Christmas on the Mountain

Dana enjoyed going out every day to check on his chickens, feed them, and gather the eggs. Lo and behold, if one rainy cold night he didn't get the hen door completely shut. The next morning I saw the door wide open and ran outside, but it was too late. My dogs had killed all the hens except for our big rooster! I couldn't believe that none of the hens had gone into the pen where they would have been safe instead of walking out the open door. Talk about a bunch of bird brains! We miss our dear hens and the fat brown eggs they gave us. We already had a double yoked egg. They were such good layers. So this spring we shall have to start all over again. Meanwhile we are going to make our henhouse door a bit more secure.

This year for something different I made a candle light Christmas dinner (or rather supper) as Dawn and her family made a quick trip home the day before Christmas Eve so that we could have our Christmas together.

I used my Christmas village for the centerpiece adding greenery and white lights with a couple of white candles. The food I lined up on my counter in the kitchen doing a self-serve buffet.

It turned out simply beautiful! Annette and William enjoyed the wonder of eating in candle light that gave off a festive air around the table setting the mood perfectly for giving gifts afterwards.

To us a perfect Christmas is sharing family holiday times together!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time of making memories with lots of food, family, and fellowship. Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving this year.

Playing games with Grandpa is so much fun!

(Dana & William)

Out on the porch after dinner watching the kids play in the yard.

(Randy's parents & Granny- Randal, Granny, and Judy)

Even the dogs get in on the fun.

(Dana, our daughter, Dawn, standing and Granny)

Ninety-five-year-old Granny, who still lives by herself at home.

Miss Annette Joy Moore

What is Uncle Dwight doing with the balloons?

(Our son, Dwight, sitting and William)

Now that's what I call a hat!

(William Randal Moore Jr.)

The day after Thanksgiving we all went up to Sterns, Kentucy to ride a train.

(Annette & William in the train depot)

Dwight standing in front of the engine.

At last we finally boarded the train.

(William and Annette)

Waiting for the train to fill up and start.

(Dawn, Dwight, and Randy)

Annette at the window checking out the scenery.

Lookie there, Mommy, we're moving!

(Dawn and William)

Autumn Frenzy

Last week I heard a flock of geese honking and flying high overhead heading south signaling that autumn has truly arrived up here in the mountains of Tennessee.

It has been so dry that instead of a colorful fall most of the leaves were faded quickly falling down to the ground.

As the colder temperatures moved in and brisk breezes blew our dogs became frisky and acted like pups again: rolling, kicking up their heels in the leaves, and chasing each other madly around in circles.

Shep especially likes to keep close guard at the chicken pen where to his immense frustration Solomon, our large rooster, stands his ground only inches away from Shep's nose while Natasha watches and waits to see if one of the hens will come close enough to the fence to chase.

Even Lucy Lou pokes her nose through the wires wishing that she could be inside chasing hens.

And Sarah Annabelle, although residing inside, feels the difference in the air.

Without warning she will jump down from her perch, wherever she happens to be at the time, and will race through the house as if to stir things up a bit.

Inside and out lots of autumn frenzy is happening here on the Walker farm.

Dana's New Girlfriend

You might say that we are going a bit dog crazy around this house. Best Friends called me the other week about an abandoned golden German shepherd. Well Dana decided to check her out first in order to convince me that we didn't need another dog, even if it was a German shepherd. He came home all excited about this dog insisting that I just had to go and see her. After talking nonstop about this dog- rather unusual for Dana- I agreed to go and see this wonderful dog. Guess what? We ended up bringing her home with us.

It is hard to fathom someone dropping a sweet and loving dog like Lady off and abandoning her. There was another German shepherd with Lady, but was killed by a vehicle before Best Friends could rescue it. Dana has always wanted a dog that would want to ride along in the truck with him. Lady loves pickup trucks and as soon as Dana starts his up, she wants to jump in. I kid Dana that Lady is his new girlfriend.

The most exciting news of all on our farm is that our dear little chicks from this spring, which have grown into nice fat hens, have started laying eggs. They should the way Dana feeds them by hand and pampers the dear things. Even I throw scraps out to them. We now gather light brown speckled, white, and dark brown eggs each day. What fun! So we are a'buzzin up here in the autumn mountains of Tennessee.

From Dog Days to Puppy Days

Our dog days quickly turned into puppy days when I rescued six puppies. Talk about turning our place out here in the woods into an uproar.

These adorable little critters were in danger of being run over and starved. They ate and ate until their little tummies were full.

Here is one little fellow who is sticking close by the food dish.

Another two get a drink of water.




I placed the dear little things in my enclosed back garden for safety. As soon as I would open up the back door there was a mad scramble of puppies trying to climb up the steps with tails all madly wagging.



Meanwhile the big dogs were trying to figure out what had invaded their back yard. Here Shep and one little fellow have a doggy introduction.



Talk about curious!
The pups kept sticking their noses and heads out through the lattice trying to wiggle their fat little bodies through the fence.





And you wouldn't believe all the holes they found underneath the fence. First a nose would poke out...

Then a head...

Then two heads would appear while the rest tried to squeeze out too.

Here Shep is guarding one of the pups that escaped.

I gave them doggy biscuits to try and keep them entertained, knotted old nylons into doggy toys, and anything else I could think of.

The only quiet time was when they took a puppy nap. If they didn't roll completely over on their backs with their legs in the air they would stretch out flat on any surface where they happened to be for a quick snooze.

Here two brothers are still enough to snap a picture.

Every couple of hours I was counting heads to make sure that they were still in the garden and all the wiggly little bodies were safe. We kept blocking holes and rescuing pups that hung themselves up in the lattice. After five days when they kept escaping, I call the local animal rescue shelter and they came and got the puppies.

I hugged all the furry little bodies good-bye. It was hard to see them go. It's what you call puppy love.

The Dog Days of Summer

The hot and humid dog days of summer are here up in the mountains of Tennessee. This is the time where you watch where you step when out walking in the woods as this time of the year snakes shed their skin and are rather quick to strike if they get taken by surprise. During these days any garden work or harvesting is done early in the morning as the heat lays close to the mountain even at night instead of breaking its hold and cooling down like usual. Even the breezes only waft the hot air around hardening the ground as the earth waits for a summer shower to appear on the horizon. Our dogs lay lifeless seeking a cool spot to snooze the day away while the hens scratch listlessly in the dirt.





My plum trees were loaded with branches reaching down to the ground as grapes ripened on the vine. I was plum busy canning plums and making jam for a couple of weeks. Only the hardiest of flowers: Queen Ann’s Lace, Holly Hocks, Bee Balm, Lilies, Spider Flowers, Touch-Me-Not, Phlox, and Cosmos continue to bloom during the heat of summer while colorful butterflies and buzzing bees flit from flower to flower.





One of the miracles of summertime that I always look forward to is my Miracle Lilies that poke their green leaves up through the ground in the spring, die down, and then bloom on tall slender stalks about the time tiny birds begin their first venture outside the nest from which they hatched to begin their fledging flight. Yes, even though we are in the middle of summer there is still a lot of life and activity up here in the mountains.

The Foxes and the Hounds

The neighbors that live on the hill above us go through all kinds of animals- the main reason being that they don’t bother to take care of them so unfortunately whatever set of animals at the time runs wild. Numerous cats and dogs have been killed. Then they decided to raise rabbits only they didn’t bother to pen them up. Guess what? The dear bunnies ran all over the woods- with several getting killed on the road. I wasn’t too worried until I planted my garden in front of the woods. One day I discovered that all my beet tops, cabbage, and lettuce had been eaten. Dana was slowly wiring the fence with electric after work and on weekends. A Sunday afternoon when he and Dwight went to look at the garden they came back with the news that the rabbits were in my green beans. I told him to let my dear “wolves” loose in the woods to scare off the rabbits.




It was then that Dana and Dwight were privileged to see the race of the “foxes and the hounds”. They said as soon as Shep caught wind of the rabbits inside the gate that he stretched out his long legs and without hesitation made a beeline for the rabbits with Natasha right on his heels. Dana said he had never seen a dog run so fast before in his life while Dwight declared that it was a thing of pure beauty to watch. Despite the rabbits having the advantage Shep still managed to nip one in the heel as it dived through the fence. Dana and Dwight kept shaking their heads and retelling the incident about the speed of my German shepherds that effortlessly went right through brush in a straight line to run off the rabbits. So now my dear doggies patrol the woods keeping my garden safe from any wild or tame critters that don’t belong inside.




Eloise Mae died and went to cat heaven after running away a couple of times and trying her paw at living out in the wild. For some unknown reason, despite being petted and pampered inside, this cat that I raised from a wild kitten was never satisfied to be a house cat. The first time Eloise ran away and came dragging herself back a couple months later she was only skeleton of herself with half of her beautiful tail cut off. I thought for sure that she would then settle down as a civilized cat, but nothing would do for her but to run away again. This time Eloise didn’t make it. Meanwhile Sarah Annabelle lives the life of a princess indoors getting fatter and lazier every day.




The chicks are busy growing and are now out in the big pen- after trying to dig their way out of the enclosed part of the barn where we kept them. They act like a bunch of kids out on the playground as they run around hunting for bugs or anything that moves. Dana enjoys feeding them from his hand and they are getting quite tame. My doggies are quite enchanted with them as well running along the fence and watching their every move as they flutter and chirp mimicking grown-up hens. I eye the dear things with visions of fresh eggs this fall. Meanwhile our lonely rooster- I’ve renamed Solomon considering all the wives this guy is going to have in the near future- crows and struts around stretching out his wings trying to prove his superiority in the hen house. Thankfully his tail feathers are starting to grow back. He just might end up looking like a normal rooster again.