Vacation

The big camping trip is just around the corner.  I have some lose ends to tie up.  I did my last cleaning job for the next couple of weeks.  I have the garden pretty well cleaned out.  I do have to get rid of some more melon and squash vines over the next few days.

I still have to make sure the food is in order.  I do have a good start on that.  I have to run to town for a couple of things tomorrow.  I have my clothes packing started.  We are definitely on track!

I'm hoping to give away some onions, tomatoes and potatoes tomorrow.  We'll see.

Notable Quotable

*Don't freak. By "Spiritual" I take Harvard Psychiatrist George Vaillant's brilliant and studied definition, "Defining spirituality as a combination of love, hope, joy, forgiveness, compassion, faith, awe, and gratitude that binds people together (“Spirituality is more about us than me”). He argues that it has a biological basis, not a religious one. 

Melon Madness

Melon madness is late this year but is finally happening.  Five more large watermelons picked this morning.  All going in the freezer this evening.  Also a couple of French cantaloupes.  Picked some cute baby patty pans and small yellow crooknecks.  I'll freeze those up tonight, as well.

Cleaned th egoat pen and got them some new straw.

Cleaned the dog crate and the dog igloo and got new straw in both of those.  Ready for our doggy guest.

The weather is gorgeous, mid eighties and cooling off fast at night.  Break time!

It is 7:10 PM and it is already getting dark out.  I have cut up 4 melons and I am working on the last one.  It will be too dark to run the rinds out to the compost pile pretty soon but I needed a break and a cup of coffee so here I am.

Worked on the camping gear.  I feel pretty organized.  We'll see on Thursday when I am putting the finishing touches on the trip.

Got the dishes rolling.  Second load of the day.  Got four loads of laundry washed up and put away but have one or two more left.  Need to sweep and especially mop the kitchen floor and wash those kitchen rugs after several days of sticky melon madness.

Cleaning a house tomorrow.  And then I am officially on vacation for a couple of weeks.  Yeah!!!!!!

Melons

Yep, the melon season is winding down with a bang!  I got six watermelons today and froze them all for smothies this winter.  Also, 2 Eel River melons and a couple of Swan Lake Honeydew style melons. The Rocky Fords are nasty and I fed them and their vines to the goats.

The kitchen was a sticky mess but thanks to the nice tile and the really big stainless steel sink we put in this spring it was really  easy to clean up.

The goats are sick of melon rinds so I took a big bucket of rinds straight  to the compost pile.

I got the camping gear out of the shed and parked by the breezeway but I haven't managed to sort through it so I guess I will worry about it tomorrow.  I have Tuesday and Thursday to work on cleaning up and organizing the gear.  Maybe tonight I will organize the first aid kit.

New Plants

Did I mention I went to the state nursery a few days ago?  Well, I bought the Jeffries pine and Austrian pine replacemnts.  I got those in this morning.

I bought these gorgeous Winter berry plants.  The tree at the nursery was a green ball about 20 feet in diameter with branches almost all the way to the ground.  Like a giant shrub.  They get beautiful foliage in the fall and they get really cool looking berries that hang on the tree all winter.  Had to have them.  Also, they were in five gallon pots and cost $8 apiece.  Quite the spluge.  I got five of them.

So, I am wandering around the Westside Windbreak deciding where to put them when I decide that one of the Staghorn Sumacs is really in the wrong spot now that I have finished the long shed/shade cover/greenhouse area.  I have an imaginary driveway to the back couple of acres and I want that to be wide enough to pull a truck and trailer in there.  We don't have horses but someone in the future might.  I have always thought a small sturdy cart pony would be nice.  I probably won't ever get one but I wanted to leave the option for some corrals and animals in the back area open for us or for future owners of the property.

So, I decided I had to dig that sumac up even though it is a good four feet tall now and has a couple of babies as well.  It wasn't too  bad of a job and I think I will move them down the line a ways.  That way I can keep some of my fancier trees up closer  to the house.  Now I have even more trees to plant so I better get crackin'.

Camping

Well, the annual big camping trip is coming up soon.  I made snack packs today with some really good stuff this year.  Cashew clusters [with pumpkin seeds - delish] and tropical dried fruit and nut mix, Payday candy bar, beef jerkey, hard candies, dry roasted almonds, one piece of gum.  Should keep us going for quite a few hours if we get hunkered down somewhere and don't make it back to camp.  And just plain good eatin' if we do make it back to camp.

Got little Penny PooPoo the Corgi's food organized.  Yeah, I decided we will take her with us.  She is so cute and she loves camping.  The big dog will stay home.  He likes guarding the yard and his doggie friend is coming to stay along with her owner.

Hay

Moved the hay around today.  We  consolidated the grass hay in the metal shed.  We then got quite  a few of the alfalfa hay into the main shed. The main shed already has straw on the right side and we haven't used much yet so nothing to do on that side.  We then got the straw out of the greenhouse and into the shade cover with the four bales of alfalfa we couldn't fit into the main shed.  We had two of the grass hay in the greenhouse so we put those in the middle of the main shed and we'll feed that first.

We should have plenty of hay and straw to keep us going until next summer when they start cutting hay again.

Now that the greenhouse was cleared out I put the crates of onions and cayenne peppers in there to dry.  The one little pumpkin and the 4 or 5 small acorn squashes we left on the bales of straw to let them cure.  I have some more acorn squash to pick but I am waiting as long as possible.  They seem awfully small.  I only picked the ones that are starting to turn a bit orange.

Shopping

Went shopping for the forthcoming hunting trip.  Got the beef jerky, cashew clusters, dry roasted almonds, brie cheese, club crackers, fun stuff to eat on the go.  Also, some hard candies to go in the pockets and some gum for going over mountain passes or for when the mouth is feeling a little scummy:)  And Payday canndy bars with the peanuts for an easy boost with a little protein in it.

I bought some plastic egg holders since I have eggs coming out my ears and we can cook those up pretty quickly.  Plenty of bacon, too.  Ham and havarti cheese for lunches and quick dinners for when we get to camp after dark.  Forgot the split pea soup in a can.  It's the only kind Hubby likes for a quick hot meal with the sandwiches.   Of course, there will be oatmeal.  We like the old fashioned kind.

I bought some new bins with the snap close handles to put some of our gear in.  Some of the old bins are just plain old and I like the kind that have the snap close handles that don't keep trying to fly off in the wind.

We have a friend staying at the house and she will keep an eye on the pets.  This will be a mini vacation for her since she had to move back in with her mom and she needs a break.  Her dog loves playing with our Aussie.

Froze up a large watermelon, 2 Eel River melons and 2 swan Lake honeydew style melons.

I pulled all the onions yesterday and left them laying on the ground.  When I got back from shopping it looked like rain so we ran out, cut the tops off them and threw them into milk crates.  I hope they harden up okay.  I'll have to try to trade some for eggs this fall and winter.  I have yellow, purple and white and we can't possibly eat that many.

I think I will start picking the acorn squash tomorrow.

I pulled two more non producing summer squash since the frost will be here a little after October 1.  This way the goats get to eat the vines which are really hard to compost since once they are in the compost pile they make the compost pile hard to turn.

I also need to pull some of the finger potatoes and then put straw over the main rows of them to keep them from freezing before we can get around to eating them.

Watered the front thoroughly this evening.  Watering the Northside Windbreak over night tonite.

Went to the state nursery and got my 3 Jeffries and 2 Austrian Pines to replace what died.  Then I saw a new plant called winterberry.  They had big five gallon ones for $8 so I got 5.  They get about 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide and they have really cool berries that hang out on the trees all winter.  Have to get these ten plants total in this week.  Mostly won't need to add water lines but maybe a few.

Shopping

I went online to Johnnys Seeds and it turns out there is no winter rye available so I searched the internet and wasn't having much luck.  The prices were really high and shipping was outrageous.  So, I ordered a winter cover crop mix from Johnny's  that I am supposed to be able to put in in the fall.  I hope this works.  It was pricier than Johnny's winter rye but I still did better than buying winter rye on another site [although I would have gotten a lot of winter rye it was $70.  I cannot spend that kind of money on a cover crop] . I will have to seed the winter mix kind of thin but at least I will have something out there holding my dirt down and improving the soil.

Shipping prices have gone through the roof.  I ordered the wheels I need for the rolling barn doors on the infamous shed.  The price on the wheels was great.  They were on sale for $27.95  but so that was $111.80 but then the shipping was an outrageous $48.30.  The total was $160.  Still, at least this project will be done.  Honestly, that is probably about the price I would have paid at Meeks so....

I tried to get the wheels through the local lumber store but the guy at Meek's couldn't seem to get them ordered and it has been two or three tries for me to buy the twelve foot wheel bar for the large barn door.  I decided to wait on the bar since the bar we had shipped by Gardeners Supply a few years got a bit bent but now I will have to go by and tell him not to worry about ordering the wheels since I have done that.

Wrapping up the garden

Well, it is time to start wrapping up the garden.  I need this to be done as of October 1.  I picked another watermelon and several other melons.  Need to eat 'em or freeze 'em and keep doing that everyday for the next week.  Whatever isn't done October 1 is going to the goats.

I managed to throw some of the melon vines that are done to the goats and I took out one patty pan vine and threw it into the goat pen, as well.  If I get rid of the least productive plant at a rate of one or two a day I should have them gone in a week.

I picked some more cayenne peppers and I have them on the expanded metal wagon hoping to jump start their drying out.  I cut the pepper plants back so that as much sunlight as possible would reach the peppers that are almost ripe.  I also cut off all the green peppers since there is no way they are going to ripen up now.

I got a spade out and loosened up all the onions that are left in the garden.   I turned the water off on those rows a week or so a go and now it is time to get those into the shade cover and get them hardened up for storage under the bed in the guest room this winter.  I dug up some earlier this week and left them on the hay in the shade cover to dry.  Those can go into a milk crate and get put away in the guest room to make room for the next round of onions coming out of the garden.  Really, there are too many onions for the two of us but I am thinking that I might be able to trade them for eggs for awhile this fall and winter.

I have quite a few acorn squash and I should start picking the ones that are trying to turn orange.  Those need to get put under the shade cover as well and then later I can store them under the guest bed, too.

We only have a few butternuts which is my personal favorite.  I am waiting until the last minute to pick those.

We need to get the hay out from the greenhouse so that I can get our rosemary and pineapple sage put in there.  I froze some of the rosemary so that we could use it this winter.  Dried rosemary is like pine needles so we are trying the frozen route.

Fun!

I went to ladies night at the local lumbar store in Carson City.  I had a blast.  My neighbor drove her truck and we had a great time.  I won solar lights and she won a clip on of mosquito repellent.  We bought a couple of half off the already half off items.

We also got 20 percent off so that was great.  I bought the two barn door bars for my long shed but they didn't have the wheels I wanted or the 12 foot bar in yet.  I found the wheels for a great price in my catalog so I guess I will buy them from Growers Supply since they are on sale even with shipping I should come out ahead.  I'll call Steve at Meeks tomorrow to let him know.

Not much happening in the garden.  I picked a big ole watermelon but I haven't cracked it open yet.

Watering the Fruit Tree Zone overnight.

Nothing much

Nothing much happening today especially in the garden.  I cleaned a house.  I met Hubby for coffee.  I did a bit of grocery shopping.  I kept up on the kitchen [the dishes and wiping up the counters].  Did a couple of loads of laundry.

Watering the Eastside Windbreak overnight.

The weather is still pretty hot, about 88 degrees.  It is cooling off rapidly at night at least.

The new weather station took a dive and quit working.  I am going to return it this weekend.  Tomorrow I have another big cleaning job so I am resting up this evening.  I also have my birdhouse building class tomorrow.  Can't wait for ladies night at the lumber yard.  Fun!

A Day of Rest

Today I have needed to rest up since I am cleaning three other people's houses for the next three days.

Yesterday I got caught up on my own house although I still need to sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Although I  need time off from physical labor I did have to pick tomatoes, patty pans, crooknecks, zukes and 3 or four melons.  I made a fresh tomato, cuke, onion, basil and rosemary salad and it is basting in oil and vinegar.  One of my favorites.

Picked and packeaged purple penstemmon seeds, coral penstemmon seeds and Mitchelli cabbage seeds.

I got some cukes and carrots packaged for Hubby's lunch.

I fed the goats and the dogs.

Off to plant my cactus the neighbor lady gave me.

Okay, had the usual mid day break.  Got the truck loaded up for cleaning tomorrow.  Got some of the pink/stripey pinstemmon seeds., prairie cone flower seeds and some chocolate flower seeds.  Got the hummingbird feeders washed and packed in a nicely labeled box and put in the long shed.  See all that work on that darn shed has been worth it.

Picked up the onions I dug up earlier and put them on top of the hay in the shade cover to continue drying. Lots more to pull but at least it is a start.

Fed the goats a bunch of melon vines which I see they are turning their noses up at.  Gave them a little dried millet grass, a little grass hay and a number of over sized or misshaped zukes and patty pans.  Got the dogs fed.  got a load of dishes going and cleaned out the refrigerator. Got the cleaning rags/kitchen towels washed up and put away.  Doing a load of laundry.  Frankly, I am done.  I am taking a shower and sitting on the couch for the rest of the night!

Watering the NOrthside Windbreak overnight tonight.

Borers

I was out looking at the fruit trees with Hubby and I am concerned that one of the cherry trees may have borers.  The flowering cherry also seems to be having issues.  So, it was on my list of things to do but today is the day to get the systemic on the trees.

We generally don't use a lot of insecticides around here but the borers are tree murderers and have to be dealt with.

Seems like all of a sudden I have tumbleweeds taking over the far corner in the front but no time so I will have to pull them out and burn them later in the fall.

I can feel the chill in the air in the mornings and many of the trees are just  starting to turn color.

We picked a couple of Lilly Crenshaws.  Delicious.

We froze quite a bit of melons, so far.  Can't wait to be drinking smoothies this winter.

Systemic:

All the fruit trees in the orchard
Two apple trees south side garage
Crabapple, ornamental pear and apple, front of the house
Crabapples along driveway
Mountain ash, curly willow in the secret garden
Two flowering cherries by gate
Two crabapples with ovre sized fruit by street
Two crabapples, flowering cherry, medlar in backyard
Four willows in the fenced out area near goat pen
Willows, mountain ash, street side, behind garage

Double darn it!!!!  I didn't have enough white paint to do the job so I had to settle for painting white everywhere that is close to where the green trim is so I can at least get the green trim done.  Drat!

That also means I have to buy more white paint which I thought I would but I am kind of tired of spending money on  this project.

I got all the green trim color painted [probably needs a second coat but it sure looks good when the neighbors drive by].  Hubby kicked it into high gear and got his own lunch for work, got the bacon cooked and froze up some watermelon.  Yeah,  I took a break from painting, threw biscuits in the oven and whipped up some scrambled eggs.  Delicious.  We had an Eel River melon with that.

I ran outside to finish up the trim and Hubby got himself out the door.  I will have to close the gate later.  Wow.  I love that man.

So, am I tired.  I think it is break time.  Tonight I want to work on getting the house caught up a bit.

Sunday

Sundays used to be for getting to church on time.  Now, they are for sleeping in   [in the case of Hubby who works swing shift] and getting done what is needed to get done and/or hanging out.  Instead of listening to Pastor Butthead spew inanities about an imaginary being.

So far today I have moved a bunch of dirt to lower and even out the driveway for the long shed area.  I had to dig up quite a few roots from the shrubs I cut out already.  I got the north end wall OSB wall board cut and up on the front of the shed and I got that piece and the piece next to it screwed in securely.  I had to put a coupe of cross piece 2x4's up to hold the wall board.  So that was some measuring, cutting, drilling and screwing that had to get done.

Went to the neighbor's house and fed/watered the dogs and chickens.

It is already 11:20am so I think I will go out and start putting base coat on the new wall boards and the little bit of trim I missed last time.

Notable Quotable

Voltaire:
Even among the philosophers, I do not believe that anyone apart from Maximus of Tyre has treated of this matter; this is the substance of Maximus' ideas: The Eternal has His intentions from all eternity. If prayer accords with His immutable wishes, it is quite useless to ask of Him what He has resolved to do. If one prays Him to do the contrary of what He has resolved, it is praying Him to be weak, frivolous, inconstant; it is believing that He is thus, it is to mock Him. Either you ask Him a just thing; in this case He must do it, and the thing will be done without your praying Him for it; entreating Him is even to distrust Him: or the thing is unjust, and then you outrage Him. You are worthy or unworthy of the grace you implore : if worthy, He knows it better than you; if unworthy, you commit a crime the more in asking for what you do not deserve.

Thanks exrelayman

Saturday

The sunrise was stunning.  Soft and ever brightening pinks turning to oranges.

Tired today.  Got some weeds and some rice grass for the goats and then thre some grass hay.

Other than that I moved a fair amount of dirt from the high side areas of the long shed/shade cove/greenhouse drive way area.  I dug up several roots of shrubs I have cut off to remove.  I have some other things to do but I can't seem to get them going:)

Hubby got the goat pen straightened  out.  We put in a bunch of T posts and wired them.  We put them on the outside of the fence so when the goats lean on the wire the wire is being supported by the new extra posts.  That doubles the amount of posts on pen on most of the sides. The east side was in pretty good shape so we left that alone.  I pulled the loose nails and replaced them with screws on the goat hut.  There wasn't too many, maybe 10.

Hubby also fixed the hay crib so that the goats wouldn't get stuck in it again.  Spot panicked one day and somehow got one leg in one end of the crib, tumbled over and got the other leg stuck in the other side of the crib with the hay crib on top of him.  Hubby had put a bar across each end near the bottom to keep the goats from spreading the legs apart when they were pushing it around.  So, Spot was laying there bleating horribly.  I said, "Don't move Spot, I am coming to save you!"  And I did but we haven't used the hay crib all summer.  It is nice to be able to throw the hay into the crib instead of making them eat it all off the ground.

Hubby made a delicious sauce for our frozen ravioli with mozarella  cheese stuffing.  Olive oil, toasted almonds and fresh from the garden basil.

Project Runway

I thought the designers were a bunch of goobers who were really upset about having to make clothes for regular women.  They picked the right guy to go home.  I thought that Oliver was a total mess and he had a bad attitude.  How are you going to be in business making clothes if you can't give any decent guidance to women and don't want to talk to anybody?

I also thought most of the designers focused on making something ordinary instead of guiding the women into a fashion statement.  Anya's dress was nice but I didn't really like to one overly long sleeve.

Can't wait until next week.

Notable Quotable

http://othersidereflections.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-believers-think-prayer-works.html

Tim Kent on his blog Reflections from the Otherside gives a great synopsis on Why believers think prayer works when it basically doesn't.

Here is what I said:

The final straw that broke the camels back and why I decided I am an atheist is precisely because if there is a god or gods then the effect of god or gods should be seen in our world.  There isn't any evidence for that.  If there is a god or gods there should be something tangible and observable that scientific research could point to and say "See, there is an effect from believing in god X or god y."  There just isn't.

Prayer should make a difference in the outcome of people's lives in the big picture, statistically, but it doesn't.  Society should be measurably  better in religious countries but it is not. Miracles should be common place but they are not.

Concrete

I bought four bags of concrete at Meeks yesteday.  I went out and houled them over to the goat shed and mixed them in the wheelbarrow with the hoe.  One at a time of course.  I turns out I am quite a bit short on finishing this job, darn it.  I'll need about 3 more bags.

I moved the last of the sand cherries from in front of the shade cover doorway over to the Northside Windbreak.

I think I'll have a cup of cofee and then go out and take a few loads of goat duff out of the goat pen.  It is starting to look pretty good but I need to make sure it is pretty clean before we go on vacation.

Then I will start on the shed project.  Hoping to have everything done by the end of the weekend except the doors and the concrete on the back side of the shed.

Hubby needs to check the garden for more ripe melons.  I'll have to freeze those up later.

Okay, I didn't get much done at all for the rest of the day:)  I need a break.

Hubby did go out to the garden and as it turns out we had about six of the large Eel River cantaloupe type melons that were a bit over ripe.  Have to freeze those up for smoothies this winter.  They will be great when a banana and some strawberries are thrown in there with them.  We had about 4 of the little Rocky Fords but they aren't ripening very well.  It's late in the season and the melons are just a little weird this year.  We also got a delicious Lilly Crenshaw.  My personal favorite.  Oh yeah, and we got 2 or 3 Swan Lake honeydew style melons.  Yes, I have to freeze a bunch of melons tonight.

Watering the Northside Windbreak overnight.

Weather

Oh boy, I was at Costco and for $27 they had a weather station.  Can't wait to get that started.

I picked up two stringboards [osb] 7/16th, 4 fence post concrete, 8 - 2x4's, a box of 100 sturdy screws 2 1/2 inch, finally, a can of roofing tar.  Total: $78    I know it seems like a lot of money,  I went to Meek's instead of Home Sleazo.  Meeks is nice and they gave me a contractors card.  I didn't seem to get any bargains even so.  Maybe prices are around the same?  or a bit pricier.  They help me load up the big stuff and I can order everything at the desk and then go to the lumber yard so that part is cool.

I unloaded all the stuff I bought and got the lumber and cement under cover in the back.  Cement sure is heavy.  Ugh.

Fed the goats, fed the dogs, got the trash out to the street for tomorrow's pick up.

I watered the Northside Windbreak for a couple of hours when I got home from shopping.  Right now I am watering the new compost area.

Tonight is Project Runway night.  I am stoked.  I have Danish and milk for my decadent snack.  I should make a frozen pizza with bacon and ham for my actual dinner.  I have about an hour before the show comes on.

Westside Windbreak watering overnight.

Melons and concrete

The Eel River melon is a s delicious as any melon you can find. This is our first year growing them and boy am I impressed.   The flesh is a beautiful orange color and soft without being squishy.  It has a delicious aroma. It was easy to tell that it was ripe since it turned a straw color and then looked like it was going to start splitting.  Nice. I am putting this on our must grow again list.

I did the concrete on one side of the goat shed.  I am set up to do the second side.  I am letting the first side set up from this morning and then this evening I will get on the second side.

The first side took me 3 1/2 bags of fence post concrete.  Hoping the next side will only need three.  Maybe it isn't quite as deep.  I will have to buy about 8 more concrete to finish everything I want to do before winter.

Cleaned out some more duff from the goat pen.  I need to haul 3 or 4 more wheel barrows full out to even be close to being caught up.  I haven't cleaned it out for most of the summer.  I have been busy and it hasn't really hurt anything but I do like my goats to live clean in their dirt.

Evening update

I got out there before 5pm and got the south side of the goat pen in concrete.  I think I did a lovely job.  Let's hope this solves my wind eating the dirt out from under the goat shed problem permanently!  The goats will be a lot snuggier this winter in their straw beds.  We'll probably have a really warm winter and they won't care:)

That was 4 loads of concrete at 60 pounds each.  How do I do it?  I am a lot tougher than I look, I guess.

I also took out one more wheelbarrow full of goat duff.

Watering the Fruit Tree Zone overnight.

It took until 11pm but it looks like it is finally cooling off in here.

Melons

Today we picked Swan Lake melons, watermelons and we still have our delicious looking and smelling Eel River melon left on the counter to develop its full flavor.

I froze up most of the watermelon for smoothies this winter and half of the Swan Lake melon.  The Swan Lake melon was delicious.  Round, yellow and about 6 inches across, the flavor is reminiscent of my beloved Lilly Crenshaws but a little less pungent.

I worked on getting the area behind the goat shed ready to cement this morning.  I cleaned the goat pen and carted 3 or 4 loads of goat O's and hay duff out to the compost area.  I moved some more of the old compost over to the new compost area and got the sprinkler going on that.  I really need to keep that compost moist if I am going to get it to actually start composting!

I cleared another 3 or 4 native brush plants out of the new garden area.  I also cleared out half a wheel barrow of rice grass.  Threw that to the goats.

I didn't work on the shed/shade cover at all but we are already getting some good use out of that shade cover.  We harvested the garlic yesterday, braided it into some really raggedy looking braids and hung it from a rope to dry inside the shade cover like it was laundry hanging on the line.  I have to take a picture of that!!!   Certainly this was my best garlic crop ever.

The onions need to come out of the ground pretty soon, I think.

Watering the Eastside Windbreak overnight.

Rain

It is dark out and the rain has been falling for at least an hour.  The air is cool and clean and the smell of damp sagebrush fills my yard.  Rain is such a joy when you live in the desert.

I worked on the shed again today.  I got the 2x4 trim up on the back side of the shade cover.  I got the facia up underneath the rafters of the backside of the shade cover as well.  The north side was a bit of a challenge but I finally got the under mounted facia cut and notched in all the right places and I got it up.

I decided it wouldn't rain so I got the base coat on the east side trim and the north side rafters and facia.  Hope it dried enough before the rain came in!!!!!  We'll find out tomorrow, won't we?

I moved some more compost and I am finally almost done with that project.  I have been watering it twice a day in its new spot in the veggie garden.  A lot of didn't compost since I just couldn't keep it wet this summer.  I am trying to keep it very wet while we still have some warm days left to get it all composting.

The poor goats have no straw and I am planning on putting down some concrete to keep the wind from eating out a trench on the sides so I still don't want to put any straw in there.  Maybe I will try to get the concrete done tomorrow.  It is a lot of work but it would be nice to be done and then I could make sure the pen is cleaned out and looking good before we go hunting.

The pen also needs some more T-posts but that is Hubby's job and so far it isn't getting done.  Let's hope he starts getting motivated soon.  I don't want the goats getting out while we are goane.  We have a friend staying at the house and it isn't fair to them to have to do repairs while they are here.

I am watering the Northside Windbreak overnight.

Camping

It was fantastic to go camping.  The weather was perfect.  I got to go out in a little boat with an outboard motor and I even got to drive it.  I also went out on the lake in a little kayak.  What a peaceful fun time.

The asters were blooming and there were a number of late blooming flowers about.  The community project went well.  We got a pathway made to the campsites and we cleared fammable materials from around some buildings.  The gang from Hubby's job were a lot of fun.  There were two children - a three year old boy and a six year old girl and I enjoyed being around the kids.

Of course I am doing some watering to catch up.  I picked two melons.  The watermelon [New Queen] was delicious and the Eel River melon looks good.  Since it is somewhat like a cantaloupe we are leaving it on the counter for a day or two to allow it to get to full flavor.

Watering the West Side Windbreak overnight.

I think we'll go to bed early today.

Exhausted

It is official, I am exhausted.  I cleaned a house today.  When I got home we loaded up the camping gear.  I have an evening to make sure that all is organized.  The neighbor is watching the animals.  I think I will make sure the watering is started and go sit down.  I sure hope I feel rested up by tomorrow morning.

Project Runway was pretty good.  The losing team of designers had a really lame collection of clothes and the winning team had a pretty sharp collection of clothes.  The losing team was so at each others throats from the moment they got into the challenge.  They could not work together.  They also had really boring fabrics.  Each team got to design fabrics that then got printed onto cloth.  The losing teams fabrics were dreary.  Becky got sent home wince she had the worst and least creative look on the runway.


Watering the East Side Windbreak over night.  Watered the Fruit Tree Zone for a couple of hours since I will be delaying watering by one day.  Watered the Front Zone for a couple of hours.  Will water the Back Zone before we take off for the day, tomorrow

Project Runway

I am tired today.  I got the cleaning job done and I went to the grocery store.  Hubby and I met for our weekly coffee date.

Of course, all the animals got fed and the watering is getting done but that is it!!!!

My favorite show is on.

Watering the Back Zone for a couple of hours and then the Northside Windbreak overnight.

A Day Off?

A day off?  I guess not really.  I pulled a bunch of the tubes from the veggie garden and moved three or four loads of compost from the driveway of the long she/veggie garden over to the new side of the veggie garden.  I cleared a couple of more shrubs out of the new veggie garden area.  Fed the goats antelope salt bush, bean plants, corn stalks and, as a treat, some watermelon rinds.

Obie, the big goat, looked like "Wow, this is so juicy and delicious."  He was chewing it and letting the watermelon juice run down his chin.  Adorable.  Taffy and Spot like watermelon, too.

I picked tomatoes, Asian and straight 8 cukes, carrots and a watermelon.

Hubby came out and we picked the first two Lilly Crenshaws - the best melons on the planet:)  The one we opened was a bit over ripe and was still delicious.

I got a load of cleaning towels washing.

We had steel head trout and almondine sauce for lunch along with a salad.  And that delicious watermelon and crenshaw melon.

Break time!!!

Fed the goats.  I started with 6 corn stalks [with over ripe corn attached], some bean plants and some sunflowers.  They have a lot of the antelope salt bush left.  I also threw them the rinds from today's melons.  Finally, I threw them some of the crappy grass and weed hay as they are going to have to eat that this weekend so it is time to start putting some of that into their diet again.  I have one more round of corn to feed them and a couple of days worth of bean plants and then they are down to melon vines and such.  Not their favorite but they will eat them.

I picked some of the cayenne peppers and set them up to dry in the greenhouse.  I also picked some basil to dry.  I put the four garlics into the greenhouse as well.  Fed the dogs and made sure the watering was all started.

I picked strawberries and I think I will have bacon and a strawberry/lilly crenshaw melon smoothie for dinner.  Yummy.

The green freezer has been running since yesterday and it looks like it is holding near zero.  Perfect.

Is there anything better than home grown food you grew yourself [okay, the neighbor grew the eggs and I bought the tortillas and bacon.]  I had a delicious smoothie of home grown fruits and tortilla wraps of bacon and fresh home grown eggs.  Delicious.

Lots to do and less time to do it!

Today is a catch all day.  I put a few screws up in the stringboards enclosing the front of the shed.  I lopped off a number of smoke bushes.  They are everywhere and I don't mind unless they pop up in the more domesticated parts of the yard. I finished getting rid of the antelope salt bush next to the faucet for the goats and the garden.  I raked up the leaf litter and put it into the compost piles and turned the sprinkler on for an hour.  That compost needs to finish up.  Maybe I'll make sure it all gets turned over a bit next week.

I fed the goats some melon rinds and some crappy corn that I blanched and froze and didn't want since it was over ripe.  I guess I can tell Hubby I tried.  They also got some bean plants and I pulled a bin of millet grass and tumbleweeds from the driveway iris/day lily strip garden.  Oh, and a bit of dried rice grass.

I got a load of laundry done and hung out.  I am also washing the bathroom and kitchen rugs today.  I got the inside of the toilets cleaned but the outsides still needs the professional cleaning moment.  I also need to scrub the sinks, tubs and counters and floors.  Won't be too bad.

The kitchen got a good wipe down yesterday but the floor needs some sweeping and mopping.  Also, the vacuuming needs to get done.

So, today is cleaning the house day whether I like it or not:)

Lovely lunch of salad with our fresh tomatoes, cukes and carrots.  A couple of burgers on some delicious burger buns from the fancy bakery in Carson City.  Had a lovely nap after Hubby left for work.

Got moving again and went over to the neighbor to give her a couple of irrigation items and some produce.  Also directions for heading out to Slate Mountain.  Told her to call me if they get stuck.

We both headed down the road to C's house.  I have been trading her veggies for eggs.  Ended up with two dozen large size and one dozen cute little banty chicken eggs.  Not bad!   Guess we need to have some eggs for brunch this weekend.

I dug out a greasewood shrub from the new veggie area.  The burn pile is getting huge this year!  Also dug up an antelope salt bush shrub which I fed to the goats along with some rice grass that has to go so that we can get this new garden area rototilled.

Picked up some of the wire U's that we use to keep the veggie garden tube irrigation in place.  There is a zillion of them and we need to get them all out so that we can pull the tubing and rototill before the weather freezes.  Hoping for a long fall since we have lots to do in the veggie area like bringing in manure and spreading compost and getting some green manure started.  I like the winter rye.

Swept the kitchen and got up a huge pile of dirt.  Mopped.  Got the bathtub and sink area scrubbed and the toilet is shiny inside and out.  Mopped the bathroom floor.  Need to wipe off the bath scale and the TP holder and get them back in once the floor is dry.

Washed the kitchen and bathroom rugs and they are ready to put down once the floors are all dry.

I am heading out to turn on the overnight water for the Fruit Tree Zone and then I am relaxing on the couch for an hour or two:)

Lots to do and less time to do it:)

I am plugging away this morning.  Had a bad stomach last night  and I am pretty sure I don't feel so good today but I have decided that I need to get things done because it is cloudy.  That means that it isn't horribly hot.

I pulled weeds in the front area, then I cut down another antelope salt bush and I pulled a bunch of bean plants for the goats.

I am washing up the laundry and hanging it out on the line.

I moved a couple of wheel barrows full of compost.  I moved one of the sand cherries away from the long shed and put it in an empty hole in the Northside Windbreak.  I cut a 92" x 24" piece of string board and got the first panel up on the front side of the long shed.

Hubby and I picked grapes.  Unfortunately four vines have reverted to concord rootstocks and only 2 vines have "real" grapes.  One of them is a Canadice and those grapes are delicious!

I picked zukes and patty pans.  I need to get a hold of C. and see if she wants to trade eggs for veggies.

It is time for a coffee break and then I need to make sure I have Hubby's work lunch and pre-work dinner organized.  He leaves here at 1:30.  Looks like he is going on day shift after the hunting trip in October.

Anyway, I still have lots to do and now I have less time to do it:)

Had to move some sand to do my project.  Shoveling sucks.  I got the last piece of stringboard cut and placed on the front section of the long shed.  I will need to buy two more pieces to finish this project up.   Oh well,  what's another $20 at this point?

 I was looking at the price of sheds at Home Depot and they want one thousand dollars for a much smaller shed  than mine and , of course, I also have a 15' x 15' covered shade area.  I must be getting close to $700-$800 spent  but I have a 6' by 20' shed with multiple shelves  and a shade cover for my money.  Should last me for years, too.

Got the clothes off the line and picked up the extra pieces fromt he project.  Got everything buttoned up and now it is break time!!!

We had a fantastic salad for lunch with cukes, carrots and tomatoes from the garden along with store bought lettuce, avocado and some bell peppers a friend grew... Some turkey and Havartic cheese and what a meal.

The sun is going down.  Good, because I am tired:)  I moved another sand cherry from in front of the long shed to the Northside Windbreak.   I already had a couple of drippers from trying to transplant slatbush.  They died but it is working out since I have the three sand cherries to put over there.

I started cleaning out the goat pen.  It really needs  a good raking up as I have been remiss all summer.  I got the branches out of there that the goats have stripped the leaves off of.  Then I raked up hay and goat O's.  That would be about 5 wheelbarrow loads of goat litter.  I put some termite killer around the posts on the goat hut since we have wetland termites and I will be cementing around the goat hut soon.

I cut down some more antelope salt bush in the new driveway between the garden and the long shed.

I watered the compost piles in the new garden area and now I am watering the Front Zone.  Looks like I should be watering the Eastside Windbreak overnight.

I have to freeze up some fruit.  We picked several melons and they aren't very ripe but they should be good in smoothies this winter.

The Shed

The roof is tarred except about an 8'x8" patch on the front side of the roof for the shade cover.  Yep, have to buy one more gallon of tar.  At least it isn't horribly expensive.  About $13 per gallon.

This is a happy day for me.  The shed is starting to seem like it really could be completed by September 30th.  That is my goal.

Hubby cut the rafter ends off for me on the front side of the long shed.  That means I can get the 2x4's up as trim and get the under mounted facia up on that side.  I still need to build a couple of extra wide shelves to complete this mission.  Don't forget the 3 4x8 doors and the 8x8 door for the shade cover.  Oh yeah, cement left to do as well.  Still, coming right along.

Moved two wheel barrow loads of compost this morning and three  more this evening.  Boy, do I have a lot of half done compost.  Have the sprinkler running on it again this evening. Can't make compost unless the organic matter is wet!

The new compost area has the sprinkler for the compost pile and I can't wait to see how wet that compost is after getting watered overnight!

I cut down a fair sized antelope salt bush this afternoon and fed it to the goats along with corn stalks, bean plants and Jerusalem artichoke stalks.  They should be pretty happy with all that to eat.

Overnight watering is North Side Windbreak.  Two or three hour watering at dusk is the Back Zone.

The Shed

Got about one third of the shed roof tarred.   We went to the movies and while in town bought 2 more cans of tar.  Hoping to finish the roof  tomorrow.

Also got some of the green trim painted.  Pretty soon all I will have left is the doors!!!!!

Moved a couple of more wheel barrows of compost.  Cut down a couple more antelope salt bushes.  I am making awesome progress on this project.

Watering the West Side Windbreak overnight.

Notable Quotable

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an
invincible summer." ~Albert Camus

The Shed Goes On and On and ....

Yes, I am still working on the shed and shade cover.  Today I started moving the compost piles into the new garden section. I also clipped back a sand cherry shrub that needs to be moved.  I cut down some of the four-winged antelope salt bush.  The goats love eating that.  I am clearing the area in front of the long shed/shade cover/greenhouse so that we can drive the truck in with some loads of manure.

Then, I also moved some of the sand away from the shade cover and shed. It has been building up there and needs to go.

Next, I cut the last piece of string board [OSB] for the shade cover.  It had to be cut down to 85 inches and then it had a slant on the bottom of 42 inches on the right side down to 48 inches on the left side.  The fit was perfect so I put some screws in and called it good.

I then had to get out the base coat and give it a base coat of paint.  I quit for awhile to have lunch and rest up.

This afternoon I made sure the sprinkler was going on the newly moved compost piles in the new section of the garden.  I moved a couple of more loads of compost in the wheel barrow.  Then, I painted the white top coat on all four string board panels [front and back];  came back with a brush an did the edges.  Moved on to make sure the white is satisfactory on the long shed.  Tomorrow or the next day I will paint the green trim.

After that, I should be done painting until I do the front of the long shed.  I may have almost enough materials to do that so maybe this week coming up.  I will have to buy another gallon of white paint, I think.  My free bucket of paint is getting very low.

I would really like to get the tar on the roof of the shed so I may make that a priority tomorrow.  The shed would look so good if there wasn't grey and tan boards on the roof.  Hubby need to help me cut off the rafter ends on the front of the long shed.  He'll be home so lets see if he will do that.

Hubby caught the two gophers that were trying to invade the veggie garden.  He is my gopher catching hero.

Looks like I am watering the Fruit Tree Zone over night tonight.

 I should try to get a sprayer onto the compost pile real quick before it gets dark.  I have the composting area set up at the north end of the long shed.  It has some fencing around it to prevent the wind from blowing the lighter items like paper off the top and sending them around the yard.  Very tacky:)  The new compost pile area has three cages for composting so that one can have a new pile and an old pile and one can turn them easily by moving them from one cage to the other.  In addition, it is near the water line for the Northside Windbreak watering zone and so can get watered automatically.  I am loving that!!!!

Notable Quotable

 'nisht loz'n zikh unteen a yokh iz gringer vi es arinter tsivarfen.'  It's easier to refuse a yoke than to throw it off.

Garden

Watering the East Side Windbreak overnight.

Met Hubby for coffee.  We are like two ships passing on Thursday.  We meet for half and hour and then he heads west and I head east:)

Notable Quotable

"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him." - Arthur C. Clarke