Long Days

The days are long; daylight goes until almost my bedtime, so time has a way of getting away from us.

The weekend weather was not as predicted. How do those guys keep a job? Fortunately we got some things done, and snuck a ride in, too! Both boys were stellar, both boys lost a shoe. KC is so dramatic, like I’m going to carry him back to the trailer.

It rained overnight Friday, but was mild and was quickly gone, barely laying the dust down. Everybody stayed out. They do have shelter, if they choose to walk into it.

It has been a wet spring, the woods are lush and the trails need pruning. Also, there are lots of downed branches and whole trees. We spent time stopped on the trail, trimming and sawing. Both our boys are great with limbs or branches hitting them, sawdust sprinkling their backs. The Poison Ivy and Skunk Cabbage is doing well, too.

Tom’s mother stopped over on Sunday. She hadn’t been out since October, being a fair-weather driver. We’ve done a lot to the place, inside and out, since then. She thinks we have too much ‘stuff.’ We’ve only bought three ‘new’ things: hay elevator, manure spreader, and snow blower. The hay elevator was $100; the snow blower is on deferred 18-month interest-free payment schedule, paid cash for the manure spreader. Everything else we’ve had for years. She also thinks we should not fence in the 10 acres on the East side.

I informed her it would cost about $6,000 in lumber alone. That’s why we must do the install ourselves. She thinks this is an exorbitant amount. Me, too, but that’s what fence posts and 16-foot Oak boards cost. I’d like to get started on this after we get back from Cook Forest. It is going to take lots of time, the sooner we get on it the better.

We need hay and hay is being cut and baled as I write this. The air in the neighborhood smells like perfume. We should get about 50 bales of this first cutting. That will make everybody happy and the barn smell great.

Tom continues to work with the little guys. He’s getting Lil Fred to jump the agility obstacles that we used for our dogs when we lived in the City. He is very athletic, jumps like a frog! Sprite, not so much. She plows through the jumps just like she plowed through the electric fence. She’ll get it, eventually. We need to build another ‘tire’ jump, big enough for them to clear.