The Great Mouse Count - Winter 2010

A mouse free front bed.

     Joy and rapture!  My front bed finally melted off and our winter trapping efforts were worth while.   What efforts you say?  Trapping outdoor mice.  For the last two winters my front bed (and most of our yard) has been completely ravaged by mice under the cover of snow.  Thankfully, they never made it in the house, but the destruction they did outside was incredible.  They tunneled, destroyed perennials, and completely ruined any desire to even work in the flower bed. 

     Not this year!  Last fall war was declared and 108 mice later we seem to have won.  A clean up of the bed proved that the perennials made it through the winter and none were eaten to the nub.  My beloved Etain Violas even made it (mice find them especially delectable)!    

     We started in October and the trap by the front door was catching a mouse every twenty minutes.  Finally, we slowed down to 2 a day, and then by January 1 every two weeks.  I think it is safe to say to population is depleted and my flower bed was saved from damage.  I kind of wish I had kept them, could have had a nice fur coat by now. Ha!

    This was probably a somewhat morbid post, but if you have lost shrubs, perennials, or trees to mouse damage during the winter you will understand my happiness at the success of this endeavor.  I highly recommend if you have had mouse damage in the past to give the simple method of trapping a try.  It was worth the disgusting effort when my bed melted off and was clean and free of mouse damage.
  
   Apologies if you didn't like this post.   It can't always be sunshine and roses.

The gruesome Mouse Count board.  Amazing what you do for entertainment when winters are so long.



All about Ella...



First day home.

On December 19, 2009, Ella entered our home.  We were looking for a German Wirehair Pointer and found her on the Internet at Shutte's Diamond Wirehairs.  Kelly was smitten and immediately said she was the one.  We met the Shutte's in Alliance, Nebraska.  We brought a giant dog kennel and as you can see by the photo to the left she was the size of shoe when we picked her up.  I let her ride on my lap.  She howled for the first 3 minutes and slept the rest of the 3 hour drive.  She was easy to train and is very well behaved, especially for a spoiled dog. 

Chilling with the family.

Little Ella fit right into our life.  She loves projects, and we are always working on projects.  She is right there helping if we are measuring, quilting, or gardening.   Her biggest love is riding with Kelly when he plows the road.  I wish I had a photo of this.  She sits right next to him with great pride.  Heaven forbid he leaves her home with me and takes the plow truck anywhere.  She sits on my feet and howls in anguish. 

She isn't sure that measures up.

Watching to be sure my stitches are uniform.

Ella's feels that pine cones, branches, and trees were put on this earth purely for her enjoyment.   If she is not dropping a pine cone at my feet, she is throwing it in the air and trying to catch it herself.  As the photo below shows, she thinks trees are chew toys.  This spring Kelly cut some dead trees that posed safety hazards.  Ella was sure that was purely for her chewing pleasure. 

Ahh! A delicious tree.

Ella's newest joy are Mardi Gras beads.  

Ella sporting her newest fashion statement.

Every year there is a Mardi Gras parade in Deadwood and my husband always brings me beads when he comes home.  Well, this year he put a set on Ella also.  She  thinks they are the greatest.  Every day when we come home from work she gets excited, because my husband puts a different set of colored her beads on her.  I don't know who likes it more Kelly or Ella.  I realized how much Ella has him wrapped around her paw, when he admitted to me he would take her hunting wearing the beads.  Wow!  She will be the only hunting dog wearing beads. 

 Our home is a better place with our little addition.  She keeps life interesting and full of wonder.   As I write this, she is sleeping next to me with her tail wagging and her feet twitching.  I bet she is chasing squirrels.

"A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk."  ~O.A. Battista

Yummy rhubarb cake on a crummy day...

My Christmas present in the snow.

     For as nice as it was yesterday it is crummy today.  It is snowing, the wind is blowing, and I have yet to see any sunshine.  At least I got one nice day. 
     To make the best of it, I rummaged around in the freezer and found (to my surprise) frozen rhubarb.  Thought I had used that up.  With visions of spring in my head, I made my mother-in-law's rhubarb cake.  It is wonderful and picked up our spirits some.  I've been gleaning recipes off of other blogs, so I figured I'd share one.   

Cindy's Rhubarb Cake

1 1/2 c. brown or white sugar        
1/2 c.    butter
2 c.       flour
1 t.       baking soda
1 t.       salt
1         egg
1 c.     sour milk
2 c.     rhubarb fresh or frozen

Combine all ingredients.  Pour in a greased baking dish.  Top with:
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 t. cinnamon

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Enjoy. 

Probably isn't the best photo, but I already ate that piece.
I figured if I cut another piece for photo purposes I'd have to eat that one also.

Spring?...

     Lesson learned:  Do not start a garden blog in January.  I have 2 more months until I can even consider planting anything.   Hard to write about gardening when you can't do anything, but wish.

     There was a glimmer of hope this weekend.  It is about 62 degrees and my rose bed has melted off.  I got the pine needles cleaned out.  I was very pleased with the results.  I have learned the hard way no matter how nice it appears to be do not unwrap my roses until the end of May.   It felt good see and smell fresh dirt. 

Anyone know what this is?

 I also cleaned the pine tree bed.  My garden decorations made it through the winter.  If anyone know what these are, please, let me know.  My dad collects antiques and he can't identify them.  He is not impressed that I am using them in the garden.  If they turn out to be some expensive antiques I will not post your comment, because dad reads this and he will have a heart attack.   Still, I would like to know what they were used for.



Antique whatcha-ma-call-its.

     I had a great time cleaning up the yard.  Of course, whenever I do anything in the garden I have lots of help.  Don't think she has any interest in what I'm doing.  She just dropped a pine cone and is anxiously waiting for me to toss it.                                                                

 

All and all it was a good day.  A few beds were cleaned and quite a few games of pine cone catch were played.  I even felt hopeful and changed our sign.  Hope springs eternal.

 

Birdhouse project...

Since the title of the post is birds, bees, berries, and blooms, I figure I had better talk about birds at some point.  Here is an easy project for our feathered friends. 
    I love doing projects using the resources around me.  With 20 acres of aspen, birch, oak, and pines, I have lots of natural resources.  One project I enjoyed this summer involved making birdhouses out of downed aspen trees.  There are several aspen trees on the ground around our home.  Many were at one time bird houses.  I stress I used trees that had fallen over.  I don't what anyone to think I was cutting down little bird homes. 
     First, I cut above and below the holes.  I then scraped off the bark and sanded the outside to show off the worm galleries.  Some didn't need a top and bottom, but most did.  I stained the outside to slow deterioration and  reused some old wire we found on the property as hangers.  We love to shed hunt for antlers and I used the smaller ones as decorative perches. 

Beginning, middle, and final project.

      It was a fun project and they make great gifts.  When my sister came out this winter, I let my nieces each pick a birdhouse.  Then when I went to my sister's to help with the floors in the new house.  I was really excited to go with the girls to their new farm and let them pick where to put their bird houses.  It was a wonderful experience.   We spent the rest of the day checking to see if any birds have moved in. 
     If you have a few old trees on the ground I highly recommend this project.  It didn't cost a penny, but was a productive way to spend a couple of weekends and led to a great day with my nieces.

Good Lord!  Slow down Aunt Bonnie isn't that fast.

A snowy Sunday walk on snowshoes...



A romantic trail.



At least someone is enjoying the snow.



Destination achieved. Now it is time for some hot cocoa.



Flip this house...

It was a fun week at my sister's house.  If you can call hard work fun.  I helped wrangle 3 kids 5, 4, and 1, while also helping Becky finish the wood floors on the 100 year old farmhouse they bought.   I learned several things.

1.  You have to ease into 3 kids.  Three right off the bat is tough on a person.  They are great little girls with wonderful personalities, but a lot of work.  I don't know how you moms out there do it. 



The finished product.

 2.  Refinishing a wood floor is not (I repeat not) a 3 day project.  Especially when the dining room floor is covered with a black glue. 

3.  There is no accounting for other people's taste.  Blue shag carpet vs. oak hardwood floors seemed like an easy decision to me.  (This blog is late, because I was trying to get a photo of the blue shag.  It may be added later.)

4.  Doing a project like this with another person is very helpful.  Just when one person's spirits were low the other would be positive and keep the project moving forward.

5.  There is nothing more fun than rummaging around an old farm with your sister, finding all sorts of cool treasures, and letting your imaginations run wild.  I will be back and we will put some of those ideas into practice. 

  

Sanded floors.