It's complicated!

My neighbor friend, Olive, thought Rich would like a fun puzzle to do this winter. She purchased this not Lego set from Amazon.

It has over 3,000 pieces. When we opened it we were surprised at how tiny the pieces were!
The big surprise is that these pieces are 'micro mini blocks'.

How many pie tins and little containers does it take for sorting? More than we had. But the continued sorting has kept someone very engaged. The miniature pieces are terrible to handle when you have shaky hands, but he keeps at it until it frustrates him and he has to quit for a bit.

Even a regular sized Lego person is surprised by how tiny the pieces are.

The instructions are interesting. Each layer that is already built gets greyed out which is terribly difficult when dealing with grey pieces or figuring out what goes where.

I've had to use a flashlight to see details. I finally got my light assisted magnifying glass out so I could count how many bumps are on pieces for construction. 

We keep at it until my eyes get worn out and then set it aside.

But we are making progress.

Below is a dime stuck in with the pieces and a view of the instructions.

This is where we left off last night. It is starting to look like something cool!
I sent this photo to Olive and she wanted to know how the instructions were. Hmmm, bad...but IF we can get this mini build actually finished, WE could build anything!

I went into our old stash of plastic containers handed down from my Mother in Law and we sorted more bricks. We have 14 containers of pieces.

The box says ages 6 and up. Hmmm. I think they should have noted 60 and up because you need a ton of patience to figure this one out.

After building in fits and starts for a week, Rich was still interested by was frustrated with the fact that he couldn't handle the tiny pieces to put them together.

The clear pieces are driving me absolutely nuts, but I like a challenge anyway.

The instructions are diabolical. They include two steps at once and require intense concentration.

So when I went out to pick up groceries for the week, I searched for a more suitable project for hubby.
I found a Lego Lotus in the 'cheaper' section.

After the box inspection and lunch from DQ....

Somebody started to work on it. The only help he asked for is putting on the stickers.

This may seem odd to some folks. Legos are not cheap, but this is better than taking him to therapy for activities to stimulate conversation, thinking, and small motor skills.

When he has something to figure out, he is not sitting still blankly staring out the window at nothing and being nowhere. These simple bricks and booklets, give him a sense of building and doing something.

Both his mental health providers and PCP think this is an amazing activity for him. The sorting of the bricks appeals to his sense of order of things. Building these projects is similar in a way to what he used to do as the owner of a Welding Shop. He can create and use his rusty thinking skills.

Me?
I find it a relaxing to be with him while we both work on the projects. 

What will I do with the vehicles he builds? Eventually I'll take them apart and put them in their boxes. Somewhere down the line I will gift them to some kids I know or sell them as used.

They are serving a great purpose.

Forgive the photos, they were taken with my crappy old cell phone.

Saturday was a Creative Day

Rain, Rain, Rain. Mud. Heavy Rain. Saturday was not a day to be out and about. I'd gotten soaked doing the morning chores.

I resigned myself to getting things done around the house. I cleaned the floors and picked up things I'd just dropped in places. Supper was leftover Chili so I didn't have to work on that.

I finally decided to open up a file and work on my Tree Photobook. 

I popped on a pair of headphones and tuned Pandora into my favorite mix of music to drown out Swamp People, old Football Games, and other noises and 

got

into 

the 

Zone.

When I sat down to write, I had no idea what to do. I'd tried this several times and closed the laptop without inspiration. 

Perhaps the rain and dreary day would inspire me. 

For a bit I stared at the blank page in front of me.

B L A N K

I used the title from Mary Oliver's Poem: When I am Among Trees to jump start my ideas.

Interestingly enough, I did not include any artistic off the wall renderings of the photos I took of the trees. Most were black and white winter photos of the shapes and branches.

I only worked with photos from January through Spring. Most of the photographs I chose were ones I took in the winter months.

Then it hit me.

I was happy in the trees.

The trees fascinated me.

I like to be in the woods alone because no one sees me admire the trees and lean up against them as if they are my best friends. No one sees me put my arms around a sapling and reach up to touch their bark and admire their coat of moss.

Oh and...

Trees don't talk back to you...

While hiking I often stop dead in my tracks to look up and just

look.

I am always fascinated by the shapes made by the tree's growth.

In the summer these shapes are mostly hidden.

In the winter? They are laid bare.

I'd made a colorful and autumn like cover for the book and then decided that it would not work. Many photos of winter trees are stark and all about shape not necessarily color.

I had some color photos, but...

I think for consistency I will make all of the photos black and white? 

Well, perhaps. But there will be a couple that absolutely need to be in color.

I guess, in the end, it doesn't matter too much. I am just doing this for myself.

Sample photos:

The alternate cover?

Something like this:

or.....
this one.

It looks less foreboding and dark. Though I do like the starkness of black and white.

This is what I do for my Fall Fun. I used to write a story each fall when I had Mr. Morris in my life. I wrote for the Grand kids. They loved getting books of Morris's Toy Adventures. It was silly but fun.

It was time to do another Nature themed photo book.

Now to proof read it and edit.

I do use Blurb to do these projects as I've always had a great product from them. 

Now that I have just about finished this. I will complete my Trail Challenge and begin sorting for my next adventure story.

Thanks to Aurora for an incredible photo that I will use 

in..

Trails With Charlie/ A year's worth of Hiking with a tiny dog.

Photo Credit: Aurora Williamson

 

Around the house

I am happy that I decided to purchase fresh veggies at the local Farmer's Market and some of the local folks who raise produce this year.

Old Garden:

I have a bit more time on my hands which means I can spend more time making my flower gardens look a bit more tidy. 

As this new heat wave bears down on us, I am finding things to do on the porch outside. It stays fairly nice in the shade and generally there is a nice breeze that flows through. 

This old table was given to me a few years ago. It is in a sad state of disrepair so I cut pieces of wood and did what I could to stabilize it enough as I figure out what I am going to do with it. It sat under the pine trees for a couple of years with pots of begonias on it.

The table should be tossed. But I figure if I can brace it up enough and cut down the legs [or not], I could use it as a coffee/craft table on the porch. [What I wouldn't do for a nice gate leg table!]

The project table is on the porch along with paints. I spray painted a coffee can and a Gatorade bottle for Porch Vases. Maybe it is tacky too, but I like flowers on the porch as well as in the house. I don't like broken glass!

I've always loved the idea of a Fairy Garden. I am constantly moving little things around so that I can be amused at what I have put together.

I love this little Zen Dragon. 

I move him/her around quite often. 

Morning light on a 'Fairy Garden' made 
out of an old pie dish.
It sits on a rickety old chair I
gussied up.

My pallet garden is doing as expected. The tomatoes are doing great and I've used old fence posts and twine to stabilize the plants. I know, tacky, but it was on hand and easier than trying to use a cage. 

The plants that are coming up in the slats are doing fair too. They are coming along a bit slower than those flowers on the east side of the house. The west side has good sun but good afternoon shade too from the locust trees. I think with the heat wave, those plants will do better than the ones exposed to the sun and wind all day.

Other surprises in my garden.
There are the gargoyles who resided in the Forest Garden last year. Right now they are in the growing flower garden. They look happy there! 
Last year the raccoon kept knocking over the gargoyles! This poor fella had his wings chipped.

This fellow sits on another stump and is the Welcome Gargoyle. [Yeah, I like dragons and gargoyles and I am weird.]

This is the porch in the morning. Many of my plants are in old Maple Syrup buckets that Rich's Grandfather used. It is handy to grab the buckets and move them around. 

More Fairy/Dragon/Gardens. I keep changing things up as it suits me. 

Things are going to be hot and muggly. I hope all my friends and their animals do well for the next few days.

I let my mules out to the forest where they can get down into the creek area. I walked there this morning and it was definitely about 10 degrees cooler than in the meadow!

Stay cool!

Fencing and Fencing!

Last year in July I restarted a 'fencing project'. I wanted the mules to be able to get in down into the woods and clean up the briers and some of the other underbrush.

There had been a good two line electric fence there until the 2007 storm which washed out banks of the creek and dumped trees on both the electric and the barbed wire line fence.

I only sectioned off a small section of the woods though. It had been tough hot work and the mules did a nice job working in the woods.

This is a photo from last year. The original fencing went all the way back to the creek. I put this up with a gate so I could walk down ... or take the 4 wheeler to the creek if I wished.

I didn't think I'd ever get up the energy to be able to complete this task. But I decided to work on it a few hours a day if I could to get the brush whacked away from where I wanted to run the lines. Now that was hard work.

At least with both Sven and Charlie for company, it wasn't lonely work but pretty pleasant. Both of them helped me run the new lines.
Well.
Help wasn't really the word I'd use. Sven kept moving into the wire and somehow got it wrapped on his leg .. or neck.. and he'd walk to me dragging wire and stop and look as if I'd offended him somehow.
Or Sven would pick up a glove and walk away with it.

Goat Fencing could be an Art. Much more difficult than Goat Yoga, I'd think.

In the above photo, you can't see it, but this is one of the banks above the creek. Here it drops 20 feet to the left of the posts.

Today I hooked it all up and drove the 4 Wheeler down to the end to test if it was 'hot'.

It sure was. And the grass I'd seeded had come in quite nicely.

This is how the area looked when The Bulldozer guy was working on it last June.

Looks better now doesn't it?

So as I was driving the 4 Wheeler back to the house, I thought to myself. A job well done! I had completed the project! 

And then after I started mowing the yard I looked at one of the areas that is impossible to mow. It is a section of yard that never got landscaped after the basement was dug. It was a series of holes, bumps and two washed out areas.

Last year and the year before, I had spent time with the weed whacker and chopped it down.

I stopped the mower and looked over at the mules.
Why indeed!
I could build a mini fenced in area and ... hmmm...
let them do the work.

They could handle the rough ground better than I could and then I'd just be left with a few odd weeds to cut down.

I started to smile and then chuckle. I like making temporary lots and using them wisely to feed the critters.

Maybe I am a fencing Diva?

Gardens and Fences and stuff

Remember when I gave the neighbor kids a bucket of seeds to toss in the dirt next to the porch?
Well it is blossoming right now. Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, 4 o'clocks, and green beans all in one place.
The humming birds are swarming the flowers. No need for messy feeders. I can have coffee and watch the hummers fly in and then sit on the pine tree.

Yesterday I figured it would be a piece of cake to finish up the fencing project.

I guess my cake was in shambles.
I took some line we'd used already at one point and strung it out. It all went very nicely until it got tangled up in briers and multiflora rose.

I carefully got it untangled and it got tangled again. Solo fencing is the pits. It goes much faster with another person.
Oh well.

If you look carefully there is a little brown spot in the photo. Two small brown Teddy Bears.
They are my fencing pals. They supervised everything going on at the gate.

I was so excited to get both lines to the 'ridge' road finally!

However I didn't have enough to finish the project and it was time to go check on Rich anyway.  It was close enough to noon to have lunch also.

I put the one gate handle up and took a photo so Rich could see what I was doing.

To turn around the cart and the 4 wheeler, I have to take the yellow cart off and manually turn it around. Then drive the 4 wheeler to the creek where it is wide enough to safely turn around ... and then come back and re-attach the cart and go on my way. This method, while not perfect, has saved me so many trips of carrying heavy items.

I had to stop and admire the flowers by what I now call the Morris Garden. This is where Morris was buried. Flowers do help ease the pain. However, I do know this is where he loved to go first thing every single morning....
Funny how it is such a lovely spot now that he doesn't pee on it.

We had lunch and Rich put the mower deck back together for me. The good intentions were that I would quickly finish the fencing project and then jump on the mower and start on the yard.

I got an email from MIL's cousin telling me that I should go over to Folsom School and check it out. Her husband went there and was doing the painting and cleaning to prepare for a get together and school reunion.

I ran over and took a peek inside the school house.

It is a one room school that operated from 1880 to 1961. I found the little school chairs to be adorable. The atmosphere inside was one of hushed respect. I don't know why I got the feeling but I could almost hear the teachers talking to the classroom full of different aged children.

I wanted to linger but I knew that time was 'a--wasting' as my Grandfather would have said.

Back to the fence. What a job it ended up being. I had to go back once for more wire and then I had to get some of those heavy T posts and pound them in.
My neck and back were feeling the effects of a heavy lifting 'work week' and too many hours driving back and forth to the VA in the car.

Finally! The last thing I have to do is connect the wires to the other fence so the electric pulse will follow through the wires ... and I am done with a project I started over a month ago.

I plan on finishing the work this fall and winter along the barbed wire fence all of the way to the creek and revamping the old fence that Rich had put up somewhere around year 2000.

I consider this a start at least.

After supper, I decided it was too late to begin mowing. So I picked green beans and some pea pods.
I froze 12 packages of green beans and the plants have just begun!

About this and that...

Fred gets a bath and immediately does what any self respecting mule will do.
Roll in the closest dirt pile to replenish the dirt.

Here are some of the projects I've been working on. I used an old milker to plant some petunias in.

This is part of the East Garden just before I put the milker in. I needed to make a straight edge to mow a bit easier. I used landscape fabric and planted some petunias and marigolds...then added the black mulch.
I need much much mulch!

View after the mulch job. Be warned, this garden goes through many phases of re-arranging as the summer goes on. The bricks are there in place until I get some nice rocks to replace them with...

Hubby brought loads of black dirt for around the house. The ground settled after the remodel.

So I used a rake and a shovel to move the dirt to where I wanted it.

It took another day or so to get some plants transplanted around in the dirt. I don't like landscape fabric as a rule. I just crowd out weeds if I can with plants.
We will see how that works! Not too sure!

Then I found another new project. Another old chair found in the red shed.
I started this weekend with painting it. I'm not exactly sure how it will turn out.
It will be a porch chair or a chair for inside when we have company.
Last year I made the Happy Chair.

Perhaps I can make another chair ... Naughty Chair?
Lazy Chair? Thoughtful Chair?

Photo of the Happy Chair I worked on from last summer....

Here is a sample of what I've been doing.
Before....

 After...
It need improvements all around, but I like perennials. These all have come from other areas of the yard where I 'stored' them while I was waiting for the remodel to be done and the ground to 'settle'.

And speaking of gardens.
I am just about ready to start the vegetable garden.

Last but not least!
Tadah! We had too many cattle for me to take care of and last year Rich decided we should sell 6 head and keep two for eating. Another few could stay as our forest gleaners.
Rich kept putting it off and off. Part of the stroke issues is an inability to get certain decisions made.
I hooked up with a farmer friend and he arranged it.
We moved the cattle Wednesday afternoon to a small fenced in paddock with metal 'catch pen' gates.

The farm friend showed up as well as the trucker and we loaded up the little Dexters and sent them on their way.

The others tiny group is busy working at mowing and keeping the weeds under control.

And now I think I've caught up on farm work for a bit.

Have a wonderful weekend. I have company arriving tonight to prep for.....