What I have been up to lately

Discussion in 'The Village Square' started by AAnightowl, Dec 21, 2021.

  1. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    Good grief don't you ever stop and take a break? I'm exhausted just reading what you do never mind tackling stuff like that!! So glad that everything is working out the way you want.
    By the way we have one of those old fashioned post hole diggers and love it.
     
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  2. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    Yes, I do take breaks. I never work on Sabbath. And I take other breaks.

    I was in a hurry because my birdies were in rabbit cages and all cramped to keep the raccoons from getting them. My kids ordered a nice prebuilt chicken coop for me in August. It has never arrived, and they have not gotten any emails about where this coop is. And they have decided not to do anything about it. Son went deep into their webpage, and their phone number is someplace deep in the heart of China. This company claimed to be American and the item was to ship from California. I think they are a fraud. I do not have the link for this item. (or I would leave some negative feedback)
     
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  3. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    Okay, well dear friends have loaned me their old style post hole digger, but it is nearly new and very strong. So far, I have dug 6 of 8 post holes and gotten those 6 posts in the holes. That post hole digger is heavy, and we have had a lot of rain lately, which is good. I have been working on this about two weeks, so it is not so much at once. The soil here is clay, and very heavy when wet. Ideally, the holes ought to be 24" deep. However, mine are only 22 or 23" deep and that is plenty for me! The first hole had a lot of roots and rocks, but so far not the others. Missouri is well known for its rocky soil, and rocks are one of our chief "crops". That post hole digger has measurements painted on the one handle which is very helpful. Yesterday and today I had to use a stick to get the wet clay off of the 'clams' (?) is what my friend called those things. I will be washing it when done and spraying some WD40 on it too.

    So I have 6 posts up, and still need to put up cross pieces on the sides and top and the chicken wire on them too. I also need to get a door that will do. I have the hinges and handles, etc. The Habitat Re-Store has good prices on things like that. (Habitat For Humanity, in case you don't have that where you are.) It was too wet to use power tools the last few days, so I am waiting for a dry day to do that.

    Something else I did this winter was clean out the path to my pond. I wanted to do that BEFORE snake season started, and there was snow on the ground to be sure. I also got it mowed last week when the weather was pleasant. I had not done that for 4 or 5 years I think? (I don't know who all remembers, but I have been bitten by copperheads twice and I do not wish to repeat that ever. ) Hopefully, I can now wander to my pond in the woods now and then and enjoy a peaceful time down there. None of the flowers that I planted down there are still there. Neighbors think the deer might have eaten them?

    I am doing good. I hope all of you are too.
     
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  4. Tetters

    Tetters Young Pine

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    @AAnightowl You are an inspiration. I need to take a leaf out of your book :sete_013:
     
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  5. MIKE ALLEN

    MIKE ALLEN Seedling

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    Hey Tetters. Where have you been hiding yourself of late? Having said that. Ooops! sorry. I know you have some medical probs. Please don't say that your absence is related.
     
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  6. Tetters

    Tetters Young Pine

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    Hi Mike, we shouldn't really hijack AAnightowl's thread, but I've been a bit busy with an unwanted heart attack, and adverse reactions with medications. Hopefully on the mend now :)
     
  7. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    Nice to see you again Tetters. How are your orchids doing?
     
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  8. Tetters

    Tetters Young Pine

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    Well thanks @eileen ... most are fine, I only managed to kill one so far, but another is looking a bit iffy (ok, very iffy) :( - honestly, they sulk you know, if you go off and leave them for a while :confused:
     
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  9. Logan

    Logan Strong Ash

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  10. Tetters

    Tetters Young Pine

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    Thanks Logan.
     
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  11. Logan

    Logan Strong Ash

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    Your welcome:)
     
  12. AAnightowl

    AAnightowl Young Pine

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    Tetters, glad you are on the mend and better.

    I finally got to my garden today. We have had lots and lots of rain here. I can't use power tools in the rain, and there was a lull for this afternoon, so I got outdoors and was pruning my raspberry bushes. I got some of them done, perhaps half? They should have been pruned in February, but hopefully they will be fine. Raspberries have this habit of starting a new bush when the canes fall over and reach the ground. Free plants are nice.

    My strawberries are blooming, so I am looking forward to them in a few more weeks.

    The blueberry bushes are full of buds. I have gobs of garlic, even though I harvested over 12 lbs of garlic last fall.

    The onion seeds I ordered finally arrived, but they are sweet onions. Blah. I am looking for seeds for good STRONG onions that make you cry when peeling them, maybe even cause some heartburn?! . Sweet onions are almost the only onions you can find in the stores. I will give them to a friend who likes sweet onions. I strongly dislike sweet onions.

    I hope to get some of my scarlet runner beans planted this coming week, and parsley and lettuce and spinach. I need to do lots of weeding, and cleaning up my veggie garden so I can plant more stuff. AND finish the yard for my chickens as soon as the weather permits.

    I got hold of an old garden book published in 1982, "How To Plan Your Custom Garden" by the editors of Organic Gardening magazine... THOSE were some really busy people! It sounds like all they did was garden, can, freeze, dry etc from their garden.
     
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