Sunday, September 13, 2015

September Work Day


Last weekend it was summer, this weekend it became Fall!
With a 20 degree temperature drop, down to a high of 75, 
we made yesterday a clean up day- with a surprise!

I cleaned up the long drive, cutting back new growth popping
up on the edges while my husband jumped on the tractor to cut the
grass.  We both took the recyclables into the regional center,
it's single stream there which makes drop off so much better!

While I was there they took me for a tour of their resale shop, 
everything from nails and hinges, CDs, stereos, tvs
and household items.  Additionally, they resell paint.
A gallon is $6 but partials are free.  I picked up a couple of
free colors to repaint a cabinet which will hold quilting
books and supplies in the girl cave.

When we returned I started cutting out the weeds in the 
flower garden wall.  I had some leg problems earlier in the
year that kept me from climbing around very well so it was 
completely out of control.  I stacked everything in the fire pit,
found some old paper to start the fire and burned most of it,
except the poison ivy.  I carried small woody items over 
to the larger burn pile where we have tree debris to burn later.

When I looked down I gasped!
Oh no!  I was COVERED in those small, flat, green burrs that stick like crazy.
There had to be thousands of them!
I can't tell you how long I sat by that fire peeling burrs from top to toe.
My poor glove alone had to have hundreds stuck to it.  My husband used
his knife to grate them off into a pile which I burned in the pit.

Some friends and family arrived later and we put some wood on 
the fire and talked until we thought it was quite late.  We must
be getting old because it turned out to be only 8:30!

One of our friends broke her wrist but still had to tend the goats
so we all piled into cars, drove to her house and through the woods
to the goat field.  Her husband was talking to mine so the girls
took care of the goats by flashlight!  

I did not have a camera with me
so this is not the actual photo but representative of her goats.
This is Beau which takes care of those that have to be around the
house (kidding and the bottle babies).  His sister, Bella, is out 
with the main herd which is where we were.  

It was fun watching the babies and getting Bella and the goats 
fed and watered. One of the babies road back to the house with 
us to be bottle fed and returned the next day.  


Today I have to clean out the coop and put more straw in the
nesting boxes.  They keep pushing it out and the eggs end up
dirtier or someone jumps in and breaks the eggs.  I also have
cobwebs so need to find a good way to get those down.
I thought about taking an old sheet and wrapping it around a broom
and then just brushing the walls and as high as I can go on the ceiling.
If you have some tips, please share!

I hope your weather is as nice as ours has been.



6 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

I've heard that spraying peppermint in the corners will help discourage spiders, though I don't know if they meant tea or oil. We call those little green things "beggar lice" around here, though some folks call them beggar "ticks."

Harry Flashman said...

We have a cold day here as well.

You went out and did a lot of work, all we really did was go to a movie.

Powell River Books said...

Fortunately we don't have any poison ivy or oak. That's nice your recycle center has a shop for sales and give away items. That makes recycling much better. At ours, you can only drop things off for discard. If you want to keep it in the useful stream, you have to take it to one of our thrift stores. That makes is an extra stop. - Margy

LindaG said...

Fortunately it has cooled off a bit.
I wouldn't have any idea what to do about spiders, but check this post on Lisa Steele's blog. She has information on natural control of all sorts of pests. Good luck!

Lady Locust said...

Wow! You got lots done. It looks great.

Michelle said...

It was cool today. So nice to have a break from the hot weather.