No Potatoes But Tall Tomatoes

It appeared we may have one potato plant coming up, but a quick search online indicated it was only a weed.  We didn't want to buy a huge bag of seed potatoes for this small experiment so we just let some from the grocery store grow 'eyes.'  These don't seem to be growing, but when I've had to put old potatoes in the compost bin they've grown in there before.  Oh well, we tried and may try something different next year.

The tomato plants, meanwhile, have outgrown their covered cages but have not been vandalized by any critters.  The main problem is when the fruit is growing, so we needed a new plan to keep them protected.

The old wooden ladder, some stakes and bird netting is what we came up with.  Hopefully it will be effective.  Note the two sunflowers on the right.

Vacation Projects, Baking, Street Reconstruction #19 and More

I've been busy this past week, resting and recreating takes a lot of time and effort.  I'm on my first real vacation in a year since being new at a job and other than having Covid when I was on vacation last September.  As usual, a staycation to take care of little projects and other things without the interruptions of work.  So far I've gotten a few things done and we've had nice weather, for the most part.  There's a lot to say so I may jump around a bit, and I'll likely add a break due to the length once I add pictures.

Vacation Start

I started this vacation by going to my Mom's on Saturday.  We got a few little things done for her, but it was more about spending the time, I think.  I was just there a few weeks ago, but an overnight visit allows for more time and relaxation while catching up on what's going on in her life.  I got back to town mid-day Sunday and I don't think I did much the rest of the day.

Lots more after the break!

Sunflowers, Take 3

Two years ago I tried to grow sunflowers from seeds bought online.  Out of 50 seeds planted directly into the ground I got just one good plant.  A ten foot tall mammoth grey stripe sunflower.  Most of the seeds were sniffed out and eaten by one or another neighborhood critter, but I collected the seeds from that one, 10-foot sunflower and planted many again last year.  

Same problem, the seeds got dug up and eaten by some critter even though I caged the areas.  Even the ones that managed to grow got bitten off eventually.  No sunflowers last year.

So this year I decided to start them inside rather than sow directly.  Using 24 toilet paper tubes, a plastic bag, a cardboard box and some dirt, I used the same seeds from that first 10-foot tall sunflower and surprisingly, to me anyway, all 24 seeds sprouted.

I was unsure of how much I should let them grow before I planted them.  I didn't want to hinder their taproot, and I said I should research further but I didn't.  We started planting when they got close to or as tall as the cardboard tube they were planted in.  They've grown at different rates, though, so we planted them a couple times over the last week.  So far it seems to be working out well.

I have them planted in clusters since they need to be caged for protection.  There are two in front, near the base of the shepherd's hook holding the bird feeder.  The thought was that the shepherd's hook could be support, if needed, and the birds could do whatever and maybe feast upon seeds later in the summer.

In the back, there are two clusters of three seedlings planted in that same corner that we got the original sunflower, by the house and porch behind the steps.  Three more on the other side of the steps, shown here with the gnome.  Two clusters of three in the tree stump area along the fence, and two at the back corner of the garage by the gardens, also shown here.  And today I planted two more in a big pot that I placed by the garage.

That's 21 seedlings planted so far, and every one of them is looking really good, still.  

That leaves 3 seedlings.

They're getting there, but definitely a bit behind the others.  Thankfully, though, this gives me a bit of time to figure out what to do with them.  I just don't know where I could really fit 3 more sunflowers, and I already bought a big pot to fit a couple more in around here. (And we'll see how they even grow, in a pot.)

But I had the thought to take them to work.  I can take a cage in and let a group help me plant them in the back yard by the fence, in case support is needed again, and hopefully we can watch them grow big and tall over the summer.  

They can get a lot of joy out of simple things like that, and that's a good lesson for me.

Spring Plant & Yardwork Day

On Sunday, Kate and I finally rolled up our sleeves and got some work done in our small yard and gardens.  She was determined to try tomatoes again so we got some cages to attempt to save them from the squirrels.  And we're just waiting for better eyes to form on the potatoes until we try planting them.  Some plants for pots and various other yardwork rounded out the day.

First, the gardens, clockwise from top left:  Parsley plants on either end with rows of green onion, lettuce and radish seeds in between.  To the right is two cherry tomato plants in some inexpensive cages from Amazin'.  They have tops, a zipper door on one side, and are staked and have a couple pieces of wood on the flaps on either side for more support.  Still, I may be looking to weigh them down better come windy weather.  Below that are the raspberries, now with the fencing removed.  To the left of that are a jalapeno and bell pepper plants with the space between intended for potatoes.  We tossed in a fresh bag of mulch in between and that was it for the gardens that day.

This is going to get long, so I'll put the rest after the break.  See you there!

Homemade Pizza

I got a wild thought last week to make my own mozzarella cheese.  I either looked up or saw a video in my feed that I watched, and it just seemed so simple.  So, yesterday morning, I made cheese for the first time.

And so few ingredients are involved:  Whole milk, vinegar and salt.  I also bought cheesecloth from Amazin', but that's it.  Heat a gallon of milk to 115-120ºF, turn off the burner and add about 3/4 cup vinegar.  Stir lightly for a minute or so, then move off the burner, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Then I scooped out the curds into cheesecloth in a sieve, finishing by pouring it all through to get all the curds.  This took 3 or 4 steps due to the size of the containers, and as the whey filled up I poured it back into the milk jug.

Using the cheesecloth, I twisted it tight and squeezed more whey out, as much as I could.  When it stopped streaming I opened the cheesecloth and broke apart the clump of curd, basically turning the inside parts to the outside before twisting the cheesecloth tight again and squeezing out more whey.

After a few minutes of this I put the cheese in a bowl and microwaved it for 20-30 seconds, folding it with a spatula for it to release more whey, stretch and come together.  I repeated this step a few times, adding about a teaspoon of salt along the way, until the cheese was getting smooth and melty.  At this point I put on gloves and kneaded the cheese in my hands like bread dough, forming it into a ball.  Once satisfied, I returned it to the cheese cloth, twisted it tight and put it into a bowl so it would retain a rounded shape and placed it in the refrigerator.  I should probably have used plastic wrap now, but came back and did that a couple hours later.

Later that day, we sliced it for a taste, then had it on a fully homemade pizza.  Homemade pizza dough, homemade pizza sauce, and now homemade mozzarella cheese.

The cheese was good for a first try, but I know I can do better.  I may have squeezed out too much whey and not kneaded or stretched it enough before chilling, and it didn't seem salty enough.  Then, to top it off, the pizza could have used a couple more minutes in the oven.  I will certainly be trying this again soon, but maybe only using a half gallon as that should be enough cheese for a pizza.

This was a first attempt taking information from a couple of ToYoube videos.  I will certainly be looking at more and am open to any suggestions.  Have you ever made cheese?

Fall Cleanup, Fire & Baking

It's shameful how I've been neglecting the fire pit this year, but fall is here so I think it will be easier to get out there more now that it gets dark so much earlier.  Saturday night had ideal conditions so I was determined to relax by the fire while watching the first half of the Badger football game.

Earlier in the day I spent some time cleaning up the back yard; mulching leaves, cleaning up the gardens and flowerbeds, put the compost soil in the gardens and get the bin ready to receive on the right side while giving a good turn to the left.  I have a couple buckets of yard waste to get to the dump, just a bit of sod, and some woody stems and dead raspberry branches from the gardens.  Technically it all could go in with the compost but I always end up pulling out a few chunks and sticks and tossing them into the other side of the bin so they have another year to break down, and the less of that the better.

There's not a whole lot else to do outside before winter arrives.  I still have to clean out the gutters, though our windy weather has me hoping that will be a, um, breeze.  And I still have to make sure the snow blower starts and move some things from the garage to the basement.  Other than that, just keep on top of mulching the leaves, is all.

*               *               *

I haven't written about baking much recently, though I have kept it up very regularly.  I fell into a good routine with my baguette and flatbread, and there's usually cheese pennies available in the freezer to make a tray when we feel like it.  On October 22, King Arthur's Big Book of Bread was released, and I received it from Amazin'.  The first part of the book covers the basics of breadmaking, then there are over 125 different, detailed recipes.  Around the same time I bought a rectangular stone for baking bread on.  We have a round one for making pizza (also with my excellent homemade dough and sauce!) but wanted better for making bread.

So far I'd only tried their Yeasted Baguette recipe, and I liked it but I used a combination of the methods in the recipe and what I'd done before.  They turned out great, but I wanted to more closely follow and practice the book to learn.  Mainly the differences were wet handling/proofing with oil spray or now dry handling/proofing with flour and a couche (which I had done some of before), and using the peel and stone for baking rather than the baguette tray.

Anyway, I got ambitious Sunday.  I had a grocery order to pick up too, but I wanted to make baguette, at least two batches of cheese pennies, and try the Pita Bread recipe from the book and also using the stone.  My first try for pita, and it was interesting to see it puff up so much in the oven.  I thought they would collapse as they cooled, but I had to flatten them before storing them in the freezer.  That's right, we've not even tried them yet.  I think we're going to have homemade gyros on Wednesday, which is why I made them.  At that time we can decide if my flatbread would be best for gyros or not.  Making either is a similar process.

Everything got done in about 6 hours total, ending around 3 in the afternoon, and my legs were tired from standing.  The Packer game started shortly after so I was able to put my feet up and watch the game.  I'm glad I got done as much as I did, but I don't think I'll try to do quite as much in one day again.  I do look forward to trying other recipes from the book, but I have no idea what the next one will be yet.

Yard Updates

Happy belated summer solstice, everyone.  Hard to believe the days start getting shorter already.  I took some pictures out in the yard last night and everything looks exactly the same today, the weather as well.  We've been stuck under a stationary front for days now that's been giving us sporadic rains every day, sometimes very heavy.  Last spring was super dry and it's certainly opposite this year, but good for fungus and toads (and mosquitoes) as we've seen both in the yard.  The toads are harder to get a picture of as I'm busy doing the strimming before mowing when I see them.  Oh well, on with the updates.

I finally got the back steps sealed last weekend, before this front came over us.  The "transparent" sealer does look good when freshly done.  I hope the color sticks better the more I reseal every year.  Tiger lilies are blooming and the alium are going to seed.

The two sunflowers are still doing well.  They've almost outgrown the cage but I'm not going to remove it until I have to or they get much bigger.  I also added a stake in the ground to the left, in case support is needed later this summer.

And all sorts of things are growing in the tree stump area, some unknown wildflowers seem to be doing well but no blooms yet.  I moved the solar lights to this area from the back, but not sure it will make a difference.  I'm noticing these six turn on much earlier than sunset, so don't have much battery left after dark.  I believe they are on in this picture.  I don't think I can do anything to fix that.

It's a good time of year, just too wet recently for firepits.  Otherwise, life goes on as usual, so no news is good news, I guess.  Work is good, and there is so much less stress in this job.  I baked more baguette this morning and prepared two rolls of cheese pennies this afternoon, so I'm still baking but just the same things over and over for now.  And less than a month until street reconstruction starts.  Yay.

I do have to call and cancel cable internet sometime this week.  Wish me luck.

Peonies And Rain

Peonies are a beautiful spring flower, yet, inevitably, it seems to rain hard every year right after they start blooming - or at least when ours at the corner of the house blooms.  And if you've had peonies, you know how discouraging this can be.  The flower heads collect the water and droop, never to fully rise again.  Hopefully it's early enough to not matter so much as there are many yet to open.  My bigger concern was seeing that my gutter was partially blocked.  Also areas of overflowing on the porch gutters, but less of a concern.  The helicopters from the maple trees have been flying, I hadn't thought so much this year but something is clogging the gutters.

It's a holiday weekend and I have a ladder.  This will be fixed.

New Bushes

We planted some new bushes today along the new fence in the tree stump area.  I had to remove several plants when we regraded the lot line to get the yards on the same level for the new fence, so we have a strip of dirt that we want occupied by plants of our choosing and not weeds.  We transplanted some vinca back there, but it needed much more.  We considered other perennials that would take up that space, but we did want something that grew a bit taller so started looking at different kinds of bushes.

Enlarge, if curious.

We went to a local nursery today and chose (the last) two of this spirea, which are to grow to 2-3 feet tall and as wide, and one tuxedo weigela, which will grow 4-5 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide.  We planted them five feet apart on center, and with a foot of dirt between the hole and the fence.  This seemed reasonable and we hope they fill the space well in a few years.  I had the trail cam out there keeping an eye on the tree stump and I happened to notice it, so I set it to make a short time lapse video of us planting the bushes, just for the hell of it.  I added these before and after pictures to the video and it turned out okay, so you can see that short video below.  No background music and nothing fancy, it just is what it is.

I'm reminded of when the workers next door were working on the roof.  One called out to us one day to point out how they could see many of the back yards in the area and ours was the nicest.  That was a very nice thing to say, and maybe justifies my pride in our back yard.  We inherited a good yard 15 years ago and have made great improvements ever since, in my opinion.  All contributing to my pleasure in spending evenings back there by the fire, which I was able to do again on Friday evening.

Friday, Saturday and today are the third, fourth, and fifth days we've been able to have windows open this year, though they almost got shut yesterday for the air conditioner with temperatures approaching 90ºF.  And I mowed for the second time on Friday as the grass was almost as long as when I first mowed it exactly a week before.  We still have a full month until summer officially begins, but I feel confident that the cloud of winter and threat of snow are finally behind us for a few months and I'm feeling so much more comfortable in bare feet and shorts.  (Plus a shirt - no one wants to see me go topless!)  Cheers, everyone.

Sunflowers Are Planted

After seeing family yesterday I got home early in the afternoon, plenty of time to tackle some more spring chores.  I got the back steps power-washed so ready to seal when we get a nice day after a couple dry days in a row, and I also planted sunflower seeds.  I planted more strategically than last year and all are caged so hopefully we get more than one successful sunflower plant this year.  Not long after planting we had a storm come through before the sun came out again.  Mother Nature watered my seeds for me, so I hope that's a good sign.

The corner of the house and porch seemed to be the best place, and where the lone sunflower grew last year, so I fenced off the area and planted several seeds among the day lilies.

I planted a couple at the corner of the garage nearest the fire pit last year, and they started off well before being destroyed by a critter.  I planted a couple there again yesterday but caged the area.

Then I looked around for another good spot.  We have the bare area along the fence in the tree stump area, but hard to cage them in there and we're thinking of putting some kind of bushes or shrubs there.  So I decided to try the back corner behind the lilac.  If you look close at the left, you may see new lilac growth coming from where I had to cut down the old growth due to the new fence.  I'll let it grow as long as it's not directly under the fence.

Now, we wait and see. 

Friday's Fire and Today's Plantings

The weather was dry and the winds were low for the first time on a weekend night in some time, so Friday evening I had my first official fire of the year.  It had been a busy day and evening, so after grilling out brats for dinner and having a few drinks I was able to spend a few hours by the fire.  It was a relaxing time, including a call with my Mom, so I hung out there until about 10 p.m. before coming in for the night.  I look forward to more relaxing evenings like this coming up.

Today we went to the garden center early and got a few seeds and seedlings along with a nice hanging pot for by the front door.  That might be it for this year but for we still have to get something to put in the pot at the bottom of the steps out front.  I can post a pic of the front later when that happens, but as for the back yard the purple puffballs along the porch are now in bloom and what is left of the lilac bush is in peak form right now.  I am seeing some new growth from the old lilac that I had to cut due to the new fence, so hopefully that back side of the bush will be able to fill out well in the next few years.

For the tree stump area I had moved part of a hosta from the north corner (out of picture, left) yesterday where it was right by the fence to the south corner by the firewood where that hosta had been dug out for the yard leveling and fence installation, plus a small piece that fell off I transplanted in front of the stump.  The only other work done is adding some good dirt, wildflower seeds, then more dirt on top of the old stump and the area in front of it.  It's too rotten now to put potted plants on it so we'll try to grow plants in it, but, we'll see what the critters have to say about that, too.

In the gardens we have much more planted today, but it's always an adventure with all the critters so we'll have see what happens as the summer goes on.  Starting at the top left we have garlic, planted last fall, and today Kate planted a row of radishes in front with chives on either side.  Top right is four jalapeno plants, caged, with leaf lettuce on the left and dill and cilantro on the right.  Bottom right is the raspberries, while bottom left now has sage and basil, caged, among the few remaining strawberry plants.

Soon it will be time to plant sunflower seeds.  I'm thinking of fencing in the corner with the day lilies where I grew the one last year and trying to grow several in that area this year.  I may try to plant some in other areas, too, but they will have to be protected, probably caged, for quite some time until they get big enough.  All we can do is try, and as long as we look at whatever we get as a bonus then we'll come out ahead.

I've still not mowed, though I did use the strimmer in many areas again today, but probably within the week I'll have to give in and begin the ritual.  We've also begun spraying, pulling and digging out all the weeds, another summer ritual.

Our temperatures for the foreseeable forecast appear to be right around where windows open will be questionable, day to day.  We have the heat turned off right now so conserving house warmth will be the priority.  Still, this is a good time of year and things are looking good.  Cheers, everyone.

More New Fence

The fence installers left me two pickets from the back fence that they removed in the corner and replaced with new, plus 8 new pickets.  This gave me an idea to build a small section of fence behind the compost bin.  I discussed with neighbor Jane first and asked if I could zip-tie the section to her fence and she was real nice about it.  So, this morning I went and got 2 more fence pickets and 3 cedar 1x3's and this afternoon I put it together and installed it with my wife's help.

If you look close in the picture below you can see a hammock a couple yards over, and it's by a fire pit.  They often have fires when I do and is within sight, so a small section of fence will block that view from our firepit.

And every other direction is our house and the sides of 3 garages with just one open space that by chance had that neighbor standing there when I took the picture below.

I'm satisfied.  This is about as private as we want right now.  In an hour or so I'm going to go out and have the first fire of the year.  Then about an hour after that I'm going to watch a live Megadeth concert from Buenos Aires, Argentina, as I sit by the fire.  It's been a beautiful day out and should be a nice evening.  Cheers, everyone.

New Fence II

Our new cedar fence was installed yesterday with few issues.  In fact, they were done by noon, a couple hours before the daylight very noticeably dimmed due to the partial eclipse we had here. We like the new fence a lot, it looks real good and the back yard feels so much more private now.

I set up three cameras to capture the installation.  Trailcam One just captures pink pictures and video now so was unused.  Trailcam Two was on the side steps pointing down the lot line and was set to take one picture when triggered.  Trailcam Three was strapped to the back steps and was set to take a time lapse with pictures 15 seconds apart.  (Side note: Trailcam Three was bought just a few days ago, the same camera as Trailcam One since I couldn't find another with a forward facing screen and time lapse.  Let's hope Three lasts longer than One did.)  I also put an old Galaxy phone of mine on the back fence to take video of the whole morning.  The crew leader also set up his phone by the back steps to take his own time lapse, and I took pictures with my phone, so that makes 5 cameras covering the action that morning.

When we had the back fence installed late in 2020 I learned that it was good to be there when it happens.  They had plenty of questions and I was there to answer them to get the fence put in the way I wanted.  Again, it was very good that I was here.  One big issue - they weren't told to have the good side facing in (Madison is one of the few cities that lets you do that, otherwise you are required to install the good side facing the neighbors).  So if I had not been here our fence would have been installed backwards.  Tree roots and the back corner were also a bit of an issue, but easily overcome.

Below are the time lapse video from Trailcam Three and a sped up video from the Galaxy.  I couldn't figure out a way to make a video of reasonable length with the over 600 pictures Trailcam Two took, except manually which would take far too long to be worth it.

We got the wood stacked again after work today, so now I just have to have a fire for the first time this year!  Hard to believe, but having a fire will be easier, more comfortable and private now, I think.

If that's not enough, I'll put some pictures of the process that I took with my phone after the break.

Final Fence Prep

The last thing to do before having the fence installed was to move the firewood, and we dumped it to the ground this afternoon.

We put down a tarp with cardboard on top of it to try and prevent any of it tearing up the soft sod, and we just pushed it over.  It fell neater than I expected, so it was just a matter of moving the rack and bringing up the ends of the tarp where we could and covering the whole thing with other tarps, using some logs to hold it all in place.  Then just a quick rake of the lot line and we appear to be ready for the fence installation (tomorrow, as noted in the comments of the last post).  The rain should be mostly over for today, but we may get a little more overnight then a better day tomorrow for the installation, though I expect it to still be pretty muddy.

Now, my back has been an issue for the last few weeks, and this prep for the new fence hasn't helped any.  I don't have much time off at my new job but I'd like to be here when the fence is installed, so I think I will call in tomorrow for my back so I can be here to oversee and answer any questions they may have - and I do remember they had several questions when they did the back fence a few years ago.  It may be stretching the truth just a little bit to call in, but it's not a complete lie and I will feel much better being here to supervise everything.

Google calendar just now reminded me that tomorrow is my 15th blogday, too.  I'm hoping for a smooth fence installation and a better back for my blogday, please!

Fence Delay

It started snowing by 2:00 this afternoon, a heavy, wet, accumulating snow.  It's due to snow through tomorrow and into Thursday morning, per the forecast.

I called the fence place this afternoon to see if they still planned on putting in the fence tomorrow.  I told them I wanted to be there for it and didn't want to take a day off work unnecessarily, so I wanted to know today.  My ultimate response was that they normally look at the weather in the morning before making that decision, but understanding that I wanted to be there and the probability that it would be put off anyway, they rescheduled the installation for Thursday.  Temperatures will hover around or just above freezing so I don't expect too much snow on the ground, but it will certainly be muddy.  And might make the firewood dump more difficult, now tomorrow or maybe early on Thursday.

The drive home from work this afternoon was a bit tricky and slow as the roads were covered and slippery while traffic was ramping up to rush hour.  But work has been going well and I'm becoming more comfortable with my role and responsibilities.  Not unpleasant at all, but still feels just very different for me.

Yesterday And Today II - More Fence Prep

Preparation of the property line for the new fence had stalled since the last post, very much due to weather and my back.  Yesterday I got the call, they want to install it on Wednesday and I thought we'd be ready so Wednesday it is.  As previously planned, new neighbor removed his fence and took most of the dirt away yesterday.

And when I got home this afternoon I grabbed a bucket for a few plants and roots and the garden rake.  I shaped the area as I thought would best bring the yards together, bringing a pile of extra dirt to the middle.  New neighbor came out and took that pile away.  He also took away the timbers that held back the dirt for another project of his.  He was making this easy on me.  We did some more spreading and evening and were both satisfied with the result.

I'm going to call it ready for the new fence, except for the firewood.  That will happen Tuesday evening.

Yesterday And Today

Yesterday I completed getting the bulk of the plant matter out of the strip of the stump area by the fence, 4 five-gallon buckets full.  My back is definitely tight and sore, but I've had it lots worse.  I asked the new neighbors if they needed any free dirt, and they said yes so hopefully they can take most if not all of it for us.  Below is what it looked like when I got done yesterday.

And here it is this afternoon, after several inches of wet snow from about midnight until noon today.

Tomorrow should melt most of the snow that is left, but our weather looks to be pretty wet until the middle of next week.  While this does hamper the preparation for the fence installation, besides agreeing to take away at least some of the dirt the new neighbor also let me know of plans to remove their fence soon, as well.  Hopefully things fall into place in the next week or two, but again, I won't let the fence be installed until we're ready.  I do look forward to that first fire after having the new fence installed and everything else - mostly the firewood - back in order.

But, March will be March, after all.  I forgot to say it last post, but Happy Spring Equinox, everyone.

Baking and Fence

I made two rounds of baguettes last weekend, pizza dough, and an odd recipe for cool ranch corn bread.  The first round of baguettes were marred by the gold non-stick surface of the baking pan coming off onto the bottom of 2 of the 3 baguettes.  I've used this tray since the middle of last year with no issues, so not sure why it happened now.  I contacted the seller and they apologized and refunded my money, but now I have to get a new baguette baking tray and they all have a non-stick coating.  We were able to cut off the affected parts of the bottom of the baguettes and ate the tops.  The next day I made more and used the same tray, but with parchment paper.  Pizza dough is pretty easy, no matter the recipe, and went straight into the freezer for future dinners.

The cool ranch corn bread is another recipe from the vlogger that I got the peanut butter bread recipe.  Quick and simple, but nothing to really jump up and down about.  He said it tasted like a cool ranch Dorito, and I thought corn tortilla versus corn bread with that seasoning might work.  I'm glad I tried it but I won't make it again.

Last Wednesday I signed the papers and put down a deposit for the fence to be put in on the East side of the back yard.  At the time, he said they were scheduling about a month out, but on Friday I got a phone message saying our fence would be installed the next Thursday.  I don't think so.  We have a lot of work to do on the fence line before that can happen, and it won't be done by then.

On Sunday morning I took the chain saw to the lilac bush, which is now half the size, if not less.  The firewood I plan on dumping to the ground the day before the fence will get installed, then afterward put the rack where it will go and restack the wood.  Seems easier than moving and restacking the wood twice.  And we're going to have to dig up about 3 feet of the stump area all along the fence line to get a gradual decline to the neighbor's yard, to where the ground level should be if it had not been built up around the tree that was there.  Only then the fence can go in.

It's going to take a lot of work, but it will get done.  I got a start on it this afternoon only to find out the city drop off site is still on winter hours until April, which means they're open only during my work hours.  We can put the plant matter into the compost bin if needed, and hopefully we will find neighbors that need the dirt or else it will sit in the garage until I can get rid of it.  Another problem is the weather.  We'll be cold for the rest of the month with some snow expected.  I'm hoping to work on it a little at a time to save my back.

The fence company knows I don't want it installed this week, and we discussed the first week of April.  I probably won't get an exact date until it gets closer, but I will not let them install it until I'm satisfied we are ready.

Holiday Weekend Updates

Happy holiday weekend, everyone.  I know not everyone has today off, but I took it off to have a four day weekend with the Fourth of July tomorrow.  Anyway, so far I've had a one mow May and a 1/2 mow June; will I mow in July?  I only remember because I noted it here, but I first mowed this year on May 13, then mowed only the back yard on June 4, and it looks like it may be some time yet before I mow again.  The front yard is mostly brown while the back is mostly hanging on to green and all of it stopped growing long ago but for going to seed.

Raspberries are almost done and today I noticed the first several walnuts had fallen in the yard.  But where are the helicopters from the maple trees?  They normally fall like rain later in the spring, causing a cleaning of the gutters, but so far nothing.  I can't even be sure if I see them in the trees or not.  As dry as it's been it may be possible that there won't be any this year, or maybe a very few.  The humidity finally arrived last week, so temperatures that were more than bearable before now require the air conditioning on and outside chores planned around the weather.

All four sunflowers are still alive, two seem to be doing very well while the other two almost died but recovered though they seem stunted, so we'll see how they do.  But the other two are looking very promising.

The bird feeder now requires refilling once a day.  It's gone in less than a day but I will only refill it once a day.  I got the gardens cleaned up somewhat this morning, including digging up the monster oregano plant, leaving just a tiny sprig to live on.   We gave up on the strawberries, they exist only for the critters now.  And I have the new trail camera trained on the stump where I've been putting the extra peanuts from the bird food (since too many clog the feeder) so will have to bring that in soon and see what's been enjoying the feasts I put out.  And I've painted more doors.

Yes, after painting the front door there was still a lot of the quart of paint left over so we decided to paint the back porch door and the side garage door.  And there's still at least 1/3 of the quart left but I think that's enough painting for now.  Henceforth we may be known as the Purple Door House!

I'll put pictures of the doors after the break.

Purple Door

The trail camera showed up after I started preparing yesterday and the SD card while I was painting, so I did not try a time lapse of painting the front door purple.  But no matter, the job got done and the results are pretty good, we think.

Two coats went on yesterday and some touching up this morning.  For some reason it never occurred to me that it would take more than one coat, but of course, covering a lighter color with a darker one will do that.  Still, didn't use much of the quart of paint so a shame there's nothing else we want painted purple.  I also spray painted black all the formerly brass hardware on the outside of the door.  I figured that was a better option than leaving them brass and more in line with our black and white outside theme.  Overall, I think it's a good addition of color without being loud or obnoxious.

On my last trip to see my Mom she reminded me of all the different colors she had painted our front door years ago, so maybe we'll change it up in a few years if we tire of purple.