TRENCHING PROGRESS

Yesterday I went with John to our local Man Store to get the rest of the piping and fittings for the drainage in the front yard. He had called a local guy to come out and dig out the ditches again, and bigger, yesterday morning. During that time, the guy had cut the electrical wires to the well pump with his digger. John fixed that this morning, then got to work fitting all the pipes together for the drainage. Now he needs to lift it all up, place 2 inches of gravel in the bottom of the ditch, then lay the pipes again, this time for real, and put another 8 inches of gravel on top of that. Then push all the dirt back. The next procedure is laying the blocks to define the front gardens and separate them from the circle driveway.

I am so proud of John....he has done a wonderful job of this drainage project.

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Canning Tomatoes

John is growing tomatoes this summer....many, many tomatoes. He has 11 plants of Romas and each weekend he brings in around 20 pounds of tomatoes. We spent one weekend, blanching tomatoes to get the skin off, and then freezing them. Got 4 one gallon freezer bags full. Last weekend we decided to can the tomatoes. 20 pounds of tomatoes will give you 7 quarts of canned tomatoes. I am not sure if we will freeze or can this next weekend....will keep you updated.

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Plea!

I know there are a few folks who read my blog who quilt. I have a special request. I've got an idea for a small quilt and I want to use Hawaiian print fabrics. My stash of Hawaiian prints is incredibly small (as in a handful!). If any of you have any scraps that are no smaller than 3" by 7", and you don't have plans for them, I'd be happy to take them off your hands. Send me a note and I can give you my snail address.

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New Quilt, New Foal, and a New Computer!

00Our neighbors to the south of us have several horses in the pasture. I certainly don't pay a lot of attention to them on a regular basis, as evidenced by the fact that a new baby was born last week and I never even noticed that the mare was pregnant! I came home from work on Wednesday and this is what I saw - it wasn't there when I left for work at 11:00 that morning! Not sure if it's a boy or girl - doesn't matter really. Our grandson, William, is nuts about horses so I sent him an email with pictures of the baby. He's even more excited about coming to visit Nana and Papa now that we have horses in the fields next door!

And about 18 months ago Jill asked me to make a quilt for the downstairs family room. Of course, I can't say no to my daughter-in-law! It took me till now to get in gear and make the quilt. I'm quite proud of the way it came out, my quilter did a fantastic job on the quilting. Jill got it just after her birthday! We're all happy now!

John's been toying with the idea of getting me a laptop computer for a while now. In fact, he admitted that he was going to get me one for our anniversary last month. We talked last week and finally decided to bite the bullet and get one. It should arrive today if the tracking is correct. I can't wait to get my programs loaded and the LAN set up so I can access all my documents from the studio instead of stopping what I'm doing and going to the other side of the house where the office is located. Thanks, John....you're still proving that you are my HERO!

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Trenching 2010

We've lived here for 7 years now. And all that time, there has been no landscaping done at all. Other things have taken a front seat, I understand that. I am NOT a person to go outside and garden...outside creeps me out...I can't explain it. And my family knows that I don't do outside. So things like landscaping and outdoor decorations have needed to wait till more important things, like fencing and haying and cows, chickens, turkeys, and pigs were all situated and well-established. This past weekend was the time! My front 'yard' is finally in the beginning stages.

First up - trenching for drainage. This first picture shows how John marked for where the drainage lines are going. This is the ONLY one that didn't get done in the time he had left on the rental trencher....not bad!


Next we have the front trench going out toward the south pasture. That's the main trench that all the other ones will drain toward. And the next picture shows John and John, our neighbor, who spent all day in the blistering heat and humidty digging the trenches.



Here's a closeup of one of the trenches.

Now for some statistics for all you out there who like that kind of stuff:

143 linear feet dug, 2 feet deep and 6 inches wide. The last trench that didn't get dug is 23 feet long and John plans on digging that by hand - but not today. He's doing some cleanup of the trenches today, and maybe watch a John Wayne movie as a reward for all his hard work!

Next time, The Great Chicken Massacre!

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