Farming with Ted

Posted on October 21, 2026 by Donna

I had to work Friday, the day after we got Teddy.  There was a pretty sunrise behind the dahlias that a neighbor grows on my way to work.

Tom sent me this photo of him checking out the garage.

On Saturday, we did the chores.  Teddy is really good about staying out of the barnyard.  The Ancona hens are so active.  They get into everything if they get a chance.

Here he is watching me doing the chores.  Sometimes he looks a lot like Vanessa, like in this photo.

Now he looks more like himself.

I’ve been working on the garden, cleaning up.  It is looking better.

I believe this is the weed that has been hindering my plants.  Hopefully I can come up with a better strategy next year to keep it under better control.

We found Wally on the garage roof and hollering that she couldn’t get down.  Tom got a ladder and saved her.  Roscoe was missing.

Sunday I did chores so Tom could working on pressing apples for cider.  I was admiring Jameson’s hairdo.

The birds were enjoying the sunbeams in the barn.

I did stop to admire the peacock in the sunshine.

Here are some of the apples that Tom was pressing.

While I was working more in the garden, there was a commotion and then I saw Ted chasing Wally across the backyard.  She ended up halfway up a tree.  Later she was out of the tree, but we didn’t see her again.  And Roscoe was still missing.  So I was pretty worried about how this was working out introducing Ted and alienating our cats.

I did make Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Muffins using one of our Winter Luxury pumpkins.  They turned out really well.

Monday we spent doing Fall Sheep and Goat maintenance.  This involves catching each of them and putting them on the shearing stand.  I check their conditions and trim their hooves while Tom gave them copper boluses.  It was a lot of work.  Plus I trimmed the extra wool off of Vanessa, our paralyzed sheep.  I wasn’t able to finish, but I got most of it off.  I still have Diddley and Bambam to trim too.

Monday Wally came back home so I was thrilled.  I hadn’t slept well worrying about both of the cats.  Then Tuesday Tom found Roscoe by the woodpile out front.  So we moved both cats into the house and locked them in.  The thought was that they will get used to the dog this way, rather than run away and hide.

Today with chores, I noticed the peacock tail feathers spread out in the hay loft.

Wally has been hiding in the bedroom, and Roscoe has been sitting in the living room.  But the problem is they are not using the kitty litter box, and it has been over a day.  So where are they going?

So this afternoon, I opened up the cat window and back door so they could go outside again.  Hopefully they realize that the dog isn’t too scary, and they can come in again for petting and food.  I am hoping this will all work out.

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Teddy

Posted on October 15, 2026 by Donna

We wanted to wait until our grief about Steve had settled and the summer vacations were over before looking for a new dog.  Then we had William’s hospital stay as well.  But then I started looking at the Skagit Humane Society page more closely.  We visited once looking for a dog without success.  I signed up for alerts for lab dogs at the shelter and yesterday got this notice.

I was working today, but Tom went, visited and said he was the only dog not barking there.  And he seemed friendly, sniffing his hand.  I went by after work and took him out to their dog area for a meeting.  He was obviously really nervous.

But he seemed to get a little more comfortable and definitely enjoyed being petted.

I called Tom, and we decided to adopt him.  While I was waiting I found our tile there commemorating our deceased pets.  This is from a while ago because we have a lot more deceased pets now.

Here is Teddy after I got him into my car in their parking lot.

And here he is as we arrived in our driveway.

Now he’s in the front yard looking somewhat nervous.

Raleigh is being standoffish with a fluffy tail.

We have a Seahawks game to watch so he came in with us.  He was initially staying really close.

Tom seems to love him already (as do I).

In head profile, he looks a little like our dog Vanessa. She was my all time favorite dog (sorry Steve- I loved you too!).

I pulled out the wine glass that Tom got me for Christmas.  I have had a hard time using it because Steve died 5 days after Christmas, it says “pet the dogs”, and we didn’t have plural dogs anymore.  It always made me sad when I pulled it out.  But now we have plural dogs again!

He is starting to get more comfortable.

Wally is taking it all in stride.  She even chased him around the house once.  Roscoe is quite upset, hissing and spitting even when he isn’t close.  So far he is quite respectful of them and the beagle.

And now he even fell asleep.

I think this is going to work out perfectly.  Less sure about the Seahawks.

P.S. We may end up calling him Ted rather than Teddy (with apologies to my cousin).  Tom even suggested Ted Lasso.  Not sure that is going to fly.

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First Frost

Posted on October 14, 2026 by Donna

The first frost of the season happened here Sunday morning.  This was the first day I haven’t worked so I was able to deal with this.  The outside tomato plants all died.  So I picked all of the fruit off of them and will try to ripen them inside now.

The green bean and squash vines all died too.  So I picked all of the squash.  What is not ripe, I am also trying to ripen inside.  The green beans I picked and am drying them to collect their seeds for next year.

I also picked our quince today.

We did the animal chores, gave Jameson his last shot and wormed all three cows.  This is somewhat challenging but now accomplished.

I had carved the grandkids names into a couple of pumpkins when they were green.  They are less green now so I will try to finishing ripening these as well.

There were some successes in the garden this year.  There was a lot less issues with loss from pests.  The plastic pipe pieces we put at the base of the beans appeared to help decrease the cut worms eating them.  We put blood meal down in the soil, and it may have helped as there is almost no rodent damage of the plants (particularly the squash this year).  The new fencing seems to be keeping the rabbits out.  But the weeds are still an issue.  They choked out the tomatoes in the hothouse and the cucumbers, Swiss chard, and melons in the garden.

Coming back from picking the quince, I loved seeing Wally in the back of the truck.

For dinner, I tried to replicate the Pesto Sungold pizza which won accolades from Food and Wine.  I still have plenty of Sungold tomatoes and pesto.  Tom made a meat pizza.  He got the big green egg heated up, and we cooked them on it.  It was hot enough to warp Tom’s pizza pan.  The bottom of the crusts were a little overdone, but the pizzas were good.  I am pretty sure mine wasn’t as good as A. K. Pizza, but I still liked it and it was different.

In really sad news, the Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival will not take place in 2027 following the loss of their longtime home at the Blues Ranch.  We have been going since 2002 and were looking forward to the 40th anniversary.  They are looking for a new location, but it doesn’t sound like it will happen next year.

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