year by making an effort to feed your brain good things… things that bring you joy and peace, and cut back on things that bring you down. This has been shown, by numerous studies, to lengthen your life, by lowering blood pressure, and the levels of stress hormones in your body that tears it down over time… Take a walk with a loved one, or a dog (same thing actually) and really LOOK around you. Look at the rainbows in the diamonds of dew on the leaves or a spider’s web. Watch a comedy or read a funny or uplifting book. Feed your brain good things!

Take your first steps toward a more peaceful way of living today, and try to make it your way of life…

I had gotten to bed so late, that I slept in today, and then had a wonderful breakfast of leftover turkey, dressing with a fried egg, and mashed potatoes with ham gravy. I LOVE leftovers… just pop ‘em into the microwave and fry an egg real quick!!! Hubby had taken the day off work, so we watched several episodes of Eureka… he’d gotten the first season of the TV show on DVD as a Christmas gift… and then we watched the corgis play.

My son started playing with them with his laser light. He is very careful not to get it in their eyes so they don’t get injured, but BG, Sadie and Dott just love chasing that “little red bug” around the house, skidding around the kitchen floor and ripping at full speed down the hall. They chase flies or moths the same way, leaping and jumping around. It’s funny, too, when they catch one of the real bugs because they will get a weird look on their little faces and then spit it out real quick.

Later, while I was feeding the horses, Sadie caught a mouse. She has a tendency to play with them like a cat, too, pitching them up in the air and catching them. We always praise her a lot when she gets one, because she’s turned into a great mouser, and catches them in the house, too. That is one of the problems of living in the country with fields all around… the mice come in the doggy door.

After feeding, we walked the dogs around the pastures, so that they could run and play. They ran around like crazy dogs, checking every big rabbit hole, weasel hole, and squirrel hole. We’ve had rabbits and squirrels since we moved here, but a couple of years ago, when they had a big fire on the other side of the hills from us, some weasels moved from those hills to our place… at least that’s what we think happened.

My son was really surprised when he saw the “weirdest looking squirrel” peeking out from the woodpile, and then again a few days later from a hole by the ditch. He came in telling me that he’d seen a ferret and was wondering if someone’s had gotten loose around here, though it is illegal to keep them in California. We looked online and when we came across a picture of the animal he’d seen, it turned out to be a weasel.

It was such a nice, restful, fun day. It was extra nice because Hubby rarely takes a day off work during the week, and we will still have two more days before he has to go back. BG, especially, loves having his Dad home. He is his Dad’s dog, just like his grandma, Mist, used to be, and loves it when he gets the chance to go to work with him (rare now), or spend any extra time with him.

Oh, I almost forgot, the recipe to Nana’s Candied Yams:

You need 1 lb. of brown sugar, 1 Piloncillo cone (or another lb. of dark brown sugar), 2 c. honey, 1 c. water, and 3-4 lbs. of yams (peeled and cut into large chunks– about 1.5 inches each)

In a large pot with a lid, place the brown sugar, honey, piloncillo and water. Heat on high until syrup is in a high rolling boil for several minutes. The syrup should be almost hard crack candy when scooped with a spoon and dripped into a cup of cold water if done correctly… CAREFULLY (don’t splatter) put yam chunks into syrup and cover. Keep heat on high so that the rolling boil will restart and continue for about 45 mins. DO NOT stir!!!

The boiling syrup should be boiling over the top of the yams and coating them (Just peek to check, but don’t open lid to much). DO NOT be tempted to put in more water as fluids come out of the yams and all the liquid will not boil off in time if there is to much. While still fairly hot, spoon yam chunks into a couple of large cake pans. Coat a cookie sheet lightly with butter, pour syrup in and let sit until cooled to make candy chunks for later enjoyment.

I hope that you had a restful day after the rush of preparations for Christmas, and I pray that the rest of the weekend is a blessing for you as well.

We have learned over the years that it is a wise idea to weave or braid nylon baling twine into squirrel ladders to put into our horse’s water barrels. This is to allow a way for the squirrels to get out of the water when or if they fall in. Now why, when I have a running WAR with the squirrels do I want to give them a ladder to save their rotten little bodies? Because I DON’T want a rotting little body floating in the horse’s drinking water, that’s why!

Small rabbits and birds are also able to use them to escape from the short water tubs in the corrals. Before we finally thought about ladders, we had to check the water barrels and tubs every day or two to be sure that there weren’t any floaters. If we did find one, then we had to dump the whole thing and clean it out because, in case you weren’t aware, animals urinate and defecate when they die, and you can’t expect your poor horse to drink contaminated water, can you? Yuck !!!

The worst time of year was during the really HOT part of the summer when temps around here can get up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit around this area. The horses would drink a LOT of water, the water level would drop and when the little critters would try to reach down to get a drink, PLOP, in they’d go and there wasn’t any way for them to get out once down in there.

We tried to make metal wire ladders for awhile, but the horses would sometimes scratch their noses on them, knock them loose, or they would get rusty, etc. One of my sons finally came up with the brilliant idea to start weaving the nylon baling twine into little ladders to hang in each tub and barrel. Anyway, since we started using them, we haven’t had any drowned critters, so I guess they work.

Have a wonderful day and may there be a ladder if you fall into a deep water barrel situation…

I guess it’s hunting season again. As I mentioned before, we live out in the middle of nowhere with BLM land all around us and whenever rabbit, dove or quail season opens, we start hearing the guns going off around us. I don’t mind having some rabbit jerky every once in a while, but I hate it when people shoot the poor little dove and quail… especially when we have watched the quail hatch and grow up. I keep praying they will learn to stay in and around our yard or at least on our property during this season.

You should see the tiny little puff balls when they first hatch. You will see a mama or daddy quail stick their head out of a bush and look around carefully, and if all is clear, then they run across the empty space between bushes with a whole bunch of little balls of fluff about 1 ½ inches around, running after the adult and followed by the other adult usually at the end of the line. It is so neat to see the parents taking care of their little ones… so much better than a lot of humans take care of their kids.

A year or so ago, we had gotten one of those l0 ft. around swimming pools, and my son was sitting quietly in it soaking and not moving. An adult quail stuck it’s head out of the bush just inside of the fence and looked around. My son sat really quietly and watched as it came out slowly and looked around and then lay down in some soft dirt and started to take a dust bath. Within a few minutes, 3 or 4 tiny little quail came out and started to copy their parent… a minute or so later, here came another several little ones. They kept on coming until there were about 15 babies and two adults out pecking around and taking dust baths.

After about 20 minutes, Robert got up quietly (The birds ran back into the bush) and came in and told me about it and we watched through one of the bedroom windows for several minutes until they started coming out again. It was so cute and precious to watch those little ones copying their parents… They would watch and then drop down and do the same thing they had watched their parents do. The parents took turns keeping a watch and bathing and eating, so they would all be safe. It was cool to see how God has given even the birds the knowledge of how to take care of their young. I wish that kind of love and family life were available to all of the kids that are born today. Having worked in the school system with the handicapped for 18 years, I’ve seen a lot more nastiness then I ever wanted to see in relation to some parent’s “care” of their kids… but then again, I’ve also see some of the most wonderful parenting in the world… Parents and/or grandparents who have given up almost every free minute to take care of their severely handicapped youngster. I just wish more parents were like those special people.

Have a Blessed day, and bring joy to someone you see today.