A Good Day Outdoors

Yesterday was a beautiful day, with lots of sunshine, a high of about 68^o degrees, and a nice breeze blowing. A perfect day to be outside working, and that’s what we did.

I think I mentioned that Terry had ordered a couple of Vego Garden raised beds for growing herbs and vegetables, but only one has arrived so far. Yesterday she put it together, which was a very simple project. She said the worst part was pulling off the protective plastic on both sides of each panel. These things are very neat because you can configure them in all kinds of different ways.

When she finished assembling it we took it out near the garden where she wanted it to be, and began prepping it. The first step was to put heavy cardboard down at the very bottom as a barrier to keep grass and weeds from growing up.

Then we gathered a bunch of dried tree limbs and branches from around the property, filling up the bed of our Kawasaki Mule twice. They went in on top of the cardboard and will eventually decompose, giving her a very good base for next year’s planting.

The next step was to collected a load of dried leaves to go on top of the wood. The Mule has a dump bed, which made it easy to unload and spread them into the planter. The more I use this machine the more I like it. It has proven very handy around here.

We let that sit overnight, and the next steps will be to put in compost and soil, and then it should be ready for planting.

A couple of people have asked if I ever do any work around here or if I just take pictures and write about what Terry does. That’s pretty much how it goes. However, yesterday I did use the new Husqvarna riding lawn mower to cut some of the grass around the garden and in the area where we park our two trailers.

I’m sure our neighbors think I did a sloppy job because I left some patches un-mowed because I didn’t want to cut down the clover that the bees are feeding on.

We have a steep hill on the side of our garage and I didn’t quite have the cajónes to tackle that yet. It was the reason we didn’t go with a zero-turn mower. I was advised they don’t handle well on steep hills like that. Our son Travis says he will mow that area when he’s here on Thursday. He’s younger and will probably mend faster than I would if he turns to the mower over on top of himself. Yes, I know. I’m a terrible father.

By the time we were done with all of that it was about 6:30 and we were both more than ready to call it a day and go inside. Terry made me some delicious chicken fried venison and a baked potato for dinner, and she had a baked sweet potato and veggie chili with beans. Then we settled in to watch Call The Midwife on PBS, and by then it was time to get the blog written and posted. I love days like this when Terry and I are working together outside, and I’m looking forward to many more of them.

Congratulations George Rawley, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Big Lake Lynching, the second book in my bestselling Big Lake mystery series. When a young Apache man is found hanging from a tree on Cat Mountain, Sheriff Jim Weber and FBI agent Larry Parks go on the hunt for the killers, and by the time their investigation is over, the idealistic cover is ripped from the little mountain town of Big Lake, revealing old prejudices, resentments, and hatred. In their search for justice, Sheriff Weber and Parks encounter Native American activists, a kinky couple whose passion burns as hot as their tempers, a teenager with excess baggage, and a father and son team of small town bullies, to name just a few.

We had 26 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.