Donkeys, Deer, Tomatoes and a Marine

All is well here on the mountain, my Dad is enjoying the peace and solitude, and the various animals running around. A couple of days ago a herd of donkeys strolled through behind the cabin, we counted 9 of them, it was quite exciting to see them up close and personal, it's amazing how large they really are, they aren't the small burro variety, these are nearly as big as a horse.

The mule deer are starting to come down to the lower elevations, we have seen many of them walking around too, I even saw "Notch" a couple of days ago (Notch is a female mule deer, she has a distinctive notch in her ear and is easy to pick out from the other deer), I haven't seen her in over a month, I was very happy to see that she is alive and well.

My garden is doing pretty good, through some of the plants are looking rather ratty, I have let the spinach and some of the lettuce go to seed, they are looking particularly tattered, but I'll get some good seed from them. I noticed that I am getting blossom end rot on my tomatoes, I looked it up today to see what I can do about it, it seems that it's caused by a lack of calcium and/or low moisture, since we have been getting plenty of rain, that leaves the calcium issue. So I took a hand full of Tums (the green ones that Bob doesn't like), I crushed them up, next I added a cup (or so) of powdered milk and about half a cup of Epsom salt, I mixed it all together and put a handful at the base of each tomato plant, it began to rain as I was walking back to the cabin so it should get watered in good, hopefully this will do the trick, the Tums are rich in calcium, the milk has calcium too, the Epsom salt has magnesium in it, that is needed for the plant to be able to take up and use the calcium. This fall and winter, when the garden is done, I really need to get some good stuff into the earth, I know a lady on the next mountain who has a horse, she said I could have all the manure I want, I'm sure I'll take advantage of her offer... :)

Bob's son came by yesterday and spent the night, he had to leave today, but it was a good visit. His son is in the Marines, he is stationed in California, he got a few days off, flew to Dallas, visited his mom and other family, got his truck and a few of his things that he had left behind, he drove to our place, got here yesterday evening, made it in good time. I was very impressed with him, he found our place by himself! That's not easy to do, now he did take the hard way, our street comes out on the main road out here, but it's a difficult road to take unless you have a big truck or a 4 wheel drive vehicle, Bob had driven to the store to meet him there, but apparently that information didn't get relayed well, Bob's son drove in but didn't go all the way to the store, he saw the street we live on and turned on it, as I said, that way is very rough, there is a hairpin turn on a rocky, dirt road, and in the middle of that hairpin turn is a big hump of dirt and rock, it's difficult for most 4 wheel drive vehicles, but he made it over, though he did scrape bottom.

I saw him pull up to our place, but Bob wasn't with him, so I jumped in with him and went out to find Bob, we finally found him and all was well. I do wish he could have stayed more than a day, but he only had a few days off and he had to get back to California. But he got to see the neighborhood, our mountain and met a few people out here, he really likes it and expressed an interest in maybe buying a property and living out here after he gets out of the Marines, that would just be great! One family member down, and many more to go, we hope to get most of our families to move out here, at least the ones that would enjoy living here.

Wretha

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