June 5, 2012



Small coyote caught on our game cam.




Our kitchen table that I wrote about on
my last posting.


















We worked outside all day Saturday.  JB chipped and I cut a big load of branch wood with my trusty little chain saw.  Jesse discovered a long, skinny bull snake down the driveway.  He knew it wasn't a rattle snake and was very curious about it.  It wasn't too curious about him though, and quickly slithered into the bushes.

Sunday was another good day for working outside, but because of the threat of rain on Monday we used MAX to pull the trailer of chippings down our road to work on the worst pot holes.  JB had read in "Home Power" that it is best to square out the sides of the holes which will be better to keep in whatever you fill the hole with.  So that's what he did and then we filled four holes.  Hopefully the chipped material will work better than the bark we had been using in previous years.

The rain moved in Sunday night as promised and Monday was drizzley and foggy.  A fire in the wood stove sure makes such a day so very cozy inside.  JB baked bread and I kept busy doing cleaning and sorting.  It's been a while since I have had to hang the wash up inside.  We put the hose out from under the house and turned on the pump, thinking that with all the rain there would at least be some water in our "pond."  It wasn't pumping out any water, so I got dressed in my under-the-house outfit and crawled down to look.  Not a drop anywhere and all the mud is drying out nicely.  Hopefully it will stay that way until the land is sculpted to solve the drainage problem the last week of June.

I am going Down There today to try to find some new work boots and do some grocery shopping.  Wasn't called in for jury duty, which is really a good thing because of the commute.  Have been called for jury duty three times in my life, but have only been chosen once.  An experience everyone should have, in my opinion.

I have two food projects that I want to try this summer.  I found a recipe in the newspaper for rose petal jelly that sounds good.  Lord knows we have enough roses.  And there is a great article in the current "Mary Jane's Farm" about making syrups and jams from elderberries.  We have a lot of elderberries too on the mountain and in the canyon, so I will definitely be picking them when they are ripe.  Larry said we can pick from the bushes down at their place too.  

Thought for the day:  Faith is about what you do.  It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are.  It's about making sacrifices for the good of others - even when there's not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.   Jim Butcher from Changes, page 252 (Which doesn't at all reflect what the book is about, only the strength of the main character)