Checking In

Don't laugh...This is the neighbors fence. This is just one pile. We have many piles. Many, Many, Many piles, of panels to take apart. We will use the wood for a wood shop later this year. 

 

Deck is coming along. NOT! Although someone has four days off real soon. I'm hoping he will get it all leveled and framed out so we can just wait for the top of the deck? Got a bit behind because we apparently mis-counted beams. So instead of buying metal supports and screws, I had to buy two more beams this week. I can't wait to see the 30 foot deck in place. Exciting. 

I am finding Cole is one of the earliest tomatoes. Cole has lots of little tomatoes. So loving it. Although I seem to find new tomatoes daily. Shocking considering I have more then 500 tomatoes?

Peppers are going crazy. Kinda shocking because they love heat. But we are running hotter then normal this summer so it's a good year to grow peppers? This is a sweet pepper. 

Lots going on here as normal. A lot of watering. I find that I am watering front and back and it takes about 12 hours a day. Insane. Makes it hard to get away even for an hour or so. Although snuck out Monday and was able to get more stakes. So we will be out back staking this weekend. Only the ones that need it, I do like letting them grow free willy, but they have to grow straight up, If they are going wild or need staking I will stake.

 

Cole is nearly riding a bike. Dad lets go a lot. but he is freaking out about crashing. Although he can put his feet down and touch so IDK. Hoping next them he just goes?

 



Weekly Update

Trying to sneak in a quick blog post, because my day will be exploding tomorrow and who knows when I will get another break?

 

All 500 plus tomatoes are planted. This guy Matts Wild was the last baby to go into the ground. It has been a wild ride getting them all into the ground. So far I have only lost one. But they are growing like crazy. 

Roses are going like crazy now. This is Mr. Lincoln

This is Henry Fonda

We built this. A 14 foot mega flower bed for Tucker. 

We bought this, isn't it the prettiest thing ever. 

Just a crazy week, as we are trying hard to finish up school. Although doesn't seem like it will ever end? Like tomorrow, we will be taking down a neighbors fence and taking the wood we want. We only have the morning to get the wood, before the rest is carried away and burned. Neighbor has a lot going on so I will be back and fourth helping here and there as she has to work.

 

Spending tons of time in the garden. Never ending loads of work out there.

 



TOMATOES & Weekly Update

Well yeah true I'm going longer then one week at a time. BUT I'm up to my ears in tomatoes.

 

Our goal is to have this green house nearly empty by this weekend. But one problem?

 

I'm plum out of space in the garden.

 

Well I'm down to two rows in the green house, and they are spread out so I can match up tomatoes and plant them together. I still have a lot of planting ahead of me. 

These are my two new beds. They kinda filled up fast. 

More tomatoes

More tomatoes 

More tomatoes

More tomatoes

I do have this semi empty new bed. Guess what we may be buying and moving this weekend to fill the bed for tomatoes? 

I've had to get out buckets. I now have buckets all over the back yard and it's still not enough.

Henry Fonda was the first rose to bloom this year. 

So every spare second is spent in the garden. Hoping to have nearly everything planted by this weekend. Also hoping to get Tuckers' new flower bed into place. This child, He comes to me one day and was like Mom I seriously need more garden space (hum wonder where it comes from?) So we had an idea, I'm tearing out an old strawberry bed because even with weed block and taking care of it the grass is overwhelming and it over takes the strawberries. So we are going to build up the bed to about 2 feet high, and Tucker will be able to have it.

 

We are trying to finish up schooling for the year. I so want to be done with school. So I'm trying when I get up in the morning to do school and not run into the garden and be there all day. Dang it's hard. Really hard. Cole's math is on hold, he is so stinking far ahead, so we are pausing and he works on math facts on the kindle. He loves it and it will really help when we start back up again. He knows the facts, but I want to get him moving faster.

 



I'm Baaaaack....

Tell ya when chaos hits it hits. Well on my old computer, I got a warning the hard drive was dying, needs to be replaced. After some googling I though I could do this, so I ordered a new one. Got it and nothing but black. After much googling about that (on another computer) I decided to return the hard drive and save for a new computer.

 

Well I have a new computer, nothing fancy, just need internet.

 

Well saving for the computer, hubby had two weeks off from work. We took two weeks off from school. And started to tackle our list of to do's.

 

Make a goat play thingy. Done. It has three layers, or steps. 

Build a new side gate. We only really replaced the rotten wood, to save money. So it will look funny for a bit. We also did a new goat gate, but I somehow missed that photo. That gate just fell off and apart, and I'm shocked the goats didn't figure it out and leave?

This critter showed up in the yard, just to pass away. With all the birds flying around, he probably hit the house or something. He couldn't fly and just no perk left in him. 

I bought this. Just need to figure out where to place it.

 



We built a gate to go from the neighbors to our back yard. We put in a pathway, with stones and mulch. It's a start.

 





Hubby built this. 

Then this fell down. No one was hurt. We will put it back up later, we need some supports or something. 

We dug up all this grass, and weed blocked. Now just need mulch, some planters are going in-between the pear trees. Pavers will go in to walk on. It will take time as money is short. Turnip are popping up. 

 

This tomato! Bloody Butcher. Spouted yellow flowers. So I kicked it out of the green house. I harden him off and planted him. First tomato out the door. If no more yellow flowers, then about the 15th I will debate when to plant the rest. They will have to be planted in stages. Some are so ready now and some probably more towards the end of the month. 

Another photo of the neighbors gate and what she will walk into. That bed in front is a new pumpkin bed. We will now have two pumpkin beds going. 

Chives are doing well. Yes, we are chive freaks and have a chive bed. 

 

The green house. Over 500 tomatoes are in here. Three shelves full. 

Just staying really busy well hubby was home. We were out working when it wasn't raining. We were in working when it was raining. And the list is still not done. But sadly hubby returned back to work today.

 

We are currently working in the kids play area. We are removing grass, removing wood chips, then raking it out, and putting in new grass. It's so un-even back there. It's just ugly. So work on that over the next few weeks.

 

We cleaned out our bedroom. Wanted to gut it, it has become a collect all, to the point you couldn't get in there. We are still not done, BUT we have a floor, we can walk and breath in there. We removed 14 boxes for goodwill. 4 totes for under the house. Where did all that crap come from? We removed the growing rack, it's under the house for now.

 

We are starting school back up on Monday. We made a plan and should be finished up mid June. But things like history are nearly done, so once it's done it's done. Leaving more time for English. English will continue until done. During summer we will do Science, and typing. Ethan may be doing some writing. On another note, I've been freaking out about school, more towards high school. We are ok now, but the higher grades are coming. Been hoping for an answer, and I think one has finally fell into our laps. It's through a local school district and it's online. So we will go in, in about two weeks to their open house and chat. I like that idea. I think it will be a good fit for Ethan. Ethan has lots of questions, I just can't answer. So this will be good for him to ask the teachers. It's only for 6th grade and above. So only Ethan would start. Leaving the other two to continue what we are doing.

 

Just ARGGGGG

 

 

 

 



Broken

Sneaking online for a second. It seems my hard drive has died, well near dead. After some googling I thought I could fix it and ordered a new hard drive. Got that and plugged it in and got a black screen. Googled how to get past that and did everything mentioned and NOTHING. Finally to save my sanity, I decided to send it back and save for a new computer. After thinking by the time I paid for the hard drive and maybe recovery disks that don't have great reviews and probably having to have someone look at it, because I'm so not a computer person. You have spent enough to buy a new computer. 

So we are in the process of saving for one. Since we pay cash it may take awhile. Although after getting a computer I'm dreading attempting to hook the computer to the printer. Took me many months after getting a new router to get the computer and printer to talk. Still can't get hubby's computer and printer talking. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Be back as soon as I can.

Weekly Update

Yeah, it's been awhile.

The Easter Bunny came, He hid the eggs outside this year. Took the kids awhile to figure that one out!

This Critter finished fourth grade math. He will now receive a 3 week math break. Next week it's catch up on English week. I think a good hour a week on English he should make a dent?

Sierra says Hi.

HHHHHHHIIIIIIIII

We finished filling the new tomato beds.

Then my kids were goofy tonight at dinner. So what is a mom to do? Grab the camera, of course.

Crazy busy transplanting tomatoes this past week and will continue over the next few days. I will post more on tomatoes, later. Lots of experiments this year. But I think I have it figured out on what will work for me. Now just need to get them out to the green house. I'll have a semi final count later, but it's over 300 tomatoes.

Hubby gets two weeks off soon. We will then take a two week school break. YEAH. Ethan will be done with 5th grade math this week. Since Cole is way ahead doing 4th grade I gave him 3 weeks off. 

Well hubby is off, a ton of projects to do around the house. We have made a very long list, during the days we are out and doing things and at night we are de-cluttering our bedroom. It has become a dumping zone. Get the tomato rack out of there and get busy.  Got some boxes from Costco to fill for goodwill. So done with clutter. 

 

Later....

Tomato Freak!

Yep me. I planted hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes this week. And yesterday they started to pop. So very exciting. I won't know the final count until or if they pop and are planted? I am also growing a few for the neighbors. Not to mention the tomato book I ordered and me googling the author and finding his blog and now I need all the tomatoes he created. OY.

I am dabbing in peppers this year. I'm doing 3 hot and 3 sweet. We shall see?  I did mark the tags properly, as HOT or Sweet.

We got a new toilet this week. Our old toilet, it got to the point you just couldn't flush. You plunge and plunge and yeah no, couldn't flush. It was 20 years old, so it was time. 

Our new toilet came with a cat apparently? 

Onions are starting to pop. So exciting. 

My tomatoes. Every time I go in to look I see another has popped and looks like this. It's so exciting. To see a seed you saved, and it looks like this. I have two more orders coming in. As seed orders come in Tomatoes are planted asap.  Would love to have over 200 tomato different seeds by the end of the year. Currently sitting at 163. I keep my tomato list updated as they come in.

During rain breaks I've been out working in the old raspberry area. I got some of the raspberries planted. Although our goal is to have the new raspberry bed done and raspberries planted by next weekend. As raspberries should be in the ground as they are getting ready to start growing and blooming. I also want to get the old area all cleared, looking pretty and weed block down so I can plan what to do in that area next? It might be kept cleared this year? It's a tough area, so we will see? Might even open it up to the goats?

 

On the goals, the truck is set to get tires next week. We just have to get it to town. Hubby wants to do one more thing on the truck and then it's done for the moment. It will go back on the list later for other things I"m sure. But need to work through a few goals first. On the way home from town we will pick up a truck load of dirt to fill the raspberry bed. I also need to get the tomato bed up and going soon. So much to do and sooooooo little time.

A week...

I'm running a wee bit behind in life again. See that little black critter? Last week she told me it was time. She is 17 years old or older. She was starting to become miserable. It was time. So I wrapped a towel around her and glued her to me and that is where she was for about 3 days. I would put her down to make dinner or do this or that, but mostly she was glued to me. After the third day she closed her eyes and stopped breathing and she was gone. 

The day before we had finally picked a spot to bury her. So she was buried. And it's been tough. She has been such a part of my life for many, many years, and during the last few, you take care of her every need and then she was just gone. 

Just weird to have her gone. 

So I'm behind. I find myself looking for her. I keep finding mess after mess she left. So a lot of cleaning up that needs to be done. 

And then yesterday our lives kinda blow up. Neighbor came over, and she wants a list of projects done and she is unwilling to wait any longer. Hubby apparently said he would do the projects, but wanted to wait more towards spring. Because it's freakin cold outside. She wants this and this and that, and OH BOY. BUT talked her down and said one project at a time. So that was agreed on. First up is the front deck. So hubby today drew it out, and got prices and gave her a quote. She was OK with the price, and the project will start. So hubby has a part time job. Which is great, because we need tires!

Get that done and have her pick the next project. She has a list a mile long. 

The boys and I have been putting sets of legos back together. Going through books picking something and hunting for legos and putting them back together. I have many sets half done because we are missing pieces, so we move on and hope we come across that part. It's a nightmare, but we are making progress. 

Last week I was able to get the shelving unit from Costco. With Costco the fear is they will run out of something before you can buy it. So I rushed to save the money and we had enough last week. Oh the crazy time we had trying to bring it home. Let's just say we seriously considered tying a child to the roof of the van. We didn't but we came close. I'll have photos soon. Today I have been cleaning up the bedroom to make room for this thing. It's now all clear, now to bring it in and set it all up. I'm excited to have all my starts in one place.

And then there is tomorrow. Tomorrow is Tucker's birthday. So I'm off to bake a cake in a few. He demanded a cake. He all ready has his gifts. But he hasn't been able to play with them yet. Although time after time, I would catch him in my room on the bed just looking at them. 

And Monday, oh Monday. We will attempt Cole in fourth grade math. I think he can do it, but if he struggles we will head back to third grade math. But he has a math brain like his bother and mom. I actually think not too far down the road Cole will be passing Tucker in math. Oh why couldn't Tucker get a math brain as well?

 

Oh Please Let This Be A Good Year!

Oh please let 2015 be much better then 2014. Although I can't complain too much about 2014, no real major crisis. But the garden kicked my butt, and a few other things, really dragged me down. 

This week has lead to me tossing all the left over squash, I give up. I started to plan the garden for next year. Next thing to do is write out start dates of seeds. I know first up are tomatoes and onions. I'm trying to plant the rest of the garlic, but we've been frozen for the past week. Checked it today and I can move the dirt about an inch, not enough to plant yet.

Buddy survived Christmas.

I got busy in the kitchen last night. We've been without an all purpose seasoning for many months now. My basic mix is about 1 cup of onion powder, 1 cup of garlic powder, and then toss in everything else as you wish. From dried herbs, to carrots, tomatoes, orange peel, to kale. Although I never add salt. I add salt as the dish needs it, and normally I don't salt as I cook we salt at the table.

I made a mess and there was no one to clean up after me? I really didn't plan that too well.

Holy Garlic Batman! This is elephant garlic, I have about 52 cloves I'm trying to get into the ground. This is the year we are trying hard to change all garlic over to heirloom types and toss out the store bought garlic. Photos to come!

So it's the first of the year. Time that people make goals and such. We make money goals, we actually made them about a month ago. So this week we started to put those goals into play. 

On the side bar of the blog I actually wrote down some of our goals. Some are small, but will take many weeks for us to buy/do. As we save a little each week until we can make the purchase.

 

Our first goal is to get a new shelving unit for starting starts. Last year was a mess! I had tables up and the hallway blocked and peeing at 3am when you have a few inches to move is not fun! Plus a cat got up there to sleep and killed two flats of tomatoes that were going good. We can put the shelving unit in our room and be able to shut the door, so no one can bug anything! After that probably lights for the shelving unit. Although I have two from last year, so only need two more. And might not even need those because I will be starting seeds at different times, not starting everything at the same time. But it would be nice to have on hand. Then the tires for the truck, we are nearly there, but it's time to get them off the list. 

A few things on the list will be conquered when we get our tax return. Like the two gates and the back deck. Our side gate has fallen, it was leaning and we propped it up for now, but our dog has broken through it once. Plus it's to the point you can't open the gate. The goat gate broke many months ago, it's so bad, not only do we lock it, but we tie it up. As the goats know how to open it and let themselves out. BUT they don't know how to untie yet. And the deck has big holes in it. It's way past time. Just a matter of time before we fall through it. Hubby will have to take off a week here and there to work on these projects. So need to figure that out shortly.