March 16-18, 2012

What happened to Spring -- it hasn't officially started and yet it feels like summer already. It was near 80 each day and dry (even though we had a hard 30 second rain Saturday morning). The red buds were already blooming, they were everywhere, and were just fantastic. I'll be mowing next time out.

Loveable Loo House

I started on the roof first thing. I had to use six pieces of half inch plywood for the decking since I had nothing wide enough or deep enough. I used 2 of the three pieces that came off the dog house, plus four other scraps from the barn. I got them cut and screwed down Friday afternoon. I was able to fit them by clamping down the highest/front piece and positioning the other two below it -- two rows of three. Saturday I cut the roof edge flashing -- using three pieces from the dog house plus one nice long scrap from the barn. I then screwed the metal roof down (also from the dog house but lapped one less time so it is wider). The roofing pieces aren't deep enough either (this house is six inches or so deeper than the dog house), so I used a piece of formed aluminum that blew off the barn to cap the front and extend back over the metal. I cut it with shears and hooked the crimp over the front and then screwed it through the metal roofing and into the decking. (I hope it doesn't blow off here the way it did on the barn.)

I had to re-charge my drill before proceeding further. Sunday I added a vertical 2x6 to the back to provide center support for the horizontal cedar siding I was going to use on the back. Sally came out in time to nail the siding up -- said she liked hammering. We had more siding than I had figured and only had to piece the top two rows with two pieces each.

I braced the door based on information I got from HowTo.com, but it already has a little bow vertically. I wanted to hang it, but I'm missing some nuts for the hinges and some screws for the handle (gate hardware from Houston). There is some leveling to do with the rocks in the bottom and I want to build up the ground outside on the south, but it is almost done. Tender likes it. Now its time actually build the Loveable Loo, which I hope to do in town.

Fertilize Pond

It had been two weeks, so I applied the rest of the pond fertilizer -- another half a gallon. Again I used my back pack sprayer which seemed to work just fine. I couldn't tell any difference in the water clarity though, so I hope this works. The grass is definitely growing and I am sure more applications of Cutrine Plus will be required.

Garden

The spinach I planted two weeks before was coming up, as were radishes and some other stuff Sally had planted only the weekend before. The summer spinach too is coming back (I don't think we will ever get rid of it). Sally put more seeds in the ground, watered, and spread leaves and pine straw. I spent an hour or so weeding the aisles, but didn't even cover a fourth of them. Those weeds in that packed down soil are hard to get up.

Move Cedar Posts

Sally let me tackle the cedar posts solo this weekend. Ted had warned her about breathing rat poop, and I think that kept her away. I wore a mask this time. I set aside the small skinny ones for shredding and the large straight ones for splitting into rails (10 or so). The others I extended out the South end of the barn door, measured to 6 1/2 feet, cut them off, and stacked them down the hill under the big oak. There are 75 posts in the stack. I then shoveled and swept out that corner/side of the barn.

The little ends I took up to the fire pit along with all my other firewood nubs littering the back of the barn. The longer pieces of cedar ends I have piled up and plan to use to build up the hill on the road to the spring.

DeVito's for Dinner

Saturday night we went into town to test out a restaurant for a possible rehearsal dinner venue. We had forgotten it was St. Patrick's day, so there was a crowd of revelers in the streets and the restaurants were crowded. We had about a 30 minute wait at DeVito's, but we got to sit at the bar with a glass of wine and watch the efficient staff handle the rush. We really enjoyed our meal and gave it a thumbs up -- of course we did each have a second glass of wine which didn't hurt our assessment.

Blue Bird Houses

While at the pond, I checked the blue bird house there and low and behold there was a nest and 1 egg. I have gotten a piece of pipe from Chris that I was planning to rehang the house on, with the addition of the extra raccoon guard we have (won't fit over the cedar post). But now that there is an active nest I won't disturb it. I just hope no critters get the eggs like they did last year. The house down the hill from the house has a nest but since I was driving up I didn't check it. There are signs of the beginning of nests in the ones in front and behind our house, but nothing substantial.

Pears and Apple

I am delighted that there are numerous blooms on both pear trees! I am so hoping that growing pears will be easier than apples. The large apple is starting to leaf out and there are signs there will be blooms. The tiny Pixie Delight doesn't look so good. For one it is still tiny, and many of the limbs appear dead though I don't believe the tree is (yet). The hot dry weather last summer was brutal on little trees.