I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Puttering
Monday is Memorial Day, which is a day that of remembrance of American soldiers who have died in military service. The town we lived in downstate always had a very touching ceremony outside the VFW and at the cemetery. Here in the north, we haven’t yet learned where the services are. EJ has Monday off from work so we are just spending the weekend quietly.
The National Weather Service in our area had said there was a slight chance for rain in our area yesterday. It’s been so hot and dry here that I was really hoping and hoping we would get some rain yesterday. We occasionally saw clouds billowing up, which raised our hopes. Areas just a few miles away got storms–some with ping pong ball-sized hail. The rain missed us. Rats.
The heat didn’t miss us though. It was so terribly hot that EJ and I sat in the living room with fans turned on us, too hot to even talk. Hannah was hot too. When we staggered back from our walk to the mailbox, she lay in the cooler hallway as soon as she got in the door.
In the evening, a breeze blew some cool air our way–probably from the nearby storms. It was cooler outside than inside, so we went out and sat on our deck. The gnats have been terrible this year and almost drove us inside, but EJ remembered the handheld bug zappers that look like tennis racquets, and we had fun swatting the gnats. Zzzt, zzzt, zzzt, sparked the gnats until there were none left. With the gnats gone, we had a pleasant evening chatting as darkness fell around us.
During the night it stormed so I didn’t have to water the garden or the fruit trees this morning. However, today was another very hot day.
This morning we discussed possible ways to spend the day. We almost decided to go to Lowes to buy a patio umbrella. Our current umbrella snapped on a windy day a couple of years ago. EJ corn-cobbles it together, but I have trouble getting it up or down. Today we discovered a craft project we would like to try–and maybe sell at Etsy–so we thought about going to Joann Fabrics to research supplies. However, we decided to save our money and stay at home. Our property is so beautiful and peaceful that we love staying home.
We puttered happily today.
EJ spent most of the day cleaning and organizing his garage. When we decided to move in 2015, everything went very fast. EJ put his resume on Indeed.Com, a few days later a company interviewed him on the phone, then they wanted to meet him in person. Then they hired him, and a couple of weeks later he was working at his new job. When we moved, we made multiple trips back and forth and shoved a bunch of stuff in the garage. EJ has been sorting through everything since then, discarding some things and organizing others. He works on the garage–in the summers when the weather is nice and his back isn’t throbbing too much. He made tons of progress today.
I did a bunch of little tasks. Using paint pens, I repainted my “Plum Crazy” sign on the poultry pen/garden gate. A larger sized pen would have worked better, but I still think it looks cute.
I also did laundry and hung the clothes outside to dry.
Then I pulled out the stove and cleaned behind it. I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, and vacuumed the carpet in the other rooms.
EJ found some snap pea seeds and asked me to figure out where to plant them in the garden. He said they needed to climb. So as I gathered eggs, I thought and thought. I finally decided that we could plant them outside the long thin planter boxes where EJ has planted his beans. They can climb up the fencing surrounding the planters. But I needed to keep the ducks from eating them. I found pieces of hog fencing that we had used for Danny’s pen downstate. They were just the right size for gates to allow us access to the beans and peas but block the ducks. I was hot and sweaty by the time I finished, so I went inside for a short break. We can plant EJ’s seeds tomorrow.
I decided to store the poultry feed and straw in the coop instead of the garage so I carried everything out there. Then I moved the cat house, which is actually a dog crate, that we set up in the garage for the outside cats last winter over to where the poultry stuff had been stored. That gives EJ more room in the rest of the garage.
In the midst of these tasks, during the hottest part of the day, we stayed inside for a bit and ate lunch. Our cat Kee-Kee sat on my lap and I brushed him because he’s getting too old to take care of his fur. Some of his hair flew up and Hannah leaped at it. I thought she might enjoy chasing bubbles, so I blew some for her. She had a ball.
EJ and I ended our day by sitting out on the deck again to enjoy another beautiful evening. I had fun trying to capture the night sky. There weren’t many stars out because the moon is full and its light hid them. However, I loved the beauty of the moon and the trees.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter than today with temperatures in the high 80’s. Ugh. However, in spite of the heat, we are really enjoy our quiet weekend of puttering at home.
I Love To Go A Gardening 
It was way too hot – I will be glad when it is over, but Wednesday through Friday is supposed to be rainy and stormy … hopefully not volatile as a result of the hot weather. I could do with another few days off … Saturday was kind of a wasted day, but I wish I had your energy, even in the heat!
LikeLike