~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[maple]

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Ahh, but "left behind" isn't exactly what they were.... Y'see, I have not been living there since the middle of June, but still paying rent while I had my new place fixed up and readied. Mice which the cat had kept in check until July 13 took over.... My furniture was moved 9/14 and then I rented a second, smaller U-haul truck on 9/24. My rent was paid through 9/30, but she wanted in early to get the carpet removed and have tile installed. I did my best to get things removed by 9/17, missed that date and she conceded in moving the date to 9/24, I worked at it until Sunday 9/25 at midnight before I crashed and drove home an hour and fifteen minutes away. She gave directions to the crew to "sort" but I guess what I would save and they thought was worth anything were worlds apart. (That is a huge part of the problem - I save too much. Plus I went into a tailspin when my sister died two years ago and I received all of her furniture and household goods. Sane people were horrified at the clutter.)

Monday night after work, I did go dumpster diving to try to recover a few items. It was so dispiriting I gave up.

I've decided to consider the situation as if it were a structure fire; I have a whole lot more than folks who suffered the loss of their homes and everything in 'em through natural disaster.

That stinks and I can totally emphasize...after my dad died my mom packed up what she wanted and left...her and dad were "collectors' and then I moved in...ignored it for 10 years and now under certain circumstances had to move and it's very overwhelming to say the least. I like your attitude though and thinking of it as a fire and you still have some of your stuff. I actually had a friend who's house was burned down from a lightening storm...lost her belongings...most of them at least...and her pets. So hard to imagine for young kids and a family to go through. Amazing events transpired though through it all....enough to bring a fire man to his knees and start weeping and amaze those of us that heard about these things.

I enjoy your adventures.

 

[gryeyes]

Back at work today. How much actual unpacking did I get done during the past 9 days? Hahahahahahahaha. Oh my, let me catch my breath here. Whew!

There are 70+ chickens, 10 ducks, and two geese to watch! The waterfowl have FINALLY taken to using the stock tank for swimming. Kate owns it, as everybody else will get out as she steps onto the "bridge" - except Angus. He usually gets out when she steps into the tank, but not always. Elvis and Priscilla, the call duck pair, use it more than anybody, and are starting to take honeymoon swims in it. If they get interrupted, they'll jump out, then fly back up to the terrace level and stand on the bridge awaiting another turn. The four Cayuga girls are lowest in Stock Tank Status, but they are still enjoying the other two kiddie pools a great deal.

Sometimes a row of pullets, as many as five of them, will stand on the edge of the board and drink from the tank water. Roosters and cockerels flap up to the actual edge of the tank itself, around the sides, to drink. They're not wussy girls, tip-toeing across that board! My cat Smudge often drinks from the tank at night after all the birds have gone to bed.

There are now three hens roosting in the coop rafters at night: Alice Sebright, one of the three Josie White Leghorns, and Angel, a bantam EE.

Got a few more chickens named. Two tall, lanky, jet black cockerels, one with some gold spatter on his wings, are Patrick and Michael. (Pat and Mike, originally, but the formal version of their names fits better.). Hannah Speckled Hamburg. Grace, offspring of Phoebe, who is a BLW, but Grace is smaller and has feathered feet. Stella, a Black Australorp (I think). Elizabeth Wheaten Amereucana.

Janell turned into Jack. He's a Buff Orpington cross. No crowing yet. (Probably too much competition, ya think? He's been doing very well laying low and hanging with a couple of pullets. I expect him to suddenly realize his BFFs are mighty fine looking specimens of feminine pulchritude and then he'll start acting out.)

I had not officially named Sylvia Silver Lakenvelder when she did something stupid and was taken by a predator. She decided she wanted to roost on the top of the coop people door; when I tried to get her into the coop, she flew off and ran around the coop to jump down into the gully. She hid there. In the morning, there was nothing but blood-stained feathers scattered around in the gully and on the meadow.

Amelia came off her eggs at nine days; I think something scared her. This was her first time broody. Two eggs were out of the nest box and eaten. I moved the nest box from its very insecure location behind the house to the veranda, but she still didn't want to return to them. I removed 21 eggs from that box! There was no way a little Salmon Favorrelle could have covered them all. One of the other ladies thought the empty nest box on the veranda was a great place to lay her egg. Convenient for me, too - I think I'll leave the
nest box there.

John the contractor has been spending some chat time with me (and my friend Soose1) after he finishes work each day. He remarked, "They really trust you, don't they!" as he watched them come up onto the veranda to tell me things, to take naps under my chair, or just check out what was going on, in a leisurely stroll from one end of the veranda and back into the yard at the other end. He has learned a few of their names, too.

Yesterday he made a dump run for me and invited me along, as I had never visited the "Solid Waste Material Recovery and Reclamation Facility" on Throwita Way. Yup, that's the street name. Wow. Really a huge facility and it looked like a very efficient operation to me. Smelly, but efficient. Huge areas for green waste (yard materials like tree branches, clippings, etc.), metal waste, E-waste, concrete waste, and plain old garbage.

We had a chance to talk about the area into which I've moved, including a lot of history. On the way back, we passed a car leaving the little cafe in Somerset, and he waved, saying, "Well, look who's there!" Uhh, I dunno, who? His dad. Who's either 81 or 91, I can't
remember which right now. I think it's the latter, though...

The other morning, Saturday, I think, the retiree next door came over to buy some eggs to take with him on his hunting trip with friends this week. While John was gassing up the truck in Diamond Springs, a woman's voice said, "Hi, neighbor!" It was Missus Retiree. After my response and introductions, she remarked, "Maybe I can get the crap at our place hauled away while [her husband] is gone!" I asked how long he'd be on his hunting trip; she said, "Oh, until he gets a deer or runs out of booze."

Later - before we made it back to Somerset - John stopped at the grocery to get some milk (if I "didn't mind" and I didn't) and he teased,
"Somebody might see you in this truck.". "Oh, that's already happened and it didn't phase me in the least."

After he dropped me off, he loaded his shovels and ladders into the empty back of the flatbed and we discussed the next project(s) to be undertaken. My new gutters look great. And it's so nifty to have the downspouts at the back of the house attached to buried flixi-pipe leading out to the gully.

Next project is the electronic, RFID controlled dog door to be installed in the wall of the house. Once it arrives from the seller; I found it cheapest on eBay. I should receive it this week.

BIG Projects: new roof next year, and a deck to be constructed off the guest bedroom the following year.

 

[dsqard]

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BIG Project this year: get John to stop tip toeing around and ask you out!

 

[caspernc]

Its the weekend...

.....

 

[remuda1]

"Oh, until he gets a deer or runs out of booze."

Haha

, so nice to have good neighbors.

 

[gryeyes]

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It is?
<*checking the calendar*>

 

[coloradochick]

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BIG Project this year: get John to stop tip toeing around and ask you out!

Just what I was thinking

And I also think Linda, as you're out taken some pics of all the kids, and the new gutters, you need to nonchalantly pan past the fix it man so we can all get an idea of who the Knight in Shining Armor is in this true life fairytale

 

[djennings]

Quote:
BIG Project this year: get John to stop tip toeing around and ask you out!

Just what I was thinking

And I also think Linda, as your out taken some pics of all the kids, and the new gutters, you need to nonchalantly pan past the fix it man so we can all get and idea of who the Knight in Shining Armor is in this true life fairytale

X2

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
BIG Project this year: get John to stop tip toeing around and ask you out!

Just what I was thinking

And I also think Linda, as your out taken some pics of all the kids, and the new gutters, you need to nonchalantly pan past the fix it man so we can all get and idea of who the Knight in Shining Armor is in this true life fairytale

You guys are so silly! John presents me with a detailed bill each month for all the work he does. He charges an hourly labor rate, as well as a "truck charge" for dump runs. Now, on the last two bills, receipts for materials ALWAYS attached, have reflected even dollar amounts less the partial dollar bits for "Total Due," although the materials costs have never come out even dollar amounts. I queried him about that and he said, "Special discount from [His Last Name] Construction."

Each work day his hourly rate is documented by actual clock time started and actual clock time he stopped working, then calculated into hours and partial hours. He usually hangs around a while to chat afterwards, sometimes as much as an hour or more, and those periods of time are free. <*grin*> He almost always presents his bill in a separate visit, dressed in street clothes instead of his coveralls.

There have been comments about "You'll have to meet my dad" and "I'll show you the pair of mill-stones my family kept which came over in the ship with Fr. Junipero Serra" (yes, his paternal ancestors are pure Castillian Spanish and museums have documented the mill-stones' authenticity) and he did make a bird house for a house-warming gift for me..... But I think it's kinda dicey to try to build a ..... close personal relationship .... with someone I'm currently paying to work on my house and property.

But I do really like him. <*blush*>

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Quote:
Just what I was thinking

And I also think Linda, as your out taken some pics of all the kids, and the new gutters, you need to nonchalantly pan past the fix it man so we can all get and idea of who the Knight in Shining Armor is in this true life fairytale

You guys are so silly! John presents me with a detailed bill each month for all the work he does. He charges an hourly labor rate, as well as a "truck charge" for dump runs. Now, on the last two bills, receipts for materials ALWAYS attached, have reflected even dollar amounts less the partial dollar bits for "Total Due," although the materials costs have never come out even dollar amounts. I queried him about that and he said, "Special discount from [His Last Name] Construction."

Each work day his hourly rate is documented by actual clock time started and actual clock time he stopped working, then calculated into hours and partial hours. He usually hangs around a while to chat afterwards, sometimes as much as an hour or more, and those periods of time are free. <*grin*> He almost always presents his bill in a separate visit, dressed in street clothes instead of his coveralls.

There have been comments about "You'll have to meet my dad" and "I'll show you the pair of mill-stones my family kept which came over in the ship with Fr. Junipero Serra" (yes, his paternal ancestors are pure Castillian Spanish and museums have documented the mill-stones' authenticity) and he did make a bird house for a house-warming gift for me..... But I think it's kinda dicey to try to build a ..... close personal relationship .... with someone I'm currently paying to work on my house and property.

But I do really like him. <*blush*>

Well, I was paid to help MIL and SFIL to clean up a house, which is how I met DH. We got married 9 days later.

That was 20 years ago. Still very happy to be married.

Not to encourage you or anything