Thistleblooms Rambles

[drstratton]

I Have some exciting news! Exciting to me at least. We are having two metal buildings put up in 4 to 6 weeks. One will be a 20x25 hay barn and the other a 20x30 garage with a 12' leanto. I won't know what to do with myself next winter not having to remove snow daily from the CP and tarped hay "tube" or the CP and tarp wood shed.
Dh has been working on the pads. We had 24 (?) yards of 3/4 minus rock delivered yesterday and he spent a few hours *distributing it.

One of our excellent neighbors was driving by Saturday and saw dh out working on the pad, seeing how much out of level it was with his old survey transit. He pulled in and offered his laser level, and also said he would bring his *tractor over for dh to use moving the rock. They are incredibly generous and it has saved dh hours and hours of work with a wheelbarrow and shovel.
Wow is all we can say, and thank you Lord for such caring neighbors.


Kid#2 will be here in a minute to work with me so I need to go, but I'll be back! I haven't even told y'all about Syringas 16th ride, and I know you can hardly contain yourselves waiting for the blow by blow description of that!

@thistlebloom I have absolutely loved reading through your journal! What an awesome job you've done with Syringa! Your place is lovely! Congratulations on the new buildings that will be so much nicer for you!
My husband surprised me at lunch and was wondering why I hadn't mowed the lawn yet, because I told him I was getting ready to do that several hours ago...I told him I had gotten busy with something else, but didn't elaborate... I'm looking forward to hearing more about your journey!

 

[thistlebloom]

Rainy day again today. I managed to fiddle around long enough to make driving into town to work in the rain an unwholesome idea, so I'm still home, but making myself useful with laundry and small house chores.

With the new buildings coming we have rearranged things that were previously stored in the CP wood shed with the firewood, and sitting on the pad area where the garage will be going. We also had several trees pulled where the two buildings will be going and so there are an additional two huge piles of trees that will need delimbed and cut and split along with the big deck of birch logs.

There are now tarped hulks of split leftover firewood, quad, log splitter, snowblower, etc sitting about. Kid#1's Blazer that he didn't get sold last fall, an extra tractor, my Janie tractor, and the tarped hay tube. I will celebrate long and hearty when all the tarps can be removed and folded up and everything will be under a permanent roof! Oh, and Kid#1 sells his car and it's gone.


@drstratton , you and I could be twins! I have been known to get distracted and smoke a few cast iron pans. And as I was reading this a.m., sitting right here at the counter, making toast with the toaster that has to be manually popped, I neglected to pop it in time and burnt the toast.

I had a good time working with Kid#2 yesterday. He makes me laugh. I miss the days when my boys worked with me more regularly. There's something about being trapped in a vehicle with your mom that makes them open up a bit more in conversation. And he is such a huge help on a job, always going above and beyond my instructions.
We came home and had the chili that was simmering in the crockpot for dinner. During the meal dh speaking to kid#2 mentioned that I had probably told him about the rides I'd been getting on Syringa.
Yep, he said a little wearily.
I said I had told him about all sorts of things he wasn't interested in.
And, I said, every time a car passed he would look out the window and mouth "help me! I'm being kidnapped!"
"No I didn't". he said. "I wasn't that quiet." Then he gestured wildly and cried out "HELP ME SOMEBODY!!"
Ohhhh.... good times around the table.

 

[Bruce]

Good times Thistle!!!!

 

[drstratton]

Rainy day again today. I managed to fiddle around long enough to make driving into town to work in the rain an unwholesome idea, so I'm still home, but making myself useful with laundry and small house chores.

With the new buildings coming we have rearranged things that were previously stored in the CP wood shed with the firewood, and sitting on the pad area where the garage will be going. We also had several trees pulled where the two buildings will be going and so there are an additional two huge piles of trees that will need delimbed and cut and split along with the big deck of birch logs.

There are now tarped hulks of split leftover firewood, quad, log splitter, snowblower, etc sitting about. Kid#1's Blazer that he didn't get sold last fall, an extra tractor, my Janie tractor, and the tarped hay tube. I will celebrate long and hearty when all the tarps can be removed and folded up and everything will be under a permanent roof! Oh, and Kid#1 sells his car and it's gone.


@drstratton , you and I could be twins! I have been known to get distracted and smoke a few cast iron pans. And as I was reading this a.m., sitting right here at the counter, making toast with the toaster that has to be manually popped, I neglected to pop it in time and burnt the toast.

I had a good time working with Kid#2 yesterday. He makes me laugh. I miss the days when my boys worked with me more regularly. There's something about being trapped in a vehicle with your mom that makes them open up a bit more in conversation. And he is such a huge help on a job, always going above and beyond my instructions.
We came home and had the chili that was simmering in the crockpot for dinner. During the meal dh speaking to kid#2 mentioned that I had probably told him about the rides I'd been getting on Syringa.
Yep, he said a little wearily.
I said I had told him about all sorts of things he wasn't interested in.
And, I said, every time a car passed he would look out the window and mouth "help me! I'm being kidnapped!"
"No I didn't". he said. "I wasn't that quiet." Then he gestured wildly and cried out "HELP ME SOMEBODY!!"
Ohhhh.... good times around the table.

Time with our children is so precious! I truly miss having all of mine home...but it's such a good feeling to see them happy in the lives they are living now! What a fun day for you!
Burnt toast...yep, I've been known to do that too...I'm convinced, we must be twins...

 

[thistlebloom]

Yesterday was gloppy gloom again. Dh and I got out early to do property stuff. He worked on the garage pad. I held the story pole for him when needed so he could check the level of the pad, and I had shovel duty piling rock against the outside of the forms so they didn't bow out from the interior rock.

I love that guy and would never tell him this, (but I will tell the internet world )... I think he is being waaaayyy too OCD about the pad. I appreciate the fact that he is a tile and stone man and driven by square plumb and level necessities on the job, but he is making this pad level enough and smooth enough to be a billiards table.
He is actually screeding it. Oh. My. Lanta.

While he worked on killing himself obsessively, I got to work in the weed patch affectionately known as The Garden. After killing my tomato and pepper starts I bought 7 big healthy tomato plants and put them in Wall O' Waters to protect against our fluctuating temps. My poor little frozen starts had started tiny little growth in the leaf axils a few weeks ago, or whenever, can't keep track of time - I'm a busy woman , so I snipped off the dead stuff and they actually pushed out new leaves. So yesterday I put the best 15 out in the garden to see what they'll do. The sugar snap peas have been up but not growing very fast, they haven't latched on to the CP yet.


I took the scuffle hoe and sliced the heads off all the weeds. That was just a cosmetic gesture for sanity. They'll be back, but no way was I going to crawl around hand pulling them all.

The recent rains have turned the horse corrals back into slop. Syringa hasn't been worked for nearly a week due to my work load and the unfriendly weather. Poor old Luke is on the semi retired list and hasn't had much time out either. So I felt soory for him yesterday, put his "grazing" halter on and turned him loose. He is ordinarily content to hang out and browse near his buddy mule or graze on the lawn. While working in the garden I looked up and he was across the road in the little field. I walked toward him pretending I was going to catch him and he kicked up his heels and headed back home (that's my reverse psychology in action). A bit later two neighbor boys came along on their quad, paused to wave and say hi, then asked if I knew my horse was loose. Yes, I said, then looked around. There Luke was, down the road a little further grazing on the side of the neighbors driveway who has the exact same weeds that we do. That darn horse! I hollered at him to come home and he made me look like a training genius by actually trotting home. Haha.
I went back to weeding. The next time I looked around for him he was just exiting Dh's carefully leveled and screeded garage pad.
Why why why. He never goes over to that portion of the property.
Fortunately he was only walking so didn't dig huge craters out.
I put him away and confessed to dh. Lets just say that Luke is not on the favored horse list today.

But today the sun shines! Yay! Taking the sweet potato over to the park and letting her stretch her legs.

 

[Mike CHS]

I had to show this post to Teresa. She just smiled and didn't say anything other than "I can relate"

 

[thistlebloom]

I had to show this post to Teresa. She just smiled and didn't say anything other than "I can relate"

So Mike, does this mean you might be a tad bit OCD about some things?
Cuz I'm pretty sure you don't have a contrary minded horse .

 

[drstratton]

Yesterday was gloppy gloom again. Dh and I got out early to do property stuff. He worked on the garage pad. I held the story pole for him when needed so he could check the level of the pad, and I had shovel duty piling rock against the outside of the forms so they didn't bow out from the interior rock.

I love that guy and would never tell him this, (but I will tell the internet world )... I think he is being waaaayyy too OCD about the pad. I appreciate the fact that he is a tile and stone man and driven by square plumb and level necessities on the job, but he is making this pad level enough and smooth enough to be a billiards table.
He is actually screeding it. Oh. My. Lanta.

While he worked on killing himself obsessively, I got to work in the weed patch affectionately known as The Garden. After killing my tomato and pepper starts I bought 7 big healthy tomato plants and put them in Wall O' Waters to protect against our fluctuating temps. My poor little frozen starts had started tiny little growth in the leaf axils a few weeks ago, or whenever, can't keep track of time - I'm a busy woman , so I snipped off the dead stuff and they actually pushed out new leaves. So yesterday I put the best 15 out in the garden to see what they'll do. The sugar snap peas have been up but not growing very fast, they haven't latched on to the CP yet.


I took the scuffle hoe and sliced the heads off all the weeds. That was just a cosmetic gesture for sanity. They'll be back, but no way was I going to crawl around hand pulling them all.

The recent rains have turned the horse corrals back into slop. Syringa hasn't been worked for nearly a week due to my work load and the unfriendly weather. Poor old Luke is on the semi retired list and hasn't had much time out either. So I felt soory for him yesterday, put his "grazing" halter on and turned him loose. He is ordinarily content to hang out and browse near his buddy mule or graze on the lawn. While working in the garden I looked up and he was across the road in the little field. I walked toward him pretending I was going to catch him and he kicked up his heels and headed back home (that's my reverse psychology in action). A bit later two neighbor boys came along on their quad, paused to wave and say hi, then asked if I knew my horse was loose. Yes, I said, then looked around. There Luke was, down the road a little further grazing on the side of the neighbors driveway who has the exact same weeds that we do. That darn horse! I hollered at him to come home and he made me look like a training genius by actually trotting home. Haha.
I went back to weeding. The next time I looked around for him he was just exiting Dh's carefully leveled and screeded garage pad.
Why why why. He never goes over to that portion of the property.
Fortunately he was only walking so didn't dig huge craters out.
I put him away and confessed to dh. Lets just say that Luke is not on the favored horse list today.

But today the sun shines! Yay! Taking the sweet potato over to the park and letting her stretch her legs.

Just tell your husband that a new pour always needs a handprint or hoofprint in it!!! Our cat walked across the last section of sidewalk that we put it, but I truly can't imagine a horse!

 

[Mike CHS]

So Mike, does this mean you might be a tad bit OCD about some things?
Cuz I'm pretty sure you don't have a contrary minded horse .

I have to admit that I am a bit OCD. After I retired from the Navy, I worked for engineers for the next 30 years so I guess some of that mind set rubbed off. At times, I could probably make a contrary horse look well great

 

[Baymule]

What? No pictures of the "Walk of Fame?"