Encouraged...

Finally, got the assessors report and the go ahead from my attorney to put the house on the market. Didn't think my realtor would have the papers ready til today. But, he texted me yesterday morning and said they were ready.  He's a go getter! I went by his office, saw the photos that the pro had taken (pleased with them) and we mapped out the plan, and the asking price. I signed, and signed, and signed some more.

We talked about what I could do going forward, after the house is sold. He is very supportive and encouraging about my options up North, to the point of vetting a good realtor up there, and has gallery contacts there that would offer me at a minimum part time employment, in a heart beat, if I was interested.

I got back home and two hours later he called me to laughingly say, "be careful what you ask for!" (He's aware of how anxious I am about getting this estate settled.) He had gone out to lunch and ran into a RB native that has been seriously looking to move back to the area. He wanted to know if I was up for showing the house in 15 minutes. I looked around me and thought, what the heck, in for a penny... "Sure, see you in 15."

He brought the lady, and it was a friend of The Cowman's family.  After hugs, and so good to see you again, we did the home & garden tour.  She seemed to like the house, the yard, the neighborhood, and kept saying "It's gorgeous, the whole thing is simply gorgeous". They left, and I settled back into sorting through all the stuff. Twenty minutes later my realtor called to say, "She absolutely loves the house, has the where with all to buy, and will definitely get back to us." "Oh, and so you will quit worrying about it... She said she has never seen such a clean & turn key house, and she has looked at more than a few!"  

We will see what comes of this, very early days, but encouraging so far.

No country for ol women...

Spa girl job at my brother & sister-in-law's ends today, 

as well as veggie pick'n, strawberry eating, garden weeding,

 and chicken feeding. 

"Little Brick Chick House"

 Hank & I are going to miss our daily trips out to Ft McCoy. 

"Always looking for Adventure"

This is only one of many wood stacks.  My BIL is a former Marine and retired SO detective, can you tell he is also a neat fanatic! It's one of the many things we all love about him.

***
Still trying to get a handle on the yard here, was out there bright and early the other morning fixing irrigation lines and brush whacking. Kept telling myself, if I get this one more thing done then I'll go in... couple hours later, sweat was pouring off me, and I realized the occasional drink from the hose wasn't cutting it so I went inside. It was 10:30 AM and the temp read 103. Have had a bad heat headache for the last couple days, my own fault, I know better.

My RB weather forecast for the next week:

Weather forecast up at MySean's for next week:

Just a couple hundred more things to take care of here, and I'm on my way North for a visit.

Taking it as it comes...

Woken up very early this morning by the smell of rain on the breeze. We have had temps in the high nineties, low hundreds for a couple weeks now. Rain, So far we have gotten .50 inches out of this storm!  There is  a projected high of 80 degrees for today. But, right now it's 60 with a slight breeze. Perfect sleeping weather, which suits Wee Willie just fine. That dog can sleep, he has unmade my bed twice now to get the duvet mounded just right to sleep in. I will wait a bit to turn on the whole house fan, since it's in the hall ceiling, right off my bedroom.

I have been trying to get the yard in some sort of shape. Chain saw, hedge clippers, hoes, and rakes have been a big help.  Hank and I have made many trips to the green waste station, and have many more to go. 

I seem to have inherited some of Dad's friends. One elderly lady has had cancer surgery and her husband called to let me know. So off to Oak River rehab in Anderson to take her flowers. As I was getting ready to leave home, I recalled that Dad and I had  lots of fun flying combat missions with our RC helos around the house. Sam the ol cowman Navy pilot (I adopted him when Dad was in rehab) lives at the care side of Oak River.  So I loaded up one of the helos and took it up to Sam. He is enjoying terrorizing the staff with it immensely.

I keep close tabs on Dad's girl friend, as she has not been well, and her family is busy and dysfunctional to boot.  Dad called her every night, and I know she misses him greatly.  But, boy can that lady talk.

Haven't gotten to take Dad up to hunt'n camp yet. The flight has been delayed by a couple of family issues. It makes me sad that it is one of the special things I promised Dad I would do, that has become another bone of contention. 
 

Trying to see that the people that need or can use Dad's stuff are getting it in a timely fashion.  Some time ago he gave me the only thing of his that I truly wanted, his pilot wings. 

Grinding on...

Warrior yoga is kicking butt, and she, who likes to torture ol warriors, has now added 45 minutes of circuit training with 12 stations to the mix. We are doing this to ACDC! What the heck happened to the soothing chanting music?

I missed yesterday's torture session, but after a whole day of grinding through this jungle of a yard, I'm not too concerned.

  

I figure I did most of the circuit training, what with lopper  pruning,

  

climbing the ladder with the hedge trimmer,

and re-positioning boulders.

 A little sore this morning, with the imprint of my Kindle on my face, and wild hair from falling asleep with damp hair while reading.  

Back at it today, only about another week's worth of this, and I can start over...

Boulders:  There are some large boulders in this landscape, only a couple are placed the way I like to see them. They usually show signs of how they sat in the ground originally, and need to be placed that way when putting them in the landscape. I have taken large boulders and buried half of them to get them to look natural. To have them setting on top of gravel, or mulch, or what ever makes them look like they just fell off the truck. They can still be barriers if that's what you need, just place them so they look natural.

 

Ancient sage...

My introduction to Artemisia 'Powis Castle' was by way of a plant ID class in my landscape design curriculum way back when.  I like this tough, drought tolerant perennial.

When we where propagating in the greenhouses, I started a few cuttings just for the heck of it.  They did well, and I ended up packing those tough little mother plants around with me from ranch to ranch.

When they got big enough I would plant them out in the garden to use as a cover for tulips to grow up through.  Gophers don't like Artemisia.  Which is nice when you have previously watched expensive tulips suddenly disappear into the soil with a swoosh. The color/texture contrasts between tulips and the fine silvery leafed Artemisia 'Powis Castle' adds interest  to the landscape as well.

One of the ranches we lived on had lots of deer, and elk.  Overnight they could strip the garden. But, if I planted a scattering of Artemisia they would leave the garden alone.

Insects don't like it either, so I take clippings and throw them in boxes of clothes, books, and linens going into storage.  At one time we had a rental storage unit for six months while waiting for the house to be built. I put clippings of it in all the boxes, and had no problems with mice or bugs. 

I also put a clipping in each bag of sunflower seeds that I buy to feed the birds. No bugs in the bags or the feeders.

An ancient plant, with many attributes, often over looked today. 

Bits n Pieces...

My daughter, Marymine's birthday is today.  She is an amazing woman in so many ways! 

I miss living close enough to see her everyday, there is always lots going on at her place. Between kids, dogs, critters, family, and friends there is never a dull moment. And she is a fantastic cook! (I know...that gene skipped a generation.)

Marymine and her crew

We had two inches of rain a couple days ago, which started the feed. Yep, shoots are up...in the field, and there is sign that the fawn is back.

Ideal weather for planting the Aptos Blues I bought earlier in the summer.  They are going to fill some holes in the wind breaks.  

Been trying to prune back the landscape jungle that the folks had planted when they built.  It was way over planted, and the gardener has just been shearing it back in places. Consequently it has entirely lost it's design form, if there was one.  Getting it back to a more esthetically pleasing design is a challenge. If it were up to me alone, the sound of a chain saw would fill the air. Reducing the multitude of garden figure chachkies is helping.  But it has to be done slowly, as not to upset the elders...sigh.

Willie has finally gotten his new doggles...and is ready to hit the road to new adventures.

"Punch it Granny!"

     

Daisy Dukes

Oh my, in looking for pics of the wild hogs on the SV for the Wild Hogs post, I came across this pic of the cowgirl in her SV ranch garden. Talk about a country bumpkin...

Yep, her grandkids are sooo going  to tease her about those Daisy Dukes.

Grazing rights

Having escaped the house corral, she snuck into the garden. Ah, the smell of grass and pine and dirt. I'll just check on the ol hens, thought she. Navigating thru the veggies, she spied a lovely bit of lettuce, munch, munch. Humm, on to the spring onions, just a few. Swooning thru the Italian parsley on she went. These little carrots are mighty tasty. A few nasturtium leaves will add the pepper. Onward with a pinch of thyme. A handful of sugar snow peas, well maybe just a few more. Munch, munch, those Swiss chards are fine. A glint of red, the strawberries oh my, berry delicious. Having gathered the eggs, she returned to the house corral to tell Himself that she didn't really want much dinner, and those darn ol hens are eating us out of home and hearth.

Cluckling Notes

Spring is here, the girls (hens) are going around snipping grass here, catching a bug there, and laying eggs. Eggs, eggs, eggs everywhere, my refrig is full to over flowing. I've cooked as many egg dishes as I can think of, and resorted to sneaking over to the neighbors to leave eggs on their doorstep. Run home and reload. I love range eggs, they have such beautiful bright yellow yolks, and just taste better than battery eggs. With the garden starting to produce, there are a lot of radish, lettuce, and chard trimmings to feed the girls. They see me coming and setup a frenzy of cackling. Happy chatter while I work in the garden. Strawberries are blooming, and have netted them to keep them safe from the girls & other birds. Jays have been busy planting oak seeds, which are sprouting everywhere. The bluebird couple are back, and building a new nest in the box I put up at the edge of the garden. Frogs are singing like tenors on testosterone down at the little creek. The wild turkeys are strutting their stuff as they pass thru the back yard. Counted 35 head in the last flock to come by. Two big doe's were here last evening, checking out the fence that I had to put around the garden. When there was no fence they just ate everything, usually just before it was ready for harvest.
Cowcamp Fast Breakfast Smoothie: 3 heaping tablespoons frozen orange juice, 3 raw eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk. Put all ingredients in big glass, whip with handheld blender. Drink up.