Gardening At The Shop

 Beverly always plants a little garden in the sandy soil at the shop.  She digs it by hand and nurses her seedlings to produce from nothing.

 Hubby does the bush hogging around the shop and some road work when needed.  This year he took the disc to her garden spot that is close enough to see customers when they pull in for shopping.

 He added some top soil and disc that in the mix.

The soil is a little richer so I hope her garden does well this year.  When there are no customers she tends her garden.  The customers seem to enjoy seeing her working.  One customer asked me, "Is that your sister I see folded up like a little Vietnamese lady pulling grass?"  Yep, that's my sister.

Chestnuts Roasting In An Open Fire

Wednesday was my day to rake and burn.  It was partly cloudy and sweater weather for a while. The sun popped out and the sweater was shed.

We had a chestnut tree rubbing on the roof of the shop and the lean-to.  Been on our list to get it cut since we cleaned those two out buildings.  The day finally came to get it started.

Kubota bucket to the top of the lean-to.  First some repairs had to be made.  Andrew and Hubby knew what they were doing.  So did I.  I stayed on the ground and was the official go-fer. 

Andrew choked up on the hammer handle but he got the job done.  Tin nailed and secured.  

Grape vines and chestnut tree

both had to be trimmed drastically

and they were.

A cleared repaired roof line oughta last a few more years.

Finish work and complete clean up tomorrow.

We'll have fire wood and wood for crafting.

Only a million more jobs to go.

The Adventures of Dead Mouse

I had a helper yesterday to make my day go faster.

Meet Mr. Dead Mouse.

He said just call him Dead.

He did some sweeping.

The hammer was just a wee bit large for him.

Dead likes honey and was fascinated with the antique smoker.

He was very sad when the bee gloves would not fit.

Dead gave the grind wheel a couple of turns.

He laughed and said it made him dizzy.

He enjoyed checking out the old tools

and was very grateful he had sharp teeth.

This saw could not be mouse powered.

Pretty knowledgeable about power

Dead admitted he COULD possibly be

the reason this outlet will not work.

 Dead decided to leave the vise alone.

I would say that was wise considering his fragile condition.

Dead Mouse became Happy Mouse

when he discovered this hub cap.

He's a Chevrolet mouse through and through.

He swore on his mother's grave

he did not know this place was posted.

Dead spent the rest of the day dancing his little feet off.

He came alive to Queen's "We Are The Champions"

We both enjoyed the music.

Boston, CCR, Nine Inch Nails, even The Boss sang.

When I left for the day, Dead was still rocking out!

He will probably be too tired tomorrow to help.

It was a productive day.

A job is always easier when it's shared.

Thank you, Mr Dead Mouse.

You made my day.

Getting By With A Little Help From My Friends...

is not only one of my favorite songs

but it's the only way to get things done quickly.

This was our last big load.

Holy moly!

These church pews were HEAVY!

Toni rented a trailer for the last big load.

I have not counted the trips

nor the gas

nor the sweat.

Each one way trip was 52.96 miles or one hour and twelve minutes if you hit the lights right.  I  know Toni would have done the same for us.  Maybe two more trucks, sweeping the units, and disposing of the cardboard properly and we will be done.

Today the reward for the help was cool spring water, a fishing adventure and swimming in the creek.

Soon we can clean vehicles and store our moving shoes for a while.

A Giveaway and This N That...

After one thousand-one hundred four posts and twenty-seven months of posting, I have two hundred twenty-five followers.  Not so good, although I am tickled pink to have that many wonderful people following.  Many have become friends rather than just followers. I want to thank each and every one of you who follow and special thanks for the comments. 

I have noticed many giveaways, I have decided to join that group.  The Art of George Stubbs by Venetia Morrison will be my first prize.  Please ignore the flash reflection on the cover.  This is a magnificent "coffee table" book full of Mr. Stubbs amazing art.  The names will be placed in a hat, and one will be drawn out by a completely unbiased grandson that has no idea what is going on.  I would use random chooser or whatever they call that thing but I am not computer literate enough...yet.  This giveaway deadline will be Friday.  I will announce the winner Saturday.

I am not beyond bribing you to follow, so that is your only requirement to enter..be a.follower...and comment on this post.

On to other random, strange thoughts...I am gonna being working on changing the look and layout so don't panic if I disappear, it will only be temporary.  I asked my daughter what words I could add to the title so more search engines would catch my blog.  She advised, anything with the word sex, my sister said 2012 but 2012 Sex At The Farm did not appeal to me.  Any suggestions will be considered.

We are cool here, not freezing, except at night. The valley shows enough frost in the mornings to look like snow but we haven't any yet.  I hope this winter is kinder than the last.

Marcy is still keeping Zander two days a week while youngest daughter is working on her nursing degree.  She is also still photographing some amazing cold weather pictures which I will be sharing.

Melissa is working and Grandma Anna is helping out with Jake.  What would we do without an extended family??  Grandma Anna is our angel.

I am so proud of both my daughers, I don't think I tell them often enough but I hope they do know.

Hubby is donning the cloak of umeployment and does not think it fits.  At fifty-nine this is the first time, he hasn't had a job. It is not comfortable for him and a little scary. The fences are getting built and things are getting done, so his lack of a paying job has paid off for the farm.

Beverly continues to help us thin and empty our houses.   My sisters and I are hoping that in the spring the shop will be open.  There are many things we cannot do, like erecting the hugh shelves my nephew bought, but maybe the help will show up when we need it most.

Christmas is coming. I dread the coming. It seems that I have lost the spirit of Christmas along with a few other things I have misplaced.

I am still working six days a week or rather five and part of a day.  I am tired.  Fourteen months without a Saturday off is getting old but I am blessed I have a job.

A little insider information on the post office about Saturday delivery.  The post offices will still maintain their Saturday hours, mail will be placed in Post Office Boxes, the only service that will not be continuing on Saturday, if they decide on this course of action, will be street delivery.  This one move would eliminate many positions and would save much money but according to our statistics, payroll is but a small percentage of the expense. We all wait to see what our fate may be.