Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Catching up all the time

It seems like I am always behind. Always 10 more things to do that needed to be done last month. This happens to be one of the things I did not count on when we moved out to the farm. I should have realized it, but I didn't really understand it. Annmarie and I walked up the bottom pasture to go pick blackberries. The field has dried up so you are no longer fighting the marshy ground. We had a hard time picking berries as there are several wild critters that like blackberries also. (I think it is the deer.) So all the berries on the outside of the bushes were gone and we had to wade into the bushes to pick. It was very brutal and poky. Annmarie almost got trapped in the bushes several times. I had brought one leather glove to move the vines out of the way. We talked about bringing some shears with us to just trim the vines back to make them easier to pick. We may do that next year, but if we do that then it will be a pick one time kind of thing because whatever is eating the berries will have easier access also. The blackberries are doing great of course. I burned them down to nothing over the winter and now they are growing gangbusters. By next year, you won't even be able to tell I had them cleaned out.


I tried to lock the sheep in our yard to use as live lawn mowers. No such luck. Someone decided to pound their head into my gate until they took the top hinge off the post and this then allowed all of them to squeeze through the new opening. So I am going to have to put in a middle hinge so this cannot happen again. Just one more thing to add to the list. The sheep get out every day now and cruise the hillside. I still have not fixed the two creek crossings they are crawling under.

Instead, I am cleaning up the downstairs room we are calling the Library. We have company coming next week and they need a place to stay. I still need to move the piano, rip up the old carpet and wash the walls, then set up a bed. All before next week. Instead, I am blogging!! I needed a break any way.

We were driving home Saturday night from visiting friends and I was starting to dread the rest of my weekend. I want the chickens to come and go! I really don't like going out every night and locking them up and then every morning letting them out. They should be able to just come and go as they please. So as I am driving down the road, I am contemplating ways to get rid of the skunk in the trap without getting sprayed or contaminating my pickup. I don't come up with anything. But, I did manage to run over a dead skunk and make my new car smell just like the pickup. So now instead of just one vehicle stinking like skunk, we have two. I haven't caught anything in the live trap all weekend, but my dog food keeps disappearing at night!!

I do have a few hens laying over in the wood shed again. I collected three eggs last night out in the wood shed. One hen is still trying to sit on eggs. Her first lone egg did not hatch, so she stole two more and is now sitting on them.  I'm going to let her try to hatch these, then she has to take a break.

I did manage to get the room free of carpet and staples.   Ann Marie & I will move the piano Wednesday morning, and we'll be almost ready for company.  I want to try and get some of the wall paper border off, and then I'll wash the walls, and we'll call it good for now.  I'll do more before our November company comes.  Ann Marie thinks they need to have lights and power.  I guess I can't argue too much, since it gets dark by 7:00 then, and they may not want to get ready for bed at 6:30.

Sarah & I went to the other blackberry patch lat night and picked. Well, I picked. Sarah's side didn't have many berries because someone else had eaten them. Most likely a 4-legged someone else. She wasn't up for wading in the creek for blackberries, so I sent her on home. I can't really blame her, since she can pick at Grandma's house while standing on dry land. We got enough for a very yummy blackberry clobbler. There's nothing like fresh from the oven cobbler made with fresh-picked berries. It was a great end to the day.

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