stubbed toes and mud pies

[thistlebloom]

Yikes. Up on the roof + ice + home alone .
But I get it. It's exactly the way I operate.

Funny about the antennae...

 

[flowerbug]

Yikes. Up on the roof + ice + home alone .
But I get it. It's exactly the way I operate.

Funny about the antennae...

i had to. internet is my connection to friends and stuff for fun to do while the weather isn't great. i've been reading a lot of my books of my shelves the past week just to keep me busy too.

i'm just glad the connection works because i wasn't sure if it would the way i had to put it on that strap...

i'm never happy going up on the roof. i know how much of a klutz i can be so i'm really careful and i'm glad it worked out. i wish i could have seen the work the mason did up there last fall but it was covered by the tarp and i was too cold as it was so i just did what had to be done and got back down. safely... *whew*

 

[ninnymary]

You be careful up there Flowerbug!

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

You be careful up there Flowerbug!

Mary

i was, thanks! not been easy to cope lately. i'm not getting into it here, but oy...

 

[flowerbug]

wildlife day today. three deer scoping out the yard from the other side of the big ditch. as soon as i saw them i opened the patio door and they took off. i don't want them to think this is their salad bowl...

a few minutes later i see this dark lump moving in that same area so i grab the binoculars to check it out futher. large fluffed up raccoon. not normal to see them in the mid-day either. i didn't do anything about that. they're common here and not pests for what we plant, plus it was on the other side of the big ditch. that's wild animal land other than me razing it once in a while to keep the trees from growing back.

 

[flowerbug]

*whew* glad i got the tarp fixed again before the rains/winds came along. i first had to remove what was left of the antenna that was still up there and then loosen up the straps holding down the current tarp. then once i got everything down that was coming down i could put a 2nd tarp over the first and get it to cover what needed to be covered while the wind was trying to take everything away.

once i had the 2nd tarp held down enough and got the straps tightened back up then we put six large stepping stones on it to keep things from blowing around in the wind again.

saw some damage to the flashing from when the antenna came down, but that is covered up now until the weather gets warm enough for them to fix it and also hopefully the leak.

i noticed a maybe nail hole through the shingles, which may be the leak. i won't know until i can check it out some nicer day or the roofing people can check it out when they return. it was obvious to me once i saw it. i'm not sure why it wasn't noted before. perhaps because the antenna was in the way... also not sure it goes all the way through and may be the leak or not. we'll see... only thing, it's not in the corner where the drip happens, but next to it by a few ft. so it could be the leak, but probably isn't. also i tried to look at the rest of the roof to see what was up, but that darned wind made everything too difficult again for taking everything off and inspecting it again without any other things in the way. i did get to see a bit of what the mason did up there at last (from last summer) - but i could not inspect it all. last summer i couldn't look at it because of the tendon pull in my leg...

weather is going to continue to be mixed this week, it rained pretty hard a few times last night and no leak and today it's windy/blowing and no noise from the tarp so far. hope it holds for a few days at least... i told Mom it might break loose again, it's just not easy to keep a tarp from flapping around in the wind when you don't have things to strap it down too and not enough flat surfaces to pile enough weight on. at least we could sleep last night.

cranky and sleep deprived Mom is not a happy Mom... but we're good for now. *knocks on wood head*

 

[flowerbug]

spring is getting closer. the robins are back and some of the other birds we normally see early in the spring. no flowers yet, but probably the earliest ones will start showing up in the next few weeks.

 

[Collector]

@flowerbug you are right about that, I just walked outside and snapped this picture

Snow is starting to recede already.

 

[flowerbug]

still sorting beans. made it through the 2nd round (white ended beans) and will start in on the next round this week. i've consolidated a lot of them and gotten rid of some others and also made selections, labelled and packaged up those for the next seed swap (in 2020).

i have to decide between doing the pinto type derivations next or the solid colors and think i will go through the pinto derivations next because that will free up some floor space where those containers are sitting. it will go pretty quickly compared to what i've already done because i don't have containers to sort through again, they're already mostly done to that stage. so i just have to select a few samples of those i think interesting enough to continue (one for my collection and one or two to give away) and that will be done. anything after that is either worm food or people food.

so if things continue to go ok i hope i can wrap most of this up in a few more weeks (starting to see the light through the top of the bean pile ) - pile them all up so i can get an "after" pic to compare to the "before" pic and then one last round of deciding what to grow for this year - not that i'll really be able to do that entirely as planting plans can change right up to the moment i do it in each garden.

sunny and cold morning but warmer today - busy times, but good, able to get some walks in now even if they're short ones.

 

[flowerbug]

we have flowers coming up and out. the past week has been a mixed bag for sure.

in the middle of everything else is stuff i won't talk about here, but we're through that for the moment. *whew*

worst of all though is the continuing intermittent leak in the roof. Mom has completely gone around the bend on this and she talked to my brother and the roofing people and none of them care about what i've seen up there the past few times i've been up there. they haven't and aren't talking to me about this and i know Mom has not told them any of what i've told her.

it's very frustrating to me because i see what may be a place where the leak is at, but i wasn't able to verify it. i've told Mom this several times and she does not care what i say.

so the other day she gets on the phone to call someone about coming to remove the chimney cap entirely. WTF (F = french fries for those who've not been a truck driver or worked construction)... i told her again this was BS. to do all that work on top of the money we've already spent to fix one tiny intermittent leak. yes, she's frustrated and i understand that, but we're not made out of sugar here...

i don't think this is ethical of the roofer to do work on something they've not recently inspected.

i am mad at my brother but i've not told him this.

i am also mad at my Mom about this - i have told her. she doesn't care.

money to burn we don't have.

i'll get over it.

[edit this isn't an issue this morning so perhaps it was the ISP's problem...]
in the mean time my internet connection isn't very good, so if you see some double posts and likes doing strange things again it's just me trying to say hi to people... the ISP may be having trouble with their tower down the road or it may be the fact that i had to change the location of my reciever and perhaps the trees budding out may be getting in the way or something...

ok, to more pleasant things.

i got out in the garden today for a bit and almost finished cleaning up one garden from last fall that i couldn't get to.

inside here on the less than nice enough days i've still been getting through the bean collection sorting, discarding what we can't eat or plant or what i wouldn't want to give away. discards become worm food - they're not wasted...

i'm almost done, i'm hoping by the end of the week i can get them piled up again for an "After" picture since i already took the before picture.

AND THEN - i get to start figuring out what i want to plant for sure, what i may plant if i'm lucky and what may get planted out in the NE garden or in the N garden if or not if i have fence(s) up on those, etc. a lot of factors at play there, but it's ok, i can wing most of it if i have to. beyond the new beans there are trials of various kinds along with the (fresh, shellies and dry) beans for eating.

oh, and i hope to get some peas planted soon. *bounce, bounce, bounce*