Tag Archives: swinging-bridge-road

Walking Around On Swinging Bridge Road

Hello everyone! “Mavis” found my blog and commented on it. Hi Mavis! It’s fun when someone I don’t know finds me and LIKES me! Just so you’ll know, I can’t see who is following the blog unless a comment is left. I can see the number of views, and I can actually block IP addresses for spammers or trolls, but I don’t really know who reads until a comment is left. I know I like Mavis because she is a canner. Yeah Mavis!

So…I worked today. I’m working until the end of August! Anyway, I got home from work and as my diet has blown up this past two weeks, I decided to go for a walk.  Mike was going to take the “dear girls” (our dogs Gracie and Luckie) for a “loop” on the “outer belt” of Mendota (large Swinging Bridge Road loop) so he dropped me off. I decided to take you along on my walk.

This is the first little face I saw on Swinging Bridge.  Let me introduce you to Patty.

Patty is a rescue dog. She has quite a big of Great Pyranese in her, but today that is not what she is talking about. She is talking about the very bad haircut her Mommy gave her.

Patty:   “Look…she cut my fur!!

 Punkin:  “You don’t expect me to look at you, do you?”  

Patty:  “I don’t care how I look..I love my Mommy.”

And just like that, it was time to visit the chickens.  As we enter the wire enclosure, we’re greeting by a Welcome Feather.  These are no ordinary chickens.

These chickens live at the Dean’s Hen Hilton.    How many hens do you know that live like this?

The sunflower shelter is made completely out of recycled materials.  I had to insert a large picture.   (I’m using a new photo editing software…free of course…hope it’s not all elongated!)    Very cool.

Speaking of needing a haircut…see the feet on this chick…

I think Margie said that the chicken pictured above is a Brahma.   We weren’t quite sure if this is a rooster or a hen.  No one is crowing but no one is laying yet!   It will happen soon!

Here’s another sweet girl…actually two sweet girls.  Margie and one of her Aracaunas.  This chicken is special as her eggs will be a blue green color.  Very pretty.  It’s a color Benjamin Moore would like to copy I’m sure!  Once she is a bit older, she’ll start laying and I’ll show you a picture of one of her eggs.

Check this out…what do you think this shelter for three of the girls is made out of?

Did you say it used to be a table?

It’s time to leave.  In just a short while, I’ll be visiting Margie and the girls weekly as they begin laying eggs.   I have committed to one dozen beautiful, healthy free-range eggs each week.   If we don’t eat the eggs, I’ll whip some scrambled eggs up for the dear girls.

 I head out Swinging Bridge.   Not much going on this evening.  Here’s a truck.  We have way more trucks than cars in Mendota, and if someone doesn’t have a truck, they probably wish they did!   I feel like I’m walking through a salad bowl at I approach this shady area.  Have I said that before?

Almost home. I walk by the unfinished barn which is being built of recycled materials.   The work is going slowly but at least there is shelter for some hay. The goats will need that this winter.   You’ll never hear me complain about someone who works a little slower.  My projects take three times as long as everyone else!

 

I’m home from my walk. I have a large project ahead of me this weekend. I’m going to reorganize my pantry closet where I store cleaning supplies, filters, vet supplies and quite a bit of my canned goods. I wanted to share the BEFORE picture to keep me motiviated to tackle this project this weekend.

Two window treatments and the pantry. I will be a happy camper if I get this done by Sunday.

Thanks for reading my blog. It means a lot to me. Talk later!

 

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Walking Down Swinging Bridge Road

I live on Swinging Bridge Road.  It is a great place to walk.  It’s flat and there is very little traffic.

Walking from my driveway, I turn right following the direction of the North Fork’s water flow. As I look to my left, here’s what I see:

As I near the edge of our property line and look right, I see my husband’s shop called The Luckie Dog Woodshop. It’s a nice little shop. We have a sign in front of the shop that reads “custom tables.” In 10+ years we have never had anyone call about having a custom table made. Did I mention there was very little traffic? I’m not sure what we were thinking when we put this sign up.  LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

This is a photo of one of the window boxes in the front of the woodshop.

I stop in the woodshop since my brother-in-law Gerald is inside.   Hi Gerald!  He is standing in front of the hope chest he has made for a neighbor’s little girl who is turning 13.  It is made from a sassafras tree from right up the road that a neighbor gave my husband.

I leave and walk a bit further down Swinging Bridge Road.  Looks like this:

Told you it was a nice flat walk.

In this photograph, I’m approaching my neighbor’s barn he is building.  As best I can tell, it’s being recycled from another building.   Works for me.

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I like this little crossroads where the dirt road (Anderson Drive) meets Swinging Bridge Road.  There are usually goats here, but they are elsewhere today.  The goats get out a lot!   It’s one of the charming things about Swinging Bridge Road.  We have to weave in and out of the goats when passing this area.  No one really minds.

Walking a bit further, I see a….boat!   It’s parked in the pasture.  Looks like someone just drove it up on the hill and got out.    Who knows?  We might have a flood and need this boat.  This river does flood.  I’ve seen goats standing on the boat.

The boat is no concern to me.  Whatever floats your boat.  

Walking a little bit further, it gets shady. Reminds me of walking through a salad bowl.

While these pictures make the walk look peaceful, it’s not.  There is a hum of insects and lots of wild bird sounds.  There are cows mooing in the distance and goats bleating.   Sometimes, but not today, I hear snorting sounds– probably a buck as we have lots of deer. Once in a while, I imagine it to be a mama bear and her cubs.  I break out and run if no one is looking. 

One day I hope to take a picture of one of the area’s eagles.  They are there.  Others have photographed them but not me.   The river is supporting a large bird population which speaks to the health of the river.

I’m nearing Lisa’s house. .Here’s her backyard:

Nice, isn’t it?  She has a great back porch to enjoy this view.  I’ll take you there sometime.

This is Lisa’s barnyard.  She has two rescue horses, two fainting goats, and she DID have 29 chickens including heritage breeds UNTIL a raccoon killed 13 this week.    Once she gets this straightened out and her hens are busy laying their pretty green and blue eggs, we’ll visit her.

Walking a bit further, I see Margie’s chicken enclosure.  It’s built of recycled materials.

Just like some people live in nicer houses than other people, so it goes with chickens.  Her very cool chicken coop reflects her creativity and how she values her chickens.   Margie’s chickens are living in what used to be her organic garden. It’s her revenge for the bugs that plagued this garden and ate all of the stuff she meant to sell at the Farmer’s Market.   Chickens love bugs.  They are so yummy clucked the hen as she wiped bug juice off her chin.

Oh…look who is here!   It’s my sister and sister-in-law. Hi Nancy and Jackie!

Next time I’ll walk up river and take you along.

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