Saturday, March 20, 2010

The list continues...

Note: I didn't have time to proofread this or make it witty, concise or charming.

I've made some progress, but I keep thinking of new things I need to do. I Moved Treely and the pony to one of the smaller paddocks. They don't know it, but I'm using them to stop the grass from growing so I can have a dry lot this summer for their fat asses. That gave me the chance to start picking the big paddock. I don't think I'll actually get it all picked, but I'm trying to get as much as I can for the compost pile before the grass starts to grow, then I'll just mow over the rest.

I had the compost pile on a hillside by the pond, but no matter which way I came at it, the tractor tires slipped and I couldn't get enough traction to get a scoop. So I finally got fed up and decided to push it down the hill. Ha ha. I started at the top of the hill, put the loader down and pushed it down the hill as planned, but then my back tires were still on the slope and I had a huge mound of compost in front of me. The tires spun when in reverse, so I decided my only choice was to attempt to drive over the pile. Ha ha. This led to 45 minutes of digging the tractor out of the compost pile. I was a little discouraged, as this was my first day of working towards my checklist goals and I ended up wasting it for a stupid reason. I was absolutely not going to call my farmer neighbor, who while always willing to help, has such a condescending attitude toward this young city girl that it was totally worth the hour of back breaking work of shoveling soggy, rotting shit to avoid a minute of his smug expression.

I am happy to say that I am back on track now, even as the list still grows. I ordered my fly predators and should receive my first shipment at the end of the month. My wildflower seeds came in the mail. My veggie garden has a fresh layer of dark compost on it it and I've cleared all the leaves and weeds out of my flower beds. To add to the list:


1. My hydrangeas are coming back! I'm relieved that they made it through the winter. These are the everblooming variety and I had gotten some confusing advice on how to overwinter them...so I just did nothing. I didn't cut them back or pile leaves around them or cradle them with pillowy clouds of satin...ok, no one actually recommended that, but they might as well have for all the weird suggestions I got. The cats even used the soil around them as a litter box and didn't kill them, so I'm giving the everbloomers two thumbs up for hardiness. But, by the end of last summer the blooms were pink and I want purple or blue, so I'm going to have to buy some of that stuff that I can't remember the name of for the soil to make them turn blue and I keep forgetting to look for it because I can never remember what it is I'm supposed to get. I'm too lazy to fix that run-on sentence.

2. I really really really want to fence in the pond so I can get the geese down there. The one goose is able to sort of hop/fly over their little fenced in area and she is reeking havoc on everything and everyone. Poor maddie had to fight her off the other day, she kept attacking her. A few weeks ago, she was in love with maddie and now she wants to kill her. haha. Those geese wouldn't last one night on the pond without protection, though. All it would take is one dog, coyote or fox and they'd be a pile of feathers in the breeze. I've been looking at the electric poultry fence. It's easy to put up, is solar powered and will keep out predators. It's really expensive, though, but maybe if they have babies I can pay for it with money from the goslings.

3. The riding lawnmower needs a new battery (also needs new tires, but I already bought new tires last year and they lasted about a week out here before getting a leak, so I just add air when needed.)

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure there's more. This weekend is my grandma's 80th birthday, so the whole family is getting together Saturday and Sunday, so no work this weekend. Things are really picking up at my day job, too. I'll be glad when the days get longer. Winter is all about killing time, but in the summer, there's never enough.

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