June 25, 2014 More Small Projects & Bureaucrats

Our new porch steps

Monday 6/23. JB left at 7:30 am to meet the septic tank pumper truck at the pavement and was back Up Here with it at about 9:00 am.  It was a much larger truck than had been here two years ago and the driver had to take a few deep breaths when he got out of the cab.  Not a fun drive for him.  But he pumped out the tank and said that with just the two of us, we shouldn't have to have it pumped for another four or five years.  That works for me.

For the past few weeks there have been 30 to 40 honey bees at the bird bath every morning, and they seem to come and go during the day.  A few days ago I filled the bath with water while the crowd was there.  It was a little disconcerting to have them flying all around, but they didn't bother me.  Since then I try to fill it in the evening when there are just a few of them.

I think the flock of transient humming birds have moved on, but I still have to fill the feeders now about every two or three days.  I never get tired of watching those birds.

When JB led the truck back Down There, he took the trailer and went to Lowes for lumber and other necessary items to finally build 8' steps up to our porch.  We had been using the little steps built by the contractor who built our house, and those were supposed to be just temporary.  He also bought a gutter for the hen house.

We built the stairs after a late lunch and it really didn't take very long.  They look so good and the porch actually looks finished now.

It was our hottest day yet with a high of 81.  Thank goodness for that breeze!

Tuesday 6/24.  A clear but cooler morning, and our high for the day was 74.

We put the gutter up on the hen house.  This is the second time we have worked on the girls' place and the second time they didn't give us any eggs.

I washed out the new water barrel with a little water and bleach, then we attached it to the one behind the wood shed.  So now when the first one gets full, it will overflow into the second one.  We are going to put the other white one that is on the porch under the gutter at the hen house.

We still had 3/4 of a bale of straw left from what I had put in the hen house, so I stored as much of that as I could under their nesting boxes.  What was left over I put in the tipi.

The woman at the auditor's office called me back regarding the open space application.  Seems it is the planning commission who is in charge of that and to simply apply for it costs $850!!  Bureaucrats!!  Well, we won't be applying for that.  I am so fed up with the government.  Any part of the government.  And any elected official.

After dinner I walked down to the hair-pin turn to take my frustration out on pulling the knapweed that is still there.  

Wednesday 6/25.  It is mostly clear and 54 this morning, with rain in the forecast for tomorrow and Friday, and probable thunderstorms.

Thought for the day: The art of vacations, like all journeys, lies in letting go of what you'd hoped to find so you can discover what's really there.  Bill Heavey, Field and Stream magazine, July 2014