Just Bee

We have naturalized bees, wild bees and domestic bees.

They do their job well and pollinate as a side effect of working for food.

The Canon Power Shot that took these died last night.

That's my second electronic death in two days, my last loss my wireless extender.

Granny said Things come in threes so I'm wondering...

I still have my shovel and clippers so outside to work.

Have a blessed weekend. 

Been Working

Had neglected my sister's back yard. A crew is coming to repair her roof and build a porch.  I had to hurry up and catch up.  Before...yes, this is the same area.

After...we are ready for the repair and the build.

Another neglected spot...remember, I've been trying to paint the house. We made these steps on a slope between our yards so we would be less likely to slide down. I haven't had time to weed them this year with the wonderful rain and then the blessed heat.  Before....

during and almost after.

We don't have cattle, horses, goats nor chickens now but we still have work.  Keeping the jungles tamed that are our yards keeps me busy.  My weed eater and push mower are broken so all the work that can't be done with a riding mower or tractor is done with hand clippers and pruners. Hubby runs the equipment so I have help.

I have the asparagus bed cleaned and mulched.  Sorted and cleaned the garden shed to put more garden items in storage.  Cleared the weeds from the blackberries.  Have piles of mulch, piles to burn and blisters! When I've nothing else to do I dead head flowers, work in the garden and just do general yard work.  The house is suffering with no deep cleaning but will wait for those triple digit days when I can't force myself outside.  No, the painting is not finished, just on hold, but I'm down to the trim.

A job well done is its own reward.  I do sleep well at night.  Hope your summer has been productive, too. 

Jumping Into Spring

with all feet in our neck of the woods.

Flexing those winter slow muscles, 

joyfully playing in the dirt,

and tracking down jobs.

 Things are going swimmingly

even with all the sh**.

This N That

fungi on a log

Here I share tiny pieces as we all do, glimpses into parts of our daily lives. This is not a reality show so you don't get the in your face daily living dramas, tragedies and triumphs...not all of them so I'm gonna hit some highlights.

Marcy, my oldest sister, has passed her tests and remains cancer free for another year.  The tests and checks are getting farther apart.  I do the driving.

Beverly, my second sister (yep, I'm the baby), is still operating The Shop, mostly by herself. I go up now and then to help.  Things are still moving out and moving on.

Hubby is holding steady on his heart health but I can tell some days are worse than others. We are relatively young, he 64 and I 61, but we seem to be going downhill.

Our outings are mostly grocery and doctor runs,

We have a boomerang child.

Andrew graduates this year.

We no longer have any livestock.  Down to one rooster...they were quite old.

Hubby has the garden plowed for spring planting.

We have a list of work that NEEDS to be done as long as all our arms put together.

Sadly the elders here all woven together would not make one healthy person but we keep on keeping on.

On the brighter side, we are still here, pecking away at daily living.  We have acreage to explore, fishing, hunting, fresh water, sunshine and rain.  We are blessed.

A Snake Story with No Pictures!

I have been busting my b, uh, buns in this hundred degree heat because I thought I had to complete a project (pictures at a later date).

I asked Hubby how long the section I was working on was.  He said, Fifty feet.  I said, Don't tell me I have almost killed myself for only fifty feet of progress!  He grinned, Closer to fifty yards so that was better...150 feet sounds like I did something.

I did it with a reciprocating saw, clippers, pruners, wire cutters, and a hammer.  And believe me when I say, It was HARD work.

Today Hubby got the push mower started again and I was thrilled.  I don't think anyone grinned while mowing as much as I did today.  When you been folded up with clippers for a week, that lawn mower looked good, no, GREAT.

So I'm push mowing all the parts Hubby can't reach on the riding mower.  Since the weed eater is still at the mechanical hospital, the push mower beat clippers hands down.

I pushing and grinning.  I am delighted how much faster this is than clippers so I leave my area I have been working on and expand my power range.  Around the propane tank, under the swing set, around the plum trees.  I am on fire!  Working and sweating but loving it.  Sooo, then I decide to mow around the old house.

I'm screaming snake (less than a foot from me) which no one can hear over the lawn mower. My frantic jumping and waving my arms got Hubby's attention.  Six dogs and not one of them saw this snake.  Copperhead!!  Then they were all there, Hubby with gun, dogs ready to kill a snake.  Every one was too slow.  Now we know there's a Copperhead under the old house.

Wonderful.

So all I see around the entirety of our yard and Marcy's are snake arbors!  I push and mow places that had not been trimmed.  Hubby tried to stop me but I was on a mission.  Snake arbors, be gone!

Hubby brought me a drink, which I guzzled, and continued to mow.  I said, I'm not stopping til I run outta gas.  And I didn't.  Emptied that tank.

The benefits are my Tylenol and ibuprofen had kicked in, less grass to mow, sinuses wide open and I got a sauna/sweat lodge work out.

The question will be, will I be able move tomorrow?  And where will that snake be?  Lil was still laying under the edge of the house waiting so hopefully she will eliminate my problem tonight.

I think of all the evenings I go out barefooted to feed the dogs and I shiver a little. Was he laying in wait for me?  I think all the food bowls will be on the porch tonight!

And that was my afternoon.  How was yours?

As Everyone Celebrated

I had a walk and a talk with Dad as I traveled over the farm.  I know he's with me.  He would have reveled at the growth in the valley.  He would have been delighted with this Bull frog peeking out.

Dad would have seen the face in this old coffee pot

and admired the garden.

Dad would have bragged on my progress 

although he could always work circles around me.

He would have stopped to admire the conglomerate rock I found

and discussed why it was conglomerate and not metamorphic.

You are not here with the living, Dad, but we carry you inside our heart. Thank you for serving our country, fathering us, and loving us. Happy Father's Day!  I feel you in the land around me.

Who Has Stolen My Time?

It's October.  I'm not through with spring's work!  I continue to thin, sort, stack and clean the old house.  I have the second room finished and now must finish the slanted room so I can repair that floor.

I have deleted another pile and discovered treasures.  I have pulled enough lumber from under the old house to be able to repair, I hope, the board and batting outside.

Here's a shot of my structural problem with this third room.  The floor has simply dropped from the side beam support.  I am hoping beyond hope I'll be able to use a floor jack and return it to its original position. I've noticed they've sistered some floor joists. I won't know until I get this room empty.  If I work hard maybe a three day job. Trouble is I can't find three whole days anywhere.

I'm working myself to the bone.  I may even be dehydrated and delusional because I thought this find needed to be documented. It's a pack rat just like me.

I sidetracked on a rock hunt and found these colorful beauties.  Notice the awesome fossil in the lower rock.

Made my day with discovery of iron ore, few and far between, either from a meteorite or a volcanic rock.  Without a degree in geology or rocktopgraphy (I know, not a word, but I like the sound of it) I'll just have to guess.

I Worked

in the old house.

On a farm multiple buildings always means something needs repairing, sorting, or improving. This house was where my sister was born and where two siblings were born that we never knew. 

Thanks to varmints and dogs chasing said varmints there is some disarray inside this small three room house where three generations have stayed at different times.  

The death of Mom, the watching of Dad until his death, the ice storms, the tornado, and health and life in general has kept me from doing a proper job keeping the outbuildings in order.

One year the chickens laid eggs in the attic. The dogs have continued to search and seize any trespassers that entered the old home.

After the tornado the loose tin caused some water damage.  The roof was repaired but water has caused a floor joist to fall.  Know this is a box construction house.  No two by's.  No four by's but a simple floor joist system and roof rafters with board and batting connecting the two.  Paper and cloth was used for insulation if you can even call it that.

Primarily used for storage I have my work cut out for me. I am slowly sorting things that have ruined from over sixty years of storage, saving what I can and repairing as I go.

One room is on a slant so I slide in, grab a box and run uphill to get it to level floor and repeat and repeat. I sort and stack in a solid room.

I sort, reduce, protect and stack.  I would carry a sack to my throw a way pile while keeping the "good" stuff.  When I needed air I would carry a box of bottles from my other project and place it in the lean-to kitchen.  A thousand steps, a million steps....maybe more.  Until the muscle cramps and promise of rain stopped me.

An old wringer washer

a wood cook stove

A complete school desk from a one room school house

I've written how two small houses were pulled up the creek by horses and a sled joined by a common roof. A lean-to kitchen was added.  This was in the early thirties so there is no way to tell how old the house or houses really are.

  

I remember being warm in winter with no insulation.  I remember the smell and taste of Mom's biscuits.  I remember Dad setting us out during the first snowy morning to run around the house to keep our feet warm all winter. .I remember hauling water from the same spring we use today. I remember the weight of all the quilts in winter and the cool breezes of summer. I remember the love.

In this house with each box and bag, I remember.  Yes, I remember.  This is the reason I work in this old house...to save those memories and perhaps, just maybe, make more.

Just in case you were worried, I have not lost my marbles.  In fact I may possibly have five or six generations of marbles, so I'm in good shape.

Work Continues...

Oh, no, not more brush piles!!!  I am on a roll!  The weather has been perfect for trimming.  I think I have pulled some twenty foot briers out of trees.  I have seen ground I have not seen in years.  Life is good.  I am seeing progress.

And one more pile almost gone.

Hubby had a great idea.

Far better than me carrying arm loads at a time.

Two piles gone.

Many more to go.

Weeding Rocks...

Here's the tiny section I worked so hard on last week.  The stump from the lightning struck tree is still burning so I had a place to stack more today.

I decided I needed to weed my porch.  Have you ever heard of someone doing that?

Please bear in mind I rarely use any thing I have to buy.  I have lots of rocks and logs so I made my back porch outta those.  Hubby brought me a huge rock last year (he just loves making me happy). Now it is where he brushes the dogs and we use it for many things including a table.  So tools ready...set...go.

I had a tiny helper who posed for the camera.  He/she is only as big as a thumb nail.  Glad to see them coming back.  I also terrified a REAL Ladybug and a Skink.  They did not hang around for a photo session.

You can track me anywhere with my DP can and a vacant pair of shoes.  If you find those two things I won't be far away.

Lizzy enjoyed the cool spots I was digging.  I recycle dog food sacks and lay them under stone to prevent grass invasion.  Between the large rocks I place gravel.

It was a long hot morning.  I had to stop and help get the beef in the freezer (59 per cent of live weight).  Full to the rim!  That feels good.

Back outside to finish.  Hot, tired, thirsty, sweaty, dirty and more but I continued.  I kinda like to finish something once I get it started. I'm a tad bull headed like that.

Please remember the back door is usually the worst.  Ki-Anne doesn't care.  This is before

and after.  One job done for another year!  It was in the shade when I began but not for long.  Too hot to work this hard.

Will my next job be the second fig

or the poor fern bed?

Depends on which one is shadier.

Catching Up

Canna replanted.

Edge of smoke house cleared. 

Lilies like their new home.

Timber!  The light pole goes down,

repurposed for a fence anchor post.

Dirt cellar cleared of leaves and debris.

Work continues at the shop.

A solar lamp catches me out after dark.

Whose Bright Idea Was This Anyway???

Ground is leveled in front of screen porch steps, old shower curtain laid under rocks to slow weed growth. Gravel will be added to hide the curtain.  These are some big rocks but I was hoss enough to get them in place.

I added three worms to my worm bed today along with some top soil. I plan to find more tomorrow as I dig.

Installed a piece of barn tin under the screened porch which will be the back of the water garden and recycled some old lumber for the outside of the steps.  I have placed some rocks there but will add more as I go.

Only one injury today, lucky me.  I was breaking rocks with a hammer to dry stack under the edge of the sheet metal and a piece of rock sliced my wrist.  Hurt like heck but nothing serious.  So piece by piece things are going into place.

I'm slowly beginning to dig and toss the sand and gravel behind and around the big rock to form a berm for plants and rocks.  All plans are subject to change. We'll see what happens next.