Should Have Stayed in Bed

Well, I'm sure you've all had those days, when you should have just stayed in bed. Friday was mine.

Our 40' container was going to be delivered, and per the company that sold the thing to us, they'd call us when the driver left Miami. That would have given us a 4 hour window. Well 9am rolls around, and since I hadn't heard from them, I called. "Oh we're sorry Ma'am, he left really early this morning, and he'll be there in an about an hour and a half". We dropped everything and ran out to the compound. I get a phone call from the driver. His first statement; "do you speak Spanish?". I knew I was in trouble. You see, I can count to ten, and from there, I might as well move to another planet. He hung up on me, and called his office, which in turn called me only to ask me for directions from a road next to my home in Orlando. The container company gave them the bill to address and not the ship to address. We had to wait another hour for him to show up. With that said, the container arrived, it's huge and in place!

We decided that since the driver was so late, and we missed a better part of our normal work day, we'd get a couple of other projects finished. We had our cooler in the back of the unlocked car. After I got out a cold drink, shut the cover, I shut the hatch. The car automatically locked itself. I'm not kidding. There we were, and you could hear the thing lock itself, and then the alarm went off. We were sunk! No keys, and especially no cold water. I did have my cell phone.

I called my Mom and Dad, who dropped everything, and stopped at our house to pick up another set of keys. They could not find the other set, they were in my purse, in the locked car at the compound. You can see where this is going. After a few more phone calls, my parents were off to the car dealer, where they purchased a new key, brought it out for us, and yahoo! we were back in business. What a hassle! I'm glad my parents now live in Florida and not back in Wisconsin.

I spent Sat. morning at the local nursery, learning all I can on Mango trees. It's amazing how much you don't know when you go to one of these workshops. My hubby spent Saturday moving stuff into the container, and building some shelving. Saturday, thank goodness was much less eventful.

Rain Catchers

Well, we're trying different things out to help gather and store rain water. Since we can't use the water from the canal or from the well, we need to find an alternative plan.

We have a pond builder coming out in the next week or so, to dig our water catching pond. We hope to have it completed, as we near the busy part of the rainy season. We live in FL and usually we don't ask for rain this time of year. I'll be praying for it, so it can fill the pond. A pond 15x40x3' holds about 18k gallons of water, and my hubby decided today to make it even larger. I need a lot of rain!

Here's a picture of what the hubby tried, and it works. 4 posts, and a tarp. We've gathered nearly 75 gallons in the past week or so. We could easily expand on this idea, and likely will. It's one project at a time. We seem to get one done, and then add two more to the list. Oh well, that's life and we're loving every sweaty minute of it!

Clearing for Container

Well, we got one of two projects done this past weekend. It was just too darn hot to do much more. The heat index was over 105 degrees, and it seemed like the humidity was at 100% or better. For Darryl it was a 6 t-shirt day. He literally went through 6 t-shirts on this project. His nickname is the Moose. If you've ever watched him work, you'd understand why.

We had to clear a section of the property and level it off, so we can place a 40' storage container. Darryl decided to clear off another section next to it, just because. It's not as easy as it might look. Trees needed to be cut out, trunks and roots removed, then add in the vines, and thorny bushes, and it makes for a long hot day. We had some help towards the end from our neighbor Paul and his box blade/tractor leveling off the area with some fill dirt we had on site.

Two weeks from now, we're having a pond dug, which we'll use to catch and hold rain water for the garden. We hope to get to digging post holes for the garden and chicken coop in the next few weeks. It'll be a short weekend of work for us coming up as our daughter is coming home for a few days before she's off to Spain for the Fall semester.

Best wishes for a great week!

R & R

We took this past weekend off, for a bit of R&R. We spent the weekend in Ellijay, GA, in a mountainside cabin. It was awesome. I have a link on the side, should you want more info.

Now for this weekend... I think we'll tackle cutting out a section of brush, so we can place a much needed 40' storage container. We'll be able to house our larger and more expensive equipment. It seems each project requires a new piece of equipment, and it all needs someplace to go. We're also going to work on our rain catching system. A bit of trial and error, to make it just right. I'll keep you posted. Have a safe and happy week.

It Is ALIVE!

For those that have kept up, we have been having issues with what turns out to be a high concentration of salt in our water. It actually has stopped the growth of our new apples, pear and peach trees and blueberry bushes. They were pathetic. I fertilized them two weeks ago, and we started bringing out fresh water from home. What a nice surprise today! All but one apple tree has totally new growth. I can sleep better tonight.

Road Block, I Mean Water Block

Well, we had a well drilling company take a look at our situation, and unfortunately the content of salt in our ground water is too high for the garden and animals. Since neither of us is very good at taking no for an answer, we're on to plan B; dig a pond, and build a rain catching system. Both of which are totally OK, and way less costly than the well, and filter system we were planning on. *Sometime in the near future, the county will be bringing in "city" water. I won't hold my breath, since most municipalities are running with no money as it stands. Until then, time to build some more character, I mean muscles!

Are We Becoming Rednecks?

My question to you is; are we becoming rednecks?

*We bought a piece of property on a dirt road, completely surrounded by nature, and occasionally we can hear someone off in the distance having target practice. We've been known to let off a few rounds ourselves.

*We no longer care about the Jone's, or Smith's or whomever. We're living our life the way we want to. So family and friends, get over the fact that I AM GOING TO GET CHICKENS. The coop is here, and we've got the fence posts marked.

*We've decided to get back to a simpler life, not necessarily easier. We're reading up on gardening, composting, and canning. All of which are really making a comeback. I'm not sure if that's because this country is out of money, or others want a life filled with homegrown veggies that have no pesticides. Whatever the reason, there is great personal reward when a project has been completed with your own two hands. I really need a manicure!

*Fresh air and sunshine do make for a redneck, farmer tans and bug bites. Other than the bug bites, the sunshine and fresh air are wonderful.

So what do you think? Are we becoming rednecks?