The Good Day All Thread

Thank you all for your support for my DH. One day at a time.
It’s cloudy cold and rainy out. Lots of spring flowers shining thru the fog this am. Sunshine this afternoon. Will need to check the pastures for gophers, voles and moles later this afternoon.

 

Currently 34°F 1°C, April showers arriving early I guess Rain, possibly mixed with freezing rain, becoming all rain after 11am. The rain could be heavy at times. High near 47. Northeast wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected.

 

Good Afternoon everyone, new kid on the block here so still fumbling around and finding my feet.

Have to admit to having been a bit of a lurker this past week so feel as if I become a little bit acquainted with some of you.

Wishing you all a lovely Saturday and healing hugs to those in need of some.

 

48 degrees … Overcast as the marine layer sets in. By afternoon should be a few sunny spots peeking thru the clouds.

 

Good Saturday morning. It's been a bit of a mad house here the last three weeks. We've been averaging three trips to town a week for the last three weeks. This week is town trip Monday, city Wednesday, then town Thursday and Sunday. Hopefully then things will slow down.

A neighbour called two weeks ago and the Forman from a logging company told them they were deactivating the logging road for spring, He said they had bucked up a large pile of dry pine with their Faller Buncher and that it would be available until the next morning, so to drive into the logging road and help ourselves. We had about two hours before it got dark. Hubby was able to drive the truck, and the neighbours and I loaded and brought home four trucks loads of large rounds for firewood. Half way through the first load my back tweaked, and after the fourth load it protested a lot. It's the first time I've had a back injury that has kept me uncomfortable and from sitting for any length of time - or laying...or standing....or breathing for that matter. Being laid up was not what we needed right now, but I'm hoping it will begin to improve more dramatically soon. I'm able to sit at the table for a bit now which is a step in the right direction.

In this time the internet went out again - I think from the frost heave receding that is beside the pole for the dish. It is back now - but not having reliable internet for three weeks while being a bit laid up was a good reminder of how we did things before it...like pay bills, look up phone numbers, recipes, stay in touch with the kids..... We've been a bit reliant so it is good to ground out without it from time to time.

Today is trying to catch up on some home care chores, and do things in small steps. I'm really happy to have to firewood, but it would have been a bit better to get it in stages Not a marathon. My body isn't built for marathons anymore.

 

Lurking…..So, you have something in common with runner beans then, Oreti?

 

Hoi Mel, so sorry to hear that you are down in the back. I have had that at this time as well. Yeah, bad news.
I hope that your internet will remain in a good state from now on. Folks here sorta miss you, y’know.

 

Please take care! In the end, your back and health are 1000% more important!

 

This is the time of year where garden injuries have taken a toll in recent years. Early spring is not much time to get in shape for the gardening season or lifting logs. I use a trash can with wheels to load small logs . Hope the logs you were lifting were smaller split logs. I don’t know how you do it, you’re always busy with many different labor intensive tasks.
Even though back injuries can be devastating, sometimes just walking on uneven ground for long periods of time gives the ole joints a bobble or two and sore for a few days. Just mowing the pastures has been challenging.
Hoping I can get the big tractor repaired this next week . It has shocks on the tires the small garden tractor is like riding in the buckaroo rodeo.
Sending healing blessing to Melody.

 

Good morning everyone, sending you a double dose of healing hugs @Melody Mc. , as a fellow dodgy back suffered I feel your pain. Take care.
My back seems to complain about most things these days....so debilitating, especially at this time of year as there's so much to do outside.

 

Good Sunday morning all. Currently -7°C and sunny. Its my last day of freedom, as I'm back to work tomorrow. Hopefully I don't end up like @Melody Mc. with a sore back! I had a look at the work I had to do last week, and I've got 100 acres of lawns, gardens and trails that needs a good cleanup! I'll try to ease into it slowly as to not pull anything.Only 4 more years until I can retire!
Went to a seed swap yesterday, and came home with some native plants as well as 4 more varieties of tomatoes. I thought I was buying roots, but once I opened the packages at home, I realized that the clay balls inside were probably full of seeds. Not too sure how to proceed with them now, I don't have anymore room inside to start them and the greenhouse isnt heated. I'm thinking that since these are all perennial that I could pot up and leave in the greenhouse and they should do ok ... thoughts? Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Today, I've got laundry and house cleaning to do, as well as this weeks meal prep.
Have a great day all

 

Well Netty, I did something like that a nmber of years ago now and it worked out oké.
What I did was this:
Made a little ball with a couple of seeds in it and let it dry-up. The balls I then threw them onto the side of RR track slope. Naughty, I know.

Some I kept for myself. I filled cells with a mix of my own potting soil, poked my finger in the middle and dropped the mini-ball into it and covered it. Then gave them a good soaking and put them into the greenhouse. I did not give them water again until they had germinated. I set them out into a little bed for the bees to enjoy.

it is what I did, I hope you will also have good luck.

 

Thank you for the kind words everyone. I loved the froggy wishes Sjoerd. I usually don't grumble about my ailments - but this one is allowing me to dip my toes into my pity pool. My Dad always said "Be kind to your back and knees - you'll miss them when they are gone" @Daniel W - you would have gotten along famously. We shall have a dodgy back commiseration @ Oreti.

Be mindful there @Netty ...Your retirement will enjoy your happy back Even energizer bunnies need some recharging and TLC.

I read an article last year about people making seed balls of wildflowers, for the purpose of naturalizing areas that needed flowers, such as Sjoerd mentioned along the train tracks. This lady casually dropped them around her town's light poles etc and eventually had lovely wildflowers in spots that had nothing before. I'd really like to know how that works out for you Netty.

We woke to a brisk -9 C, but the snow is still melting during the day. We now only have snow and ice in old berms and shaded areas. I'm trying to not look at the gardens until I know I can get out there, but it is hard. hahaha Our season's change so quickly once they decide to change.

This is a picture of my firewood prize....I'm still not entirely sure it was worth the ouch, ( I hear you Daniel )but next winter I hope it will feel worthwhile. Our woodshed holds ten cords in each bay and the goal is to have every bay full before mid summer so that the wood can dry and cure. In a normal cold and longish winter we will burn between 10 - 14 cords of wood. It's a home built home of additions that happened with life and worked around boulders that couldn't be moved, so it turned out in the end to be a Pana boat shape. It's a little tough to heat and for most of the winter just one woodstove runs, but during the real cold of -30 to -38 C all three can be going.

Hubby says the biggest rounds were 22 inches across. The rest are just a normal 12 - 14 inches. The neighbour helped me get them into the truck, then I stacked and unloaded them.





Hubby said this should give us about two rows in the woodshed. Only 10 more to go after that hahaha.

 

The pic of all the un-split firewood makes my whole body ache just looking at it…. One 12”x12” by one foot log section weighs approximately 50 to 60 pounds . Depending on the type of wood how green it is, or how wet-freshly cut.
That is more than a large bag of horse feed weighs 30 pounds. Yikes …‘Now you have to split it all? Hope you have a splitter to make the job easier. Oregon was a huge logging industry for years, have had a few loggers around who are amazing skilled lumber jacks know the trees in the forests like the back of their hands.
Good luck with stacking…

 

Thanks Pac Yes I do have a hydraulic splitter. Thank goodness. Hubby likes to be the stacker so that it all doesn't fall down ( I am a little height challenged and need a stool to reach the top - so I'm not very "accurate" with my stacking. ) So I split and he stacks.
This wood is dry pine - the bigger rounds are about 60 lbs. The splitter is tucked away still for winter, so I'm using a maul and sledge right now ( find a crack and small taps to split) to use some of this pine now rather than use the birch and fir that burn much hotter. The Douglas Fir that I'm getting next week when my son comes home will be a little more challenging to load but he is a good help. We may take a maul and split the rounds in half before we load them. Save both of our backs. And we will drop two dead standing Douglas Fir this summer when two other kids are home.

I look forward to the day that Hubby says he's tired of always getting firewood ( as I already am) and we convert one fire to a pellet stove. What a treat that will be.