backacre.org

Summer '09 - A few Highlights

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:45:51 -0500

Well, while Jake and I were in Arizona Tom took down the old deck. As soon as we got home we were put to work getting the new deck done. The deck may deserve it’s own posting.

Jake finally let me cut his hair! Wow, he is getting tall.

The deck about half done. Letting the dogs out through the garage instead of the door that leads to the deck has been...not fun.

A friend of ours drives a dump truck and she called to see if we need a load of gravel for the driveway. Yes, I said she. We got 3 loads of Cat 5 for our driveway and then as a gift to Tom - we rented a Bobcat for him to play with. We have new respect for the Bobcat operator job! Wow. Talk about learning curve. If you need speed bumps put into a driveway or parking lot via mounds of rock or dirt....just call me or Tom!

The beautiful floral arrangement my mother-in-law sent me for July 4th. My porch needed some cheer so I brought it out for our July 4th festivities.

More summer summary posts to come...

Heading into Summer 2009

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 09:28:28 -0500

Tom finished mowing and decided to study the deck. The deck needs replaced even though it is only 5 years old. This is an usual picture due to the fact that Tom is ‘outside’ voluntarily.

Puck was hunting something in the backyard flower bed. It may have just been a fly. He’s brave like that.

This is a tree we found in the creek area at the back of our property. Woodpeckers can punctuate. Who knew?

This is Tom on the tractor in Early May. We needed to get the garden tilled up and a huge mound of manure moved. Tractors are VERY helpful. For almost three years we lived here we attempted to do without the tractor. Unless your hobby farm is an all day, every day hobby - get the tractor.

Oh Boomer. She is inspecting her trench. Yes...trench. Jake started digging a hole - for entertainment. Boomer watched and then decided to help. It is now a trench. I used to have flowers under the deck - now I have ... this.

Jake and I are off for a little vacation to visit family and friends. Hopefully when we return we will actually have WARM weather here in MN. It is the beginning of June and I’m still wearing jeans and a heavy sweatshirt and am FREEZING!

Waiting for Spring

Mon, 9 Mar 2009 08:30:36 -0500

I’m so tired of the cold weather and the sight of snow. Decided to post a few of my pictures of flowers! I can’t wait for spring!

This is from a special setting on the camera that makes everything you take a picture of look like a painting.

Bahama flowers

Clouds or an invasion

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:16:51 -0600

This cloud pattern came through back in July, 2008. We had gone to Menards and bought one of those hoop storage buildings and were outside unloading it from our truck.

A rain storm was in the forecast.

I couldn’t believe how low these clouds were. It looked like they were trying to land.

This storm produced one of the more interesting sunsets I’ve seen.

-12 and Snow

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:51:17 -0600

Yesterday we had a little snow storm. We got about 4” of fluffy snow but the kicker to the storm was the 40 mph winds that followed the snow. School let out an hour early and Jake said that while walking down the driveway, the snow was up to his knees at some points. Normally that would have been fun for him but since under the snow is a thick layer of ice - he wasn’t moving forward...or even backwards some of the time. He said he felt like he was in a cartoon.

This afternoon I saw one of our barn cats going into the garden shed. Cat of terror has pretty much taken up residency in our barn and I was worried that the cats we actually wanted here were cold and hungry. I decided to suit up and go out to check on them. I grabbed my camera on the way out and Paco was sunbathing. I snapped a few photos of him and noticed he looked half asleep in most of the pictures.

I’m pretty sure I was interrupting Paco’s nap.

Houdini was checking out the garden shed activity. He heard me grab a bowl of cat food - which sounds just like grain shaking around in
the plastic container and perhaps thought he was going to get more food today.
Check out the size of the snow drift next to him.

Frosty nose and lips. Here you can see the nice ice patch next to the snow drift (pic above)

Well, here is our ‘plow truck’. Look a little under used? We bought this specifically for snow removal, but have only managed to successfully make one pass on the driveway with it. The hydraulic pump needs fixed, but we never think of that until we actually have cold and snow and NEED the plow. We are still using the tractor bucket, without a cab for wind/snow protection.

Swirly...

Stay warm and safe. I am really asking myself why I didn’t pursue moving to Australia or Arizona. I miss Spring, Summer and Fall.