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Wiffle Waffle

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Kelsey

In the cool dark hours of morning, when I took the girls to the stop for their school bus, three does came across the property across the street from the bus stop and dashed down the embankment after checking for the road to be clear of coming cars. One of the little girls who jumped out of another car for the bus yelled to mine, “Did you see the deer?” I shared her enthusiasm for being able to be for a moment, close to natural things.

Now I am home, a couple more logs to refresh the fire, and despite the crackle of the stove as the heat transfers through it, and the sound of the fan generating electricity from the heat of the stove and turning seemingly on its own, I do not feel the enthusiasm of nature as I listed to the cracking sound of a mouse chewing on something behind one of the heater vents in the dining room. I don’t know how he got in there, but he’s not the first. This has happened before. They have some way under the house where they can get into the vents system. We don’t use the vents as we heat entirely without the furnace. But it is something that I should still look into before we ever sell the house. Meanwhile, I could do with going down to get a little poison to do the mice in around here. We have been getting more than our fair share as the seasons change. It’s what you get in a house that has seen more than a century of life.

I am free to work in the shop today. I have a long board out there that I have cut in half and jointed to match for glue up. It had a massive amount of cup and bow in it and would be impossible to use as it was. So, I am reversing it on itself to let it keep itself straight. If the other boards are straight enough to use in the glue up, I will put the split board down the middle of the tabletop and use it as a decorative feature. When the top is finished, it is meant to go on the kitchen island.

I want to get the glue done and get the posts into the shop for the woodshed. I keep complaining that I need to get that done, but I get distracted from outside work nearly every day for at least some of the time, then when I am free to go I am tired from the errands that distracted me, or just don’t feel up to it, or even distracted by something else. I need to get that building up in the air and some siding on it and purlins for the roof at least! I also need ot start telling myself I am closer to finishing the next step than I think I am. I could skip the glue up for now and get right to work on the posts and beams, but there is the pressure of needing warm enough temperatures in the shop for the glue to set. Decisions, decisions!

I am writing now while it is still chilly out. It will warm up soon and I will need to get up and get to work. I better figure out what to eat first. My stomach has given me a certain amount of hell since starting my diet. But in two months of it, I have had to tighten my belt nearly an inch and a half. That’s the most progress I have ever made. What’s more, I doubt I will easily get back into the same old habits as I seem to have trouble with foods from the old ways now. I started out the new diet with great troubles. I have sort of settled down a bit of not just gotten used to it. One’s body is not quite the same when it seems to begin to digest itself.

Missus is teaching a 4H class this evening, and we have our last Farmer’s market tomorrow evening. That’s enough business to keep us busy! I might see if I can film some of her products tomorrow in the booth to put to a sort of commercial that I can upload to our YouTube channel and then embed in our websites. Time for breakfast for now!

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Pain, Dr. Who, and War

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Kelsey

I must have eaten something last night, perhaps the bread, or something else, or a combination of things. But what stands out was the two slices of toast I ate. I know I ate a couple of other things, but that was the one that stood out, even though I had some the other day. I had some carrots too. They are a root vegetable. They are not on my diet. I also drank a bit of milk, and by a bit, I mean quite a bit. I had one of the big mugs full.

The point is, today I felt like I did two months ago, and for so much of my life. I have had a good break from the pain, and now to have it come back on in its full force. It has come with great contrast, and I know better how much pain I have had to put up with in my old normal.

The pain has subsided a bit now. But I am feeling quite weak. The pain was pretty bad. But I remember it being just that when I was fully in this agony before I started the diet. The message here is, I don’t want to go back! To go from pain free to suddenly back in the thick of it, and to feel that contrast, it was pretty bad. I was hurting a lot more than I realized when I was going through it as a matter of course and a regular part of my life.

So, it was a brave venture, and I do need to figure out which it was that caused it. The cooked carrots were not a regular part of my diet before. Bread and milk were. I suspect it was them, or one of them. I am still inclined to think it was to do with the bread. I need to have a break for now and come back to this document when I am feeling better and try at the milk again. I expect zero effects. But honestly, I am not sure as I was never that big on bread before. Still, there is bread in all its other forms.

Missus is playing Dr. Who, and the episode where Rose and the Doctor meet Captain Jack Harkness in WWII is on. There is the child with the gas mask fused to his face, looking for his mother, calling over and again “are you my mummy?” Aliens and robots can come and go, and they can forever go on travelling around the universe all they want in this program, but this one episode hits too close to the reality of actual events as they depict the Blitz in 1941, especially as an actual doctor says, “before this war I was a father and a grandfather, and now I am neither, but I am still a doctor.” Americans act like they singularly beat back the Germans in the war, but it took winter in Russia, and the Brits in Europe to put a stop to them once and for all. We were involved, but so were the French in our Revolution. Britain went through absolute Hell. Children were shipped en mass from London, away from their families to the relative safety of the north, to never see their families again. Old me prepared in “Dad’s Army,” ready to hide while German troops were to pass, then emerge and sabotage after dark with instructions to keep going till they were dead. As much as we in America justify the nuclear bombing of Japan because we knew they would fight till the end, the Germans faced the same prospect against Britain. Where could it have gone?

The sight in the episode of the child in a gas mask, looking for his mother is terrifying because it is in part heartbreaking. There is no count of the number of such children who must have looked and done much the same during that awful war. No doubt someday we will venture down that path again. But we must try so hard to never. To be a pacifist is too passive. We must be in active opposition.

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Just a Bit of an Update

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Kelsey

The weather is changed now, all of a sudden. Wednesday was the last good day we had of summerlike temperatures, then it started to rain Wednesday night, and it was windy and crap all of Thursday. It rained plenty, then Friday came along, and it was just cool. Today there was snow on the mountaintops, and the sunset was all the more spectacular for it. It is especially tolerable because there is still a lot of color other than white! When that time comes, things will be different!

We got the kids sorted on their Covid update today, and Missus taught a 4H class on polymer clay to some of the local young’un’s. It’s really cool that she has been able to do that, and I love that she is getting involved and doing such a thing as a volunteer.

After dropping Missus and our oldest off to do the class, youngest and I went to the store and bought some groceries and went home, put a winter soup on, and cleaned up in the house some. The soup had beef, carrots, potatoes, and onions. It was pretty basic. Missus volunteered two of her Oxo cubes from the UK to our soup. Well, put that in with the beef stock we used for the base, and the beef I seared and put in, and the outcome was amazingly beefy flavored. As in, it was one of the most amazing beef flavored anything I have had in a long time. I really enjoyed it! And when I came back down from playing a couple of rounds of a 3D headset game, I had some when I put the soup away from the crockpot into the fridge. Holy cow! It tasted even better! Pity all steaks can’t taste that good. Add a little salt, and really bring out the flavor to perfection!

I did the dishwashing twice today. That stemmed from the conversation I had at the Health Department with the lady who works the front desk. She asked how my diet was coming along. I had told her about it when I was in to schedule the jabs for today. I told her that I was not sure how I was ever going to give it up because of how my joint pain has gone since I went on it. I said to her that one of the troubles with a lifetime of feeling such pain is that I have not got the habit of planning a full day. I know that I can work from when I get up to ten or eleven, and I have to plan around that. Well, these days I can go all day, and I am not in the mental habit of planning that much to do in a day. So there is that change.

There is a physical aspect too, of course. I am not fit enough to keep up. But I am working on it.

I don’t yet know what I cut from my diet exactly that relieved me of the lifelong joint pain. I’d love to! It might be nice to not add it back again when I stop doing Keto.

It’s Saturday tomorrow. I will be helping Missus sort a couple of things out then getting to work on some of my projects. Don’t ask just which one yet. I will probably have to clear my workbench first though. I doubt there is going to be much more working outside this year, though only the weather can tell!

Posted in Special Update, Weather | Comments Off

XX. As it fell upon a day

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Kelsey

As it fell upon a day,
In the merry month of May,
Sitting in a pleasant shade
Which a grove of myrtles made,
Beasts did leap, and birds did sing,
Trees did grow, and plants did spring;
Every thing did banish moan,
Save the nightingale alone.
She (poor bird) as all forlorn,
Leaned her breast up-till a thorn,
And there sung the dolefull’st ditty,
That to hear it was great pity.
“Fie, fie, fie,” now would she cry;
“Tereu, tereu,” by and by;
That to hear her so complain,
Scarce I could from tears refrain,
For her griefs so lively shown,
Made me think upon mine own.
Ah (thought I) thou mourn’st in vain,
None takes pity on thy pain:
Senseless trees, they cannot hear thee;
Ruthless bears, they will not cheer thee.
King Pandion, he is dead,
All thy friends are lapped in lead.
All thy fellow birds do sing,
Careless of thy sorrowing.
Whilst as fickle Fortune smiled,
Thou and I were both beguiled.
Every one that flatters thee
Is no friend in misery.
Words are easy, like the wind;
Faithful friends are hard to find.
Every man will be thy friend
Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend;
But if store of crowns be scant,
No man will supply thy want.
If that one be prodigal,
Bountiful they will him call,
And with suchlike flattering,
“Pity but he were a king.”
If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice.
If to women he be bent,
They have at commandment;
But if Fortune once do frown,
Then farewell his great renown:
They that fawned on him before
Use his company no more.
He that is thy friend indeed,
He will help thee in thy need;
If thou sorrow, he will weep;
If thou wake, he cannot sleep;
Thus of every grief in heart
He with thee doth bear a part.
These are certain signs to know
Faithful friend from flattering foe.

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Candles, Lavender, and a Woodshed

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Kelsey

The sun is setting on a Sunday evening here on the farm, and everyone is cozy and relaxing. It was hot today, the temperature getting up to 89.8 degrees, and even now, with direct sunlight gone, it is still 80°F. It was cool for long enough this morning to get some things done for the farm though!

We put in the Lavender plants that arrived on Thursday. The girls and I set up the row on Friday with two stretches of landscape fabric, and an overlapped gap between them. So, not really a gap, but more of a seam, but without any kind of joining. Well, whatever! The point is, we were then able to lay over the one piece of fabric and put the plants in today, then close up the gap again, so the plants are all surrounded close up and completely with the fabric.

We made a mistake and put some mulch around the plants. It’s not a lot, but I will have to clean it off soon. Then I will need to get some sort of pea gravel or something to work instead. Apparently, Lavender is not meant to have any water retaining material around it. It prefers the dry climate.

I am nervous about planting these so late in the year, but they apparently grow like this just fine. Imagine, we can get to -10°F or even less! At least they have some time to do their root work between now and genuine winter! But the forecast for tomorrow is only 72°F! And that’s the high!

We’d like to try the Christmas Tree candles at the Farmer’s Market in the middle of next week. I need to remember to put the wax melter on tonight before bed. It will probably take till midday or later tomorrow to fully melt all the wax that is in it. Then I start pouring little trees with little wicks in the top and put on little warning labels on the bottom. They are cute little trees. I think I have only one mold though, so I may need to order a couple of more to get some serious progress done on this project. I will if they sell well at the Market!

Well, that only makes some sense. There are two Market days left this year. It might be best if I have them ordered sooner and can produce some candles for the Market coming up. Best just get the melter going and keep pouring till it is empty! I don’t know if they will sell, but I cannot see why they won’t! I just had a look on Etsy for some more molds, and the kind I have is not there. But there is a different candle mold, but I am not too pleased with it. It is a little shorter than I think I would like. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I should just order it and a pinecone mold that I found on there. Okay, I checked Amazon, and of course I can get another mold like the one I already have and two of the pinecone molds delivered by Tuesday for about half the price of what I was expecting to pay on Etsy. As much as I like to support the small seller, I have to honestly justify with myself that I have no idea who is actually selling, and if they are not just reselling Temu. And the pinecone mold was also available there.

And maybe what I need to do is turn some bases for the candles? I could use can lids for the separator to help prevent a fire from forming on the wood. Maybe that is something I should try out at home first. Well, there’s some ideas, anyway. That’s the way it goes around here. Think something up, think up ways to do it, then think up the potential exposure to liability, and cancel the whole project.

Going back to the topic of Temu. I noticed that my spell check does not recognize the name and think I have misspelled something. Well, as far as I am concerned, the whole company should be deleted. They are undermining everyone who is even trying to run a small business. Missus sees it in particular on her online browsing. She has identified where items get sold by Temu that are copies of things she has seen from original makers. There are posts in creator groups saying “This is what I made! Show me yours!” Then they can copy the designs people post. The whole online space is unsafe for makers. Try to parse that out from the sellers who really are just reselling Temu products they have ordered and brought to markets. That should be worthy of getting people thrown out of maker themed markets and anyone claiming to be American Made. If a seller is willing to disclose that they are reselling Chinese crap, then fair enough, as long as it is clear and upfront. It should be posted on a webpage or market stall in large, clearly readable and prominent letters. Let them wear it with the pride it deserves.

Rant over for now.

The sin is down now. I have to go out and shut off the waterspout at the frost-free hydrant. I don’t want the hose to blow overnight. I left it on thinking I was going to water the new plants, but when I saw how little they actually like water, I thought better of it.

The week starts tomorrow. Kids to school! I need to get to work on the second woodshed bent. I would like to see it stood this week. I didn’t last week. I might not this week. There is a lot to do if I am going to properly brace it. I would like to get this project done so I can get on to other important things!

Posted in Candle Making, The Farm, Unfiled Customer Complaints | Comments Off

A Week of Craziness in a Day

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Kelsey

I have had an interesting week this week. It was Farmer’s Market week, and we got the truck packed up and everything brought up to the park in Preston, then set up under the tent. It was a fine old time to sit and chat with folks as they came by and looked around. There was a disappointing outcome as far as sales go, but I do enjoy being out in public with Missus and enjoying the opportunity to get to see people as they come through.

Wednesday, I had an appointment with the doctor. I needed to talk to him about why I was kept awake by tummy pain, but he said pretty quickly that he did not think it was anything to worry about, just normal kinds of pains one could expect with a digestive system. He said that his biggest concern for me was the “beer gut” that he had no better term for. I could not have agreed more after having just stepped off a scale in the hall that swore a number at me that I don’t care to repeat!

So the good doctor gave me some pointers on diet and how to improve my eating habits, but much of what he suggested was already in practice for me. But there were some things I need to shave out, and some things I need to modify to be in total compliance with his diet suggestions. It was basically Atkins. Then he added that for me to get best bang for buck out of a weight loss plan I need to add a fasting regimen to my eating plan. His suggestion was to leave out meals for 24 to 36 hours three times a week. Best seems to go from supper to supper without eating, missing breakfast and lunch. He’d like to see me go one more meal if possible, just giving a whole day a miss. The idea is that I drink non sugary flavored drinks, particularly water, and go into ketosis, then burn off belly fat.

I tried it yesterday, though I did not fully comply. I had three or four strips of bacon for breakfast, then two pieces of cheese soon after. I also had a coffee with half and half. But strangely, coffee is allowed black, and half and half is allowed. So I assumed it was okay to put the half and half in the coffee. It was only water other than that all day. I had some devilled eggs for supper. This seemed fine, despite an active day. So, I will have confidence to try it again, only go deeper.

I was out to feed the goats and two llamas yesterday around noon when I noticed a truck passing and slowing out front, then he honked and drove on. I went out to see what was up and there was one of the new llamas out in the road. I opened the gate to go out, and up came Joe from down the street, and he helped me press the llama into our front yard where I was able to close the gate and keep the llama where I could work with him.

This was the llama that answered to Sheldon, and he turned out to be pretty easy to work with. I got the rope I had put on him changed for a halter and lead. Then when it was time to get Missus up, I got her help with keeping him while I checked to see how the llama had got out, and where the other one was. Bad news, the other llama, Kyle, was in the canal. So I had to go back and we had to figure out what to do with Sheldon so we could rescue Kyle.

The Kyle rescue was not so much fun. The embankment was too steep. But Kyle was as cooperative as he could be, and waded through the deep water on a rope as we pulled him from place to place to try him out. We finally got him to climb up near the east gate, but there was deep mud there, and he had such a time getting started. We got him up the embankment with great effort, in fact, that took near two hours. I ended up going to get the girls from the bus stop right after.

I also observed while out feeding that the Gord leaved looked spoiled. I checked on them later and took this photo.

That was surely frost damage. The plants were watered just a couple of days ago. I checked the temperature records for the day, and there it was.

The thermometer nine feet in the air and up the yard a bit caught 32.5F. Obviously, it was colder out back where the plants are.

We had our last frost on the 17th of June this year, and that was excessively late. But to have a hot summer like we have and to get frost here only shy of a month and a half later is surprising! Well, it sure doesn’t seem right for a growing season, and it sure is unexpected for a planet that is warming. Yet, here we are. A summer that was hot as can be but as short as can be between frosts. I wonder what the actual autumn will bring us?

Amis all of this, my sister-in-law called from England to talk a bit. She is missing America and is quite surprised by it. There was more than one occasion while she was here that I heard her to say that it was not her first choice of where to go to, but she came because family was here. Now she has had a bit of reverse culture shock and feels the compression of the small, close houses and the lack of space to feel open in. We have that space. She also says she misses the little family here like crazy. Awe! There is not a lot within reason that we can do about it, but of course, if we could, we’d have her here to live in a minute. Immigration law does not quite work like that. Plus, she is starting her job for the schoolyear on Monday. Hopefully that will distract her adequately. Hopefully.

The transportation director for the district called to say the bus stop is being moved for the time being. That call actually came in after I discovered Kyle in the canal and was walking back to the house to get a rope to put on him to lead him around with. The family in the house claim safety for why they would like the stop moved. I think it is probably just wanting a bit of privacy and their driveway not blocked, which is good enough. Either way, it all adds up to good reasons for the stop to move. So, it is. But the new stop is right in front of a building where beehives are managed, and the bees and wasps circle the car while I am waiting there. It don’t bother me, and the girls walked right through it like nothing. I don’t know if the other kids will do as well. Maybe. Or maybe the stop will move again. We’ll see.

So that’s the news from the Farm for this week, late in August. Today and tomorrow left, and with any luck September will be as expected.

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See Ya Next Time Sis!

Posted on August 25, 2024 by Kelsey

We drove down to the airport today to drop my wife’s sister off for her flight home. it was so good to have her over for the last month and change. She is an active and happy person and really enjoyable to have around. She has helped us out with getting set up for Farmer’s Markets and has really enjoyed exploring around and learning what she can of our many hobbies. It’s been a bummer that she was out during the hot season, but at this point, she has seen our place at the hottest and coldest periods of the year. I hope she can come again when it is much more temperate and enjoyable, and easy to be outside or in the shop busy doing things. She never got to spend as much time at the lathe as she wanted to, nor did she get to work at the sawmill. But that’s fine too, since she was happy to be working on everything she did keep busy at, especially working with the laser, which she says she wants one of. Well, who doesn’t?

Naturally, Sis gets on the plane and the wind howls all the way home and all evening as the temperature drops to a much more pleasant one. We are meant to only get to the mid 70’s tomorrow and the next day. Classic. We have been soaring around the high 90’s the bulk of the time she’s been here. Yeah, next time she comes, it needs to be in the spring or autumn. What a laugh!

Well, with the temperatures dropping, I need to get at some of my chores around here and get things done that must be done before the snow flies. I’d be really excited to get that woodshed done. I have secured more cinder blocks to prop it up, and that is great! I think it will need them. The extra blocks came from under the sawmill. I am setting it on treated wood, and that on the ground for the time being.

It’s been a long day today, and I am off to bed now. I put my hand made table under the monitor at my computer and put my keyboard on it. I restarted the computer, too. I’d like to fix the chair height adjuster so it will keep me up on the normal level so I can feel like a grown up at my desk. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

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I Finally Have a Sailboat After 30 Years Dreaming

Posted on July 9, 2024 by Kelsey

This weekend I finally crossed a threshold I have long awaited. I got myself a sailboat. It is not a liveaboard type. In fact, it doesn’t even have an electrical system in it at the moment. It is an old one, too. The boat is a 21-foot Macgregor Venture from 1970. It needs a lot of work, but it should be manageable work on a relatively small budget.

The first big job is restoring the swing keel on it. The keel is a 400 pounds steel plate that drops down from the bottom extending the draft from about 18 inches to five and a half feet. It is coated in house paint from its previous owner, who kept it on a budget. I’d like to see her gel-coated with some lovely rich colors like blue gunwales and a red bottom with a white strip at the waterline. Something classic like that. White topsides and a sand color for the tread would probably come together real nice. I can see a couple of instruments and a radio, and I can also see a slight modification to the trailer in her future, too. What it also needs desperately is a mast raising system. That is one job that is a challenge! There is plenty to do, as one would expect from a cheap, old boat. But with any luck, I will never be heard to say, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

So, as of this weekend, I have embarked on a new adventure. It is one I have dreamed of for ages, at least in part. Okay, true I have always wanted to live aboard. But for where we are at and what we are doing, this will do for now. I get to spend a bit of time working on the boat, getting to know it, and learning all the things I will need to do to maintain her going forward. I could sail it soon, but why take the chance before I get to understand the rigging and components of the boat really well. I can do a lot of that on the trailer, messing about and familiarizing myself with positions and the overall shape of things.

Is it a proud moment? A proud moment would be a Cabo Rico or an Island Packet that is live-able and blue water ready. I go into this with some trepidation, but a readiness to learn for real something I have only got some of the terms down for. It’s like knowing Chess rules of Castling, or En Passant Capture, or knowing the Ruy Lopez opening, but having never played a game. It’s different to be sat at the board. It is different to hold a tiller in my hand and look up at the rigging and know I have got to get this right. Safety and enjoyability are at stake here.

So where will I begin? I need to order a part for the boom to get it fully operational, and I will need to replace a cable on the standing rigging, if not most of them just to get rid of rust. There is the keel. Maybe some new sailcloth is in order, if not at least some repairs. I can get by with handheld electronics to substitute for instrumentation for a sail or two, but if I am going to sail properly, I would like to sort out a VHF, GPS, wind direction and speed, and maybe even a chart plotter after a bit, as there is no room for a nav table in this tiny little boat. I can always set my app on my cellphone as a back-up. Anything drastic enough to knock out both will also require rescue and an insurance claim. If I can see all that done by then end of next summer, I think I will be ahead of schedule.

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This Week So Far

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Kelsey

Early this week I had the roughest time with my rheumatism. That cost me two days. Then I got a visit from a guy who lives in town, but has a house down here, too. He asked me if I wanted the wood from a tree he was having cut down at the house in town. I went up far too early as it took longer than I thought it might to get the tree down, so I visited the kids for a bit. It was good to get up there early so I could specify to the tree cutter how I wanted the wood pieced up. When I went to pick it up, the wood had to be machine lifted onto the trailer. I have three pieces that are long enough to make into boards of some sort. There will be a lot of knots in whatever I make of it. I don’t yet know if I will make something like 6 or 8 inch wide by 1 inch thick, or 2×4’s.

I went back over today. The guy who owns the house decided on taking down a second smaller tree. I told the cutter to go ahead and make it into firewood or anything that works best for him. That is sat on the trailer and in the bed of the truck right now. I’ll get that out at any dry points tomorrow. The second tree is an Austrian Pine, so said the tree cutter. I am not sure of the big tree. Might be the same as it came out of the same yard, but the tree cutter never said.

So what will I do with the wood? I will cut the smaller bits into firewood. There are some longer bits that might just fit between the bolsters on the mill, and I am thinking I want to try milling them into basically large cubes. I’ll have to put some Anchorseal on them and leave them for a year or more. They need to leak out a lot of sap. I’ve got a couple of boards from a pine I took down in our yard a year ago, and it is in pretty good shape. Once dry, I am sure I can sell them.

So there’s this week so far. Perhaps this should be on the homestead blog, but it is what I am up to. It is warmer now that it is springtime proper. I am going ot need to get down to the dump and get some wood coming back to the house. I’ll need some for lumber and for firewood. There are things to build around here, and the firewood needs time to dry. Somehow I need to fit in the installation of a septic system too. Nothing to it.

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Septic System and Orchard

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Kelsey

Today I took care of two things I have been putting off for far too long! I had a meeting at 9AM with the man in charge of the county health department to discuss planning for our septic system. He went over the specifics of what has to be done and how it has to be done. It seems like there is a little tiny bit of wiggle room that will set me up to be able to do this okay as long as I don’t need a pump to get the effluent from the septic tank to the drain field. I will have to do some measurements to see about that. I might make it, but because of the high water table here, I don’t have a lot of wiggle room on that. The rest of it sounds pretty easy apart from collapsing the old tank. That is a pretty strong piece of concrete, and may require renting a jackhammer.

After all that, I came home and helped Missus out with some things, and then went out and pruned back the whole orchard. It is only about a dozen trees, but this is a job I have been needing to do for some time now. Some of the trees have got pretty good sized and have a lot of limbs and branches on them. They all needed some work. Some only a little bit, and others needed a right butchering! I worked on shaping this year and let the consequences follow. I think next year I can work on trying to maximize production. I also have one dead tree out there that needs to be replaced. It is a prune tree right back with the apples. There are two other prune trees that are alive at the front, and they got a trim and hopefully will produce. But that dead one needs to be replaced with a proper apple tree, I think. No other fruit trees we have tried have survived. Just the prunes and apples.

We have an old apple tree sperate from the orchard by a little way. I gave that one the once over too. It has produced the last couple of years, but very poorly. Hopefully this year will see a change! I butchered the living hell out of that tree, too. It had the most prolific collection of stems and such on it. Now it looks like the others. I know I was only supposed to take off about a third of the tree at max. I am sure I exceeded that. But I think it is worth the risk. It is an old tree and very well established. Besides, I have had a couple of trees that have started out small and been completely knocked over and destroyed, then resprouted off the root ball. I am sure this one could do the same if it had to.

Missus needs help in the cottage tomorrow. I also need to remember to pop open the air tank on the compressor. I have been poor at doing that lately. I need to get the trailer up to the dump and empty it out and ready up for another fill. I could do one or two more before I get the bulk of the old compost pile finished and ready to redistribute the soil where it needs to go. I really want to get some flowers in this year and get Missus going on selling some or getting the place looking better at the very least.

Now that I am pretty sure on where the septic is going, I think I can make up my mind on the gourd tunnel and on the woodshed and a couple of large planters. A couple of lean-tos would not hurt. One for the chicken coop, and one for the tractor. Also, the septic guy approved the idea of building a leech field, then putting a coop next to it and fencing in the field and letting chickens roam around on it. Yeah, I’d like that. Then the ground would not be going to waste.

Our male cat is roaming around the house like he is having some sort of anxiety. I figure it is either the onset of the frogs he can hear through the open doors and windows, or he is missing the female cat who is out in a pen by the chicken coop because she keeps crapping in the house. We are going to try to get her used to being outside in a safe place, then letting her run free a bit then come back in to visit. This keeping her in the house business is just not working out. She keeps spewing out both ends, to be honest. It’s too much. The other three cats that either live here or visit are fine. But this one likes to put her mess where it is nearly impossible to clean. Enough is enough.

Well, there’s my report for today. It’s late enough for an early night now. I might give that a go in a few minutes.

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