A Good Day

 I can only say that I really didn't do much today but help hubby put together 2 plant stands ... he however set up the chain link pen, fought the weed barrier that kept trying to blow away as he was trying to lay it down, and then covered said weed barrier with mulch to get the pen ready for the beehives. We get our bees this Saturday, so wanted to have everything ready. He then set blocks up and put the hives on them, but tomorrow is doing a bit of finagling to put a tabletop surface across it, to make it sturdier. We are thinking of putting honeysuckle vines around the outside to give the bees a less stark enclosure (and make it look prettier than just being a chain link square).

We took over a lot of my indoor plants out of the bathroom here, and put them in the barn by windows to get the light ... thus enabling me to get more started here from cuttings. Sadly, my last lots of rosemary and gardenia didn't do well, so I need to start some more. We alos took some of my grow bags over there, so that I can plant some root veggies in them in the next week or so. 

My snow peas and runner beans are already starting to shoot up through the ground, and the bulbs in my planter tables are doing the same.

Unfortunately, last week's "cleaning" sent out more dust than it picked up, and so now everything is covered with red clay dust ... the table, my train model drawer chest, my shelves and books, the portable loo and the camp bed mattress. I was so disheartened. I started trying to clean again, and my mood went downhill so fast, I thought, "no, just leave it alone now until after this place is fully swept, shop vacced and mopped THEN redo it" because the simple truth is, it'll be doing the same thing the next time I shop vac, and I'm going to be doing it a few times before that side is not throwing up that dust. Physically, it took me a few hours when I cleaned everything as I set it all up when we took it over there. My body just isn't up to doing it all again only to have to do it over and over.

Mark is trying to cover the clay dirt outside so as to make it less of a mess when it rains, so that once we have the pad clean, it won't be getting an more clay mud walked in.

However, today WAS a good day for what we did accomplish, so I'll focus on that and forget the downside!

Slow But Steady

 It may seem lazy but little and often works for me, and not doing anything when I don't feel like it, works for me as well.

Thursday, when we went down to the property, my mate, Kwacha, came with us. She needed the peace that surrounds that place. We jammed to 90's songs as we rode down and, once we got there, we sat on the "porch" and I watered all my plants as we chatted. 

Then, inside, she swept some more of the dried mud, and I shop vacced it. 

Today when we went down, I did nothing. We'd taken one of my mobility scooters down to store in the barn. Mark fell in the dirt getting it unloaded, and thankfully it stayed on the ramps and didn't fall on him. 

I'm thankful for the rain, it means the trees, that I usually have to water with a jug, will get a good soaking.

Next Saturday, we get our bees. Mark is going to set the hives up in an enclosure (it's a 10' x 10' chain link dog/chicken pen) to stop unwelcome visitors from disturbing them.

We did grocery shopping today, I loaded up on salad stuff, fruits, and BOGOs since I'm trying to help Mark eat less carbs to help lower his A1C and his diabetes and health, in general. I had to start rearranging one of the freezers, as his stuff took up more than the one shelf I'd allocated way back when. That's going to have to be another work in progress, I'll do some more tomorrow ... and on a few other days, methinks.

For now, a few more minutes for ye doggies on the bed, and then, time for them to go out, and me to go to bed. I need my beauty sleep, saith she. 

Ye great grand puppy sleeps on nanny's bed, he is a nanny's boy. He is such a darling, and lays down by my feet.

 

Our 2 boys like to take over daddy's bed. They sprawl. It's why they can't sleep with us ... there's not enough room! 

Have a wonderful Easter everyone.

We Didn't Do Much But We Did A Lot

 "We didn't do much, but we did a lot" seems to have become our most used saying, of late. It's come to mean in a  roundabout way, that although we only did what we felt like doing, and gave up as soon as we started getting tired (hey, we're old!) we are accomplishing stuff over at the property, little by little, and measurably. Were we twenty years younger, we could do a lot more, but we aren't and so we do what we do, and appreciate that we've been able to do whatever we've done. 

Monday, we went over and hubby moved more mulch and put along the dirt track/driveway to fill in some of the ruts for now. 

Since we have no irrigation down that far, I watered the privacy trees using gallon jugs ... and since I can't walk, I drove Serendipity close to the row and watered with my arm out of the car window.  Where there's a will, as they say. Mark watered the fruit trees using the jugs as well. I had bought soaker hoses but we've had so much "stuff" put away that - as yet - I've not found them all.  When we do, we will have them running down by the fruit trees. We are looking into putting a pump in the creek to water the privacy trees and the (eventual) roses and gardenias up front (currently in buckets and pots, as we have to build up the front area a bit beforehand).

Today, we went over with 2 goals in mind.  To sweep, vacuum and mop some more of the concrete pad in the building, and to move all the plants we've taken over previously, to the front porch area and get them all well watered. We were over there a couple of hours and achieved both. You can definitely see the difference between the areas we've done and what's left to do.  It's a work in progress that will not be completed any time soon.  It wears me out, rolling around using the shopvac, and hurts my shoulder after a while. Hubby does the sweeping, I do the vacuuming, then I wet mop and he dry mops over just to garner some more of the wet mud dust. Cleaning both mops is fun too, whilst trying not to create a mudpit when emptying the mop bucket. Ah joy!

But it's coming together slowly.

I took a picture from behind the privacy trees, looking up towards the building. Yeah it looks wonky as I am NOT a good photographer, and where I was at was on a slope anyway. The row of privacy trees will grow 3-4 feet a year, they say, so in a couple of years, should be at least like a decent hedge.

The weird looking black thing about 1/3 of the way in from the left, is the table with the water barrel on it, and is at the end between the 2 rows of the orchard trees (that you can't really make out in this pic) and that is actually about as far from the building as it is from the row of privacy trees (although it looks like it is right up on it). 

We are going to situate the beehives close by there, so that our bees have access to the blossoms, as well as blooms farther afield. We've decided to put the beehives in a pen to protect them from unwelcome visitors who may visit in the night.  We'll be picking up our bees April 11th, only a week and a half to wait. We learned a lot last year and are better prepared because of what we went through. Nobody had explained to us about the moths, and we lost our bees because of it.  We won't make the same mistake twice.

The journey continues (and I'm thankful we got my gas at $3.41 this morning before it went up again this afternoon). The property is 26 miles away, so it all adds up.  I'm glad Serendipity gets such great mileage. She is a great little car, and i've had her now a whole year!

 

Busy Weekend Beginning

 

The dirt up by the barn being so easy to mud as soon as it get wet, I decided to utilize it this year for growing some of my veggies. Hopefully, at the end of the season, the churned in leftover greenery will boost it somewhat and make it more soil like. Today, after planting planters full of bulbs (tulip, daffodil and wood hyacinth), we planted snow peas and put up frames for them to climb up. Tomorrow, we'll do the same with some runner beans.

I'd started the planters of bulbs yesterday, but once my body had had enough, it was time to quit and do another day. I have so much to do, but my life is ruled by my body and what it lets me do at any given time. The bending, stretching, and lifting yesterday wore me out (and I do it all from a seated position, I'd be falling all over the place if I were trying to stand to do it). 

Mark slipped yesterday, in the red mud, as we were watering everything in, which was what gave me the idea to use the area for ground planting this year. It's already bare, gets well wet when it rains, so it makes sense. 

Being promised a frosty morning, we put everything that had shoots on, inside the building. It's well insulated, so they should be ok. If there's no more frost risk tomorrow, then they'll all get put back outside when we are over there in the afternoon.

I'm hoping to have a couple of helpers, and if so, I'll have them sweeping the dirt up in the building, while I vacuum it up with the shopvac. Little by little, it is getting done. It's a large area and there was a lot of mud to begin with! The weather was definitely NOT conducive to a clean build, but it is what it is. I see the progress every time I'm in there.

Mark, meanwhile, "dropped" a piece of his tractor yesterday, and today figured that it was a welded part where the weld failed, so ... it will be getting re-welded sometime in the next couple of weeks. It hasn't stopped him though, he's been moving mulch from the piles down onto the dirt track, filling in ruts and making it less slippery when it rains.

All in all, our weekend has started well, and hopefully tomorrow will see more progress over on the property. 

Exhausted - What A Week! And A Bit.

 Finally, my brain is getting to rest after the stresses (good and bad) of the last few months. My body, not so much. We've been going over and cleaning it up, moving bits and pieces over and just getting on with "stuff" that's needing doing.

The build finished a week and a half ago. 

It rained.  The guys couldn't clean up the mud on the concrete because ... they were having to walk through the mud to get into the barn. I told them we'd do it, and we are still working on it.

It is a major job! Mark sweeps some (Kwacha did the other day) and I use the wet/dry vac to vacuum up the dust. I scoot around on a desk chair to do it, since I can't stand or walk. Where there's a will, as they say.

Once we get it all down to no real dust, we'll double mop and get it - finally - dirt/dust free.

I set up the front porch.  Hubby put together the archway planter and I'm waiting on climbing clematis plants (that are due to be delivered tomorrow) to make it more cosy. 

The lamps are solar, and looked so neat. I leave my walker behind the "gates" under the arch.

The wind the other night decided to blow one over and broke one of the panes, but it doesn't really show. Thursday, I'm taking bulbs over to put in the bases.

The trees in the orchard are beginning to leaf out, they look so pretty. 

Hubby had a fun time with the mower. NOT! It ran out of gas the other day and we left it overnight, down by the creek.

When he tried to restart it, after filling the tank, it decided it wasn't going anywhere.  He ended up towing it up to the barn, with the tractor. He still hasn't managed to get it to start but he'll figure it out, it's mechanical and that's his bent.

I managed to set up a corner (after we'd swept and mopped it) with my fold-up modelling table (but I haven't found my tools yet), my drawers of modelling "stuff", a camp bed and air mattress for me to lie down on when my BP goes up over there (big fail on that one, but hubby is going to make a frame for the mattress) and he put together a metal shelf for my garden and herbal medicine books. 

Although we haven't seen them, we've been putting dog and cat food down for the strays, and it keeps disappearing so we hope they still feel the property is a safe space after all the noise, hustle and bustle of the well dig , concreting and the barn erecting. I'd like to be able to catch the female and get her spayed before she gets pregnant again.

Just still lots to do but tomorrow we have massages with Roger at Studio Rejuvenate, so it's a day of rest from the property. Then, Thursday, it'll be back to working on it.

A Smashing Couple Of Days

Yesterday and today have been pretty awesome. I'm quite content with how they've been.

Yesterday started with my doctor visit for my 6 month check up, and all my labs were good, and I made a fool of myself trying to get "up" on the table. I DID manage to (with help), but getting down proved way more difficult, looking like some slapstick comedy skit as I twisted this way and that, foot hovering a few inches off the floor, even lying OVER the table to try to get back down. I felt bad for the nurse nad Dr Smith, I was in pain trying to do it but their faces were horrified. She asked me about why I was having so much trouble and I told her, my hips and knees just don't do stuff like that any more. So now she wants me to have a bone density test, so I have to schedule that (once I get everything sorted with the stuff going on at the property). I was more achy last night because of teh effort, but am doing ok today.

We were late going down to Belton, but "my men" had been getting on with it really well, and had started cladding the outside some more, and working on the porch (and yes, I'd figured out that what they ahd lain at the bottom actually needed to be at the top, so all is good on that score).

Mark had found a Bradford Pear down by the creek, and started to cut it down. He did some and got quite a pile of branches, but it's bigger than it looked, so today he went back with a long handled saw, but even that failed in making much progress so he's going to look for his chain saw and then attack it with that. They sterilized pear trees, and I lost some here when I planted when we first moved in, because I didn't know that. I'm not losing ones in my orchard over there.

We stopped by on my grandson, Dylan, on the way as he lives close by, and gave him the Easter eggs I'd got, from England, for him and Miss Lily. Today, we stopped by again as his birthday present was delivered today (a week after it was supposed to, but better late than never). He loved it, proving yet again that nanny gets it right. We also got to see our other great-granddaughter, Zayleigh, who was down for the weekend, from Tennessee, with her mum.

At the property today, I used my upright walker, and went inside the building. My builders had needed to go back to NC to pick up more supplies, and will be back tomorrow. The cement pad is a mess, because of all the rain, the guys have been having to trudge through mud a lot. I'll have to shop vac it after they do their final clean up. There's no way they'll get it all by sweeping up. 

I love the space inside. We'll have a lot to do with getting the inside how we want it, but that's fine, we'll take our time. 6 months ago I was not expecting to be doing this rush, rush, rush to get a building up. I'd said, "over the next couple of years" and then things just gathered speed and shot ahead of me. I'm ok with it, but the next few months are going to move MUCH SLOWER!

I love how it looks at dusk!

I took pictures, from where I sat, through different windows, and everything is perfect. All of the views are (or will be after tidying up/clearing) perfect. 

This is the view out of what will be the kitchen window, and it looks down over the creek/wetland (which we still have to clean up quite a bit). 

From the side window in what will be the kitchen, we have a view of the well (which will eventually have it's own pretty little house around it).

The view from the front door, where they are still working on the front porch. It looks down towards the orchard we have planted, the privacy trees and the main road.

As you can see from all of the pics, the surrounding area is still pretty muddy. It really is only just now starting to dry out after the 2 weekends of snow a few weeks back and rain every weekend since. 

I sat by the door at the creek end, and this is the inside, to the right from there.

And this is the view to the left. Yes, the mud is real!

Sitting inside, with the wind blowing outside, it didn't even sound like wind against metal, it was pretty gentle sounding which was quite surprising since, here, when the wind hits my metal awnings, they rattle quite a lot. 

The crew still have a lot to do to finish off everything, they still have the trim to do all around, the front porch and the garage door. I'm hoping it all gets done tomorrow but there's such a lot that I think it may possibly end up being Sunday. We shall see.

Hopefully Just A Minor Glitch

We were over on the property again today, and Mark planted 2 of my seedlings out ... unfortunately, the rain washed the print off of the label. I know these 2 are either watermelon, cucumber or honeydew but I guess I won't know which until they fruit! Which also means all my other labels will be blank as well, oh joy! 

I had an unwanted surprise with our build and am trying to sort it out. The front porch area ... they have a few girders creating like a mini wall, about a foot high, at the bottom, between the 2 front posts BUT that is not how my design was, so I'm waiting to hear back.

As you can see from my enlarged PDF prints of my plans, mine did NOT have anything blocking the front.

I spoke to Luis, the crew leader, and he said it had a low wall and a large window above, and I then messaged both the company (who haven't responded yet) and the lady who I ordered through (who said she's going to get a hold of them, as well).

It's just disheartening. I designed everything to be perfect, the way I wanted it, and I want to know why they changed it. Also, why they didn't tell me ahead of time rather than me finding out during the build. I'm hoping they will fix it, and I get my "perfect" porch.

Meantime, they have got a lot of the insulating done and a lot of the metal cladding. Silly me forgot to take a pic earlier so I'll have to do that tomorrow when I'm out there.