BLACK FLIES AND BLACK EYES

We had 10 days to complete 3 major projects - oh I can hear your snickers already...

1) New steel roof on the cabin

2) New 10 x 19 shed was to be built

3) Garden was to be fenced and planted

Like I've said - double the budget and triple the time allowed! Hooboy! My garden....posts are in and my 225 strawberry plants are on life support! I did manage to get 12 tomato plants, 6 basil plants and 6 pepper plants in the ground though. The shed project....well....I'll leave that for another post!

Big Daddy and Papa Bob finished the steel roof during the worst bout of black flies I have ever seen! The bugs were freakin horrendous and the men were real troopers!!!

The men got a counter/sink working for me and put up a couple of cupboards. Hey Penny, don't get excited - still no running water - my sink drains into a bucket! lol

They also got my well working - oh joy!!!!


They tore out the old stairs (a.k.a. death ladder). You can see the angle it was on. They moved the door to the bathroom. Then made some new steps with a landing. My freebie buckets store perfectly under it! hehe Good job fellas!

The girls went riding - bringing buckets of sand up to the cabin.

.....so I could make a safe fire pit.


The inside of the cabin is coming along.....

This is what happens to yah....when you tell me the garden fence won't be finished. LOL

THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS WEEK

Paint WILL freeze inside the cabin in the middle of May.

Whatever budget you set for projects - double it.

Woody's Mexican Lime Vodka Coolers can be opened with a variety of garden tools.

When you've overworked your shoulder/knee/hip - the best treatment is to work it some more.

"We can have that out to you by Saturday" - really means it will be there on Tuesday, 2 weeks later.

Whatever time you've allowed to finish a project - triple it - something WILL go wrong.

9th anniversary is NOT pottery afterall - it's farm equipment.

Old treasures:

You know you live in the north, when......

FOOD PRICES

Anyone else going into cardiac arrest at the grocery checkout? Unbelievable! If you've been reading here, you know that I am...ummmm....frugal. I buy quite differently than the herd! At first it was just fun to see how much I could save but not anymore! Mama's gotta get serious!

Because we've been spending a lot of time at the cabin getting things fixed up, I've been neglecting things on the homefront. I was out of bread on a Sunday night so I just picked up what we used to buy all the time....$3.29!! Then they were going to charge me 5 cents to put it in a bag! All of our grocery stores are doing this now...no more free bags...bring your own or pay 5 cents each.

I'm just mad at myself for being unorganized...I'm home...I should be better prepared! There's no need to be throwing any of Big Daddy's hard-earned money away! Heading to the kitchen now....enough said!

The offender - $3.29 - never again!!!

Whole wheat with flax:

Sourdough:

My newest creation - challah - it is soooooo good fresh from the oven! It also makes fabulous french toast on Saturday mornings! Penny, you'd love this bread!

LOADED UP THE TRUCK...

....and they moved to Beverley....Hills that is! lol Well not quite. Big Daddy and I hauled our stuff up north on Friday in a rented cube van. Fence posts, wire, shop equipment, shed kit, and furniture all made its way to the farm. I love it! Oh and did I mention that the black flies were finally out. They were still stupid though and didn't know that they were supposed to bite.

Saturday we drove up again and got to work....Big Daddy moved all the posts down to the field and got the shed kit in place - all 1000 lbs and 1000 pieces....while I worked my field once again! And it poured down! We were both soaked to the skin!

Sunday it snowed! I kid you not! Did a number on the black flies too! Gotta love that!

Loading the truck:

Big Daddy moving all the posts down to my garden:


Just taking a break:

I'm almost done. My garden measures 160 x 120:

Rock wall that we found:

It's 4' high, 8' wide and 350' long:

OLD FOUNDATION

There are so many neat things on our property that we've found over the years. One of them is the "old foundation". It measures about 18' x 26'. The walls are close to 2' thick! They just don't make 'em like they used to. lol



The first step's a lulu:


Big Daddy measuring it up:




Trees growing in the doorway:

Don't think Home Depot will have a window to fit this:

It's going to make one fabulous root celler, don't yah think?!

WEEKEND IN PICTURES

Future pond - the water is just bursting out of the ground here:


Fresh paint and little girls - not a good combo:



Not a very flattering picture of Mama lol but...that's my new toy:


Now who's been down to the garlic field? A fair sized bear!

Wild rhubarb?