My attempts at getting kitten pictures has been a failure today. Those little buggers move fast! :-D
So do flowers, actually. At least with the winds we had when I was doing my rounds this morning!
These delicate little wildflowers have burst into bloom now. It’s interesting how there always seems to be some wildflower blooming, one after the others.
These wild roses are almost completely engulfed by the spirea!
One of our goals is to pull up most, if not all, of the spirea from here. The junk pile, in general, needs to be cleared so we can get access to it and start cleaning it up. I’m hoping the wood pile that makes up the bulk of it will still have some salvageable wood in there. One of the things I want to build is a box to put our garbage bags into, so the animals can’t tear them apart.
I noticed in the area around the stone cross, which had been full of spirea, now has what looks like flowers coming up. If they are what I think they are, they won’t bloom for a while yet, but I’m seeing them pop up all over, in areas that have been cleared up. Especially where I’ve also been able to finally mow. It seems once the grass (or, in this area, the spirea) was no longer the dominant plant, all sorts of greenery is now able to grow. When I get to mowing in the maple grove, there are some paths I plan to deliberately leave alone, just to see what is there.
After my morning rounds, I got back outside as quick as I could, to finish mowing around the old garden area.
I was almost done when I ran out of gas, so I took a quick rest and hydration break. The Potato Beetle came over for cuddles. I’m rather surprised, considering how covered in bug spray I was!
I’m happy to say, I managed to finish the old garden area, including the section I hadn’t been able to get to at all, yet. After this, I can start going into the maple grove.
But not today.
For the last half hour or so of mowing, there was a whole lot of thundering happening, so I was really happy to get that last bit finished before putting away the mower.
Since then, we have had a quick storm pass by, with a heavy downpour. We also lost internet for a while, and then we momentarily lost power. Just enough to cause the computers to restart, and the security camera to reset its position.
I love power bars.
Looking at the weather radar, we seem to be in the path of several small but severe thunderstorms for the rest of the day.
Which means it’s time to quickly get caught up, then shut down the computer, in case we lose power again. No doubt, once the winds pick up again, we’ll lose internet again.
Well, it’s a good thing I was planning on using the push mower more.
While using the riding mower in the inner yard today, I stopped at one point, to go over to talk to my daughter, who was using the push mower. When I returned to the riding mower, it started just fine, but wouldn’t move. !! There were no issues at all before. One minute, it was working fine. The next, no go. Forward or reverse.
Well, we were planning to take it in for Maintenance next month, anyhow…
After doing most of the inner yard, I switched to cutting the outer yard, as there was so much of it that hasn’t been done at all this year. I quickly stopped using the bag to collect grass clippings. It filled so quickly, and the mower just doesn’t like to restart very well.
That did mean I was able to reclaim more areas of the outer yard.
For the first time since we’ve moved here, I was able to clear the area in front of this old shed.
Do you see where the colour changes from nice and green, to more brown?
While the clippings blur the line a bit, there is a clear demarcation where the colour changes. The brown is where I had not been able to mow, until today. Where I’d been able to mow for the past couple of years, the grass is green, thick and healthy. Where I hadn’t been able to get in with the riding mower (and it’s so rough, I still won’t be able to use it there), the grass was choked out by its own thatch.
I’ve now been able to reclaim pretty much all of the outer yard on this side, and I’ve started to reclaim the area leading to the collapsing log house and chicken coop.
I feel like I should have been making hay! The grass was starting to go to seed.
I will work on this area tomorrow, weather willing. With the push mower, I’ll be able to reclaim even more of the outer yard, little by little. I’ll be mowing a path to the other gate, as before, but will have to be very careful as I go beyond what I’d been able to do with the riding mower. Who knows what is hiding in that tall grass! Rocks and rough ground is one thing, but there could be chunks of wood, metal and small kitchen appliances, for all we can tell.
Since I was walking back and forth so much, I took advantage of it and opened up Pokemon Go on my phone. There is a feature in the game where you have a “buddy” Pokemon that walks with you. While it is your buddy, the game records distance, even when the game is not active. After you walk a certain number of kilometers, your buddy “finds” a candy.
The buddy I have right now is a Meltan. While most buddies need to be walked for 2, 5 or 10 km before finding a candy, Meltan needs to be walked for 20km. Once a candy is found, the meter restarts for the next 20km.
Based on the distance measured in the game, I walked at least 12 km this afternoon. And that doesn’t count the distance this morning.
My phone came with one of those “health” apps that I can turn off, but can’t get rid of. These apps irritate me, since they all basically measure “health” as “lose weight”. It doesn’t matter how good your other health measures are, or how much exercise you get, if you haven’t lost weight, you’re a failure. It does, however, have a pedometer. I’m curious to know just how many kilometers I am actually walking while doing basic yard work.
Also, I’m really going to pay for it tomorrow. But I don’t care. It was worth it!
The first order of the day, after dropping my daughter off at work and picking up prescription refills for my husband, was the transplanting. I combined the 3 bags of soil mix, plus a bunch of peat, together with water in the kiddie pool (that thing is coming in really handy!), then left it to give the peat a chance to absorb water.
It had warmed up enough by then to uncover the squash. Unfortunately, there was some frost damage.
We might lose a few, but I think most will recover.
I decided not to put the new transplants near the previous ones. My initial thought was to have the two beds near each other, with a walking path in between, but I decided to put the new ones at the opposite side of the area we mulched last year. That left a wide open space in the middle.
I was able to measure, and mark with flags, where the transplants would go before I headed back into town to meet my daughter for lunch. Before coming home, I broke down and picked up something I’d spotted at the pharmacy this morning, but hadn’t picked up. A Pulse Oximeter. My husband has severe obstructive sleep apnea (on top of everything else), so being able to measure his blood oxygen levels at home is a good thing. I’d looked for them about a month ago, but none were in stock. When I saw them this morning, there were two. I wasn’t sure I could justify the cost in the budget, but figured if I didn’t get it today, who knew when I’d find one again.
Of the two that I’d seen in the morning, the less expensive one was already gone.
We now have a pretty high end Pulse Oximeter. :-D
Once back at home, I added the wet soil mixture to the flagged spots, then transplanted the squash. I ended up with another 18 plants in.
There are still some left that are not ready to transplant, and it is looking like most of them are the gourds! Whatever is left will go in one long row along the north side of the area we mulched last year.
I mulched the new transplants with straw, and remembered that I still had those pumpkin seeds my mother gave me. Three little packets.
And there was this wide open space between the squash beds…
I used some of the wet soil mixture to create three mounds and planted several seeds in each. It is really late in the season to be planting pumpkins from seed, but we’ll see how they do!
The pumpkin mounds got mulch around them, too. :-)
That done, I had time to uncover the other garden bed (no sign of frost damage there! :-) ) before heading back into town. I left early, so I could stop at the grocery store and refill a couple of our big water bottles.
While there was no line up outside the store, but by the time I was ready to go to the checkout, the line up was all the way to the other end of the store, and heading up the freezer aisle! After searching for and finding the end of the line, a guy carrying one item came by and ended up behind me. Thankfully, the line was moving rather quickly, but he and I ended up chatting with each other.
The topics ranged all over, but after a while it got closer to home as he talked about what he did. He ended up asking where in town I lived, and I told him I didn’t live in town, but in our little hamlet.
He got a very interested look on his face, and asked where I lived there. I told him, more or less, where the farm is.
It turned out he knows my family. He went to school, and was friends with, my late brother!
Well, that got us talking to each other like we’d know each other for years! :-D
Then I found out that he is a scrap dealer, and also hauls junk.
Yes!!!!
When we were done in the store, I followed him over to his truck so he could give me one of his fliers. He says it’s not worth trying to get rid of scrap metal right now; nobody is buying. That is a longer term thing for us, though. In the shorter term, I now have someone I can call to get the junk pile hauled away! Someone with a family connection, too.
That was awesome!
After picking up my daughter, it was back outside for me. I wanted to get a path mowed to the barn. We are expecting my brother to come over tomorrow and work on the trailer frame. Knowing him, he will be loading his truck with everything but the kitchen sink – and the only reason he doesn’t pack a kitchen sink is because, while all the useful tools may have disappeared from this place, we have plenty of kitchen sinks all over.
Also, bathroom sinks.
And laundry sinks.
I guess they go with the toilet collection. :-D
The grass in front of the barn is incredibly dense. The riding mower struggles to get through it, and the clippings left behind make it even harder. Now that I can collect clippings with the push mower, that’s what I was using today.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I really enjoy mowing. Whether it’s a push mower or a riding mower, I just love it. It’s almost a meditative thing, and I get a great sense of satisfaction from it. It was one of my favourite chores when I was a teen, and one my parents never needed to ask me to do.
Once I started mowing, I just couldn’t seem to stop. I kept trying to see how much further I could go, beyond the limited areas I could do with the riding mower. Since it will be easier to move the trailer out the back door of the barn, bring it around the barn and pull it through the “gate” on the side, I wanted to make sure that area was clear. Then, I decided to see how much further I could go along the fence. On the other side, I decided to clear a path to the shed.
By the time I was done, I’d reached the collapsing log building near the old chicken coop, was working my way along the fence to the hay yard, and was even starting to go down the driveway.
Every loop I did, I stopped the mower to empty the clippings. I’m not finished, but when I could no longer pull the cord hard enough to start the mower after emptying the bag, I figured that was enough for the day! :-D
I am so loving how it is looking.
I’m going to pay for this tomorrow. Big time.
It was so worth it!
Also, I now have a lovely, huge pile of grass clippings to help build up our garden beds!
I didn’t get a single kitten picture today, to share with you! I never had the chance.
I did visit the kittens, of course. One of the first things I do in the morning is head down there with fresh water for them. When I opened the basement door, Beep Beep was sitting in the window ledge above the stairs, waiting for her moment. As soon as the door opened, she launcher herself into the air and through the door!
In my hapless effort to block her, the door got left open a split second too long.
As Beep Beep raced into the dining room, five cats exploded into the basement.
The kittens, meanwhile, had come running to the stairs, as they usually do.
Fenrir has been the most dedicated at trying to get into the basement, but she does not like the kittens. As soon as she saw them, she bolted back up the stairs, then crouched in the entry, staring at the door, like a hairy gargoyle.
Keith was quite taken aback by the horde of kittens.
Keith is also a bundle of nerves and anxiety.
Next thing I know, Keith is hissing and spitting at a kitten, in total fear. The kitten – Nicco – was busily making himself look big, hissing, spitting and advancing on Keith.
Who ran away and hid under a table.
Two Face was running around, trying to snag a kitten to groom. Every now and then, one would come too close, and she would grab it, do a barrel roll as she wrestled it to the ground, before aggressively mothering it. It would take a few moments before a disheveled kitten would squirm it’s way out, and she would do it again to another one.
Cheddar doesn’t seem to know what to think of them. He kept going from kitten to kitten, sniffing and staring. Once again, it was Nicco who made himself look big, staring him down. Until Cheddar casually reached out with a paw and smacked Nicco vaguely around his head.
David, meanwhile, is totally chill with the kittens. He kept going around, sniffing and grooming and snuzzling, kitten after kitten.
Beep Beep, meanwhile, came down, then went back up, then came down and beep beep beeped at me with her distinctive meow that gave her her name.
Then her daughter, Two Face, started beeping, too.
She has a much higher voice than her mother.
I tried to cuddle Beep Beep, and she was reveling in the attention, but would soon run off upstairs again.
Eventually, I had to grab a broom to try and persuade Keith to come out from under the table. Then I tried to sweep the cats towards the stairs. I was finally able to grab them, one at a time, and toss them into the entry way, closing the door each time, so none would come back down.
Beep Beep ended up upstairs again, and I found myself alone with 5 kittens attacking my feet and trying to climb my legs.
I finally got their water changed, then took advantage of the situation and gave them a little packet of wet cat food. That distracted them enough that I could escape and find Beep Beep. As I suspected, she was looking around the food bowls upstairs. She was looking for wet cat food.
So I snagged her and managed to get her downstairs, where the treat was waiting for her.
By the time it was done, the whole thing left me feeling like I’d been spun in circles! :-D
So…
No pictures of kittens this time.
*sadness*
Today did turn out to be a nicely productive day. I made a trip into town to check out a place I’d seen ads for, saying they did lawnmower maintenance. If I could find a place I could take the mowers to, instead of having to go three quarters of the way to the city, to the place my brother bought our riding mower, that would be great. I never expected having trouble finding a small engine shop locally! There are probably quite a few, but no one that advertises. This place is connected to one of the hardware stores, and carries a lot of the big stuff, and even has a chipper that can be rented. For the amount of wood we need to get chipped, we’re going to go ahead and hire the company that did our trees for us, instead. This place also carries the garden soil, manure and peat that the hardware store itself just doesn’t have the room for.
Walking into the place is like heaven. Everywhere I turned, there were riding mowers, push mowers, weed wackers, all sorts of tools and…
Was that a chain saw display in the back?
Why yes! Yes it was!
I had had zero luck in finding a new chain for the electric chainsaw that we had checked out, last year. We never got to use it, nor the gas powered one, at all last year.
The first thing I asked about, was the lawn mower maintenance. When I told him I wanted to get some work done on our riding mower, his first question was, is it still working? I explained that yes, it’s running fine, but I just want to get some basic maintenance done and the blades sharpened. He told me that I could just drop it off – no appointment needed – but they are really busy with lawnmower maintenance right now. He said that, since it’s still running (not in need of any repairs), to just keep on using it and give them about 2 weeks before I drop it off.
I’ll just leave it for next month.
I then asked him about chain saw chains. He said he would need to see the chain saw to know if they carried the right chain, but they do have sharpening services, too. So I will bring it over one of these days for him to take a look at, and he’ll be able to determine if I just need to get it sharpened, or if I need a new chain.
I then bought a bale of peat and some bag of soil mix. He came out with me to help load it into the van, which was kind of funny, since the lift gate is still broken, and I keep a pole in the back to prop it open. I joked about it being something else I need to get fixed, as he deftly maneuvered around the pole to load the bags into the van.
That done, I decided a stop at the garage would be a good idea.
I asked about my mom’s car. He told me he was going into the city tomorrow, and going to a wreckers. Among the things he’s looking for is the part for my mother’s car. He’d hoped to head out this afternoon, but had too many cars to work on, already. I then asked him if he serviced AC systems. Our air conditioning was working last year, if not particularly well, but this year, nothing. The cost was very reasonable, so we went to book that on his calendar. Then I remembered to ask about the lift gate. Since we’re going to be hauling a lawn mower in the back of the van, using the nice new ramps my brother bought for us, it would be good to not have a pole in the way. ;-) These aren’t very expensive and don’t take long to install, so that’s going to get done, too.
I also remembered to ask him about the driver’s side door hinge. When we bought the van, the original door would drop when opened, and we would have to lift it to close it. Eventually, the latch on the door snapped. It was actually cheaper to replace the door, and the garage we went to at the time tried to find a second hand one for us, but never did. We spent most of the first year we owned the van with a Bungee cord keeping the door shut. Including the drive across provinces, during the move.
My brother had been able to find a door, but because the driver’s side door has the only key lock, he had to take both of them apart and cobble the two together. The original hinge pins broke in the process, but he’d snagged the ones from the vehicle he had salvaged the door from, so that worked out. The door does, however, still drop ever so slightly, and we don’t want to go through all that again. If we can get it fixed now, before it becomes a problem, that would be good.
The problem is, he would have to take it apart and see, in order to give me an estimate. But there are only two possibilities. One, we need new bushings. Two, they would need to take it apart, precision drill a new opening, and weld things back together.
If it’s one, that’s not a problem.
If it’s two, he basically says it would take so long, it might not be worth it, because it would be really expensive, just in shop equipment fees, never mind the time.
So the bushing kit, which is not very expensive, has been ordered, and he will check it and see. I’ll be dropping the van off on Monday morning, and just hanging out in town until it’s done.
It was a rather short trip into town, but it felt like I’d accomplished quite a bit in the process!
Once at home, we were getting into the hottest part of the day, so we stuck to inside stuff until things started to cool down in the evening. I didn’t even bother unloading the van until then. That wagon we got last month is awesome. I was able to haul the bale of peat and bags of soil, all at once, over to the old garden area. Then I started mowing the old garden area with the push mower.
I am so glad my brother was able to get that thing running for us. There is no way we could do this area with the riding mower. It would break in no time!
Also, that drill attachment sharpener I got for the mower blade has made a huge difference! When I sharpened it yesterday, I found it so bashed up, it was hard to tell which side of the blade was beveled, and which was flat!
I’m also so happy we found that bag attachment for this mower. It isn’t very big, and I had to stop to empty it often, which makes for much slower going. However, I am getting so many grass clippings, I decided to keep mowing into areas I would normally use the riding mower for, just so I could get more!
And since I had all these wonderful grass clippings, I decided to use them to mulch around where we planted the sunflowers.
The areas mulched are two wagon loads of clippings. I stopped after finishing this end of the old garden area, and then had to stop. After two hours, I was pretty knackered!
Also, I really need to remember to keep a water bottle with me when I’m doing this!
Meanwhile, after the girls finished what they were working on inside, they came out to remove the logs that were used to frame the area we chose to mulch last year, and where I am planting the squash this year. They have served their purpose, and now they are starting to be in the way as we go around with wheelbarrows or wagon, hoses and soil mixes.
We will not be able to continue this tomorrow, though. Tomorrow is our day to do the monthly shop in the city.
I am really hoping it goes better than last month. Last time was pretty brutal. :-( Even on a good trip, though, we’re pretty wiped out by the time we get home, unload and put everything away.
As for me, I am done like dinner! Time for a shower and, hopefully, early to bed!
Today started early for me, as I had to drive to my mother’s to take her for an appointment to get her CT scan. She had a requirement to drink a litre of water an hour before her appointment, then restrictions on going to the bathroom shortly before, so I wanted to make sure she got there early enough to not have to worry about the restriction. Given how long it takes to drive from her town to the city where her appointment was, that meant she had to start drinking her water while we were driving.
She also had to fast 4 hours before the scan, but my mother went a bit overboard and, aside from eating some crackers with her morning medications, she had fasted since the supper! So as soon as we were done, I made sure to take her to lunch somewhere fast.
By the time I got home, it was mid afternoon. The weather was holding, so I decided to break out the push mower and get as much done as I could. (I only got rained on a tiny bit! :-D ) I was going to start working in the trees, but then decided to do the old, overgrown garden, instead.
When my brother brought the mower back, he walked me through what he had done. It started fine when we tested it, but he mentioned that he felt the prime pump wasn’t doing its job. So, just in case it wouldn’t start, he showed me where to open up the side of the engine, where there is a filter and an opening behind it, and told me I could basically just splash some fuel into it, and that should be enough to start it.
I’m very glad he told me that, because it wouldn’t start. I ended up having to do it twice! The second time was after I ran out of gas, but I found that if I filled the tank before it was completely empty, I didn’t have to do it again. Except I didn’t just splash it. I tipped the mower onto its side and poured a tiny bit, using the cap of the jerry can spout to hold the tiny bit of fuel I needed. After that, it started just fine.
Mowing the old garden ended up taking about 4 hours.
It is not a small garden.
It was also incredibly rough. Plus, I had to look out for stuff like this.
Thankfully, it wasn’t sticking too far out of the ground, but that’s something we’re going to have to dig up at some point. Maybe. Depends on how big it is, underground!
Here are the before photos.
Right now, the garden area is split by the section we covered with straw to mulch it, used some RoundUp when things started to grow through the mulch, then covered with tarps, that I worked around. That is where we are hoping to be able to start planting something next year. I also tried to get into those trees my mother left growing when she transplanted her raspberry bushes, as much as I could.
Here is what it looks like now.
Did I mention it was rough in there?
This picture barely begins to show how rough it was! It’s hard to grasp from the photo, just how big that hill in the foreground is. When this area was last plowed, this is where the tractor turned, so there are huge ridges all over.
If the weather continues to hold tomorrow, I want to work on mowing between the trees in the maple grove, plus the area leading from the big garden to the gate. My mother said she planted elms in there, so the area had not been mowed, but I see no signs of them.
And now I have to try and get the burrs out of my pant legs.
So I let my brother know about the broken belt on the mower. He told me there is a 30 day warranty on it, and gave me the invoice number, suggesting I send the place they bought it from this picture.
I went to the company’s website, and there was only a contact form, not an email address, so I couldn’t send the picture. I also found that they are closed on Sundays and Mondays, so I figured I’d hear back on Tuesday.
I just checked my email before getting of the computer for the night, and there was already a response!
They would be more than happy to fix it. The warranty is for labour only, so it would just cost me the belt. I was also told to contact them on Tuesday, or just drop it off and they’ll fix it when they come in.
!!!
The good thing is, we should be able to fit it into the van. There is no back bench seat; we got rid of that before the move, since it was just in the way, anyhow. If necessary, we can take out the middle seats, but I doubt we’ll have to.
Tomorrow, the girls and I will empty the van of stuff that’s ready to go into storage, then measure the mower to confirm if it will fit.
I guess it’s a good thing I found those metal things that were used as ramps when I cleaned up behind the garage! :-D
Today, I broke out the riding mower to work on the outer yard.
Although I don’t intend to focus on any clean up out there, we do still need to keep parts of it mowed.
I started by “framing” out the areas I wanted to mow, mostly for access. You can see how tall it is, plus there is last year’s grass under it, too. So I was extra slow and careful while going through the thickest parts, and keeping a very sharp eye out for anything I didn’t want to mow over. I did have to get off a couple of times to move away sticks or old wooden shingles.
Next, I started working on sections, beginning with the driveway.
The area to the left of the driveway in the photo had lots of horse droppings. Just that side. The other side didn’t. Which is weird.
My parents didn’t have horses.
The next section I focused on was in front of the shed we’re storing my parents’ stuff in, so we can get in and out of it more easily as we add more to the shed.
I had to go over this section twice.
I had not originally intended to do this, but decided to mow a pathway to the other gate. We still need to fix the barb wire gate, and this way, we can get to it without having to fight our way though tall, tick infested, grass.
I was REALLY careful doing this section, because I remember there were all sorts of random piles of stuff. Basically, I just followed old tire tracks.
Next, I started working on a section between my dad’s old car, and the burn barrel.
I had just got around by the car, when this happened.
Yeah. I broke a belt.
On my new mower.
Sadness.
Woe.
Thankfully, belts are not expensive, but I will have to enlist the help of my older brother to fix it, I think.
I guess I just pushed it too hard. :-(
I wasn’t about to let all that wonderful cut grass go to waste, though. After putting away the mower, I got out the rake and a wheelbarrow, and started hauling grass to the flower garden. Amazingly, I had to actually start scrounging for grass clippings to finish it! I not only raked in front of the storage shed, but also to the barn, then back to the driveway.
Which is when this happened.
It finally gave out.
And this was the good fan rake!
We do have one other one, though I expect that one to break soon, too. I only needed one more load of grass clippings to finish, though. I had to go to the path I mowed to the back get to get enough!
But it is finally gone! The entire flower garden is now covered with a thick later of straw, leaves and grass clippings. I’ve even started adding the contents of our compost bucket.
It is now being thoroughly soaked down.
The next step we plan to take (aside from continuing to add any grass clippings, etc. that we can, over the summer) is to pick up a couple of bales of peat moss and add that as another layer. I really want to build it up, to kill off the invasive plants and cover any little remaining stumps from stuff I’d trimmed away completely. Especially at the old fence line at the end of the garden, where things had gotten pretty wild.
Over by the fire pit, my mother’s lilies are now in full bloom.
They are doing really, really well. I think, once we have the flower garden built up, I’ll transplant these into it.
While I was taking pictures, I felt something rubbing against my leg…
It was a Butterscotch!
She looks ticked off. :-D
She was seen earlier today, carrying a kitten. My daughter barely saw more than little legs and a tail, and couldn’t even tell what colour it was. It seems she had moved her kitten(s?) to the garden shed. I’d gone into it yesterday, looking for something, and she came out from under stuff in the back and began hissing at me. Even though I didn’t go much past the doorway, I guess it was still too much for her, and she found another place for her kitten(s?).
So we are back to not having a mower, until I can replace that belt. I won’t be able to phone the shop my brother got it from until Monday.
*sigh*
Ah, well. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of other work to be done!
They came over for a visit today, and brought me an “early birthday gift.”
AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually started crying, when I saw them pull up with the trailer, and this was on the back.
They bought us a riding mower. Fully refurbished, heavy duty enough to handle the work we’ll be making it do AND it is fully maintainable. It can even tow a small trailer!
I am thrilled beyond belief.
Of course, we had to start it up and test it out, and before I knew it, I’d mowed an entire section of the lawn.
Apparently, I had a huge grin on my face the entire time.
They have been beyond generous, since even before we moved out here. I am so incredibly happy and grateful!
I can’t wait until I can finish mowing the lawn. Which might not be until Monday, as we’re expecting rain off and on.
When they left, they even took the push mower that needs a new carburetor, to fix. And a gas powered weed trimmer to check over and hopefully get going.
I am so incredibly happy right now!
During their visit, we went around the yard to check things out (getting our feet completely soaked in the process, so we didn’t go beyond the yard). While seeing what was done in the flower garden, my SIL spotted a lovely little surprise.
One, lonely little asparagus spear. LOL There was a second one, about a foot away. Who knows? Maybe more will show up, eventually.
Nice to know they’ve survived.
We also went looking around to see if we could find the cherry trees my mother says are in the spruce grove. It’s so overgrown with trees in that area, all about the same size, we never did find anything we could be sure was cherry.
There were a couple of other trees I’d noticed blooming a couple of weeks back, and I now know what they are.
Saskatoon berries!
Yum!
These were on the list of food trees we want to have. We might some day transplant them to a better location, but for now, I’m just happy that we have them.
So we know now for sure that we have chokecherries, Saskatoon berries, some raspberries (still need to clean that area up), gooseberries and chokecherries. Hopefully, we’ll also have cherries. Then there’s the rhubarb, horseradish and struggling little asparagus.
Which is pretty darn good, all things considered.
Me, I’m still grinning from ear to ear, over the riding mower. :-D
The Re-Farmer 