~August 17, 2019

The onion harvest in full-swing a couple of noteworthy things are happening–we smell onions as we drive. We also are looking at the bare ground where they were thriving not long ago. It is both wonderful and sad to my heart–we need the harvest, but I miss the green crops.

So our hay has been cut, raked, baled and stacked–and we are happy. We expect to get one more cutting. Cliff will be getting it all watered again–now that the bales have been removed. It is going to be thirsty. (Haha)

AT OWYHEESTAR

We continue working on the Whelp Room–Cliff plans to have the floor done come Monday. That way Christina and I can work on putting the room back together.

Things look good–we expect pups to arrive before too long. We will be updating the pages, and our availability notice soon. We like to feel as if there is a high certainty that things are going to come together. Until those babies arrive, there is no guarantee. (OMG) Honestly–it is stressful to us–but we breathe and remind ourselves that we cannot control every scenario. Well–mostly we can control our attitude. (OMG)

This Week On the Blog…

What an array of interesting posts–thanks to everyone who made this possible. I truly appreciate you sending the Emailed Updates–along with the photos, etc.

Sunday— August 11 — Duchess

Monday–-August 12— At The Beach (With Asher)

Tuesday — August 13 — Remy

Wednesday — August 14 — The Cone (For Bart)

Thursday –- August 15 —  Goose Lake (with Duchess)

Friday — August 16 — Finn

On a very personal note

~At The Old Farmhouse

–Quail photos below left to right, the native California Quail we see running our farm and the local area. Then there is Bobwhite–first the male followed by a female, and another closeup of a male.

Cliff is doing well–the exhaustion overtakes him on occasion. (OMG) But after a certain age, it might be expected. He has been busy with his little side-gig. By that, I mean the raising of the Bobwhite Quail. You might remember we had the Coturnix Quail–and they were fun. We don’t have a market for them, and it was a bit too much for us to keep up with them and everything else. Since he went to raising the Bobwhite Quail, it has been a lot better. Cliff just read to me that the Bobwhite is the fourth most popular game bird in America. We certainly love them!

The coloration will vary slightly –some have more gray than others. You will notice the males are easy to identify after they develop a bit. One thing that sets them apart is their distinctive call –it sounds like a whistled bob-white! Our neighbor, Alan Brown, stopped by to talk with Cliff and told him he heard the Bobwhite calling to him on his property. He delighted (like Cliff) because they both remember them being native birds when they were young. The only native Bobwhites (according to those who watch those things) are those in the east– this area covers south to Florida and as far west as Texas. The Nielsens have more than a few escapees running loose around the OwyheeStar property and ranging over to the neighbor’s place.

~The Gardening Girls and more

The Gardening Girls took quite a lot of produce away again this week. Evangeline and River no long scream as loud over the cucumbers. (OMG) I kept the last tomato picking–canned nine pints of salsa. Yesterday I pulled the beets and canned seven half-pints of pickled beets. I wasn’t expecting to can anything, but it seems I am. Ashley has a friend with an overload of tomatoes, so I am getting a couple of bushels that I plan to work up. This time I am thinking the sugar-free ketchup and some pizza sauce.

The girls (Evangeline and River) like to do other things when they come to visit–play with the toys, read, and eat. Oh–they want to help me cook too! We made ice cream, chocolate pudding, and their favorite–soda. We have the soda stream on the counter. They don’t often get soda pop. (OMG)