Woodys Rocky Ridge

New Year

2012-01-02T18:05:00.006-06:00

New Years Eve I took a box out to the garage. I just wanted to find a place to set it down but I ended up spending a whole day putting away tools, cleaning up the messes of summer and desperately searching for the floor. I found it eventually, but the practice of reorganizing the garage is a pain in the ass. Every change of season or completion of a project requires a re-shuffling of the mountain that is stacked against the south wall. I like knowing exactly what I have and where it is. I hate that the task of seasonal rotation of supplies and tools that has to occur due to lack of space (or too much stuff as my wife says). I can't recall the last time we had a vehicle parked out of the snow and ice. I think it was about six years ago. I know it was before we had all the cages for showing poultry and a 3'x4' plywood show box for Katy's 4H swine projects. Then there is the roll of greenhouse film that has to weigh over 200# and stands as tall as me. Sleds, garden tools, chainsaws,freezers,table saw, feed cans, push mower, generator, power-washer, recycling stuff and a stack of lumber. It is a pile. We really need some more space!

We have dedicated a lot of time to the planning of our new barn/workshop/studio loft. When a building begins to take on multiple functions we felt that it would be well worth the expense of having our ideas put to paper and properly engineered. I love the look of an old barn but I don't want to see an old sway back roof line after a few years. Especially with the cost of materials a little planning goes a long way to reducing mistakes in material waste.

The footprint of the building is 40'x48' with a pair of twelve foot lean-to on the east and west sides. There will be a root/storm cellar and the lean-to on the west side of the building will cover a 10'x48' concrete porch slab. It will get rough cut shortleaf pine siding and galvanized metal roof. Everything on the inside will be rough cut lumber with the exception of four engineered beams that will run the length of the building.

The loft will be split with the south side being finished out for Theresa's studio. I get a workshop on the ground floor. There should be plenty of room to spread out for awhile.

I have spent most of this fall cutting and clearing trees from the building site. I'm getting a good supply of next years firewood without having to haul it up the hill. Hopefully we will break ground soon.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T18:29:00.001-06:00

May you be warm tonight, your belly full, your mind at ease, peace in your heart. May the holes in your shoes be small and your socks whole. May your kids be of good health and know that you love them. May you find what it is you are missing in your own time. May the path you choose be one of a happy destiny. May you pass along what you have of plenty to those who need.
Merry Christmas to my friends, family and those I haven't yet had the joy of getting to know.

Done!

2011-12-04T20:54:00.004-06:00

Clean up and move the saw to the back porch. One more ceiling to install then on to the next year long assignment.

This spring we will most likely screen the front porch in. I've still got this idea bouncing around in my head. What would look right for a front entrance panel for the screening? Between the posts it will be easy to stretch a screen panel. To make a door panel that is functional and looks good...well, that will take me some time to wrap what brain cells I have left around.

A design that might feature an arched door, stained glass transom or cedar branches as accents on the side panels? The opening is a little over ten feet wide. There is an unlimited number of possibilities to make a functional statement of invitation to our home.

We use our porch a lot. Once it is screened I could see us taking our meals there. There are many nights I would like to sleep on the porch but without the protection from mosquitoes I would be a quart low on blood by daybreak.

The stain glass panel that we had hanging on the west end of the porch will have to find a new place to reside. The elements would have been too much for it to survive where we had it. The most likely location for the panel will be in our new barn. We have had some plans drawn up for the barn in an attempt to limit most of our mistakes to paper. Hopefully we'll be able to start the excavation/concrete work soon. I'm still clearing trees from the site.

Some thing wicked this way comes

2011-11-26T07:06:00.001-06:00

Our future on this planet is threatened.

Doesn't mom look ALL relaxed!

Change

2011-11-13T06:25:00.002-06:00

I'm a little saddened that time has marched on past Halloween and there were no pictures of my little girl to take. She put together a costume for the night but it never made it out the door. Sad when kids get to a point that they abandon those little events. Not sure if it was her friends not making it out for a round of trick or treating or if she was just feeling a little odd about it. Growing up sometimes sucks more for the parents than for the kids.

It's getting there

2011-10-03T16:52:00.003-05:00

Slowly the progress on the front porch drags on. I've got one side of stone veneer left to do, then on to the bead-board ceiling.

DIY around here means Done In a Year.

Pitiful...

2011-09-28T13:52:00.001-05:00

I have not been a good blogger.

Drawdown

2011-09-11T07:24:00.002-05:00

My focus turns from picking tomatoes to sharpening saw chains. Always with the first few cool nights of the end of summer I seem to get the same type of fever I get when the seed catalogs hit the mailbox. Only this fever is directed at the wood pile and hauling in previously cut trees for cutting/splitting. I don't get nearly as excited with this bout of flu as I due the spring variety. I do enjoy the change of season though.

There comes a new direction in chores. A change in the routine.

As for this years garden...well we had a new nemesis rear its ugly heads. Japanese beetles found us. I had never had to deal with them before and quite frankly they suck! I have invested in some beneficial nematodes and milky spore. I hope that will help in the long run.

We won't again be taking a vacation after the fair. What ended up being three weeks away from the daily chores of the garden was not a very well thought out plan. The weeds did very well this year.

I have several projects that I'm trying to wrap up before winter. The front porch and wood shed are at the top of the list. Both are nearly finished.

My little girl began her cross country season this past week. She was nervous and wide eyed going into the meet. I was very proud of her finish. She placed 27th overall. A good slot to set reasonable goals for improvement. She has some wonderful coaches and fantastic mentors who wish nothing but the best for her.

Porch Update

2011-07-22T17:57:00.002-05:00

Ed...it was a good guess but not the right one for today. My sister had given us this piece of stained glass several months ago. We weren't sure exactly where it would end up.

I think it has found its home.

Porch Progress

2011-07-22T11:03:00.005-05:00

Taking a little time off from work I'm finally getting a few projects closer to completion. Most of the outside stone work has been finished. There only remains a two by three foot area that I'll finish when I start putting the stone on the inside of the wall. Yesterday I set all my cedar posts. We decided (Theresa decided for me) that we liked the double post look.

I started to wrap the post in trim this morning.

Glued and screwed with a torx-head finish screws.

I still need to paint the existing trim but the cedar will remain pretty much natural. I've got a little gift from my sister to hang on one end of the porch yet. It should really add a nice unplanned touch to our finished product. I have to install the bead board to the ceiling and finish the stone but I can finally see the end is near.

Plans

2011-07-20T07:39:00.007-05:00

We have talked and argued for nearly two years on the need, wants, purpose, druthers and design of a new barn. There are a couple of areas that we agree on. We both don't want a metal skinned pole barn. Our desires lean towards what I've come to call a seventy year old new barn.

We want an old look to a new building.

Something along these lines.

Our use of the building would vary. I would get my workshop and by splitting the loft Theresa would have a true studio space to work on her painting. I would be able to scrape several plans for smaller out buildings by including their purpose into the one building. At this point any new space under roof would be welcome.

It's a jungle out there

2011-07-19T05:34:00.003-05:00

The only way we can maintain our garden is making daily excursions through weeding, pruning and watering. Most often we can get by with an hour or two of a casual assault on the weedy interlopers. A week away from daily maintenance coupled with a heavy rain on Wednesday night and high temperatures makes for ideal growth conditions. Weeds have turned our garden into a jungle! On top of the weeds I discover an infestation of Japanese beetles has graced us with its presence. If only I could convince the beetles to attach the weeds.

I spent nearly 10 hours yesterday trying to get a handle on the fruit of our neglect. The high heat and humidity don't really make it a lot of fun cleaning things up. I had to look no further than the window seat in our kitchen to realize why I was sweating my arse off. A pair of beer flats full of ripe juicy tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash piled high and a colander full of blackberries next to the sink.

The heat will be on high this week...so out to the garden I go. Early in, early out.

That was one hot week!

2011-07-18T08:35:00.002-05:00

Katy was not having a real good time showing her hogs this year. It was very hot and humid for the entire week. She received a little coaching from her Aunt Lynda during the show that coaxed a smile.

Her entries came in at 270# for the Duroc gilt and 318# for the blue butt barrow. The barrow earned her a Reserve Grand Champion for rate of gain @ 2.664.

Katy's poultry entries did very well. She earned a total of nine blue ribbons and a Grand Champion in one class. Overall she won Reserve Grand Champion for the show.

Hot weather and squirt bottles go hand in hand.

My lovely wife and our friend Doc entered the super farmer contest. This was a first this year and a ton of fun to watch.

Look at those guns!

She definitely got a good work out.

Katy and her partner made the finals but I don't think her hay bale toss helped them much. The bale probably came close to out weighing her. She managed a toss of seven feet though.

The agony of defeat with a smile on her face. I love fair week!

So it begins

2011-07-11T06:14:00.002-05:00

Fair week!

Fourth

2011-07-04T05:52:00.005-05:00

July rolled in as always in the Ozarks. Hot and humid. We were blessed with a nice rain last night that was sorely needed. I had pulled all of our garlic in the last week. The variety "Music" that I had ordered through Territorial Seed Co., was the best performer. Last night with dinner I tossed about six bulbs in the skillet with some Vidalia onions, butter and a touch of sorghum molasses. The garlic was so good!

Earlier this spring I had spread one of our compost piles out to a thickness of around two feet and planted some of our old seed on it. Pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers, collards and spaghetti squash. I haven't put any water on them yet as I should have from the beginning.

Results so far have been mixed. Some seed never did germinate and those that did have done well, for no attention rendered.

The fair is a week away. Katy's entries are putting the pounds on! I'm guessing that her barrow will weigh in at 320# and the gilt nearer to 260#. I'll let you know how the scale reads to see how good/bad my carny skills are at guessing weights. ****update...barrow-318# and the gilt 270#. I have a future as a carny.

We had a decent bunch of beets to can this year. Better than last in quality and size.

Our beans have been slow to cover the arches. I planted some speckled lima beans that haven't been worth a dime!

The tomato plants are beginning to set fruit. We've had a hand full of ripe Early Girl's. I still need to get either panels up or wire up a Florida weave on two rows of Hillbilly Royal and Cherokee Purples.

Early Girls

Two of Katy's poultry entries this year. A golden laced cochin bantam pair and a black tailed Japanese bantam rooster. She has a boat load of birds to show this year. I think she is taking nine birds. If she adds anymore I'll be building a new cage stand in a hurry.

We spent a fantastic evening with some friends celebrating a birthday Saturday. Their farm creek is down stream from a trout farm and fishing resort. People from all over this country fly in here to fish at the resort. Us poor folk had to drive down to the gravel bar and grill some beef brats and shish-kabobs have a nice fire and cold beverage and fish for free. Isn't this a great country!

Happy Fourth all!

Hog Work

2011-06-14T14:57:00.001-05:00

Just about thirty days left before the fair. Hopefully these guys will be about 60 lbs. heavier and much easier to work for Katy. She has put in a lot more time and effort into this years entries.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T18:46:00.001-05:00

Between the Waves

2011-05-25T16:33:00.003-05:00

This has been a crazy weather spring! As I'm posting this we are in the middle of another round of tornado warnings, severe thunderstorms and prodigious amounts of rain. I ran out to feed the chickens and glanced at the rain gauge reading at 1.5 inches. I had emptied it last night before I had left for work.

Fortunately we haven't had any damage like our neighbors in Joplin. A light spat of pea sized hail and some high winds have been all we have had to endure.

We have at least got about half of our garden in. Yesterday I was able to get in another 24 tomatoes and 12 pepper plants. I hilled our potato patch and laid down a heavy helping of partially composted hay and manure between rows. If it drys out at all this week I plan on spreading out one of the compost piles and planting our melons and some squash. Let that pile work a little while it is breaking down.

The strawberries are coming in at full throttle now...jam time!

Sweet potato slips will be going in this week too.

2011-05-20T21:46:00.002-05:00

We are having a very cool and wet spring. I've lost track of the rainfall amounts. The ground is saturated and there is little chance to put anything else in the garden till we get a couple of dry days.

What we have in has done well so far. I've put in 5 types of beans, 6 variety of tomatoes and three different potatoes.

The rains have been great for mushrooms!

Growings on

2011-05-14T05:46:00.001-05:00

The rain stopped

2011-05-01T03:05:00.002-05:00

After receiving nearly 7" of rain in the last two weeks we have had a reprieve. Amazing how a couple of days of stiff southerly breezes can take the squish out of your step. We are hilltop and dry fairly quickly. The river is still bulging at its banks but has receded from flood stage. The tater flag is starting to push through. I planted a cranberry red, Yukon gold (white) and an all blue potatoes in three rows, hence the flag.

Greens, lettuce, peas, spinach and garlic.

I've got a few tomatoes and a boat load of peppers that are needing to be re-potted.

I also started a few seed directly in the greenhouse beds that I'll transplant to the garden. This is a new practice for me. I had always started my seed in trays or paper pots but decided to try out this approach.

Peony bud ready to pop.

I finally took delivery of our stone and lumber for the front porch.

Katy helped me get a great start Saturday morning. She really was a good hand picking rock and did quite a bit of the install.

I was very happy with the days work. We finished one half of one side. I will be rocking the inside of the porch as well.

It does feel good to see an idea start to come together.

It's all good

2011-04-22T23:03:00.001-05:00

Sprung

2011-03-23T17:53:00.003-05:00

I finally started to inoculate our new cutting of shittake logs. The wooden dowels are treated with the spawn for the mushroom.

A series of holes are drilled around the girth of the logs.

The dowels are tapped in then covered with a dollop of wax to retain the moisture.

Then the logs are placed in a shady spot to allow the spawn to incubate the log.

About this time next year we will be finding these little jewels for our kitchen.

Some salad greens, spinach, garlic and Swiss chard are our carry overs from this winter in our high tunnel. I've got a few seeds started that are due to be re-potted.

Katy has shown a fresh interest in what we grow and eat.

Yippee!!

2011-03-20T06:15:00.002-05:00

I thought you would never arrive!

Peeled

2011-03-05T20:48:00.001-06:00

I peeled the forms off the top of the knee wall on our porch. Overall I was pleased with the results. There are several voids in the concrete but nothing I can't live with. Now I'll close in the framing with pressure treated plywood and a layer of concrete board.

Then the dry stack of cultured stone.

Compost

2011-03-05T10:36:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I finished turning our compost piles and pushing the hay to one side in anticipation of a few loads of manure that I'll be hauling. If the rain stops and ground firms up, I hope to get at least four loads of manure from a tandem axle dumptruck. Tami @ 500 Dollar Tomato posted about her compost woes.

When the manure starts to roll in I like to place it where I can fold some of the hay into it. Depending on how fresh the poop is will greatly influence how much of the hay I'll fold in. Our piles are near the top of the hill, directly above our garden. Any surface run off ends up in our patch.

Thankfully I don't have neighbors that would complain about the sight of steaming piles of composting crap. I'm sure that a neighborhood association would have a ticket writing frenzy from these efforts.

I will haul in just about anything that will degrade in the composting process. Our piles will get a mix of hay, leaves, chicken litter, cow manure and grass clippings from my dads. If I run across anything that can be composted I'll haul it in.

This is some of what we will be using this year.

A Grand Weekend

2011-02-27T22:10:00.007-06:00

This weekend was spent with our grand kids as our guests. The boys mom and dad were celebrating their anniversary, so we were blessed to have them out for the entire weekend. Collin helped me cut some firewood and fall some smaller oaks for shiitake logs. He was trying to learn how to identify some of our species of trees. I was truly impressed that he was paying that much attention to correctly identify a couple of trees. It was cool to see him thinking it through. What did the bark look like? Was there any nuts on the ground near the trunk? Did it smell if you rubbed the bark? Did any of the branches show color? I just love watching a young mind at work.

It wasn't all about work this weekend. The future little motorhead had his fun too.

Hunter is truly the one that wears me down the most. I'm not complaining. It feels so good to spend time with these kids. They are just some super charged little bundles of 100% pure boy!
I was saying in a previous post that working with concrete made me feel like an old man, but after the boys hit the trail I felt like I had mixed and poured twice as much concrete as we did for the front porch rail cap. I never remember having so much damn energy as those two boys have. They done wore their papaw out!

Katy put some finishing touches on her slingshot. I test fired it for her a couple of times and have to say it worked well. She'll have a little time to practice since volleyball season is on hold due to her broken arm.

Eggs & Bones

2011-02-24T16:49:00.002-06:00

The chickens and turkeys are laying again. I have no idea what laid the little egg in the center of the photo. It is the second one of that size that we have found. They are perfectly formed with yolk and white, but about the size of my thumbnail.

Katy is in a temporary cast till Monday when she will get herself a choice of colors for her permanent cast. The swelling has gone down and with it much of the pain.

It appears like she will be on the IR list till around the beginning of April.

The Fun Begins

2011-02-20T09:21:00.002-06:00

Since we are having a bit of warmer weather we jumped into the front porch work.

For the most part all went well. I realized that concrete work can make anyone feel much older than they are. I certainly wouldn't want to have to handle 80# sacks of pre-mix everyday. I got home from work Friday morning and started in with the steel. Thankfully a couple of stout cups of coffee and the desire to get this part of the project done was enough to get us through the day.

I didn't feel much like taking any more pictures after we finished placing the concrete. I'm fairly happy with the finish work but more on that later. I don't have much experience with concrete work so much of the finish work was just trying not to fiddle around with it too much. We'll get a good look at the results in a couple of days.

On Saturday we were at a basketball tournament for our youngest. She took a hard foul and harder fall breaking her arm in the process. The break is on the ulna about an inch from the wrist end. She isn't a very happy camper right now. On the bright side...the team won the game and took third in the tournament. The down side...I've lost my little helper for four to six weeks.

2011-02-17T18:28:00.001-06:00

The concrete has been delivered...sore backs are soon to follow.

What's on tap

2011-02-12T05:36:00.005-06:00

The planning for this years "want to" list begins to kick into gear as the days start to stretch. The list crowns its infancy about the same time as the arrival of seed catalogs. My energy shifts from a "let's get through the winter" mode in to a "what can we get done this year" gear.

There are a handful of incomplete projects that are on my agenda. The front porch is at the top of the list.

This is how the front elevation of our home appeared before it became necessary to replace the slab. It had sunk nearly eight inches in the center against the front foundation of the house due to lack of pinning and using river gravel for fill. Mistakes that we won't make again! We had to have the old slab jacked out and I hauled out the rubble. The steel was tied into the foundation and crushed limestone was added and tamped in the void created from the settling of the river gravel. Should there be anymore settling the steel being pinned should limit any substantial movement. The opportunity to change the design of the porch was a welcomed silver lining in an otherwise crappy situation. The old railings were nice but merely an afterthought during construction. It was a "that will work" decision that I still regret. I thought that the post and rails lacked a ''strong chin" detail.

So our face-lift began. At the same time that the new slab was laid we replaced the french doors that were hardly ever used to our dining room with a large casement window. The difference in the amount of light coming into the house is huge. Being in an alcove the casement type window catches full advantage of the space. Removing the cedar steps and the brick patio left me with a well drained area for another garden bed, primarily for shade loving plantings. The brick now is being used as the walkway in the greenhouse. The sliding screen door that our kids, grandkids, dogs and inebriated house guests have walk or run through was replaced with a new storm door.

Now on to the porch. First I extended the top step to form a landing so you could comfortably open a planned screen door.

I framed up a knee wall that I will veneer with cultured stone. I haven't quite settled on what style of stone yet. The old double posts will return to the new porch but will be a bit beefier and enjoy some embellishment.

The top will be formed up to receive a concrete wall cap that will end up being the width of the framing in the picture below.
The framing for the top slab is ready for the pour, but not shown in these pictures from last summer. Now I'm just waiting for a couple of days of decent weather to pour.

Katy's old tree house will be the next thing to come down. It was sad that the old oak that I took great care not to attach any part of the deck to, was hit by lightening. It completely boiled the tree to death. I'll try to bring the structure down in a way that HOPEFULLY will keep it intact. Then the deck and clubhouse will get dragged to a new home in the woods that will become a kids campsite.

Then the NEW project for this year. We are in the paper stages of a new barn. Sketches and scribbles of what we want are about all we have accomplished except for a start at removing some trees within the proposed footprint.

A lot more of the barn to come.

The thaw is coming

2011-02-11T19:23:00.001-06:00

No Ice Please

2011-01-30T07:36:00.003-06:00

The forecast for the work week looks like a giant turd! The national weather service is saying we're in for a significant accumulation of ice. I hate ice storms! I can deal with snow. You can move snow if you have to. Ice just sucks!

The fuel cans are full for the generator, wood stacked high and dry. A trip to the store after church for some odds and ends. We'll be good to go. I can only hope they are so wrong.

The last ice storm we had left us without electricity for six days. Not a big deal, but we were ill prepared with our fireplace and uncovered wood pile. Since then we have replaced the fireplace with a woodstove and I have not had a wood pile at least partially covered since.

I hope everyone in the path of this forecast will be safe and warm.

I HATE ICE!!! Except in my glass of tea.

Recommendations?

2011-01-09T09:23:00.003-06:00

We are thinking about a vacation in North Carolina in the later half of July. I would love to hear anyone's experiences or recommendations for cool places to see and places to stay. We would like to spend a good deal of time on the beach. Laid back...low key.

2011

2011-01-01T11:03:00.000-06:00

I haven't done a damn thing all year.

2010-12-27T08:34:00.015-06:00

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T08:11:00.002-06:00

It is so nice to wake on Christmas Eve with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. It's the best type for packing snowballs, snowmen and sledding. If the grandkids make it out we should have a full day of fun on the hill.

I hope everyone has a joy filled Christmas.

Peace,

Woody

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T18:58:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas.

Pheuwee

2010-11-16T18:21:00.001-06:00

One stinking dog...again. One less varmint in the chicken coop.

2010-10-15T13:35:00.002-05:00

It's pair pick'n time!....update! pear pick'n time. That is what I get for posting something before I had my coffee.

Roadtrip

2010-09-26T05:39:00.013-05:00

Many of you gave us some fantastic ideas for weekend road-trips. We had a difficult time deciding exactly where we would go. Southern Indiana was our choice for no particular reason other than either of us had ever been there. We had no itinerary, reservations or information other than the experience of my sisters trip through the area almost twenty years ago and an old copy of a Readers Digest publication of state by state points of interest published in the early 80's.

One of the cooler little places we ran across. Great food!

We headed east on the interstate crossing the Wabash River, from there our tires rarely touched anything more than a two lane. We visited an alphabet soup of small towns. New Harmony, Poseyville, Princeton, Haysville, Frenchlick and Loogootee; Bedford, Medora and Nashville; Trafalgar, Corydon Leavenworth, Derby and Rome; Tell City, Troy, Rockport and Newburgh. We even ran out of road at one point.

I got to take my wife to Rome!

We had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Ed Whitcomb and his "smoking hot girlfriend" on the porch of his Rome, Indiana home.

Ed was a two term Governor of Indiana in the late 60's and early 70's. We sat and talked for the better part of an hour as he recalled some of his tumultuous life.

We cruised along the Ohio River staying the night at the Leavenworth Inn. Cool place!

We simply had a great time. There is nothing better than being with the love of your life as we cruise down the road of happy destiny.

2010-09-19T09:49:00.003-05:00

Ozark Homesteader is having a give-a-way of a cast iron dutch oven...

our first giveaway: camping Dutch oven with lid lifter!

Where to go?

2010-09-09T08:48:00.002-05:00

It's a good problem to have, but still a problem. Our anniversary is coming up later this month and we would like to take a long weekend trip. We haven't been able to make up our minds. The option of laying a map out on the floor and spinning a bottle has come to mind.

Where have ya'll gone that you would recommend as a great time/can't miss the views type get a way?

Barefoot'n and Dropping the Lard

2010-09-07T00:03:00.009-05:00

Being on the south side of the forties and well past my optimal weight it was time to shut up and do something different. I have been working at dropping this ring of lard that some jackass dumped on my body. From my sporty multiple chin series clear down to the belly and love handles codenamed Baby Krakatoa I got sick of feeling the way I was. Slowly I have managed to lose quite a bit of my creamy jelly filling. From my highest weight of 256 lbs. I am now down to 218 lbs. and more important than the numbers, I feel GREAT and can get into my jeans again.

I've worn bibs for a long time. Hell! I'm a freak'in railroader. Ain't we suppose to wear bibs? I wear them because they are comfortable, have tons of pockets and then out of necessity after I busted my pelvis three years ago. I love bibs but I would like to have a choice in the matter. That option had been removed with my growing gut. With the exception of one pair, I'm too cheap to buy bigger sized jeans. It's so cool to see that lonely pair sitting and waiting for me to lose my enthusiasm and revert. The JAWS of the fat pants waits in the closet!

Working around here was about the only exercise I was getting. For nearly a year and one half anything I did was done with an over-sized amount of pain attached. I did less and grew larger all the while. I just didn't feel like doing anything and that feeling was what prompted a change in direction.

There is way too much work around here for some lazy s.o.b. to leave alone for too long. I began to walk and felt marginally better. I started to use some light weights/high reps and felt even better. Read a few articles and watched a little of a program on barefoot running. One of the reasons I had avoided running was it involved running. I have an old, old history of shin splints and sore knees from running in high school and for a year or so after. The addition of hip pain after the break also wasn't helping when I tried running. Since I started barefoot running I haven't had any joint pain, only muscle soreness.

I'm working my way along this road slowly and focused on the next step. The goals are small and I'm happy with that. I am only up to running two miles without a break, but considering where I started I am two miles ahead.

I have found that the jobs I have to complete around the ridge are ways to continue a reduction in my girth. Let's just say I am trading burning calories for BTU's later this winter.

While on the subject of logs;

I had given up on my shiitake logs. There was sign that the squirrels had munched on the logs, eating the only mushroom that I had seen and gnawing on the plugs. I just assumed that I would be cutting the logs to burn in the wood stove. Last Friday I ran into my friend Skip at Wildwood. He has tried EVERYTHING when it comes to growing things. He has been one of my mentors with my greenhouse and was the source of inspiration for doing the shiitake logs. He asked how the shrooms were doing and I told him that it was a lost cause. Well...I was mowing Saturday when I decided to cut some of the ground behind the garden and hog pen. The logs are laid at the foot of a hickory out side the pen. I could'nt believe it when I saw that they were covered with shrooms!

Patience...

Hillbenders & Sierra Hull

2010-09-05T07:22:00.002-05:00

The Hillbenders are out of Springfield Missouri. An extremely fun band! It was so obvious that they were having a great time sharing their music with us. Infectious!

A bluegrass star is rising. Sierra Hull is a player! A very young talent with a voice that will knock your socks off. She has surrounded herself with some very talented band mates to form an evening of ear candy.

Seldom Scene

2010-09-04T07:36:00.005-05:00

Once again the Wildwood Springs Lodge has one of my all time favorites grace the lobby for an evening of music. Seldom Scene headlined last night. The first night of a weekend of bluegrass.

WOW II

2010-08-09T00:11:00.010-05:00

A huge steaming pile of crap is not what many people would consider a pleasant discovery. A friend cleaned out his barn and I was the lucky recipient of this mountain of future compost. In all there are 15 loads on a tandem axle dump trailer. Cody set up watch over the pile. He was waiting to dig in and sample a few cow/sheep/goat turds floating in the mix. Dogs are so damned weird that way.

He just knows that he'll get yelled at if he starts his treasure hunt in my presence, so he waits. He'll also find out that he won't be coming in the house for a couple of days either.

This past weekend we celebrated my Grandson's 6th birthday. With the temperature hanging around the century mark it seemed more than appropriate to break out the water balloons. One thing that skipped our minds was that kids can't hit the side of a barn throwing things at each other. Unless they're throwing rocks at a window.

So a tub of water and some cups gets them a little wetter than the balloons. Well water has a way of cooling you off in a big hurry.

Theresa was holding her own till the munchkins ganged up on her.

Hopefully this week will be the last of the 100 degree days. I'm sure hoping.

WOW

2010-08-03T23:56:00.000-05:00

That was one hot friggin day!

Who left the heat on?

2010-07-22T08:06:00.024-05:00

After a week of doing nothing but the fair, I've returned to a real friggin mess in the garden. The green house has gotten a bit unruly, but not nearly as overrun as the rest of the garden. There is so much we need to process, starting with the green beans. Thankfully the tomatoes are slower to ripen this season. This time last year we were up to our ears in Romas. Theresa has been doing a great job of keeping up with canning and jamming, freezing and dehydrating. Peaches are in the kitchen taking their turn at becoming jams and dried fruit treats.

If I can catch up I would like to do some second plantings of squash and zucchini. Our first plantings were sparse in production and decimated by squash bugs. Right now I can't even find our spaghetti squash and butter nut squash. The weeds are waist high. Some where out there are some beets that were planted late. I've got a couple of days of vacation left to try to beat back the fruit of our neglect. Of course the rains are still coming and the heat has been ramped up. Nothing like sweat rolling through my eyes to make me wonder why.

We did arm ourselves with a new tool this year.

Our old stove took forever to boil water. I would guess that the burner on high was straining to achieve 5000 btu's. For a change, I was the one who nearly puked when pricing this thing. After using it a short time and relearning to cook we have fallen for it. With a couple of 22000 btu burners canning has become much easier.

Brandywines are very plump this year. We did get to enjoy our first dinner of BLT's with last years hog and some wonderfully juicy tomato. Man!!! I love those things!

Riesentraubes are beginning to ripen up. I think this one will become one of my favorites.

One thing that is certain for next year is planting all my tomatoes in raised beds. They have outperformed all the other plants that were planted at the same time. I believe drainage is the number one factor in their performance. The other plants sat with wet feet for much of the spring. I usually dig a large hole and fill it with compost, but our soils are mostly clay. The holes became like clay pots for much of the spring, holding too much water.

The Cherokee Purple Tomatoes have been painfully slow to ripen. These are my favorites.

We had planted several beds of zinnia to use as cut flowers for a friends daughters wedding. It's so nice to have the flowers spread through out the garden. It was so cool to watch the parents of the bride cutting all the flowers the night before the wedding. We filled the trunk and the back seat of their car. The father is an accomplished potter who made over fifty vases for the reception tables. The combination of hand thrown pots and garden cut flowers was awesome.

Done

2010-07-20T06:35:00.010-05:00

The Fair has finally closed for this year. We have returned home to retreat from the heat and high humidity that surrounded us. All our gear was packed up, moved and unpacked by 9am Sunday morning. We were required to not load out any of the livestock till after 10pm Saturday night this year. This was new for us and meet with a great deal of animosity from many of the participants. I understood the intent of the load-out rule change being that fair goers wanted to see the livestock exhibits instead of being greeted by closed barn doors and livestock trailers. It just added another full day to the fair and many don't except change well. We loaded our pigs out at 6am and finished cleaning and loading gear and the poultry shortly thereafter.

Katy did well showing her hogs. One missed making weight by three pounds but she entered in the open class and placed third. Her other entry placed third in class and a respectable 28th out of 101 entries.

Her poultry entries did extremely well. She won seven blue ribbons, Reserve Grand Champion Overall, Grand Champion Trio, Champion Old Hen, Reserve Grand Champion Turkey. She was bouncing off the walls with excitement.I could really see this year that she took on a better attitude towards what it takes to raise strong and healthy entries and the joy that can come from doing your best. Although she was disappointed with one of her hogs not making weight she was interested in what it will take to not let that happen again. She played the hand dealt her and preformed well with it. I'm one proud dad.

Some of Katy's friends from her club.

This year she spent a great deal of time working with her pigs. It showed in the performance in the ring. She was not chasing after an unruly animal. There was a sense of calmness and control in her handling of her pigs.

Fair week

2010-07-11T05:41:00.006-05:00

Fair week is upon us. Loading up all the crap that we'll need for the week of camping out, three miles from the house, at the fairgrounds. I'm reminded by my lovely wife that our daughters have me wrapped around their finger. This is how it is though. I can not deny that I would bend over backwards to help make these experiences the richest. It ain't easy for a fat guy to achieve the posture previously mentioned...no one said it would be easy. Throw a five year old grandson, who is a marathon talker and would make an excellent heeler, in the mix and the fun just keeps getting funner!

We're heading up to clean the hog barn today. Get her stall assignment and assess any repairs that will be needed to our accommodations.

Yesterday we helped out with pouring concrete to the in the isles of the barn. Our 4H club had helped raise a bunch of money for this improvement to the barn.

This year Katy will have her two hogs, a trio of bantam partridge cochins, a breeding pair of blue slate turkeys, a white silkie rooster and a seabright hen to show. We're also taking some of the newly hatched turkey poults, with their mom, as an exhibit. Thankfully the swine and poultry are still in the same barn. Some kids are spread out in three different barns for their livestock projects.
I couldn't help but laugh at the kids asking who Merle Haggard was. He will play Friday night on our main stage. The kids don't know who he is and many adults were wondering if he was still alive. I guess we will see Friday.

soaker

2010-07-09T06:58:00.002-05:00

Thank God for the wonderful soaking rain we are receiving. Slow and steady through the night. I knew if we watered the garden, washed the vehicles and hung laundry the rain would come.

Knee high

2010-07-05T07:38:00.005-05:00

Knee high by the Fourth of July.

The beans are starting to set.

More friggin beets to pickle.
The tomatoes have been slow to ripen but they are so close.

Brandywines
More Brandywines that I planted after the snow peas were spent.

Loving my cabbage.
Sooooo close.
Peppers, eggplant, lemongrass and some Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

Riesentraube tomato

The greenhouse
Hybrid yellow zucchini

The home stretch

2010-07-01T15:10:00.003-05:00

Katy is working hard at completing her 4H project books for swine and poultry. She has really worked hard at training her pigs for show. They are very good nature and she has developed a calmness in handling them.

Not all of dealing with the hogs makes her happy. The cleaning of the feeders from the muck and caked feed is by far her favorite.

It's a jungle

2010-06-12T06:50:00.006-05:00

Amazing how a little overtime can allow a garden to nearly go to hell in a week. I'll choose to look at the positive side in that the weeds are easier to pull when they are doing so well. A little bit of clearing work has the appearance of opening a huge hole in the jungle.

I'm only half serious here. Theresa has been working the strawberries for the last two weeks. She has been making batches of jelly and jams as the berries come in. Now the first planting of beets is nearly ready to find their way into canning jars. The timing of our beet planting should keep us purple fingered for a month. We'll look like we voted in Iraqi elections ten fold.

There are a few things we have done differently this year. Almost all of our tomatoes are in raised beds. With the frequency of our rainfall this spring and the ridiculous totals of accumulation it is looking like the choice of beds was a good idea. The few plants that I did manage to get in the ground have suffered from wet feet but will still come around to produce. They just won't be as pretty a plant as the bed homed fruit.

Our blackberries are beginning to ripen. Looks like we'll have a nice crop and more purple fingers.

We had a very nice year for our asparagus. I know we had some at nearly every meal for part of April and most of May. We let them go to fern a little earlier than we have in the past.

Eggplant in the greenhouse.

I've got a few tomatoes still to put out. I plan on leaving a little of everything inside. I'm looking forward to seeing how long I can prolong the growing season.

Katy has her hogs in the spirit of the World Cup.

I think this hamp gilt will be her best bet for the show, but I still like her little barrow. When we get them all cleaned up, the markings on both of these pigs stand out.

Fuzz on snake patrol.

Two+

2010-05-26T05:17:00.001-05:00

PLEASE!!!

Two+ inches of rain in an isolated thunderstorm that just sat on top of us. Over seven inches in the last ten days.

The pigs have been issued snorkels and water wings to the chickens. I swear I say a turkey learning the backstroke.

A dillos worst nightmare

2010-05-24T00:41:00.004-05:00

He really doesn't have the look of a feared armadillo killer. This week he has presented us with five kills. Nothing starts your morning out better than finding a dead dillo at your doorstep.

Katy's hogs are coming along pretty well.

We turned the chicks out into the run with the rest of the birds. I put a temporary hover in place so they can escape the inevitable pecking they are in for. A three foot by four foot wood frame with hardware cloth on it does the trick. I use them to rinse of root crops before we carry them inside. The hover is set on blocks just high enough for the chicks to get under and low enough that the adults can not.

The rainy weather pattern that we were stuck in has moved on. The last couple of days have been warm and windy. Great conditions to help dry up our soggy ground. By this weekend I should have the rest of our garden planted.

Rain...

2010-05-16T09:09:00.006-05:00

As for what we have been getting accomplished in the garden, this picture sums it up.

Our broccoli was transplanted April 16th from the greenhouse. It hasn't started heading yet.

The raised beds drain quickly, but the rest of our ground is a jello mold, quaking mass of clay with a narrow icing layer of tillable top soil. It will take better part of a week to firm up enough to work in. I have a handful of tomatoes planted. This year I'm planting Cherokee Purple. Brandywine, Romas, Riesentraube and some Mortgage Lifters.

I had a bed planted with some old parsnip seed that had failed to germinate, so I planted a half dozen Brandywines in their place. These were put in last week just before we fell into this rain. Most everything else that we have in was planted around mid April.

Theresa's strawberries are spilling out of their beds. We have enjoyed a few ripe ones but they really need the sun to come back to sweeten them up.

It seems to me that our strawberry and blackberry are flowering or fruiting roughly two weeks ahead of last year.

Most of our flower beds are more appreciative of the heavy rains than the vegetable garden is.

Katy has been asked by a friend to raise up a dozen laying hens so that he can gift them to his Father in law. I stopped in at a feed store on my way back home from work. I usually don't shop at this store. They are getting more like a Walmart everyday. They had some Salmon Faverolles and Black Copper Marans marked for sale at some ungodly price. The young man in charge of the chicks said "Those ain't selling too good". I told him if he would take what they were asking for production reds I would take a dozen of the Salmon and the handful of Marans he had left. He jumped all over the offer. Too quick on the trigger. Made me wonder if I should have haggled a bit more.

So I came home with some Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks and the haggled offering.

Stirring fat

2010-05-13T05:15:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday we made a batch of lye soap. This year we used beef fat. I'll have to say, that from the preparation and rendering side of the operation, I like the beef fat. There is a much cleaner feel to beef fat. Hog fat has a much oilier touch to it.

The dogs were very much into the whole process. I cut the fat into small chunks for the rendering. As I was cutting I would trim out any blood spots or meat. Trimming away, tossing pieces down the hill for the mutts to chase after.

I set my kettle near the drain hole in our fire ring. Place a couple of stones around its base for support and shovel some coals in underneath. The drain hole provides a wonderful draft for the fire and placing the coals gives me a great deal of control with how hot the fire will get. The kettle is a 20 gallon size and cast iron filled with boiling fat. Not a little pot that can be slid off the burner on the stove.
Rendering can take several hours, and should. Doing your work in cast iron will leave some iron oxide in your tallow, unless you're extremely anal about keeping your kettle rust free and clean. I like the caramel color that gets carried to the soap.

I didn't take any pictures while we were mixing up the lye. It's nasty stuff! The least favorite part of the whole process. We mix ours in a five gallon pickle bucket because I find it is easier to control adding the mix to the kettle. The handle keeps me and the lye water at a good distance from each other.

After the lye is added to the rendering it's all about stirring. A slow, steady and constant cadence. Your stirring will begin to trace, or leave a soft furrow. A stick will stand when the mix is ready to be poured into the mold.

We used some old wood boxes lined with a trash bag for molds. Any old scrap lumber laid on a flat surface and covered with plastic will do. Keeping the depth of the soap under two inches I feel is best. Who wants to handle a brick sized soap in the shower.

We also tried placing cut sections of luffa gourds into the pour. When I cut the bars the luffa should be centered in the bar as a hand scrubber. I'll let you know how that worked later.

Gourds

2010-04-24T06:06:00.010-05:00

Just what can I do with a plethora of gourds? There are just so many dippers that a man can need for dipping a cool drink from the branch. Dipping chicken feed? Every year for the last three we have grown several different variety of gourds. Dipper last year. Luffa, birdhouse and bushel in the last few years.

The portion removed for dippers makes a great spoon rest and a fantastic rib for shaping on a potters wheel. They are also very handy for scrapping the crap off the outside of the gourds.

I tried cutting off the top of the stem and removing all the meat and seeds with a variety of wire hooks and scrapers that I concocted as another hurdle presented itself. Cleaning the gourd first, I found was easier than cutting and gutting a dirty gourd. They look a whole lot better when they are scrubbed up too. The mold spots don't bother me much but I would think that a cleaner gourd would be a bit more appealing for use. Gourds clean easily with warm water and a small amount of dish soap, which helps to soften the outer layer of skin.

The stems are not sturdy enough to hold the bottle when they are full. I took a heavy gauge copper wire and wrapped it around a piece of re-bar to simulate the look of a stem. A small hole drilled where the stem was accommodated the wire. I bent the inserted end over to help keep the wire held in place and topped it with hot glue on the inside.

A cork is then glued into the top.

After a night of holding water there was a small amount of residual pulp but the water was fine. The gourds do get soft holding water over night. It is definitely not a long term storage solution but would be cool for a novel way to carry your wine to the river.

Hunter Is One

2010-04-19T00:34:00.002-05:00

We celebrated the first birthday for our grandson Hunter.

I think he really liked his first birthday cake. He wears it well!

There were two more baby turkeys this morning. I believe that makes five so far. It is hard to tell since the hens are very protective and they won't leave the nest. We can only watch and see if they make themselves countable.

I took at least ten shots with my arm fully extended into the corner of the coops nesting box. Turkeys can really peck the crap out of you if you put yourself on their fowl side.

Sprung

2010-04-17T05:49:00.006-05:00

Spring has definitely sprung. For the last couple of weeks the weather has been more like San Diego's than the Ozarks. It was a little chilly last night but no frost.

Yesterday afternoon I here the little chirp of a turkey poult coming from the coop. Sure enough there were three that were already hatched and the best I could tell three more that had pipped their eggs. That is one VERY protective momma. Normally she is quite easy going but she doesn't want a damn thing near her eggs or poults now.

We have two hens setting on eighteen eggs the best I can tell. Last year they were hatching out in the run and making their way out through the chicken wire to become tasty dog hors d'oeuvres. This year we are better prepared for young poultry security. If there is any need we are ready to pull the young and put them in a stock tank brooder.

The greenhouse is finally back in business. I made several improvements to structure and battens around the perimeter of the trusses to help prevent wear on the plastic. I reused some of the brick from our old patio to pave the walk.

The streak of great weather has translated into a much needed boost in my spring time motivation. The garden has really been getting the largest part of my attention with good results. A friend came by with his tractor and tiller to do the garden in exchange for some perennial starts and strawberry and raspberry plants. I haven't used a tiller in a couple of years. We have had a good source for round bales of straw until this year, so we had laid cardboard and heavy straw between plantings. I simply pulled the straw back and forked up a spot, adding a bucket of compost and then planted. It was nice for weed control and helping in building our soils but you work with what's available. I'll be damned if I'll pay 4$ a bale for straw.I haven't planted long rows of anything but sweet corn in years, so this has been a nice change of pace. It reminds me of my Grandpas wonderful gardens. Rows as straight and weed free as they could be. Mine won't be anywhere close to either of those standards.

The raised beds are almost all planted. I still have four that need to be prepped and planted.

The pigs are all doing well. I'm most pleased with the progress this barrow is making considering he was the smallest we brought home.

Where's my boots?

2010-04-04T22:57:00.001-05:00

Since the pigs have been here my shoes seem to disappear. One of the dogs ( got a real good idea which one of the little turd munchers it is ) has decided that it is a good idea to drag my muck boots out in the middle of the front yard. I would assume that the accumulation of pig crap has become an irresistible culinary treat. Kind of like our kids wanting to lick the mixer thingy. So far there hasn't been any damage from overzealous appetite stimulation. So far the culprit has just decided that the boots would be happier under the cedars in front of the house. So far there hasn't been an eyewitness to the crime. I will catch you in the act and you will feel the wrath of the muck boot gods!

Retooling of the greenhouse has kicked into high gear. I've got quite a collection of hardware odds and ends that have accumulated waiting. Waiting for a chance to shine. I disdain the thought of tossing perfectly good stuff in the trash even though I have no use for it at present. Finally some of the odds and ends are finding their way into the sun.

I bought some pressure treated deck boards to side the knee walls of the greenhouse. The original thought here was to run battens along the peak and tails of the trusses to cut down on sharp points and prolong the life of the plastic film. I find it humorous that I would use a pressure treated wood on top of the untreated frame work. It is like putting a brick veneer on a house of twigs.I installed the new track and spring tie down for the greenhouse film. No more trying to stretch and wrap plastic around a lattice strip.

Planting of beets, cabbage, collards, chard, carrots and several lettuces are in the raised beds. The rest of the ground should be dry enough to work with by weeks end. A sunny, warm and breezy forecast for the work week should wring out the sponge that is our garden.

I have started the next phase of coop expansion. The whole thing will be shoved back into the footprint of the run so that I can add on the front side without encroachment into the utility area of the garden. I want an area to store their feed that is accessible to everyone but the birds.

The turkeys are setting. Last I counted a dozen eggs under her. The other hen is trying to push her off the clutch so I took a few of her eggs from her so the other hen would leave her alone.

Cody has become very attached to the pigs. He lays there and allows them to crawl up on top of him. I'm sure this practice will change when they pack on a bit more weight.

The initial weigh-in for Katy's swine project is Saturday morning. I haven't tried to weigh her entries here but I'm fairly certain they'll be around 35lbs.. Really cutting it close to the lower end of the weight window of 30-70lbs.. It would really be a bummer if we were short and she couldn't show.

Saturday Morning Update:

Well I was pretty darn close on weight estimate for the pigs. Katy's three entries came in at 32, 37 and 39 pounds. I was worried the most about the little barrow making weight but he made it with two pounds to spare. Too close for my liking.

Spring Clean Up

2010-03-20T07:16:00.006-05:00

I started cleaning up around the garden this week. It's the first opportunity to reacquaint myself with the notion of spending the rest of the seasons doing all required in working a large garden. An anticipation of so much of what I love to do with my time. Planning, planting, tending, picking and eating. Is all the work that goes into this ever expanding purposeful walk really worth it?

The first bite I take of that very first vine ripe tomato, that squirts across my cheek and runs down my chin tracing clean down to my elbow, is well worth the effort.

Our stick framed high tunnel needs some attention. It needs some re-engineering and a new piece of plastic ( Saturday I found a roll of 6 mil. greenhouse film 36'x150' in Pucky Huddle for 50$) I already switched the side panels to hang on and swing to the inside of the building so that they can be secured with eye hooks. I would smack my head against their aluminum frame at least once a week the way they were propped up last year. Their new attitude will free up the beds along the outside of the building for better use. I'm also in the thinking stage about siding the bottom of the tunnel under the side windows. The dogs figured out that plastic is breachable. The little yellow snot dog figured out that she could bust through last spring. She could be found laying in one of the beds on cold mornings curled up and soaking in the heat. She is such a sissy compared to the other mutts.

The drawbacks of stick framing a high tunnel with culled lumber is that it is culled lumber. Splits knot holes, warping are common. The whole idea of a wood frame covered with plastic, filled with dirt and a steady supply of water added is not conducive to a long life for a structure. It is what it is. I have very little invested in it, other than my time. Making things work for you can be enjoyable. I only regret that I didn't start making repairs last fall. Getting a late start this year and not having any winter greens sucks. I will be putting a 6mil greenhouse film on this year. In the past I have used off the shelf plastic that will only last a part of the year. The special films are much tougher and are rated against degradation from the sun for four years. Well worth the expense to leave the headache and heartaches of loosing a house full of greens or trying to wrestle with a new sheet every year.

So much is beginning to sprout. The perennials are peeking out from the leaf litter waiting on the warmer days ahead. This spring we have to split most of our plantings and replace the mulch around the entire house. If we don't mulch our flower beds we would never be able to keep up with maintaining them. Two tandem dump truck loads of bark mulch from the saw mill will be enough to do the job. I'll be asking my friends to come out with a shovel and containers so that they can take home divisions of our plantings. For years I've moved clumps of monarda, columbine, cone flower, hostas, portulaca, daisies, ferns, and poppies to new beds along our road. In all creating more work for myself. This year most will be given away. I just don't want to start new planting beds.

Last week I weeded out the strawberry beds although I did not thin them. Theresa is the self appointed Strawberry Queen around here. I'll leave the bulk of the beds care to the royalty.

The potatoes have found a furrow. I planted Pontiac Red and Yukon Gold. There is some nasty weather rolling our way from the southwest today. Hopefully I'll be able to get a little more done this morning before the rain starts.

4H pigs have landed

2010-03-05T17:03:00.009-06:00

We picked up Katy's pigs which she will pick from to show at the county fair. Not a bad bunch to choose from. Seven in all. She can weigh-in three and show two, but only one can be sold at auction. One of the new arrivals will be gifted as the main course for our friends' daughters wedding reception in July. So we will have a couple extra for any of the kids in our 4H club that haven't found pigs yet.

That set of hams makes me smile.

Biscuit was not wanting to share me with the new pigs.

Katy was really enjoying getting to know her pigs. The names will soon be landing on the appropriate victim. Cosmo, Rocket Jr. and Cody are the first round. She's putting some thought into the rest.

Robin...I took a picture of the inside detail for you on the pigs shelter. Just be sure that the height of the roof is a sufficient clearance from a full grown hogs back. Waist high is a good standard.

2010-02-20T08:14:00.004-06:00

Our grandsons are our guests for the weekend. Mom and Dad are enjoying their anniversary weekend. We are enjoying having our two favorite grandkids keeping us hopping!

Melting snow

2010-02-02T18:01:00.004-06:00

The five or six inches of snow had almost completely disappeared by Sunday afternoon. Our hill faces the south and really soaks the sun.
Sloppy, sloppy sloppy...

All snow was gone from the top of the hill. When the whole run is covered it gets downright gnarly.

So...here's one list

2010-01-19T11:53:00.003-06:00

In regards to my previous post, this is my first draft of what I would like to get accomplished around the ridge.

Expand the chicken coop: It is a bit undersized for my liking. I want to push it back into the present run, add on the front side and expand the run area. I also would like to install some low pressure water fonts. There just isn't enough room to cleanly store feed cans inside the coop, or anything else. If Katy wants to continue to show poultry in 4H we will need the extra room to sequester the birds that she wants to show.

Re-do garden fence: I put deer netting around the garden three years ago with great effect. I no longer have any marauding rats with hooves inside the perimeter fence. The bottom of the netting has taken a beating allowing the dogs in where I don't want them. I can't turn the chickens loose in the garden without the dogs thinking they're free to hunt. I want to run cattle panels so that I can keep the dogs out and extend the life of the netting. Panels aren't cheap but they are so much more versatile than rolled fence and Lord knows we will use them again.

I've been reading up on bees. I would like to try my hand at keeping a couple of hives. Having bees around couldn't hurt our garden production and the idea of our own honey is pretty cool. I enjoy learning something new and from what I'm gleaning from my reading, there is plenty to get my brain wrapped around. Initially I'm leaning towards buying a complete hive and then building the other. It never is a bad idea to have a model in construction. I'm lucky enough to have a friend that keeps bees close at hand. His experience will be put to good use.

Lastly for now; the greenhouse has yet to be re-skinned. I was hoping to have some double walled plastic panels in my hands by now, but that hasn't quite worked out yet. I did order a track and spring hold down system for sheet plastic. In hopes of coming up with the panels I haven't installed the tracks. I'll be making a final negotiating push for the panels. At least I have a fall back plan if we can't come to an agreement.

What's up chubby?

2010-01-19T06:19:00.007-06:00

Our ground is sloppy wet. Still frozen under four inches or so of top soil. It's like eggs in a frying pan for scrambling. Slippery and undesirable until they firm up a bit with the heat. I realize those who live in colder climates can't help but chuckle at the whining of their kin further south when we are temporarily chilled with an arctic cold front. I really don't give a damn if your average temps in January never rise above 15 degrees. All I want is some home grown tomatoes!

Every year I go through a period of not wanting to do a damn thing around here, only interrupted by the child like excitement that overcomes me at Christmas, otherwise I do the bare minimum. Only what absolutely has to be done gets done. A mini hibernation. Recharging of the batteries and of late, a chance to pack on a shitload of weight. So three days ago there was a beginning of a drive to lose 40 pounds and a goal to run with my daughter in a local 5K this March. All very doable goals. It amazes me how my attitudes take so long to flip. I've read that sunlight exposure could have something to do with it. Hell, it works for chickens. Put a light on hens that have quit laying for the winter and you will have eggs. That would be an easy answer to why the desire and drive to drop the weight has developed. Wouldn't it be cool if that was all it took. Shine a light in fatties face and watch the weight fall off! My motivation unfortunately has less to do with being tired of carrying the extra weight than what it would cost to put myself in new jeans. Clothes are expensive. My frugal function in the brain says it is cheaper to reduce tonnage.

I wear bibs. I wear them all the damn time. I like them. They're easy, plenty of room and pockets everywhere. I've got old tax files from 1997 stored in pockets of my bibs. The unfortunate aspect of this roominess is what I like to call the "fish tank theory". The premise that a fish will grow to fill its environment. The presumption for this theory is false, but it has worked all too well for me. I am just getting older, don't eat anything close to a low fat diet, haven't exercised on a consistent basis in years. I sit most of the time practicing my craft and drive three hours a day round trip to do so. I was injured falling off a horse a few years ago and that hasn't exactly helped in either the weight control or the desire to exercise. I'm not the young man I was. I haven't bounced back very well. I could crap out a list of excuses for the shape I'm in but it wouldn't help me lose an inch of blubber off my growing girth. Simply all I have to do is start and stay started. Start to walk/jog. Start to push away from the table a little earlier. Start getting off my arse and getting an expanding list of chores completed. Basically I'm a bad finisher. I'm excellent; in the top percentile of starters. So time and my girth will tell.

Thankfully this is the time of year that the seed catalogs are falling out of the mailbox. The urge to chart, research, take inventory of seed on hand, peruse blogs and forums for garden inspiration has invaded the vast space between my ears. This is the time of year I get wound up. It is way to early to actually put seed to soil but not to prepare for doing so. I am the sort that must make a list of what I need to do. Not so much to remember what is calling for my attention but more to keep on task. I have an extremely bad habit of starting at job "A" then making a lateral move to job "B" well in advance of completion of job "A". By doing so I have developed the need for the list. I'm sure I could be labeled with some sort of damned disorder and that there is an appropriate medication available. Lord knows if I watch enough television that SOME pharmaceutical will have a concoction of chemicals that MAY cause anal seepage, nose bleeds, headaches, uncontrollable convulsions, blurred vision and loss of hearing but it will fix that tendency for the mind to drift.

BRRRrrrrrrr

2010-01-04T06:07:00.002-06:00

Cold has its grip on all that moves. Tires look flat. Critters water freezes solid even with tank heaters. Metal will adhere to bare skin. Vehicles seem bothered to start.

On the bright side... a log will almost explode while splitting firewood. A nice strike with the maul is splitting some of the more stubborn pieces that I have left in my pile with a crisp sounding pop. Even crotch wood splits.

The weather prognosticators are calling for a long run on frigid temps and snow for our immediate future. We haven't had an extended streak of real cold for several years. Last I remember was the ice storm that tore through much of southern Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma nearly three years ago. Many trees in this area still look like the escaped the barber college of tree trimming too late.

Stay warm...

Some of my favorite tunes

2009-12-31T10:58:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkAHvMZIcuc

Day...

2009-12-26T06:35:00.004-06:00

Just a few of my favorite people enjoying their Christmas morning.

Eve...

2009-12-24T16:24:00.006-06:00

The tree is lit. The stockings are hung. There is a ever present air of anticipation from everyone in the house that soon there will be a silent visitor.

Some are more eager just to get into the house. Even they know something is up.

Or it could just be a familiar odor that has them glued to the glass.

Theresa is making her challah, a braided egg bread that is so damned good.

Katy did a Florida inspired painting for her Aunt Lynda. We celebrated an early Christmas with our kin from the city last Sunday.

Captain Farfel kept a close eye on the unwrapping. He's a pro at tearing the hell out of wrapping paper.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. May all the blessings of God reach those in need. We are truly grateful for the great gifts that have been bestowed upon us. May peace and joy fill your hearts this eve of Christmas.

Christmas

2009-12-15T07:56:00.005-06:00

With the seasonal craziness that so many folks buy into I have been keeping a low profile. No malls or super centers filled with some of the nastiest attitudes available, have not been on my menu. Our Christmas will be about the same as the year before...and the year before that. Home.

We will make an early Christmas venture to my Sisters on the 20th and avoid a trip to Illinois for a celebration with Theresa's kin. To be honest with you this part of the season is the toughest for me. I love to visit family but I despise the usual ridiculous travel itinerary that goes along with the attempt to appease the sense of obligation to be in ten places at once.

We are fortunate enough to have all our kids under roof this year. It is our turn among the in-laws. It will be my Grandson Hunter's first and Collin is now five so the Santa story is really starting to take hold of his imagination. He asked me last night how Santa could make it down the chimney and out of the wood stove without getting burned. Collin had driven his mom and dad absolutely nuts the last few days to put up a tree. They normally put up a live tree but were hesitant to do so with the baby crawling around. I think the image of a kid covered with tree sap and pine needles and the unquenchable thirst for Christmas trimmings of a five year old was their motivation for the 200 mile round trip on a work day/school night for the use of an artificial tree. I'm happy as hell to get the darn thing to a new home. With the crappy weather always comes the reorganization and cleaning of storage in the basement. Now I'll have a new hole to fill up with more crap we don't use anymore.

Actually the tree was stored in an old steamer trunk that will become the new home for the ton and a half of old photos that is precariously stacked in the guest room closet. The potential avalanche of pictures renders the closet useless for the stashing of more crap we don't use.

Seems to be a theme developing here...

Katy has been a little bummed out because there isn't anything under our tree for her. We just finished decorating the darn thing and she thinks the floor needs to be covered with gifts already.

I so love the contagious enthusiasm of kids.

Enjoy the holiday... Christmas is love.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T20:20:00.003-06:00

Be Grateful and smile knowing that there is a God who loves us so much that he gives us the opportunity to screw up and not blow up.

Be Thankful and smile for those we have in our lives and for those we don't.

Give thanks to those who do for us what we could not or would not do for ourselves.

Enjoy every breath as the gift it is.

To all my friends and those who I have not had the chance to meet...Have a wonderful day of Thanksgiving and pass on your good fortune to those who are lacking.

Peace

Last catch up... I promise

2009-11-22T12:26:00.004-06:00

Katy ran in her first 5K and mile run. Although I didn't get her official time I'm sure it was under 35 minutes. Not too damned shabby for a kid that didn't even train for the event except for running "suicides" in basketball practice.

Her artwork was chosen for the t-shirts for the second running of the Turkey Trot. All for the benefit of the local child care center.

Katy and her mother both voted the "soul patch" as a non-keeper. I told Katy that it was a turkey beard in honor of the run.

Speaking of turkeys; there are three less to feed in the flock. Yesterday was butchering day for our big breasted bronze birds. We don't have a scale here but I would guesstimate that the tom was well over forty pounds.

Note; The official weight on the largest of the three was 38lbs. the neck, gizzards and liver didn't make it on the scale. Katy named this particular bird Elvis...So we are having Elvis for
Thanksgiving dinner.

This afternoon Katy and I finished peeling the skins from our luffa gourds. We had a very abundant crop of luffa this year. I'm thinking that I might cut some into one inch slices that will be placed in our molds for the next batch of soap. They are very good for kitchen clean up as a pot scrubber.

After they are peeled I wash them and try to wring out as much of the meat and seeds as I can. I'll soak them in hot water then repeat they wringing out of meat and seeds. After removing most of the seed they will get a bath of 10% bleach and water to remove any staining from rotten flesh. Once they are dried I'll give them another shake down to remove most of the rest of the seed.

Catching up part two

2009-11-22T10:25:00.003-06:00

The rebuilding of our front porch and replacement of the french doors is inching along. The pour is complete on the porch and the forms have been removed, but further progression of the porch will have to wait. This project is pay as we go.

The french doors in our dining area will be reused for the new front porch.

We opened up the house in between our latest flush of rain. The dogs were just a bit confused over the unfettered access. The steps also served as one of their preferred summer shelters. This area rarely gets any sun so the bricks and shade provided a nice hideout. I'm sure that there will be a new lair that will appear.

The next week I finally finished off the inside work and wrapped the window in trim and replaced the siding. I still have to paint the inside trim and touch up the outside work.

I was hoping to get a bit more of the front porch done when an unexpected expenditure reared its ugly head in the form of a dryer that decided to nearly turn into a fireball. The house filled with smoke from the element frying. So now instead of a washing machine that would occasionally walk to the center of the room and a potential fireball of a dryer we have these new appliances in residence. I'm not completely sold on these guys yet. There seems to be way too much of an attempt to make laundry a high-tech endeavor. It is very nice to have a much quieter laundry experience here though.

Catching up

2009-11-04T08:21:00.002-06:00

My little girl had a very busy Halloween day and night. She went to her Grandpa's farm to hunt with her Uncle in the morning. She unfortunately didn't even see a deer. Later that evening she morphed into a deadly blue ringed octopus.

Rain...again

2009-10-28T06:37:00.000-05:00

Wettest October on record and it ain't over yet.

Cool new blog

2009-10-26T04:31:00.002-05:00

There is this awesome blog that I have just found and want to share it with ya'll. Chickenkill Hill is new and fresh from the heart of a great little ten year old from the Ozarks. She is a bundle of energy and a blessing in my life. It is fun for me to see how she looks at our world.

Take a second to visit and leave a comment. I know that would make her day.

Mini road

2009-10-23T12:19:00.005-05:00

We were blessed with another invitation to play on John Woods railroad. This place is simply unbelievable in its size and attention to detail. Sadly Mr. Woods passed last year in a motorcycle accident but his friends and family are keeping his passion alive.

My grandson Collin at the controls of one of the locomotives.

I couldn't help myself from posting a few pictures of what my office looks like. Not nearly as cool as the Arborway TT and Northwestern but it pays better.

The roundhouse is such a cool place. Most of the rolling stock was out for the afternoons fun. There is even a turntable just outside.

Who wants some urbanite?

2009-09-26T07:27:00.004-05:00

We built our home seven years ago. Almost immediately our 50x9 foot covered front porch begin its graceful slump towards the middle. Due to the slab not being pinned into the foundation along the inside edge the whole damned thing has settled almost six inches right under the threshold of our front door.

Our general contractor has his own unique set of problems, so any solution to this problem can only be corrected by our own efforts. So we have decided to do our first big project on our home since initial construction. We plan on enclosing the front porch. Not just screening it in. We'll be installing new double hung windows and adding cultured stone to the knee wall around its perimeter.

After taking a few hundred whacks at the slab with a sixteen pound sledge, my back decided to call in a more qualified tool for the job.

Making quick work of the slab our friend PJ charged us for two hours on a job that would have taken me all day, if not longer, with a rented jack hammer.

So the view will start looking a whole lot different before too long.

As soon as I get all this crap hauled out we can get started with a properly set up pour of a new slab. Or if someone would like some freshly cut urbanite I'll be happy to let them come and get all we have.

Sunday Afternoon

2009-09-24T18:44:00.003-05:00

Katy's Photo Update

2009-09-06T09:16:00.003-05:00

Since I've done such a terrible job of keeping up to date with this blog my 10 year old has taken the lead in the photographic duties. She tells me I've really dropped the ball the last month or so.

Thankfully I believe she has a damn good eye for photo composition. She has decided to take a photography project in 4H this year.

Our garden has just gone to hell! The tomatoes were hit very hard by blight and the squash were hit especially hard by bore and squash bugs. Our sweet corn was fantastic for the second year in a row and the peppers have all done quite well. The eggplants were the big surprise for us this year. I've never had a lot of luck with them but this year I planted very late and avoided an invasion of flea beetles that has always spelled failure for us.

The greenhouse may soon get a major upgrade. Depending on my negotiating skills with a local man that has a pile of double wall clear plastic panels sitting at his farm. I've been working on him, off and on, for the last six months to let them go. I'm beginning to think that I have made a little progress with him.

We still have a ways to go with this years addition of the garden. I've got sweet potatoes to dig and we have a ton of dipper and luffa gourds to cure.

It has been a strange year for us weather wise. Unusually cool and wet. I can only recall turning on the water twice this summer and one of those times was a "hydrotherapy" session. Standing in the middle of the garden with the hose and watering away a very bad day.

We have a couple of house projects that are about to get rolling along soon. I'll have a posting soon about "the list"

Peace

?

2009-08-16T06:47:00.000-05:00

Eggplant?

80-80-23-5

2009-08-10T07:29:00.006-05:00

It was birthday party crazy around the ridge this weekend. My parents both celebrated their 80th, my niece turned 23 and my grandson became a big 5 year old.

We had a big shindig at Friscos for my parents celebration. There was an overwhelming showing of guests, both family and friends.

Greatgrandma and Hunter.

Aunt Dorothy and my Theresa.

The results of a different type of celebration of birthdays on the river. The diving hole looked a lot bigger and deeper. Grateful we are not reading about his diving skills in the paper.

I'm such a pitiful recorder of events! The only damned picture I have with my niece from the party is below...and a great shot it is.

After the Friscos fandango we were off to the house for Collins Spongebob Extravaganza!

Digging in the past

2009-07-26T08:21:00.002-05:00

My grandfather and great grandfather on my dads side probably in Boone County Missouri.

Open Invite

2009-07-25T20:49:00.002-05:00

I was looking at the Sitemeter report for this blog this morning and it puzzled me that there were so many folks that have visited my blog but few post comments. I would like to invite those who do not comment to do so. It would make me very happy to get to know others who are still blogging and not telling me when they are eating a hot dog on facebook or twitter.

Peace

Reality

2009-07-22T08:53:00.004-05:00

This morning I started at the west end of the garden pulling and hoeing weeds from the beds and walkways of our garden. Nearly two weeks of neglect can be mind boggling when the invasion of weeds has plenty of reinforcement from ample rain and moderate temps. As I sit here taking my first break of a hot cup of coffee on a cool and misty morning I still have 9/10ths of the garden to go.

Thankfully there is quite a bit of good stuff being brought in as I weed. The green beans are absolutely ridiculous in their abundance this year.

Break's over....

Fresh Turkey

2009-07-20T18:43:00.004-05:00

The first three of a dozen eggs that both turkey hens have been setting have hatched. I first noticed them this morning. Sadly one of the poults I found dead.

Each nest has about a half dozen eggs. Hopefully most of them will hatch out.

Done

2009-07-19T21:03:00.004-05:00

We have just settled in back home from a very busy week with our county fair. We had camped all week at the fair grounds because we had Katy's 4H hogs, chickens and turkeys in the barn. Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law are kind enough to let us use their camper for the week. Being there has its advantages over driving to and from the house all week. Parking, even with a livestock parking pass, is an all out battle.

Katy showed two bronze and two blue slate turkeys for first place ribbons and a white silkie for a blue ribbon. She won Grand Champion with her four blues in the turkey division. After she brought out this blue slate tom the judge decided to view the rest of the birds in the pen. I think he thought that the gobbler was more than she could handle.

She was obviously very happy with her showing with the turkeys.

I was most proud of the way she preformed our National Anthem for the county queen contest. She was absolutely dynamite with her singing. I know I'm a proud daddy but she nailed an extremely tough song to sing and did it with her own little bit of country style.

This year her pigs were not what the judge was looking for. For a market hog show he seemed to prefer the muscled up pigs over a nice meat hog. Her handling skills are really improving over last year. It is amazing what a little practice and some advice from a couple of her peers has done for her performance in the ring. She still needs to lighten up and at least look like she is having fun instead of wearing a game face. She does have a competitive streak that is a bit wide.

Theresa and I got into the blue ribbon running this year. Vine bores had killed off this pumpkins future growth, so I entered it in the open agriculture division. He brought me a blue ribbon against stiff competition in the pumpkin division. It was the only entry.

Theresa had just finished knitting this sweater for Katy so I suggested that she enter it too. Why not add a bit of a story to a nice handmade gift that can be handed down to up and coming lil' rug rats. She also won a blue ribbon for her work.

I had a great time watching Katy and my grandson having a blast riding rides together and stuffing their faces with enough greasy, sugar filled fair food. Katy was front and center for the Craig Morgan concert. We had given her one of the walkie-talkies to carry with her allowing a longer leash than she normally would have. When she landed center stage for the concert I could see her from where I was standing but she had no idea that she was in my line of sight. I called her several times on the radio to which she probably couldn't hear during the preformance. When she finally did hear me she yelled in the mic "I'm in the front row and this guy rocks!...Listen!" and then I see a little hand holding a walkie-talkie in the air. Gotta love it. They worked hard. Played harder and crashed like they should.

FAIR WEEK

2009-07-11T20:21:00.001-05:00

We are busy getting all of Katy's 4H projects wrapped up, packed up and cleaned up.

After the storm

2009-06-28T07:51:00.006-05:00

Last night a line of thunderstorms pushed through ahead of a welcomed cold front. We received a quarter inch of rain. My plastic on the greenhouse finally gave into the wind. It has lasted far longer than I would have thought it would, being it was 6mil off the shelf sheeting. It held up through the winter ice and snow and springs wind and hail storm, but gave into degradation from the sun and not enough duct tape on the small tears and wear spots.

Looks like I can finally install the new channel and spring tie down system I bought earlier this spring. I thought I would have had it done much sooner than the end of June.

Fuzz the snake killer. Enlarge this picture...he looks like he has some big old puffy lips.

The bean arches are starting to close in. The purple podded beans are out doing the blue lake big time.Our sweet potato rings are beginning to fill out and trail. Another two weeks and this should look like a damn kudzu patch.

Some of the pumpkins are that were set out early have set some nice fruit. This one is by far the largest of the six that were of the same planting.

Sticky

2009-06-27T21:04:00.003-05:00

Summer kicked in the door here with a hardy heat wave and ridiculous humidity. Nothing like going from a wet and cool spring to the dog days with the coming of the solstice.

I have been pulling the remaining garlic from the greenhouse. The hard neck did not produce as large a bulb as the other soft neck variety.

Our blackberries are making a fantastic addition to ice cream.

We pulled the rest of our beets last week. Theresa was canning late into the night the evening before she left for a mid week all girl float trip on the Black River. A good soaking in a cold, spring fed river did wonders on removing the beet stains from her fingers.

We found this odd character among our beets. It was white as a snow and smelled like a beet. Anyone have any ideas on what it might be? The tops looked the same as the rest of the beets.

Mid-June

2009-06-16T18:19:00.006-05:00

The rain has finally stopped. I've lost track of exactly how much we've had in the last week because both of us were emptying the gauge. The best we can figure is we are well over five inches this week. The ground is saturated and some of my tomatoes are showing their displeasure with having wet feet.

This mornings rain total.

Thankfully our drainage is fairly good for having heavy clay soils. We have used raised beds and heavy mulching as well as a fairly large composting cycle to build up our garden plot but there are still low spots that get swampy. I'm also happy with my decision to have our pigs at the top of the hill. I've seen so many pig pens that are stuck in the lowest, worse draining area of a farm. Granted that we don't keep hogs year round but if we did I like the idea of not seeing a damned mud filled paddock. They need to have an island of escape from soggy conditions.

Tomatillos
Toothache plant...it works well. I'd like to see if its pain killing properties can be used on small hand wounds but I haven't remembered to use it when I'm jabbing my hands into stuff that I shouldn't.
Potatoes
Cherokee purple
Beans are working their way up the arches.

Golden and Detroit beets

Slowly I'm turning the plant selection in the greenhouse to peppers and eggplant. I pulled some of the soft neck garlic this week and was very pleased with the results.

Canna
Butterfly weed.
We picked up a second pair of blue slates.

Butterscotch earcandy

2009-06-11T22:57:00.002-05:00

We just got home from another great show at Wildwood Springs Resort. We were treated to another fine meal and The Infamous Stringdusters were absolutely fantastic. A bluegrass jam band with very, very strong players made for a night that was just what I needed to fill my ears.

RIPE

2009-06-10T11:45:00.002-05:00

Granted that these little guys came out of the greenhouse, they are still the first and earliest ripe tomato I have ever grown. I have been so damn excited about having fruit on the vines so early but to have ripe fruit a month before I've ever had any before is remarkable to me. If you're considering building or buying a greenhouse I would have to say that I would be all over it.

Last week Theresa, Katy and I went to see the Cardinals against the Reds. Great game. Great time. We brought home a winner too.

The following is what happens to a ten year old with a digital camera during a pitching duel at the ballpark all sugared up on Dr. Pepper.

Texas Chihuahua

2009-05-31T06:39:00.003-05:00

My niece and several of her friends came by the house this weekend to visit and pick up a load of firewood because they were camping. One of the girls was asking about all the chickens, turkeys, pigs and dogs. What breed is that? She asked me about Daisey, our mutt of unknown lineage. What kind of dog is she?

Texas Chihuahua....I said straight faced.

"Really...I had no idea they got that big." she replied

Everything is bigger in Texas you know. I told her

She nodded her head in agreement and we all went on talking, never returning to breed questions the rest of their visit.

:)

I hate when that happens

2009-05-30T07:10:00.002-05:00

Early Wednesday morning Theresa was shaken from a deep sleep by a crashing sound that she could not locate the source of till she was getting ready to go to work. My side of the closet collapsed. Let me say that again so that I can wrap my little brain around the concept of MY SIDE of the closet breaking free from an obvious overload.

I look over at my lovely brides side of the closet that is PACKED with her clothes yet it seems to defy the laws of nature. There must be some balance act or her clothes are so tightly crammed together that they form a new type of plywood. Lamented structural cotton and poly support trusses...yup that has got to be the answer.

Upon further review I've got clothes hanging in here that I haven't worn since my arse was that fitting of a healthy, physically fit 29 year old. Hell...my old Boy Scout uniform is still hanging, kinda sorta from the rod. I guess with age and weight every thing succumbs to gravity and settles a little closer to the ground.

The silver lining of this little dilemma is that as soon as I begin to get this mess cleaned up and a new closet system constructed is that the sun will come out and tease me . Once again the showers have foiled my attempts to plant our sweet corn. No doubt that we will have a repeat of last seasons corn in late September due to late planting.

May wrap up

2009-05-25T12:01:00.005-05:00

This week the sun finally made an appearance after what has seem like a month of overcast and rainy days. I've got most of this years plantings in with the exception of our sweet corn.

When I heard that my source for round bales of straw lost his wheat crop to flooding last year I was dreading the thought of using hay for mulching. With the price of straw around here well over 3$ and all the weed seed in hay can make for a mess in the garden and leave my wallet in ruin. Fortunately for me Chet came through with two old quarter rotten 4x5 net wrapped bales that were below his barn and only retrievable with a crawler. He pulled them out and dropped them, one per trip, in the bed of my truck. Each round bale is equal to about 15 or so square bales so I end up with enough to liberally apply a mat around our garden that just about melts into the soil by next season. I use sheets of cardboard that I pick up at the feed store and our empty feed sacks under the straw as a weed block. The worms are just thick under last years sheets of cardboard. I did find that some of the feed sacks had a plastic sheeting between the paper. Those sacks will be used as starters for the fire pit from now on.

I ordered a channel and spring tie down system for the greenhouse plastic. The days of me bragging about only having $206 into it are over. The tack ran me around $150 with shipping. It will be much easier to replace the plastic now than with the old batten boards I was wrapping the sheets ends in and screwing to the frame. It has been warm enough to open up the side panels to help keep the temperature more moderate. 100F isn't too uncommon now with spikes around 110F. Soon all the greens will be coming out of the house and I'll put in some more eggplant and peppers.

So far the greenhouse tomato plants are just making me giggle. I have never had fruit at this point of development EVER.

The plastic has seen better days. Not to bad a track record for off the shelf 6mil. When duct tape starts to become a major surface area of the greenhouse roof there is a pretty good chance that the plastic needs to be replaced. I was thinking about trying to sell advertising spelled out in tape but I would think that it wouldn't pay real well since slow, low flying aircraft would be all that could see it. What do you think...See Rock City?

It finally has dried up enough that I could haul a couple of loads of manure up the hill. This pile will be next seasons. The smaller dwindling pile in the background is this years gold. I almost hate to see it shrink as quickly as it has this year but I'm opening up a new block of the garden that had only been used for hilled vines. I moved at least 20 loader buckets into the block for corn this year.

The garden is starting to explode with all the rain and warm nights. It has officially become weedin' season!

Strawberries are coming in by the basket. As I'm posting this Theresa is making a strawberry pie.

My favorite flower in the garden!

Our peaches and blackberries are beginning to develop wonderfully.

Very soon I'll be making myself into one of these...