May
2009
More yard work, setting up the patios
May 16th, 2009 at 07:25 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, New Life, WeatherToday, we moved closer to our “summer living” with still more yard work and the setting up of our summer patios. Yes, that’s two patios.
I promise, tomorrow I’ll get pictures. Today we had a stiff breeze from nearly sunrise, so we concentrated entirely on the tasks before us.
We did more work on the major project, the rebuilding of the front walkway by adding railroad ties to the area between the yard and the future planting area for our entry hedge. We also added a nice top-dressing of compost.
Next week we’ll do the other side of the walk way. All the gravel is being added to the circular drive. That cuts the bill a bit for more gravel out there.
We also used the Mantis in “edger mode” to trim back the grass from all the concrete “dividers”. That’s a project that has been on our radar for over two years.
The glass tables and chairs emerged from the garage and were set up at our kitchen door patio, and also at our “lower patio”. That one is under the elm trees and overlooks the big garden, the chicken coop, the sheep, the cows, and the horses.
We think there was some kind of a shop that was torn down, as we’ve moved more than enough shingles, old wood, electrical wire, and even car parts from the area. This is all on a big concrete pad, approximately 30 x 15.
What’s really nice, is now we can walk around in the garage again, something Mom really appreciates.
Ok, tomorrow, I promise a gallery of what we looked like in Aug 2005 when Bev and Cindy first got here. Remember they bought this place “sight unseen”. Bev’s cousins had seen it and they’re first comments were, “If we were 20 years younger, you wouldn’t get to buy this. It would be ours.”
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May
2009
New twist for Shari’s Gone Country!… a Facebook Fan Page
May 15th, 2009 at 07:15 pm by Shari Thomas in About this Site, Around the FarmHere’s a new twist for Shari’s Gone Country! It’s my new Facebook Fan Page.
You can get to it by clicking on this link.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beryl-UT/Sharis-Gone-Country/179522430653
Don’t expect me to always give you that whole, long link… just become a fan.
I’ll be working on it quite a bit over the next week or two. I’ll be including things like a crop report, our market schedule, and other things.
Oh, and if you’d like to become a Facebook Friend, just let me know. I’d love to chat with you.
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May
2009
Ever since 2005 when Bev, Cindy and Mom bought this place, they’ve wanted to do something with the “rock beds” lining the front walk.
Today, Cindy and I tackled the project in earnest.
Over the past four years, we’ve planted a couple of yuccas, a couple of “red hot pokers”, and a couple of bird feeders, along with some solar-powered night lights.
Today, Cindy and I began digging out the rocks, rotted plastic weed barrier, and dirt. First problem… the wind. It blew at least 20mph with gusts to 35 the whole time we were out there.
Next problem, not much work space…
We ended up handling each shovel full of dirt at least three times. Dig it out. Pile it on a tarp. Throw several shovel’s full of dirt back onto a big screener. Physically separate the dirt from the rocks and plastic. Then dump the rocks into the wheelbarrow.
It took us five hours to dig out about 8 feet, and there’s another 9 feet on this side, then the full 17 feet on the other side. In all, before we even consider planting, it’s about 4 days work (4 hours a day is about it for us).
I know I’m dog tired tonight… sure hope they wait for a day or so before tackling the next section.
I think our plans are to plant a boxwood hedge accented by the “red hot pokers”.
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Jan
2009
Snow: Five inches in three hours
January 25th, 2009 at 08:36 pm by Shari Thomas in About Beryl, Around the Farm, Chickens, Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherShortly after dinner, Cindy suggested we feed, even though is was about an hour early. Good thing we went out when we did. The wind was already sustained from the south-southeast at better than 20 mph.
We got the chickens fed, and closed in again (with high winds we keep their door closed), and turned our attention to the rest of the animals. As I tossed a couple flakes of hay into the cow and calf, I couldn’t help but think of the Arnold Palmer Classic Golf Tournament, where they had sustained winds in excess of 30 mph. Talk about golf balls going where you didn’t want them… the hay didn’t exactly land where I wanted it, either.
On to the sheep… C’mon girls, go that way so I can throw the hay over here and miss your woolly coats. You’ve done well this year. Maybe your wool will be worth a little more with less alfalfa tangled in it.
Cindy fed and watered the horses and called our two dogs back to the house. By then, it we spitting rain and we still had to reposition a couple bales of hay at the cow stack. With that done quickly, we stopped by the hen house to gather the eggs and head inside.
Within about 45 minutes, it was snowing… hard! It’s been doing that now for the past three hours. Weatherbug tells me we’re supposed to have five to 10 inches by tomorrow night.
Hmmm, we already have five inches and there’s a lot more storm to come yet. Bev’s not gonna have much fun tomorrow, digging out to go to work, only to have to dig the Senior bus out, too.
We’re even expecting a thunderstorm or two this evening… better known as “Thunder-snow”. Right now it’s 29.5 degrees. The wind had shifted to the northwest about time the snow started. That’s our indication that the front has passed. Never mind the jet stream is going the opposite direction.
I know one thing, the “arctic dogs”… Sarah the Finnish Spitz, and Koda the part Siberian Husky, would rather remain indoors, while our two lab crosses just love the snow. The shepherd… she’s not sure but will go play as long as someone else goes first.
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Jan
2009
How do you like the new look?
January 24th, 2009 at 09:04 pm by Shari Thomas in About this SiteI finally found a theme I love. Cindy had found it for a blog she’s working on, but then found something she liked much better.
I still have some work to do on post formatting, but hey… the sidebars look really good.
It’s only taken about 8 hours to whip this into form. I’ve learned about 17 new things today about “php”… farm more than I ever even wanted to learn.
There are new plugins, new ways of getting things done, and soon I’ll have the image issue solved (that means going back and hand-loading each and every one of them).
The one thing that isn’t working for this theme is “Sez Who”. That will take some serious work to adapt it.
Ok, enough work… time to go play for the rest of the evening.
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