In progress

As usual, my photos loaded out of order, so feel free to mentally shuffle them. This is our small shed, which houses extra wood, our gardening Stuff, the tractor, assorted wasps, carpenter bees, and mice. It's needed a new roof for awhile, and while it may take us awhile to figure out how to install the metal roofing we have waiting to go on it, we had to take care of the old stuff. First things first. 

The bucket on the tractor works well for yeeting all the old shingles into, plus serves as a handy ladder to the first level of roof. I mean, uh, no, Mother, we weren't climbing up and down the tractor. What's that over there? Butterfly!

Generally, our back to school days lead to crazy weather. Extreme heat, high heat indexes, storms, fog, you name it. It's holding true this year, too; public school, which was slated to begin today, declared they'd wait until next Monday to start because we were/are to have around 6 days of 90+ degrees and most of the buildings don't have air conditioning. Due to safety concerns, they are unable to air the buildings out overnight, therefore the start date gets pushed back into more reasonable weather of 80's. We hope.

So we work on the shed roof. Haha! We took plenty of breaks in the shade and had our water and gatorade. The main aim was to remove the old shingles, replace whatever plywood needed replaced, and then get the watertight seal paper over it all. Dada and Liam finished that yesterday, and good thing, because around 3:45 this morning Honey let us know it was storming!

Everyone enjoys sweating like a pig and being covered in plywood dust, right? 

The garden doesn't look quite so bad from this angle, haha. Pay no attention to our strawberry patch in the foreground which has been completely usurped by weeds and small trees. It hasn't produced well for the last few years; we gave up on it completely this time around. We plan to clear it out and start over with fresh plants. The cherry tree in the far right also isn't doing well, but continues to hang in there. Two of our apple trees also look absolutely dreadful. Everything has its season, but it hurts my Hobbit/Wood Elf heart to see trees failing.

Li-am in the skyyyyy with shiiiiiingles... oh well. I tried.

Fun to have a different perspective. Still not enough to turn me into a fan of the high dive, haha.

It's beginning to look a lot like SPRINGTIME!

Once again, the photos loaded wherever they darn well pleased, so bear with me through the chaos. 

Speaking of chaos, yes, it really is two in the morning. We experienced some storms tonight and our Great Pyrenees is a Great Big Chicken when it comes to storms. She takes it upon herself to move furniture and pace and pant, and when a large dog moves furniture and paces and pants, you know it. And you get up. Especially when you have pots of dirt sitting around inside like so many sitting ducks. But that's another story. 

Here's a side view of the shed showing how badly it needs a new roof. The lower side is not too bad. The very top, however, is another story. 

I know some of y'all have gorgeous harbingers of spring like tulips and crocuses and hyacinths. I get these cuties with the delicate pink veins running through them. One of their nicknames is Fairy Spud. I think that's adorable! 

Because Dada tills up the dirt in the back forty garden every year, I have to remove anybody who started growing on their own lest they get turned under. I had five of these guys, yellow mulleins, who needed rescued so I transplanted them along the drainage ditch/creek that is our back border. Someone evidently thinks he is delicious- look at all those nibbles in his leaves! We've seen a lot of deer lately, and there are tiny fuzzy baby bunnies being hidden in our strawberry patch, which seems like a dream place to grow up to me! However, we've also seen several small snakes. I am glad they're here, especially close to the garden, but that also puts them close to the baby bunnies whom I am hoping do not turn into snacks. 

Also, snakes, I would greatly appreciate it if you would please eat ticks and whatever was eating my tomatoes last year- a vole, perhaps? Thanks. ~Management

Here's the back garden with the ditch beyond it. You can just see the edge of the fence around the strawberry patch to the right. The dying cherry tree is on the left. It gives us about 7 cherries a year, haha. 

Mentally slide this photo of a trench in between the other trench pictures, because it's the middle shot. Since we live in what used to be the Great Black Swamp, some of our areas are rather, well, swampy. Dada, being an engineer, decided to help things out a little and dug a small trench to help our lowest lying area to drain to the back ditch. 

And because he's an engineer, when I asked for two openings in our already existing fence this year, he made me these snazzy closures that are just like big buttons! I'm so tickled! We used to have one large opening in the side of the garden closest to the house. Last year for whatever reason we had an opening facing the ditch as well and I found it very convenient for filling my watering can in the ditch instead of hoofing it all the way around every time. Made me appreciate  not having to run to a river daily for water and count the rest of my blessings as well. 

Dada's bane and one of my great delights:

We ran out of winter and didn't get our apple trees pruned so they look terrible but they're starting to bud, so they will be gorgeous with blossoms pretty soon. We are going to have to go crazy with trimming in winter 2020-2021. Ugh. 

I still have more dirt to play with, so yesterday it was All Pots on Deck. Some of these will hopefully be lemongrass, basil, chives, marigolds, delphiniums, and a mix of annuals that came in a seed packet claiming to be terrific for cut flowers. I guess we'll see if anybody comes up. Some of these guys are inside on the bar right now and some I tucked up against the back wall of the garage in the small garden outside as I knew we'd be having storms. Didn't want anyone getting tipped off the table...

Deer hoof prints

Drat, this is the last photo of the three trench pictures. Apparently they wanted me to show you them in reverse, haha, with the water going uphill from the ditch back into the swampy woods:

 This one followed me around while I took all the other photos and had been out galavanting around with Dada doing nature Art for one of her classes. 

"Take my picture. Take my picture. Take my picture." 

Consider it taken, kid.

Spring has sprung, all right

This is what it looks like around here these days. Everything is lush, green, and bursting forth. I love spring best because of the color and the promise of renewal. 

Cheeky Beaky has been enjoying the phlox, though I had to reset him this morning after our big winds had blown him over into the flowers beak first. Carrie said he looked like he would be sneezing next, so I thought about setting him in the chair like he'd sneezed them both backwards. In the end I just righted him again. We'll see how long it lasts.

The yard is covered with dandelions to my great delight and Dada's immense consternation. My only regret is that the winds blew so many of their seeds away before I got to kick them...

Really Random June Wrapup

This was Liam chatting to PaPa on Father's Day. In my imagination, I'm seeing him on the phone with friends at 15 and with girls when he's 20. Ha!

While that all was happening, when what to my wondering eyes should appear out back:

"What the thunder...?"

Yes, that would be a Chris George and a Pap helping Dada unload the wood that he bought at an auction.

For those of you who aren't local, Dada's been bitten hard by the auctioning bug. Lots of Stuff has been coming home to stay with us besides wood. Some things have already proved their weight in gold, like the rototiller that got our garden ready. Others? Well, just don't ask me about the drafting table.

Anyway, good thing we have a handy dandy shed with a loft for the wood that was bought with projects in mind.

*****

And then out front, what in the world is going on out here!?

Looks to me like Darth Vader and the Shrike from Hyperion put in an appearance... check out Vader using the Force!

Watch out, Vader, or the Shrike is gonna getcha!

*****

Mind you, these were all taken in June, so we've had progress which I don't have pictures of yet. Shocking, I know. 

We had green caterpillars all over the Brussels Sprouts so we had to spray them down after feeding the frogs in the pond and squishing bunches of extra caterpillars. Blech. I did save a handful of them in a jar for the kids to watch, and sure enough, we released our first butterfly yesterday!

So then here are other random greenery things happening around here. We're particularly fond of the butterfly bushes or tickle plants. Don't they just look like the bees would be giggling and jiggling all through them because of the fine hairlike thingies on them?

Last year these guys were blooming around the Golden Oldie party and the hummingbird visited them. They're all done now, so the hummingbird zips by out front in the random flowers that sprang up under the birdseed feeders.

Liam's job this summer, well, one of them, is to keep the birdfeeder filled for our feathered friends, like these nuthatches:

Another fun visitor:

He's not related to the aforementioned green caterpillars, by the way. I'm not sure where he came from.

And then these guys are Downy Woodpeckers who visit often. There were three on the suet feeder, and the one on the left couldn't reach it. His buddy leaned way over several times and helped him out. Carrie and I were enchanted!

Here's up close, cropped versions.

And that was June! Sorry, Mommee, that it took so long.