Now There are Two Lights

 Hal put up the other front door light. I like how they look. The first light is still crooked in this photo and has since been straightened. I bought the last white square J-block yesterday for mounting the next light and the hardware store has ordered me another. I've ordered bigger ones through Home Depot for the garage door lights but those aren't going to get here till August!

Outdoor Lights

 The other day Hal started on the exterior lights. It took awhile for him to figure out how to attach it through metal siding with ridges but he did it using half of a plastic decorative box made for vinyl siding. There will be another barn light on the other side of the door.. 

Only 3 more small ones and 3 bigger ones to go.

Passed the Rough Electrical!

 We passed the rough electrical inspection on Tuesday! One hurdle down. Apparently the inspector liked the fact we had a sub panel in the laundry room. I don't know why that was particularly pleasing but whatever works. He seemed to think Hal does good work. Well, he does!

That same day I met with one of the 3 kitchen designers, and so far the only one who gets back to me when she says she will. I'm ready to tell the others thanks but no thanks, as much as I like their cabinets. We spent about 90 minutes perfecting the design Hopefully we will finalize things by next Wednesday when I go back so we can order, Prices are going up on July 2nd. I have my fingers crossed they won't break the budget but don't hold out much hope, too many things are an upgrade like full extension drawers and 42" tall upper cabinets. Those are included in the local company but as I said, she isn't getting back to me.

Then looked at and selected faucets for the master bath and guest bath. She is ordering the ones for the master bath, I need to bring in the guest bath light to see how well the brass matches since they are from different companies. The master bath faucets will be matte black and are the Delta Stryke series. They are new and pricey, though with her discount, not as expensive as the link to Home Depot shows. I was just looking around and saw another less expensive one I also like called Lahara. Perhaps that would do for the guest bath.

Random Bits

 Today I finished the furring strips in the kitchen. Yesterday I finished the hall. So the great room, which is the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer and hallway is done and ready for drywall. Now I have to finish each of the smaller rooms and their closets, the fiddly, annoying bits. Temperature inside was above 82 but there was a nice breeze. Will miss those breezes once all the drywall is up. 

Been planting little plants in my perennial bed. The many seeds I planted in peat pots back in March and April barely grew, a green thumb is not in my blood. However, I planted these tiny lupins and other flowers, many of which are now unnamed as the words melted off the plant sticks, and they are so tiny I had to put flags by them to keep from accidentally stepping on them. I really need to spread more mulch as the lack of rain is still a problem.

Below are 2 photos of flowers I either transplanted from our old home last year or bought locally. I'd say the dianthus are doing wonderfully!

Iris closeup

Dianthus I planted last year 

Yesterday afternoon we had lightning and a little thunder but all the rain by passed us to the east. This photo looks southeast. We still desperately need rain in Spruce.

faint rainbow over the cow barn

Back to work on the house again tomorrow and watering the gardens.

Doggy Swim Fun

 Being in the pond became a daily, sometimes more than once a day ritual for Ziggy and Kaylee during the 90+ degree days. For the most part Kaylee just likes splashing about the edge looking for frogs but Ziggy likes a nice swim often trying to drink at the same time which causes him to cough a lot when he gets back to shore. 

And of course, after a good swim, rolling in the grass must commence!

These shots were from different days but they certainly enjoy themselves. Time for the morning walk!

Ground Venison

Last winter, we did not grind the venison into burger but froze meat chunks in 1 gallon freezer bags for doing later. Well, since I injured my ankle I decided to process 2 bags of meat. First time through the grinder I did a coarse grind, second time through, the medium grind. I ended up with 14 pounds 6 ounces of burger. Already made a meatloaf and burritos with some of it. Only 12 pounds left in the freezer. I'll do more when this runs out and I have the time.

Pushing the meat through a grinder sitting high on the kitchen counter, caused the muscles on the left side of my neck and shoulder to seize up. Took a few days to recover. Dang but over using muscles as one ages is a pain in the neck!

Incidentally, my ankle has mostly recovered, I only feel a little pain now and then. I've been able to climb the ladder to get back to working on my furring strips and even walking the dogs rather than having them chase me around on the golf cart every time.

Trying to Save my Trees

There hasn't been rain. No rain, at all, and nothing significant in the forecast. 

I planted over 370 seedlings. They are dying. Some are brown, others are green but stiff. It may be too late. 

The seedlings are all planted in shallow trenches, each tree in it's own little hump of dirt. Supposedly this will help retain water, if it rains. The ones in the yard I can reach with a hose, and we have been soaking the trenches for the last few days. Hopefully we weren't too late for most of those. 

The words tube end in red is the water source

The majority though are in two 1000 foot long trenches along the road, far away from our well. They've been without water for over 3 weeks in unseasonably hot weather. Today Hal dug out some unused maple sap tubing, bought a fitting and connected it to all the hoses we owned and got the pipe to one of the trenches. It was running a couple hours when I took this photo. As you can see, it's barely covered 10 feet of 2000 feet of trench. The stupid humps are impeding the flow, and the flow, this far away from the well head which is relying sorely on the pressure from the aquifer, as there is no pump installed yet, is minimal, but it is flowing. So we wait.

It's going into the 90s the next few days. I suppose if it saves even 1 tree, it was worth the effort though I wish we'd thought of this sooner.

Finishing the Garage Doors

Hal decided to pause on the electrical and finish up the garage doors. Though we put them up last fall they were not operational as the upper tracks weren't installed. He's been working on that for the last few days and has the tracks for the wide door leveled and secured. This afternoon our friend John will show up to help install the tension spring. Those are tricky and possibly dangerous should they come loose. They're under tension, after all. 

My ankle is better so I'm wearing hiking boots today rather than this monstrous boot which mostly immobilized my ankle and it's tendons. I had to water some of my flowers at the Palace yesterday so I aggravated things a bit and used ice when I got home. I hope I can do more today, I must seriously water the flower and veggie gardens. 

Boot leftover from a broken metatarsal

There is still no rain so all my little trees are dying. It's a really lousy situation, I can't water the ones along the road at all unless I want to transport water in buckets and it mostly sloshes out driving over that terrain. Plus I'd need about 100 buckets! And then I'd have to do it again every other day. Droughts in spring suck.

Assuming my ankle survives its workout today, I should be able to get back to ladder climbing and furring strips soon.