I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Lord of Michigan
Last night was supposed to be the peak of the Perseid meteorite shower so I decided to stay up and watch it, at least for a while. EJ couldn’t watch it with me because he had to get up early this morning to go to work.
It’s not as much fun watching a meteorite shower in a spooky forest all by myself. Once I heard the snapping of a branch in the forest, and I wondered if it was a deer, or a bear, or maybe even the mythological dogman which is supposed to roam the area. Another time I stepped off the deck and heard a tree creak loudly. It made me jump. I stayed where I was but when I heard it loudly creak a second time, I called out “I’m sorry!” and quickly scurried over to the deck. The trees didn’t creak after that. I heard the creepy howling and barking of coyotes and imagined them stalking me. I also imagined wolf spiders crawling around at my feet. Despite the spookiness, I kept watching until the wee hours–maybe 1:30a.m.? I saw a few meteorites but I didn’t see the predicted 60-100 per hour. It’s much more fun staying up late watching meteorites with EJ.
I was very tired from my late night so after EJ went to work, I went back to bed to get a little more sleep.
After I got out of bed, got dressed, and drank several cups of coffee, I headed outside to make a new garden gate. I liked the look of the old wooden gate, but it became too rickety and hard to close. After I removed it by taking out a few screws with the screwdriver and banging it off the hinges with a hammer, I got out a section of sturdy cattle panel that had once been used for Danny’s (may he rest in peace) pen at our old house downstate. Predators could easily get through the large squares so I got out our roll of chicken fencing, cut off a section, and covered the cattle panel with it. Then I fastened the gate to the wooden posts with large staples. I didn’t hammer them all the way in so that the staples operated as hinges. I made a latch for the gate with a heavy wire that hooks into a staple that I hammered into the other post. And “ta da!” my gate was finished. EJ said it really turned out well.
In the afternoon, I worked on making a ladder so the chickens can go up to the roof of the doghouse that is inside their coop. They like roosting in high places. I think they could actually go on top if they really wanted to–but they don’t seem to be doing it so I made the ladder to encourage them. I used part of an old pallet. It didn’t have enough “rungs” on it, so with a great deal of stubborn effort, I pried two thick boards–more like posts–off another pallet part. I tried to fasten the boards to my ladder but the nails kept bending when I had them in about halfway (grrrr!) so I finally gave up and asked EJ to do it for me when he got home. When he saw my project he said, “The reason you can’t get the nails in is because the pallets are solid oak!” Oh. So it wasn’t merely my ineptitude at hammering? EJ got some very big nails from the garage and with a couple “bam! bam!” of the hammer, he had them in. I knew he could do it! I dragged my finished ladder into the coop and set it up. I’m not sure exactly which angle I should put it at, but I’ll adjust it if needed.
A couple of months ago I came across a Lord of Michigan map, which was a Middle Earth-ish map of Michigan. I love it because I enjoy both the Lord of the Rings and Michigan. So in early July I ordered the map on a poster for me and on a t-shirt for EJ from the website of Tee See Tee, a store based in Traverse City. The items finally arrived today. The poster is 12 x 12 and I only had a 12 x 16 frame. So I found some fairy tale scrapbook paper in my stash and used that to fill in the spaces above and below the poster. I think it turned out splendidly. I hung it on a prominent wall in the living room. I took a photo of it so I could share it here. (Sorry for the reflection of the flash.) Isn’t it awesome? I think it’s the perfect map for our Enchanted Forest. ❤
I Love To Go A Gardening 