Let The Fun Begin – May 26 & 27

One of the joys of my work is its schedule – I work on 2 or 3 nights, then have 2 or 3 days off.  This means that if I can schedule any given 2 or 3 work nights off I have a whole 7 calendar days off.  Sweet.  So on May 26 I started a work-free week.  Wednesday I came home from work about 7am, slept for 4 hours then got up and got to it.  The garbage is all out at the street, my double brazier is washed, repainted hi-temp BBQ black and ready for sale, the door tent peg loops on my 9x9x7 wedge are all sewn where I want them, the ‘Vous groceries bought, my packing list made and general house cleaning has been accomplished. 

Thursday morning I headed out to where Irish & Louise are boarded.  Both horses were having their hooves trimmed, then I groomed and washed both of them.  The last of the winter hair has now been brushed out, their manes have been  combed, their tails somewhat combed, they’ve got hoof stuff on their feet and bug spray on the rest of them.  Irish also has some pink Swat on his legs where the black biting flies have been giving him a hard time. 

Irish in his Winter Coat

Irish all combed out & freshly washed

Irish really really likes to be washed – he really is a waterboy !

Once I finished with the horses it was time to head home and pack up for the Shenandoah Longrifle Rendezvous at Belle Grove.  I had originally planned to get there by this evening but decided that the developing thunderstorms made it more sensible to go there Friday morning.

Make Lemonade

So this weekend last I had planned to visit my daughter Friday, go to D&D’s Saturday about noon and then attend a concert by Norman Kennedy with them on Saturday evening.  Except the Urchin ended up house sitting, which blew out Friday evening, and my checkbook informed me that it didn’t have enough funds to drive to metro DC and do the concert.  Not unless I wanted to run out of gas funds for the Belle Grove Rendezvous for which I have already registered and have time off for.  The extra trips to work for in-service training and range qualification ate the concert trip funds.  Bummer. 

So I made the best of being stuck at home.  The kitchen door, kitchen windows and my bedroom window have been cleaned, prepped and painted.  Double hung windows mean painting most of the window frame, then reversing the window positions and painting the rest of the frame once the first part sets up.  Lots of up and down the ladder.  And that’s after all the dead bugs, spider’s nests etc. have been cleaned out of the area between the storm windows and the double hung windows.  Its also nice if the indoor cats stay indoors and the outdoor bugs stay outdoors while all of this cleaning and painting is going on.  Plus its a good idea to make sure Paws-in-Trouble isn’t up on the roof before you remove the ladder or Paws can’t get down.  Yet somehow I got it all sorted out and the trim does look nice if I do say so myself.

The forsythia trimmings have also been disposed of, although the rain started up whenever I headed out to do more trimming on the bushes.  The metal bands on the 1812 canteen have been painted black.  The tips of my camp flag pole have also been painted black, although I haven’t decided what color to paint the rest of the pole yet.  The big wedge tent has its upright pole pin holes marked and 2 of its door tent peg loops relocated where I want them.  My respect for sail makers has increased ten fold.  Sewing through 3 layers of canvas and either 1 or 2 layers of cotton webbing is serious work ! 

Since all work and no play made for a dull day, I also watched Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki.  I’ve now got 7 of his animated movies and an evening with Miyazaki is always a pleasure.  Although I would have preferred an evening with D&D and Norman Kennedy, the lemonade wasn’t half bad.

Summer Is a Cummin In

Its official, its summer.  As I was sitting in my back yard watching the woods grow dark I saw fireflies.  Not many mind you, only about 6 of the little guys, but I definitely saw fireflies.   So its definitely summer.  This is the earliest I’ve ever seen lightening bugs in my yard by 2 full weeks in all the years I’ve lived here, I hope this doesn’t foretell a long hot summer. 

Projects Projects Projects

Well I got the truck’s oil changed and tires rotated, the library books returned and bought the thinner for the paint I’m using on the 1812 militia canteen.  Two more boxes of stuff have been sorted through, although why my Urchin packed up 19 empty 20 oz. spring water bottles is beyond me.  I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

The lawn has been mowed a second time and is looking good.

The grass clipping from the front yard have been put on the woods path in the back yard and the path cleared of green growing things.

The last of the downed cedar tree has been added to the bridge over the creek.

All of the trailers are now in the side yard.  The yard, aka Trailer Park, still has some brush to be trimmed out. 

The forsythia has been trimmed up too, all but the parts I need the ladder to trim.  It started to rain so finishing up the trimming and cleaning up the trimmings will have to wait.

Here’s the 1812 Virginia militia canteen.  Its not finished yet.  I need to put another layer of red paint on the back, even out some places on the star, paint the metal bands black, put the number “2” in black on the star and put the strap back on.

But its coming along nicely.  Once its done I’ll get a strap for my 1808 cartridge box and make the proper haversack for these accouterments. 

When I was a child the last thing in the world I ever wanted to do was to stay at home and care for a house.  Now I think that staying at home and working on the house, yard and hobbies sounds like a wonderful idea.  Plus spending more time with my friends.

Spring is for Allergies

So I intended to get seriously into painting my eves this weekend, but nature had other ideas.  I got the front eve cleaned and primed on Friday afternoon, (the back eve is already primed) but then Nature intervened.  Saturday was way too windy to be up on a ladder painting, I want the paint on the house and not on me !  So I went for a hike in the Ivy Creek Natural Area, my first one this year.  I painted the first coat of red on the 1812 canteen star and did the work on the dinning fly.  Now my dinning fly has short webbing loops with a steel ring at each corner and at the middle of both 10 ft. sides.   Had a grand time sewing on the fly out in the back yard under the trees.  I even had Paws-in-Trouble and Chipmunk providing Cat Union labor during the project, although mostly they seem to take union mandated breaks.  Sunday I woke up with a nose that wouldn’t stop running and a really nasty sinus headache.  It took until 1PM to get the headache under control.  Of course the rest of the day I was in that slightly dizzy time warp place allergy meds take you.  Trimmed up some more wood but stopped when it hit me I probably wasn’t in the best shape for using a sharp ax.  Painted a second coat of red on the 1812 canteen – painting straight lines while on allergy meds and a lot of coffee is a definite challenge.  Took a nap as per Cat Union rules.   So went the weekend.

N.B.  The blog is now current, new entries start with March 14th.

Its Time for a Breather !

I had the week off from April 28th until May 5th.  Being one who likes to make hay while the sun shines I put my stay-cation to good use.  The downed limbs from the winter in the side yard have been cleaned up with the little trashy parts gone, a wheelbarrow load and a half cut up and the rest limbed and ready to be cut up later.  The gutter from the front of the house is down and any loose nails in the eve and soffit have been fixed.  The lawn mower has been repaired and my yard ax sharpened (thank you very much Lewis).  The yard has been mowed !  And it only took 5.5 hours !  I was one tired puppy after that I’m here to tell you.  Both Louise and Irish have been seriously brushed, although their winter hair isn’t totally brushed out as yet.  The poles for my canvas dinning fly and big wedge tent have been fixed, new pins inserted as needed and fully painted.  The 1812 wooden militia canteen has been painted Prussian blue and the 8 point star laid out.  The flag pole for my lodge has gotten both its ends glued into place.  In my spare time I got the usual house chores of dishes, laundry, et al done.  And I still had time for a campfire or two out back and some woods walks.  Uufda !