Fun Friday stuff

I ordered the Woodland Mushroom Botanicals for the new Lego release on June 1st. I figured it was a good birthday gift for myself. 

It seems that my Sprite minifigure was absolutely delighted to find the set when I opened it. This is an 'adult' set which means it is a bit complicated. I figured it would be great for when the weather got so hot and beastly humid out. I could spend some time relaxing inside and enjoying cooler temps in the house.

Sprite shares her excitement with her good friend Lilith...

...who brings her magic star wand to help with the difficult parts.

I have to say that it is a beautiful set for display...

and to pose minifigs in.

Sprite seems to think that this should be her new permanent home. I agree, she looks perfectly happy amongst all the amazing fungi.

I'm just going with some things that make me happy. This week was horrible with heat, humidity, and bad weather so I busied myself when I wasn't staring out the window or sweating while mowing the yard...

and I did some distracting play....

I really really needed the distractions.

I'm just going to toss some shots in here for fun with no real explanation. Yesterday was my indoor day because of the non stop storms that were occurring.

My pick from the junk pile to do photography for Thursday.

Mash up...

Here is a few shots from my hike last Thursday.
Friday was crazy busy as was the weekend. 

Blood Root

 Hepatica

The doggies

One of the Ice Caves

Beautiful mosses

Meanwhile at home.
Here are a few shots of the progress of the good 'stuff' around the shed, old busted garage, and shed.

Before forest mulching. This area of the woods was full of berry briars, multi flora rose, and nasty little invasive brush.

There were narrow deer trails going through the area.

After the Mulching was done a view from the meadow.

A view from inside the forest area.

Before 

After

Patrick operating the 
skid steer and mulcher.

Patrick mulched the areas I asked to be done and will be back to do more work. This summer he will mow the summer pasture and the areas he mulched. 

Maintenance of these areas will prove extremely useful when and if I am going to sell the farm [farmette].

My youngest son and his fiancé came over the weekend. it softened the pain of what would have been Rich's birthday.

Jer set up some cameras for me on the house and buildings. I never ever thought I'd need surveillance of my place. But here we are in a new era of distrust.

Takin' Care of Business....

To say that I have been engaged and busy is kind of an understatement. Though, it mostly has been positive.

We had two nice warm and sunny days before the weather changed. I caught this under our Hickory tree when I sat in the grass with my canine pals.

I finally got in for my annual 'Medicare' checkup. It has been a year and a half since I've been to one.

I walked into the clinic and ran into a lady pushing a cart of treats and coffee for a meeting downstairs. I held the elevator door for her and  gasped at the treats she had.  I told her that I'd steal her tray and take it with me upstairs to munch on after my fasting lab. She laughed and offered me a cookie.

The lab gal and I go wayyyy back to when I did an internship at the clinic. We saw each other at 7:30am and had time to catch up. We agreed, getting a cookie was awesome for after the blood letting.

I know there are a lot of complaints about Medical care all over the place at this time. But I have to say kudos to the PA I've seen for 30 years. I got her as my doc when I moved to the area and she was fresh out of school. 

The nurse I saw first took her time in doing her part of the assessment. She was attentive, empathetic, and put me at ease. I took their survey and explained my 'stress related' answers. The Medicare questionnaire asks how often a person is stressed. 

Mine were related to the loss of Rich and of course the events that follow a spousal death.  Paige, was kind and not condescending. We went through my med list. She sat back and stared at me. 

"Tylenol as needed? That's is IT?"

Then she looked at my age and repeated her question. I said I took a multivitamin and that was it.

Anne was pleased to see me. She hadn't known about Rich, but it wasn't in my file either. She did comment that my *numbers* were good. In fact, my numbers were better than the past two years.

Anne must have notes in her file to remember to ask about photography, hiking, and my critters. Either that, or she knows me as the crazy lady.

The physical exam was fine and I had no issues other than 'grief insomnia'. Basically, it means I have trouble getting to sleep many nights because my brain is working on the next thing I need to get taken care of at our farm and of course missing my pal. Today marks 6 months.

When I got home I met up with Pat, an electrician who had done jobs here for us before. He has expanded to Excavating, pasture mowing, forest mulching, and other work. We walked around in the snowfall and I pointed out things I had hoped to accomplish. He made suggestions and he said he'd get his estimate worked up and emailed to me.

He stopped when we got by one of Rich's scrap piles. "I know a guy," he said. "A lot of what you have right now is pretty sought after with the war. I am pretty sure that my friend would be interested in dealing with you. You could make some money."

I had to chuckle out loud. I replied, "You know, I was always peeved when Rich brought home junk and piles of stuff. But he always said that when he died, I'd make money of from his junk piles." 

Pat laughed. "He wasn't far off. This stuff is worth money."

Funny, Rich's method of saving for the future with scrap and junk might have been crazy, but also might work for paying for all the work I have planned for our place.

Pat and I chatted in the falling snow and shook hands. I've always liked that about him. He doesn't talk down to me. Respectful. Plus he knows I'll pass out his cards and refer him to others.

I'll mark my calendar as a really good day.

And if you need a dose of cuteness, here you go.

Junk Piles are good.

~~~ Well when it the frost comes out of the ground and you need your driveway redone, things get messy. I've begun to park my 'Ru at the bottom of the hill where the driveway is solid and has a firm base.

Down on the flat is where all the moisture runs to and it gets pretty slimy and slippery during the warmth of the midday. 

I had a delivery from Amazon coming and well, I didn't believe it was actually being delivered by Amazon. Until now our very rural area is only served by the postal service and UPS, FedEx tends to get lost somehow and can never find our house or road. It was one of those things: When I see it, I'll believe it.

While I was making lunch for us I saw someone running across our yard and thought: Wow! That must be Amazon! 

I met the young man at the porch door and he said, "Hi! I'm stuck can you help?" 

I looked out and there was his van in one of the turn around areas below my 'Ru. Normally it is a good spot to turn around in the winter and dry season. An awful spot when the frost is coming out of the ground.

He'd driven around my car to turn around. He asked if I could just pull him out with the truck. And I replied that the truck didn't work. He looked stricken until I told him that I had a better idea than the truck.

I walked over to the junk pile where I'd stacked hubby's collection of expanded metal mesh. If you don't know what I am talking about, it looks like this:

I had 3 large sheets with pieces cut out of it. They were approximately 6ft by 4ft. I had him help me place one sheet in front of his back tires and the other two sheets behind his tires. 

Thankfully he had a lot of common sense and hadn't tried to rock himself back and forth in the grassy section. He would have just dug holes and we would have needed the skid steer or a tow truck. 

I told him to follow my directions and idle forward onto the metal, then we replaced the sheet behind the tires and I had him idle out in reverse. 

I got my package and he explained that he thought twice about coming down our driveway and going around the car, but then so many people complained about delivery. I assured him that I'd never complain when the driveway was bad.

There actually is a place for delivery instructions, which I will edit in the future. Apparently I can tell Amazon to leave the package by the mailbox.

What amazes me to no end is that modern delivery vans are poorly designed with cheap tires and rear wheel drive only. That is fine for most city settings but very poor for rural areas.

When I got the young man safely turned around, he thanked me, apologized, and apologized again for all the trouble. I set my package down in the snow next to hubby's plow. I told him when he was pointed up the hill to get around the Subaru and 'Give 'er hell' getting up the hill. 

He did and he left with spinning wheels but made it up our hill.

I rescued my package from the snow and when I got to the house I got a message via Amazon: Your Package has been delivered, photo:

It looks like it was dumped in a junkyard. That is where I 

put it while rescuing the van....

A survey was attached to the photo asking how the delivery was. I imagine the young man was apprehensive about his new gig and getting stuck in my yard. 

I took the survey and assured Amazon that their driver had handled the package with care and was courteous.

At least the young man had a good story to tell at the end of the day. About the old lady who ran out grabbed expanded metal sheets off her junk pile and got him out of the mud.

I have experience with a mud.

Here are some mud photos from the years past. Now do you see why I hired someone to finally rebuild the lower driveway??

The driveway only looks this bad during the spring thaw when the frost comes out of the ground. Once we are past that, the ground is solid and I tend to forget what a pain it is in the spring.

Last note.
I woke up with a terrible sore throat this morning and mild headache. Geeze. It's been at least 10 years since I've had a cold.

Charlie and I will be spending the day upstairs in the spare bedroom reading and napping.

Have a great Sunday.