All in a day

I often get sidetracked by so many things. Does that happen to you?

Yesterday, walked out back to check the mules. Siera and Sundance are now buddies and their fences were all okay.

The sunrise was gorgeous. Good thing I had thought to bring a camera.

And then the fog moved across the meadows.

I came back to the house and checked on the pups. Hannah was sound asleep.

Since it was cool out, I started weed whacking. 

I did it until I ran out of fuel for the thing. I didn't want to go to town and get more, so I decided I'd done enough and went on to hand pulling weeds and pulling out my big scissors. I use them to trim places around the porch.

It does a great job getting the grass super short around the edges of my crazy porch gardens.

While trimming, I noticed the hummingbird feeders were getting grungy so I grabbed them and soaked them. Ahhh, I needed to make more hummingbird 'juice'! To make the hummingbird food I had to put away last night's dishes. 

I dropped something and noticed that some little dogs had blessed my floor with dog hair and sand so I decided to shake some rugs and clean up the dog hair, clean my craft table, and the mini split filters.

When I went back out to hang the feeders I realized I still had trimming to do as well as sweeping the porch and getting the trash ready for the dump.

[I use a little leaf blower to 'sweep' the porch, it does such a quick job!]

I loaded the car, checked the time and realized that it was only 7am. 

Huh, I couldn't go take care of the trash until 8am.

I did weed pulling and garden work while I decided what the day should look like. I seem to be able to relax and think better when my hands are busy. 

I went inside and made a to do list. If I didn't, I would just wander about doing random things all day. 

Mow the yard
Wash the rugs
Dump the garden weeds
Trash to Dump
Little Richard water tub-clean
Mules water tub-clean

Side yard when seeded

Hark! The side yard can now be mowed! 

Off to the town dump to sort my trash, then on to the gas station for mower gas. While at the gas station, I noticed a little pop up farm stand. I picked up veggies for stir fry for $3. Kohlrabi, tomatoes, and zucchini. At least I think it was Kohlrabi. 

Back at some weeding until the grass was dry enough...oh, and talking to Hannah in a stern voice because she was rearranging my outdoor shoes on the porch and putting my gloves in various places.

Mow mow. I do a combination of the little mower and the rider. I didn't want to be cutting grass during the expected 'heat dome' affect this week. 

I was finished by early afternoon so the dogs and I took a small siesta. I actually sat down to read a book and crashed for a wee bit.

I'm no foodie but tossing the tomato, kohlrabi, zucchini, and some Kale in a pan and sautéing them in olive oil sounded like a good meal to me. Next time, I'll add an onion.

I was going to ride Siera to see if all this time off would cured her of her ailment but remembered that the moon would be 99% full. 

I took the pups out to the 'campground' or what I call, my quiet place.

We had a small fire just because I like little fires.

The dogs both wear beeper collars when we are way out back. They are both hunting/chasing dogs at heart and I would rather they not get in the habit of chasing deer. Hannah isn't supposed to be tearing about for another week anyway.

....and

...and...

I waited for the nearly full 'Strawberry' Moon. In the campground I was amazed at how cool it felt with the light breeze and even better. No Bugs.

I was going to stay up and see if I could catch some fireflies, but...my eyes grew heavy and off to slumber land I went.

--Not looking forward to the Heat Warning that was issued for Monday.
Heat index values for Monday. 108 F or 42 C.

Dog Day Sunday

Text: Hey, would you like to join us sledding?
Answer: Absolutely!

My young neighbors went out to do some sledding. Unfortunately, the adult in me had to stay indoors and fix someone an early lunch. When I got dressed and ran outside, I could hear that the sledding up on the ridge had ended. 
Little kids don't tolerate a lot of sledding like teens do. 

I texted back that sorry I was too late, but they had given me the idea to go sledding anyway.

I grabbed my old plastic sled. Charlie decided to come along for the adventure. What a dog!

The snow was deep enough even with the warm temps that he had to do the Charlie Leap to get through the snow.

We hiked across the ridge cropland out to where there is a gentle slope with no obstacles other than perhaps some long grasses and corn stalks in the contour strips. I picked the waterway that is left as grass in the summer. Linda cut it and baled it the fall so it was a perfect gentle hill.

The first pass was rather disappointing as you have to make a trail before getting a good go at it.

The second was great and I put Charlie in my lap. The ride down the cropland slope lasted at least 30 seconds.
Since the snow is so deep Charlie elected to ride with me and by the 4th trip he didn't even try to jump out.

The walk back to home was nice too. Charlie was worn out from Snow Leaping. When we got inside, he immediately curled up on the couch and went to sleep.

All that fresh air and walking back up the long hill made for a very good night's sleep.