I haven't been typing much the past 2 weeks. When I took my little adventure down to the stream, I exposed myself to poison oak. And man, I had a serious case of it too!
My eyes swelled up. My arms were covered. I took Benadryl, I used Benadryl cream. I used jimsonweed weed spray. Itchy agony, that would be my description.
All the swelling is gone now. Thankfully. If you've never been exposed to poison oak or don't react to it, I envy you. I can't get near the stuff. I had on gloves and long sleeves. That's usually sufficient to keep me from getting exposed. But not this time. I even showered when I got home, first thing. Took my clothes off and turned them inside out. Washed them immediately too. I hate to think how awful I would have had a rash if I hadn't taken all those procautions.
And to make the whole situation worse, I was bitten by a spider or some other nasty bug when we went to visit an interesting historical homestead our friend Jessica McFadden was working at. Jessica works for the Black River Technical College in Pocahontas, AR. The project she's involved in was at the Rice-Upshaw House. Here's a link to the project. Project REACH.
This bite really swelled up. I got a rash and fever. So I was dealing with 2 assults on my immune system at the same time. I still have a bruise on my leg, but it's shrinking fast. I guess I should have made a trip to the family doctor's office. But I knew it was something I could treat myself. I just needed to take the time to recover. I didn't see what critter bit me. I discovered the injury when my leg started to hurt. Please don't follow my example if you aren't sure how to treat your injury! Insect bite overview
Friends, do yourself a favor. Stay away from poison oak and poison ivy. And poison sumack. If you react to these plants, they can make your life miserable. Find out how to identify these plants and how to combat the rash if you should develop one. http://www.poisonoakandpoisonivy.com/index.html
Living life in rural Arkansas with my husband Johnnie and stepson Joshua. Johnnie and I both have Parkinson's disease. This makes life a challenge, but we're living a full life with each other as best we can. We really enjoy living in the woods. We spend our days making things, eating good food, watching a movie or two on TV. We enjoy learning new things and keeping our life focused on the positive.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
My new favorite spot in our woods
When we were looking for property to buy here in Arkansas (back in 2005), we wanted a piece of property that fit the following criteria:
- More than 10 acres but less than 100
- Mostly wooded
- Off any main road, on a gravel road if possible
- Must have a house and a workshop
- Running water (year round would be best)
When we found the listing for this property, it sounded like exactly what we wanted. It's 42 acres, has a house and a barn/work shop, the driveway is 1/2 mile long and gravel off the main highway, the buildings can't be seen from the highway, and there's about 5 acres cleared with the rest wooded.
Even better, it's surrounded by hunting property on 3 sides. This means there's over 1100 acres of woods around us. Across the Spring River is a wildlife management area, meaning our little "woods" is part of a very large forest. Wonderful!
The one thing we didn't have was running water. Damn.
In the fall of 2006 I decided to try and follow the old barbed wire fence and see where exactly our property lines were. As I walked down into the hollow... down and down and down, I discovered that it was a long damn way down there... further than a half mile! And at the bottom was a stream. That was good news. But I didn't think any part of the stream was on OUR property.
For those who've never leaved in hilly country, measuring distance can be a bit tricky. You see, 40 acres is part of a "square". Usually a square is 160 acres. That equals 1 square mile. So 40 acres would be 1/4 mile square. When the original survey of an area was done and it was mapped, property was divided by square mile. As measured on the map. But, in hilly country where the actual land undulates, the actual walking distance could be much more than that. In reality you're "square" 40 acres could be 1/2 mile walking distance with all the dips and rises. Because the surface of the earth isn't flat, like the distance on the map.
As I was walking down into the hollow (or Haller as they say here), it was a damn lot further than 1/4 mile!
So, we talked about that off and on. Worked on the house. Cleaned up around the area that's cleared. Time passed. And in 2010, we decided to actually have the property surveyed. That way we'd know EXACTLY where our property was and wasn't.
Once the surveyors were done, we walked the new clearly marked boundary and placed "posting tape" so our property would be "posted". Meaning it's not open for hunting without our permission. "Posting" your property indicated to the public that this piece of property is privately owned and that coming on the property without permission could result in your arrest. Here in the country, most property is posted. The owner is legally responsible for all activity on their property. Posting your property helps you control this activity. If someone is on your property without your consent, that's criminal activity! Posting your property helps keep you as the property owner safe, within the law. Because you know who is on your property when. Trespassing is serious business!
Anyway... as we were walking the boundary we found that stream. And part of it IS on our property. Excellent! But it appeared to be dry part of the year.
Last fall I decided to investigate the stream further. I started at our northwest property marker and followed the northern line until I came on the creek. Then I followed the creek until it dried up. Damn. If went underground not far from the northern line.
Back in February, I decided to go back down there and look around again. And the water was flowing much further up stream than it had been. It seems I might have been looking at it during the height of the drought last year. That would explain why it went dry. Or maybe it's just a seasonal stream. Meaning it flows during part of the year when we have plenty of rain, and dries up during the long hot summer.
A few weeks ago, Joshua and I walked down there again. And we followed the creek until we found the source. It's obvious from looking at the land around the source that this creek varies in it's flow a great deal. The stream bed extends much further up hill. And it's tumbled nature indicated that the flow can be rather brisk at times. It's very beautiful. Rough and tumbled. Jumbled. Pools and little water falls, and flowing over large flat bedrock.
This really struck me. It's just lovely! I want to spend more time around the stream/creek. I want to play in the water. I want to enhance the pools, make them deeper. Clean up the source and make it as beautiful as possible.
So, yesterday I went back down to the creek. I took the brush cutters with me. The manual kind. I was going down by myself, so I didn't want to take any power tools that I could hurt myself with. Just me, my camera and the brush cutters and a water bottle. I had a great time!
Here's some of the pictures I took of our spring. That's the correct term for this flow, a spring. It comes up straight out of the ground. That makes it a spring. The past few times I was down there, the water flowed over the entire streambed. Today it didn't. There was a section that went UNDER the large pieces of bedrock. This was the part we'd found dry in the past and assumed it was a dry streambed. Now I'm sure it's NOT.
I'll keep walking down to the spring once a week and check on the flow rate. That way I will know when it stops flowing for the summer and when it starts again.
I even found a little mud turtle yesterday in one of the pools. If a little turtle lives there, the water must be fairly constant.
When I was a child in rural Northeastern Pennsylvania, one of my favorite activities was playing in the "creek" in the woods. I loved spending hours there. Playing with the turtles, crayfish, and minnows. Listening to the birds. Building a rock fort.
When our friend Michelle came to visit for a few days, I took her down to the spring. We spent most of the day there. Digging out one of the pools and stacking up rocks to make it deeper. Talking and not talking, just enjoying the woods and the birds together. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed it.
This summer, I hope to spend some time with Ariel down here by the water. Maybe we can do some clearing up and build a wickiup. Have a picnic. Play in the water. That thought brings a smile to my face.
- More than 10 acres but less than 100
- Mostly wooded
- Off any main road, on a gravel road if possible
- Must have a house and a workshop
- Running water (year round would be best)
When we found the listing for this property, it sounded like exactly what we wanted. It's 42 acres, has a house and a barn/work shop, the driveway is 1/2 mile long and gravel off the main highway, the buildings can't be seen from the highway, and there's about 5 acres cleared with the rest wooded.
Even better, it's surrounded by hunting property on 3 sides. This means there's over 1100 acres of woods around us. Across the Spring River is a wildlife management area, meaning our little "woods" is part of a very large forest. Wonderful!
The one thing we didn't have was running water. Damn.
In the fall of 2006 I decided to try and follow the old barbed wire fence and see where exactly our property lines were. As I walked down into the hollow... down and down and down, I discovered that it was a long damn way down there... further than a half mile! And at the bottom was a stream. That was good news. But I didn't think any part of the stream was on OUR property.
For those who've never leaved in hilly country, measuring distance can be a bit tricky. You see, 40 acres is part of a "square". Usually a square is 160 acres. That equals 1 square mile. So 40 acres would be 1/4 mile square. When the original survey of an area was done and it was mapped, property was divided by square mile. As measured on the map. But, in hilly country where the actual land undulates, the actual walking distance could be much more than that. In reality you're "square" 40 acres could be 1/2 mile walking distance with all the dips and rises. Because the surface of the earth isn't flat, like the distance on the map.
As I was walking down into the hollow (or Haller as they say here), it was a damn lot further than 1/4 mile!
So, we talked about that off and on. Worked on the house. Cleaned up around the area that's cleared. Time passed. And in 2010, we decided to actually have the property surveyed. That way we'd know EXACTLY where our property was and wasn't.
Once the surveyors were done, we walked the new clearly marked boundary and placed "posting tape" so our property would be "posted". Meaning it's not open for hunting without our permission. "Posting" your property indicated to the public that this piece of property is privately owned and that coming on the property without permission could result in your arrest. Here in the country, most property is posted. The owner is legally responsible for all activity on their property. Posting your property helps you control this activity. If someone is on your property without your consent, that's criminal activity! Posting your property helps keep you as the property owner safe, within the law. Because you know who is on your property when. Trespassing is serious business!
Anyway... as we were walking the boundary we found that stream. And part of it IS on our property. Excellent! But it appeared to be dry part of the year.
Last fall I decided to investigate the stream further. I started at our northwest property marker and followed the northern line until I came on the creek. Then I followed the creek until it dried up. Damn. If went underground not far from the northern line.
Back in February, I decided to go back down there and look around again. And the water was flowing much further up stream than it had been. It seems I might have been looking at it during the height of the drought last year. That would explain why it went dry. Or maybe it's just a seasonal stream. Meaning it flows during part of the year when we have plenty of rain, and dries up during the long hot summer.
A few weeks ago, Joshua and I walked down there again. And we followed the creek until we found the source. It's obvious from looking at the land around the source that this creek varies in it's flow a great deal. The stream bed extends much further up hill. And it's tumbled nature indicated that the flow can be rather brisk at times. It's very beautiful. Rough and tumbled. Jumbled. Pools and little water falls, and flowing over large flat bedrock.
This really struck me. It's just lovely! I want to spend more time around the stream/creek. I want to play in the water. I want to enhance the pools, make them deeper. Clean up the source and make it as beautiful as possible.
So, yesterday I went back down to the creek. I took the brush cutters with me. The manual kind. I was going down by myself, so I didn't want to take any power tools that I could hurt myself with. Just me, my camera and the brush cutters and a water bottle. I had a great time!
Here's some of the pictures I took of our spring. That's the correct term for this flow, a spring. It comes up straight out of the ground. That makes it a spring. The past few times I was down there, the water flowed over the entire streambed. Today it didn't. There was a section that went UNDER the large pieces of bedrock. This was the part we'd found dry in the past and assumed it was a dry streambed. Now I'm sure it's NOT.
I'll keep walking down to the spring once a week and check on the flow rate. That way I will know when it stops flowing for the summer and when it starts again.
I even found a little mud turtle yesterday in one of the pools. If a little turtle lives there, the water must be fairly constant.
 |
| The source of the spring |
 |
| A little mud turtle in the first pool |
 |
| Another pool a bit further down stream |
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| A section of the tumbled stream bed |
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| A large section of bedrock where another little stream enters |
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| A particularly beautiful section of the rocks beside the spring |
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| The dry section where the spring runs under the rocks and emerges again a few feet away |
When our friend Michelle came to visit for a few days, I took her down to the spring. We spent most of the day there. Digging out one of the pools and stacking up rocks to make it deeper. Talking and not talking, just enjoying the woods and the birds together. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed it.
This summer, I hope to spend some time with Ariel down here by the water. Maybe we can do some clearing up and build a wickiup. Have a picnic. Play in the water. That thought brings a smile to my face.
Making lumber and butter.
Several years ago, our hunt club neighbors decided to build a "cabin". What they called a "cabin", I'd call a house. Two bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, great room and laundry room/bath. Very nice.
The couple who built this cabin had talked with us about buying 2 acres from us. The shape of our land didn't fit with their plans. So they bought 2 acres from the hunt club they'd belong to for the past 20+ years. Their property is adjacent to ours, our our south border.
When they cleared the land for this cabin, several red oak trees were removed. Rex decided he wanted to turn this into lumber for a table for their cabin. Sadly, Rex has passed away and never got the chance to make this lumber....
This past weekend, John and Joshua decided to get these logs processed. Here's a few pictures of the logs turned into beautiful lumber.
I'm not sure what they have planned for this lumber now, but I don't think it's going to be a table.
While they were out making lumber, I was busy in the kitchen making butter. Our friend Beth gave me 2 quarts of cream. I used my manual mixer and beat away. It took about 45 minutes.
Once the butter has been churned, it must be drained. And rinsed. And rinsed again. And then pressed, salted, and pressed into a mold. This is then chilled. Now you have fresh butter. YUMMY!
The couple who built this cabin had talked with us about buying 2 acres from us. The shape of our land didn't fit with their plans. So they bought 2 acres from the hunt club they'd belong to for the past 20+ years. Their property is adjacent to ours, our our south border.
 |
| Rex and Jennifer's cabin in the background |
This past weekend, John and Joshua decided to get these logs processed. Here's a few pictures of the logs turned into beautiful lumber.
While they were out making lumber, I was busy in the kitchen making butter. Our friend Beth gave me 2 quarts of cream. I used my manual mixer and beat away. It took about 45 minutes.
 |
| Churned butter |
Friday, May 10, 2013
Doggy misadventures
Yesterday started out well. Miss Peanut and I went out and fed the birds. Then she decided it was time to chase that chipmunk family around. The poor little rodents live in the woodpile. Peanut spends a lot of her time chasing them and and silly squirrel that comes anywhere near the yard.
I went in the house and got the laundry started. I was checking out Facebook when Peanut came scratching on the front door (something she rarely does) and whimpering. I opened the door and she hobbled in. My husband John and I thought at first she'd stepped on a wasp or something. Her right front leg and foot were very swollen. When I looked at her leg more closely, I found 2 puncture wounds. OH NO! Snakebite!
I called the vet and we took her right over. She was very short of breath, had lost her bowel control and vomited. NOT GOOD. When Dr. Donna Shaw gave her a thorough examination, it turns out she'd been bitten TWICE. Cripes!
She spent the night at the vet's and should come home today. She may need some further surgery if there's too much tissue damage. Only time will tell.
Here in Arkansas, we have 6 different types of poisonous snakes. Copper heads, water moccasins, timber rattlers, pygmy rattlers, western diamondbacks, and coral snakes. Please folks, learn to recognize the snakes in your area and how to protect yourself from them.
We're not the type of people who kill snakes indiscriminately. But, poisonous snakes are dangerous!
John spent a better part of the day yesterday trying to find where Peanut got bitten. I don't know if it's good that he didn't find the snake or not.
Our granddaughter, Ariel, will be coming to spend the summer. Now I'm thinking about how to make her understand the danger. I don't want to make her afraid of the woods. But I do want her to understand that she can't go wandering off by herself. In previous summers, she hasn't been allowed to play outside unless she was directly in view at all times; or if she was with one of us. I had thought that she's now 10, maybe she could have more free range to play. Maybe not.
Ariel lives in rural Georgia. But she's not been living in the woods like this. They do have copperheads there in Georgia. I don't know if she's ever seen one or not.
We've lived here 7 years now. We killed 1 pygmy rattler on the brick patio. I killed a copperhead last spring by our big water tank. We're assuming that's where the snake was that bit Peanut. I guess I'll make sure to wear boots and carry my "ratshot" pistol whenever I'm outside now... Damn I hate wearing boots when it's hot.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Gardening woes
We had beautiful weather at the beginning of the week... and then this massive cold front moved in. It rained buckets. The temperature dropped. It was 89 degrees on Wednesday (May Day), and by Thursday night it was 35! Damn!
We got 2 1/2 inches of rain. Luckily that's less than the previous rain front that moved in, which resulted in 6 inches of rain. But it's been a wild and wet time the past 2 weeks or so.
When I checked on the veggies on Wednesday; we had tomatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, squash, melons, cucumbers, okra, asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, onions and potatoes growing.
This picture was taken after I had all the seedlings in the ground. It's hard to see those little plants in this picture, but it does show how the garden is laid out. The square on the upper right is the bed for carrots and beets. The radishes are adjacent to this. The asparagus and rhubarb are located on the lower left of this picture. The artichokes are off the picture, on the extreme left.
The row of potatoes and onions can be seen in the background of this picture, to the left and behind the irises and the peach tree.
Each of the lilac trees bloomed this year, for the first time. We planted them in 2009, and I think they're doing very well.
I wonder what I'll find when I check it later today. My friend Julie said the deer came along and ate EVERY plant in her garden. Bummer! Now she's got to start all over.
I had my chicks out in the sun on Wednesday. Then the weather started to turn and so I decided to put them back in the cage with a light bulb for heat... and 1 of the Brahma Cochin chicks was gone. Poof! Damn. I guess a snake got it. That's the only thing that could have take it out of that cage. All the other chicks were alive and well. It's a mystery to me....
Mama Bantam Pebbles still has 5 little fuzz balls she's minding. She's a great mother. She keeps her little babies under close guard.
My Black Copper Maran, Jet, is very broody. But she doesn't have any eggs in her nest, so her hopes of motherhood aren't very likely. I haven't been taking her eggs, so I think the rooster, Henry, is eating them. Or maybe she's not laying. Again, it's a mystery.
I'm making a trip to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds today with my friend Michelle. I've never been there, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Here's the link for them. http://www.rareseeds.com/
We got 2 1/2 inches of rain. Luckily that's less than the previous rain front that moved in, which resulted in 6 inches of rain. But it's been a wild and wet time the past 2 weeks or so.
When I checked on the veggies on Wednesday; we had tomatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, squash, melons, cucumbers, okra, asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, onions and potatoes growing.
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| Our veggie garden when planted on 4/16/2013 |
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| Our NE flower garden on 4/30/2013 |
The row of potatoes and onions can be seen in the background of this picture, to the left and behind the irises and the peach tree.
Each of the lilac trees bloomed this year, for the first time. We planted them in 2009, and I think they're doing very well.
I wonder what I'll find when I check it later today. My friend Julie said the deer came along and ate EVERY plant in her garden. Bummer! Now she's got to start all over.
I had my chicks out in the sun on Wednesday. Then the weather started to turn and so I decided to put them back in the cage with a light bulb for heat... and 1 of the Brahma Cochin chicks was gone. Poof! Damn. I guess a snake got it. That's the only thing that could have take it out of that cage. All the other chicks were alive and well. It's a mystery to me....
Mama Bantam Pebbles still has 5 little fuzz balls she's minding. She's a great mother. She keeps her little babies under close guard.
 |
| Henry and Jet |
I'm making a trip to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds today with my friend Michelle. I've never been there, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Here's the link for them. http://www.rareseeds.com/
Thursday, May 2, 2013
What to do with lots of eggs....
This morning, we got 4 guinea eggs and 5 chicken eggs. I already had over a dozen of each so I thought I'd better get backing. It was way too hot to bake yesterday, it got up to 87. But today it's only going to be in the low 70's.
The first thing I decided to bake was a chevre pound cake. If you've never tried goat, you should. I love it.
The dish I decided to make for lunch is what I want to focus on. A lovely turkey and spinach quiche. I guess I'm on a bit of a French theme today.
Anyway, here's the photo log of my quiche in progress.
The mystery lump is the mozzarella cheese Michelle and I made last week.
The quiche baked in a 325 degree oven for an hour. What a wonderful meal! Yummy!
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