Sunday, September 13
It was a nice, rainy day. I would’ve loved to have stayed home and enjoyed a rainy afternoon but my work ethic would not allow it so off I went in the pouring rain when the time came. Behind the rain is supposed to be some cooler temperatures. I’m hoping for less humidity at the very least.
Since we didn’t have anyone booked for tonight we opted to leave the cabin be until a dryer day which is supposed to be tomorrow.
The day was rather uneventful until the evening. CountryBoy went out the back door to lock the chickens up and a small black snake was hanging out on the floor mat in the mudroom. It skedaddled under the kitchen floor ledge and to who-knows-where but we could not find it. great! And, yesterday evening, I let LizzieBelle out the back door and there was a much larger black snake sunning itself on the stoop. She walked right over it and had no clue it was even there. It quickly disappeared as well. We don’t mind the black or indigo snakes because they eat the poisonous ones. But, they must understand that they are not to startle me and all will be well. However, in my house? Yea. Not real keen on that. We are hoping it went back out the way it came in. Thankfully we don’t see too many snakes and so far, the ones we’ve seen have been non-poisonous.
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On a different note, it was a pretty low-key day. This morning I finished up the lapghan…
It’s mostly made from leftover yarn. I ran out of the lighter color and bought a couple skeins. The color flecks throughout the yarn were much darker which made the stripes darker. You can see the difference in the center of the blanket. However, the different tones do not alter the warmth of the blanket which is the perfect size to cover the lap and the legs during those cold, winter months.
This evening I started the baby blanket…
I have plenty of time to get this one done but the way time is flying by I’d better keep plugging away at it.
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Farm news: 15 eggs. The girls were slacking today.
Monday, September 14
This morning started way too early. I was rudely awakened with another allergy attack at 2:50 a.m. – watery eyes, sneezing, a runny nose. I went downstairs stepping lightly (because I sure didn’t want to step on the snake!) until I reached the light switch in the kitchen. No snake. whew! I proceeded to heat some water for a cuppa tea. I sat on the couch crocheting, then did a little perusing of Instagram & Pinterest while sipping my tea. When I had finished my tea I was feeling much better so I propped myself up on a bunch of pillows on the couch and went back to sleep for another hour or so until time to get up and start the coffee. By then I felt OK and just a teeny bit tired.
As soon as I walked in the door at work the phone was ringing and it pretty much rang all morning long. It was a busy morning which made it fly by. Thankfully it was a fairly smooth day. I even managed to get some pages laid out then after I couldn’t do any more I left at 4 o’clock in plenty of time to be home to welcome another guest.
CountryBoy spent his day cleaning the cabin and doing the same ‘ol thing as he says. I’m not really sure what that entails. You’ll have to ask him. He was making supper when I got home which, I guess, is part of his same ‘ol thing, ha! We sat on the porch while he grilled some chicken. The weather was perfect today – the high was 77 and the humidity was low. We are to have several more days like this. yay!
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Farm news: 25 eggs
Tuesday, September 15
I managed to get through the night without being rudely awoken by an allergy attack. However, I have been mildly bothered by them all day today. I will be making some hot tea right after I finish today’s entry and I may add an extra spoonful of honey. I’ve been hoping with the nice rain we had the other day that all the pollen would be disappearing. Maybe soon.
We were in and out today at work. It seemed as if no sooner did I get there we had the OK from the printer and I was gone. Probably because it was a busy morning. I had to take care of a billing issue right off the bat. Once I got that squared away I finished up my pages, printed them all out and before I knew it I was exporting the pages and sending them to the printer. We got the A-OK around 11:40 and I was gone at noon. I came home and potted some basil that had rooted in a glass of water I had in the kitchen and then I went to Walmart. I was in search of some rechargeable batteries and charger (no luck), a nail trimmer (kinda like a Dremel tool that uses a drum sander) for LizzieBelle, and some doggie beds. I got the nail trimmer, picked up some cheap washcloths and hand towels as well as two twin blankets and two doggie beds for the cabin. Oh, and I decided it was high time for some new underwear. Yea, I know, too much information but just keeping it real. ha!
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I can tell Fall is approaching. Not only are the temperatures dropping (it was another 77 degree day) but the days are most definitely shorter. It’s not even 8 o’clock in the evening and the street/security lamp is on already and the chickens are on their roosts by 7:45 and it’s not daylight until almost 7 a.m. We’re not wishing for winter yet but a nice long Fall would be lovely. One more week to go and it will be here – woohoo!
Speaking of winter, we truly aren’t ready for it yet because we have very little wood in the wood shed (another reason to hope for a long Fall). CountryBoy was going to take me to work this morning and cut down a tree at a friends place. That is until he was asked to go play golf today. Priorities, right?! But that’s OK because there won’t be too many more days he’ll be able to play and we’ll have time to get some wood before we need it. As it turns out it’s actually a good thing he didn’t take me to work because we finished so early. I would’ve probably had to wait on him to get home and then drive into town to pick me up. We’ll hit it hard on my days off over the next several weeks and we’ll get stocked up.
I am looking forward to the slower pace of Winter. We don’t tackle any major projects during that time and staying warm and keeping the animals water from freezing are about the only priorities. Well, that and work and keeping the cabin ready for guests. Hmm, I wonder how we’ll fair this winter for bookings. Last winter we were definitely surprised by the number of bookings so it will be interesting to see if we get even more. But, that means more wood. I guess we’d better get crackin’, er choppin!
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Farm news: 21 eggs
Wednesday, September 16
It was an uneventful day just as much of the week, so far, has been. Uneventful doesn’t mean there hasn’t been obligations or the usual chores to be taken care of it just means nothing exciting or out of the ordinary has happened. I’ll take uneventful!
Work (at the B&B) was good. We lingered over breakfast and then all hopped up and started bustling getting our individual jobs done. For me, it was adding new Contacts to our newsletter program, making more room sprays for the gift shop, and washing, drying and ironing sheets. There’s weren’t that many sheets when I got there but there were quite a few people in the two cabins that were leaving so I knew I would have plenty of sheets on the way. While waiting for them I decided to tackle the pile of sheets with some sort of stain on them. I’m happy to say that I had success in getting the stains out. That’s always a good thing and definitely a money-saver.
I got home just in time to meet and greet our guests. After that we hung out on the front porch with me sniffing and blowing every now and then. Love these days! Well, not the sniffing and blowing but the weather – it’s perfect!
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Farm news: 20 eggs
The green beans and the peas keep putting out…
CountryBoy is ready to mow the corn stalks and the beans over but there are still green beans on it…
He’s tired of picking ’em but I can’t bear to pull up or mow down a vegetable that is still putting out. ya know?! Especially after the year we’ve all had.
The okra is just now starting to produce…
We didn’t plant very many this year because we still have quite a few gallons bags in the freezer from last year.
Thursday, September 17
It’s my FRIDAY – yay!!! CountryBoy took me to work again today because he had a lot of errands and jobs to do. One of those was going to a friends to get the scoop on some trees to cut down. It’s that time of year! He also had to take a trip to the dump for my B&B boss and while in town he went to the bank. He picked me up after going to the dump and we dropped off a gas can he had filled for my boss as well. While there she mentioned about needing some grass seeds – two 50 lb. bags of it so we decided to head back to town and get it while we had the time and since we were halfway there. We dropped it back off and she was surprised yet happy. That should be all the ‘truck for hire’ jobs for a few days anyway, ha!
Work, for me, was slow. The morning went by fairly well but by lunch time it was deader’n a doornail and remained so until I left at 3:30.
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Farm news: 23 eggs
Friday, September 18
Sleep eluded me much of the night. I kept thinking that I needed to finish painting the dining room ceiling. ugh. I started painting the ceiling almost a year ago and didn’t get very far. My shoulders paid for the little bit that I managed to get painted and I’ve been dreading and postponing finishing the job. For some reason it has been on my mind the last several days and last night it was the constant thought during every waking moment. I told myself I would get back on it this weekend. I was also having some trouble with a runny nose. My thoughts and my nose finally settled down around 2:45 and I slept fitfully until 6:30 when my nose started acting up again. I decided to go ahead and get up. Doing so would give me a nice, long day off.
After some strong coffee and a quick bowl of cereal CountryBoy headed to some friends to cut down a tree. He took the log splitter with him so he could cut and split them while there. While he was gone our guests left so I went up and started to get the cabin ready. Since they left early I decided to do a deep clean and I took the time to shift a few things around in the effort of creating a little bit more room to maneuver inside the cabin. There’s a lot of furniture pieces in that 209 sq. feet so every inch of space created is of great value. CountryBoy came home while I was up there. I could hear him throwing the logs in the wheelbarrow so that he could stack them in the wood shed. When we both had finished we took a few logs up to the cabin. It’s supposed to be in the forties tonight and I’m sure the guests will want to start a fire in the morning or, perhaps in the middle of the night, to warm it up in there. I’m thinking I got those blankets just in time!
By the time we came back down it was the middle of the afternoon. I quickly talked myself out of starting the painting job because it was too late in the day. I plan on tackling it first thing in the morning since the guests are staying for two nights. The only other must-do on my list for tomorrow will be the laundry.
Before I got started on anything today I went into the greenhouse to get the watering can and lo and behold there was a baby bird sitting on the floor by the door that goes out onto the front porch. I started talking to it and it didn’t seem to be too jumpy or skittish so I continued to slowly approach while talking to it. I was able to pick it up and it didn’t flinch. At this point I was hoping it was OK. I stroked its head for a while then set it on the window trim of an open window.
I continued to stroke its head and back and it fell asleep. How adorable! Several minutes later it lost its balance when the right foot slid off onto the sill. I picked it up again and it promptly hunkered down in my hand and closed its eyes. If I didn’t have so many things that I needed to do I would’ve sat there and held it for who knows how long. But, duty called so I sat the bird back on the sill.
A few minutes later it flew out the window and landed on the Rose of Sharon just outside the window where it stayed for a bit and then flew off. Such a sweet moment! I love those moments when I can interact with wildlife and nature.
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Let’s hope my mind will let me sleep tonight even though I didn’t get any painting done. I did, at least, gather all the supplies. I’m moving in the right direction so hopefully that counts for something!
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And the snake? Haven’t seen it since. Hopefully it went right back out the way it came in!
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Farm news: 23 eggs
Dream Valley Farmstead 