Posted on 04/01/2025 6:11:07 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Hi Daniel, great post and I love the pics.
Wow. God blessed you with quite a brother!
Praise the Lord. Aside from a few texts and phone calls, taking pics is about the only things I have a smart phone is good for, and even then in order to deal with pics I find it quicker to access the phone from the PC via cable and view and copy the media from within the DCIM folder.
Excellent!
I have 2 brothers, the other is also great at fixing things & helping me out when he visits. I am twice blessed - brothers don’t come any better.
Doing more yard cleanup today. Lots of branches came down with the nearby tornado last week, and it’s either been cold or rainy for most days. So today I gathered the small brush and hubby has his chain saw out. Some of this will be good wood for the fire pits right away.
We have two, one which is rustic and out closer to the woods where I love to sit when it’s lightning bug season (usually early June to Father’s Day they’re abundant and put on a real show). The other fire pit is a medium sized Solo stove with a surround, and we have that one on our deck just outside the sunroom and off of the kitchen. It is very forgiving up there but not quite as scenic as the one near the woods. We may try to have a fire there in a little while.
In one section of our yard, it’s very sloped, so we have it terraced. Today I leveled it again in some spots, and relaid the fieldstone steps. I only got about 10 steps done before wanting a break. The ones I relaid were all askew and dangerous to walk on. The rest are in pretty good shape. This is the area where I have my potting bench, so it’s important for me to have no tripping hazards there.
Also, I got a nice surprise today! I’ve been noticing a chickadee visiting one of the Bluebird houses. The bluebirds haven’t shown an interest quite yet, and there are 3 more houses available should they decide to nest. Anyway, I peeked in today, and not only was there a nest, there were 5 tiny brown speckled eggs in there! Mama’s not around incubating them, so it could be that she adds a few more. I have never been able to see chickadees hatch and fledge, but I hope I will be able to with this brood. We shall see.
I’ll bet you were an Astrud Gilerto fan, too!
‘The Girl From Ipanema’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVdaFQhS86E
‘Tall and tan and young and lovely...’ *HEART*
Stan Getz on Sax, Baby! Doesn’t get any better than this. :)
“Hell, I might as well still be living in Wisconsin!”
LOL! This Winter was one for the record books. I think we had a total of 10” of snow, (SE WI) versus the FIFTY we usually get here, and only a few days below Zero, too. Can’t beat that!
We’ll pay for it NEXT Winter, I’m sure. A storm with 18” of snow in about TEN MINUTES is probably already on tap for us. ;)
(Just my experience; ignore if it doesn’t apply.)
At my other farm, while I had a 300’ well, I was in a ‘rust belt’ which effected our water.
Instead of fighting it with filters and stop-gap measures, we got a whole house filtration system designed for our SPECIFIC problem.
If I’m remembering correctly, they came and checked the system and changed out the HUGE-MONGUS filter once a year; it was similar to having a water softener system. (Hey, Culligan Man!) There was no maintenance on our part at all and I don’t remember it being budget-busting expensive, either. (I WOULD have remembered that!)
It made a world of difference in our drinking water and also the laundry and the toilets and sinks weren’t stained with rust deposits, etc.
If your problem with water is that bad, I’d look to a professional. Also consider your future home sale.
Who wants to buy a place with bad water? Nobody. It may be time to bite the bullet.
Those noodles look so good! And I can afford to add an egg to everything. :)
You are KICKIN’ IT! So happy for you. :)
I’m glad you’ll be able to get in some garden plants this season! :)
Fantastic! It’s wonderful to have handy men in the mix!
I ‘Tom Sawyer-ed’ Mom into helping me clean up the landscaping across the front of the house today that had been decimated by the PUPPIES raised last season.
Took us about 30 minutes and things look good as new and aside from one Sedum that doesn’t seem to be coming back, all else is well. I DO need a few bags of brown mulch to really freshen it up, but I think a trip to Menard’s is on the docket for this upcoming week, so that’ll be covered. ;)
Beau said to Mom this afternoon, ‘I see she ‘Tom Sawyer-ed’ you into helping her today.’ Mom said, ‘I know what she’s up to even before she asks me to help!’ LOL!
Mom was also VERY helpful in the THREE of us tackling Ithaca (the Mule), today. He had somehow gotten his halter over one ear and it was rubbing on his head and causing him some pain. Ithaca LOVES Mom to the Moon and back, so she was able to coax and settle him down enough with carrots, apples and Milk Bones so we could rope him, steady his head and cut the halter off of him. She’s aces.
Never a dull moment around here, for sure! ;)
There are two slices of ours left for Brunch, tomorrow. I’ll be dreaming about it tonight, LOL!
Isn’t it nice to find a great recipe where everything WORKS with little to no effort and/or things you already have on hand? Can’t beat that!
“On the lemonade recipe I am assuming the seeds are discarded before you puree the cucumber?”
It didn’t state that but I, personally, would SEED the cucumber before pureeing it. I didn’t see anything but clear liquid in my glass and muddled mint leaves in the bottom when I had it with lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. :)
I cannot WAIT to make this! Maybe I will take a pitcher-full to Easter at my Sisters? I’ll let you know. I’m already in charge of a Coconut Dip (with cookies) and those Whiskey Glazed Carrots everyone in the family loves so much!
So happy you shared your Serviceberry story; I love a Happy Ending. :)
Chickadees are the sweetest birds. I hope Mama Bird has a successful brood for you this season. :)
One of my all time faves. A classic!
Yes, we have used those (pleated cellulose filters). They filter pretty well, but load up rather quickly with those “fibrous” particles and “mud”, after heavy rains. Then, if one doesn’t stay on them (the filter), so to speak, the water pressure will tear the cellulose material. That’s why I was thinking some sort of polypropylene cloth, IF that’s what’s used in the filters I found online, might be useful, esp. if it really is “washable”. (I’m also going on the theory that our slightly acidic water may, given weeks, break down the bonds between the fibers in the cellulose material. Whatever the cause, the material seems “weak” when I pull out a used cellulose filter.)
As I have learned, shallow wells in areas of heavy clay soils can be “problematic”. My guess is that our well taps the very top of an eons old sandbar or gravel deposit from the Ohio River, but not deeply enough, so, heavy rains wash muddy water down there before it can get well (pun not intended!) filtered. When I had the basement built below my shop, muddy water would leak (more like “run”) into the “hole” in the ground from its sides, about 5-10 ft. down, and well up from where the floor eventually went. In fact, out in our garden, the water table is presently about 1 foot down. (The sump pump in the basement still runs a lot, and the heavy rains are several days past.)
At least we are a few miles away from the river and any reach of the projected flooding.
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