I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
The Knife
Yesterday the weather was very beautiful. So I decided to mow the lawn.
I usually like to mow early in the day when the morning is still fresh and cool. However, yesterday I had to wait until about noon because there was heavy dew on the ground–so much that the grass was as wet as it would have been after a rain. The weather was actually kind of odd in that there was an autumn chill in the air and yet at the same time it was quite humid so I quickly became overheated, just as I do in the middle of summer. One good thing about our new fenced in garden area in the back yard is that I have much less lawn to mow.
In addition to mowing the lawn, I did laundry and hung the clothes out to dry on the clothesline. There won’t be many more weeks when I will be doing that.
Later, not long after EJ got home from work, I moved a sweater that I had been laying on the bed and a small sharp knife fell on the floor. My mind froze in confusion: What was a knife doing in my sweater? Had I put it the knife in my pocket earlier when I was wearing the sweater? Why would I do that? I don’t remember doing it. Then EJ said, “Look at the handle! Hannah chewed it up!” Then I realized that while I was working outside, Hannah had taken the knife off the counter. I think it’s a bit scary that my dog is hiding knives in my bed. Was she planning to murder me in my sleep? EJ said, “The only thing scarier than a pitbull is a pitbull with a knife.” It was funny…although in reality pitbulls aren’t any scarier than any other dog with a knife. LOL.
Hannah also had carried a Lipton teabag onto the bed and tore it all up. I had to take the bedspread outside and shake it to get the tea grounds off. I guess my doggy got bored while she was in the house alone.
Today was quite rainy. It was a quiet steady rain with no dramatic lightning or thunder. I think it has rained more in the last few days than it has all summer combined. EJ and I walked in the rain to get the mail. I carried an umbrella while EJ just wore a hat. The rest of the day we just did quiet, restful activities. EJ isn’t feeling well–he has some sort of cold or sinus infection that he has been battling so the rest will do him some good.
It’s BAAAAAACK…Mostly
This morning I got a call that my laptop was ready! Yay!
I immediately drove to the computer repair shop and pick it up. The guy who repaired it said, “Did you spill coffee in your computer or something?” He noticed that the disk drive kind of stuck when he tried to open it. I told him that, uh, one of my cats probably did during one of the times when they knocked over my coffee. I actually have a cat that likes to knock stuff over, but I didn’t tell him that. Then he said, “Uh, did you drop your computer?” He said that he noticed the laptop cover (or whatever you call it) was a little loose. I told him that, uh, yes, my dog has knocked it to the floor before. The pets have several times, actually, but I didn’t tell him that. I wondered if my excuses sounded a bit like “My dog ate my homework.” I do try to protect my computer, but the animals always find ways to mess things up.
My computer now runs beautifully–almost like it’s new! It’s kind of like the difference between driving on a bumpy road full of potholes and a brand new, very smooth, road. But I always kind of hate these re-installs because they change my computer a bit. A re-install is when they reinstall Windows 10. (I think.) I didn’t lose any of my data–my photos, documents, or even my bookmarks. However, I have a handy Chrome app called FVD Speed Dial that comes up every time I open a new tab. It lets me quickly find and click on my favorite sites. I can even group them so they are easy to find–like I put all my frequently used sites like FB together, and all my weather-related sites together, and so on. I lost all those and have to redo them. Oh, well.
I have to reinstall programs like my printer and my camera. I’m always afraid that I won’t be able to find the install disks for them or that I won’t be able to get them to work again. I found the printer disk and easily installed the program. It worked the first thing! I finally found an install disk for a camera, but I’m not sure it’s the correct one because I couldn’t get the camera to upload my photos via WIFI. I tried all evening until I finally emailed support, explained the situation, and asked if they could send me a new install disk and manual. If they can’t or won’t, I will have to upload my photos with a USB cable. That sucks because I’ve gotten rather spoiled with the WIFI capability.
Also, it’s a bit clunky having my photos on an external drive. However, I’m glad I have it because I won’t lose all my photos if my computer dies.
So there are advantages and disadvantages. I’m glad my computer runs so much better. I’m sure I’ll get used to the changes eventually. I always do.
After the Storm
The clouds were thick and low-hanging today. It was cool and misty all day today–rainy enough to need windshield wipers on, but not rainy enough to drum on the roof of our house. Weather like today always reminds me of the old children’s poem, which begins:
“One misty, moisty morning,
when cloudy was the weather…”
When I walked down the driveway to get the mail this morning, I heard the sounds of chainsaws in the distance. EJ said later that our neighbor had a large tree get knocked down by the storm, and he saw other trees down on his way to work. I found a little storm damage on our property, but nothing major. It had rained so hard last night that there was a bit of erosion in the driveway. I also found the top half of a small tree in the driveway. I grabbed it and moved it out of the way. I also saw that a large dead pine tree had fallen. Fortunately it didn’t fall on any power lines. EJ really would like to cut down the dead trees but we don’t yet have a chainsaw. We have a list of things we want to do around here, but there is only so much we can do in a week, or month, or year.
Just before noon the computer repair shop called to tell me I could pick up my laptop. Yay! Apparently the WIFI driver had gotten turned off somehow. The guy said my laptop was running very slowly, and that it would need a new hard drive in the near future, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the money just then. So I drove into the city to pick up my baby.
At the computer shop, I was greeted by a Weimaraner named Ruger. He sniffed me–probably smelling Hannah, the cats, and the chickens–and I gave him some lovings. I thought that if I ever had a shop (which I don’t plan ever to have), I would definitely have a dog there to greet customers.
The repair guy discussed my computer in greater detail with me. Some things I think are easier to understand face-to-face. He turned on my computer and showed me that I had a program on my computer that would allow someone to steal my identity. Also, I have a lot of gig used up, and he asked me if I knew what was taking so much memory. I said, “Photos?” He said he knows many professional photographers who take thousands of photos every month and they don’t use so much memory. He strongly suggested that I let him do a reinstall to wipe the computer and get rid of the unwanted programs. He said I really didn’t need as many gigs as I had–and he rarely comes across a computer with so much–and he could put in a new hard drive with less gig (and less $$) and with an external drive to archive my photos and get them off the computer. I was kind of thinking of that already because if my computer dies, there goes my photos. And my computer has been running really slow and this would fix it. And I don’t want my identity stolen. So I told him to go ahead. He told me that he is expecting a shipment of drives this afternoon and my laptop will be the first he works on. So I should have it back this week. Tomorrow would be nice. I’m thinking that once my laptop is fixed up, we ought to take EJ’s in for maintenance.
Other than that, it was a relatively quiet day. Tonight I had no problem getting the chickens in their coop. All eight were already in the coop settling down for the night when I went out to shut them in.
The Eighth Chicken
We had severe storms during last night. I woke once to the sound of heavy rain tap-tap-tapping on the skylight in the bathroom but I fell back to sleep again. In the morning I heard that trees were down and many people lost their power, but our power didn’t even flicker and I saw no newly fallen trees on our property.
I felt drowsy all day, like my mind was in a thick fog. I did my normal chores today, including laundry, but I didn’t do anything extra. I dried the clothes in the drier rathern than out on the clothesline because it was overcast all day, and meteorologists warned that another round of severe storms would roll in during the late afternoon and evening. It was very humid but I was comfortable in our air-conditioned house. In between doing my chores, I settled down with ice tea and the next Steve Hamilton book, with Hannah Joy on my lap.
The day became increasingly gloomy during the afternoon. I watched radar on EJ’s computer and saw a massive storm cross Lake Michigan and move into the state. EJ got home from work around 6:30 p.m. The storm followed him home and hit not long after he arrived. It came with wildly swaying trees, frequent lightning, and very heavy rainfall. EJ kept us updated on the weather with his radio and computer. There were reports of a tornado or two not far from us.
I went outside several times before the storm hit hoping to get the chickens safe and snug in their coop, but they were wandering around outside. Usually they all go into their coop in the evening and all I have to do is count them and then shut the doors. It’s almost impossible to herd them into the coop until they are willing to go themselves. So when I saw them outside I went back into the house for a few more minutes before going back out to see if they were in their coop yet. No luck.
The storm hit with sudden fury, and I figured the chickens would have all gone into the coop. I waited until there was a lull in the storm and then I ran out to the coop.
The chickens were in their nesting spot on top of the fancy coop we had bought at TSC when we first decided to buy chickens. The fancy coop and an old doghouse are both inside the large coop–which is a shed we bought from Lowes. I counted the chickens to make sure they were all there: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…one was missing. I counted again in case I had miscounted the first time: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…The eighth chicken–a hen–was still missing. I looked inside the fancy coop and inside the old doghouse, but they were both empty. I figured the eighth chicken must have taken refuge from the storm in one of the three dog houses we have scattered outside that they can run to for sanctuary.
I didn’t want to leave the hen out in a doghouse all alone in the storm. I didn’t think it would be easy to get her into the coop if she settled down for the night in a doghouse. I didn’t want her to be out there all night where she was at risk of becoming a meal for a predator.
So I took the cane down from where it was hanging in the shed. I call it my “rooster whacker” but I don’t really whack roosters with it. I use it more like a shepherd’s staff or to pull out-of-reach eggs closer. I took it with me and went out in the rain and looked in the dog-gloo. I thought I could see a dark hen-shaped form in there. I used the cane to guide her out. She ran into the large open door of the coop and into the chicken area. Before I could close their little chicken-sized door, she and Sassy, our alpha rooster, went out into the storm. Sassy came back in but the little hen didn’t.
I sighed and went back out into the rain. It was raining harder again and lightning was flashing. I walked around to the back side of the coop where there was a plastic doghouse. I bent down and looked inside. The little hen was in there. Once again, I used my cane to nudge her out. She ran out and into the coop through the little door, which was only a few feet away. I hurried around the coop, through the large human doors, and into the coop to quickly shut the little door before any more chickens could get out. Then I hung up my cane, turned off the lights, and went out of the coop.
As I turned to shut and lock the coop door, a huge streak of lightning hit and thunder roared right over my head. I think the lightning strike wasn’t far away. Spooked, I ran into the garage and from there into the house. I was pretty wet by the time I got inside. The storm raged for a while longer before it finally moved off. It looks like it will rain for most of the night but hopefully the worst of the storm is past. I hope so. We need rain, but I’d prefer not to have tornadic weather.
Oh, the photo at the top of this post is not mine. It’s a royalty-free photo I found on the Internet. I was too busy trying to get the eighth chicken into the coop to take photos.
Reading Through Michigan
Today was a slower day, which I needed after helping EJ put up the fence around the garden yesterday. I couldn’t have worked outside even if I had wanted to because it rained off and on all day and was very humid. Thankfully, we have air conditioning. The weather cleared a little toward sunset, but more storms are moving in across Lake Michigan. Meteorologists say that we could get some severe storms during the night with high winds, hail, heavy rain, and the possibility of tornadoes. I hope we don’t get storms that are so severe they cause power outages or damage, but it’s nice to finally get a few days of rain after such a dry summer.
I didn’t well last night–I have struggled with sleep ever since JJ battled cancer in 2013-2014–so after EJ went to work, Hannah Joy and I went back to bed. I had a leisurely morning drinking coffee, using EJ’s computer while he was at work, and reading. After lunch, in a lull in the rain, I went to the post office to mail a package and then stopped at the local grocery store to buy some groceries. When I got home, I carried the groceries into the house and then put them all away–yelling at Hannah several times to get her nose out of the bags. She was particularly interested in the package of paper towels and was ripping open the bag when I stopped her. She loves eating paper towels and toilet paper.
I miss my laptop, which is still at the repair shop. I’m thankful that EJ so generously lets me share his laptop, but I miss my own laptop with its larger screen. I miss my own bookmarks and programs.
However, although I miss my laptop, I’m really enjoying reading books. I often buy used books at thrift shops or yard sales. If a book looks interesting, I buy it for those times when I really want something new to read. I always have a book nearby to read–in my purse or in the bathroom or wherever. Often I find new authors to enjoy–but even if I don’t like the book, it’s not like I paid a lot of money for it so I just donate it back to the thrift shop. My favorites I keep to re-read.
One of the used books I bought is a murder/mystery called The Hunting Wind by Steve Hamilton. I can’t remember when or where I bought the book, but I’m sure I bought it because the story was set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which I thought was cool. I was born, raised, and have lived all my life in Michigan, and I totally love my state. When I was younger, my friends used to tell me that I should work for Michigan’s tourist industry because of my love for Michigan. EJ says I’m “Michi-centric.” Anyway, without my computer, I have more time to read, so I searched through our home library and pulled out The Hunting Wind. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but I thought I’d give it a try.
I loved the novel. I loved it so much that when I discovered it is one of a series of nine books about the ex-cop, private investigator Alex McKnight, I started to buy them on Amazon. I’ve read three so far. I learned that the author has won many awards, and I can understand why. His books are well-written, interesting, and is sprinkled with a sense of humor.
One of the reasons that I’m enjoying the books is that, duh, it’s set in Michigan. Throughout the books, the main character, Alex McKnight, travels to many Michigan places: Paradise, Newberry, Hiawatha National Forest, “the Soo,” St. Ignace, Traverse City, Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, Mackinac Island, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Montague/Whitehall, Cadillac, Lansing, Detroit, Jackson…I have lived near, worked in, shopped at, traveled through, or vacationed in all these places. It’s cool to read about these places that I am familiar with.
I also love the books because the author very vividly describes Michigan’s scenery, culture, and soul. I know these things he describes, I feel it deep down inside of me. Sometimes a scene is so well described that I read it aloud to EJ. Like this scene:
On the ride home, there’s a stretch on the main road where the trees open up and you get a great look at the lake. There wasn’t much moonlight coming through the clouds, but there was enough to see that the waves were getting bigger, maybe four or five feet. I could feel the truck, rocking in the wind as I drove. Somewhere out there, a good thousand feet under the waves, there were twenty-nine men still sleeping, twenty years after the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. I bet that night felt just like this one….
EJ and I have driven on nights like this. And every Michigan native knows the terrible story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which went down in Lake Superior during a terrible November gale.
I laughed in delight when I read a conversation in one of the books between Alex and an old Indian who hadn’t been in Michigan for 30 years. Michigan, by the way, has several Indian reservations. The old Indian begins:
“I know I’ve been gone a long time, but everybody on the plane was saying you guys have been having a big heat wave up here. People passing out on the street, having to go to the hospital…is that true?”
“It almost hit ninety a couple of days ago. So yes.”
“When I left Vegas, it was a hundred and fifteen. You realize you’re all pussies up here, right?”
“Come back when there’s six feet of snow on the ground,” I said. “We’ll see who’s a pussy.”
I laughed because I complain that I’m melting if the temperature goes much above 80. I can’t endure the heat but we Michiganders brag about our toughness in handling Winter weather. The author totally captured this about us.
I hate being without my laptop, but I’m really enjoying sitting down and enjoying Michigan through these books. I can’t wait to read the next one…
Our Garden Stockade
Miracle of miracles, it actually began to rain Friday night and it continued into Saturday. Just before 6 am on Saturday morning, I heard thunder and thought, “Well, no sense getting up now since I’m not going to let the chickens out of the coop when it’s storming,” and I went back to sleep. EJ, however, got out of bed when he heard the storm. He said it rained very hard. Most of the day we had periods of steady rain. Rain is good, especially with the dry summer we’ve had. It was a good day to be cozy.
We are also getting some rain this (Sunday) evening, and we could get severe storms through the night and into tomorrow. However, today was sunny. We heard it was going to get hot and humid later and we had a lot to do so after the coffee pot was emptied, we went out to work on the garden fence while the day was still cool. Later, when the day began to warm up, we shut the windows and turned on the air conditioning so we could take breaks in the cool house.
Putting up the fence was much easier with both of us working–although once the fence wrapped around me and trapped me. Since I was in position to hold the fence, I told EJ to just continue his hammering. After a couple whacks of his hammer, he helped me get untrapped. Another time I happened to look down and was surprised to see blood dripping down my hand and onto my shirt. I don’t know exactly how I cut my hand, although I’m sure the fence must have cut me. I didn’t even feel it. EJ asked if I wanted to go get a band-aid, but I just wrapped my finger in a Kleenex from my pocket and told him that we could keep going. It was really just a small cut. I have learned a lot from EJ–he gets cuts sometimes and just wraps it up and keeps working. And he always works with his painful back.
Aside from those minor problems, things went well. I held up the fence and stretched it while EJ hammered the staples in. The hardest part was that the sand didn’t hold the posts very well so they tilted a bit when EJ hammered them. I used my level to straighten them and we stomped the ground around them. It took us about two hours to put up the fence. The new part of the garden doubles the size of the garden, and then some. Our whole back yard is now our garden and chicken coop.
Our soil is sandy and not great for growing, which is the major reason we have raised garden beds–that and it’s easier on our backs to weed raised beds. We would like to grow corn and asparagus next year and we think they would be best just planted in the ground, so we are thinking that next Spring we might have some good soil delivered. Because of this, we moved the 10-foot long section of dog kennel further down the fence and will make it into a gate. That way the delivery truck can just back up and dump it in the garden.
JJ called his Dad just before we finished putting up the last section of fence. So while EJ talked to him, I did some little one-person jobs. I removed the shorter fence dividing the old and new sections of the garden and pulled up the t-posts. I was pleasantly surprised that we still have most of the second roll of fencing left. We will use the t-posts and leftover fencing in a fence to protect our fruit trees from the deer over the winter.
Next I turned the old dog house that’s in the garden. It was facing into the old garden, but I turned so it’s easily accessible from both parts of the garden. I figure that if we let the chickens into the garden, they can run into the dog house if a predator threatens them. Or they can lay eggs in it. Whatever. The dog house in the garden and the one in the coop were both left here by the previous owners. They are very well-built and very heavy. I couldn’t move the dog house until I had removed the roof to lighten it. After EJ finished talking to JJ, he helped me put the heavy roof back on.
We decided to leave the burning barrel in the garden for now. (Yes, we can burn papers here.) We’d prefer not to have the barrel there, but we don’t know where to put it right now. It needs to be not too close to the house, and not too close to the forest, and we don’t want it in the front yard because we don’t want to ruin the beautiful view. Our back yard has our garden stockade while our front yard has the view. So we have to think about where to put the barrel.
We had to replace the short posts holding the small gate with the taller posts. After we got all the fencing up, we put the wire garden gate back on using staples for hinges. The gate is shorter than the posts and EJ was concerned that the deer could easier jump it. He was thinking he might have to construct a taller gate. But then we decided to just put a board across the gate posts. Doing this means we wouldn’t have to spend time or effort making a taller gate, and the deer wouldn’t have enough space over the gate and I doubt they could jump over the “doorway.” EJ hammered it in place. He says he is going to cut off the top of the left post so they are even.
We made a quick trip to the hardware store to get some hinges for the dog kennel gate. We took Hannah Joy with us because she enjoys car rides and hasn’t had one for a while. When we got back home, EJ worked on that gate for a while. The hardware store didn’t have everything he needed so he wasn’t able to get it all finished. He temporarily wired the gate to the posts until he can get what he needs.
We worked together from about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. We were very tired and crippled by the time we called it quits, but we are very satisfied with all we accomplished today.
Our next big project is to get gravel for the driveway.
First Blood
This morning I decided to start attaching the wire fencing to the posts for the garden fence.
But first I drank several cups of coffee to fortify myself because I knew the roll of fencing was heavy and unwieldy. When I felt that I could face the ordeal, I put on my old work clothes, which is really just a favorite t-shirt that now is shabby and has several holes in it. I tied my hair out of the way and went outside.
The morning was beautiful–comfortably warm with a tinge of autumn coolness underneath and very breezy. Summer would be perfect if every day was like today. Rain is forecasted for this evening and tomorrow, but I’ll believe it when I see it. The weather has toyed with me all summer, promising rain that never came.
I carried my kitty litter bucket filled with tools–hammer, staples, huge wire cutters, and assorted other things–over to where I was going to begin. The “old” garden currently has a four-foot fence around it; we are replacing it with six-foot fencing and then continuing on to fence in the new garden area. I decided to start at the back of the garden and work over to the front.
I tugged the heavy roll of fencing to position it and then rolled it across the new garden area to the first post, which is in the corner of the chicken coop and the garden. The curious chickens gathered around to gossip about what I was doing. I left the roll on the ground while I pulled out staples, removed the old fencing, and pulled up the t-posts that had held it. I had originally planned to remove the old fence in sections as I worked so that if I had to stop, there would be no opening into the garden for the deer to get in and eat our crops. However, it didn’t work out that way.
I unrolled enough fencing to go from one post to another. Then taking a deep breath, I heaved up the roll so it was standing on end. I felt like a highlander in a caber toss competition. While I tried to move the end of the fencing to the post, the whole roll tipped over. I heaved the roll up again, and it fought back, tearing my glasses off my face and nicking my face in the process. Fortunately my glasses were neither scratched nor broken. “Well played,” I silently saluted the roll. “You have gotten first blood.” I imagined the fencing dueling with me. I imagined it grabbing hold of me and scratching me. I imagined it wrapping itself around me and tipping over, imprisoning me on the ground where ants and wolf spiders could crawl over me until EJ came to my rescue hours later, after he returned from work. “Ah ha!” I thought. “I am not giving up so easily.”
I finally had to remove the old fence all along the back. I lay the roll on the ground and unrolled it until I could stand it up and lean it against the old dog house in the corner of the garden. Then I moved the wheelbarrow halfway between the starting post and the dog house so that it held up the fencing. Wrestling with the free end of the roll, I positioned it on the starting post and hammered two staples into it–one at the top and one at the bottom. Then I pulled the fencing to the next post. I tried to hammer staples in, but I could not pull the fencing tight and hammer at the same time. I could stretch the fencing tight or I could hammer–not both. Finally I realized that this was a two-person job. I will have to wait until EJ can help me. Without worrying about making it tight, I loosely hammered the fencing to each post–just enough so it won’t fall down. “You won this match,” I told the fence. “But this isn’t over yet.”
From far away, the fence looks good. (See the photo at the top of this post.) The really good thing about such a tall fence is that we can plant climbing veggies along it so that it doubles as a trellis. I can’t wait until we can get the fence up.
When I put my tools away, I picked green beans from the garden, filling a colander with them. Soon I will go out to the kitchen and blanche and freeze them so we can enjoy them in the winter months.
The rest of my day I spent cleaning the house, doing laundry, and planning my next battle with the fence–with EJ as my reinforcement.
What’s An Xterra?
I’m using EJ’s computer because I had to take mine to the repair shop this morning. Last night I lost my WIFI connection. I tried doing all the usual things: turning the router off and on, troubleshooting my connections, and restarting my computer. When my computer started back on, it told me that there were problems, it was repairing them, and then it would automaticaly restart. When it restarted again, it took me to my regular desktop screen, but I still had no Internet connection. Sometimes my computer gave me a message that there was no default gateway, whatever that means. My settings said that my WIFI was turned off, but when I clicked “enable,” it didn’t turn back on. Sometimes it didn’t even show that I had WIFI capability. This morning I called my internet service provider in case it was a problem that they could fix, but they said it was a computer problem and needed to be taken to a repair shop.
While I waited for the repair shop to open, I paid bills using EJ’s laptop. I do not really enjoy using his computer because it’s smaller, the keys are smaller and aren’t in the same places as mine, and, of course, it has none of my settings or bookmarks. But I’m extremely grateful he lets me use it.
Once the repair shop was opened, I headed out. I had other errands to do as well. EJ wanted me to stop at a thrift shop to buy an ice fishing shanty he had seen outside the building. The thrift shop is closed by the time he gets out of work so he couldn’t do it. I was going to stop at the thrift shop first because it’s on the right side of the road. In the summer the city fills with tourist traffic and it’s almost impossible to make left turns so we always plan our errands to make as many right turns as possible. I missed the driveway though so instead of turning around, I continued on to the repair shop. I hate going to the repair shop because I have to make a left turn into their small parking lot, which is on a curve on a very busy main street. I made it ok–and it was a right turn leaving, so that was good.
When I started to explain my computer problem to the guy at the computer repair shop, he said, “This is not a computer problem, it’s an ISP problem.” I told him that the person at my ISP said it was not an ISP problem, it was a computer problem. I explained the problem more fully and described the error messages and then he took my computer. He seemed to think it might be a problem with the WIFI card, which is sort of what I thought too. They are busy so it could be three days before they can begin working on it–I’m assuming work days, not weekend days. I’m guessing it will be about a week before I get it back. I hope it’s not more than that.
Anyway, I will have to share a computer with EJ now, so I will be on here only sporadically. During the week I can use EJ’s computer while he’s at work, but in the evenings and weekend, he will be on it. I know he will let me use his computer whenever I want, but I don’t want to cut into his computer time. I hate being without a computer but, oh, well, I have books to read, crocheting to do, and projects to work on. I will keep busy.
After I left my precious computer at the shop, I headed over to the thrift shop. Before I paid for the shanty, I asked the clerk if she thought it would fit in my Xterra. She asked, “What’s an Xterra?” She called a guy employee, and he went out to look at it, and he said, “It’s not going to fit.” He said that he would move it behind the store and EJ could pick it up in his Suburban after work.
Yesterday I put up 16 posts for the fence around the new extended garden. I tied a rope around a post that was already there and stretched it out so that I could get all the posts in a straight line. EJ taught me that. The soil (which is sand) was so dry that it poured out of the jaws of the post-hole digger so I had to pour water on the spot before I could dig a hole. (We were supposed to get “possibly heavy” rain on Tuesday night/Wednesday but we only got about 3 raindrops.) When I put each post in the hole I dug for it, I used a level to make sure it was standing straight. When EJ looked at my work when he got home yesterday evening, he said I did an extremely good job.
I was going to ask EJ to pick up some fencing at TSC after work tonight so I could get started on putting up the fence tomorrow. However, I didn’t think he could fit the shanty and 1-2 rolls of fencing in his Surburban so after I left the thrift shop, I headed over to TSC. I told the store cashier that I needed a 6-foot tall, 100-foot long roll of wire fencing. “Do you think it will fit in my Xterra,” I asked before I bought it. The cashier asked, “What is an Xterra?” He called another employee to go out and look at it. That guy said, “Sure, it will fit easy.” So I paid for the fencing, drove over to their outside yard, and the guy loaded it up for me. I think that I probably could have fit 2 rolls in the Xterra, but I wasn’t sure so I only bought one. EJ texted that he can pick up both shanty and fencing tonight. If he discovers that he can’t fit both, he can either pick up the additional rolls of fencing tomorrow after work or on Sunday.
Once I got home, I drove the Xterra to the back yard and unloaded the roll of fencing. Ugh. It’s very heavy and after I pulled it from the back of the Xterra, I had to roll it over to the fence. I’m actually wondering if I’ll be able to put it up myself–but my determination enables me to do a lot of things that people think I don’t have the muscles for. I would get started on the fencing this afternoon, but I’m tired because I stayed up way too late last night trying to figure out what was wrong with my computer. Also, EJ said something about maybe bracing the corner posts of the fence. I’ll discuss the project with him tonight and see what he wants to do. Even if he wants to brace it, I can put up fencing to just before the corner posts.
I took photos with my camera of the posts that I put up, but they are on my computer, which is inaccessible. So I took the photos in this post with my dumb phone (i.e., not a smart phone).
The Terminal Dog
Wow! I haven’t posted anything for a week! The week sure went by quickly. It feels as if I blinked and it was suddenly seven days later.
Well, last week was relatively quiet. I cared for my various animals: dog, cats, and chickens. I weeded the gardens–both the backyard veggie/herb garden and the front yard flower garden. I picked beans, blanched them, and then froze them to enjoy in the coming months. I picked and dried a few more herbs in my Magic Mills dehydrator.
The days are getting shorter at both ends so a few days ago I plugged in the extension cord so I have lights in the coop. They are Christmas tree lights, and their soft glow makes the coop look festive. EJ has been coming outside with me while I shut the chickens in their coop. We always look for Montgomery the bat–Monty for short. Yes, we named the bat that swoops around the Enchanted Forest eating insects. Sometimes there are two bats, but we call them both Monty because we can’t tell the difference between them. EJ always says he is concerned because we see only two. A lot of bats are dying from a disease.
The Turkey flock often comes up near the house to eat grasshopper or berries. It’s fun watching the young ones leap up to eat the berries from the bushes, as in this video:
Hannah continues to chase the cats–especially Timmy and Luke. She doesn’t hurt them, but we don’t want to encourage this undesirable behavior so I’ve been trying to teach her to leave them alone. I say, “Hannah, be nice” and I reward her if she chooses to come to me for a treat rather than chase a cat. Sometimes she growls or lunges at a cat and then runs to me for her treat, which makes EJ and me a bit concerned that she is becoming like Harry Benson, a character in Michael Crichton’s book, The Terminal Man. In the book, a man named Harry Benson suffered from violent seizures and blackouts during which he sometimes committed violent acts. Dr. Roger McPherson, head of the prestigious Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, was convinced he could cure Benson with an experimental procedure that would place electrodes deep in his brain’s pleasure centers, effectively short-circuiting Harry’s seizures with pulses of bliss. The surgery was successful…except Benson discovered that every time he was violent, the electrodes activated his pleasure center so it actually caused him to become MORE violent. I don’t want Hannah to become the Terminal Dog who feels rewarded when she goes after cats, so I try to reward her when I see her overcome temptation and choose her treat over chasing cats. It’s rather difficult to catch her in the moment of temptation. If she constantly goes after the cats, I shut her in the bedroom for a while because it’s annoying to have her launch herself from our laps. She is beginning to choose her treat instead of chasing the cats, so I think that with patience she will learn.
Sunday morning EJ and I listed the home improvement projects we want to accomplish. We prioritized which ones we would still like to complete this year and which ones need to wait. In the next couple of months we need to buy a supply of straw for the garden and coop. We will also need to put fencing around the fruit trees to protect them from the deer who like to eat them in the Winter. And we’d like to get extra dog, cat, and chicken feed so we don’t run out in the Winter. Before Winter, EJ needs to fix the Xterra’s exhaust and get some new tires for the Suburban. We would really like to get a tractor with a snowblower on it because it’s very exhausting using the walk-behind snowblower for our very long, steep driveway. However, the tractor will have to wait until we can save more money. Maybe next year? I would like to get wooden railings around our small deck for the morning glories to climb instead of the t-posts and chicken wire, but that will be another year too.
At the top of our list is to get a load of gravel for the driveway, which has become quite bumpy. When we call the gravel guy, he will arrive with his dump truck and will dump several tons of gravel into our driveway. With wheelbarrow, shovels, rakes, and determination, we will spread it out to fill in the low spots. Our first summer here, we spread 90 tons of topsoil and gravel this way on and along the driveway to fix the awful erosion.
We also would like to extend the garden to get it ready for next Spring. We hope to double it in size and plant corn, asparagus, watermelon, among other things. Since we are thinking about planting them in the ground rather than in a raised bed, we will need to lay in some good dirt…but first things first. After we discussed our projects, EJ and I paced out the new area to figure out how many wooden posts we will needed for the fence. We have to fence our garden in or the deer will eat everything. Once our garden is surrounded by tall fences, and once our garden has been harvested, we can let the chickens in there.
After we figured out how many wooden posts we needed, we drove to Lowes. We had to take the Suburban to transport the posts because they were too long for the Xterra. It was sort of an adventure because the front passenger door of the Suburban doesn’t open–we have to get it fixed but that’s not really a priority yet. I had to go through the driver’s side to climb over the middle console to get into my chair. We made several stops and each time it was a little bit more difficult to climb into and out of my chair. EJ said it was good exercise and we laughed.
At Lowes we bought 21 posts. We bought landscape timbers instead of regular fence posts because they were much, much cheaper–about $4 each instead of $12. The landscape timbers work just as well and we don’t need expensive posts for the garden fence. We will buy wire fencing at TSC in a paycheck or two–after we get the driveway gravel.
After Lowes, we went to Jay’s Sporting Goods store. Next to Jay’s was a Cops & Donuts bakery, which just opened in the last year or two. The original Cops & Donuts is in Clare, Michigan. When a historic bakery that had been in business since 1896 was weeks from closing, the local Clare police department stepped in and bought it. It was a huge success and they have opened other branches, which they call “precincts,” in a few other Michigan cities. We always stopped at the Cops & Donuts headquarters in Clare when we were moving. The bakery goods are DELICIOUS and I was so tempted to stop in yesterday, but EJ has to stay away from sugary treats so I resisted temptation for his sake. But as we left Jays, I told him to grab my arm and not let me drift over to the bakery. If you are ever in a Michigan city that has a Cops & Donuts bakery, make sure you stop.
Our final stop was at the hardware store to get some paint for a whimsical project I am going to work on. I’ll tell you about that later when I get all the supplies together and start working on it.
I didn’t sleep well last night–I got less than four hours of sleep–so I went back to bed after EJ left for work this morning. When I woke up again, I did laundry and continued working on a cute cow toilet paper holder for an Etsy customer. (You can buy them and other items at my Etsy store here.) I finished it today and boxed it, and I’ll take it to the posts office tomorrow. In between my other projects, I am working at creating a custom crocheted item for a friend.
I decided to put up a few wooden posts for the garden fence this afternoon, but our sandy soil is so dry that it poured out of the jaws of the post-hole digger like water. I got one post up and then decided to wait until we get some rain. We have a good chance to get some tonight and tomorrow.
There’s a lot to do in the next couple of months!
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. ❤
Finding Josette
I didn’t sleep well Friday night–I only got about four hours of sleep–so I was tired all day Saturday. However, EJ and I still stayed up late last night to watch the Perseid meteorite shower, which occurs every August at this time. We dragged our lawn chairs out to the top of the driveway, leaned our heads back, and enjoyed the show. The sky was filled with billions of stars. I saw a large meteorite streak across the sky with a fiery tail behind it. EJ missed that one, but he saw other meteorites that I didn’t see–all it takes is glancing away from the sky for a second to miss them. We saw quite a few meteorites before we went to bed. While we were outside, we heard the coyotes howling. They sounded as if they were all around us. It’s rather spooky.
This morning we took the unused flooring back to Lowes for a refund. We got back over $200, which is not nothing. It was refunded on our Lowes credit card so it went towards paying off the cost of the flooring. Cool! Every little bit helps.
After we got back home, EJ and I decided to move our furniture back to the way it was before the new floor was installed. We really liked the new arrangement a lot–we enjoy changing things around every now and then. However, we couldn’t see as much of the view outside the window as we could before, and enjoying the beauty of our surroundings and the wildlife is a priority for us. We only made one small change: We switched our chairs so EJ is close to the window where I used to sit, and I am further away where he used to sit. He said, “I can see a little less here, but I can see it more clearly.” And I think I will be able to better see when the wildlife comes into the yard so I can take photos.
Usually our sweet cat Josette joins us whenever we go outside. She walks with us up and down the driveway, joins me when I hang clothes on the clothesline, and she follows us as we do our outside chores. I realized on Friday afternoon that even though I had been working on my enchanted sign outside for two days, I hadn’t seen Josette. That is just not her. I feared the worse. I thought sadly that maybe the coyotes or foxes had gotten her. I didn’t tell EJ that she was missing until Friday night because I knew it would make him very sad. Telling him on Friday evening would give him the weekend to grieve.
Most of our cats our inside cats. We realize that it’s a risk having outside cats, but each of the three outside cats are outside for a reason: Annie became an outside cat years ago when she peed on our couch. In fact, she peed on it several times before we discovered it. We forgive a lot of pet indiscretions, but peeing on the couch was not one of them. We were told by the county animal shelter that Miss Madeline Meadows, our serial killer cat, was very unhappy as an inside cat and needed to be a barn cat. Josette’s previous owner had told us that she had lived her life as a barn cat. We tried to bring Josette inside because she was such a sweet loving cat, but she didn’t understand the concept of a litter box.
This evening EJ and I walked down the driveway with Hannah. We could see her nose going sniffity, sniff, sniff. On the way back up the driveway, EJ told me to let Hannah follow the scent she was smelling–because she might lead us to Josette. So I did, and Hannah took us up toward the house and into the berry bushes…where we found poor Josette. I took Hannah into the house while EJ buried her. He put a large rock on her grave to keep the coyotes from digging up her body. He told me that he found no obvious signs of death–no bite marks or puncture wounds. We have no idea how she died. Sometimes life–or rather, death–sucks.
Floored!
Yesterday evening EJ made sure that there were no staples or anything sticking up from the living room floor, and then he painted the stains with Kilz orderless stain blocker. I helped him paint the first coat on the floor, but I was so tired from my hard work this week panting my sign and then mowing the lawn that I didn’t help him with the second coat.
After the stains were covered, EJ and I relaxed in our recliners, which were moved into the kitchen in preparation for the installation of the floors. EJ had a large mug of wine which he diluted with grape juice, which he often drinks at night. I sometimes have a small mug of wine/juice too, but sometimes it feels to acidic in my stomach so I don’t always drink it. EJ set his mug on one of the TV trays that hold our laptops. Our cat Kee-Kee jumped onto the tray and knocked the full mug into my lap. We jumped up, cleaned up the spill, and I changed clothes, putting the wine-covered ones in the wash. EJ filled up his mug again and set it on my TV tray behind my laptop, and when I moved my computer his mug spilled again. It didn’t spill on me this time. I think it probably went on the floor. Once again we jumped up and cleaned everything off. He filled up his mug again, but this time he held on to it and he was able to drink it.
The floor installers arrived this morning at 9 a.m. There was an older man and a young guy. Later the older man’s wife showed up to help.
I put all the cats in the pantry/hallway and shut the pet door so they couldn’t get out of the house if the door was left open as the workers went in and out. I shut Hannah in our bedroom to keep her out of the way–and I wasn’t sure if the installers liked dogs or how Hannah would react to strangers in the house. After a bit, she got out when an installer opened the door to cut away some of the carpet in the doorway. Hannah wiggled up to all of them for attention, which they lavished on her. We still had to shut her up in the bedroom or hallway occasionally because the noise of the saw and staple gun really bothered her. Also, she was a distraction. But now an then I let her out, and a few times I took her for a walk down the hallway.
The installers quickly laid the luan on the floor. Once that was stapled down, they began laying the laminate planks. They finished by putting all the trim back on. They got the flooring done in about six hours. I’m really glad we didn’t try to do it ourselves. The floor is beautiful. Without the carpet, the room looks much bigger.
After the installers left, EJ and I moved the furniture back into the living room. We tried a different arrangement–because it’s nice to have a change every now and then. The installers had moved the couch over in front of the window when they had to put the flooring where it had been. We actually liked the way it looked there so we left it there and moved our recliners where the couch used to be. However, the couch blocked part of the window so we couldn’t enjoy the view as much. So we moved the couch over to where our recliners used to be. We can enjoy more of the view now, although with our recliners across the room, we still can’t see as much as we used to. However, I will be able to see if the deer or turkeys walk along the edge of the forest or come up to the windows, and I have a good view of the bird feeder post so I am content.
After we got the furniture back in the living room, I vacuumed the kitchen rug and we got the table back where it belongs. It’s nice to have everything in its place where it belongs.
One, Two, Three, Four…
Yesterday I carried paint supplies down the driveway, dug up my enchanted sign, laid it on the ground, and began repainting it. Many of the wooden letters that I used for my sign last year fell off in the winter’s cold and summer’s heat. So earlier this summer I knocked off the letters that were loose. I had outlined the letters last summer and the outlines were still visible, so I filled them in using paint pens. However, the paint from the pens quickly faded. So the last time EJ and I went to the hardware store, I bought small cans of sturdy exterior paint that should hold up in Michigan’s weather. Live and learn.
It was pleasant at first painting at the bottom of the hill because I was surrounded by beauty and I enjoyed listening to the bird songs. However, it didn’t take long before my position became uncomfortable. I knelt or sat on the ground and I imagined the snakes we have sometimes seen in the area sneaking up on me or the many ants crawling on me–not to mention spiders. I became hot and thirsty and I imagined trudging up the hill each time I wanted to take a break…Ugh. I decided it would be better to take the sign up the hill to the deck where I could take breaks in the cool house whenever I needed to–and also sit more comfortably on the deck or an overturned kitty litter bucket. We use kitty litter buckets for just about everything.
I walked up to the house with my kitty litter bucket filled with paint supplies, and then back down the driveway to retrieve the sign. The sign is heavy and very awkward to carry, which makes it feel even heavier, and the driveway is long and all uphill. Whenever I have to do anything that takes a measure of strength and endurance, such as carry a heavy awkward sign up a hill, I begin to count to count my steps. It helps me focus on steps instead of how far I have to go: “One (step), two (step), three (step), four (step). One (step), two (step), three (step), four (step).” I count only to four before repeating because it seems to help me focus on just taking one step at a time. I don’t want to count actual steps. I don’t want to know that it takes 500 steps or 1,000 steps to make it up the hill. That makes me feel more tired, not less.
I made it up the hill with the sign, leaned it against the deck, took a break in the air-conditioned house to cool off, and then went back out to paint. I sat on the deck or the upturned kitty litter bucket. I painted all the red letters, took a break, then repainted the red letters, and took a break. Each time I quit painting, I had trouble straightening myself up and walking–I felt so crippled. Ugh. Sometimes it sucks to get older.
I wanted to continue painting, but I decided to go to the hardware store to buy some more little paint brushes. They are just cheap ones and I throw them away when I’m done painting for the day because they aren’t worth trying to clean. I don’t need expensive brushes; I’m not painting a masterpiece. This was the first time I went to this hardware store without EJ. I finally learned the way to get there–usually I’m so busy looking at the beautiful lake as we drive along that I forget to learn the route. Plus, I have a terrible sense of direction. It was very simple to get there, especially with Ziva, my GPS, telling me the way.
When I got home, I went out to gather chicken eggs, do a few household chores, and fix supper. If EJ isn’t home from work by 5:30 p.m. I eat without him because I never know when he is going to get home–sometimes it’s quite late and I don’t want to starve waiting for him.
After I ate, I went back outside and began to paint the yellow letters. EJ came home and after I greeted him, I continued painting because I wanted to make some progress. It was very nice sitting outside enjoying the quiet beauty around me and listening to the birds sing. After a bit, I heard Hannah in the house bark, bark, barking. “What’s up, Hannah?” I called. Then I glanced up and saw the turkey family walking along the forest edge coming up toward me. They passed by only about 20 feet from me. They didn’t seem at all scared even though I had called out to Hannah. They just meandered calmly past me and into the back yard. I’m delighted that they aren’t nervous around me.
I got half the yellow letters painted before I decided to stop. I noticed the outside of my ears felt itchy and sort of burn-ish. I had put my hair in a pony tail to keep it from blowing in my face while I worked, and I’m pretty sure I burned my ears while I was working all those hours in the sunshine.
After a short break, I chatted with EJ while he worked on the floor. He got all the strips of wood up where the carpet had been stapled. Tonight he’s going to check that no staples or anything are sticking up. He might put sealer on the stains tonight, he said, or maybe tomorrow night, or maybe both tonight and tomorrow night.
Before EJ went to bed last night, he carried my enchanted sign into the garage. The forecast called the possibility of heavy rain, hail, and wind, and I didn’t want to risk getting my sign damaged. I would have carried the sign into the garage myself, but I was very tired.
When I went to let the chickens out of their coop this morning, I saw the ground was damp, but I didn’t hear any bad storms in the night so I don’t know how much rain we got.
It was very cloudy this morning. It looked as if it was going to rain, although the forecast said that it would be partly sunny today. After EJ went to work, I went back to bed for a little more sleep. When I woke up again, it still looked cloudy, but radar didn’t show any storms, so I took my sign out of the garage and lugged it over to the deck and began to paint again. Sometimes I heard the sound of rain and I looked up into the sky to see if my sign and I were going to get wet, but it was just the trees shaking off last night’s raindrops.
It felt hot and very humid today–almost tropical. It was very uncomfortable working outside and I took frequent breaks in the air-conditioned house. I also sometimes got up and walked around to get rid of the crippledness in my body. The sun beat down on me and I felt my ears itchy and burning again, so I went inside and got EJ’s big black floppy hat to wear. I have hats, but they are all baseball cap style and don’t protect my ears from the sun. I think I’m going to have to get myself a floppy straw hat to wear when I work outside.
I painted the other half of the yellow letters that I hadn’t painted yesterday. Then I painted all the yellow letters a second time. Then I outlined all the letters–both red and yellow–with paint pens. I outlined the red letters with white and the yellow letters with red. Outlining the letters gave them a more finished look. I think my sign looks even better than it did before. I also walked down the driveway to paint my enchanted address sign, which points the way up to our house.
After I had cooled off in the house, I took Hannah down the hill to get the mail. It was after 3:30 p.m. by that time, and she hadn’t been out since morning. While we were at the bottom of the driveway, I checked the hole where the sign post had been to see if it had filled in any over the night and whether or not I needed to dig it out again. I decided that I probably should take the post-hole digger down just in case. So I walked Hannah back up the driveway, put her in the house, went to the garage and got the post-hole digger, and walked back down the driveway. Then I dug out the hole for the post. I stood the post-hole digger in the sand nearby in case I needed it again.
I staggered up the hill, pick up my heavy, awkward sign, and walked with it down the driveway. I was exhausted from working in the hot sun all day, and the driveway is very, very long. Stopping often to rest and reposition my grip, I counted my way down the driveway: “One (step), two (step), three (step), four (step). One (step), two (step), three (step), four (step).” When I finally reached the hole, I heaved the sign into it, and then kicked sand around the post until it stood firmly. Whew.
I grabbed the post-hole digger and staggered back up the driveway with sweat pouring down me. “One (step), two (step), three (step), four (step). One (step), two (step), three (step), four (step).”
I put away the post-hole digger, and made it into the house. I rested a bit in the cool house with a glass of iced tea. Then it was time to gather chicken eggs. Then I had to fix supper. And clean the litter box. And set up tomorrow’s coffee; it turns on automatically at 5 a.m. so we have coffee by the time we get up. I washed dishes. Paid bills. Finally collapsed in my chair for a longer rest.
Tomorrow, if I am not crippled, I plan to mow the lawn.
Chickens and Other Critters
I feel as if I am moving very slooooowly this week. I’m getting a few tasks done, but slooooowly.
If we had been real homesteaders, we would have butchered our ducks to eat. By “we,” I actually mean EJ. I was born and raised in a small town, and I have lived all my life in small towns until we moved here to our Enchanted Forest. I know nothing about butchering. EJ grew up on a farm and he knows how to butcher poultry. If he had wanted to eat our ducks, and he said he did consider it, I would have agreed because I have no problem with people growing animals to eat. I like chicken and beef and venison. But EJ doesn’t enjoy killing poultry, and I most certainly couldn’t do it, so we decided to give our ducks away instead. I’m glad the ducks are gone.
I’m really enjoying having to care only for the chickens. Ducks are rather endearing, but they use a LOT of water, and quickly get it dirty, and splash it all over everything, which makes mud in the summer and ice in the winter–ice that a person could potentially slip on. That is now a concern after I fell on the snow-covered ice in the driveway last winter and broke my wrist. Ducks also dig holes in the ground with their bills. Chickens aren’t so messy. They only need a bowl of drinking water. They scratch the ground with their feet, which actually prepares it for gardening. Chickens also are very curious and they all come running up to the fence when they see me, which is nice, and they follow me around to see what I’m doing. I actually read that chickens adopt the humans who care for them as part of their flock. It’s important for a person to establish themselves as the dominate “chicken” or the rooster will try to boss him. That’s when roosters get mean. Sassy, our alpha rooster, understands that I’m the boss so he’s not mean at all. In fact, Sassy, is amazing. If I hand him a treat, he will take it politely and then drop it on the ground for the hens to eat. I love the chickens’ soft cluckings, which I find comforting. I even like the roosters crowing. Yeah, I like chickens best. Here’s a video I took today of the chickens following me when I went out to give them fresh drinking water and gather eggs:
Yesterday I dragged a couple old pallets in the garden and set the ducks pool on top. I punched a few holes in the bottom and will put some stones in it for drainage. Then I will fill it with dirt for another raised bed, which we will plant next Spring. It only makes sense to repurpose the ducks’ pool.
I went to the garden yesterday afternoon to get some herbs to use in our supper. I usually go through the garage into the back yard. It’s the quickest route. I opened the garage door and was surprised to see the turkey family on the hill. Usually if I see wildlife outside, I quietly go back outside until they leave so I don’t disturb them. However, I had to start fixing supper so I just quietly went into the garden and picked the herbs I needed. I was surprised that the turkeys weren’t alarmed by my presence. They just kept meandering calmly along the hill eating grasshoppers and other insects.
This morning we had visitors of another sort. Three deer wandered across the driveway and up to the house. One of them was an adorable little fawn. The fawn and one of the older deer paused to eat the berries from the bushes near the big rocks while the doe came right up to the house to lick the mineral block that we had put out for them last winter. After a while, the other two deer joined her. They were only a couple of feet from the house. Usually they come that close only in the winter. I stood at the window with my camera, and was surprised that they didn’t run away. Usually they are more skittish. I could have enjoyed them all day but EJ had to leave for work. I took several photos and videos, including this one in which the deer ran away when EJ went out to his vehicle.
I love living in my Enchanted Forest!
Yesterday we heard news reports of a car/bear accident not very many miles away from us. It reminds me that we really do have bears in the area. I think it was last year that I was standing behind a guy at TSC who was buying a birdfeeder. He told the cashier that he was replacing his previous one which had been destroyed–he thinks probably by a bear. The guy lived near a town only about four miles from us. Bears are why I don’t keep my birdfeeders up in the summer. They are attracted to them as a food source, and I really don’t want to attract bears.
Last night after work EJ worked a bit on the floor. I hate that he has to do it when he’s tired after a long day of work, but it has to get done before Saturday when the installers come to lay the new flooring. EJ removed the trim and pulled up the strips of wood that the carpet had been nailed to. After a bit he had to stop because his back hurt. He will work on it again tonight. This afternoon, to help him out, I pulled up the wood strips that he hadn’t gotten to yet.
Michigan had some elections today. I voted this morning. EJ will vote after work. An elderly man ahead of me in line had a lot of trouble getting the electronic voting machine to accept his ballot. It kept spitting it back out. He hadn’t quite filled out the circles correctly, so he had to redo it, and he still had trouble getting his ballot accepted. Finally it went through. I felt kind rather sorry for him. Everyone in line was very patient with him though. Sometimes it sucks getting old.
This afternoon I picked a few herbs, took them to the kitchen and washed them, and then put them in the dehydrator to dry. As I picked the herbs, I considered my tasks in the days ahead. The wooden gate into the garden is rather rickety and isn’t easy to close, so I’m considering taking it off and making a new gate out of a section of cattle panels covered with chicken wire like I did with the gate to the chicken pen. I bought some small cans of exterior paint to repaint my enchanted sign. The craft paint is not holding up. Friday the weather will be sunny so I think I will try to mow the lawn. Saturday the floor gets installed…
Today is National Lighthouse Day. I bought EJ a lighthouse gift on-line to celebrate. Actually, I bought the gift because I knew he’d like it and then I discovered it was National Lighthouse Day. I can’t tell you want it is because then EJ will know what it is because he reads my blog. It will be here in a few days.
In my spare time I’ve begun reading a detective novel set in Michigan. I’ve only just started it but so far it’s interesting. I love reading books set in my state because I’m familiar with the places it mentions. It’s fun. I love Michigan.
Coop Redesigned
Because today was forecasted to be very hot, our plan was to work outside in the cool of the morning and then go into the air-conditioned house and work on the floor in the afternoon.
Days don’t always go according to plan.
I slept late this morning–the latest I’ve slept for quite a while. I awoke occasionally during the night feeling a little sad and a bit of guilt for getting rid of the ducks, although I’m glad we did. After I finally got out of bed, I fed Hannah and the cats, who were very hungry, and then I went outside and let the chickens out of the coop. It was nice not to have to fill the pool for the ducks. When I got back in the house, I sat for a while drinking coffee with EJ, and then I fixed us breakfast, and then we sat drinking more coffee until the pot was empty. I finally took my shower and got dressed. By the time we got outside to work, I think it was 11 am and the day was already heating up.
Our back yard had been divided into three sections. There was an outside pen for the chickens and an outside pen for the ducks. We had to separate them because our drake was a pervert who kept going after the hens. Last year we built our raised garden pens and fenced them in so the deer couldn’t get our produce. In the summer we opened the gate between the duck pen and the garden and let the ducks go among the beds and eat bugs. So there were three fenced in areas: the chicken pen, the duck pen, and the garden. Last night after the ducks were taken away, I removed the fence dividing the chicken and duck pens. The chickens still aren’t allowed in the garden area because the perimeter fence isn’t tall enough and the chickens could easily fly out. Also, they probably would be able to get into our garden plants and eat them. But even without being allowed in the garden, the chickens really seemed to enjoy their new expanded area.
This morning I planned to move the section of fencing to replace the perimeter fencing that wasn’t as good as the others. When I first put the perimeter fence up, I ran out of fencing and had to corn-cobble the last little bit together. It wasn’t very predator-safe. EJ was going to put straw on his potato plants this morning, but he ended up putting up the fence for me. The section of fencing is actually part of a dog pen that one of EJ’s co-workers gave it to him a couple of years ago. It wasn’t quite long enough to reach the garden gate so EJ moved the gate. Eventually–maybe even this summer if we have enough time, money, and energy–we want to expand the garden and get taller fencing for the rest of the perimeter.
While EJ worked on the fence and gate, I redesigned the coop.
The inside of the coop had also been divided into two, with the ducks on one side and the chickens on the other. I pushed aside the inside dividing fence, which involved unscrewing the panel of dog pen that had a door in it from the wall, and untwisting or cutting wires that held up other sections of fence.
Then I moved an old dog house that the previous owners of our property had built, and which we had put inside the coop to use as a duck house. The ducks liked going into it at night and they often laid their eggs in it. It was very well-made and very heavy, and I grunted and huffed as I shoved it to where I wanted it–on the opposite wall of the little gray chicken coop that was inside the big coop. The chickens like roosting on top of their little coop. The dog/duck house took up a lot of space, so I moved the dividing fence forward to give the chickens more space. Then I reattached the dog pen panel and the other fencing. I used screws, nails, and wire to attach the fencing. EJ helped me with some of the nailing–the ones near the ceiling–because he is taller and can pound the nails in faster–and I was getting tired. We are using the remaining space where the ducks used to be as storage for the chicken feed and straw bales.
In addition to working on redesigning our coop and fencing, we washed clothes and hung them on the clothesline. EJ hung the first load of clothes on the line for me.
It was very hot today. EJ says it was 92 or 93 degrees (fahrenheit). There was a very strong wind, which helped, but we still got hot and sweaty. Whenever we felt overheated, we took breaks in the air-conditioned house.
It took us all afternoon to work on the coop and fencing. We were exhausted and grimy when we finally finished the project and put our tools away. I was glad to take a shower (my second today) and get clean again. We never did get around to working on the living room floor. We will have to do that in the evenings this week. Our new flooring gets installed this coming Saturday.
Once the flooring is in, we hope to order a truck load of limestone for our driveway. There are places in the driveway that could use more stones.
