Too Good to Be True and Give a Man a Fish

Crazy title right?!

The Moose and I decided to give the deck and camper a break this weekend and get to work on the garden. It's really late in starting, but we've had so much rain, even trying to walk in the garden was impossible. So we planted our starter plants (started at home from seed); tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. We also planted from seed; beans, peas, squash, pumpkin, popcorn, watermelon, radishes, lettuce, and spinach. We'll see if our growing season is long enough this year, because we had frost/freeze nights last November. While I was tilling, the Moose cleaned out the strawberry patch. It seems that everything was overrun by grass and weeds. What a pain! Thank goodness we had 80% of the garden covered with black sheeting, otherwise, we'd basically have to start over. One thing about our strawberries, which I know isn't something they do south of here in Plant City, but we need to shade ours or they burn out. We had a tarp over them for the past 6 months or so, and they really took off. So the Moose and I decided to splurg on some material that would let the rain through, and some of the sun. Giving them the best of both worlds.

Now when I say too good to be true; I was attacked by the General! There I was with my back turned, filling up their feed container, and all of a sudden, attack of the killer rooster! I was so shocked. I grounded them all for the rest of the day. That'll show'em! Probably not, but it made me feel better anyway.

Finally, "give a man a fish"; I'm not sure how it happened or where they came from, but we have fish in our handmade, fully lined, no where near any other water, and the only fresh water for miles, pond! Hundreds of little suckers, of which I could pick out 3 different types. What they are exactly, who knows. But we have fish. Was this an attempt by God to provide us with fish, because we haven't had time to fish and need to, or was he laughing at our overall fishing skills? Either way, it made us laugh, and when you work your tail off like we do, you really need to laugh! They are too small, so I couldn't get a photo, but here's a cool panoramic of one angle of The Compound.

Raising the Roof

The roof is on! Woohoo!

We finished staining and adding the roof to the deck. Just in time too, as it started to rain, just as the Moose put the last screws in. It looks awesome, and does the job. Next is the screen and doors. Mowing was out, too much rain.

Lucy, our fashionista, was sick this week. We thought we were going to lose her on Thursday. Lethargic, and not behaving like a normal chicken. The Moose ran and got her some meds (Tetracycline), added to their water, and the next day she was much better, and by Saturday back to her sassy self. Actually she's not sassy at all, she's easy to handle, but like Lucy of greater fame, has her head in the clouds most of the time. We'll keep them on the meds until the middle of this next week. The Moose also picked up a mosquito repellent for farm animals. We've had soooooo much rain, that the blood thirsty pests swarm everywhere. It's safe for them, and their bedding, and made a huge impact on their living conditions. The Hooligan's were great fun again this weekend!

The large alligator was back again this weekend, along with 2 of his buddies. They spent the better part of Saturday, hanging around watching the Moose and I working on the deck.

Have a great week!

He Can Move Mountains!

I have to dedicate this weeks blog to the Moose! I have never in my life known anyone, or seen anyone, lift and/or move heavy objects like he can. That's how he got the nickname The Moose to begin with. Three guys on one end, the Moose on the other, and the Moose's end did the majority of the work, while the three pansies on the other end cried about how heavy it was. It's the same at the Compound. Except I don't cry about how heavy it is, I don't get a chance. He just moves it, or lifts it! He's amazing!

We had one of those long weekends, where we worked from sunup to sundown both Saturday and Sunday and another half a day on Monday, and wonder what we got accomplished. It's that everything we seemed to do was tedious and time consuming; drilling holes, cutting out notches, measuring, re-measuring, nailing in boards by hand, staining wood, etc. We're both tired and sore. But here's the latest photo of the deck. We have the roof and screening yet to install.

We also had help cleaning up the deck.

We had a guest show up at the Compound this weekend. Unfortunately, it was an unwanted guest. I'd say he was between 12 and 14 feet long, and he was on the hunt. He made me so nervous, I got out the handgun, and kept a vigilant eye on the Hooligans. This guy if given half the chance would eat me for dinner! Not the greatest photo, but here he is.

One of the nice things about having the camper refurbished is, it's suitable for our Senegal parrot Sunny to join us on the weekends. He enjoys the car rides, and watching the Hooligans in the yard from his window. We've had him around for 17 years, and is loved by all of those able to keep their fingers away from his cage.

Have a good week!