A Boy and His Toy

I thought I would start this post with our equipment purchase.  We went back and forth in the decision making process as to whether we should buy a skid steer or a tractor.  We decided on a skid steer for a couple of reasons.  There is a second hand market in skid steers and there isn't much of one in compact tractors and Pat's brother Bruce has tractors, but no skid steer.  Also we decided it would handier for landscaping than a tractor.  We have had it about a week and Pat has been doing a little driving.  I will take the sticks (there are two I'm told) at some point but for now we need to get one of us reasonably competent.  For those who don't know, you drive with the lever and operate the bucket/snowblower with your feet.  It has a cab, heat for winter and air conditioning for summer so we will be in the lap of luxury.  
I must note how naive I was.  I had no concept of some of the uses for a bobcat.  We were getting organized to take the old cupboards to the dump, when Pat informed me that he was going to break them up to make it easier to transport them.  Silly me I thought he was going to use a hammer and elbow grease.

I did tell him to smile and wave for the camera.

Remember the tomato plant or two.  Planting the garden was one of our better ideas.  I know sunshine is important for growing most vegetables but with a lifetime of gardening around big trees I didn't really realize how important it is.  With lots of sunshine you get studier, bigger vegetables with not much effort.  

The beans are a type of pole bean that did get fairly big at 213 but not 10".  We grew carrots but never had any this long and there is still a couple of weeks at least of growing time.  No picture but we had a beet that weighed in at a pound.  Cucumbers not so successful and I am still waiting on the Roma tomatoes

The kitchen is in pretty good shape.  The kitchen faucet arrived Monday so I was happy to have Pat replace the bathroom one he had installed temporally.  Although, it doesn't matter as much now because there is a dishwasher!  We seemed to have adapted to the induction range without any mishap.  Pat still has to do the counter plugs so we are running extension cords for now.  I will include a picture when we have that done.  This whole process has taught me how much of our modern world I take for granted and how much I do like those conveniences.

As I said the mudder came and did his thing. We spent last weekend painting and had the floor installed Monday/Tuesday.  We are waiting for electricity and bathroom fixtures to be installed.  But, it seems to me that I can unpack my studio stuff. A bathroom doesn't matter for that and as for electricity well if I do it during the day there is lots of light and if I get totally desperate there are power bars and extension cords.  I can hardly believe it, some of my fabric/yarn etc has been in boxes since February. 

Evidence that I do paint. If you don't want to do the top(ceiling) you get to do the bottom.  Again I will include a picture when there is a little more to see.

The 50's has brought insomnia issues for both Pat and I.  Sunday we were both awake about 4am at 5:00 we gave up and decided to go for a walk.  The upside of insomnia is sunrise. 

The first two photos you will recognize as the ravine, the last two are from the pasture as we returned home after the walk.
As I do the blog entries I have wondered what I will do when I have shown you all the nature there is to see here.  But, I have a feeling that Mother Nature will continue to put on a varied show for us for as long as we are interested