Good Dog!

After nearly a month without his people-mama to remind him of his manners our Stevens' Mountain Cur has developed a few bad habits. Not horrible, nasty, habits but ones that need reversing nonetheless. He's also matured a little more. This seems to happen in spurts.

One place this has happened is with the chickens. After a day of watching him I decided that he didn't seem to consider them food... just potentially fun to chase. Last night he herded an escaped dominic into a corner and backed off so I could put the frightened bird back over the fence. I then herded everyone into the coop and closed them up for the night.....

Not realizing that my favorite chicken, Salvadore, wasn't inside. He often hangs out under the bigger chickens so when I saw a little eye and beak poking out I presumed it was him. This morning I opened the door and realized he was missing. Oh the agony! Later, I thought I heard his peculiar call so I had a tiny hope he would reappear. A very tiny hope!

Then about 5:30 this afternoon I heard one heck of a kerfuffle at the coop and went running to see what was the matter. It was Rufus, orange bird in mouth, running around the corner of the workshop. Boy was I angry! The moment he heard me yell the poor creature was dropped but he was determined it would NOT leave the spot. Lying on the ground, in a state of great panic, was little Salvadore! His wing feathers were a little mussed up but- despite his wild ride in Rufus' mouth -there wasn't a scratch on him!

Sal is back amongst his brethren, enjoying the feeder bucket, and undoubtedly telling stories of "camping out" for a night. I have my favorite little rooster back.

It's been a long, happy, week....

Mr. Fuzzy and I got home from our respective trips within a couple hours of each other, ate a lovely pizza from our local Italian restaurant, Mickey G's, and promptly collapsed. The next evening our friends from Vermont arrived for a five day visit while Brian taught a weekend blacksmithing class at the Jacksonville Center. .... A class which both the Fuzzy's had signed up for and one had completely forgotten said factoid. That would have been me, Mrs. Fuzzy.

Laussanne and I got a little gardening done before the weekend (how can I ever begin to thank this wonderful woman????) and on Monday we ran off to hike the Buffalo, our local mountain. It was an all-girl affair... humans and dogs. This is Laussanne, her little dog and our foster girl, Lady, at the summit.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. There was the weekend... which found your authors covered in soot and turning little rods of iron into very functional spoons. On day one Mr. Fuzzy made two spoons while remembering how to do things. I created scrap, learned that iron sparklers are not a "good thing," and all the truly basic basics of blacksmithing. On day two I made two spoons while Mr. Fuzzy made two more spoons and a fork. I am now trying to decide where to erect our soon-to-be-built forge. This was the most pleasurable craft I have ever tried and I'm chomping at the bit to do more! Thank you, Brian, for opening up a whole world of possibilities for me!

And then we were alone with a garden quite overgrown and 26 young chickens in way too small a space....

We have our work cut out for us trying to get the gardens under control but after a few good hours of work I got the chicken yard erected. The fence is a combination of U posts, reinforcing mesh, and poultry wire with a piece of scrap for the gate. It's so ugly it's pretty.... just like the coop! I'd never used a circular saw before, can't make an accurate measurement, and am no good at planning things out so this whole building venture seems like a minor miracle to have it all done.

We now have some very happy cluckers. When I put them away for the night I could hear them excitedly telling stories of their individual adventures, of the menacing cats, and that terrifying black dog that barked ever so loudly. No doubt they have moved on to discussing the finer points of catching ants and their glorious subjugation of those other two dogs.

Notice the 'peeping tom' up in the corner?

Mr. Fuzzy was away in Camden, Maine, for a few days to teach a workshop on the history and use of soft focus lenses. The resulting paycheck is likely to be the only money he ever makes from his doctoral research...

It was a grueling drive there, mostly because of Connecticut and Massachusetts. On the way home, Mr. Fuzzy visited dear friends in Vermont and as an added bonus, avoided both Conn. and Mass. Oh how much more pleasant and less stressful the return trip.

The students were great and he learned much from them. The host of the workshop was Mr. Fuzzy's old friend, Tillman Crane, photographer and teacher par excellance. It was such a good time to be with Tillman and Donna for a few days.

Coastal Maine has its share of visual delights but Mr. Fuzzy was more than happy to return to his Blue Ridge mountains.

The heirloom chicks are coming along well and beginning to look more like chickens than chicks. Their appetites are astounding. The recent cool temperatures have had them huddling under the brooder lamp even during the daytime.





Our prayers have been answered. For the last month or two, it has seemed that a drought was in the early stages. It has been so unlike last year at this time. My farmer friends were almost afraid to talk about it for fear of jinxing any chance of rain.




All of that has changed, thankfully. It has drizzled for 36 hours, totally about an inch and a half, which added to the 0.55" a couple of days ago is enough to make a major improvement in the health of field and forest. It echoes last spring-early summer very closely with fogs and drizzles and cool days (the high today was 51F). This is excellent timing - Mr. Fuzzy finished getting most of the greenhouse plants (germinated by Mrs. Fuzzy) into the three gardens as well as seeding beans and peas. The row to the left is an heirloom Cherokee nicotiana from Mom Feather which seems to be doing well - thus far. The seeds will go back to the Native Peoples to be re-established amongst them.




We are grateful for all we have been given.

MumDay "Tucson Edition"

Mama Fuzzy is in Tucson helping her own mama with some things. I'd say it's a nice vacation.... it's not too warm, everything is in bloom... except that I'm completely exhausted after 10 overnights caring for my father. Hopefully I'll be able to leave for my beloved Mr. Fuzzy, and all the fuzzybutts on Friday.

I arrived on a jet plane, one way ticket, (yeah) but I'll be driving home in my new-to-me Honda Element. They are hard to find in the New River Valley so I "just thought I'd look" in the land of Never-Never Rust. They're hard to find here too, despite their major popularity, but I managed to locate a 2007 4WD with ALL my criteria except color. Fog lights trump orange paint when one gets down to brass tacks... sigh. I really like that orange color!

For your pleasure I've taken a few photos of the flowers along the roads here. Tucsonans are not passionate gardeners but they do like to have nicely landscaped roadsides and medians. It's something of a garden city of lush xeric plants.... legumous trees, flowering bushes, oleander, and salvaged cactus. Some 25 years ago it was planted in olives and citrus trees but the city pulled them out in an attempt to reduce their water use. This last ditch attempt to stave off using Colorado River Water failed but it's more beautiful than when I arrived in 1986.

There is a lesson here... even if what you do to "save" the environment is a failure there will likely be positive effects. The plants use less water, beautify the city, cool it, and clean the air. The Lung Association just declared Tucson the 2nd best urban air in the country. Compare to barren Phoenix which makes its' own weather (driving off the rain) and has the 2nd worst air... well above the much-maligned Los Angeles, even!

Those most reluctant of trees, the locusts and walnuts, have finally leafed out into their full verdant splendor. Perhaps because of the abundant winter moisture, the blooming trees were especially spectacular this year (with one exception, the normally gorgeous tulip poplars). Nearly all trees have now spent their flowers, excepting the locusts, which are now just past the peak of bloom.

Mr. Fuzzy makes this observation for more than aesthetic or botanical purposes. He has been treated for several months at the Blue Ridge Center for Chinese Medicine for several long standing issues, including chronic allergies. Last spring, the blooming trees nearly laid him low for six weeks with a constant sinus drain, sinus headaches, and less than zero energy. This year, the super-abundant tree blooms had little effect. After a lifetime of crippling allergies, this is almost incomprehensible for him. But it does make him joyous, and he sends his thanks to Yarrow, his practitioner.










The low temperature on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was a mighty 60F, or warmer than the high temperature for Sunday, Monday or Tuesday! Today a magnificent fog formed not long after sunrise and laid upon the land until burning off after lunch. Then the sun warmed the air rapidly (Mr. Fuzzy was thoroughly sweat soaked working on the farm) until about 3:00 when several waves of fog blew in from the south, each dropping the mercury a few more degrees. It was a rapidly moving fog, perhaps 20 MPH, very reminiscent of the Fife sea fogs. Unlike last year at this time, it has been warm and dry; perhaps this is a sign of a return to a more normal pattern? At least we may now possesseth optimism.

Martin's Station

Mr. Fuzzy had the tremendous pleasure of attending The Raid at Martin's Station again this year. It drove home the moral that although you may see someone only once a year the bonds of friendship are tight nonetheless.




Billy, thanks for inviting us and making us feel so welcome. Tom, Carrol, you guys are great people and world class camp cooks; thank you for the hospitality.





I may post more if time allows... or if the interested reader might so request further illumination in the ways of the Virginia frontier of 1777.