Gardening Season has Begun

 

Yes I am violating my own rule and actually starting early this year. Not for any of my new seedlings or anything like that yet but my plan was to get my corn and potatoes in the ground today and covered with a fresh layer of hay. I didn't quite make that goal as my new roofer/handiman guy called and asked if he could work this morning so I spent a couple of hours making sure he was competent, capable and above all safe as he walked around on the barn roof and one of my other outbuildings that have been exclusively my domain for decades now.

As near as I can tell he did an excellent job and I limited myself to routine chores around where he was working just to be near if needed. The wind has been picking up all day and now just at dusk is coming in it is blowing at about 18 MPH  I hear no more loose panels or banging at all. He managed to correct the loose panels easily. I will be hiring the guy again soon and I told him as much as I have plenty of little jobs to get done but my next project is to get my old wood furnace moved now and either replace the decking I installed it some 15 years ago or get rid of it completely. I haven't decided which yet.

So I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the garden at a very slow pace I will admit. I am currently putting a new layer of hay down and I discovered I am no longer able to tip 5 foot haybales onto their sides by myself any longer but I did get everything else ready and moved the sheep out of the West pasture so tomorrow I can take my Lummax inherited dog out with me and let him run while I work. He is actually pretty well behaved with the goats but not so much with the sheep. 

I also discovered I have a new skunk that was under one of my smaller machine sheds and another new cat. I searched for kittens, to make sure she doesn't have a nest somewhere but found none thank the Lord but I am pretty sure the new cat is a young female so that problem needs to be addressed soon. It's been a few years since I have had a new drop-off cat but that was always a constant problem during the last great depression if 08 to 2012. This one was a very cute longer haired black cat so if I do not have any kittens to worry about I can probably get her spade and a new home pretty quick. She also was not too frightened and had obviously already made friends with our own cats so my bet is she is adoptable and  that someone just left here recently. Not feral or wild but scared to be alone.

Long about 10Am or so the wife finally showed back up, having went to breakfast with my dad. They don't even attempt to invite me because I am not impressed with the little local place they go for breakfast and I am even less impressed with the  little twit that claims he owns the place. I give it a year at best which is a shame because it is an excellent profit location but suffers from dumb ass owner syndrome like so many small restaurants end up. The funny part was my wife showed up madder than the old donkey used to get when I threw her in the pond as a kid.

That donkey hated me. 

My wife had experienced her first morning needing gas while all the new locals decided to show up at once before they went shopping in town or something. She is almost 100% shielded from that joy as I usually keep her car gassed up and she hasn't actually needed to leave the house for 6 or 7 years anyway when she decided she was done working.  When she does actually go somewhere it is with a local friend who comes by and picks her up or with me and it is usually not until afternoon so she misses the going to work crowd and the weekend crazies but today since she let me sleep in a bit it was all her show.

Man was she hopping mad that she faced a 30 minute line to get gas in her car :)

The truth is she doesn't even know how much easier it is now. I should have forced her out in this mess last Fall when these new immigrants started moving here and she accused me of being a grumpy old man when I complained about em.

As I have mentioned before the differences in the locust plague activity and traffic around here is like a Winter storm compared to a spring drizzle now. I still haven't had one motorcycle event while mowing at all this Spring. I am in heaven again. 

My sheltered wife has taken to screaming loudly at the news and complaining but when I finally point out it was voters like her that allowed this to happen she clams up quick. I think she has finally seen that I have always been right but is still too proud to admit it but she knows better than to argue about it now.

Anyway after running around my parking lots Friday I just had little stamina left for this afternoon but I started the garden and plan on finishing the first round of planting tomorrow. I will be honest the hardest apart about things these days it is just more effort to walk and wears me out fast but I am sure I will be in much better shape after a few more months of Spring/Summer type work I got lazy over the Winter.

 

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!