Editing my book; Planting an Aspen; Moving April.

This weekend is a little less intense than last weekend when I was busy rebuilding our fence. Still lots of fence to repair, but that will hold for another weekend. Here is another look at the fence. So proud of it, but will love it even more when I get some paint on it.

Front pasture fence

This weekend I focused on editing my first book. I am about 1/2 way through, meaning I have 70 more pages to do. Then it is off to another editor to see if I am getting there. I will reveal what it is about in one of my later blogs where I will be starting another site that will be an author site. So stay tuned. I’m excited, but also somewhat afraid. This is new to me and a bit scary.

In other news, I planted an Arbor Day Tree. An Aspen. It’s a little twig, but I got a little water bed for it to be cradled in and it will be automatically watered through our dry summers, so I hope it will help it make it though. I put it in the front horse pasture as it is a fast growing tree and the horse can use a little more shade. My understanding is that it will grow about 5 ft. a year, and that’s pretty fast. So we will see. Here is a photo of it  snug in it’s little water bed.

Baby Aspen Tree

I have another one to plant, but the wind blew it over, so it is recovering. If it survives, it will get planted sometime this week, in another pasture.

Now the third photo I have is of a weed/plant/tree that is growing beside my front porch. It’s not going to stay there, but I was hoping someone may be able to identify what it is. It is on one stalk but is branching at the stop. It’s not a maple tree as I know what those are, and it may just be a weed, but if you can help, I would greatly appreciate it.

Weed or Tree or Good Plant or Bad Plant? Can you identify it?

It has been a gorgeous day, but my weekend is almost over and it’s back to the real world tomorrow.

I hope you are enjoying the spring. My favorite time of the year.

Annie, the Aspen Whisperer

 

Phase One of the Fence is done

This is day two of my fence project. Started at about 12:30 and ended at 5:00. Whew, that made for a long day as I had a writing class this more. Love that class, but more on that another time. Back to the fence.

The hardest part is getting all the stuff out of the shop, like the drill; reciprocal saw; extension cords; level; nails; pry bars; post-hole diggers; tape measure; and that do-hickey that pounds the dirt around the posts. Just doing all that made me tired.

The easiest thing I had to do today was take out two posts that were rotted in the ground, that was the easy part, they just pulled out of the ground and left the rotted part in the ground. Then came the hard part, digging that rotted mess out. This was a pound with the do-hickey, get on your knees, clean the mess out, then repeat, and repeat 10 more times.

Then it was a matter of cutting boards, that was done by the Boss and saw-man. (Oh, and he was already tired from mowing the two pastures). But he didn’t complain, much.

I will tell you I have developed quite a dead-on right arm swing. Yes, I did it the old-fashioned way with a hammer and nails. Not very good with those nail guns. Besides I need the exercise.

It is a four board fence now where it used to be a three board fence, but we wanted to make sure Kinzie couldn’t go underneath. Though she is pretty good about hanging around the house. Just not taking any chances, she is our world.

Now for some photos:

This is from left to right. Some old boards and some new boards used.

This was picking up where I left off yesterday.

Another shot looking west toward the driveway.

This is panning more to the west and the first two tall posts were the ones I replaced today. That second one was a booger. The white boards were left over from when I built the other fence 4 years ago. The boss never throws anything away.

This is the fence that keeps Kinzie in her back yard. We did that about 4 years ago just before we moved into the house.

Just a preview of what I intend to do to the fence we just built. My plan is to paint it white like the one above. It was easier four years ago, as I had time to paint the boards before building it. This time I didn’t have the luxury as it was becoming a safety issue with keeping April in her pasture.

So now you know what is on my to-do list this summer. Painting and more painting.

Though tomorrow, I have to catch-up on weed-eating. Lots and lots of weed eating. The weather has been gorgeous the last couple of days and the grass has just jumped out of the ground. More fun for me.

Oh, yeah, you might be wondering what I bribed the boss with today. That would be a Big Mac meal. Whatever works, I say.

Annie, with her bottle of Excedrin

PS Thanks for reading my blog. 🙂

 

 

Bribery and Fencing

via Bribery and Fencing

Bribery and Fencing

Well, I have stooped to bribery to get some fences done. Yes, I know, it’s not a good thing, unless you like waffles.

That’s what the price of being the saw-man on this fencing project requires before he will assist me in rebuilding/repairing our front pasture fence. You know how obsessed I am with getting those fences done this year. The part we are repairing is 30+ years old so I would say it’s about time. It’s a good thing April isn’t an escape artist, but we would like to get her a companion and that will require a sturdier fence than we now have.

So I took a couple of days off to work on it. Maybe not the way most people would like to spend their vacation time, but for me its great. So here are some photos I took:

This was taken in March 2018. The black walnut tree which was cut down behind April and the fence needing repair in front of her.

Walnut tree is gone, but fence still needs repairing

Now for this week.

Had the boss move his tractor so we could begin.

This is a shot from the front porch but can’t get a good look at the fence with all the stuff in front of it.

The boss on his mower. It would make a good bronze. What do you think?

Getting there. A little section done

Now for Kinzie the inspector.

This doesn’t look very good, as it’s the part scheduled for demo and repair tomorrow.

Now comes the hard part tomorrow.  I have to remove the next two posts and replace them then continue the fence along until just past the water trough.

Hope I can get out of bed in the morning. I’m too dang old for this stuff. I have Excedrin, so I’m good. I wonder if tomorrow will cost me more waffles? Maybe for dinner as I have class in the morning, then working on the fence in the afternoon. The boss will be playing with his tractor and hopefully getting some pastures mowed.

Stay tune for more fun stuff tomorrow.

Annie, the waffle maker.