FINALLY!!!

Finally!  They started digging!

 

 

On Friday, they brought gravel up the (new part of the) driveway.  They are supposed to do the footings on Monday.   Big sigh....  Lots of different emotions on my part.  Excitement - fear - disbelief that it is actually happening...

Today I had a perfect summer lunch.  Tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden.

 

Our friend Bruno asked why I didn't have any pictures of the cattle.  I took this picture as we were leaving one evening.  I know you can't really see the cattle, but at least you can see they exist.  We have to go through two gates every time we enter or leave.  Big pain.

If there is more than one person in the car, the rider can get out, open the gate and close it again after the car goes through the gate.  If the driver is alone, he/she has to get out and open the gate, get back in the car and drive through the gate and then get out again to close the gate.

 

Well, one day, someone was going through the gate and the cows were right by the first gate like you see in the picture below.  One of the cows got through the gate and into the neighbor's pasture that we drive through to get to our place.  Bob and I, Charley and J went down to find her and get her back in our pasture.  We left Charley and J at the gate and Bob and I drove back through the pasture.  We didn't see any cattle, so we drove back to the gate.  J said, "We didn't see her, let's go back to the house."  He was teasing us which he likes to do.

 

Actually, the cow was just up the fence a ways in the shade of the tree and when she saw Charley, she came running to him and went right through the gate.  She knew she was not where she was supposed to be.

 

 

This morning I went out to the garden early and there were lots of spider webs sparkling in the dew.

Random Thoughts

Random thoughts for the past week:

I was mowing at evening time and that is my favorite time of day.  The long shadows flow across the lawn and the fog begins to rise from the river.  So often we sit inside in front of the TV and miss all this.

We've been talking for so long about the possibility of digging for our house that we are skeptical and will believe it when we see it.  On Monday of last week, the excavator came and put his poles in the ground. 

So now, we FINALLY have some progress!  Our builder came out to set the temporary electric pole and to dig this trench.  I'm not sure what the trench is for, but I'm  glad to see some dirt.

 

J started working on a birdhouse.  The kit only included a tiny brush for painting decorations so he used his hands to paint the whole thing.

 

 

 

Sunday after church, we went to Frisch's Big Boy for lunch.  J wanted his picture taken with The Big Boy.

 

 

 

Wed, Aug 7

It's been a while.  I've fallen into a habit of posting on Sunday night, but we stayed out at the farm for a few days to do chores while Charley, Jackie & J were gone to see family in North Carolina and Atlanta.  We enjoy waking up on the farm with the roosters crowing and the sound of the birds.  I'm surprised how much bird sound there is even though we only have a few small trees.

We have the small garden which you see in the first picture below.  Fenced.  This is where I have the 3 raised beds.  Beyond that is the big garden.  I think the rows are 30 feet long and there are 16 rows?  Anyway, it is pretty big.  Most of that is laid out with black plastic over the rows and drip irrigation under the plastic.  This year the University of Kentucky Agricultural Development paid for the plastic and the drip line, so they had a "field day" where these people came out to see what was going on.  The weeds are bad, although Bob and Charley had weed whipped most of them down.  This group of people was split between those who rely on chemicals to keep the bugs at bay and those like Charley, who choose to not use chemicals.  One man said that every Sunday afternoon his activity is to spray his garden.

There were a couple people that Charley hopes to develop a relationship with so he can learn from them.  All of them were really nice and willing to share their knowledge.

We were really excited that we were going to be able to start digging on our house this week, but it is not happening.  Monday, the excavator and the builder came out to look things over with the intent to bring the equipment back on Tuesday to dig.  Well, he had forgotten that an underground electrical line needs moved before they can dig.  The electrician came out on Tuesday but is busy on Wednesday and is having surgery on Thursday, so can't come until Monday.  Sigh...  Another week.

Usually the kids do the picking on Friday evening after we are gone, but this week we stayed to help.  It is beautiful to see the produce.  The beets in the right picture below are ones that I planted from seed in the greenhouse after I got here.  Then I transplanted them into one of the raised beds.  The variety is Bulls Blood.  I picked some of the greens to have one day, but none of us eat beets so we didn't try them.  They all went in the baskets for the CSA customers.  They had corn and potatoes.  To dig the potatoes, Charley is having to fight the weeds.

We had a momentous happening this week.  In the first picture below which was taken in 2010, you can see the big barn in the distance.  Since then, it had really been leaning (to the right).  We didn't feel it was worth trying to save it, so we just let it be.  On Saturday, Aug 3, Bob drove past on the tractor and thought it was leaning more than ever.  He thought about taking the gates off the end so they didn't get damaged, but didn't want to take a chance on cattle being in there when it fell down.

Well, Sunday morning, Aug 4 - this is the view.  The barn is flat on the ground like a line of collapsed dominoes

This is Bob walking on the roof.  We definitely want to salvage the roofing sheets.  The far right corner sheets were replaced by the previous owner so are fairly new.  Most of the wood is oak, but is so old that it is very difficult to use.  You have to drill holes because the wood is so hard.

 

Well, I guess that is all for now.  Another week and a half in the Bluegrass.

July 28

Well, it's been another busy week -- although I guess I should explain...
We don't get going very early in the morning now that we are retired.

So, one day this week, Jackie was cleaning.  She had the vacuum sitting in the middle of the room waiting.  J asked me what something was on the vacuum and I put him off.  He always wants to know how things work and I didn't feel like getting into it.

Well, it was time to vacuum and he said he wanted to do it.  Jackie helped him get started and then he said, "Can I do more?  This is my favorite job ever!"  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could keep that going!

 

Bob and I were down at the small barn.  When we moved, there was only room in the storage locker for our household goods that wouldn't fit in our apartment.  Most of the things from the basement workshop and the garage had to pile in the small barn.  Now that the shop/machine shed is ready, we are beginning to move some of that stuff to the shop.  So, we were down at the barn and moving some boxes and found this nest.  There was a box on top of this and when I moved it, this is what I found.  I put the box back on top and Bob said when he was down there a couple days later, the bird was arguing with him about being there.  The eggs were about the size of my big thumbnail.

 

July 21, 2013

Busy week again.  The temperatures were HOT!!  I can't take the heat because I had sunstroke at some point in my past.  Bob decided to pull weeds in the potatoes.  Otherwise, how will Charley be able to find them to dig?  For a few minutes, I was holding an umbrella over his head, but I got in his way.  Then we went and got the canopy.  It is one of the telescoping kind, so is very easy to set up - Except that one of the legs got broken last summer, so we had to prop a rake under one corner.  It worked well, but that task was just to overwhelming.  We gave up.  The areas where we mulched and hilled the potatoes earlier in the season kept the weeds down there, so that section should be good.  In this area, I guess he will just have to hunt.

I went to a friend's house to see her garden and they use cardboard for mulch with straw over it.  I think that is a great idea.  Maybe we need to start collecting cardboard for next year.

We hope to break ground for our house this week.  We haven't been told that for sure, but the paperwork is all in place.  In the front of the house, there will be an elevation drop for the walk-out basement.  I drove past this rock outcropping and I told Charley I want him to build something like this for the front yard.  I'm sure he can come close.

The drive out to the friend's house that I mentioned above is a beautiful drive.  I think the kids said that John Michael Montgomery lives (or lived) along this road.  The Kentucky four-plank fences ...

And the old stacked stone walls.  Made for a beautiful drive.

On Saturday, we were privileged to attend Rachel Bradley's (now Reilly) wedding.  We had some time to drive around the city of Cincinnati and found it very picturesque.

Cindy (with her husband Nathan) was the matron of honor.

Rachel and her husband Kevin make a beautiful couple!  We had a wonderful time with old neighbors from Wheaton.

The wedding was held in the beautiful St Mark's Church.

 

This week we harvested the beets and some swiss chard.  The chard continues to produce for a while, but I will need to figure out what to plant in my raised bed where the beets were.  We got our first tomatoes, but there was a lot of blossom end rot.  Had to throw away as much as we were able to pick.  Had some orange tomatoes that looked wonderful, but couldn't eat them ourselves because we needed them for the CSA baskets.  Hopefully this week. 

 

Oh - also we celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary this week.  We went out to dinner today after church with Claude and Sallie and the kids.  Had a wonderful time.  Thanks!

 

Another week in the Bluegrass.

July 16

This past week, we drove up to O'Hare Airport and picked up Josh, Rachelle and the girls.  The girls have grown so much!!

 

B is walking and talking and has her own opinions.

 

 

We went to the park and fed cucumber peelings and watermelon rinds to the animals.

K loves to sing and dance.

While Josh and Rachelle went to the doctor to get baby brother checked out, Bob and I had a picnic on the deck with the girls.

Then they played in the yard.

Then it was good to get back home.  We went down to the barn to get some stuff and when returning, I stopped on this hill to take a picture back up toward the house.  It shows the house with the green shop.  We are loving it here.

 

Bob is really enjoying his tractor and is using the loader for a whole lot of things.  We are beginning to set up in the shop so we went to the small barn to get the parts for the workbench we had in Wheaton.  He carried them in the loader.

We were really glad to get back home.  We can see the sky.

 

 

Another glorious sunset in the Bluegrass.

July 9

I mentioned the wedding that we hosted a week ago.  This is the whole field that we mowed.  They had a tent down by the creek, porta-potties down there and parking up at this end by the driveway.

 

 

J is fortunate to have an uncle who is a policeman in a nearby large city.  We were able to meet him while he was on duty and J was able to sit in the car and even turn the flashing lights on.

He put handcuffs on Charley.  It was an exciting time for us all.

We have had a lot of rain for a week.  It has finally moved on but we had a beautiful rainbow.  The major rainbow was complete!  I don't think I have ever seen that.  And there was a double on both ends.  Absolutely beautiful!

And then the sky was beautiful.

The kids had a friend move away who gave them a battery-operated 4-wheeler for J.  He was absolutely fearless.  I used the zoom for this shot.  This is close to a quarter mile from the house.  After he had gone a little farther on the lane, he got off on the grass and kept working his way down the hill.  Because everything is so wet, he kept backing up to try for better traction.  Pretty smart - huh?  But then he got to a point he couldn't get himself out, so he had to be towed by Grandpa with the mower and tractor.  Bob put the "motorcycle" on the mower and J on the tractor and brought him back up to the driveway.  He made it back to the house but had to get off and push a lot because of the steep hill and the wet gravel.  When he got back, he said his legs hurt.

 

 

What a wonderful week!  Another week in the Bluegrass.