Spring has sprung...

Spring has sprung and the work has begun.  Just before I get started let me show you what we're working from.

When we bought "The Snake Pit Rod and Gun Club the approach looked like this------>>>

Note particularly, for this post, the two towers, one for the television antenna (near the chimney) and the other for a set of floodlights to light the back area (near the center of the rear wall).

That same view nowadays is like the picture to the left...

<<<------  While we've put in a drive and parking area to avoid the spring time mud you will also note the two missing towers.  This is something I've been longing to do since we bought the place.  Unfortunately they were appropriately anchored in cement so my handy dandy angle grinder came in handy.  I had to cut one leg at a time and fell it like a tree, but victory was joyously mine with little effort and NO BLOOD!!!

 

(Insert happy dance)

Of course this had to wait until the RCI Renovator crew was finished for the day, lest I land it on top of one of their trucks. (I can't say enough good about Bob and Ben Chesko, their patience and attention to detail.)

Today (after almost three days of work) the back of the house is ready to wrap and side.  The new windows were installed with a nice little hiccup which involved cutting the opening for the window that arrived 6 inches too tall. BUT that's a win win in our book as it will allow more light into the small spare bedroom.  If you note on the first photo at the top of the page there was an opening just big enough for a small window air conditioner.  So we're pleased to be sure.

Removing the rear tower involved some rewiring, which I was able to do in the morning while windows were being installed.  And now the tower lies quietly awaiting further resettlement.

And as the week draws to an end, rain is forecast for the next few days...hence the recovering of the white pinewood flooring pictured with the tower.  So much to do...so much time...God is good...All the time...

If you agree, why not take time to leave a comment?

 

I went to a Garden Party II

Some far more knowledgeable and experienced folks would call me stupid or perhaps, to be kind, foolish or ignorant.  I choose the title "DARING AND ADVENTUROUS!"

So as follow up to yesterday's braggartly claim of 95% of the rocks being harvested, fearing what yet lay before the surface, I threw caution (and common sense) to the wind and ventured forth into the unknown exploratory journey of attempting to till the garden! (Cue trumpet sounds.)  I selected an area in the middle of the garden about 6 feet wide and the full 30 feet across.  And dove in...

Two hours...I repeat, two hours later I had made two passes at this area and yielded yet another bumper crop which can be seen in the foreground of the picture to the left...but wait, that's not all. 

Besides the horseshoe, the window screen and the myriad of rocks and roots piled in the pictured here (above left), I, at great danger to myself and to the well being of the tines on my tiller, harvested yet another pile seen here (to the right)...

While the tiller performed flawlessly there were those wonderful "jerks" and stalls" which let one know there is something there.  Occasionally there were warnings, such as the earth moving a foot away from where I was tilling indicating I had a big one "on the line" (fishing metaphor).  Once in a while the bigger stone would be sufficiently inline with the tines that it would just stick up in there nicely and stall the engine (that dreaded, oh darn, now we do have a problem).  One was so large and so wedged it took several minutes with a hammer and a masonry chisel to break it up and remove it. But some of them were thin enough that the tines of the tiller actually broke them...

I must admit the thought of raised gardens has crossed my mind, but frankly the expense of 1500-2000 square feed of raised garden frames, bedding etc. isn't on our list of financial priorities, and I like the challenge and work involved in breaking this ground up.  There's just more satisfaction in hard work, than easy work...

...it's what I sense God thinks when he looks at me...and He is MORE than up to the challenge.

I went to a Garden Party...

We're seriously excited that in just three days we expect to begin the big window replacement/siding project on the house that will make it so much more presentable to the community and make it just a whole lot more attractive.  While we appreciate the sturdiness of the block construction, the new look will be the most visible exterior change.

This week's weather has been amazing and yet so busy with an annual physical, 2 Bible Studies, several meetings and appointments as well as other assorted activities, there's been very little opportunity to work outside.

Finally today, I was able to get the tractor out and get the spring clean up done.  It included my own little "garden party" (cue Ricky Nelson).

A friend and neighbor came up last fall to plow up the ground and it was a massive task since the ground had perhaps never been tilled or at least not in the last hundred years or so.  We only opened up an area about 30'x50' for the first year.  We're still not sure what the deer will do but we have some plans to deal with that.

So today was the first garden "harvest" and I estimate I harvested easily a ton of stone from the 1500 sq foot area.  (All in that tiny little trailer I call Mighty Mo - pictured below.) If you look closely (or click on the picture of the rocks to enlarge) you'll see my foot at the bottom.  The pile is easily 6 feet x 8 feet and 3 feet high in the middle. Some of the stones were well over 100lbs. You can imagine this old man's back may be stiff in the morning!  But it's done.  The garden is clear of 95%+ of all rocks bigger than 1 inch.

It's times like this I greatly miss that Prairie soil in Illinois.  The Silty Loam here in Tioga county can run up to 35% rock/stone.

Be that as it may we're on our way.  We'll need to disc it before I'm able to use the rototiller but we're moving in the right direction.  And our second set of seeds have been started indoors (April 1 and April 15) since we don't plant much before mid May here, but we'll be ready.

It's a good feeling to go to bed exhausted.  There's incredible comfort in having put in a good day's labor.  I wish more folks understood that.

Stay tuned for another posting coming soon, when the supplies start arriving!