A road trip today for a graduation 100 miles north. We stopped along the way home for a family visit. Tomorrow is another day and I look forward to what it may bring.
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Noreen
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Noreen
This morning could not have been a more wonderful day to be a gardener. No humidity with strong breezes from the southeast kept me going for quite a few hours. I don’t really have an explanation: being in the gardens relaxes me more than the weariness of my body. It isn’t hard physical labor, but more the constant movement of so many muscle groups . . . its a good thing. When I thought I had put in a good day of busy work that brought results that were pleasing to the eye, I had to take a walk to the far east garden. What I saw sent me straight to Fleet Farm. Apparently I am not the only one that enjoys our yard, the ants do as well.
We could tell where the more serious hills of ants were by the color of the dirt. Having had a 1/2″ of rain on Wednesday, any bare spot in the grass, the dirt showed the dark soil that had received a soaking. Where the huge ant hills were, the soil showing was a light gray and appeared as if dry. Dennis and I took turns walking the back area with our little hand-held spreader. Believe me, the setting was set to “put it on thick.” Rain is in the forecast and that will be the optimum for the granules to work.
The hardest part was to keep Snuggles and Butter Ball in the porch while we were doing the deed. Inhalant of any type of the product dust as it is being applied is hard on their lungs. As Snuggles has finally snapped out of his upper respiratory situation, we did not need a repeat to the vet clinic.
As usual the older ones on Stauffer Avenue never lack for tasks that need to be done. Where on earth do people get the “I’m bored.” I still am a firm believer that only boring people get bored . . . and that is all I have to say about that.
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Noreen
Lots of Help
There is no hole that can be dug without help from Snuggles or Butter Ball. Today, Butter Ball had to step up to the plate. Once I have a start on the dig and help comes onto the scene, I just step back until I have been given the O.K. Of course, after the plant is in place, the cats do have a sense of priority, and if left on their own, the plant will be dug out. I have found that a product called Critter Ridder sprayed on the dirt around the new plant takes their mind off of the most recent dig. After several days there has been way too many distractions for Snuggles and Butter to remember the fun of this current day.
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Noreen
Spit, Sweat and Polish
As we were waiting for the acre to be dry enough to mow, we got ourselves into a huge project. After all was said and done there was not a single square inch of the interior of Dennis’ pickup that had not been sterilized and homogenized. It is amazing what old tooth brushes can be saved for. About 3:30 the sun came out and with it came the lawnmowers. It was a great day with lots to show for the local effort of spit, sweat and polish.
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Noreen
A day for me to ride along with Dennis to Mankato. His fellow Korean veterans meet once a month for a luncheon and a short meeting. I needed to pick up some groceries and get a haircut. We knew we had driven out of rain as we left St. James, and were surprised to see we had 5/10ths when we checked our rain gauge when we returned home. I can almost hear our lawnmowers humming for tomorrow.
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Noreen
A Good Day – A Good Job
This is how our front door had looked like for more years than I care to admit. The wooden door was so warped, I had used a lot of brown duct tape to keep the drafts out. Not a good move for ingress, egress and safety measures. It is one of those situations that the longer to look and live with something, it becomes a non-important issue.
Two carpenters installed our new solid wood door today. We are now compliant with our homeowners insurance requirements. I need to use a bit of work to sand down the door frame and then stain it to match the door. We ordered the door stained and finished. How sad it would have been for us to do a less than good job and then have to look at it for many years to come. It is amazing how heavy the door is and how it really hugs in when closed. With there being a total of eight windows in the front porch, having a large window in the door was not a priority. A good job on the installation.
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Noreen
Snuggles is on the Mend
After too many days of sneezing, watering eyes and laying around as if he had no energy, Snuggles went to the vet clinic today. A shot of Vitamin A, a shot of antibiotic and eye drops should take care of the upper respiratory infection. Snuggles got to ride in the brand new carrier from Kevin and Kersten. I doubt that he would have cared if it had been a gunny sack.
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Noreen
Our huge remodeling project for the summer is getting a new interior front door. Two fellows are coming this week for the install. When I went to the lumberyard and paid for the door they said it would take two as it is a very heavy, solid wood. Dennis and I are getting a bit on and perhaps spoiled a bit, as we ordered it finished and ready to be hung. It is assuring that there will not be any streaks or runs in the polyurethane finish.
The old door, though solid wood, was so warped that no amount of weather stripping could fill the bill. Shame, shame on me for having it taped shut for the last several winters. I am ready to welcome Bob and Elmer with coffee and peanut butter cookies that I made today. Sure can’t be having work done and not have cookies and coffee ready for the guys.
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Noreen
Someone . . . Please Stop Us
A few wet, rainy days and you would think Dennis and I will never see a sunny day again to work in the yards. This morning the sun was shining, and though it was 44 degrees, it felt wonderful to breathe in the brisk air as I headed out to join Dennis in the porch for coffee.
It is always a wonder to me that Dennis has connections that make short work of some items of yard work. Dennis had been cruising past his nephew’s work site to see when a Bobcat would be sitting idle in the lot. When the concrete pouring season starts, the equipment could be anywhere within 100 miles in any direction of St. James. By 10:00 this morning, Dennis was in a Bobcat headed for Stauffer Avenue.
Brilliant blooms of the Weigela in years past.
Shrubs are a great addition to residential yards, but they do have a life span all of their own. For several decades the Weigelas have added a brilliant crown of red flowers in the backyard. Beginning last year, there was more bare wood showing than healthy branches just waiting to burst forth with an abundance of leaves followed by the flower buds. What do the older ones on Stauffer Avenue do? Dennis makes a contact and the plan of the day is to pull out the Weigela shrubs. While Dennis was in en route, my end of the bargain was to get the log chain out of the potting shed. There is no way after as much rain as we have had, that the lawn from the edge of Stauffer Avenue to the shrub site would not show the activity of the Bobcat, but it has to be done and grass grows back.
The Bobcat that was available had the heavy metal grid in the front with two lifting bars much like would be used to slide under pallets. Ingress or egress is not easy for my 78-year-old partner in crime. Where the heck were the steps? The plan was for me to manhandle the log chain around the base of the shrub and for Dennis to maneuver the touchy Bobcat controls. Oh yes, the chain was not tight enough on several tries and it slipped over the top of the shrub as Dennis raised the front. Try, try, try again until the first shrub’s roots were released and pulled free. The second shrub went much easier. I freed the log chair from the Bobcat and Dennis was on his way to return the mighty machine. By the time Dennis made the mile trip and returned in his little red pickup, the shrubs were in the burning ring and the holes were filled and raked off. The torn sod from the Bobcat’s impact on very wet soil and soft grass went down easily, and in several days it will look just fine. After Dennis returned the log chain back to its place in the potting shed, he commented that it sure was handy to have it on hand, but it wouldn’t hurt his feelings if it would be the last time we needed to use it.
Taking a break on the back patio seemed like the sensible thing to do. Butter Ball and Snuggles entertained to no end. Silly cats that have wound us right around their paws. Dennis leaned back in the lawn chair and I thought he was resting his eyes. Dennis was looking at the eavestroughs of the porch and the garages. The seeds from the Maple tree had just finished falling. How could they already be viable little trees standing at three to four inches tall?
Three hours later with many breaks in between, the porch and the garage for the Lincoln and the little red pick up have clean eavestroughs. Talk about slimy, smelly muck that needed to be troweled out by the lineal foot. Dennis made more trips up and down the stepladder than I could count. My part was to do away with the pails of mess as he handed it down to me, keep the garden hose positioned for the flushing, and try to find just the right tool to work the necks of the downspouts poked free of stuff that had them plugged up. So the choice is to have no eavestroughs and let the rain wash gullies around the perimeter of the buildings, or get down and dirty once in a while and clean them out. Actually, there was conversation about having a product installed much like a leaf guard.
All in all, I take it back. There is no stopping Dennis and me when it comes to doing whatever is needed to keep the property up to snuff. We both enjoy this place on Stauffer Avenue and take a lot of pride in keeping it “up to snuff.” It is so much easier to do the deeds when we notice the need, rather than letting it go and having a crisis or costly repairs.
The day is coming to an end and we clean up pretty good. Our Sunday morning tradition is already in place: frozen cinnamon rolls put out to thaw overnight. On Sunday morning the baking rolls bring a very inviting aroma that allows us to feel the peace that passes all understanding.
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Noreen
We again picked up 4/10 of an inch of rain. To date Dennis and I have been getting the yard work tucked in between rainfalls. After two days of extremely humid weather, they are now forecasting several nights at the 40 degree mark. As we watch what Texas and Oklahoma are contending with, there is nothing so important here on Stauffer Avenue that can’t be done working around the rains. After all, we need to remember who is in charge of the daily lives we have been given as mere stewards.