Saturday, June 6, 2015

Lots of Things Going On on the Farm

Well, first, let's get the weather out of the way:  It is still raining every couple of days so no hay down yet.  I have windows open this morning to enjoy the cool 64° but will soon have to close them and enjoy the AC.  It will be very humid after the 3/4 inch rain we got late yesterday afternoon.

We have had a hectic couple of weeks and for us it is a culture shock.  We are so used to the quiet house with just the two of us.....cooking only when we want and sitting down when we want.  First we had the 6 young people as guests which definitely meant cooking (a lot) and very little sitting.  The last left last Friday.

That was a very busy day.  The carpenter came in the afternoon to work on the porch so he was here.  Then the AC had been acting up and the serviceman came.  In the meanwhile our KC granddaughter texted that she and her Dad would stop by from Oklahoma City for a short visit.  She had been playing softball in a tournament.  Max was out brush hogging  and he doesn't hear the cell phone with the tractor running......Now I have the AC man,  the carpenter, and SIL and GD here.  Finally Max comes in and is shocked to see them.  He had been talking  to the AC man even though he saw their car......said he thought they were sure paying them well these days and it didn't occur to him whose car it was.  They drive a Toyota SUV.   He  had probably even forgotten they were in Ok.

The next day the fencing boys came and he once again at the far back of the farm  cutting brush.  I didn't know the details of some of the fencing project so I got on the ATV  and drove back only to find he had a padlock on the blasted gate and hadn't given me a key!  He has corrected that little error now.  I finally got him and we got the boys lined out.  They replaced the fence behind the cellar and are redoing the chicken yard and part of the garden fence.  So far, they are doing a bang-up job and we are very pleased.  They are just out of high school so we were doubly impressed.  The head man came by and told us we could be safe in their hands....it seems he was right.

This is the new west entrance to the garden:



This is standing inside  the garden; the left gate is into the yard and the right is into the new (when finished) chicken yard.

The garden has never had a back or northern fence and often animals would come in this way.  Now we will have a new fence  so the garden will be entirely animal proof (except of course for the normal farm varmints that climb)

This will start at the shop building and run west to meet the chicken yard fence.

They think they will finish this job by Monday.  Max has several repair fencing jobs for them.  We think they will be available for at least a week while their boss is out of town.

Now the other project of the screened in porch:  It drives me crazy; he is doing a fine job but works only half days every other day.  I swear I don't see the sense in working this way.  Why not just tell each party when they can start and finish the job in hand.  Instead they are working three jobs concurrently!

This is the new vinyl flooring over very wavy concrete:



The framing was started yesterday before the rains drove him away.







Of course now he won't be back until Monday afternoon.

A few more poppies have opened, a lavender and an orangey red one:
 

 

I have three loaves of bread going so all for now....

8 comments:

  1. My goodness Glenda ~ Things have been hectic there at the farm, and all kinds of projects being worked on. I look forward to seeing your finished screened porch. Love your poppies and the thoughts of homemade bread has my mouth watering.

    Have a nice weekend ~ FlowerLady

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    1. A little too hectic forme! But I do want these things done so I have to bear with it.

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  2. I wish I had your team working here!!! That is lots of wonderful progress. At least the fence posts may drive easy with the amounts of rain we have had.

    Where did you find your red poppies? Mom used to have a huge bed of them but we have lost them all. I have not looked on line but could not find any at WalMart. They are beautiful.

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    1. Gail all my poppies are cross breeds originally from seeds for a very double dark red, an Imperial Pink and I just saved seeds or they dropped seeds and each year I get something different.

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  3. We've had trouble with our AC too, and the repairman out the same day that Spike was to come out and replace the belt on the zero-turn riding mower. Spike brought DIL and there was nothing either of us could do but get in the way, so we had a nice visit, just her and me. I had baked a cake and it was in the freezer so I got that out and made iced tea. She and Spike love cake. So. AC's running, turned out it blew a gasket at the new A-Coil, which was a manufacturing defect so all we had to pay was the $70 service call and didn't have to pay for the replacement of the freon that had leaked out. Spike got the new belt on the mower and I (privately) made Hubs promise not to use the mower to spread wood chips. I think if Spike knew he'd been abusing his mower in that way he would've been so ticked off at him that he wouldn't have fixed the mower. No, Hubs will never grow up. There's a new heat pump coming out in the fall that's 14 seer and uses the new freon that runs 20º colder or warmer, depending on your setting, so it's more efficient and will result in lower electric bills. Our A-coil has already been replaced and it is made to operate with either the old or the new freon. Our heat pump is 13 years old now and has had a hard life, so we will probably change over when our AC guy's schedule settles down. He is busy, busy right now.

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  4. So really glad you are having good luck with the fencing/boys. And the jobs your showing are looking quite excellent. Hope they can get as much done as you would like this season. The fencing around the garden should make things better/more organized/more protected. I HATE workmen who won't just finish a job then move on. How can they think about one project while 3 others are on their minds and they are always on the phone with even more prospects. Lousy lousy lousy work habits. I will be interested to see how long that vinyl flooring over concrete will last. NO KEY for you. What WERE they thinking. LOL Looks like some good rain coming here tonight/tomorrow. Hope it doesn't all break apart before getting here. We could use a soaker.

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  5. What beautiful poppies, and what beautiful FENCE !!! :)

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  6. Glenda,

    Wow.....lot's of company, like you I enjoy having a quiet home.
    It's great to see projects getting done with added help at your place.
    That outside porch is going to look pretty, I be you can't wait to use it.

    Beautiful poppies!

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