Recent projects

As I mentioned in the last post, now that spring has sprung, I have been getting back into the puttering mode. The following are a few of the recent projects.

Built a stand for the cool bell that Jill's folks gave us. While scrounging some wood for that project (as well as the gate project) from our neighbors Gene and Karen's yard, we saw a buffalo skull lying near the scrap wood. Being the shy folks we are we asked Gene if we could have it :)

I finally got around to making a wood rack. The top drawer that holds the newspaper was left over from some of the weird stuff I found when I bought Bonnybank. The rest is scrap wood from other projects. Once the wood-stove season is over, I will haul it out and paint it dark green so it matches the breadboard behind it.

Cut the sidewall out of the big old tire Laurel let us have for a raised bed planter. It actually wasn't quite as bad of a chore as I thought it was going to be. I also cut a piece of chicken wire to keep the larger burrowing rodents out. Pretty soon I will get around to filling it with earth. Not sure yet what I am going to plant in it.

I hauled rocks to build a little erosion barricade around the base of the "man shed". I'm not sure if I will fill in with smaller rocks or not. I was afraid if we have really heavy rains during the monsoon season, it might undercut the skids.

Last winter when the mud was so bad, we had a couple of sawhorses blocking our drive to keep it from getting so chewed up by the folks who don't seem to mind driving over soft mud and destroying other people's driveways. Anyway, I went ahead and built a little gate to take the place of the sawhorses. It stays open most of the time, but we can swing it closed in inclement weather.

I built a sandbag barrier around the base of the pump house, partly for erosion control, and partly for insulation. I filled the bags with the loose gravel that the local red ants were so kind to pile up all over out here. I never thought I would be saying "thank you" to the local ant population.

In honor of my brother Austin's visit, we actually did some spring cleaning. I went old school (since we no longer own a household vacuum cleaner) and hung up the few rugs we own and whacked them with a stick. So much fun.

Austin gave me a hand and we spent about 3.5 hours putting together our swanky new chicken coop.

I have been keeping busy, not too many hours a day, but steady. I still laugh when I think of the people who used to ask (on hearing that I planned to retire) "what are you going to do all day?!"

Spring has sprung

As Jill so correctly pointed out the other day, it has been a long time since I have lived in a place where the vernal equinox actually seems to herald spring. I am pleased to say that here at Mariposa, spring has sprung.

On March 22nd, we saw the first lizard of spring. A number of the bird species which were gone for the winter have returned. And of course, porch setting has become a regular pastime again.

In addition to sitting around, we have started taking longer morning walks; 1-2 hours on average. I have also started to get back into the swing of morning chores, with such activities as cutting firewood and hauling rocks to put around the base of the man shed.

We are looking forward to the arrival of the chicken coop I ordered, so that we can start having fun with chickens.

I would have to say, life is good.