May 28, 2014 Finally Mowing

Blooms on my lilac bush beginning to open.

Monday 5/26. Slowly all of our unnecessary appliances are disappearing.  Hopefully never my washing machine, but after not having been able to use the microwave for more than a week, I realized that we really do not use it very often, and never for anything very important.  So, now I have so much more space available on my kitchen counter, and I can put that to very good use.  I certainly could have on Sunday when I was defrosting the freezer and fridge, making a pot of dog broth, and vacuum sealing meet for the freezer.

When Randy and I were talking on Saturday, he mentioned that from the photos I have of RJ's cabin, his first thought was that it looked like a Hobbit house.  Come to think of it, he's right.  Especially with the sod/grass roof.

And speaking of the out-of-doors, JB's new Field & Stream magazine has another great article on the last page.  This one is worth the price for the whole magazine.  It begins, "No matter how many times it happens, returning to the "normal" world after a few days in the wild hits me like a sucker punch."  As I said, definitely worth the price of the whole magazine.

As to our day, we could not get the lawn mower started.  JB thinks that it may need a new spark plug and will buy one when he goes Down There on Thursday.  It is a 30-year-old John Deere, so who knows if it isn't just old age.  Sometimes I wish I could get a new spark plug. . .

Miss Kitty's battery was dead.  I think because I have made too many very short trips up and down the south slope in the past couple weeks.  So we jump-started her with JB's Jeep.  Then, since she needed to be running for a while, we decided to go for a ride.  We had a great time and discovered that all the coasties who came for the weekend were gone.  We did run into Larry though, as he was coming up to our place from spraying for knapweed.  He used the little bit spray he had left on our road and loaned his spray tank to us to finish the job.  I told him that I hadn't seen any knapweed on our road, so he pulled one and showed it to me.  Seems he thinks we've been zipping along too fast in Miss Kitty to notice all of them.  Obviously I just forgot what they looked like.

What I did notice is that six of my irises have flowers forming.  Wow, six!  I only had one last year, so am really looking forward to so many.

Tuesday 5/27. The day began clear and 46, and we began it sitting by out on the porch with our coffee.  

I sometimes stand in amazement at what we have accomplished Up Here.  We are so used to living in houses that others have designed and built, that I sometimes forget all the blood, sweat and tears we have poured into this one.

And speaking of blood, sweat and tears, we put the mower back on the tractor today.  That also included a lot of cussing and yelling.  After a phone call to the place where we purchased it for one small piece of extremely important information that was not in the instructions, it was on and running.  JB spent the next hour mowing and Rose Camp is getting to look less overgrown.

It was a good day to be outside, with a high of 62 and clouds floating over most of the time.  Cool in the shade and warm in the sun.

Larry drove up to bring a hand wand for the spraying unit he loaned to us.  With the wand we can get weeds that are beyond the reach of the spray.  We talked for a while and learned that poor Bella is still getting beat up by some of the other chickens.  So when he expands the coup next weekend, he is going to put in a private apartment just for her.  

Wednesday 5/28.  It is a chilly 40 with mostly clear skies and a breeze.  JB will be mowing today and I'll be. . . hmmm.  Don't quite know yet.  Will have to take my coffee out on the porch and think about it.

Thought for the day: The contented man is never poor; the discontented man never rich. George Eliot