4-17-03: Sheep Have Long Tails!

Thursday April 17, 2003

[as an entry, the printout of an email is taped into my journal]

19:04:02  Dad & Elsie:  Guess what I did today? Old [G] stopped by today before noon and said [L] (his son, that I helped load the hogs) was shearing some sheep and did I want to come watch. David was headed to town for a chainsaw blade and didn’t want to go, but I hopped on my bike (with walkie-talkie in my pocket) and pedaled up the road to [G’s] barn. There were 2 sheep left to do out of 12+, and I took a couple pictures.

Let the shearing begin.
The ewe is not in any pain; apparently when they tip them on their back for the procedure,
they kind of go into a trance and don't struggle much at all.

Hold still...

It's okay, now she has an excuse to get a new coat!

Did you know that sheep have long tails? You probably knew that, Daddy, but I did not. Apparently the evil humans clamp a tight band near the base of the tail after the lamb is born, and within the first six months the tail falls off. I saw a couple lambs with tails still, and couldn’t believe it. Between them and that turtle, it’s been a week of long tails…

[L] said we should be receiving our sausage soon (payoff for hog loading) but that this week is so busy. He went on and on about how busy he would be, and I assumed he meant spring farming stuff. Turns out he was just having trouble scheduling all the different places they were going to eat Easter dinner ([L’s] a big boy). Pretty funny, but I didn’t laugh at the time. Vince and Tessa are intrigued by the chunk of sheep’s wool I brought home. Such a strong smell, even after washing!

It was supposed to rain today but didn’t. David is no more impressed with the Ohio weather forecasters than he was the Washington folks. But, I proceeded with my plan to make this a baking day, since my muscles are all worn out and I walk around like a 90-year-old. So, with the intent of bringing goodies to the neighbors, I made chocolate chip cookies and cornbread muffins. David had requested a dessert earlier this week, so for him I made Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake and also some Gingersnap cookies. All in all, a long day in the kitchen (BBQ salmon for dinner) but I look forward to bringing the goods to the neighbors as thanks for their kindness, and prepayment on favors we may ask.

Well, time for bed. I got the photos organized tonight before I started this email, so I’ll have some attachments for you tomorrow. Thanks for the email info and cartoons!
Love, Tina & the gang


End of Entry

4/14-16/03: Beautiful Weather Keeps Us Outside

Monday April 14, 2003

11:22pm  Tired from another great day. David went to town this morning while I stayed home and did housework. Today’s big purchase was a KingKutter bush hog. So, this afternoon my farmer husband plowed in the west field and bush hog mowed in the north field. I’m proud and amazed at how he is taking on all these new skills. He said yesterday that he feels he was cut out for this stuff and is really enjoying everything. These warm temps (70’s) are probably unusual for April, but who cares.

Farmer David cleaning up the North Field

Looking good

Site for large garden plot in West Field

Ready, Set, Go

My favorite farmer!

I was pretty excited,
until I realized I would have to deal with all those clumps of heavy dirt...

Tessa is collapsed on our bed, exhausted yet again. Have to send her to her bed soon.  Final notes: Made a roast in the slow cooker yesterday after browning it the “Good Eats” advised. Really enjoying the hot tub. Supposed to hit 80* tomorrow. No word on Tig’s blood test.

Wednesday April 16, 2003

9:02am  Ah, nothing like 10 hours of sleep to rest a tired body.

Yesterday was another gorgeous, abnormal April day, with 80*+ temps and blue skies. Rain is being forecast for tonight and tomorrow so I’ve planned to do some baking during the wet spell. But dry as a bone yesterday, so I spent @ 4 hours in the north field clearing brush and cut wood from around the fallen trees and removing large branches from David’s mowing path.

He had the bush hog out again, but was having trouble with the tractor so he went to town for spark plugs, and later again for some other supplies, and put the tractor in the garage for a tune-up. He roared back out to the field around 5:00 and got quite a bit of mowing done before hunger forced him in @ 7:00. I made turkey meatloaf so I wasn’t worried about holding it for him. Half beef, half turkey, and uncooked oats instead of breadcrumbs—turned out good!

I was tired from my field work but I spent some time spading out sod in the back yard while waiting for David to finish mowing. Getting the grass out is laborious, but will really pay off when we’re able to finesse the landscaping ideas we have.

One highlight from yesterday: I was way out in the field, working hard in the heat and getting very thirsty. David was due back from one of his town trips, and I decided to ask him for a beer delivery when he came home. Then I had a GREAT idea! So, when David arrived and walkie-talkied to me that he was back, I told him my idea.

Soon enough, he was letting Vince out the west field gate, and Vince made his way through the multiflora all the way out to me. His backpack had beer in one pocket and snacks in the other! Very cute, very convenient, and the cold beer didn’t last long. He headed back across the field @15 min later, so I radioed to David who let him in the gate. Tessa was pretty cheesed about the whole thing, but oh well.

9:24am  David is mowing the front yard—rider mower must feel tiny compared to the tractor—and planning to fertilize before the rain tonight. I’ll probably dig more sod and play with plants.  TIME TO GET UP!

[photos from later in the day]

The doggies like to keep an eye on the front yard.

Prehistoric creature in the back yard stream

The End

End of Entry

4-12-03: Plants, Pond, Path, Poplars, Pumpkins, Perspective

Saturday April 12, 2003

8:37pm  Had another big yard day today

8:50pm Whoops, guess watching TV and writing a journal doesn’t mix…   I did the dog thing this morning, then went back with all the dogs to *their bed and and we napped together. It was another beautiful day outside, though, so things got rolling @ 9:00. David built *some tree cages last night and this morning he put them on the poplars to the east of the pond, then took down the old fence (basically extending the back yard into what used to be one of horse “chutes”). Vince & Tessa were a little surprised, but didn’t take long to investigate the new strip.

Vince and Tessa survey the new area.

Lots of new scents to check out

Vince decides to jump for it...

Up, Up & Away!

Me too!

Just chillin'

I planted the hostas that I removed from under the trees in the front yard. Didn’t think they were flourishing in such strong southern sun. Decided to stick them on the west side of the big shed wich is shaded by an evergreen. Used to be some junipers there, but there were dying from lack of sun so I transplanted them to down by the stream.

In the past few days, David & I finished the pond edging & plastic lining & block placing & gravel pouring & block removal & plastic trimming (mind you it was 80/20 David to me…) He let me play “county worker” and drive the mower slowly while he shoveled gravel from the back. He said I didn’t take enough breaks to be a good county worker.

Hope this works

Yes, it was as much work as it looks

This corner really shows off the plastic bling!

All right, let's keep our fingers crossed that all the work was worth it.

So fas so good!

Also today we plotted out the path from the garage to the shed. After spading a couple rows by hand I got the bright idea to use the power edger/trencher and cut a patchwork, then spade out squares.

Cutting & removing sod is a great workout!

Eventually, results start to add up.

On Friday, we had a vet apt for Tig, Pav & Vince. The vet is great—very good about explaining things and listening. Turns out we may be able to *save Pav’s eyesight with some special goo, and also he doesn’t need booster immun’s anymore (neither does Tig)—new thinking in the vet community. Tig gave a blood sample and they’ll check for causes of his underweight (6+ lbs) and recent vomiting. Vince was all A-ok.

Later on Friday David called Weavers to see about a replacement bush hog—he didn’t have one yet but agreed to swap for a plow. So, David rigged up a winch, got the ‘hog’ in the back of the pickup and took off. I worked in the yard till he came back, now with a plow in the truck.

New Toy

Yesterday we decided on a plot in the west field for David to plow. I’ll plant corn, pumpkins and watermelons—anything that needs room to spread out. Speaking of the west field, today I mowed most of the long grass out there, since I was out to water the poplars anyway. It was kind of fun, but bumpy, and the grass kept blowing in my face. I’m afraid I didn’t do a good job planting the poplars (too much of a depression from ground level) but I have faith in Mother Nature overcoming my human error. 

The weather is supposed to keep getting better & warmer through the next few days. David & I both got a little sunburned today, which which we found funny for April—we’re used to being waterlogged, not sunburned!  Ray & Sharon are in Hawaii, so we can’t call them to gloat.Tomorrow I need to finish transplanting shrubs out of the front bed & into the temporary bed. It’s a risk to dig things up after they’ve started to ‘wake up’ but oh well.

I just realized I haven’t mentioned war in Iraq in my journaling—hmmmm. Must be a symptom of my decision to avoid the subject… I enjoy getting Dad’s perspective on it and venting now & then, but in general I just choose not to make it part of my daily life.

Tired now

*their bed: Our dogs were not, and are not, ever asked to 'rough it'. By 'bed' I meant an actual bed, covered with washable dog blankets...

*some tree cages: masses of them actually, made from fencing that he cut to size, snipping hundreds of individual wires
*save Pav’s eyesight: His eyes had become quite "cloudy"

End of Entry

4-7-03: April Activities

Monday April 7, 2003

It’s been rainy last night & today which is a terrific way to convince us to do a whole lot of nothing. Yesterday was very cold (coat, hat, scarf temp) but I ended up doing some outside work. Just went outside at first to throw the ball for the dogs, then decided to put the marker flags from Tractor Supply by each tree we’ve planted (for future mowing safety). Then, ran Vince & Tessa around the west field—they’re being very good about minding the boundaries, even the spots that would be easy for them to get through. They’re both such good dogs, and Tessa continues to mature and show real intelligence.

Then, more ball throwing, then decided to drive the mower & dump cart into the barn and transfer the straw & manure from the middle stall to the corral. It took three full loads—I’m very excited to have the cart so I didn’t have to make 600 wheelbarrow trips… Most of that pile was from fall & winter when I just pitched it over the wall from Sam’s stall. Speaking of pitched, the *new tool we bought at Tractor Supply works great!

Tessa is laying beside the couch chewing the last bit of a rawhide bone, and I’m suddenly reminded of the time *Luc was doing the same and swallowed it, and started gagging. The slimy piece of rawhide was stuck to the roof of his mouth, down into his throat, and I had to stick my whole hand in his mouth and peel it out, which was difficult because it was so slippery. Luc was pretty happy I got it out.

David worked on the plumbing downstairs yesterday while I was outside, mostly correcting and updating existing pipes. He’s also done preparations for the bathroom to be be. And if that weren’t talented enough, today he helped me cut my hair—did a damn good job, too! I told him it’s a sign of our true love that I let him cut my hair. Leslie had very short hair when she visited last; I thought it looked terrific and will probably copy it this summer.

We bought postcards at Meijer the other day, and today I wrote out two to *Britta and Karin, and David wrote to 3 of his relatives. The general idea is to let them know we’ll be traveling around this summer and want to see them. It will be fun to hear back from any or all of them.

Today is Elsie’s birthday. They called us around 10a.m. to talk about having opened her present (the custom decorated apron) and Elsie sounded very happy. Started up at 7am with champagne and strawberries, and were looking forward to the cake she’d baked—strawberry & marzipan & misc other good stuff.  

Tig has continued to have barf issues, and because of his diet changes to find a fix he has also become more & more vocal. So, a few days ago I decided to sequester him in his room. This keeps carpet cleanup more localized, and mutes his meowing. It’s turned out to be a good idea so far, since his barfing has almost ceased and he’s quiet & napping most of the time. I’ve even started trying dry food on him again (that’s what we thought was the original cause of sickness). At the moment it’s a good situation for all, and we don’t holler at him to ‘be quiet’ anymore.

The ribs are in the slow cooker, and are smelling terrific! Put them in @ 2:00 while I was watching my soaps, and now it’s almost 5:00.

The temporary garden area is completely cleared of sod, and now contains 20+ strawberry plants, and some temporary inhabitants—shrubs, trees, misc plants waiting for a new home. Since we’re traveling this summer, we’re not going to plant a real garden, just get the soil prepped with compost and tilling. Bought a tiller at Sears, and between that and a plow attachment for the tractor we’re major league ground breakers!

Temporary Garden in back yard

Clearing plot for future garden, between large shed & barn

I finally make it into a photo thanks to a tractor tire and a timer!

That should be about right.

End of Entry

*new tool: What a goober--I think I was excited about our new pitchfork...

*Luc: the Doberman Pinscher we had in Des Moines and Auburn, WA

*Britta and Karin: my dad's sisters in New Jersey & New York

Journal: April Gets Rolling

Thursday April 3, 2003

Guess I fell asleep before I finished Tuesday’s ramblings—oh well. The point is, it was a terrific visit and we can’t wait for Leslie’s family to attend “Camp Tina” again as the kids have started to call it. I think it would be more fair to call it Camp Joslyn, but what can you do with kids…

Friday April 4, 2003

I have GOT to stop being distracted away from my journal so easily! Really do have things to put on paper for future memory jogging. It’s pretty obvious to me that even at age 38 my memory capabilities are terrible—imagine how little I’ll be able to recall of all these wonderful events when old & gray.

At the moment it’s 7:33am and I’m in the recliner in the sunroom with the dogs. They’ve done their breakfast and potty thing, and would like to go back to bed, but I may just keep them up with me out of spite. It’s gray and a little rainy outside, a big change from the last few days. Average temps are supposed to be in the 50’s & 60’s, but Wed-Thurs it was in the 70’s!

In fact, it was enough to convince us to take our first motorcycle ride in Ohio, and we took off yesterday @ 1:30pm for a tour. Went through Marion, then looped home through Bucyrus & Galion.

Ready to Ride!

As noted before, the bird sounds volume is way up. They’re frantically making nests in the trees, shed and barn. The starlings seem intent on cramming into a nook in the metal doorway to the shed. Wackos. The robins have started using their battle cry—piercing and aggressive; I assume territory has been staked out. The tiny birds are doing their best to make a dent in the green birdfeeder. It holds a lot of seed, so it’ll take awhile.

7:55am  Pav is standing & staring at me, his version of demanding something. I’m pretty sure I’ll cave in and let him back inside to his warm bed. (It’s almost 60* out here—nobody’s suffering…) Vince is huddled under a blanket, and Tessa goes in & out through the propped open door. When she is inside the sunroom, she spends her time looking outside. (Pav just heaved a giant sigh and flopped down) Across the field, Sam the horse seems agitated. Probably springtime jitters. He really wants to mingle with the neighboring horse herd, but that darn fence prohibits. They all seem restless this morning. They maybe got spoiled by the recent sunshine like I did, and are trying to adjust to ‘normal’ spring weather.

Before and after the motorcycle ride yesterday, David & I continued our yard work. I was weeding and transplanting things out of the front beds, and David was edging the pond, preparing for plastic lining and plants.  (8:10am Pav stood up & is pressing his nose against the glass—I’m going to give in. Maybe I’ll have a little breakfast, too)

Prepping pond for plastic lining

Flower bed next to corral fence.

The international symbol for Spring!

Not bad, but a lot of improvements to be made.

Always a pleasant little corner

9:00am  Noticed the hot tub was still up to temp, so after I let the dogs into their bedroom I took a dip! Pretty relaxing, an a.m. hot tubbing while watching the birds at the feeder. After that, had to go downstairs to the freezer to get my breakfast burritos, and remembered that once again I’d forgotten to thaw the chicken for today’s slow cook plans. I wonder if I can just stick that frozen lump in the crockpot and cross my fingers? Nope, I decided to microwave defrost, and it’s humming away now in the background. I took a chance that leaving the wrapper on the bird is a good idea—I wonder if it will explode…

Anyhoo, David’s up now, and the dogs are moving around, slurping water all over the kitchen floor, surprise surprise. Now Pav is staring at me so I can let him out. His Royal Highness is getting an early start today… Our plans are to go “to town” today and pick up supplies. I’d better get busy on a sundries list—a different kind of writing. More later—still have to catch up on past events.


End of Entry

Milestone! (But who's counting...)

Happy Holidays Give Way to Sad News

For Christmas, the zebra finch family received a new bag of choice seeds, and a special cage-mounted, transparent feed station. The station gives them a clear view of their surroundings, and I can see them much better. More importantly, however, the feed station is designed to reduce (ads claim 'eliminate' but no) seed hull scatter from their messy crunch-extract-flick eating habits.

All four birds at the buffet (two kept moving during the photo shoot)

Andre II, Corky & Brut bellied up to the seed bar

And then there were three...

Just two days after these pictures were taken, I found one of the male finches deceased. He had found a resting place on top of the basket of growing grass I keep in the cage, and looked to have gone peacefully. There was slight damage on one of his wings, but we decided it was probably from the other birds "checking into" why he wasn't moving, not from a fight, because against all odds (3 males, one female...) there have been no observed incidents.
I'm still not sure who to mourn, though. They look so much alike in maturity; I can only tell them apart by their songs, and there hasn't been much for them to sing about the last few days. I'm fairly certain Corky is still with us, because I think I heard his awful "toby, toby, toby" call yesterday. Brut has always been timid and quiet, so I will wait to hear either his gentle peeps or Deuce's nifty, complex composition.

Journal: March into April

Tuesday April 1, 2003

Headed out this morning to Mt Gilead to the SWCD (Morrow County Soil & Water Conservation District) to order up some cheap trees they’re offering. Signed up for various evergreens and decorative trees—they’ll be available in @ 2 weeks.
It’s been a week since I last wrote, and I just bought this notebook today, so I’ll have to do my best to remember all the stuff we’ve done.

Speaking of trees, the poplars we mail-ordered (root stock) arrived via USPS last week. 21 “shade” poplars, 11 “screen” poplars, 6 red maples, and 25 strawberry plants. The first spot to plant was the east side of the pond in the chute that will eventually be part of the back yard. 

March 26, 2003

Former owner had two "chutes" going out to
the two fields from the barn, for stallion/mare purposes.

The chute was very rutted from erosion,
so we filled it in with bricks from the basement demo.

After I measured and marked 11 spots, David brought in the big tractor and used the post hole digger to make the holes. It was a great way to break up the clay dirt and get past the hard packed surface, plus he looked so cute on his tractor!

He's smiling because he's not digging by hand...

Nicely done

3/26/03  Trees planted and mulched.

I planted the 11 “screen” poplars and mulched. The next day we planted @ 15 ‘shade’ poplars and 4 red maples in the west field. 1 red maple went in north of the pond, just over the berm. After receiving the poplar order, we used a rainy day to fill out the order form for the same nursery and made decisions on shrubs, grasses, trees and some bulbs. Can’t wait til we get some greenery around the pond.

David’s water pumping ploy did a great job to get the pond’s water level high, but when he shut it off for a few days, the level dropped quite a bit. Neighbor [D]  told David there are no intentional drains or holes in the pond; David decided to reverse the pump and pump water OUT of the pond until it’s low enough that we can line the sides with plastic.

Oh, the SWCD also has a fish stocking program for pond owners, so we’ll decide how many of what to get and sign up for that (bluegill, bass, etc). Once we get this water level thing figured out it will be fun to have fish swimming around. We’re looking forward to Alex & Matt fish from the pier—catch and release, of course.

Other outside activities have included David fencing, me starting to clear the garden area, David cleaning up the Gold Wing, me removing old horse manure from the “new” section of back yard by the stream—I can’t keep track of it all. Oh, right, David built a gate in the fence into the west field, and a bridge to get across the creek.

Fantastic improvement!

It’s so fun to have easy access to that field without going down the road or climbing through the fence & wading across.Today I started raking some plant gunk from the waterway because it’s getting really choked off. Pretty physically demanding, but I enjoy the challenge.

Right, I said I would recap Dad & Elsie’s visit. They arrived late March 9 (David’s birthday—he and I had porterhouse steaks at the Brown Derby, and he got an oil massage from me the night before, and a subscription to “This Old House” magazine) after having stopped by to see Lars & have dinner with him. They stayed until Tuesday of the following week, and worked nonstop in between.

Dad was working with David downstairs on the drywall and Elsie was a sewing maniac. She made a valance for the GBR window, shortened the side panels, made a table runner and 4 pillows. Everything looks so nice. She also made 2 tractor seat covers for David—a project she probably wishes she hadn’t volunteered for once the problems started…

The basement stove chimney looks great after David re-bricked it
and put up drywall.

David drywalling, mudding & taping in the basement GBR

3/10/03  Dad helps with some mudding & taping

3/12/03  Dad makes a helpful mess!

Pavoratti, it isn't polite to eavesdrop!

It was fun making dinners in, and trying out some new recipes. We only ate out once, at the Malabar Inn on Saturday. Lars came up to see us all, and went out to eat with us. It was a relaxed, low key visit with him, and he & Dad spent time looking at Dad’s computer (maps or something).

On Sunday, Leslie’s family was scheduled to come over, and they arrived @ 3pm. Leslie brought cheese stuffed shells, Elsie made meat lasagna, and I made veggie lasagna in the slow cooker. I had forgotten to buy bread, so Leslie saved me by bringing 2 fresh loaves from a bakery near her house. Before dinner, the kids had fun running around outside, playing near the pond, playing in the barn, and of course, playing in the hot tub (David had reduced the temp to 96*). Everyone got along great, and Leslie says Dad has hardly changed since seeing him at her wedding 10 years ago. 

3/16/03 Emily doesn't seem to share Matt's enthusisam for the view...

No, definitely not.

Nice to hot tub after a hard day's play.

Dad & Elsie really liked the *guest bedroom, and it was nice to see it being used. They also seemed to get a kick out of the morning “room service” on the custom painted tray (to match the room!).

[2013 Addendum to Journal: After all the guests left, but before the activity on March 25 [March Madness), we managed to squeeze in few more projects.]

There was a power pole in the backyard outside the sunroom, with a ghastly streetlight at the top.

We cut it down!

David ran electricity to the large shed by digging a trench, installing, and burying cables.

The area outside the sunroom was a mess of weeds and uneven ground,
so we began the process of clearing, leveling, and preparing for gravel.

Removed grass in a spot near the back door
to create a temporary garden area

3/20/03  Finally finished my counted cross-stitch pattern

*guest bedroom: Not sure why I didn't have pictures of the upstairs bedroom, but maybe it wasn't completed yet

End of Entry