This week hasn't been one of those constant busy weeks, but we've managed to get a lot done around here. The whole garden is completely tilled, and we put in two 45 foot rows of beans, and the same of sweet corn. Probably next week, the rest of the plants will go out. Most of the greens are up, some beets and turnips are up, and the row of onions are all standing around 4" tall. I moved the horseradish from the center of the garden to its own area finally. The plants may look awful right now, but they'll all come back. You can't kill that stuff lol I've tried.

Last years new strawberry bed is jammed full of plants this year. That was only 50 root starts last spring! And looking at it now, you would never be able to tell that last week I thinned it out and gave around 120 plants to our friend Tammie. I'm thinking of making another bed the same size right beside it, and transplanting some of these to the new one. I just need the motivation to dig that much sod again, lol.

The small origional strawberry bed is just as over-run with plants. We moved some of the herbs to give them more room on one side, and I pulled the non-growing blueberries on the other side for even more room. There are quite a few plants in here with tiny green berries hanging already....mmmmmm.

I've been slowly working on re-doing the entire back patio. Lisa loves to sit out there in the afternoons and evenings. It's away from the main street, is shaded by the house, and overlooks the whole garden area. I re-worked the little pond and fountain for the 3rd time lol. First I had the water cascading over a birdbath, but that was unstable and kept leaning. Next I had it pump through a hose, up the tiny hill,, and through & out the old watering can. It looked great, but to me (laugh now Lisa) it sounded like a constant peeing. It made me nuts, so I changed it yet again. Now, the water pumps up in little jets from under rocks. It sounds more like a babbling brook or stream, so we're both happy with it. I got a load of free mulch from the neighbor, which did almost all of Lisa's larger flowerbed to the right. I need to get or make more soon to finish it. I still have to get on the weeds in the concrete and gravel, which may end up being sometime today. I'll try good old vinegar first, then if that doesnt work, I'll use a propane torch. We both refuse to buy/use any kind of chemical weed killer.

The new bunny greens bed is looking really good. Everything has come up so far except the carrots and the dandelions. I'll probably reseed the dandelion rows with some kind of lettuce for the bunnies, then do an entire 8x8 bed of dandelions when I get the other rr ties here from dads. There are more there than I though, the total he wants rid of is 8, plus 2 of those concrete parking bumpers like I used to make Lisa's little knome home herb bed. I know for sure that I'll make one more 8x8 bed next to the greens, I just have to decide where to put another one or 2 beds, and what to put in them. Maybe melons, maybe canteloupes, maybe more herbs. Who knows, we've never had a problem finding ideas for things to plant, lol.

Today makes 10 days for me of not smoking cigarettes. I have had four in this whole time, but considering I was a pack and a half to 2 pack a day smoker, I'm really happy with myself. I'm definitly feeling a difference after being used to it for 28-29 years of smoking. Surprisingly, I'm not grumpy lol I pretty much expected to be, but I'm not. I may have one every once in a while, but I have no plans on going back to where I was. I feel better, I dont stink of cigarrettes, and we're saving a lot of money. At $5 a pack, if I was smoking 2 a day, that was $70 a week! Now that's a lot of vegetable plants lol.

I wish I had some kind of cool news/happening/event/situation going on to write about, but I don't. Things here have been kind of slow and steady with no real excitement at all. I do always manage to keep myself busy doing something around here, so its not as bad as it was back in February when I thought I was going to lose my mind being stuck in the house.

After tinkering with the Lowboy off and on for a week, I did figure out that it needed a starter. I got online and checked prices at a few places, and almost fell outta my chair. $300 and up! I talked to the neighbor and told him to see if he could find me a used one, since he and his dad have lots of sources for parts. Turns out.....I didn't need to talk to him about it, dad had a spare in his old barn! Of course, it had a different pulley on it, so I had to swap them out, then had to drill & tap the body to accept the screws that hold the voltage regulator. I put the new-old used one on, wired it, popped on the belt, tensioned and tightened it, and crossed my fingers. Wooohaaww, the motor turned over! Just as my luck would have it though, a weeks worth of fiddling around and cranking the old one left the new battery low, so I had to put it on slow charge overnight tonight. When I had the charger on hi/start, the motor would crank, but of course not fire.....ugh. I'll mess with that tomorrow. If I was able to get it running last year after sitting for almost 5 years, I think I can manage getting it started from just sitting over the winter.

I'm still not sure what I am going to do with the John Deere lawn tractor. The engine need work, which really ticks me off. It's only 5 years old, it shouldnt need engine work. That gets under my skin, and now I'm more pissed at them for selling the low-end models to be built by MTD. (murray tractor division) They make the cheapo disposable craftsmans, mtd's, and others. Now MTD will make the John Deere's and Cub Cadets that are sold in the big box stores and in the farm-chain stores. Sell out the name and quailty to sell in quantity....I may just sell the thing and get away from the name after hearing this. I'll boycot them just like I do with Kraft Foods and anything Pepsi/Pepsico. ( for those who dont know, pepsi has been the biggest condributor to sarah brady and company *handgun control inc* for many years)

We're doing a bit more to the garden tomorrow, putting in green beans and sweet corn. We'll still wait a week or 2 to put in the rest since we've had frost for 3 nights in a row. That will probably happen after our camping trip. Lisa's friend from work is coming over tomorrow too, to put in his own small garden area like he wanted. I just hope he doesn't need a lot of room since I made the paths wider between plant rows, which cut down on open space. Ah well, if I have to, I'll just widen the whole thing another 4 or 6 feet. It's not like we wouldnt use the space lol.

We *may* be getting more hens, I should know more by this weekend. If we get them the count will be 6 more, lol. No idea what breed, but he says they are laying. I'll take what I can get now, though Lisa has her heart set on silkies after seeing tammie's today, lol.