Dragonfly Ranch

… there was a rodent of some kind hiding under the hood of my Caravan.

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Had a great time spreading the word and raising money for the Eastern Madera County SPCA Animal Care Center and Shelter. We have raised enough to plan ground breaking in January 2016. Obviously that took longer than one day at the Tarantula Festival! But every donation and opportunity to make folks aware of the mission counts.

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We’ve begun to build our Day of the Dead altar.

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It is difficult to get a photo of a hunting tarantula. He was moseying along our walk-about path last evening.

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This evening’s sunset was possibly the most spectacular one we’ve seen since we moved to the ranch — and we’ve seen a lot of beautiful sunsets.

…if I didn’t check the zucchini every day. Luckily I picked these before they reached critical mass. The largest one weighs 3 1/2 pounds.

… we found ourselves without water. Pretty scary given the drought situation out here. It could have been as simple as a burned out switch or wire or as disastrous as a dry well. Luckily, it was the pump not the well. More expensive than a switch but a lot less expensive than a new well. We did end up buying water for our tank to get us through until the well guys came. But, boy, are those guys good. In three hours they pulled the old pump, dropped a new one, and we were good to go. The excitement never ends.

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… here at Dragonfly Ranch. In late August, the dogs discovered a rodent of some kind in the woodshed and at one point all four were furiously digging at the wood pile and the shed itself. Chester and Fritz were climbing on and in the wood; Ella and Buddy were digging from the outside at the back of the shed. A lot of frenzy and barking. After a day of this, we emptied the shed of everything. The poor squirrel finally made a run for it. Buddy nabbed it and Fritz grabbed it from him. Everyone was happy except the rodent.

So then we called one of the woodworkers who make the cradles to distribute to kids at Christmas, and he salvaged a pickup load of usable wood. Still faced with the mess you see above, we rented a dumpster and started heaving. It was also an excuse to discard some other stuff that wouldn’t fit in the regular trash. So now we have a woodshed that has stacked wood and semi-organized tools and enough room for the trash and recycle bins.

….. two grand pianos, a harpsichord, and an organ aren’t enough!

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Well, actually, it’s the chickens’ first egg.

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