No Excuses

I intend to blog more, but more posts are not in my toolkit right now.  Let me update you...

Happy spring!

Our old "garden shed," a hand-me-down from friends, was slowly disassembling itself in the fierce Kansas winds.  We'd reached a stage where it was no longer water-tight, cobbled together with repair pieces more than original, and thoroughly repulsive with mouse feces.  Two weeks ago, the Assistant took it upon herself to begin the tear-down.  I helped her with the roof and finding tools, but she and Spunky removed screw after screw, requiring three different types of bits, and made a fine pile of plastic and metal.

We ordered a new one from Sturdi-Bilt, where the sheds are locally made by Mennonites.  Today, it was delivered.  We all marveled at the little but mighty machine that transported the shed into place.  We intend to paint the floor to aid in cleaning, but the current weather will be too cold and too wet for it to dry properly, so we moved in a few things and will adjust them later when we're ready to paint.

The girls (all three of them) painted the tool bench, which was evicted from our garage due to a space issue.

As part of the preparation for this (enormous) upgrade in a shed, the dead pine tree came down on Saturday, March 17.  The process was a comedy of errors, as the chainsaws didn't cooperate, the two-man saw operated by vastly different sizes of people (our oldest helped) meant the two cuts were very uneven, and James and I didn't do so well either.  It took both my parents as well as James and me to knock it down using large PVC pipe for leverage.  Hilarious.

Today, we burned our burn pile and as much of the pine tree as we could manage.  It's still smoldering now, and we're keeping a sharp watch on it.  We've been waiting for time and weather to coincide, so leaped at the chance this afternoon.

Also on the 17th, we planted this year's onions (red and white), scallions (that look inappropriately like onions), and three rows of potatoes.  Sadly, all the drip hose stored in the old shed had been nibbled by mice, probably for the residual water inside and so were set aside as garbage.  I immediately ordered another roll of drip hose, since we used up the last of the old roll, and will lay hose for the potatoes once it arrives.

We finally had an inch of rain the night of the 18th, so things are looking splendid!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Another One Bites the Dust

 Bradford pear trees, although beautiful, may be my least favorite tree.  Why?  The smell horrible in the spring and drive our allergies bonkers.  They also fall apart in a stiff breeze.  Our last loss was in August, so to lose another so soon is nothing short of frustrating.

 Because the winds were due to change direction the evening this happened, with the wind due to knock down the next third quite possibly onto the deck, we decided to act quickly.  James mowed down the remaining sections with only a near miss or two (tree felling is not for the faint of heart!).

It took us two days to clean up, with James cutting into fireplace lengths and splitting as necessary, as well as loading limbs onto the trailer to take to the green waste dump (no fires this time; we simply don't have time.  JoJo has been out of sorts, so his neediness slowed us down significantly.

The second day, (Sunday... not our favorite day for labor), we geared up in the afternoon with overalls for the kids.  They were so cute it required a photo.  Overalls were great because the kids wanted to climb in the limbs and were getting scratched up.

 One trailer and one truck bed load later, we realize the trailer hitch for the truck is missing.  This is the way it often goes.

Approaching the end.  Throughout the experience, we were reminded of the phrase "two is one, one is none."  Two trailer hitches would be nice (or not losing the first one... it's a long story as to why it's not on the truck), and two chainsaws were necessary, as well as two axes.

 As the last wagon loads of firewood were loaded and stacked, it was necessary to check out the age of our failed tree.  33 years, which would make it as old as the house.

 We only have another... 10 or so... Bradford pears to eventually split.  James thinks we may be able to save them in the future.  Depending on the requirements to save one, I'm game, especially since all our pines have pine wilt and will be requiring removal in the next few years.  And there's two dead trees waiting for us.

Ugh.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Weekly Rundown

The Bradford pear that sustained so much damage previously lost another 2/3 of the remaining... so James will be cutting the entire tree down tomorrow.  It will be replaced with either a fruiting tree or a maple.  Something that doesn't stink in the spring, preferably.

We've had 19.8" of rain since July 14.  Just shy of the 20" mark, which is insanely wonderful!

 Ah, the troubles of our chickens... Another keet gone.  Two chickens slaughtered by a fox.  Four new chickens (given to us by an acquaintance with too many).  Maybe we'll have eggs soon, maybe not!  A live trap is now baited for the fox, who had been left alone until (s)he began preying on our animals in broad daylight.

 Almost-all homegrown pico de gallo, a request by my lovely husband.  Next year, if I remember to plant cilantro, it will be all homegrown but the lime juice!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

From July 13 through August 2, we have had 16.1" of rain.  That's a lot of rain.  Rain for which we are grateful, as there is nothing like drought to make you appreciate a downpour.

With rain predicted in the next three days, James and I are a little worried our pond might leap the bounds of concrete stones and spill into the yard and drainage ditches.  The roads have also been exciting, with a significant amount of gravel from our driveway and road ending up in the neighbor's field.  The access road to our neighborhood becomes the crossway for a stream, and, baby, this stream is wide.  Hydroplaning is always a breathless endeavor.

The keets and Big Red aren't sure what to make of the mess, but they are growing apace.

We lost a significant portion of a Bradford pear in the high winds of a 4" downpour.  Fortunately, most of the debris is cleaned up, and none of it hit the house.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.