Time

Well it has been a long time since I last posted anything. When I started this page I had grand ideas about what I would put on it but then reality hit. I started reading other blogs and I thought who would want to read about my boring life. It was a bit of a downer for me. And then life got in the way. I got a part time job and my time became less and less. The garden was a bust this year. A family member past away and then we got a new puppy. As I sit here at about 4:30 in the morning I realised that this is exactly what this page is about. It is about sharing our life with friends and family and who ever else might stop by to read about our boring life.

So I guess it is catch up time. First thing that happened is I got a part time job. I am working for a very nice gentleman in our church. He owns a construction company and I am working in his office. It has been an interesting time. I have not worked for about 20 years or more. I spent my life raising my kids and taking care of the house but the kids are getting older and don't need me as much anymore. It has been fun getting out there and being in the public and meeting new people. I have even learn a few new things along the way. But this said job has gotten in the way in some ways. I have less time to work on things around the house. The big things was the garden this year. I started off with a bang, I had a about a hundred or more plant starts this year. But then things started to go wrong. First was the new job, less time. Second was the weather. It was a very weird year here with the weather. It seems that we went from winter to summer with no spring. It is nice to know that I am not alone. I have talked to several people that have had the same problems. An example is when I planted my peppers(had to wait till the temps got warm enough at night) it was mid June and the next day they were wilted and dead. And they were the second set of peppers that I tried, so I just gave up this year. It is that time thing again. Maybe by next year I will have learned to manage time better by then.

Another big event to happen to us this year was the addition of a new puppy to our family a couple of months ago. My daughter had bothering me about this puppy for months. Mind you this is no ordinary puppy. This would be a Saint Bernard puppy. Yep that's right! We have a monster for a pet. Meet Ivan.This picture is when he first can home. He has put on about 30 pounds since he came to live with us. That was about 2 months ago. He is quite the dog. He was supposed to be my daughters dog but you know how that goes. He is now a mama's boy. We have been building him a dog house and I have been telling everyone that We Ivan passes away we will be able to rent it out as a dorm room. It is huge!! Well my alarm just went off so it is time to get ready to go up to the cabin and work for the weekend. That is a whole other page for later. lets just say it was a gut job. Will post pictures of that later and maybe you can commiserate with me. Till later and hopeful not such a long time between posts.

Wind!!

The wind is blowing again today. You would think that I would be used to it by now. We have lived out here for 5 years and it still bothers me. I have learned that I will always have that wind swept hair style no matter what I do and skirts are a gamble. I am not talking about a little breeze here. We are supposed to have gusts up to 50 miles an hour today. My poor plants take a beating out here and I wonder if they will survive at times. The wind dries things out and beats things to death. It is really fun when you are sitting at the kitchen table and you see a tent blow by. Saw it happen once and it was put together, not just the fabric. Kiddy pools?? Not a chance. We see them everywhere. The poor birds, sometimes I will see them trying to fly into the wind and they can't move in mid air. The wind can be quite destructive also. I watched the roof of our shop blow off last summer. It pull up about a quarter of the shingles in one gust. Not a fun fix. After dealing with it for awhile you learn a few things. First, no loose pillows on the outdoor furniture, no delicate plants, they just get ripped to shreds. Keep both hands on the wheel and be prepared to dust everyday. And last but not least have a back up plan for dinner if you are planning to grill outside. Till next time. Try not to blow away.

Time to catch up

Well it's been awhile since I wrote anything. I have to admit that I was just not in the mood to talk. I had been sick for a week and then we had bad weather so not much to talk about. The last couple of days have been beautiful and have even got some more of the veggie beds cleaned out. Worked in the asparagus bed and go it all cleaned out. I had checked it about a week ago and there was nothing there and today there was enough for a meal!! Then I moved to the strawberries and got most of the dead stuff out and gave them a good soak while I was at it. I use the watering to get the weeds out. They seem to have grown overnight also. All the trees are setting blooms now and maybe in a week or so they will bloom and start setting fruit. We got apples for the first time last year. I am hoping for peaches and cherries this year. The trees are about 5 years old now. We are thinking about more fruit trees this year. Not sure what we will plant. Have to see what is in the nursery this fall. That is when we like to plant our trees. We also have been working on our fish pond. It had a leak last fall and had to be replace. I will post pictures of that project later. Well have to get back at it. Later

What Happened To Spring??

It is about 6:15 in the evening and I am sitting at the kitchen table watching the snow melt. We had a nasty storm blow through last night. Strong winds, side blowing snow and lightening. Yes I said lightening. It was really weird. There was so much snow blowing that all you would see is the night sky turn blue for a few seconds. Of course what happens next? The power goes out. It is about 10:30 in the evening at this point. Just finished watching the news telling us about the storm. Not a deal breaker but it does not come back on till the next morning!! You hear the stories on the news about people being without power for days but you never think it is going to happen to you. Now I know that it was not days but at 4 in the morning you start wondering. You have no heat and you then you realize that you have no hot water because the hot water heater has an electronic pilot light and thermostat. It is not a pretty picture in your mind. The hubby is laying next to me, we are both awake at this point, talking about going to IHOP for breakfast. No cooking for me, we have an electric stove. I on the other hand, am thinking I can not leave this house without being able to at least wash my hair. I know, I know, a bit shallow but hey that is the way I am. No make-up,the jeans I wore yesterday, that is doable but I have to wash my hair. Drives the hubby nuts!! Then I start thinking, no coffee, I can not turn on the coffee maker because we have no electricity. The camping stove is at the cabin which is under about a foot of snow, so no help there. This is going to be a bad day!! I toss and turn for a couple of more hours until Barron decides that it is time to go outside and go potty. Still no electricity. I make the daughter get up and let out the dog. I want to stay in the warm bed!! And then miracle of all miracles I hear the heater kick on. The day is saved. We have coffee. I think that the next time we go to the cabin the camp stove is coming home with me.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday Zach turned 17. It is hard to believe that my baby is almost all grown up.When Amanda and I went to get him a birthday cake we found the perfect one. Zach has been giving me grief here lately about my Farm on Face Book. I have been playing since just before Christmas. That would be Amanda's fault. She got me onto Face Book and now she regrets but I have enjoyed finding people that I used to know. Any way we found the perfect cake for Zach. He thought that it was funny.

Getting closer to planting time!!

Planting time is getting closer every day. On Sunday afternoon I planted up my seeds for the garden. Last year started to early so I waited about 3 weeks later this year. Can hardly wait to see these start sprouting. We have a variety of peppers for salsa, broccoli, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, both pickling and salad, herbs and even some flowers going. On Saturday Don and I got out in the garden and cleaned out the raised beds and turn the soil so we are ready to plant later in the season. I still have some clean up work to do and trash to get rid of but that won't take long to do. Still have to finish up on my flower bed. Started lifting Irises last fall and trying to clean out all the grass and weeds but time got away from me and did not get it finished so will try to get it done this spring. It is going to be a big job but needs to be done badly. This last fall I brought in all my pot and put them in the basement and all over the house to see if I could keep them alive over the winter and so far most of them are still alive. This will save me some money this year. I will not have to buy more plants to fill them up again. They are getting a little leggy but once I cut them back and get them outside I think they will do fine. I think Don thought that I was nuts when I started bring them in because they are sitting under every window trying to get the sunshine. I am getting antsy to get things back outside and enjoy the warmer weather but it is still a little too cold yet.

I was talking to my mechanic yesterday and he was telling my that they got 11 inches of snow up in Westcliffe on Monday. He lives up there and drive in to town to work everyday. That is where the family cabin is. My daughter was hoping to get up there over spring break but I don't think it is going to happen. She will be disappointed but that is they way thing go. Hopefully nothing broke over the winter. Last year we had to replace a good portion of the plumbing in one of the cabins. All of the water did not get drained and they froze and broke. Of course we found out the hard way, with water everywhere when we turned on the pump. So keeping our fingers crossed that nothing happened. It seems like something always needs to be fixed after the winter. Be it plumbing or a broken window or rotting wood steps, it is never finished.

Later this week we have family coming in from out of town to stay with us. Our niece and her basketball team are in the state championship playoffs this weekend. It starts tomorrow evening and we will be there rooting her on to victory!! These will be her last games as she is a senior this year and will be off to college next year. Will keep you all posted on how they do. Off for now. See you at the next post.

Spring is in the air!

So here I sit this morning looking out the kitchen window thinking about spring. The weather the last couple of days has been fighting itself, does it want to still be winter or move into spring. I vote for spring! The need to dig has hit again this year. My poor garden is in bad shape right now. I need to pull out all the old stuff and get the soil ready for new plants. My basement is full of seeds, peat pots, soil, and grow lights. The new grape vines are starting to sprout green leaves so I will need to get them in something soon as they are bare root plants. My Concord grapes put on grapes last year and we made some great jelly with them so I thougth I would put in more this year. It will take a couple of years for them to produce but it is worth the wait. I would like to put in a few more trees this year also. We were going to put some in last fall but missed the opportunity to get it done. We got our first crop of apples last year and are looking forward to a bigger crop this year. Maybe the cherry and peach trees will give us something this year. Looking to put in pear and maybe apricot trees this year. We keep going a little at a time. We have come a long way in five years. We started with a new house and an acre of dirt. We have spent the last five years planting and growing our little oasis. I see a history lesson in the near future but back to spring. It is time to get down and dirty, I need to start planting up my seeds and planning for summer harvest. More salsa this year and more jellies. Don wanted Jalapenos this year. I did not plant enough last year for his pickles jalapenos so I will make sure to plant more this year. I try something new every year and this year it will be companion planting. Mixing different plants together to help each other. We will see how it goes. Watch for updates in the near future and follow along with each new adventure.