Brother lost!

Hey Every one,
This past Saturday my older Brother Dan passed away and I have been trying to figure a way to get out to California for his memorial. But it's just not possible! The cost of the round trip flight is just not in the budget. I have been off work for the past 3 days, and that is all the time I can get for this.
Dan was 70 (71 in October) and has had some health issues the past few years. In May he was placed in a nursing home and and was doing better, but early Saturday morning I got the call and was shocked by the news!
I will miss him!
Tom

Rain,Rain and internet problems

Hey Everyone,
While other parts of the country are getting no rain and dealing with fires, we have had a very wet summer! So much so that the garden is under water most of the time! The only things that are still trying to grow are 3 sweet potato plants and a few cantalopes. I have to come up with a way to get the raised beds up off the ground and out of the water.
In the past 10 days we have had 3 days of heavy rains, then 2 days of late afternoon thunder storms, followed by 5 days of showers! The only thing that does not mind the exsess is the grass and weeds. Yesterday was a day of cutting grass and it was still so wet that the mower mostly just knocked it down.

And I have been having major problems with the internet! I went to a new server in May and it never worked right. Well yesterday a Tech came out and replaced all the lines and installed a new router. And that seems to have taken care of the problems (I hope!).

An update on the Chickens....
They are now over a year old and some of them are mollting, so egg production has gone down. I will sometimes get as many as 5 one day and then get 1 the next. But the total number of Eggs sence Jan 1 is 1459! And they are still living in the getto, as the weather has not helped me get a new fence around the new Hen House. I have a few day vacation comeing up in Aug. and hope to get them moved then.

But I just wanted to get a short post in to let you all know that I'm still here!
Tom

Birtday Weekend

I took two days vacation and my regular two days off to have a 4 day weekend. How often do you get to celebrate 60?
So the weekend started Wednesday and I slept most of the day after getting home from work. We watched the ball game (Dodgers and Diamondbacks) and had a simple dinner of leftovers. I had a few beers too.
Thursday was very hot. But Terri and I went to the store and got all the food I wanted for Saturday. And I got some steaks for that nights dinner. It was so hot and muggy that all we wanted to do was get the food in the house and stay in the A.C. Early that evening a summer storm came through with high winds and heavy rain, But it was moving so fast that it did not take it long to move through and out to sea Temps dropped about 15 - 20 degrees in less then 30 min. I took a few pictures

Cooler temps and amazing colors!

 I was able to grill the steaks and get some roasted veggies in the oven. And had a few more beers!

Friday was a pretty day and it only got up to the high 70's with a breeze. My Son Gerry and our friend  Lisa came down and helped with the food preps. Saturday's menu

Grilled Burgers, Hot Dogs and Knackwurst

Potato Salad

Carrot Salad with Raisins and Pineapple

 Veggie tray

 Fruit tray

Terri's Cowboy Beans

Cheese tray

Three kinds of Dip

Corn on the Cob

And

Chocolate Brownies

And a Chocolate Peanut Butter pie! 

And A lot of Beer!

We all slept in late Saturday Morning and had a late Breakfast of:

Oatmeal Pancakes with fresh Blueberry Sauce

Bacon and Eggs

We played board games and Card games all afternoon!

We moved the party out side in the evening and had a great time!

I started a fire in the fire place and of course there was more BEER!

Today is Sunday and that means back to work tonight.

So I'm 60 now and life goes on.

It was a good weekend and I got myself the shop delivered and will be working on it in the future.

 TOM

 

Flooded

Last Thursday, Terri and I spent the day building a few raised beds and getting them set up in the new garden area. We even got some of them filled and planted. Tomatoes, Summer Squash and Cucumbers. I also Got a box set up and got some flowering plants planted, 2 Hibiscus and 3 Corral Rose plants. They will come back each year and add color to the garden.

One of the Hibiscus still in the pot it spent last winter in. I got them from the Lady next door and was surprised that they made it!

Here are the first 5 beds. Made from recycled wood and the first is filled and planted with 10 "Roma" Tomatoes.

We even got a few "Sweet" potatoes planted in tires!

And Terri wanted a few flowers planted next to Marks new shed. I placed a box around them too!

And then the Rains came that night and all the next day. As you can see the beds are all in the low end of the garden and are sitting in standing water! Three of them are filled and planted and I will have to figure a way to get them to drain. The Two to the left will be moved to the other end where the water seems to drain off. And place any new beds down at that end too.

What a mess! I will have to back fill this area and get it high enough so that water will not stand here!

I.m glad that we did not get a lot of beds set up here, as they would have to be moved too. The reason I started at this end is because it is close to the house and I hope that would help to keep the Deer at bay. But as they say, "The best laird Plans". But at least I now know where the low spots are and I can deal with them!

As a side note: The Chickens are doing well and still laying 8 - 10 Eggs a day. 1285 as of yesterday! They are still cooped up in the "Projects" as I still have not gotten their new Digs ready yet. There are only so many hours in a day and so much to do!

Gardening is so much fun, But it takes a lot of work to get it right!
Tom 

Birthday gift

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to get myself a birthday gift this year. Well I wanted something from my wish list and ordered it two early and it was delivered yesterday!


And here it is coming down the road!

My new work shop! It;s 12 X 20 and I can finally get all my wood working stuff out of the middle of the living room!

I have wanted a shop for a long time and had though I would try to build one myself. I have never built anything like this, But I would start getting the materials together to start, But it always seem like I would use the wood for some other project and never get started.

When Mark got his shed a few weeks ago, I was the only one available to be here when it was delivered. I got to talking to the driver  and he told me about this building that had just been turned back in. The 12 X 20 that you see in the photo above. It was ordered by a trucker about a year ago and he used it to store his 2 motorcycles when he was on the road. He moved out of state and turned the building back in. He did not want to pay to have it moved.
So I went down to the lot and talked to the sales lady and got it for half price! and I can afford the monthly payments!

Coming in the driveway. I should have had a big candle on top! That might be a bit much!

Set up near the house. Placed on 18 4" solid blocks so none of it sitting on the ground.

Almost done!

I got to play with it some. Got some stuff moved in, But had to go to work. Will have Tuesday and Wednesday off so I can get more done.
Pretty sweet?
More pictures to follow!
Tom

I'M Back

I feel like this should be the first post of a new Blog!  It's been so long and I have been thinking about all I could have posted about, But the health issues and long working hours (not to mention the weather!) have not allowed me much time to get anything done. Just last week we had a frost warning and I was glad I had not gotten the garden started!
But today Terri helped me to do just that. And my other friend Mike used his big road grader to get the new garden area level and scraped clean.

As you can see, It is a big area and I should be able to place a lot of raised beds here. It will take some time to get it just the way I want it!

First raised bed in place and planted. 10 "Roma" tomatoes plants in the 4 X 8 ft. bed.

And the tires set up for potatoes, Not sure what type they are going to be yet. Still need to see what seed potatoes I can get.

It took Terri and I all one day to just get this done. But we will work on the rest of the beds as time and the JOB allow. As each bed is constructed and set into place, It will be planted. I know it's late, But hope we get something out of all this.

Another project that I was able to get done is this planting box I put together for Terri. I set it up on her deck out back and she has some herbs and flowers planted in this one. I plan to build another one for her. That way all she has to do is walk out the back door and harvest what she wants!

Made from recycled wood and stained "Oxford Brown". It turned out pretty nice!

And this is Marks new shed. He had it built and set up out back of his place. We now have a place to store all the outside tools. And it's better then what we could have built ourselves!

 Cool!

So. There you have it. Some of the projects that have been completed and others that we just started!
I will be 60 years old in a few week and I  wanted to get myself something off my wish list as a Birthday Present. It should be delivered by the end of the week! I will have pictures of when it arrives and that will be my next post.

It feels good to get back to posting again and I will try to keep you updated on what's going on here on the "Homestead" For now, it's back to working on the garden!
Have a great rest of the week!
Tom

Spring, Flowers and trees

Sorry that it took so long to get back with this post! I have a new Internet provider and they do not seem to be able to get it right

But it looks like Spring has! Flowers and Trees are in bloom and and planting of the same is a work in progress!

This is a River Burch. I planted two of them near the ditch in the front yard. I choose this type of tree because they grow in groups from the same root ball and I like that the bark peels back from the trunk.

And we planted 4 flowering Pear trees along the ditch in Terri's yard. We still have two Dogwoods to plant in the back of her house. I learned a good bit of information about planting trees..."Plant them high and they won't die, Plant them low and they won't grow"! The roots need to breath, so plant the root ball a little higher then the surrounding ground!

"Daffodils are in bloom and the Deer do not like them!

Can't say the same for the "Tulips! This is a double "Peach" one they missed!

This pot of Tulips was a lot closer to the house and they left them a lone.

"Daffodil's" and "Pansies" near the house.

The new parking area and paved walkway at Terri's. We have been working on this project for weeks now! It seems to rain every few days and that puts a stop to the work until it dries out again!

The Chickens are still living in the Projects. But the inside work in the new Hen House is done and as you can see the Door and ramp for them is in. All I have to do now is find the time to get the temp fence up.

And now it's time for you to meet ISSY!

 She is a 1 1/2 year old "Pit Bull" mix and had a litter of 5 puppy's that were 6 - 7 weeks old and had been separated from her at the shelter. All of the pups looked just like the DAD, A Beagle !

Isn't she something? I was impressed that she hadn't messed in her kennel and waited till the Lady at the shelter let her out into the exercise area to do her thing! She will not mess where she lives. But she did get after the Chickens the first morning home and killed one of the RI R's!

She did not know that they were not food and she had been on her own for some time eating what ever she could find. She is a sweet hart! Just look at the strips! You can not see it in any of the pictures, But she has a double "Halo" on top of her head!

And not to leave the GIRLS out! The 11 are doing well and looking forward to the "BIG MOVE"! Egg total as of today.....875! That's in 3 1/2 months!

 Well that's some of the things that have gone on around here the past few months. I am so glad that winter is over and the days are warming up. I can now start working outside and I even got the tractor running, so cutting grass is in my near future.

So I will close for now. Happy Spring Everyone!!
Tom