April 17,2008

Well its 12:24 am, and as odd as it seems, I'm too worn out to sleep, both physically and mentally. Again today, I drove to Cleveland for work, and nothing on this building has changed in a week. Here I go, drive an hour home with nothing paid but drive time. Its getting worse every week here, and it not just the company I work for, its everywhere in construction around here. Its spring, construction should be booming, but its not. The neighbors son in law owns a siding business, and has so little work, he has to lay off some guys this week. Unless something changes in the next week or so, I'll be getting a part time job just to help ends meet. Hopefully I can get one at the garden center 5 drives up the road.....discount! lol
Anyway.....enough of that for now.
Today on the way home I stopped to visit my parents. My dad's doing better luckily, and my mom's been trying to keep busy on things outside. She gets cabin fever as bad as I do lol.
I walked up to the old barn and noticed its getting even worse. I dont see it lasting thru the summer without falling down, so I have GOT to get someone with a trailer to haul that tractor out of there and to here. I may go there again tomorrow and get the rest of anything useful out of there since there isnt any work tomorrow either. I did get 3 of the old rolls of 4 foot chain link fence from behind the barn and toss 'em in the van, and found the old coleman heater I forgot dad had up there. It's a little rusty, but overall it doesnt really look bad. That'll be the next rainy day garage project. Of course dad had to ask what I was "stealing" this time lol
I left there and came home, let the dogs out and started working. I got out the post hole diggers and spud bar, and set the posts for the 32 foot trellis for wild blackberries. I didnt use any cement, just gravel and stones tamped in good and tight. I used that 4 foot fence to cover the whole area, so yayyyyyy thats done. I just have to start the transplants now, maybe that will happen tomorrow too since I might be over there.
I decided to start on the big garden, a little late, but better than never. There was some kind of wild ground cover all over where the soil wasnt covered, so I pulled all that up, tossed it in the wheelbarrow,and put it in the compost. I uncovered all the horseradish, and tomorrow or friday I will get most of that transplanted in the raised beds I am making in the front area. I found a few sections of tree root that were missed by the stump grinder last year, and arrrrghhhh I broke the handle on the mattock trying to cut them out. When it was all done......ok not quite ALL but most......I dug out the troy bilt and gave it its last good tilling.( I wont be tilling the main garden anymore after this year) I just loved that smell of fresh soil, it reminded me yet again that it was spring, and put a smile on my face, as well as a cramp or 2 in my back, lol. Tomorrow or Friday, I'll stake and string the whole thing out, and start laying out the beds and rows. When thats done, I have to pull the sod and till up the new strawberry bed too. I wont put those out till I know we're done with the last frost, but I want everything ready.
I raked up a bit more of last falls leaves and put them in the bin too, a little at a time I'll get them all in there. I pulled up the old flowerbed out front last year, and covered the whole thing with leaves, thats going to be lisa's gourds and pumpkins this year too. Sometime soon I'll rake up those leaves as well and give it a good tilling.
Probably when I get that bigger tractor here, I'll start the back patio area. I'm making a combo grill/fireplace/firepit out there. The main body will be cement block, sand filled, lined with brick, and covered in stone. I want to move the small pond I put in, then do the whole thing in cobblestone. I hate patio stone or paver bricks, they just look too commercial for my taste. It's going to involve tearing up a bit of old concrete, but I can bury that and use the soil elsewhere. We spent a lot of time out there in the summer, many friday and saturday nights sitting around a fire talking and looking at the stars, so I want it to be a place we both enjoy being in. And, same as the cobblestone, I want a certain look to that grill. I hate the look of an ugly, boxy propane grill, and the small round charcoal grill we have is just hideous. Works great, but its ugly. Looks like one of those bad old 50's movie spaceships on a tripod, lol.
While this time off really sucks on the checkbook, its giving me time to get more done around here. Think i'm gonna go try to sleep now, probably crash on the fouton so I dont wake up the dogs in our room.