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

[jvls1942]

I have all the granite spread out. It took just under two hours
with Ollie. now we have parking spaces for three cars easily,
and four if they park a little tightly..
I punched that clutch enough time to equal riding a
bike for ten miles.. my knee hurts just a little bit.
I have to fine tune the parking area a little more.
I will wait until it gets rained on a few time to settle
the dirt/granite.
the apple tree is starting to blossom.
I hope we don't get any frost..

 

[Callender Girl]

Hmm, you may be right about the Disney movie, Lisa. At least those all have happy endings, right?

Congrats on the granite work, Jim, and best wishes with the apple tree. All of my new ones are still alive, although something chewed a branch off the Delicious.

Not only are my radishes starting to sprout, but the fancy lettuce is coming up, too. Now, I need to construct a couple of chicken wire "cloches" so I at least have a fighting chance of harvesting before the rodents do.

Because I didn't check often enough during the recent rainy spell, most of my asparagus has already bolted. IF I get the mowing done with the rider today, I think I will reward myself by picking rhubarb. I like to make a sauce that is supposed to be good over ice cream. I don't know that -- because I just eat the sauce straight out of a bowl, all by itself.

 

[jvls1942]

My mom would cook up a kettle of rhubarb sauce.
and make a couple of pound cakes.
on that day she wouldn't bother making lunch.
why bother ?
because the kids would be chowing down on cake.
my favorite is pie.
Mom made apple pie in a 9x11 cake pan.
no bottom crust.
too bad about the asparagus. out of the row that
I planted, only one plant survived.
not going to get above 63F today.

 

[Callender Girl]

We were also a pie family -- we got those instead of birthday cakes! Apple was good, but sour cherry was my favorite.

 

[jvls1942]

I often request a pie for my birthday instead
of cake.
I took a scoop of granite to the culvert at the
road. there has always been a couple of feet of
it exposed. not any more..
time for some lunch.

 

[Callender Girl]

How are the skies in Wisconsin? I spent most of yesterday pulling weeds out of a flower bed and laying mulch around the blackberry bushes, thinking I needed to hurry because it looked like rain.

Eventually, I realized the skies were overcast because of the wildfires up north. I checked out one of my favorite Minnesota websites and learned that the entire state was under an air quality advisory until some time today. Crazy to think that what happens in Canada's air so visibly affects Iowa's air.

BTW, in order not to make myself totally avoid a massive project -- like clearing weeds under the twin walnut trees -- I lie to myself that I can probably do it in an hour. Two hours later, only one side was finished. I need to tell myself more untruths today.

Lisa, more of my "Disney movie" friends showed up. There was a pair of yellow warblers flitting about the walnut trees, and later, a Baltimore oriole hung around for a while. The rooster pheasant and mother robin continued to be annoyed at my presence.

 

[jvls1942]

I try not to put time limits on jobs. it gets too depressing.
Annie has been gathering up black walnuts so she doesn't
send one flying through a window when she mows the lawn.
I would like to borrow that cart at the golf driving range that
picks up the golf balls.
She has a pile of nuts raked up. the grey squirrels have found it.
they must think they have died and gone to nut heaven..
Yesterday I made a batch of chili. went at it with a new twist.
instead of using the V8 like I usually do, I used beef bullion cubes.
It turned out very good. however, next time I will use
less cubes. five cups of bullion really filled up the kettle.
three cubes will be enough. 1 cube to 1 cup of water.
next time I might try chicken cubes.
the air quality here is not so good. I noticed people
around me are coughing more than natural.
we had a good rain last night. I hope that brought
some of the smoke down..
I wasn't feeling very ambitious yesterday.
So I took an old crusty , rusty , oil dried on
pump oil can and cleaned it up. surprisingly
it was not really rusted at all. some Blaster and
sand paper and about an hour of futsing.. I now
have a like new oil can.. this style new is in the $18.oo range.
I guess the time spent was worth it..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We have been having troubles with our well quitting . Thought at first it might be running dry, but now think it's the pump. We need to pull it up, but the pitless adapter broke off last time we pulled it up. We are now digging down 6 foot plus to hopefully fix it and get the pump up. The ground is saturated, so two steps forward, two steps back apparently. No water since yesterday noon. Hoping for a shower yet today. We also need to change out the pressure tank and valve.

 

[jvls1942]

Lisa, maybe the pump is working. it might be leaking
at the pitless , therefore the ground is saturated ?
we had a leaky sharkbite fitting last week. first a drip,
then a dribble.
put a bucket under it and shut off the pump
DD's boyfriend came and fixed it for us.
today for my project de jour, I built the extension
table for the miter saw. I got to use all of the machines
that I worked so hard to clean up . It was a pleasure.
We found a guy who will pick up ANYTHING.
we will see. we are making a list and gathering items..
I hope he has a huge trailer..
A different guy is going to deliver a steel burn barrel.
$10.oo. He also picks up junque/antiques , but he is
more selective..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The pump and the line in the well we're plugged solid with rust. We have a lot of iron in our soil here.

Husband originally dug a big hole only to find out he couldn't access the part from the outside. He finally used a copper grounding rod to make a tool to pull the broken piece out. He replaced the pump. He also replaced the top lowering pipe that hooks into the pitless adapter. He than lowered it back down and nothing. That's when we pulled it up again. 200 feet is a lot of pipe. He blew out the line and had to cut it in multiple spots to get it cleared. He also replaced a section. Eventually we lowered it back down.

Than it was down to the basement to fix the cracked pipe. Still need to replace the pressure tank and valve. I'm so glad he's so handy. I would have just moved out. Took all day to get it going. It was a long day yesterday. Today I'm thankful for running water.

Today he filled the hole back in. We are both exhausted.