What a day - things went wrong

You know the old saying - if something can go wrong, it will. Yeah, I got the T-shirt today. 

I had a few chores to do. First up - vacuum the floors to get up the dog fur. The Dyson cordless threw a fit. It simply had no sucking power. I took it apart and couldn't find a clog, put in a new air filter, and it still wouldn't work. I've only had it a bit over a year, so I'm pissed off about it. It's time to ditch Dyson and try another brand. I had to use the old corded upright I keep in the laundry room to de-fur the living room.  

Next on the list - tidy up the garden. It's the time of year when the maple seeds are flying, so it's get the leaf blower and blow off the woven weed fabric. That went well until I treated the baby pepper plants to a brief tornado. (time to put the blower away)

The heat pump sits just outside my office on the north side of the sunroom. Every spring I need to weed the area and then spray weed killer. We put down a tarp and then a thick layer of clean crush run (gravel), and it will stay tidy now. Did I mention I inadvertently sprayed one of my sneakers?

I got the John Deere x370 to tidy up along the edge and then, although not planned for today, mowed the front yard. Then I decided I'd better fill the gas cans. I called Deuce and we headed for the nearest filling station. I filled the cans and one of them sprung a leak. At $3.12 a gallon, this was not good. I rushed home and transferred the contents of the can into whatever I could find - a temporary solution until I can get a new can. 

Aaaand of course Deuce turned stubborn. Once we were back home, he refused to get out of the pickup. He wanted to go for another ride, and I was not in the mood. I had to literally climb in the back seat and push him out. 

Then I needed to make a pit stop and the toilet kept running. This was a step over the line for the day. I closed the intake valve and I will deal with it tomorrow.

If I even get out of bed tomorrow.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, John Deere x370, black Lab Retriever, Colorado pickup, gas cans, rural living, weeds, procrastination, home repairs

Will this be a Herculean task?

Our shed was the domain of the Lord of the Manor. I stored gardening "stuff" in the space he allotted me, but the shed was his Man Cave. I paid just enough attention to be able to find any items I needed and I kept my mouth shut. Now it's my shed alone and I say it needs to be organized. 

So many things are clustered down low so he could reach them. I understand that. He did rather well in finding work-arounds to his mobility issues. Now it's up to me to sort through and organize it all. 

This will be a Herculean task. There are over thirty years of accumulation of tools, implements, and equipment in the shed. He kept a lot of things because he knew how to repair them - but he never did. I need to test everything to make sure it works. New shelving is needed, and it seems I need to obtain a good assortment of pegboard hooks. The space between the studs can be better utilized, too, as shelves for smaller items I may want to keep handy. Heck, I may even scrounge up some white paint for a few areas. 

It's going to be a big job, but in the end, I'll have a space I can work in. I may even be able to store the X370 inside year-round instead of under the carport in the summer. We'll have to see if that works. 

I'd like to say I can complete this job in an organized manner, but I know better. It will be accomplished quite haphazardly, a little here, a little there, and back again. In the end, it'll get done and I hope he would approve. Actually, I know he would. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, organization, garden sheds, life after loss, rural living, country lifestyle. a writer's life, women alone, shelving, tools, equipment, John Deere x370

My favorite part of spring

The daffodils are in full bloom! It's my favorite time of spring. I've spent years planting daffodil bulbs all through the woods and all over the manor, and it's beginning to pay off. Down in the lower forty, there are blooms scattered about, enough that I can see the areas I need to plant this year. 

Planting daffs in the woods may seem silly. Flowers need sunlight to thrive! In early spring, the trees still need to put out leaves. The daffs get plenty of sunshine. 

I'm getting older and smarter, too. Yesterday, I was giving the lane its spring tidying with the John Deere 1023 tractor, so I took a moment to drag the backhoe bucket through the trees to make a little trench. When I separate the largest daffodil clumps, I'll have a place to drop the bulbs and dirt to cover them. My knees will be grateful. Shoveling can be hard on them. 

There are more annual chores to be accomplished. The mobile lawnmower repair man is due to arrive today to change the oil, put in a new spark plug, sharpen the blades, and if necessary, put in a new air filter. I paid a good price for the John Deere x370 mower and I like to keep it serviced. 

I hope the daffodils are still blooming at the end of this week when the Lord of the Manor will return home from his stint in a care facility. It's anyone's guess if he'll get to see them next spring. 

In the bulb there is a flower

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;

in cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!

In the cold and snow of winter there's a spring that waits to be, 

unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There's a song in ev’ry silence, seeking word and melody.

There's a dawn in ev’ry darkness, bringing hope to you and me.

From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,

unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;

in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.

In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,

unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, John Deere 1023, John Deere x370, daffodils, care facility, In the bulb, country lifestyle, rural living, end of life

Growing ginger and general grumpiness

Growing ginger is easy, or so the plant gurus on YouTube said. Well, okay. I'll give them that. It was pretty easy to get it growing. I went to the grocery, selected a piece of ginger that had green nubs on it, and stuck it in the dirt. It grew.  

I don't bring a lot of plants inside in the fall, but I brought in the ginger. It now looks sickly. At the same time, it has new shoots coming up. I'm befuddled. I'm also tempted to cut it back and see what happens. 

Maybe wanting to cut off the ginger is just part of my general grumpiness this morning. It's a balmy 25F/-4C at the moment. I checked the hourly forecasted temps and it looks like all I can hope for this afternoon is 47F/9C. And of course, I need to bring in a tractor bucket or two of firewood today. I'd like it to be about 57F, but as Mick and the boys say, you can't always get what you want. 

I also need to hop on the John Deere x370 mower and make one last pass over the lawn to chop up the remaining leaves. Then there is the new story I'm working on. I'd like to have time later today to work on it a bit. "They" say write first and then do chores, but I'm living in the real world here. If it is to be it is up to me. I no longer have the luxury of a helpmate. 

So I'm grumpy. I don't expect to get over it any time soon. Spring is 115 days away. 

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, ginger plants, firewood, leaves, John Deere x370, rural living, country lifestyle, grumpy, a writer's life, 

The days go by fast

I'm happy to have completed a six-week stint filling in for the young woman who took my position when I retired. She's been on maternity leave and I was asked to help keep the office afloat. It was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be, but now it's in the past. I posted a bit about it over on my writing blog, Between the Keys. The bottom line is that I'm delighted I can return to my real life here at Holly Tree Manor. 

Even with spending time back on the job, I managed to get a few things accomplished. The gardening season finished and firewood season began. The firewood for the 2024-25 winter got a big boost when I hired a service to take down the leaning maple. That maple had been leaning since 2003 when Hurricane Isabel hit us. 

The Mad Canner was busy, too. I made and canned apple pie filling and curried apple chutney, plus chicken and beef broth for the pantry. 

Autumn is waning and we're drifting toward winter. The nights have really cooled down and I've had the woodstove burning. We get some rather wide temperature swings this time of year so I need to pay attention to the weather forecast to balance using the woodstove with cycling the heat pump. On sunny afternoons, I don't need either one. 

I don't mind the changing of the seasons. There is beauty in each one, and each brings a set of chores to be done. Yesterday, I worked in the woodyard for about an hour and a half, then hopped on the X370 John Deere mower to chop leaves. This time of year the leaves are a never-ending task, but I can't let them smother my poor grass. I estimate I'll need to mow the leaves two, possibly three, more times, and the leaf blower will get a workout, too. I don't mind that job, either. I love being outside. 

Dawn has passed and there is blue sky overhead. It's time to join the Lord of the Manor for morning coffee and to find out if he's feeling up to helping me any today. I'll get more rounds cut if he's on the tractor using the brush crusher to lift and hold them for me. But I can do it by myself if necessary.

That's one of the things living in the country has taught me. It is up to me. 

The Lady of the Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, firewood, John Deere x370, John Deere 1023, autumn, country lifestyle, rural living, empowered women, home food preservation, apple pie filling, a writer's life

It gets green in the woods

Brush piles happen. 

We are never without dead brush that needs to be burned. Air pollution, you cry! So are airplanes, I say! If you can pollute on your way to exotic vacations, I can burn brush. Didn't think of that, did you? 

My house and yard are an oasis surrounded by woods, which are part of my property. For many years the southwestern corner was designated as our "wilderness" area or sort of a bird sanctuary. Unfortunately, the local critters have become too comfortable being too close to the house. We've been waging a war with the local raccoon and we decided his cover has to go. We are cleaning up the wilderness area. 

This job wouldn't be possible if we hadn't gotten the Brush Crusher. The grapple is able to lift and carry large pieces of downed trees and drop them directly on the burn pile. It's amazing.  How different the manor would look if we'd had the tractor and grapple twenty-five years ago before cancer first entered our lives and his health began to decline. 

Google Earth view

But there is little to be gained wishing the past to be different. We are here today and we do what we can today. I look out the windows of my sunroom office and am amazed at the transformation taking shape after only two days. I'm very happy with it. We still need to do a little weed-whacking and move some large rocks to the stone fence, but it will get done. One of us will take the old Husquvarna mower in for a finer chopping of small sticks. This fall, I'll sow a lot of deep shade variety grass seed and see what we get in the spring. We'll finish our shooting range, but that's for another blog entry. 

The manor has long had a park-like feel to it, and this will add to our enjoyment of the property. Well, it won't make Rocket the Raccoon very happy to get the eviction notice, but I don't care. 

Take that! you little varmint!  

Or should we thank him for giving us the motivation to clear that section of the manor so WE can enjoy it? 

Nope. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor