Where Have I Been?

Have you just noticed that I'm back?

I finally finished up the projects around the house and inside. We have a new Greenhouse 8' wide and 29' feet long. There is also a pond with waterfall plus a new metal building 10' x12'. Busy me.

A couple of years ago we replaced our deck surfaces with new lumber. This year we removed the peeling stain, sanded, then refinished. Next we added on a little to the wood shed next to our storage building, then spent a long time cleaning up the dead wood and tree branches where the blackberries lurk and spring out at you as you whip by on your riding lawn mower.

Bonnie has planted things everywhere. The ground around here is hard pan with a touch of cement so planting anything requires a pick, a shovel, lots of water and a strong back. There are dozens of little projects and larger projects like cleaning the moss off the roof, checking the gutters and adding screens and fixing the leaks in hopes that the gutters will last a few more years. We have painted everything that stood still and saluted anything moving just like in the military. I have poured cement from a small cement mixer and limbed trees until my arms ached and then went further by laying block and finding a numbness in my fingers and hands when I did too much. Here is the bottom line: Now I just have to maintain what we have. I look at Bonnie when she has a project and hope she will forget about it. But alas, I could never say no to her. She is so generous with all of her time and putting me on a guilt trip is great fun for her. I worked in the rain and didn't seem to mind too much. I have this to say about all of it. Hard work never killed anybody but it sure wore them out. Nevertheless, we are grateful at our age to be able to still work. So now I am turning my hand to writing. E-gads! Watch out all you out there because "something different this way comes." Shakespeare said: "First we shoot all the lawyers." I say we should make the economists stand in front of them. I just said that for fun so you can see we are off to a good start.

Stay tuned.

Digby