Bouffant Blonde

Grandaddy sat down at supper and announced that the corn was ready. He'd been pulling a couple of ears each day, just to check. Gran was excited. She told him to get out the next morning and gather all the corn that was ready. So he did. The next morning Grandaddy hurried out to the rows of corn with a bucket and started gathering the ears of corn that were ready. Little Guy tried to help. He was too short to see the ears of corn! So Sunshine had to check the corn and pick the ears that were ready. Then she handed the ear down to Little Guy so he could put it in the bucket. Little Guy, Sunshine and Grandaddy soon filled a five-gallon bucket with corn. All three headed to the house and presented it to Gran. She was happy. So they went back and got another bucket. She smiled again. They sat down to rest while Gran started preparing the corn. Each ear of corn has to have its ends cut off and all the husks taken off. Then Gran uses a brush to clean the hair from the ear of corn. ...

Little Guy got up extra early. Grandaddy was headed to the garden and he wanted to go too. Sunshine yawned and stretched but she finally decided to tag along. They were going to pick peas. Grandaddy said the black-eyed peas were ready to come off the vine. It was best to start early because it has been really hot. Little Guy and Sunshine have barely been able to play outside. They stay inside most days. Grandaddy sat a bucket down and showed Little Guy and Sunshine how to tell which peas were ready. They all started working. The bucket filled up really fast. They trooped to the house and poured the peas on a paper and spread them out. Grandaddy explained that he didn't want them to go through a heat before they got shelled. They all got water and then headed back outside. They did it again and again and again. Mama finally got up. She started shelling. Sunshine got permission to stay inside and shell. Little Guy was determined to help Grandaddy but Grandaddy just would...

Little Guy stood up tall as he walked with Gran and Grandaddy to the garden. They were going to check things out. Grandaddy likes to keep watch and make sure the fruits and vegetables are growing like they should. Gran likes to make sure Grandaddy is doing his job. Little Guy just likes to explore. Unfortunately, Little Guy gets bored easily. So while Gran and Grandaddy were walking around the garden, he was looking for something else to do. That's when he spied the blueberries. They looked so enticing as they hung from the small bushes. Grandaddy had put a single strand of wire around them. He didn't want anyone to eat his blueberries. He licked his lips. Those blueberries sure looked good. Surely, Grandaddy wouldn't mind if Little Guy ate just a few. Grandaddy probably wouldn't even notice. Little Guy glanced over at Gran and Grandaddy. They weren't paying him any attention. He looked back at the blueberries. He could just slide right under that wire, grab ...

Little Guy yawned loudly. He and Grandaddy were heading to Uncle Harold's farm to pick English peas. Sunshine was still asleep at home. Little Guy kind of wished he was too. But he knew Grandaddy needed somebody to help him and there really was no one else. They stopped by the house. Aunt JoAnn gave Little Guy something to eat. She likes to feed people. Little Guy likes to eat. Then Uncle Harold went with Little Guy and Grandaddy to the garden to show them where to pick. Uncle Harold had picked a bunch of rows of peas the day before. Little Guy and Grandaddy got to work. Little Guy went first and cleared all the rows of critters. Well, he didn't actually see any critters. But there could have been some critters and he scared them away. Grandaddy bent over and started picking peas. It was slow work. Little Guy helped as best he could. They picked peas for two hours. They got two buckets full. Little Guy was disappointed. He expected to get way more for all the time and e...

Little Guy waved good-bye until he couldn't see the top of the silver van. Gran and Grandaddy were going on a day trip. Sunshine and Little Guy were staying home with Mama. She wasn't even awake yet. Mama was tired and she wanted to rest. Little Guy didn't want to rest. He wanted to play and hunt and explore. It was going to be a boring, boring, boring day. He lay down and rested his chin on his little paws. It was down-right depressing. Mama finally came outside. She was on a mission. That was unusual. Mama wasn't know for getting an early start or for starting anything right after she got up. "Let's go open up the shop," she told her babies. Little Guy pushed himself up. He guessed he could check out the area next to the shop, just in case something was after the strawberries. He didn't know why anything would want to eat them. Little Guy preferred blueberries but Grandaddy wouldn't let him near them anymore. He just couldn't resist blu...

Little Guy slicked his ears back, dropped his chin and headed toward the house. Sunshine, apparently forgetting about her sore leg, raced past him. Grandaddy was very upset and his anger was directed straight at Little Guy and Sunshine. Little Guy brushed a tear from his eye as he waited for Mama to open the back door. It wasn't his fault. And it wasn't Sunshine's fault either! Grandaddy should have explained it better. Grandaddy was planting the garden. Mama was getting ready for an art show and she didn't have time to help. Gran was busy too. So Little Guy and Sunshine volunteered to help. One planter stopped up and Grandaddy had to plant one row with a hoe. He was not happy. Little Guy and Sunshine heard him talk about digging something up. They thought he meant the row that didn't plant right. That wasn't what he meant. Little Guy and Sunshine were having so much fun. They had decided working in the garden was something they wanted to do on a regular...

Something is eating the cucumbers. I don't know what. I go out to gather them and something has taken little bites out of several of them. Every day. Could it be a rabbit? Maybe? I figured with three dogs, surely they could determine what's going on. I held up one of the ruined cucumbers and asked Little Guy who was eating it. He dutifully sniffed the bitten area. He shook his head. "Cucumbers are not good," he told me. "Whoever is eating those things is not really smart." He wrinkled his little nose. "And I don't care what Gran says," he added before walking away. Well, I figured, that was strike one. Surely his older, wiser sisters would have the answer. I called Sunshine over. She's a lab. Labs love to hunt. Surely she would know who's eating the cucumbers. She took a sniff and shook her head. "Probably a rabbit," she said. "I can't be sure. Those cucumbers are really foul smelling and that masks the smell of any c...

Little Guy loves to go to the garden with his grandaddy. He loves to go just about anywhere with his grandaddy. It's lots of fun. He can hunt and chase baby calves and slosh through the edge of the pond. Just guy stuff. But Little Guy is really, really afraid of the electric fence. The fence is supposed to keep the cows and calves from the vegetables in the garden. It also keeps Little Guy in the garden. He was really afraid when Grandaddy put a gate up at the garden entrace. What if it had an invisible electric fence? He couldn't be sure. He was so excited to go into the garden that he didn't think about that. But when it was time to leave, he was scared. Gran tried to coax him out. He just shook his little head. Grandaddy called and called. Little Guy frowned and backed up. Then Mama came out. She walked through the gate, bent down and hugged him close to her. "It's okay, Little Guy," she said. "We'll walk through the gate together. There's no e...

My life, it seems, is all about head counts. One. Two. Three. Uh...three. Where is number three? Missing in action. I rushed out the door heading to church this morning. I am always running late. Or so it seems. Sunshine came immediately when called. Miss Lady Bug stumbled out from her napping spot in the laundry room. She gave me one of those indignant looks that says "What is your problem!?" My problem involved the prime sleeping spot in front of the garage fan. It was vacant. No Little Guy. That was not a good sign. See, I haven't had this problem lately. That's the benefit of triple-digit heat. The dogs don't wander off. They stay parked in front of fans or in the house. Cooler temperatures make them feel better about exploring. Without human restrictions and parental guidance. I asked Sunshine where her brother was. She gave me one of those looks that let me know she was not his keeper. Not today anyway. I had to bite my tongue to keep from reminding her t...

Little Guy loves to help his Grandaddy. He thinks it's ever so much fun to run through the corn and look for rabbits. He bounds over the pea vines and races through the cucumber patch. There is just so very much to do in the garden this time of year. This week he's helping cut down the corn stalks so his Grandaddy can feed them to the cows. The cows really seemed to enjoy that corn that was left on the stalks. Grandaddy said what was left of the corn wasn't worth gathering or eating. Little Guy thought Grandaddy might be hiding something. He decided to sample said corn himself. So he grabbed up an ear and headed for the house. There he sank down in front of the garage fan. That's Little Guy's favorite spot outside. With the wind from the fan blowing his hair, he started taking the husk from the ear of corn. That took a while and made a mess. Then he tried to get the kernels of corn off. It was hard and took a lot of effort. The kernels were splotchy and he spent a l...

I always knew it would happen one day. I hoped it wouldn't. Truly I did. But with three curious dogs and many, many wild animals it was like a train wreck waiting to happen. Little Guy encountered a skunk. Not that we saw said encounter. The smell, however, gave it all away. Little Guy always tries to be helpful. While I worked in the garden late yesterday, he hunted. He loves to hunt. He rarely catches anything. He leaves that to his big sister Sunshine. But he does so love to smell his way through the beans and corn, searching for anything at all. I paid no attention when he exited the garden and headed toward the barn area. He does that everyday. I didn't even notice that he sort of lagged behind when we headed toward the house. But, oh my. When I closed the garage door and he plopped in front of the fan, the air got a little smelly. At first I wasn't sure which dog was the culprit. The look on Sunshine's face was priceless. So pitiful. I wondered if she were the one...

It seems that everyone wants to garden these days. A little packet of seeds and some dirt. It's certainly cheaper than buying fresh produce at the grocery story or the farmer's market. Even the White House has a vegetable garden. It all looks so very easy. The key word here is "looks." Farming -- even the small garden variety -- is hard, hot work. First, you've got to decide what to plant. It's easy to say "peas" or "snap beans." Do you know how many different kinds of snap beans there are? I figured it would be easy to choose the type to plant. The round ones, not the flat ones. That only brought more choices. It's a good thing my father knows the name of what he plants every year. I think I need to write it down. I'll never remember on my own. Fortunately, he has a tractor and planters. It makes it go so much faster. Of course, we have a large garden. Some things though still have to be planted by hand. Tomatoes do better if they...