Snow Day version 2

As in yesterday the kids had a snow day.  We had a reasonable amount of snow finally for this winter, and due to the rain that fell before the snow...
  As you can now see the pond is now full!  YEAH!  Now if it just stays full we'll be doing very well.  The fun part we had yesterday was that the top was all slush. so just to see we were tossing snow balls onto the top of the pond and it would hit the slush leaving a dent in the slush which under it would fill with liquid water.
Do you see all that wonderful snow??    It was a fun storm that is for sure as it had started us off with rain Monday afternoon.  Then in the evening, and I was watching it happen.  We got large fluffy snow flakes that as I watched were "sticking" to the ground.
 ...and as for my comment about watching it.  I was standing at the door making sure the dogs didn't run off while they went out to go do their business; which took less than five minutes.  So I saw the snow starting to fall and "stick" in that time frame.
 At 4 am yesterday morning we got the message that the kids would be off of school for the day.  Which after I opened the door yesterday morning I understood why buses here wouldn't be able to pick up the kids.  As I know the buses here do not use chains they would not have done the dirt roads here yesterday.
 So this morning looking at all the school closings lists the kids were semi disappointed that they were going to school today.  I guess the school determined that the roads were used enough so their would be grooves in the snow on the dirt roads.  I am not sure how much the school bus the kids are on traverse the dirt roads around here.
 This morning the weather person told us due to what the storm is doing we may have snow for the next few days, on and off.  Well I know this will help our "rainfall totals" so that's good.  Though we may wind up with a bit of flooding when it all melts.  Good thing we live on a hill.
 We lost our internet for a portion of yesterday as after the snow storm the dish was coated with snow.  So Silver had to go out and clean it off carefully, and that did it.  Though  for some reason at some point last night it went out again.  Maybe one of these days I'll get to pintrist and put in all the pics I have to put in there.
 Well I have to run the kids around to get them moving a bit more this morning.  Have a great day.

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Pond News

Well this morning on my way to feed the chickens I got myself a nice surprise(yes I know "got is baaaad grammar but in this case it suits my needs).
   As you can see we seem to have a tad bit more water in our pond.  As yesterday when we went out to work it was about 1/8 of the way full seeing it at about 1/2 was a big surprise.  A good surprise  but still a surprise.
 Yesterday the pond was not was smooth as it is now in this picture, and as you can see it is only half the pond.  That... unfortunately is due tot he fact that after I fed the chickens I ran back into the house for the camera and got a beautiful picture of the full pond.  Then I slid on the ice and it fell into the water.
 I fished it back out, but as I don'rt know if I'll get the image off of the camera I went and got our old smart phone and used it's camera as I know it has a nice camera on it.  I guess if this keeps up I need to get use to using the phone camera, we should know in a few hours to a couple days if the camera survives the trip into the pond.
 As for the pond itself we are suppose to get more rain today then it changes to snow tonight for the next to days.  So it is very possible we will have a full pond by week's end.  Now we just have to hope it stays full.  If it doesn't we will try Silver's method of "sealing" the pond bottom with clay cat litter.  He says if you get straight clay cat litter and make a slurry of it and coat the bottom of the pond it will seal the "leaks" in it.  Hey, if it works that's good.

 Here is the other picture of the pond.
  The only spot it hasn't done much yet is on the shallow end, which is where my cat tails are going to be growing when the pond is full and it gets warmer.  Though I imagine the blackberry canes that grow on that side of the pond will now wind up HUGE with all the extra water they will have there.
 Pity Paris died over the summer she'd have a blast this summer with a pond in our yard, the two pups do not even seem interested in investigating the pond as it is now.  Neither does Midnight their daddy.  Can't wait to see the cats when it's full of water and try to walk across that log over the middle.
 As for the rest of the water that is in our yard...
 All of our trenches have water in them, also the new septic for the house has a layer of water in it as well.  Funny thing is as I was leaving to feed the chickens and was walking next to the electric trench and noticed the water I thought to myself.  I'd live to see that much water in the pond.  Guess that falls under the "ask and ye shall receive" heading huh?
 We still need to get the piles of mud down a bit, which I am figuring they will work good to "deter" some of the plant growth I don't want in some areas.  We also have to restore the trench that went from the section of woods that line the road to our pond as it was the natural draining area.  I'm going to have to hand dig it.  At least it will ensure steady influx of fresh water though.
 I also did notice that when I watched the water in the pond yesterday that it was still bubbling from the ground up, so it's possible it may stay liquid at the deepest parts in the winter which would be great for raising fish.
 Well that's it before breakfast, which is going to be beef hash (leftover from last night's roast) with eggs on top and maybe some of my fresh sourdough.  While my oven is on the fritz I can only make my "no knead" sourdough bread as it cooks at 500 degrees.
 ..and don't forget today's moral... don't stand on ice above a pond to take pictures with your camera!
 Have a good day all!

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

The "M" Word

Well it's a lovely warm day, and considering what was on the ground that means MUD... the dreaded "M" word. I really, really love mud... don't you? Especially since it's all clay mud which as it sticks to your shoes adds 50lbs to your foot.. or at least feels that way.
 Today we went out and put the rebar stakes into the MUDDY ground.
  The ground is just squishy enough to make it easy to get into the ground, I almost wish we had the ground rods to put into the ground, they would be very easy to get into the ground right now.
 While we were doing the pounding my son who doesn't currently attend a church got to stand in the middle of the mud circle and hold our 100ft tape to make sure we had the right length from the center.
 We also had to measure the distance between each one which needed to be 6ft 8in between each one.  The rebar "arches" need to be slightly off of where we put our stakes so that there is an opening in the center of the top of the dome. traditionally this is where a chimney is put.  We are going to put glass block windows, vents and a whole house fan in a small  addition above the top of the dome in the center.  Silver is planning to find a way to run the chimney up it as well, but we need to figure out the logistics of it first. The ground stakes have to be in the ground 2 foot so the 5 ft rebar stakes need to only have 3ft above the ground.  So after placing all the stakes Silver went back around and pounded them into the ground till they reached the correct depth.    
       We only had issue in one spot:
  I am not sure if you can see it, but this one here is stuck in a frozen block of clay, so once we have enough above freezing days we should be able to go back and fix this one.
 Well it figures we'd have one that would not be able to be at the proper depth.  We should have really gone out and fixed some of the mud piles before the bad weather came through.. but you know what they say about hindsight.
 I'll also have you know that as I am writing this.. all that snow you see in the picture?  Yeah... it's gone, not there... just the MUD!  
   So when we finished putting the stakes in we spent some time looking for the orange "tape" to mark where the stakes are as they are a tad hard to see against the browns. It is much easier to see the outline with the tape on the rebar.  also this is taken at the place where our door for the house will be put.  The nice thing about it is that the door will open to just across from our soon to be outdoor kitchen.  I think that is very convenient.
 As you can see from this picture there is much more mud than snow now, at this point we had the kids moving the rebar from up front to the house ring as Silver is going to start making the arches.
 The arches is what  the second floor is suppose to be connected to so that it is more secure, I'm not sure if we are going to do it that way as yet and Silver is thinking we may only need to make half of a second floor based on how much space there is in the interior.
 As for the start of the arches...
  First, after we set out three pieces of rebar of course.  We needed to bend the rebar, Silver discovered after trying to use his "bending" tool that it wasn't going to work very well.  That is because when he first tried to bend it the tool bent.
 So as you can see he went and got out the pipe wrenches and used them with me standing on one end of the rebar while he hand bent them.  The one downside I have to say for the birdcage dome site is that they do not mention how they bent their rebar.  So we had to figure it out ourselves.
 So we had to bend two of three pieces, the two end pieces.  The center piece gets bent when you attach them together.  We discovered it's much easier to bend with the help of two children in addition to me standing on the rebar.
 So after the bending comes tying the rebar together.
  We are using rebar ties to connect them together, now we have seen people using zip ties.  While they will hold a great deal, I think using the metal rebar ties will be 100% better as then they will be part of the concrete with the rebar.
 Silver is planning on using a couple of zip ties then we put the arches up and need to temporarily secure them to the rebar stakes while we get the others in place.  Then will go around and use the metal ties to finish securing them.
 Incidentally we did not put this one in place as we have discovered we need to have a ladder or a scaffolding in place to do that as we need someone at the top to hold it in place while it is secured. As it is flimsy while being strong.  I know once they are all in place they will be much more secure, jut one by itself would not be.
 We only put one arch together so as to get the "idea" of how to do it for the first time.  Notice in the picture... no snow at all and all the MUD on Silver's shoes?  That was after he scraped the MUD off.  The kids finished bringing back all the rebar, after some issue over figuring out how to navigate over the trench while carrying the rebar.  We found one random plank to place across it, and it's kinda working.
 One child of course fell into the trench and had a fit over getting muddy, I guess a 13yr old doesn't think MUD is fun anymore.  Well at least she had changed into the jeans she didn't want to wear before it happened so the pants she prefers are saved for school.  So now we are all sitting around the house MUDDY waiting turns to bathe the MUD off.  I'll be last as I have to go back out in it to get the laundry down.  Then it's on to start cooking our dinner tonight.  which will be a beef roast mashed taters and peas.  YUM!
 So I hope everyone enjoys their start of MUD season... I know I am... rolls eyes

 Be Well BE Safe and Blessed BE...

Early Weekend News

Yes, I have some minor news for all who are keeping up with what is going on here.  Yesterday evening me and Silver went out to peek at the pond and discovered that it is about an 1/8 of the way full.  So we seem, so far to have a good possibility of having a full pond.  I am certainly hoping it'll be full enough by the time the local farm store has their fish ordering days.  As they will send for catfish, I do not know if they do tilipia or not though.

I will be once the pond is full enough and it's warm enough.  Be going across the street to get some cat tails and one bucket of pond water.   Why the pond water?  Well I have in one of my homesteading books that the best way to make sure you have the right microbial life in your home made pond is to go to a living one and get a bucketful of it's water and dump it into your own.  There by adding the "pond life" that is surviving in one pond to your own.  Also this way you know the microbial life is acclimatized to your area as well.

I already have permission from the people who own the property across the way to go over and gather some cat tails.  They had, had a hard time finding a place that sold them when they put them in, so they were very willing to let me go and get some once we had a pond set up.  Now that said I know of one nursery that has cat tails at it also Lowes has them in the middle of summer in their "water garden" area.  So I do have them available if necessary, but I'd prefer to get some that have grown "wild"

That's  it for now, have a good Saturday!

BE Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

After the Storm

Well here we are the morning after the storm and I'm making brownies.  Sourdough brownies specifically, it takes about 25 minutes after the sponge sets most of the night to mix them.  However I am a tad worried that they might come out a bit burnt as my oven is now running a lot hotter than it was before.

As for the storm...?  Well we have ice, we have snow, and we have power.  That makes me happy, not long after my post yesterday our internet went out for the whole day, it was expected as we have satellite internet; breathe the wrong way and it goes out.  The kids again have no school so lets see... They had a total of 2 days of school this week, guess it's better then them not having any school at all.  Granted though some school are having a late start today it would be near impossible for them to walk to the bus stop safely.  Also as Silver mentioned yesterday due to the ice, we are not driving for the next couple of days.

We are planning on either tomorrow or Sunday to go out and set the rebar stakes into the ground, more likely on Sunday as we are going to be in the 50's then.  Maybe I'll cook something outside on our mini grill if it's going to be that nice out.  Though we had something interesting in the storm previous to yesterday's.  The old dishwasher that was left on our property before we got here that we are going to turn into a smoker was knocked onto it's side by wind.  Now it's sat on it's base for years and a couple of days ago it gets knocked over?  Defiantly a strong wind, or rather strong gusts.  The wind that day also picked up one of our 2 good outdoor chairs and dropped it in the pond breaking it.  So now we are down to one outdoor chair, we need a couple more; hopefully we can find some more cheaply as we still have building supplies to buy.

Speaking of which on next Friday we will have money again and after bills/animal  feed/gas are paid for and my DL is replaced we are going to go and buy soil for the apple trees then the next item on our building supply list.  Which may be either wire, pipe or fencing for the dome itself.  Depends on what we have left really.

Well have a nice day all, I have to go check my brownies as they are starting to smell very done way to soon.  Where did I put that aluminum foil again?

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Storm is HERE

Well I was woken up at 4am to be informed that yes, the kids would not have school today.  looks out window  EEhh... I don't think they'd make it down the hill to the bus stop anyway with all that ice and freezing rain anyway.  My daughter as the school hadn't posted it last night like 50+ other schools in our area woke me at 6am to ask about school.    I told her there would be no school so she went back to bed.  However I couldn't, so I got up and fed the dogs and cats; and the fire needed tending.  So now here me and Silver are watching the radar, listening to the weather woman.  

We are hoping the ice won't be too bad, Silver already commented that due to the amount of it we won't be driving any where in the next couple of days due to the ice on our van.  It should thaw on Saturday though as we are suppose to hit 50 again.  Our other concern with the ice (aside from power outage that is) is the possibility of trees/branches coming down from weight.  I know it happened in the last ice storm years ago, so it is a concern.

So now I have kids home and quote "bored" as there is "nothing to do".  I don't remember being so bored as a kid as I could not find something to do.  I guess it has to do with all the electronic devices out there as the kids seem to think if they aren't gaming on something when they can't go outside that there is "nothing" to do.  Considering how many books I "chewed" through as a kid you'd think my kids would do the same.  I'm not saying I don't have a reader... my reader however reads only one set of books over and over again.  shugs  I don't understand it, but I guess that just makes me old.

Well, I need to go help Silver with the breakfast we are making the kids. So, stay warm and dry everyone!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Storm A-Coming

Well it looks like this will be another day without working outside as a ice storm is headed this way.  Last time there was an ice storm in this area a few years before we moved here there was wide spread power outages, some lasting a couple of weeks.  So in a few hours we are going to be setting up some emergency water as with having a well means if there is no power you have no water.

The first thing we did this morning (well after feeding everybody of course) was to go out and cover our wood pile, just to ensure that we will have usable dry wood that isn't frozen solid.  I'm going to have my son dig out the hatchet for just in case when he gets home from school.  We got the wood pile covered with one of the tarps we bought to keep cement dry, as when we start buying it we will be buying in small amounts till we have enough to work on the house with.

We're making up a "vat" of chili which will be good if the power goes out as we could set it on the wood burner to keep hot  for us to eat as needed.  The only concern I will have if the power goes out will be the water issue as we don't have enough things to store water in for emergencies right now.  I'm going to be using my sugar bucket as there is no sugar in it right now.

With the possibilities this brings, it has one more.  That one is that the kids may not have school tomorrow, which would be annoying as they had Monday off of school for President's day.  From what it appears as I sit here watching the radar for the last couple of hours the storm seems to be moving a tad faster than the weather men said it would and I believe it will be here in the next couple of hours.  Which doesn't bother me aside from wondering how easily the kids will be coming home.  As the school calls off days when there is a tiny bit of snow, as they do not think the buses can handle the dirt roads in the bad weather.  So it makes me wonder.

I know when we lived in New York there was not as much trouble getting the kids to or from school in bad weather.  Those buses had chains that are always on the bus, they just descend when needed and attach tot he tires then.  When not needed they detach and go back into their "holding" area.  These buses here don't have them, so I wonder if it starts to get bad will they call home requesting parents pick up their kids up or will they close early after watching the radar and send them via bus?

Well I have to go out and check on the chickens before this gets here, have a good day all and stay warm!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Sharing is FUN...

… my daughter came home with a stomach bug over this weekend and yesterday after Silver finished working it struck me. So I couldn't even eat the nice dinner I made last night, Roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn. Then I got to spend some quality time with the porcelain goddess around midnight. So imagine how much sleep I got last night...

We took the track hoe back this morning and had no issues getting it back to them unlike the trip out. I will say if you are ever in my neck of the woods try out:

Bailey's Rental & Sales

305 S. Madison

Lebanon, Mo 65536

(4170 532-2353

I would recommend if you need at least 2 days of rental do it for Saturday as you'll get Sunday for free as he is not open. We are considering when we need scaffolding renting it from him. His prices are reasonable.

Tomorrow barring any rain we're going to go out and start putting up the the rebar framing for the house starting with the stakes. I am hoping to be able to set up some flower beds this month near where the outdoor kitchen will be. I have flower bulbs coming some time in the next month along with my apple trees. I want to this fall get some mums as well so we have flowers most of the year.

Well as it's rainy today and the kids are off of school we are watching movies today. Have fun everyone!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed be...

Track Hoe Day 2

Fun Days, Fun Days! We did more work with the track hoe today. Silver started with digging the electric trenches for the power out to the new house. He did not dig it very deeply as the wire doesn't need to be down very deep as it won't be damaged by the cold temperatures.           When he was half way to the new house he started the trench from the water and then connected the two together. That needs to be deeper as you don't want water pipe freezing, or it may break.                 After doing these two he dug me a couple of trenches for my apple trees that are showing up next month. We are going to mix some soil for their “baby years” and then planting them and giving them as much care as if they are babies.                 Well our pond still has water “seeping” up, granted this may just be ground water. However I am still hopeful on the site of it, as it's to me also an indication that the water so far is staying in the pond. With spring rains coming soon I am sure the pond will be full fairly soon.
  Next thing we will be doing is re-staking the house site and putting in the rebar stakes Silver made up a few days back. The track hoe goes back to the rental place tomorrow, please note the best time to rent if you have a place that is closed on Sundays is on the weekend so you get 2 days for the price of 1.        

                                               RANT OF THE DAY!
 Now I have a comment about something that happened on here. I keep getting Anonymous people leaving comments. While I have no issues with people doing so, I will not respond to a negative person who is Anonymous. I won't even give them the satisfaction of attention by removing it either, I'm sorry but if you want to be negative at least have the guts to leave your own name. In specific the post was about GM seed companies (read as seed companies owned by BIG M and company). NO, I did not check out the list myself as I didn't use any of the companies. However as I know of a great many people who prefer to be GM free I figured they can find out if their seed company is or is not. Also by seeing the names on the list they can go ask the companies themselves. I was just trying to be a handy go between. I had gotten many bad comments about that post which, I might add is at least 1 year old. The reason I am bringing it up now is someone left a nasty comment 2 days ago on it. I'm not removing the comment, but geez... come on people if you don't like my posts... don't read them. ..and if you want to read them and make a counter point great! DO NOT be nasty, and if you are going to … have the cahones to put your name on it.

 That's it for now folks! Have a nice Sunday.

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Track Hoe Day!

 Well today was FUN, we picked up the track hoe,;(again I am amazed that there is such a thing) and after seeing the full sized back hoe up close I defiantly think the track hoe is the better option for us. I was very happy when we picked it up that the hitch held, which I was worried about it. As we left the young man who got us hooked up (literally).
 However as you can see when we got very close to home the tire... ...didn't last. Well I called the person about it, and he came out quickly with a replacement. Within 20 minutes and considering where we were sitting that was fast. He even made a joke, as he used the track hoe to lift the trailer. “It comes with it's own jack”, cute joke especially while we were pissed off at the loss of the time. So we drove it home, the dirt road was so much -fun-; we had no traction and we had to go at about 15 miles an hour to go up the first hill. We had to “get off to the side” twice on the way to the house on the dirt road as no one would yield for us.

 So the first order of business when we got home was, COFFEE! For Silver anyway, (btw pics will now be tossed in at random)I set up a new pot of coffee and put cookies in the oven for a warm treat. While he “figured out” how to start it.
While he has used heavy equipment before this was a different model than he was use too using. Of course our dogs were not happy with this new loud scary looking device and only stopped barking once Silver stopped using it at about 4pm. After he figured out how it worked he started on digging the pond out for our fishies to go in. I am also going to grow the edible water lilies and cat tails for food production. We are also considering either ducks or geese to keep in the pond, mainly to keep the algae down. If we get pairs then we can butcher the extras. So we have a short area for the little fishies and the cat tails to grow in. Then a deeper area for catfish and full grown other fish. We are considering Tilapia. I think the deep part is at least 6 foot deep maybe deeper, hard to tell until the extra dirt is “ground down” and we can tell the “actual” ground line. After we finished it off and worked on a few other projects we discovered something that may be very good news. We may have a spring under where we dug for the pond. I will know more tomorrow after it has sat overnight.
  When we finished working the pond Silver went out and dug a septic for the dome out past our tree line. The only problem we had there is he was hitting something too hard for the track hoe to cut through after about 3 foot down. So he had to opt for a wider septic than a deep one, which we would have preferred. Once he finished that he dug the trench for it all the way into the area we have cleared for the house.
  The next item we did was “unpleasant”, but necessary. We needed to dig out some more on our current septic. No I did not take pictures of it, I didn't want to take pictures of it shudders it's disgusting.

 After that Silver went and turned the garbage pile of things we cannot burn or are already burned and is just the garbage ash. The thing that surprised me was that it seems some of the things “out there” are decomposing. Now before anyone rips my head off. Please recall the post where I commented on the fact that while I really want to be “green” I know in some things it not possible. Garbage, is one of those “things” I burn my trash, then I dispose of the ash and the “unburnables” in a pile that will not if it ever composes down be used for food crops. However, I will be happy to grow flowers over them. That is all we have managed to do today, tomorrow we dig the trenches for the well and the electric. Then Silver will have to find things to do with it.... I am sure he will figure something out, one thing he wants to do is remove that engine block that was here when we moved in.

 I am baking some sourdough brownies right now, and tomorrow morning is a bread/laundry day.

 Have a happy weekend everyone!

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Friday!

So today was our grocery shopping day, and we got a good deal on canned milk. Both evaporated and condensed, at $.50 a piece for as may out of one shopping cart we wanted. We now have about 45 cans of evaporated milk, which one can is the correct amount for my sourdough bread. So I'm happy.   I have a few picks of my plants in their trays that I took yesterday while the weather was nice and warm, and also a close up of the sugar cane that will be “sprinkled” through this posting. I have enough sprouted that I'm very happy aside from the sugar cane which we only have 1 so far, I am hoping and crossing my fingers for more.  
 Yesterday Silver finished setting up the hitch for the trailer for the track hoe as we are picking it up tomorrow. He also made a bender for the rebar that will circle the dome. After we are done with the digging we will start putting out the rebar.   He is thinking about running down the road with the grader that is on it when he's done as our road does not get worked on by anyone. There is a spot not far from us that while it has one of those “metal” culverts it still floods and almost always has standing water in it. I want to take a moment and comment on something I have been thinking of. Yes, I am trying to be as “green” as possible, however I know that you cannot be 100% green and exist in this day and age. Something has to give somewhere. One thing that me and Silver were discussing today has to do with chickens.  
 Now I know the “green” method of raising the chickens is free range. We do not do this... Why? A few reasons, the first being I do not plan on hunting for my eggs. Second is I bought the starting birds and they are an investment. I do not want something eating them if I can help it. Third... well they will eat your veggies given half a chance.
So we keep them penned. It is a very large one compared to the ones I see in the farm stores now.   In fact today I was looking at the ones in the farm stores, and they have a small yard built on and space for three nests. Now based on my experience and what I have read a single nest can be used by 5 hens. So based on the size of the “coop” we saw at the store it should hold 15 birds. However to my eye unless you have tiny birds you cannot fit that many in the available yard. So I do not understand them very much.

 Well I'm off to finish cleaning before the children return from school and make a disaster area.

 Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Snow Day

..well not really, but the kids thought that it would be. It was so funny when the news people even said on the news after the kids got up, “Alright everyone time to get up and get ready for school”. The kids just groaned about that.
We had a bit of good news at about noon today...
  Our delivery of rebar was going to show up today! It was nice to see the work on it didn't take too long to get done with. Oddly, we were the only delivery, so I'm guessing we had the only one that required the flat bed today.      

     I think this loading, unloading device is really cool it's a forklift that latches into the truck.
                           
 Here's Silver setting some wood down for the rebar to set on until we can use it.      

           After the truck left Silver rushed to get out a cutting tool to start cutting some of the rebar for the “stakes” he needs to start the framework of the dome.
                 
 He even pointed them to make them easier to go into the ground.              
 30 minutes later this is what is left of the 4, 20fter's he was cutting up.
  Now he's disappointed as we have to wait till after the track hoe is here and done, so he's practically crawling the walls wanting to get the work done. It only took 2 days for the delivery to get here from 25 miles away. It was the truck's fault.. granted I imagine a horse drawn wagon would have gotten them here faster.    

           Hope everyone has had a good day, and is staying warm!

 Be Well, BE Safe, and Blessed Be...

Monday... Where's Garfield...?

Well today was not the fun day we were hoping for. The delivery people called us to let know that the flatbed truck is in the shop so it'll be a few days before our rebar shows up. I am almost anticipating that they will wish to deliver it on Friday when we go to the grocery store. I looked ahead at the rest of the month weather wise and due to overnight temps it'll be to cold to put in the potatoes. However day time temps certainly will be warm enough.

I have taken the covers off my plant trays, and I did discover so far one of my sugar cane seeds have sprouted. All of my tomatoes have sprouted, though I am still waiting on my peppers of course to sprout. My eggplants also have not sprouted as yet.

We did run out and get some straw for the dogs and the chickens, next time we re-straw the chickens I'm going to get pictures as they are so funny when we put fresh straw out.

That's it for now...

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Cat of The Day

I was on deviantART  posting the pictures of the cats that I take, and someone there commented that I should nominate Crookie for Cat of the Day.  Well I did that and Crookie got picked for TODAY!

Check him out!

http://catoftheday.com/


I thought it was so cool when I got the email yesterday about him being on it today!

Great Day TODAY!

 We have had a great weekend so far folks! We got some of our building money, and we have a load of rebar coming tomorrow. We have decided to go down to a 34ft diameter dome. When we staked it (40 ft dome) out we noticed that we mis-staked it and the 34ft is not that much smaller than what we had staked out..

I got my apple trees ordered, I ordered ultra mac's for Silver and double delicious for me. I love the golden and red delicious. The company I ordered from a local nursery for this state Stark Bros nursery, they offered free shipping on orders over $85. So as I ordered 2 of each the order with the free shipping was just over $100. So I saved at least $20.

We had gotten a “pay later” flower catalog, that had Dahlias (edible root) and a few herb and bee friendly plants, We have been approved on their credit plan and I have a order of quite a few flowers coming that will be planted in a few various places one being our outdoor kitchen that will make it nice there and I will have lots of butterflies, bees, and humming birds stopping by.

We have also prepaid on the track hoe for next weekend as we had rain yesterday evening and this morning it would have been a waste of time and money getting it for this weekend. My son is crossing his fingers and behaving overly well in the hopes of getting to learn how to use it. Well, a 16yr old boy should have that opportunity to learn it. He's not doing all the work however. Especially since we need to dig a ditch from the power pole out to the clearing. I'm NOT having a child no matter how old digging near the power pole.

The next pay day we are going to get the chicks ordered, I wanted to do it Friday; but we didn't get a chance to. I did get the chick food and the new light for them. We will still need some pine bedding and a cover for the brooder before they get here though.

Now for the next week we have to clear area for the track hoe to run in. Yesterday my son and Silver started on it before the rain showed up. They'll go back out today after the rain lets up and it drys up a bit. Tomorrow it'll be just me and Silver working out there.

On another note, I was thinking about the weather and I believe we are already in our “Spring pattern” for here as we are getting tons of rain. Which is normal Spring weather here. Oh, my plant starts have started sprouting. Cabbages, grains, and tomatoes; also a couple of herbs! I am very happy about that.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Monday!

 So here I am with what now seems to be a once a week update of sorts.

I started my plants yesterday I filled 2 trays so far, and I'm thinking of in a month or so starting cukes and squashes to see if they grow better from starts. I discovered that I did not use up all the sugar cane seeds I got from Listia so I put six into the tray to see if I can get them from starting in the house. I'm using a “all weather” birding journal to keep tabs on this year's plants and with what I planted yesterday I have nearly filled all the lined pages.

Silver has pointed out that I probably should wet the starting mix before I put it into the “cells” so I don't have to water under them to avoid losing my seeds. ...hindsight... I defiantly think I'll be doing that next time.

I am hoping for 100% on my plants, but who really knows right? I have it set for 12 of each of the two types of tomatoes that I want to grow. I did 6 sweet peppers 2 of each of the ones I have and 6 hot peppers 3 of two of the multitude I have of those. I have some onions planted as well as cabbage, mini Bak Choi, edible chrysanthemums, nastrums, Kale, and a variety of herbs. I am hoping this time I get the lemon grass to grow good.

We have gone and found out how much a track hoe (wow it really is a “track hoe” ) would cost from a Saturday to Monday. It would be $350, and that's considering that Sunday is given as a freebie. Just need a nice weekend and the money and we can get the digging we need done. Oh, that price includes the trailer to bring it home.

We didn't get the package of insulation that I wanted to try to make the papercrete to try out, so we'll have to make an extra trip before we can buy supplies just to try it out. As I'd rather buy in large quantities only once and have it all delivered. We did discover that we are paying about ½ price when we buy the rebar in 20ft lengths, it's just a matter of getting it home after the fact. Which again would be best to include in a delivery option.

We did find out during the last rain storm that the area the house is going does get water during storms, but we are planning to build a bit off the ground; so we should be ok there.

Well I'm up again baking bread at this early hour and I need to return to it. Have a good day everyone!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...