A Hot Day at the Old Place

It's D minus 1... 

Tomorrow is The Day. 

Here was the kitchen when I walked in this afternoon. 

And the living room, looking into the bathroom, and down the hall to the bedrooms.  That 

stained carpet will come up last.  The pale green walls will be white by this time tomorrow night. 

This is what I worked on today.  The unfinished deck on the side of the house allowed this mess to grow up the last three years.  

I had to get IN there to cut them all out with the big cutters, and we are going to spray more killer on them. 

I managed to stay unhurt until the very last time, and then I raked my leg, good. 

An hour later.  Yes, I still have a little bit of vines to pull down from the corner. 

The deck will be finished... a rail put up.  The frame you see will come down, and new 

siding. 

Here's a look from the gate, as I was going out.  

Keith had to rebuild the northwest corner of the house about 3 years ago, 

which is why it looks so crazy.  That frame will come down, and siding will be put on the sides and back of the house, and painted. 

We're getting closer!

There are no mice or snakes left in the old henhouse. 

Or in the new, where I did not take a picture. 

The henyard is like a green cathedral. 

And you can't even get around the duck house to get to the gate, for all the vegetation. 

I sat in my old beaten up plastic chair and in my mind, I could see the ducks, and all the chickens, large and small... the babies, the adults.... and yes, I did get teary-eyed.  I miss them. 

I also got eaten alive by mosquitos. 

The goat's climbing tree has become covered with vines. 

Mint is running amok in the garden... and I am going to have to attack it. Next week!

But I found these beautiful claret-colored daylilies blooming, and I am going to have to 

dig them up and bring them home with me. 

There were also yellows blooming, but the Stella D-Oros appear to be finished (they are out of sight in this picture). 

There are weeds growing EVERYWHERE, and yes, I got overwhelmed.  Next week is supposed to be very much cooler, and I can get some work done out there. 

This pear tree did not set any fruit this year.  These pears were small but very sweet last year. 

This one did... but not as many as last year.  I attribute this to the horrible winter, and the heavy freeze in March. 

But as I sat on the deck and took a break during my cutting .... I took a snap of the heavily laden apple tree. 

I had company. 

In the sky, and on the ground. 

I love how she lays with her legs crossed... Ranger did it, too. 

I leave you with a shot of Oscar's tree.  If you look just to the left, at the base of it... you will see some high grass.  That marks Oskie's grave, buried there seven years ago, now.  How Keith and I loved that little min pin, and how we hated losing him.  I have never cut the grass over his grave, and it grows back tall each year... and somehow, Troy knew not to cut it.  Maybe I told him, I don't remember. 

Our future tenants won't know about Oscar, or our other friends, buried in a circle around 

Beau's tree in the pasture... Hannah, Addie Mae the pugs, and Nickie and Gwen, the cats. 

Time moves on, and the land stays the same. 

The Big Winner!

This is "Oscar's Tree"... near the north boundary of our 

"front yard" at the old place. 

See that planting bed that has now buckled and lifted off the ground?  

I always intended to take it off there... but in all the almost-nine years 

we lived there... daffodils have bloomed at the base of the tree. 

Remarkable! 

Oscar, our first dog as a married couple, is buried to the left, where 

you see some taller grass growing.  

That will always be his tree, to me. 

Not to be outdone, the perennial beds are coming to life, too. 

Next week, I am bringing Grandson Chris up for a day, and we are going to 

move the planting things from the deck over here.  I have an area on the side... I will show you... where we will set up our container garden, and a table and chairs (which we already own).  There will be no 

huge tree to drop leaves, branches, and bird poop on them, either! 

This year may be all about container gardening, but as we move our 

storage building over, I am planning a perennial bed on three sides of it. 

This area here, outside the fence on the east side of the house, is level.  You can see where our acre ends because our grass is not quite as green as the neighbor's to the side and back.  There is ample room here for the storage building, and for perennial beds around it.  The only thing running through is old phone lines, for land line phones. 

I am trying to be patient! 

What is this, you ask? 

This is young Mr. Beach, who works at the Country Mart in Tonganoxie... the best store to buy meat in the whole area... bar none.... yesterday, I got a call from them to tell me that by using my loyalty card, I had won a "sack of frozen goods".  That "sack of frozen goods" turned out to be a box! 

Look what was in it! 

These were all in it... 

And all of this, too... my goodness!  

Our freezer is totally stocked right now! 

Thanks to Country Mart... I do use my loyalty card, and though we 

don't do a huge shopping there ever, I have patronized them steadily since moving here. 

Don't look now, but the Big Black Dog came back.  Lilly saw him through the window and snarled.  He proceeded to eat her dry dog food.  After he had finished, I went outside to lead him out of the yard (again).  He is quite old.  I don't know if he is truly a stray, or just another dog running loose around here. 

I have removed him from the premises several times now, so Keith is going to put a piece of fence by the retaining wall in front, where we should have run a stretch of fence.  

She looks pretty tough here after she went out to inspect the yard and make sure he was gone. 

And that gave me a chance to take a shot of the rickety back deck we 

inherited here.  It is not even... and the steps leading up and down are actually dangerous... they slant oddly.  I don't know if they were just built badly or have settled, but they are not safe.  

This will be the first project here... and as you can see, the septic tank is just by the deck, so we 

are going to have the new deck built to the right in this picture, and the old will lead onto the new (after being strenthened, or torn down and rebuilt) with gentler steps for the dogs and for us to get up and down. 

Don't look now, but I cut grass at the old place this morning. 

I took Lil along for the ride... she was not comfortable in the car before, but she has BECOME comfortable, figuring we are going from "HOME" to "HOME" and she enjoys coming along. 

In fact, after I finished cutting, I went inside to do some cleaning, and when I came out, I couldn't find Lil. 

Here is where I finally found her, under the side deck in the cool dirt. 

We waved goodbye to our friends the steers from next door, and came home to the New House. 

Where I'm posting with this little girl under my chair! 

We continue to clean and clear out the old place... but it will still take us some weeks. 

We ARE hauling things over... and going through and donating things.  We have too much STUFF... and we realize that.  It's time to let others share it, and who better to donate to then our own Good Shepherd thrift store, and the Disable Am Vets.  

The work will continue for some weeks. 

I am trying to get caught up on all your blogs... it's like reconnecting with old friends, and I am so interested in what you are all doing.  

We have received word that our little goats are doing very well in their new home.  I'm going to purposely put off seeing them for a while... right now I am just not ready... but one day, I will go visit them and I am very happy for them, believe me!