Raise your hand if you fear that, at some point in this sure-to-be-exciting post, I might mention weeding.
Hmmm . . . . only time will tell.
We have been busy bees here at the Maliblahblah homestead. Here is a list! For I know lists please you so.
1) Our vacation rental biz is booming. This is excellent news when it comes time to make two house payments. This is terrible news when it comes time to clean the wretched thing. It is completely booked out for the next 5 weeks with not one break in between guests. It is sure to be exhausting.
Let the records show: I am thankful that we are able to do it. Even if the cleaning part is loathsome.
2) The kids have been at Vacation Bible school every night this week. It is glorious, and they are loving it as well. Sweet Pea is, most assuredly, every VBS teacher’s dream student. She takes it quite seriously. She leads her siblings in a “worship practice” session before they head out, so as to ensure they all remember the songs, and she spends her spare time memorizing extra verses.
The other night on the drive home, she memorized the entire Lord’s prayer.
This shows that:
A) She is the bee’s knees.
B) We have a LONG drive home.
3) Jason and Amy brought David and I huckleberry milkshakes one evening when we were cleaning the rental.
Huckleberry milkshakes. Like sweet nectar to our souls.
In case you are behind the times, huckleberries are a prized possession here in our homelands. They could probably be used as currency. True story.
4) People sell huckleberries for FORTY dollars a gallon. See? I wasn’t lying.
5) We have found about five total raspberry bushes amidst our property! David has a jolly good time picking fresh berries from his land to sprinkle on his morning cereal. It pleases him. These are the reasons he moved us out here. To live off his land, you know?
6) Perhaps if we found hidden acres of huckleberry brush, we could afford to pay someone else to clean that rental, eh?
7) We are still weeding our ginormous garden. It’s true. But, hark! There is an end in sight! I think we have about 10 rows left to weed and Preen.
And now, I would like to close with a story.
The other morning, I was looking out my window and noticed Tank the dog making his way around the rabbits and chickens with something in his mouth.
This is never good.
He made a big loop and came right to the front steps and dropped off his find for me.
A newborn, baby rabbit.
And it was still alive. Darn it all.
Stand down, Readers! I did not want the baby to die, but now I got to put on my Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman pants and try to be all life-saving. And I don’t know how to save a newborn rabbit!
Have you seen a newborn rabbit before? It is not precious. They look like hairless, infant rats. But that is besides the point. We had ourselves a true farm and ranch emergency.
I called to the girls for help, because there is no way I can handle this sitch on my own. I was not made for this life, you know? Daisy Mae and I both got the peepee shivers at the thought of picking up the baby rabbit. I used my awesome Mom-manipulative skills (or skillz, if you prefer) to talk Sweet Pea into picking up the rabbit.
Sweet Pea wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. I told her these are the things she must do.
Don’t judge. You would do it,too.
So, I gave her a washcloth and she wrapped the “precious” baby up in it while Daisy Mae and I tried to figure out where this baby came from.
There were no holes in the fence.
There were no rabbit nests that the dog could get into.
We have NO idea where this rabbit’s nest is. Nor how the dog could have possibly acquired this find.
Sweet Pea decided to be all heroic and noble and whatnot and try to talk me into letting her care for the rabbit.
Yes. She would create a nest for it, somehow create some sort of nipple small enough for the baby to drink milk, and name it “Chance.”
I told her there was no way a newborn rabbit would survive under our care.
Have you read this blog?
Finally, Daisy Mae and I found a nest with other newborns hidden under some straw and Sweet Pea gently put “Chance” in with that group.
Seriously.
This is my life. Be envious.
All seems well with Chance. I think we have a crazy, mama rabbit because David found another newborn flailing about outside the nest.
The only thing I can reckon (that’s farm and ranch speak for “figure out”) is that Crazy Mother Rabbit decided that Chance was unworthy of her care and tossed him out. Perhaps Tank the Dog is really the hero for bringing Chance safely to our doorstep and not eating him for breakfast?
I cannot be certain.
Happy Wednesday!
I am proud of you for thinking up the vet angle. Very good.
I did the same thing with my daughter with a mouse that our cat was ‘playing with’ many years ago. She picked it right up and took it outside to live in the wild. As mice should do. Daughter is now a registered vet tech, so keep up the good work with SP.
I was trying to encourage May to pick up a spider for me. She wanted to know why I wouldn’t hold it, so I told her my hands were bigger that hers and I didn’t want to squash it. She has now got over her fear of spiders. I haven’t.
True story.
First off, I know nothing about huckleberries, or gardening. Couldn’t you just plant a few of the huckleberries and see if you can grow your own, make a patch on your property? And I’m aware that if this were possible, the lumberjack probably would have already thought of it.
Otherwise, congrats on the psycho mom-bunny that throws her young out?
You seem awfully sane for your situation.
Are you going to start designing your own jewelry like Jane Seymour?
I totally convinced my girls to pick up a dead hedgehog from our pond while I yelled helpful instructions from inside the house so you’ll get no criticism from me. In fact I say kudos for your creative thinking : )
So are you going to keep track of the hours you spend gardening and then figure out how much money you save by growing your own produce to figure out your hourly wages? Because that totally sounds like a homeschool math assignment to me.
And will probably work out about as well as the rental as being a ‘for profit’ venture. 🙂
I’m pretty sure my daughter’s love and compassion for animals (including the six-legged variety) will lead to either a vegetarian or veterinarian lifestyle one day. Time will tell which one.
I’m convinced VBS was created by and for homeschooling mothers. Just sayin.
In your defense, I cannot believe your husband is making you live this life.
Did you have any say?
I think we may need a story from him explaining how you, Taylor, were convinced to enter this “interesting” life. Because I am totally….ummmm, what’s the word……mad….yeah, that’s it. Mad at LJ for forcing you to be the Gardening Queen.
Oh, wait…that was your idea. Okay, so I’m not mad at him for that.
What AM I mad at him for?
Maybe I’m not mad at him. Maybe I just want to know how this went down from his point of view.
Yes, Tank is very pleased and proud of himself and assumes y’all would be too. Ya know he could have just swallowed it. He’s learning that his crazy human pets actually are trying to raise these ‘rats’. Good loyal dog.
Datenutloaf that is priceless……..the crazy human pets trying to raise rats part. I can just imagine putting myself in
Tank’s mind and seeing that perspective.
Of COURSE you WANTED a garden!
Guaranteed blogworthy…
At least that’s how I’m livin’ my life.
This post was so fun to read.
Packed full of everything from VBS, animal emergencies, living off the land, loathsome rental cleaning, and nothing about weeding!
Good grief, woman, I pulled FOUR wheelbarrow loads of weeds this morning. The trick is, when you let them grow big enough, they’re easy to pull and they fill up a wheelbarrow pretty darn quickly.
Huckleberries? One of my dearest friends will NOT share her secret huckleberry patch with anyone. She took me there 20 years ago when we were new to our part of Montana, but I never dreamed I should memorize the backroads we took to get there. Yes, they are that valuable.
Congratulations on the booming vacation rental business. I know cleaning it is a bummer, but how grateful you must be to have it going well in this economy…
Your posts always make me smile, Taylor. I hope you compile them and send them to a publisher. Then you could hire someone to clean your loathsome rental.
Love,
Laura
Vacation rental all rented and whatnot, that is good. A crazed mama rabbit throwing perfectly good baby rabbits hither and yon, that is so not good. Your sweetpea’s heart is so precious. (And I have totally, unashamedly, encouraged Sweetboy to pick up a dead squirrel with a beach shovel and pail and “relocate” him to the woods behind our house. From the safety of the kitchen window. )
I needed a child around the day my cat killed a mouse in my house. I couldnt even pick it up with the dust pan. I was convinced it would miraculously return to life and run up the dust pan and get on me somehow. I tried talking myself into it for half an hour before I gave up and called my brother to come get it while I hid in the bedroom. Of course he had no problem with it, but that summer when I needed some plumbing work done under my house, he stuck a pair of his coveralls, hes 6’4″, on our 12 yo nephew and sent him under the house, because he was afraid of spiders lol.