Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[jvls1942]

Getting closer... I got the old lawn mower to start and run for about five minutes. It ran very ragged and smoked a lot.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Well at least it didn't blow up or burst into flames Jim. That's something.

Didn't do anything garden wise today. I escorted my screaming goslings around the goat pasture. They sure start hollering whenever the older geese get close. They are slowly getting better, and the older ones are hopefully getting used to them. I still keep them separately. They are too small yet.

 

[jvls1942]

Yup, no explosions or flying parts
I suspect a stuck exhaust valve.
will remove the valve cover and see if
I can get some oil on it.

 

[Callender Girl]

Lisa, your description of escorting screaming goslings around a goat pasture made me smile. Hopefully, the babies will integrate sooner, rather than later.

Best wishes with the mower, Jim.

I spent as much time outdoors yesterday as I could, cutting down weeds and saplings in front of the barn, removing undergrowth around the too-large lilac bushes, laying down new landscape fabric/mulch on my original flower bed and quitting after the humidity made my glasses fog over one time too many.

It seems like I have been manic this summer, but many things didn't get done in the last few years. If I can just get on top of everything once, it should (hopefully) be much easier to maintain a reasonable, less exhausting level of care.

Plus. I just found out that someone I went to school with from kindergarten through high school graduation will be stopping by on her way back to eastern Iowa next Saturday. I would like for things to look good for her visit.

We had a visitor yesterday, which I was happy to keep Dinah (crazy terrier) from spotting and wanting to engage. A more-than-3-foot long bull snake made its way across my newly mulched flower bed and, after pausing for a couple of seconds to stare at me, disappeared into the underbrush surrounding a big mulberry tree. I'm not sure it appreciated the new, light-colored mulch -- which made it easy to spot. It was my first bull snake of the year. Not the biggest one I've seen here, but a pretty good-sized specimen.

I have some cherry tomatoes that look to be a couple of days away from ripe, another green bean plant has popped up, and I think I will pick my first kohl rabi in the coming week. My yellow squashes are coming along very, very slowly. mostly just producing foliage.

 

[WIchickMama]

Morning, I have been on vacation all week! It has been good but strangely boring, lol.

We went fishing on Tuesday, amazing foggy and cool morning. The fish were biting so it was a great time.

Wednesday it was rainy so I took the youngest to the library for a couple hours and just had some quiet time.

Thursday took the youngest to the lake to swim while the oldest was at work.

Friday, first college visit with my oldest! Bittersweet feelings for sure.

Today, we have a grad party for my cousin's son and tomorrow we are dropping my oldest of at camp for a week.

Did some weeding, watering and picking. I have gotten about 6 green beans, there are a ton of them coming in. Also got about 5 banana peppers, little bits of strawberries and tons of green tomatoes that arent turning! Ugh

 

[jvls1942]

compared to you three, I feel like a slouch. just take it easy in this heat.
Annie fits in with your crowd. She has become the weed nazi. tons of thistles and burdock has fallen to her wrath this week. lolol
She has had her eye on a clump of chives growing on the shoulder of the road. It has been there for years. I don't know how it survives. She wants to move it onto the yard someplace but can't decide where to put it. So it stays where it is .

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'd leave those chives in the ditch Jim. Mine seed all over the place because I never over get out in time to remove all the blossoms. They are like a weed to me.

@WIchickMama sounds like a wonderful week. Boring is good in my opinion.

@Callender Girl glad it was you that saw that snake. I was walking with my husband and he said "look a black snake" and pointed at a shrub. I of course started swearing my head off, and nearly ran off before I realized it was a kitty's tail sticking out of the shrub. He apologized. He didn't expect my reaction.

This year is flying by, and does seem to be a strange one.

 

[Callender Girl]

I sometimes have similar experiences, @oldhenlikesdogs. But it's not because of someone else's kidding or practical jokes. It's because my vision isn't what it used to be and I mistakenly misidentify critters -- or objects -- as something completely different.

I agree with you, Lisa; boring vacations are perfectly fine with me. And, it sounds like you are jumping right back into the daily grind, Anjanet.

Last year, my sister and I went to the North Shore of Lake Superior -- a place my Jim and I visited at least once a year for almost 20 years. Among my favorite memories are the late afternoons/early evenings that she and I spent sitting in the Adirondack chairs, facing the beautiful Lake and reading our books.

Well, Jim, did that mower ever getting up and running? And, how are you feeling about the upcoming reunion? I've skipped the last couple, but I used to have lots of fun seeing who showed up and how well they had weathered the years.

I had a list of just over a dozen chores I wanted to get done before my sister's visit tomorrow; only two items left. Among yesterday's accomplishments were finishing up cleaning out the daylily bed and moving five pieces of heavy deck railing that have been propped against a little hay shed forever.

The biggest and best of all: constructing a cedar board ramp for my ducks to enter/exit the clawfoot bath tub that will be their new swimming pool. I still have to make a platform outside the tub and a little shelf inside so they can step up and down, but I'm making everything out of materials that I already have -- in the garage, the garage addition or the barn. Jim was quite the "collector" of possibly useful stuff, and he may have passed that tendency on to me.

Still trying to decide exactly where to plant the highbush blueberry. I need to pick some chili peppers today and hoping to pick my first cherry tomatoes tomorrow.

 

[jvls1942]

Barb, make sure it is easy for the ducks to get out of the water. I made a ramp on the inside as well as the outside of the pool.
I did get the engine to run. only now it doesn't start when it is hot. I am pretty sure the carburetor needs to be cleaned. I have cleaned lots of carbs, but never one like this. It looks complicated . so many extra wires and strange attachments.
Our reunion on Tuesday is a first.
there are about 30 people coming to my sister's house.We are all "kids" from the old neighborhood. the youngest one is 78 yrs old. the oldest is 88. It started out with just four of us. then my sister started contact people she figured would be interested. If we don't have it Tuesday, I fear that the crowd might double in size.
My class reunion is in Sept. the notice said,
"this will be your last reunion"
what do they know that I don't ??
I have made it to all of the high school reunions. I had better attendance than I did in school, lolol
Annie is going through old papers and tossing what neither of us wants to keep. She found a to do list I made in 1995. lots of the items are still not finished. lolol

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm gonna water stuff today. I had enjoyed the cooler weather. Getting too humid today. Should be some complaining out of me.

I've never gone to a single reunion. I'm a hermit mostly. Prefer the company of my husband or dogs with an occasional visitor. My friend is coming tomorrow. Been friends since kindergarten. We play a cooking game on the PlayStation.

Barbara, sorry about your vision. I have early stage cataracts and that's annoying enough. I love highbush cranberry shrubs. We have quite a few of them here.

Jim I never knew they had a reunion cut off date. Maybe it will just be you? Do many attend? A 27 year old "to do" list? That was probably fun to read again. Is it stuff you never did, or stuff that can back around in that amount of time? Like doing the dishes. That's never done.