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Even though I got a late start putting the finish on the top shelving unit to go in the living room, I got two coats done today.
One more coat early tomorrow and we should be able to bring it in and set it in place by the afternoon.
We had glorious sunshine all day today. Not real warm but very pleasant. And no bugs! We're blessed in our particular location in that we don't seem to get nearly as many bugs here as a lot of other places nearby. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!)
Papa Pea mowed in the poultry yard today since 1) it wasn't raining, and 2) the chickens had taken to carrying three-foot high orange flags so they didn't get lost in the high grass. At one point, I heard the mower stop and hubby came running into the garage (where I was painting) at a trot asking me to take a bee stinger out of his forehead. I'm not sure it was one of our normal honey bees that nailed him (although he thought it was) because the stinger looked like a small dagger and had half a bee butt attached to it. Luckily, he's not bothered by insect stings and/or bites like I am so once I extracted the stinger, he was back out and at it again.
My late start on the polying was due to a desperate need for some housekeeping chores this morning. There comes a time when I just can't stand it and have to do some basic cleaning and cooking of good food for us to have on hand.
I also took my started tomatoes and peppers out to the cold frame so they could start to harden off.
The other plants I took out a couple of days ago are loving being outside and look really healthy. As you can see, the broccoli in the picture above is more than ready to go in the ground but I don't have the supplies yet to make the protective tunnels over the raised beds to keep out those dratted little white butterflies that lay their eggs in broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.
We were warned of possible frost last night but when I got up at 5:30 this morning, the temp read 36.9 degrees and I didn't see frost anywhere. Now if we can just make it past the full moon on the 4th of June, we should be home free for the season and the serious gardening can begin.
Early on this morning I was up in my hubby's office to use the copying machine. I looked out the window and saw this almost perfect mirror image of the trees reflected in our small pond.
No wind and the rising sun was blasting forth. Now a few hours later, it looks as though we are actually going to get a whole day of sunshine. Boy, can we use it!
I considered titling this post, "I'm Suing the Weather Forecasters." We were promised a sunny day today with temps warmer than they have been. Ain't happenin'.
It's true, it's not raining, but boy-howdy, is it cold, dark and damp out there. A wise person once said that it doesn't have to be sunny to be a good day. And I know that's true. (Somebody needs to give me a whop upside the head and make me shape up.)
The main reason I wanted a sunny, warm day was to start putting the coats of polyurethane on this piece B made yesterday. It's the new top for the unit that will hold the TV, stereo, etc. in the living room. It may not look like much sitting here in the garage, but it looks fantastic when mounted on the base cabinet. I can hardly wait to get the finish on it and put permanently in place.
I may go to Plan B and work on it in the garage today. It could be August before we see the sun again. The sooner I start, the sooner it will be done. (I think somebody else came up with that profound statement a while back, too.)
While she was here, we also coerced B into putting up the brick facing on the side of the TV cabinet nearest the wood stove. She slapped it up in no time and we are officially done with all the bricking. Hooray! (Ain't gonna do that anytime soon again.)
We got the paint chips in the mail yesterday for the high-temp paint to spiff up the wood stove that will get reinstalled back in the living room. Dang and drat, after much deliberation hubby said he really didn't care what color we chose and that I needed to make the decision. I said, "So if it turns out looking like h-e-double-hockey-stick, it will be my fault?" "Right," he replied.
If I can talk Papa Pea into helping me heft furniture from various and sundry places in the house where it's been stashed, I may even get the living room put back into halfway usable order this afternoon. Wouldn't that be somethin'?
Two days ago the majority of my seedlings I'd started inside simply N-E-E-D-E-D to go outside. However, I hadn't hardened any of them off yet . . .
. . . so I put a cold frame on top of one of the raised beds and transferred everything lock, stock and barrel (or rather plastic pot, cell pack and peat pot) onto the top of the soil in the raised bed.
Now I open the cold frame lid a bit during the day so the plants don't over-heat and have to remember to close it each night to avoid giving them chilblains.
I really thought it would be such an early gardening season with the unseasonably warm weather we had in March but then cold weather returned to the Northwoods followed by a spell of very dry weather.
When it warmed up enough that I could have planted seeds, the soil was so dry I didn't. Now it's been raining almost steadily for two weeks, a cold front has moved in and the soil is soaked. I think I can hear pitiful little voices coming from my seed packets saying, "Please don't put us out there in that freezing, wet soil! We'll mold for sure."
My last gardening season, my peas had been in the ground for two weeks come this date. I did go ahead and plant my potatoes this year (all six rows of them) right before the rain began. Now I'm concerned that they are going to rot before they can start to grow.
Seems that no matter where we gardeners are located, each climate presents its own particular set of obstacles to deal with. I can't help but think back to my very first gardening years and how foreign and complex it all seemed to me. Now that I have years and years of experience under my belt, it's easy-peasy, right? Hahahahaha!
Our temp is supposed to get down in the 30s tonight with more rain so this sure isn't weather to be setting plants out in the garden. Matter of fact, I maybe should think about a small wood fire (just kidding) inside the cold frame to keep those tender, little plants out there comfy-cozy.
Okay, let's see if I can stay awake long enough to get this written and posted.
Today was one of those days when we got 403 little things done, but there's no BIG progress to show for it.
Yesterday I put three coats of poly on the baseboard moldings for the living room which got installed today. It rained all day yesterday, but we fired up the wood stove in the garage and with the big exhaust fan running on low, working in there was no problem.
We had to take some of the trim around doors off to get the flooring on so that got trimmed to the new correct size and put back on today.
It was Monday so, of course, I had to get the laundry done. A basketful of ironing is still waiting for me though.
B was here and we talked over the final plans for the new top portion of the above unit which will hold our TV, stereo, DVD player, etc. She was planning to build it in her shop, but now is thinking she may build it here. It will go from the top of the unit up to meet the book boxes (shelves) above and fasten together as one unit. This might be kinda tricky building it off site since the measurements have to be exact.
We want to put the fireproof brick on the left side of this same cabinet since it will be closest to the wood stove.
Oh, yeah, I don't think I ever mentioned that the extra brick we had to order did arrive, well packed and not one brick broken, and that corner is finally finished.
Hunh. Looks like a big shower stall, doesn't it?
But back to the side of the cabinet . . .
After (a gourmet) dinner (of scrambled eggs) tonight, Papa Pea and I bit the bullet and even though we sure didn't feel like it, we got all the brick for that area measured and cut and ready to be put on tomorrow.
We've been living with living room furniture . . .
. . . (and various other things) in the kitchen for about two weeks now. I wonder if we'll ever get any semblance of normal order back around here?
Although another deluge of heavy rain is forecast for tonight through tomorrow night, no moisture fell on us today. No sunshine warmed the garden soil either but it was still a very nice day for working outside which is what we did.
I didn't think I worked that hard but after our thrown-together dinner of leftovers, exhaustion took me by the tail and wouldn't let go. Now after having had a shower and donning jammies I feel better but think bed will feel awfully good early on tonight.
Papa Pea did the early summer chore of taking down the electric fence that encircles our poultry yard and pond so he could mow last year's accumulation of weeds that had grown right up next to the fence. Then, of course, the fence had to be put back up so our chickens and geese couldn't wander off toward town seeking excitement. It's a big job and took him all afternoon. He also got a couple of passes made up and down the driveway with the Gravely garden tractor and attached rotary mower to help keep the brush from growing right up to the gravel on the driveway.
I worked in the garden. Tilled around the potato patch (better known as the pumpkin patch in previous years), the field garden and blueberries and our three new haskap berries which are doing really well.
Instead of setting the tepee trellis in the field garden, as I usually do, I set it up in one of the raised beds and transplanted the morning glory seedlings around it that I had started indoors under lights. Also transplanted (relocated, actually) some spinach, lettuce and Swiss chard that were left in the bed that the crows having been working hard to decimate. (Blasted crows!)
Planted some more radishes. I can make a meal of those crunchy little morsels and never get enough of them before the summer heat makes it difficult to grow them.
We decided to be proactive regarding our resident woodchuck. We set a Havahart trap baited with apple for him last night. He apparently appreciated the apple but didn't trip the trap. I'm wondering if he's too big for our biggest trap. It's set again tonight so we'll see what's what in the morning. If we find a note asking for a larger serving of apple, we'll know we're in over our heads.
I'll be painting and polying in the garage tomorrow if it rains. I could have done it outside today but wanted to take advantage of the good weather to work in the garden. Before the dreaded bugs arrive you'll find me getting in as much time outside as I can. If the remodeling agenda doesn't call for my services inside, that is.
One more coat early tomorrow and we should be able to bring it in and set it in place by the afternoon.
The other plants I took out a couple of days ago are loving being outside and look really healthy. As you can see, the broccoli in the picture above is more than ready to go in the ground but I don't have the supplies yet to make the protective tunnels over the raised beds to keep out those dratted little white butterflies that lay their eggs in broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.
