The Weekend

Our weekend was extended by a day because DH's work made him take a day of his comp time because there wasn't enough work. Luckily he is back at work today, but it was a very hectic weekend for us. We just had a lot to get done and even with the extra day, not enough time.

Friday DH came home to pick up me and the girls after work then we went to his parents for dinner. We left early enough to go get fence posts enroute and put up a fence around their main vegetable, herb, and flower garden to keep the girls out of it. DH had set a couple rows of leeks for them (he will do most of the care but it enables them to harvest when they want them without having to call us a few days ahead to arrange for a dropoff) and we didn't want the girls running through it while they play in the fenced yard. We got that done then had a nice dinner and headed back out to do some more yard stuff. We pulled some plants out of their front bed that there were too many of and some weeds. Then DH trimmed several bushes and trees for them. We put what we could onto the trailer, but left a load behind. I hope to get the video of the girls playing with the branches up on their blog one of these days.

Saturday we planted the lilac seedlings we brought home from their place. Then DH took the car up to the neighbors and walked home. You see, we needed to lead Queenie and Hopi up to the summer pasture at his place and there was NO WAY I could walk that far twice. I led Queenie, who kindly let me lean on her shoulders to rest my hip some of the time. DH took Hopi, who is much better at being led thanks to my work and the time she went with a short stiff lead rope in her halter. She wasn't easy though. He had to drag her, quite literally, across the road. We were lucky to get a small break in the heavy weekend vacation traffic, but it wasn't big enough to dilly dally and try to teach her anything. So while she put her legs forward to try to stop, he dragged her across the road. After that things settled down and she was able to nibble some clover once she realized her mother was cool with it all. The train tracks were another problem, but it helped that she'd already seen Queenie cross.

So now our little herd of shetland ponies is reunited and they sure are happy about it! Idiot me didn't realize I was supposed to take Hopi's halter off when I released her (she is growing and it can quickly become too tight), so we had to go back up yesterday morning to do it.

We went in to visit a bit with the neighbor, who is enjoying having enough time for his garden and whitewashing now that he doesn't have cows to milk twice a day. We also needed to pay him for the hay we got from him all winter.

Then when we got home, I crashed for a while in exhaustion. Once I recovered a little, it was back to work with laundry and other chores. We dug up some of our own potatoes for the first time for dinner (we didn't have enough left). They were bigger than DH expected but not huge and VERY good. So we have now eaten the first of the harvest of our own garden.

Sunday we started as early as DH could get me out of bed (it was NOT early). It took me a while to get functional. Then he decided it was time to sand and refinish the coffee table, so we took that outside and got it started. While he scrubbed it down, I got out his farrier equipment and got it set up.

Then we fetched Quintas and spent several hours trimming her hooves. She was not particularly cooperative (we think she might have had a bad experience as a foal... it wouldn't be a surprise if she had considering how neglected and undernourished she was when DH got her). It took a long time, but he did a GREAT job on her. She had problems with some of the hoof having broken off, so it was not easy for him to clean up all those rough edges and get a decent result.

After that, I got another rest and he sanded the table. At some point, I made some homemade salad dressing with sour cream, fresh parsley and chives, and salt and pepper to have with dinner (pork tenderloin medallions, readymade potato wedges we seasoned, and salad) and prepared the salad.

While the sanding equipment was out, we got out of one of the panels of the folding wooden screen we retrieved from the trash place a while ago. It must have been a very gorgeous oriental screen once with inlaid stone. But when we got it, some of the stone had come off. So we removed all of it then but it has been standing in the workshop waiting for more attention since. So we got the one panel out and I was able to sand both sides. We need to get something to fill in the holes from the stones before we can paint it and we're still discussing decoration options. But I found an online pattern for a huge horse stencil and we're thinking of spray painting that on. I also have some other smaller stencil patterns in western motives that we could use. They are smaller than we want probably, so I may need to try to copy them up larger (copy machine can't do that, so I would have to do ti manually with the grid method).

I was really beat from everything we did, so I ended up lying outside on a blanket working on the book I am editing for Edith (she wrote it in Englihs, which is not her native language, but it is quite good and a joy to edit). DH worked on repairing the stucco on the house while I did that. I have pics of the house before and will have to take some after pictures to show what we've been up to with it. It has taken a LOT of hours already and many more to go before it looks decent again.

Then we had dinner. While he was taking the potatoes out of the oven, DH's back suddenly went really bad, probably caused by having fought with Quintas in the morning. So he spent the rest of the evening in misery trying to relax. I did manage to fold some laundry, but other than that, we were donebeing productive.

Monday he had fun getting me out of bed again becase I was hurting really bad. I also had to take more pain killers than usual. But then we started running lots of errands. We got the halter off Hopi, went to the pet store for dog food, two grocery stores, and several other places. By the time we got home, both my brain and my body had shut down from the pain. So I spent most of the rest of the day resting. DH went to a local blacksmith to get a hoof jack made similar to the one he borrowed from a friend.

In the evening, we worked together to pull and trim rhubarb for his mother. He packed his lunch and played with the girls (while I continued to rest) then we went to bed.

Today he brought me a pain killer at 5am before he left for work. Then I stayed in bed 5 more hours until a friend dropped by to see how I was and got me out of bed. I was on my way up anyway. So I talked to her for a while then got the girls out and got myself dressed.

I have two main projects today beyond recovering: bathing Shawnee (she smells like a dog, which isn't normal for our girls) and doing the dishes. I already got a zinc tub out and filled it part way with water in the sun for bathing her. I want the water to warm up. I also put the hose where the sun will be on it so at least some of my rinse water is warm. And the towels are out on the picnic table to warm up too. I need to do that soon but it has been a little cloudy and the water is not as warm as I hoped yet, but the chill is off it. I also did some rinsing and sorting of the dishes, so they won't be too bad to wash.

Now I am going to rest soem more before I get to work. Hope everyone else is ahving a good week.

Gorgeous Weather

I managed to get up earlier today that I had been all week. I think it helped that DH brought me painkiller before he left for work. I am doing a good bit better. I am even managing to get around without crutches today.

I had planned to take it pretty easy today and mostly just play my game and do dishes. The gorgeous weather got the better of me though so I ended up doing little bit outside. The girls have been in and out of the fence all day because they love the sun.

DH planted potatoes yesterday, I think he said he set 53 of them. With the way the weather is, he will probably plant more today. He is worried that they'll come up too fast and be hit by frost, so he is covering them with a tarp after planting.

I decided to work on my herbs little bit. I promised my mother-in-law that I would try to make some plants for her. It's probably too early, but I did try a few pieces. We keep a collapsing stool hanging out in the carport so I took that so I could sit down. DH has contained most of the herbs in large pipes that has also raised their level a bit above ground.

The oregano is the only one that isn't contained yet. I can see this just starting to come up and I cleared away the old mint and other things from last year there were covering the area. I should be able to split off a small piece for her without problem.

The estragon is just starting out the bottoms. I cleared away all last year's dead stems and seeds. I try to loosen seeds up and shake them over the area in hopes that someone would come. It also should not be problem to get some of those for my mother-in-law.

There's no signs of life in the thyme and it's not looking very good. I cut that hard back and we'll just have to hope it comes.

The sage is not looking good either. I cut back the parts that really felt dead and I'll just have to see if something comes. I will also watch for to go on sale somewhere because I am afraid I will have to replace it.

There is definitely life in the curry. I cut away the deadest parts. I cut a few of the stems that had life in them and stuck them deep in the ground. If I am lucky, those will turn into plants. I left the rest uncut, so I can try again later.

My rosemary is definitely thriving. Only a little bit looked dead and I cut that away. Like with the curry, I cut a few pieces and try to set them in the ground. Let's cross our fingers that some grow.

The one chive is definitely coming in well. The other looks like it might be starting. It had gone to seed last year, so I cut away those stems.

That work was more than enough for my hip. Everything I cut away, I immediately put into a big basket, so it easier to throw out into the compost. I left my stool out because I hope to go out while DH is working the garden after he gets home.

When I came in, I decided to turn off the furnace and heat pump. I now have windows open in a few different rooms and the door open when the girls were in the fence. I also watered the plants. We really need the fresh air, so it just feels great to have it aired out.

We're just having porridge for dinner so I don't make anything in preparation. We're going to have what translates to one or porridge, which is barley based. Last night DH took a bag of my homemade applesauce out of the freezer that we will have with it. It is normally eaten with applesauce and syrup. We probably should have made this when my parents were here, because I bet my dad love it. He likes applesauce and he likes syrup so I bet he'd love the chance to eat them together. The porridge itself would be classified as a carrier product.