Small Road Trip

 For some reason whenever it rains I am doing something else so I don't end up staying inside to clean my room.  Today that something else was driving with my aunt to a small town about 55 miles from my home.  She has a niece who lives there and she wanted someone to go with her for the drive.  The rain was off and on and I took very few pictures.  

We also are a travel stop spot for friends who live in Pennsylvania that are traveling between there and  Maine and they were here when I got home.  Getting to spend time with people is a happy thing for today.  Other happy things include:

• My aunt and I took a detour on the way back and drove through a town I lived in when I was very young.  We were able to find one of the houses I lived in back then.  It was neat to find this house that I lived in around 50 years ago and remember little things about living there.
• We saw some birds on our road trip today.  There was a momma duck and her ducklings crossing the street.  Also walking in the road somewhere was a bird I can't quite identify.  My first thought was a partridge because it had the little thing on its head that reminded me of the Partridge Family.  However, when I try to search it up I get too many birds that don't look like what we saw as well as other options.  There was also a raven on the side of the road picking up something to eat.
• All the time visiting and driving meant taking a walk after dinner to get my step count in.  Yesterday marked ten months of getting at least 10,000 steps every day.  That streak did not end today.  I took an evening walk in the light misty rain.  The house down the street had goats out that bleated loudly as I walked by.  

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading, stay safe.

Self Care

Yesterday was hard.   I may not have realized how hard until this morning when I thought about all the people at the yard sale event that I saw and all the ones that I didn't see.  There were people that I spent time with and some that I wanted to spend time with but just didn't have the opportunity or our paths didn't cross at the right time or... or... or.  We are coming out of a pandemic and being with people is way harder now for me than it was before.  It wasn't easy before.  This morning I spent alone in my room recuperating.  I did pull myself up and start being an active member of the house around noon.  After that, there are a few happy things for my to share:

• After helping Zed move some of his things around I went to the garden.  The woodchuck was in there!  I scared it out and looked at the hole that we have twice filled with cat litter and it was indeed dug out again.  Keziah found some metal screen and Zed and I closed in that hole using dirt, the screen, and a big rock.  This doesn't get rid of the animal, but it is a start, and that is good.
• While Keziah was cleaning the shed she found the can crusher that once belonged to my father.  He had a little man cave in the cellar of his house where he drank beer and his friends would come by and visit.  The can crusher was attached to a bench in the cellar and Keziah remembers visiting with her grandfather and getting to crush the cans.  I think when he knew the grandchildren would be there he would let the cans back up so the grandchildren would have something to do.  She doesn't drink beer and was commenting that the can crusher won't crush the tall iced tea cans that she might drink.  It was a touching memory of my dad.

It was a rusted thing that Keziah cleaned up and
painted last year before mounting it onto her bench.

• The yarrow is blooming.  I feel like there is more this year than last year.  

Bees like the yarrow.

• While going to get the SD card from the wildlife camera I did a quick walk around the property.  I found a plant that looked familiar from last year but I couldn't remember what it was so I took a picture.  A little farther down the path and there were more, but this time with flowers.  

Lens identifies this as whorled loosestrife.
So far in my research this doesn't seem to be invasive.
That said, we have quite a bit on the property.

• Turkeys!  34 second video.
  
  

Gobble, gobble.

• Deer prints.

• Blueberries in the wild.

Lowbush blueberry.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thank you for reading.  Stay safe.

Firefly

 It was a day full of people.  We hosted a yard sale for SCA people.  This meant that people brought garb that no longer fit them, fabric that they didn't need, swords, feast gear, and the like.  I don't know how well people did with their sales, many people came just to be able to spend time with others.  There were so many wonderful hugs.  The first person that I shared a hug with I hadn't seen in well over a year and I almost cried.  It was so good to see them.  Later, she and I talked and we may start hiking together this summer.  Other happy things for the day:

• It was wonderful to see everyone.  I didn't spend as much time with some of the people as I would have liked.  At the same time, so many people (I don't think there were more than forty people at the same time) that I am not used to being around, was a bit overwhelming.  It was okay though, I made it through.
• When things were winding down Zed noticed the cherry tree was attracting birds and that many of the cherries were close to ripe.  One of the attendees and Zed decided it was time to pick some and the attendee took the ladder and climbed the tree.  He picked quite a few cherries.  I noticed that many were rotting on the tree even though they hadn't become ripe.  Tomorrow we will go through the cherries more closely.  I tried one (one more than last year) that was not quite ripe enough and it was a bit too tart still.  The birds didn't get them all this year though.  Yay!

Up in the Tucker the Cherry Tree.

A sampling of how they look.

• Gideon had many friends to play with today.  He seemed to do a great job of playing with them and keeping them all happy.
• One gentleman brought bracelets that he handed out to people who were vaccinated.  

• A few friends were able to stay late and visit.  Stories and laughter were shared.  
• Eventually a few lightning bugs began to make an appearance.  
• Saying goodbye to friends I noticed the moon low in the sky.  It was the tiniest sliver, though the camera makes that sliver look larger.  The whole circle of the moon could be seen.

The moon phase is a waxing crescent and 
according to the internet, it is at 6.7%.

• After everyone was gone I pulled out the Canon camera in an attempt to get better pictures of the moon.  That didn't happen because I have a hard time being completely still.  I was able to capture some of the fireflies in motion.

I know it is hard to see, but there are three dots on the right corner that is a firefly.

The brighter, moving dots are the fireflies in this picture.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thanks for reading, stay safe.

Dear Universe

 As I rest, trying to take a nap as part of my shifting sleep schedule to prepare to work nights, I question my sanity.  Are nights really going to work for me?  Why did I choose nights anyway?  I have worked nights in the past, I know I can.  I chose a three day work week.  I have wanted a three day work week for years.  A few years ago I wrote this and put it onto my LinkedIn account:

"Dear Universe,

I would like a change in jobs. I'd like to make at least $15 an hour plus benefits. 3 day full-time work week preferred with 12 hour days, no weekends required. Peaceful and happy with a moderate activity level, I like to be walking around. Within 45 minutes of my home and still in NH, although I am willing to travel. Independent work or friendly environment that will fit well with my life. Time off for Vacations, Holidays and Pennsic are a must. Willing to learn while still earning. Suggestions welcome.

PS-Something that might help me to learn or train more for hiking the AT might be nice too. :)"

The shifts are 10 hours long instead of twelve, but there are benefits and it is over $15 an hour.  No weekends, but that could change during busy/overtime periods.  I may have to work on holidays.  They could also decide to just change my hours.  I won't know the answers to some of my requests to the Universe until I have started working.  It seems like I am getting most of what I asked for.  Only time will tell if my request was poor.  All this means is that I am not losing my sanity (or it isn't there to be lost🤪).  Yay!  Other happy things for today:

• Wildflowers.

This is called Fox and Cubs.
I had a different name for it, but
research shows that I am wrong.
Either way, I like it.
Yes, like much on this property,
it is considered invasive.

Lens has told me this is meadow hawkweed.

I didn't need Lens to tell me this is a daisy.

• I climbed into the netting and picked SIX strawberries!  One of them was really tiny.  The netting seems to be helping to keep the animals away from them.  I added some more landscape staples to hold the net down better in a few places.

Photo courtesy of Keziah.

Big basket for a few lovely strawberrries.

• Last year the blueberries were eaten by birds before we had any.  This was followed by the drought and I thought we were going to lose the bush.  It seems to be coming back though.  There won't be too many blueberries, but it looks like we might get some.

Not the clearest picture...
They should be ripe some time in July.

• The roses that are by the shed are opening now too.

Roses.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

Thank you for reading!  Stay safe.

Part of the Balancing Act

 While working outside this morning I had a thought about what I might write, so I wrote down some key words, "The ability to sustain and create."  At whatever time in the morning this was, I knew exactly what I meant.  It was brilliant.  Okay, maybe not brilliant, but I had ideas.  The more I read over what I wrote, the more I think I was going to talk about balance.  

Today I delved into a project in the garden that was hard and took a lot of time.  It was part of the continuing fight I am having getting the fence set up the way I want it.  I kept digging too deep, literally, and this added more and more time onto the project.  The end result is that I didn't finish, I came close.  

I pulled roots and rocks out of the dirt.
I buried part of the netting to make it harder,
in that section, for critters to come in.

I started to feel overheated, even though the temperatures were much cooler today than they have been.  Shoveling dirt, sifting dirt, and pulling out rocks and roots will do that.  So I got to a stopping point and cleaned up.  This was creating.  On the way inside I noticed the roses.  It is hard not to, their smell wafts through the area when going to the door.  I got my heavy duty gloves on and pruning shears and deadheaded the rose bushes.  This was sustaining.  

That is the balancing act that I am working on with the gardens.  This balance will be skewed more when I start work on the 22nd of June.  I strive for more sustaining and less creating.  I want the fence and netting to just be done and the dirt prepared so I can plant all the things that are starting to get root bound.  Then I want to be able to concentrate more on sustaining.  I have known this, I just needed to put it better into words.  I am happy with today's progress.  Here are other happy things for today:

• For the second time this week I got out for a walk with a friend.  We have a mutual former coworker that is retiring and we were asked to make a little video for them.  My friend and I decided to do it together.  

Chipmunk that stopped to pose a moment for the camera.

Ducks we saw along our walk.

• A few weeks ago we started watching Doctor Who with Zed's mom.  Tonight she came up and we watched the second episode.  We are a bit behind, I am anyway, they are rewatching because they forgot.  I like the female Doctor.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner, by Ann Larkin Hansen.

Thanks for reading, stay safe.

Irrigation-Check

In my pursuit to rearrange my sleep schedule, this morning went a little better than yesterday.  I was out of bed by 4:30 AM and wasn't quite as tired when I awoke as I was yesterday.  My midday nap happened later than I hoped, but I had no problem falling asleep.  The hot and humid weather only made it a little harder to stay asleep.  So far I am pleased with how the sleep routine change is going.  Other things I am happy about today:

• My back has been giving me some problems since weeding so much on Monday.  I set a time limit for how long to pull them today.  There are so many that I know I will never be able to keep up with them.  Last year I painted some rocks, as did Keziah, and I was given one from a friend.  I set them out onto the triangle.

Someday I hope to have many rocks, painted or not,
to adorn this area along with flowers.

• Behind the butterfly weed a yellow primrose has bloomed.

Yellow Evening Primrose.

• The yellow foxgloves are also blooming.  It turns out that some plants that I thought were foxgloves, aren't.  It is really easy to tell the difference now that some is blooming.

Yellow Foxglove.

• The other concentration of my efforts in the garden was to recreate some of the irrigation system that I have been working on.  I am pleased to say that I have successfully put together a series of regular hoses with the soaker hoses.  I still have to move around the main hose between areas, but it is much more -set it and forget- than before.  One of my purchase goals after I have a job will be to pick up some timers so the garden gets watered without me having to remember.
• It looks like there will be more strawberries in the next few days!

There are some showing signs on other plants too.

☮

Currently reading: The Burgess Book of Nature Lore, by Thornton W. Burgess.

    I finally finished this book today!  Full of information and aimed for children I thought I would have found more time to read it and get through it faster.  

Thanks for reading and stay safe.

Strawberry

 Day two of getting up super early was not a complete success.  I was out of bed before five in the morning, but my first alarm went off at four.  Today's nap time went better, a little over two hours compared to yesterday's 40 minutes.  All this is to start training my body for when I start work overnights.  I have received confirmation and I start work in the wee hours of the morning on June 22nd.  Other happy things for today:

• Some basil made it into the garden today.  Hopefully the heat wasn't too much for it.

Tomatoes will go in that area too.

• Last night, after watering the plants, I noticed a chipmunk that seemed to be trying to get into the netted strawberries.  This morning I put some more landscaping staples through the net into the ground to make it more secure.  Then I harvested the very first strawberry!  It is the only one close to ripe.  I brought it inside and shared it with the family. It was our celebratory snack.

I can't cut even.

• A garter snake crossed my path.  I think that means good luck.  
• The weather was still in the 90's today.  I met a friend and we took a short walk.  It was shaded and lovely.  Still too hot though to exert too much energy.  

Roots and Lake Massabesic.

Lake Massabesic.

• My friend got me a hat.  A few weeks ago we had a talk about hats and long hair.  I'm loving the hat and am very grateful for generous friends.

The sides go up cowboy hat style.

My braids can fit out the back.
So loving that hat!

• Someday, that hat will get introduced to rain, not on the first day out though.  The sky had grown thick with clouds throughout the day.  Storms went by.  Things cooled a bit.

The heavy cloud broke open and spilled onto the earth.

• Zed's father came by to help Zed with a few things.  Afterwards, he came inside and visited for a short while.  We watched a bunch of the videos from the wildlife camera.  I haven't made the time recently to post any on YouTube.  So many things are changing...I'll try to do so again soon though.  It was nice to share and get reactions and discussions.

☮

Currently reading: The Burgess Book of Nature Lore, by Thornton W. Burgess.

Thanks for being here, stay safe.