May 28, 2015

This is one of our blueberry bushes.  It's going to have a lot of blueberries.

May 27, 2015

May 26, 2015

May 25, 2015

We got all of the grandkids from my side of the family together today.  

May 24, 2015

We finally got a new dishwasher.  The old one worked, but the baskets had gotten rusty and the wire pegs were breaking off. 

May 23, 2015

I think it's going to stay above freezing now, so we planted the gardens.

May 22, 2015

My Uncle Larry passed away this week.  He was a Vietnam vet, and had a military funeral.  A group came and stood guard, holding large American flags.  There were three motorcycles which escorted the hearse to the church.  It was a very inspirational and humbling funeral service.

May 21, 2015

I got a new camera.  This one has a lot of features and options that my old one doesn't.  I'm looking forward to trying out new ways to take pictures.

May 20, 2015

My son's school didn't have a bike rack, so the kids made one.  My son designed this one, and the welding class made it.  He said they changed the design a little, but for the most part this is how he had it planned .

May 19, 2015

This is blooming back in the woods.  It smells really good. 

May 18, 2015

I went with my daughter on a field trip to the zoo.  I've been on field trips there with pre-school, kindergarten, third and seventh grades.  I think I like the third grade age best- old enough to listen reasonably well, young enough to really enjoy the trip.  It's also amazing how little school buses have changed.  They're still made with rickitty, flimsy walls.  The seat backs are higher than they used to be, and there's an emergency exit in the roof and security cameras.  Other than that, the bus is still the same as it was 30 years ago.

May 17, 2015

We spent half the day pulling out the stump.  It's roots were shallow, but large, and some were laying on top of each other making it hard to find them and chop them off.  My husband used a chain and winch, hooked it to the other tree and eventually got it laying down.  Then he used the tractor to flip it over and around to break it off the rest of the way.  When the other bradford bites the dust, I think we're going to saw it off at the ground and leave it there, or get a stump grinder.  They're a bit tough to pull out.

May 16, 2015

We started to remove the Bradford pear stump this evening.  It's in the ground rather well, the tractor wasn't budging it at all.

May 15, 2015

We leveled out some dirt areas and got them planted again in grass seed today.  It's so dry though, the dirt was powder about 8" down.

May 14, 2015

We got a frost last night.  We covered the blueberries and grapes with tarps, but the frost got to the grapes anyway and killed the leaves and grapes.  But the frost did make the dandelions look a little more interesting.

May 13, 2015

We're going to make our old garden by the house smaller and put most plants in this new one to the side of the house. 

May 12, 2015

Grape vine and tiny grapes.

May 11, 2015

It's surprising how quickly apples bloom.  They look showy and pretty for about two days, then the petals start falling off.  Considering they have to make an apple, you'd think they would be open for a longer time.

May 10, 2015

They got the rows plowed for potatoes today.  It has been unusually warm (as compared to unusually cold through April), so my dad is getting antsy to get the potatoes planted.

May 9, 2015

We wanted something to edge the strawberry patch.  Old railroad ties ended up being the cheapest option.  Those things are so heavy I can't even lift one end.  Since it's so heavy I wasn't going to suggest getting more for other places, but my husband likes the look too, and we're thinking about getting a few to go along the back of the barn.

May 8, 2015

We have lots of rocks in our dirt.  I put a few of them together to make little rock retaining walls along the barn.  Most of these came from the other day when we plowed the garden. 

May 7, 2015

My apple trees have a lot of blooms this year.  Maybe I'll finally get some apples from them!

May 6, 2015

May 5, 2015

We got a little bit of rain, but it must not have been much as the dirt dried out quickly.  My husband was able to go over the plowed places a couple times with the disc.  We'll have to do it again after it dries out a little more.  This little section is going to be my strawberry patch, along with some asparagus.

May 4, 2015

I was taking a picture of our plowed yard when my dog saw a half empty plastic water bottle.  She grabbed it and trotted off, all pleased with herself for making off with it.  She crunched it for a while (that cheap plastic is very noisy).  This picture is about the time she finally broke through and water started coming out.  After that, she stopped playing with it.

May 3, 2015

We worked some more on grading, then my husband plowed the gardens.  Some of the garden is going to be seeded back to grass, in particular the two former gardens in the back of the yard.  Vegetables didn't grow well back there.

May 2, 2015

We worked on grading the yard around the barn.  We got most of it done around the concrete today.

May 1, 2015

We've been spreading mulch this week.