Wednesday, June 24
It was a fairly short day at the B&B. Much shorter than I had anticipated. I guess the mound of sheets I saw Sunday waiting to be washed after a good rain did not amount to a whole lot. That’s good.
I came home thinking we might be heading over to another local farm to pick up some beef ribs. Unfortunately they weren’t going to be home so we stayed home. We’ll arrange to get them another time.
As we were sitting on the front porch I saw the UPS guy drive by. I told CountryBoy I wished he was coming here with my bookshelf. Well, guess what? He pulled in the driveway and CountryBoy helped him unload one heavy, long box that held the parts to my book shelf. Yay! Later that day he and I started putting it together. I was SO glad I had gotten the room rearranged and ready the day before. It was easy to put together except we were missing one piece – the edge piece for the bottom shelf. I’ve contacted the manufacturer and the piece will be on its way shortly. I have a few books on the shelf but will wait to fill it until we attach the piece. It’s possible we may be able to attach the piece with a stubby philips screwdriver but I’d rather not take a chance.
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We discovered a major health issue with Greyfus. I won’t go into details but trust me, it is very gross and disgusting. We treated her with wound spray and peroxide but we fear it is already too late. I was treating her for an upper respiratory infection but apparently she recently became incontinent which caused the latest problem. It all happened so quick.
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Farm news: 32 eggs
Thursday, June 25
It was a restless night for me. I kept waking up thinking about Greyfus. We knew she was miserable and suffering horribly. There was only one thing to do. She had adopted us shortly after we moved in. We knew she was already an older cat but she was a good girl and nobody messed with her. I just hope that she enjoyed her last years here having plenty of food and water, the run of the farm, the comfort of the front porch and lots of attention. She is buried with our other cats and will definitely be missed. sniff.
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In other news, much better news in fact, CountryBoy called me at work today to say that work was going to begin on our pond tomorrow. YAY!!! Just in time for some predicted rain this weekend. The feller was going to start this afternoon but CountryBoy told him we had guests and he didn’t want to disturb their last night at the cabin. They are checking out tomorrow and we have guests checking in but hopefully the disturbance will be minimal during their stay. Anyway, I have not-so-patiently been waiting for almost a year for the pond to be dug. I can’t believe the time is finally here!!!
I have visions of a weeping willow beside the pond and a bench. So exciting!
Here’s hoping it will also help with some of our drainage issues when all is said and done.
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I came home from work to a rather large empty box with styrofoam bits strewn all about the walkway. The TV stand came in and CountryBoy was sitting on the living floor with pieces all around him and putting it together. Both the book shelf and the TV stand arrived sooner than expected. Love those kinds of surprises! Anyway, it took a little bit to get it all put together but boy, does it look good!
I like how the wires are not visible nor the surround sound components. When he wants surround sound he can slide open the doors and viola – more sound than you can imagine.
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Farm news: 29 eggs
I visited with the hens, roosters, and turkeys this evening
Speckles is really looking like a turkey now.
The wrinkly head and that chin!!! Blondie, who is now white, is not quite as big as Speckles and hasn’t quite achieved her turkey-look just yet…
We’re thinking they are both females but still aren’t sure. Of course, Popcorn was on the job making sure all was well…
He’s a good rooster and takes his job as ‘protector of his girls’ very seriously. He even harasses our other rooster when caught messing with a girl. I’m thankful those two tolerate each other. Two roosters is usually not a good thing but thankfully these two have established who’s in charge although I do catch them going head to head every now and then. boys!
Friday, June 26
What.a.day! We hadn’t even finished our first cuppa coffee and the feller that’s digging our pond showed up. 7:20 a.m. Mercy! After chatting with him to make sure we were all on the same page we then finished our coffee during which time CountryBoy told me what he had tried to get me for my birthday – a young jack (male donkey) but it had died of unknown reasons. Can you imagine this former city girl getting a gift like that? I was excited, disappointed and relieved all at once. Excited that he thought of such a gift and had gone through the effort to find one; disappointed because it fell through due to a very sad event; yet relieved that it didn’t die after we had him. I figured the timing wasn’t right and hopefully in the future I’ll have a lil’ donkey hanging out with the chickens, turkeys and Mabel!
The rest of the morning I did our laundry, worked on the crochet blanket and checked every now and then on the pond progress. A few feet down was a nice puddle of muddy water – a good sign!
The guests left around noon after stopping to chat and buying some jams & jellies and some washcloths and dish scrubbies. Once they were on their way CountryBoy headed to the car dealer to have some recall issues on our truck taken care of and I headed up to the cabin to get it ready for this afternoon’s guests. While CountryBoy was in town I had him exchange a skein of yarn for me so that I could finish the blanket. Thankfully his trip and errands went off without a hitch as did the cleaning of the cabin.
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The feller put in a long day of moving dirt and had quit right before our guests arrived. He got over halfway by the end of the day…
He’s pushing the extra dirt up the hill and we will try and sell it since it’s Grade A topsoil. Maybe we can recoup some of the pond expense. Although now that CountryBoy sees the mound of topsoil he’s thinking more along the lines of putting a slip’n slide straight into the pond. Always a kid at heart!
The hole in the ground has not been quite as devastating as when the same feller cut in the hillside to make the road to the cabin.
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After the feller left, the guests checked in, and we ate some leftover Spaghetti Bake we called it a day and vegged on the couch the rest of the evening. I crocheted while we watched old episodes of ‘Home Improvement’. I’m on the last row of the border.
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Farm news: 27 eggs
Saturday, June 27
The feller was back bright and early at 7 o’clock. Thankfully we knew he was going to be here very early and we notified and apologized to our guests for the disturbance. They were gracious and said they wanted to be up early anyway to do some hiking in the area. whew!
CountryBoy took his coffee to go and headed to town to get a culvert for part of the pond project. No culverts were to be found in the size that he wanted and he checked two different towns. I guess we’ll add that down the line when we can find one.
Meanwhile the feller finished up the pond then headed over to the creek that runs in front of the house and bulldozed the weeds and brush…
CountryBoy slung some grass seed out. The plan is to be able to mow, bush hog or weedeat right down to the creek. Y’all know how much I love to walk and explore the creek so I’m thrilled I’ll be able to do that and have access at any point along the front yard. But, the current state of our yard is a mess with dozer ruts and clumps of grass here and there. Time and a little effort will heal those wounds eventually.
Here’s the finished pond…
There is water already seeping up from below. That’s wonderful! We are expecting rain this afternoon and tomorrow so the pond should fill up rather quickly as it is in the direct path of the runoff from the hills and mountain.
Here’s the pond after a little bit of rain…
At its current state it is basically a large ditch and is lopsided. By the time that end fills up there will be none at the other end. The depths need to be reversed with the overflow (the end with the water) being more shallow and the other end deeper. The feller is going to come back and fix it when it dries out some.
Since we are expecting rain CountryBoy mowed and I threw some Cosmos seeds in my little flower garden. Are you familiar with Cosmos? I saw them for the first time last year and immediately fell in love with their simple beauty and whimsical nature. They are quite lovely in an arrangement as well. I’m hoping they will come up. We’ll see what happens.
With all the improvements that are taking place we are hoping that they will simplify the maintenance of the property over time. We are not getting any younger so our goal now is to do everything we can do to help us maintain the farm in the future.
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While CountryBoy was searching for a culvert this morning I finished up the crochet blanket. It’s a nice size coming in at 37×39 which is a great size to cover one’s lap or shoulders to keep the chill off. It could also be an oversized baby blanket. However one chooses to use it I think it turned out quite lovely.
It’s simple with a modern touch and is available for purchase. I’ve already got plans to start another one using more leftover yarn.
We relaxed for much of the afternoon. In fact, I pulled some of the leftover yarn out and got started on another blanket…
Such a simple pattern with beautiful results. If you like to crochet check out Daisy Farm Crafts on Pinterest for some great patterns.
My Pink Perfection Trumpet Lilies are gorgeous this year and smell so lovely…
Their fragrance kinda smells like a mix of gardenia and magnolia.
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Farm news: 30 eggs
Dream Valley Farmstead 