Saturday, May 9
We woke to a frosty ground and a cold house. CountryBoy got the fire going again and I started the coffee on the stovetop. Before long the house was warming and our coffee was percolating. We had nowhere to be and nothing major on the agenda.
During my second cuppa coffee I started in on the second camper cushion. All I needed was the zipper and I would be ready to start sewing. It took me two hours before the zipper was useable. To start off with, the zipper would not unzip. CountryBoy asked why I was bothering if it wouldn’t unzip. Obtaining zippers these days, especially one of that length, is impossible so I had no choice but to give it my all because I had no other option at this point. I painstakingly removed the zipper one stitch at a time. I finally came to a section that ripped out easily only to rip part of the side of the zipper – the side that I needed in order to attach the zipper to the fabric. sigh. I carried on. The other side took even longer but eventually the zipper was free! Now to try to get it to budge. I put some drops of sewing machine oil on the zipper pull. nothing. I took it out to the Dremel shop and ran a wire brush over it because there was a bit of corrosion. It cleaned up well but still, nothing. From there I went to CountryBoy’s shop and squirted some WD-40 on it. Nothing. sigh. I came back in the house and grabbed a pair of pliers. I pulled and pulled and pulled and then pulled some more. My fingers were hurting but I kept on pulling on the zipper pull. Eventually it moved a little. That gave me a bit of encouragement so I kept on until finally it began to move. The zipper remained a tad obstinate but at least it was moving.
Now that my zipper was finally working I headed upstairs to knock the cushion out since all my pieces were cut and prepped. yea, no. Not so much. I won’t go into the boring details but another two and a half hours later I finally came down with the finished cushion. sheesh. I sure thought the second one would go much quicker than the first one. I’m just glad I didn’t let it beat me. Now on to the cushion seats. Those are a little bit bigger than the backs but it’s still the same concept. I sure hope those zippers cooperate.
While I was ‘rastling with the zipper and cushion CountryBoy weedeated up at the cabin. He also fixed the French doors as they were difficult to close. He removed the locking pin on the one door and straightened it out. Then he did some sanding and they close great now.
I didn’t get much else done. When the cushion took so much longer than I had anticipated it kinda threw me for a loop and I couldn’t get my head wrapped around any other project. I did do some knitting and CountryBoy and I sat with the chicks & turkeys for a bit out in the greenhouse.
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Farm news: 30 eggs
The new leaves on the pecan trees did not survive last night’s frosty grip. However, CountryBoy reports that the sugar snaps and both grapevines are OK. Hopefully the pecan trees will give it one more go ’round.
Sunday, May 10
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!
Last night I jokingly said to CountryBoy “what, nobody wants to spend Mother’s Day in the cabin?” as I was pulling up the email account for the cabin. Lo and behold there was a confirmed booking for the 10th. I asked him what the date was and yep, someone wanted to stay in the cabin for Mother’s Day. Yay!!! Needless to say, we still hadn’t gotten it ready from the last guests so guess what we’re doing today after church?!
Stinky LizzieBelle got a bath this morning so that she could go to church. I didn’t think we could’ve stood being in the truck with her stinky self. I’m sure we would’ve ended up bailing out before the end of the service, ha!
After church we headed up to the cabin and got it ready for today’s guests. It didn’t take us long and before we knew we were were headed back down.
As I was pondering how to display my dish scrubbies and washcloths I had an epiphany. The handmade teacart that we had up in the cabin at one time was taking up space in CountryBoy’s shop. I thought ‘why don’t I use that?’ I removed all the stuff that was stored on top of it and drug it through the yard. I dusted it off and rolled it into the greenhouse. It fit perfect!
The greenhouse/market is a difficult place to keep clean. We are constantly tracking in dirt, mud, grass clippings, you name it. Now the chicks & turkeys are residing in there and they are truly messy! I think the ‘mess’ would turn people off from wanting to buy anything so I’m constantly trying to get it organized, keep it organized and, of course, keep it clean. It doesn’t always happen. It’s a farm – what can ya do?!
Lot’s of dish scrubbies – which are Countryboy approved I might add – and washcloths. There’s also a space to bag up the eggs. I’m hoping people will take notice of them now when they come for eggs. It won’t be long before the bowl is full of dish scrubbies since there is always one in the works …
The other area I rearranged this afternoon is our little seating area in the greenhouse…
We enjoy sitting out here so I wanted it to be comfortable. (The wood stove will eventually go in the Dremel shop but for now it makes a perfect table to set our drinks.)
There is still a lot of stuff in the greenhouse/market area but I’m hoping it looks a little more inviting and a lot less like the catchall room that it is.
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Farm news: 26 eggs
The potatoes did not do well under the frosty circumstances. We’re hoping that new sprouts will eventually appear and we will get some taters after all. CountryBoy removed the tarps today and upon second glance the grapevines did not fair well either. It may be a slim to none year for fruit. On the other hand the sugar snaps look great as do the beets. whew.
Dream Valley Farmstead 