Today was another great weather day, so again I took advantage and spent the whole day outside. I moved a bunch of brush from the storm and sat aside more firewood to cut and split sometime later. (The chainsaw needs sharpened, so that has to wait) I emptied the compost tumblers that I made early last year, and spread that on the garden area. I disassembled the tumbler, and will be offering it to someone in our local group. It works fine, but just doesn't hold enough for what we usually put out. I'll just make a regular compost bin soon, and use that instead. I got the freebie landscape timbers ran and staked down the side of the new chicken run, and more ready to go tomorrow where the small brush pile was along the fence. I already cleaned that area and sat the solar dehydrator there, moved the %^#$@ heavy cold frame beside it, and am still thinking of putting the rabbit hutch in whats left of the space. I'll be moving the woodpile soon too (maybe tomorrow depending on weather) to along the side near the empty field. The plan is to still be close to the cookstove, but also create a sort-of wind break for the chicken run, which will hopefully cut down on those 2'+ snowdrifts that I normally get in that area. Plus, both the split logs and matching size kindling pile are both against the garage. I just want to open that area up a little. I got a lot done during the day, and before I knew it, Lisa called and was on her way home from work.
After she got home, I went out to get some straw for the coop. (used a leaf pile for a day) I went to the garden center just 1/8 of a mile up the street and pay the $1 a bale more than the feed store 20 minutes away....makes sense to me! I figured the place would be busy since it's been in the 50's and 60's the past 2 days. WRONG! Not a single customer. Inside the door were 5 employees, talking and looking awfully bored. I paid for the 2 bales and drove around back to pick them up. The guy that pulled them asked how I was doing, and I mentioned being stuck in the house from the layoff, and happy to have a few nice days to get outside. He told me that they were even unusually slow, and that they havent brought in a single part timer to help get things set up. With no- to very little customers, they've had time to do it themselves. It really says something when a garden center is barely getting by......Anyway, the chickens got the straw in the coop and nest boxes, and I scattered a bit throughout the run since they always love picking through it. Tomorrow I'll clean the rabbit hutches and replace their straw as well. Lots to do here now that the weather finally broke, yippee.
We live on a pretty busy road, lots and lots of vehicles pass by every day. I learned long ago here, that if I want rid of anything, put it at the street and it will go away. Old bicycles, tractor parts, anything steel......gone. It's almost always someone with a pickup load of scrap thats picking things up, but today was different...lol. When Holly moved out, she left this exercise machine downstairs. Some kinda eliptical something or another. I posted it on craigslist and had 2 responses. One never showed,and I contacted the 2nd one. She said she would take it, but yesterday when they came (in 2 vehicles) to pick it up, she decided that she wouldnt use it. (I wont say anything really bad, but when she realized that it wasn't easy to use, her mind changed fast) They left, and I really didnt want to lug that heavy SOB back into the house or out to the garage where I have no room. I thought about freecycle, then I realized that I would be outside all day, and wouldnt have time to check 4357 e-mails from people wanting it. Okey dokey then, to the street it goes.
I gave it 20 minutes, Lisa gave it an hour, we were both wrong. It actually lasted almost 2 hours........unusual but no matter, its gone. What did strike me as REALLY odd, is what the machine went IN. I really gotta admit, I have never seen anyone driving a Cadillac Esculade pull over and root though someones trash, but I did today! This well dressed mad pulled off the side of the road, looked at the machine, and loaded it in the back. THEN he noticed the sleeve of a sweatshirt sticking out of the trash can, (found it laying in the yard by the road), and opend the can to look inside. This man roots through my trash, and pulls out this 1970 something cassette recorder & microphone. OK.......now I'm REALLY shaking my head. That's a $60,000 vehicle, and you're rooting through my trash? How in the world can I see this? Is he just cheap? Is he flat broke because of that overpriced status symbol on wheels? Is he the worlds richest flea-market guy scavenging for new things to sell? Is he looking for a wedding present?? ( Anyone who has ever seen My Big Redneck Wedding on CMT will get that joke) Or maybe the guy is just really frugal and has the one expense of that truck-wannabe. I dunno.....it just really really made me ponder, and chuckle a bit too, lol.