Busy, Busy and a Surprise

Looks like I’ve missed a few days! Well I’ve had good reason, so let’s get started.

Monday my new DeWalt chop saw got here and I got it installed on the stand I already had (it got here last week sometime) and it is so cool! I haven’t actually used it yet but I have a growing list of projects in my head that I need to sort by priority and how much money/lumber they’ll take to get done. Things are going to be so much easier now than when I was using a circular saw to cut, my steps to elevate the wood, and my foot to brace the wood. The collapsible stand has wheels and extendable supports on it so not only can I cut really long pieces of wood I can roll it as close to the project site as necessary, limited only by the length of my heavy duty extension cord, lol.

Tuesday I spent the morning renting a truck, picking up twenty pieces of cattle panel and some T-posts from the local Tractor Supply, unloading it all at the house by myself, and then returning the truck. Then I went back to Tractor Supply to pick up the T-post clip tool and fence staples I forgot to get while I was there the first time. After I got the first panel attached to the 6×6 at the South end of the back fence line I started installing T-posts and hanging panels until it started raining, then I came in. While there was a break in the rain (I knew it wouldn’t be a long one) I set up my raised bed kit that I’m going to use for corn this year and filled it with dirt. I let it sit overnight so the rain could soak it.

Wednesday I ran down to Home Depot, picked up two of the Jack Daniels half-cask planters, a bottle of RoundUp Poison Ivy + Tough Brush Killer, a bale of wheat straw, and a framing nailer to help with projects. I went with Porter Cable this time because the DeWalt was $60 more expensive and didn’t even come with a coupler. When I got home I realized I’d used all the dirt I had left in the corn planter, so I went to the local Walmart for more dirt, some landscape cloth, and pavers to elevate the half-cask planters with. I put the corn in the raised bed, drilled drainage holes in the casks, stapled landscape cloth in the bottoms to keep the dirt in but let water out, filled them with dirt and put peanut seeds in them. I used the straw to mulch the corn and the peanuts (I’ll pull the mulch from the peanuts when they flower), re-seeded the area over the septic tank with Bermuda grass (it had to be pumped last year and most of my grass is fescue, which doesn’t spread to repair holes), and used the last of the straw to cover that so the birds wouldn’t eat it all again. So yeah, I’ve been a little busy.

Today I found birds rooting through the straw over the grass seed and had to shoo them off, I guess I’ll have to buy one of those bobble headed owls from Walmart next time I’m in there to keep them out of it. *sigh* Out of the blue I got a message on my “work” Facebook account from TreeSap of all people; she asked me out on a date. WTF? I messaged her back and told her she was insane and of course I’d never go out with someone who had her history of craziness in the relationship department and what was she thinking we’re going to see a movie next weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a proper date and maybe she’s matured a bit. It’s not like I’m marrying her or moving in with her, it’s dinner and a movie. If it goes beyond that then I’ll proceed with shields up and phasers on standby until I’m certain there won’t be any craziness. No need to worry about potential “baby momma drama” since after her last pregnancy (which very nearly killed her and the baby) she had permanent, non-reversible birth control implanted.

It’s been raining most of the morning. I was hoping to get more cattle panels installed along the back of the property but I might not be able to. I don’t mind getting a little wet but some of the ground in the next stretch is really mushy and I don’t have “chore” boots yet since I’m still new to the homesteading/mini-farming thing and I don’t have any animals; they’ll come next year. I’ll have chickens, bees, and rabbits, maybe a couple of geese and a turkey or two as well so holiday dinners will be covered. 😉

Somehow when I was going back to look for the entries I wanted to link to I navigated off my unsaved entry even though I was in another tab on the browser. Thank goodness the Diary Master included the save-as-you-type feature in this version of OD or I’d have had a fit.