Friday, April 16, 2004
Very early noon
Or, as Mike likes to say, "It is to ME!" In reality it is not quite 10a as I start this, but since I woke up at 4a it feels exactly like half the day has gone by already!
Getting up so early was NOT my idea (like I need to tell you that). But Mike had to be at school at 5a to catch the bus for the BIG!FIELD!TRIP! to DENVER!
Once my system got over the shock, it was actually kind of an adventure. Mike ooohed at the stars as we inched out to the car (nope, no yard light--I'm a Luddite that way) in the moonless dark. Not much traffic in town, naturally, but once we got near the school, the area was bustling with the arrival of the other 5th graders. Light poured out into the street from the cafeteria, outlining Mr. Banker, the principal. Don't know if he's just an early bird or if he turned up to read the kids a preliminary lecture on behavior. :)
I decided I might as well stay up since I have a lot to do today. (Such as catch up on correspondence *sigh*) Damaris, Nigel and the Denver Grands are coming down for another work weekend, which is yay.
Another work weekend, you say? Why, yes, I answer, thus cleverly segueing into another bit of catch up post. Two weeks ago, right before the library book sale, we had a wonderful blow-out of productivity.
One of the downsides of going to auctions and such is that you tend to end up with a lot of JUNK because it goes along with the good stuff you actually want. (And the local unwritten rule is that unless you assert "mining rights" as you are bidding on a pile, you're honor bound to take it all away with you.) For various reasons, we had quite an accumulation of assorted metal junk, and it has been my intention for quite a while to give it to our neighbor (who has a salvage business) because he has been so kind and helpful about keeping our back lot weeds mowed down. This is what we (meaning mostly Nigel) gathered up:
Now the holding area under the windbreak looks like this:
That row of elms still has a lot of old winter-killed wood in it, which Nigel might remove this weekend if the little chainsaw (yard sale find) works. Later we are going to put down rock over the plastic, and plant a few new trees along that strip, fancy ones I am waiting for from the Arbor Day Society.
The other major work in progress is The Garden of Art and Technology:
Because of the drought, I figure a container garden will help conserve water. The fishpond was one of my favorite yard sale buys last fall. It ONLY cost $5! Wow! Of course, now I've bought a $40 pump, $15 worth of aquatic plants, $12 extension cord, $1.60 worth of goldfish (10 feeders)...I think you see where this is headed. But it's actually a useful thing, as well as a thing of beauty and hopefully a joy for a real long time. Since we officially live on a high plain semi-arid tundra, pools of standing water are hard to come by for a poor working mosquito mom. They will be happy to find ours. And the goldfish will be happy to find the eggs and larva! Clever plan, eh?
Getting up so early was NOT my idea (like I need to tell you that). But Mike had to be at school at 5a to catch the bus for the BIG!FIELD!TRIP! to DENVER!
Once my system got over the shock, it was actually kind of an adventure. Mike ooohed at the stars as we inched out to the car (nope, no yard light--I'm a Luddite that way) in the moonless dark. Not much traffic in town, naturally, but once we got near the school, the area was bustling with the arrival of the other 5th graders. Light poured out into the street from the cafeteria, outlining Mr. Banker, the principal. Don't know if he's just an early bird or if he turned up to read the kids a preliminary lecture on behavior. :)
I decided I might as well stay up since I have a lot to do today. (Such as catch up on correspondence *sigh*) Damaris, Nigel and the Denver Grands are coming down for another work weekend, which is yay.
Another work weekend, you say? Why, yes, I answer, thus cleverly segueing into another bit of catch up post. Two weeks ago, right before the library book sale, we had a wonderful blow-out of productivity.
One of the downsides of going to auctions and such is that you tend to end up with a lot of JUNK because it goes along with the good stuff you actually want. (And the local unwritten rule is that unless you assert "mining rights" as you are bidding on a pile, you're honor bound to take it all away with you.) For various reasons, we had quite an accumulation of assorted metal junk, and it has been my intention for quite a while to give it to our neighbor (who has a salvage business) because he has been so kind and helpful about keeping our back lot weeds mowed down. This is what we (meaning mostly Nigel) gathered up:
Now the holding area under the windbreak looks like this:
That row of elms still has a lot of old winter-killed wood in it, which Nigel might remove this weekend if the little chainsaw (yard sale find) works. Later we are going to put down rock over the plastic, and plant a few new trees along that strip, fancy ones I am waiting for from the Arbor Day Society.
The other major work in progress is The Garden of Art and Technology:
Because of the drought, I figure a container garden will help conserve water. The fishpond was one of my favorite yard sale buys last fall. It ONLY cost $5! Wow! Of course, now I've bought a $40 pump, $15 worth of aquatic plants, $12 extension cord, $1.60 worth of goldfish (10 feeders)...I think you see where this is headed. But it's actually a useful thing, as well as a thing of beauty and hopefully a joy for a real long time. Since we officially live on a high plain semi-arid tundra, pools of standing water are hard to come by for a poor working mosquito mom. They will be happy to find ours. And the goldfish will be happy to find the eggs and larva! Clever plan, eh?
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