Thursday, April 19, 2012

Garden

I decided today to risk it and plant a few beans. I had some WV half runner seed left over from last year so I went ahead a put it in the ground. Also since I'm planting in the raised beds I decided to try to broadcast seed rather then plant in rows. I'll see how well in works out. Now I need to finish getting the fence up before the deer eat all the beans again this year.

Also I almost have the area of the barn ready for some chickens. My only worry is I don't have electric to the barn and I don't know if it might still get to cold for chicks with out a heat lamp. I would really like to find some year old laying hens if any one knows where I can get some.

More updates to follow on the garden, want to try a document it better this year.

-Charlie


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Friday, April 13, 2012

Easter Weekend

I got up Saturday morning and started mixing up some bread. It has to raise for at least 8 hours so I needed to get it going so I could bake it that night for Easter dinner the next day. Then we headed off to soccer. After soccer we stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel.


Next we headed off to Hamlin to help move a peace of furniture for Tarah's sister Bridget. And Alex got to see grandma Sue. She was who watched him for us when we lived in Huntington.Then it was time to head over to Tarah's other sisters house for Ian's birthday party. All the kids seemed to have a good time playing and it was a really nice day to spend some time outside visiting with family. I about killed myself playing soccer with the kids for a little while. I'm really out of shape and need to get in better shape, if not Alex is really going to start wearing me out as he gets a little older and wants me to play sports with him. HahaAfter we got back home I had to start working on getting the bread baked for the next day. Alex wanted to help so I decided to take a little video, unfortunately the memory on my phone filled up part way through the process so the video stopped recording but here is what I got:



The next morning we got up and went to church. After church we went to mom and dad's for Easter dinner. It was nice to see all the family. After dinner we had a egg hunt for the kids.














Sunday, April 1, 2012

Updates

I didn't write a post last week so I will get some of the stuff from last weekend first. I started setting the post for the fence around the raised beds.




This weekend I was able to get the gate hung and add some bracing to the post. I'm not putting up the rest of the fence until I get the dirt added to the two new beds. I'm hoping to get that this week, weather permitting.

Saturday Tarah took Alex to get his picture taken with the Easter Bunny but he wasn't really having any of it. He got the picture but he said the Easter Bunny was scary. So this morning after church Tarah asked Alex if he wanted to stop at Walmart and get his picture with the Easter Bunny. At first he said he didn't need too and that the Easter Bunny wasn't going to be there. After we said he could look at toys while we were there he said he guessed we could go. After letting him look at toys he reluctantly went over to get his picture taken. As we got closer he said "when did the Easter bunny get littler?". And he went right up and got his picture made. As we were walking away he said "the big Easter bunny is scary but the little one not". He cracks me up with the things he says.




This weekend I had planned on working on getting part of the barn setup to keep some chickens. But I didn't really feel good yesterday and didn't get anything done. I started feeling better today so after going to Mom & Dad's earlier, I got started. I closed off one of the doors I won't be needing and started building a door for the other side. I need to pick up some hardware to mount it up but it's pretty much done. I still need to build a few things but I'm hoping we can get some laying hens soon.

Mom & Dad came over for dinner this evening and Tarah made some biscuits , sausage, and eggs. It was all really good. After everyone left Alex, Tarah, and I went out front to play a little soccer. Well Tarah watch me and Alex play. I'm going to have to get back into shape to keep up with him. Alex and I took a little walk and I showed him some deer tracks in the corner of the yard so then he told me we had to hunt for more. And while we were hunting for more tracks he found some flowers to pick for mommy.



It wasn't long and we started hearing thunder so me retreated to the front porch to watch the storm move in. As it started to sprinkle me and Alex decided to run to the other side of the yard and back in the rain. We made it about half way back when it started to pick up a little and Alex made carry him back running and we made it just in time before the storm let loose.

Another good weekend.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012

Soccer, visiting with family, raised beds, and flower beds.

This weekend started with Alex starting his new session of soccer. He has a new coach this time and I think that had him a little confused. He still had a good time despite being confused.

When we got home from soccer I went to Hardman's and picked up the lumber to make some more raised bed gardens, more on that later.

After I got back to the house and unloaded the lumber Bridget ( Tarah's sister ) showed up with her two little boys to visit. She had stopped on the way and picked up Pete's for everyone for lunch. I'm still not sure if she comes to visit with us or just to eat Pete's.

The boys all played, the weather was nice enough they were able to play outside some. Alex really likes when they come to play.

After Bridget and the boys headed back home Alex came outside to help daddy. He watched while I applied raw linseed oil to the lumber I was going to build the raised beds with.



There are the boards coated and drying.




It was so nice out Tarah brought out one of Alex's tee ball sets to let him try for the first time.


Getting ready



Winding up




A little low on this one but he picked up on it really well for his first time.

We decided we wanted to go to Lowes and look for some stones to make a flower bed in front of the house so we all loaded up in the 4Runner and headed to Lowes. They closed at 9:00pm and we didn't have much time to spare. We let Alex pick out the stones he liked. Loaded some on a cart and checked out. We ended up with 27 I think I wasn't sure how many I could fit in the back of the 4Runner, and I figured this would give me a good start. When we got home I laid them out and figured we would need about 60 more.

Sunday we got up and went to Church, it was the first time in a few week since Alex had been sick. Alex wanted to go see granny and grandad after church so we headed over there and it just so happens mom had made up some crepes for us for lunch.

After lunch Tarah and I headed for Charleston and Alex stayed to play. We stopped at Lowes first and got another 60 stones. I wish I would have got a picture but just so you know I think that is about all you want in the back of a 4Runner, Tarah seemed a little worried. Next we went to SAMs and picked up a few things.

We picked up Alex and headed to the house and mom and dad came over and brought the tiller so I could turn my beds. Dad also helped me unload the stones for the flower bed.




This is what I ended up with. Just need to get some dirt and plant something in it.

While I was working on the flower bed Alex decided he was going to show mommy what little boys do when it's wet and muddy out.








Next I started working on the raised beds. Alex helped me clear out the old beds and then I turned them with dads little tiller.



The wood still looks pretty good after a year. I'm not sure how long they are going to last but they seem to be doing good so far.

While I was doing this Tarah started dinner and when I came in she had it all ready to go sausage, biscuits, and eggs. She made the commit we had breakfast for every meal today and I told her I was fine with that.

When I finished dinner I went back out to work on the raised beds. I cut the two 8ft boards in half and started to put them together when I realized I didn't have enough screws. I will have to get some tomorrow and finish them up, but this is were I was able to get to tonight.



All in all a wonderful weekend.

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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Return to blogging

I haven't been very good about posting here on the blog, but I'm going to try and start posting more regularly. I have some projects coming up that I want to try and post as well as just documenting some of our day to day stuff.

Right now Alex is pretty sick and has been for almost a week. He has been to the doctor a couple of times and I think if he isn't doing any better tomorrow we will be taking him back to get another chest X-ray. So if you could please remember him in your prayers.

On a better note we have found a church in the area we like and have been attending for the last few weeks now. I didn't realize how much I had missed church until now.

I guess that should do it for this quick update, but in the next couple of day I'm going to try and put up a more informative post.

Until then I will leave you with some photos form the time I have been away from the blog.

-Charlie