Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Feb 3, 2012, 1:08 pm
That would be jewelry for goats we're talking about here, not jewelry for people that has little goats on it.  Just so we're clear on this. Here's the deal.  Apparently our little doe, Cinnamon, decided she needed a dangly sort of earring. Now how she managed to get this "earring" is beyond my im...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 21, 2012, 12:07 pm
This is about something lost and found on more than one level.  First off, this story is an old one, lost in a folder on my hard drive.  I happened to find it this morning and thought I would add it to the stories here. So here's the story of some other Lost And Found
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Sep 23, 2011, 12:29 pm
At last, I got to see the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center In Great Smoky Mountains National Park! We just got back from one of our many trips happening this fall.  This time we were in Hickory, North Carolina, area so The Farmer could see our grandson playing football at Lenoir-Rhyne University. ...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jul 15, 2011, 1:45 pm
Once a tornado has passed through, it's big news for a while.  The tv, newspapers and most certainly the internet has all kinds of stories and photos about the damage.  But the story dies down and there isn't usually much long-term coverage about the aftermath... all the time and details for the c...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jul 8, 2011, 12:16 pm
We only have one batch of guinea keets so far this summer.  They are incredibly cute when they are little, but as The Farmer puts it, they are the "opposite of the Ugly Duckling story."  They grow up to be, well, a little strange looking. This particular mama guinea started out with 9 keets, bu...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jul 4, 2011, 11:04 pm
HAPPY JULY 4th!!! . Yes, it's Independence Day here in the United States.  I can still hear fireworks going off all around us.  A lot of people have a lot of money going up in smoke right now ha!  I went outside for a while to watch some of the displays the neighbors were making
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jun 10, 2011, 1:00 pm
Yes, today is our American Farm Collie's birthday.  He is 7 years old.  Wow.  He was soooooo cute, too. He was 2 months old when he got him.  The above picture was taken his first day here. It doesn't seem that long ago he was just a little pup driving our Maremma, Neffie, crazy, and
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jun 3, 2011, 11:02 am
Well, Rats... So remember me talking about clearing rats out of the feedroom back in February?  They made a stinking mess (literally), and chewed up a years worth of peacock feathers to making nesting material, and ate who knows how much of the peafowl's food.  I finally realized they were even ...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - May 27, 2011, 12:26 pm
Another week on the farm, and another week with tornadoes skipping around us.  Fortunately, these were baby-sized compared to the mega monsters that went through this area a month ago.  Aside from losing more shingles off the roof, and a few smaller limbs down, we didn't have any damage. Except, I...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - May 20, 2011, 11:52 am
I was thrilled to be able to mark off my to-do list -- "sheep shearing done!" Since our previous shearer quit the business, we've been muddling along for a couple of years doing it ourselves.  We're not good at it.  Believe me, that's a massive understatement.  It takes us forever, the sheep are...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - May 19, 2011, 11:49 am
Yesterday we sheared the sheep, so I went out in the pasture this morning to get some pictures of the naked ladies to use for a blog post.  Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw address labels nestling in the grass. Today is trash pick-up day here, so I figured some neighbor's trash
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - May 13, 2011, 12:26 pm
Bug-eyed monster movie coming now to a city near you!  No wait, this isn't a "B" rated movie, this is the real deal!  And these bug-eyed monsters might be in YOUR area NOW!!! They're called Periodical Cicadas.  They belong to the order Hemiptera, suborder Homoptera and family Cicadidae.  In th...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - May 6, 2011, 11:15 am
From time to time people will email me and ask if they can use pictures they've seen on this blog.  They've been used for: part of a 4-H project, flyer for info on an African country, part of an exhibit in a visitor's center in the Smokey Mountains, in textbooks, and... ... more than I
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Apr 29, 2011, 12:19 pm
We live 4 miles from the Alabama / Tennessee state line.  So yes, we were in the middle of all that tornado trouble this past Wednesday.  We had no electricity all day Wednesday (it went out sometime Tuesday night), and spent a large part of the day in a dark basement with little battery-powered l...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Apr 15, 2011, 12:21 pm
Another quick post!  I'm trying to finish up the main part of a writing project today!  So here are a few pictures from around the farm this week. . . We are getting more and more iris blooms in the flower bed around the big oak tree in the front yard. At this time of
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Apr 8, 2011, 11:57 am
Another week has slipped right by.  Spring is in residence most of the time, although old man winter rousts her out now and then for a light frost or some nippy weather.  But flowers are blooming and birds are nesting and the peacocks are screaming, so it must really be spring! I saw the first
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Apr 1, 2011, 11:20 am
Once upon a midnight dreary, While I pondered weak and weary, Came a knocking on the house, Much too loud to be a mouse. The hail bounced around on the sidewalk.  .  . It covered the sidewalks and filled up the rosebed. . . It fell noisily from the sky and bounced on the roof
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Mar 25, 2011, 11:58 am
For a few days there, we were enjoying temperatures up to 80 degrees F.  All that warm weather jump-started spring blooms.  In the flower gardens, the hosta plants have broke dormacy and starting to send up shoots. In the woods the ferns are doing the same thing. There are huge patches of green pl...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Mar 14, 2011, 1:30 pm
The quince bush down by the pond is in full bloom now. They are a pretty single-petal type bloom.  And right now, they are one of the few sources of pollen. The honeybees have found them and are gathering the pollen. Wonder what quince bush honey tastes like?
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Mar 9, 2011, 12:30 pm
We've had a lot of rain lately, and it rained pretty much all last night and on into the morning.  Anytime we get very much rain, it means the creek bordering one side of our property is going to flood.  Fortunately, it floods the road AFTER you get past our driveway! The water had receded
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Feb 16, 2011, 10:28 am
I took this picture recently... Kind of looks like a painting, doesn't it?  Well, it hasn't been Photoshopped with any special effects.  I will confess, however, that I flipped it vertically, and the picture is actually upside-down. Yep, it's a picture of a reflection in our pond of some nearby ...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Feb 14, 2011, 7:34 am
This cardinal couple and everyone else on the farm wishes you... HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
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Tish K. posted an article on Helping Ellie Walk - Feb 5, 2011, 6:59 pm
I asked Ellie’s mom to write a piece about how things have changed for Ellie since her SDR surgery, and here’s what she had to say: One Year Later. . . It’s been an entire year since Ellie’s Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery! Can you believe it? Neither can I! I thought that this anniversar...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Feb 1, 2011, 11:18 am
I know there are people with pet rats.  I'm sure they are wonderful pets, but I just can't see it.  Especially not after the mess we cleaned up this weekend. First off, I made two serious mistakes that contributed to this problem. I stored a season's worth of peacock feathers in the feed room. I
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 28, 2011, 11:11 am
See this cute little girl? As of this week, it's been a year since she had her surgery (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy). But she's come a long way in that year! She is one determined little girl. She's had a lot of therapy and done a lot of work.  She's one tough little individual.  I love
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 25, 2011, 11:35 am
Around here, our chickens get manna from heaven. They look for it when there is sunshine, and they look for it when there's rain. They do not, however, stand around in the snow waiting for manna or anything else.  The chickens do not want out in the snow.  Neither do the guineas. This is a
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 21, 2011, 11:54 am
Last night we got more snow.  Nothing like the previous snowfall, but still.  This is the SOUTH, so .... ENOUGH SNOW ALREADY!!! Our Maremma sheepdog, Neffie, doesn't look too thrilled with the snow. I agree with her. Granted, it's just a light blanket of snow. . . The sheep don't care about the sn...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 18, 2011, 11:53 am
Yesterday it was warmer, so the snow mostly melted.  There was still some in shady places, but mostly, it got gone.  That's good, because it was a little strange to see guineas on the windowsills. I'm used to seeing cardinals, and English sparrows, and Tufted Titmice, and a lot of other wild birds...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 12, 2011, 5:47 pm
It's even colder today than it's been all week.  The snow is not going to melt any time soon from the looks of it.  Our local weatherman informs us that this is the third largest snowstorm in history for this area, the first being 1963, then 1988.  I wasn't here for either of those snowstorms,
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 11, 2011, 12:21 pm
When The Farmer and I went out in the woods to see what it looked like with all that snow we kept seeing patches of yellow snow.  Here are a couple of examples: . We saw many, MANY more of these, but it gets a little boring looking at yellow patches of snow.  I will note
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 10, 2011, 12:17 am
It's midnight here in the south, and the snow is falling thick and heavy. As you can see here, the snowflakes are fat and there are LOTS of them! Toby the Tough doesn't mind a little snow and runs around all over the place.  Where I go, he goes. I tried shining a flashlight on
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 6, 2011, 7:17 am
Here we are, on Epiphany and the 12th day of Christmas.  What did our true love out here in the country send to us today?  On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . The Twelfth Day of Christmas .Twelve peacocks prancing. . . . .  . The Eleventh
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 5, 2011, 8:32 am
Here we are at the eleventh day of Christmas, and according to the church calendar, this actually *is* the eleventh day.  So, where are we in the song? On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me. . . Eleven roosters crowing! .   The Tenth Day of Christmas   Ten squirrels
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Jan 4, 2011, 2:42 pm
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . . Ten squirrels leaping, . Nine grandkids dancing, . The Eighth Day of Christmas Eight maids a-cleaning, . The Seventh Day of Christmas Seven EELS a-peeking, .. The Sixth Day of Christmas. Six Guineas Preening, . The Fifth Day of
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 30, 2010, 7:49 am
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . .  The Ninth Day of Christmas Nine Grandkids dancing! . The Eighth Day of Christmas Eight maids a-cleaning, . The Seventh Day of Christmas Seven EELS a-peeking, .. The Sixth Day of Christmas. Six Guineas Preening, . The Fifth Day of
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 29, 2010, 11:41 am
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . Eight Maids A-Cleaning! . .  Seven EELS a-peeking, .. Six Guineas Preening, . Five canning rings, .  Four Calling Birds, . Three Fat Sheep, . Two Spitting Llamas, . ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy!. New Style, cost of
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 28, 2010, 1:21 pm
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . Seven EELS a-peeking! . Six Guineas Preening, . Five canning rings, . Four calling birds, . Three fat sheep, . Two spitting llamas, . ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy! . New Style, cost of 7 EELS: $49.99 Old
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 25, 2010, 5:44 am
We're taking a break from our regularly scheduled "days of Christmas" to wish you a very Merry Christmas! So, from everybody here at the farm: Pictured top left to right: Baby (African Grey), The Cave Geek, The Farmer, Rural Writer, Keira the llama, and Neffie the Maremma Sheep Dog Middle: Cinnamon ...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 24, 2010, 7:16 am
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . Six Guineas Preening! . Five canning rings, . Four calling birds, . Three fat sheep, . Two spitting llamas, . ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy! . New Style, cost of 6 Guineas: $28.20 Old (Classic) Style, cost of
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 23, 2010, 12:15 pm
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . Five canning rings! . Four calling birds, . Three fat sheep, . Two spitting llamas, > ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy! . New Style, cost of 5 Canning Rings: $1.70 Old (Classic) Style, cost of 5 Gold Rings: $1,070.00
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 22, 2010, 12:26 pm
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . .   Four Calling Birds! . Three Fat Sheep! . Two Spitting Llamas! . ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy! . New Style, cost of 4 Calling Birds: $0 Old (Classic) Style, cost of 4 Colly Birds: $0 . But wait! Just what
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 21, 2010, 9:33 am
On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me . . . Three fat sheep! . Two Spitting Llamas .  The first day of Christmas! ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy! . New Style, cost of 3 Shetland Sheep (average price): $750 Old (Classic) Style, cost of 3 French Hens: $30 New style
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 20, 2010, 1:10 pm
On the Second day of Christmas my true love gave to me. . . Two Spitting Llamas. . . The first day of Christmas! ... And a Parrot on a Fairrryyyyy!   New style, Cost of two llamas: $400 Classic style, Cost of two turtle doves: $380 Looks like the new choice is still more expensive than
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 17, 2010, 12:45 pm
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a well-known Christmas carol.  What gets a little confusing is most people think it's the twelve days BEFORE Christmas, but it's really supposed to be AFTER Christmas: "Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of ...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 16, 2010, 12:35 pm
Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. - from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner       by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Well, actually, that's not quite true. The problem was the water was in the wrong place! I was all excited because today is much warmer than it's been in a while, and I figu...
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 15, 2010, 11:29 am
Yes, it's only ten days until Christmas! ONE: TWO: THREE: FOUR: FIVE: SIX: SEVEN: EIGHT: NINE: TEN: Are you ready??? Cause ready or not, Christmas is coming! Ho, ho, ho!!!
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 14, 2010, 11:47 am
I wish I could buy more memory, like you do for a computer, and install it in my brain.  Cause boy!  I sure could use some! For example, yesterday I totally forgot about any post for Rural Ramblings.  Never even crossed my mind. And I usually fix The Farmer's lunch the night before for him
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 10, 2010, 12:59 pm
We've had our Eastern Painted Turtle a long time.  The Cave Geek found her as a hatchling, maybe the size of a quarter, when we were living near Cleveland, Ohio.  Way back in another lifetime, and when the Geek was only about 10 years old. In other words, she's been part of the family for 20
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 9, 2010, 12:21 pm
I looked out this morning and saw a bird hanging from the suet feeder.  Now generally, they are hanging ON the suet feeder, not hanging out of it. I've had that suet feeder hanging out there for probably 10 years, and never had this kind of thing happen before. Since I doubt this little bird
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Tish K. posted an article on Rural Ramblings - Dec 8, 2010, 12:13 pm
Today is Winter Flowers Day.  So what kind of flowers do we have blooming right now? Well, the peacocks are prancing around with flowery looking feathers.  Does that count? No, I guess not.  Well, how about something that started as flowers?  Like the red berries on evergreen bushes? . Okay, oka...
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