Sunday, March 29
The day started out like any other. After coffee and breakfast I typed up something for the B&B job then it was time to get ready for church. With churches not opening their doors due to social distancing our church held a drive-in church. It was pretty cool and it was history in the making for our little country church. We all sat in our cars, windows rolled down, waving to one another and we were able to listen to the sermon through the church’s PA system. It was great seeing everyone and to hear an encouraging message in these crazy times.
When we got home I emailed what I had typed up to my boss then decided that my houseplants needed a good dose of water with some fertilizer in it. CountryBoy decided to bush hog the patch of grass beside the garden and plant his newly acquired pecan and hazelnut sticks.
Seriously, they are sticks. After that he decided to mow the entire yard and he mowed over the freshly bush hogged patch to mulch up the grass he just bush hogged and promptly ran over one of his sticks. Before, when I asked if he was going to place some old tires around the sticks he said he’d know where they were. Um, yea. Later on I went to the barn and found two old tires and put them over two of the sticks. They are planted in a line so maybe the two tires will help him see the others.
While he mowed I picked up downed tree limbs and brush then planted a Wisteria stick by the front porch arbor. This stick had a nice length of green and some leaves on it so fingers crossed it does well. I’ve always thought it would be lovely to have Wisteria draped over the arbor.
I came back in the house and decided I’d better check the email for the cabin. Nothing. Zip. Zilch but an error message that I was not connected to the Internet. I did all the usual – rebooted the computer, reset the router, turned off the router, waited ten or fifteen minutes then turned it back on. Nothing. Zip. Zilch but the same ‘ol message. great. I’ve cut the line that leads from our phone box to the house when I was digging. The only thing is, I knew I was well away from where the line was and I never saw anything that resembled a phone line except for one root that caused me a moment’s panic but it was just that, a root. whew. Or was it? But surely, I must’ve done something because the timing was too perfect. A few hours after the discovery of no Internet service our phone went out as well. It was much later in the day when we found out that the Internet was down all around us. Good to know I did NOT break the Internet!
I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the front porch reading a ‘Country Garden’ magazine from 2006. I have a bunch of old magazines that were given to me a LONG time ago in a metal tub on the front porch waiting for me to read through them. It was nice to be able to pull one out and read it from cover to cover. It was in too rough of shape to be passed on so I tossed it.
The wind was blowing ferociously. While I was sitting on the porch listening to more of the barn roof breaking loose and fighting with the sheet I have draped on the couch cushions an idea came to me. Why not sew the sides of the sheet together and insert some ties so that I could tie the sheet to the back of the couch and then it won’t blow off. Genius! Before I tackled that idea I needed to wash the sheet so I went ahead and washed all of the sheets I have covering the porch furniture. Once they were out of the dryer I headed to the sewing machine and ten minutes later I was tying the sheet onto the couch.
It works great!
When I finally dragged myself off the porch I decided to tie in the ends on the hexagon afghan and get it over with because I had another row waiting to be attached. It won’t be long before this project will be finished. Just in time for summer! I won’t need to use the afghan but I certainly don’t want it all bunched on my lap while I’m working on it during those summer months.
.
Farm news: 34 eggs, two hazelnut and two pecan sticks planted
Monday, March 30
Only one more day left in March. Honestly, where is the time going? At this rate I’ll be busy canning garden goodies next month. Just kidding. But it sure seems the days and weeks are going by that quickly.
Today was pretty much like any other Monday. I went to work, did all my Monday tasks and left at 3 o’clock. The boss isn’t minding me leaving early if I’m caught up because it’s saving her money.
I came home to a beautifully weed-whacked farm. CountryBoy even weed-whacked the chicken paddock fence area by the driveway and it made a huge difference. I enjoy seeing the chickens as I’m coming and going and by the end of summer that area is so overgrown that they can’t be seen. I also think it’s good advertising for the country eggs.
Because the house renovation is nearly completed we are turning our attention to the outdoors this year. The downstairs bathroom is the only thing left to redo but I’m not ready to tackle it just yet. I think we both need a break from renovation. We’ve expanded the vegetable garden and we’re adding another small garden by the outhouse for flowers. That garden will eventually morph into the tomato, carrot & asparagus garden behind the house. This new garden will develop over time but we’re starting this year with the area closer to the outhouse. I’ve wanted to have a small flower garden since we’ve moved here so I’m excited!
.
Farm news: 31 eggs, a freshly weed-whacked farm, and Creamsicle overseeing it all from his perch in the Catalpa tree
Tuesday, March 31
From flip-flops & short sleeves to boots & a sweatshirt. Today is cold and rainy. We had coffee in front of a burning fireplace this morning rather than on the front porch. I am currently typing today’s journal entry in front of that same burning fireplace. I’m afraid there will be no front porch sittin’ today.
This morning we knocked the paper out fairly quick and that included me having to spend part of the morning closing out the month, printing statements then folding and stuffing them into envelopes. I also scanned a few of the statements so a coworker could email them to the clients. I was outta there by 1 o’clock.
On the way home I had to stop at our insurance agent’s office to sign some paperwork via the rainy drive-through window and pay for the new policy for the cabin. After that I headed home only to leave again to go to the grocery store. We picked up a few items for ourselves and for my boss. We dropped her groceries off to her on our way home. We were unable to get any sugar and we had to resort to the store brand white cornmeal as that was the only one available. Let’s hope it’s OK. Not all cornmeals are created equal, ha!
I can’t decide whether I want to work on the hexagon afghan or start cutting the sashing for the quilt this evening. I only have two more rows to go on the afghan and part of me is wanting to get that project completed. Besides, I always dread cutting fabric so the other part of me is more than happy to procrastinate a bit longer on working on the quilt due to the whole dread of cutting issue. We’ll see which part wins!
.
Farm news: 35 eggs and the newly planted lavender, transplants and nut sticks were watered well today with all the rain water
Dream Valley Farmstead 