Weekend update

It is nice just having the one job this week and Saturday was a great office day. We had a walk in client that most Realtors only dream of... which reinforces my belief that this is the prime location for the office. We are getting a few walk-ins every few days so everyone here should make money, and that's the reason I'm not in the garage anymore. 2 of us were out showing properties this weekend and we had other Realtors showing our listings so it was a good weekend. And I put the rockers out on the front porch at the office for the weekend (cabled & bolted down) and they were here when I pulled in this AM!

So yesterday I stayed at home and did the gardener thang. Used up the Roundup cause the weeds are winning at the moment...
And I took the racks I bought from Lowe's and got most of the garden shed organized which was something that needed to get done before garden season really kicks in.
I did not get the newest fruit trees planted, but there are 4 waiting. Mr. Grumpy got the water system turned on also so we can water the gardens now... it was 80 yesterday... And it was the first official day of not using the dryer for the next 6+ months!

And Mr. Grumpy is always very happy if this little thing dose not spin too fast!

I tried not to get too stressed out over the fact that the neighbors are pigs and just let trash blow around on their property...
And the best thing was at least there are still wild bees out and they were all over the pear blossoms...
So it was a productive Sunday, hope yours was good too! See ya soon...Happy Trails!

It's Thursday

Time is a flyin' by and we are at the point of trying to man the office full time now. I have gone part time at Lowe's and had told them only Monday thru Thursday and just evenings. So the new schedule comes out and they have me working just Saturday and Sunday AM shifts... which of course I can no longer do... hmmmm...

We had last Sunday off together which was really (really!) nice just to sit down and have a days worth of time and meals together. Too much of our lives have suffered with me taking a second job and even though it was a blessing this past winter, and I like all the folks I work with, it is taking too much of a toll. I get home after 15 to 16 hour days and have no energy to play with the doggies, do any housework, (remember housekeeper was laid off last October) and even talk with Mr. Grumpy... like he is awake at 12 when I drag in! OK enough! Mr. Grumpy says the blog should be more upbeat like last summer (when I was not always exhausted) so here goes! :-)

We walked down and checked out the gardens and what did we see... why the first shoots of asparagus!
And some nectarine blossoms which have probably frozen...
And the almond is bursting out... on the list is find it a pollinator this spring for next years nuts.
And while I was running around snapping pics and getting excited about fruits... Mr Grumpy fixed the yard hydrant so we can get some water going down to the back 40!
AND... while I was relaxing from the hard work of snapping pics Mr. Grumpy went on to pulling out last seasons sunflowers (which I was going to use for early pea supports) to show he was a good little helper!
Oh yeah, and the horseradish is still the best thing going... and the Simpson lettuce that never showed up last summer is now appearing...
Last but not least the forsythia is the best flower show in the gardens!
I also found my missing fruit trees list this morning on what I need to finish off the orchard, so I will start hunting tonight at the other job. Now I just need to find that special garden helper.... maybe someone that likes to run thru the sprinklers?

The Garden Bear is out of his cave

You all know how I detest going to a 9 to 5 job... or should I say a 6 to 3 or a 1 to 10 job... but in this economic climate it is a very wise thing to have a second (read paying) job and I will stay there longer then first thought... a lot longer it looks like. And I like the folks I work with too!

Mr. Grumpy is enjoying this enormously and is now making comments like "let's see how you juggle real estate, Lowe's, and a big garden this year!" And I am wondering that myself... But it is better to have him saying that then the popular comment of January which was "now you know how real people live in the real world"... hmmph, palease... All of you that know and love the Kevbear know that the real world and the Kevbear world only line up in the correct phase once every 10 lunar cycles... or something like that.

So today is Lowe's off day and we ran into town to pickup the pickup which died 4 times when we went to the dump last week. Apparently we need to drive it more then once every 2 months... Mr. Grumpy was happy that 2 of the mechanics there wanted to buy it, saying it was the nicest truck in the most perfect condition they had ever seen. If it is Mr. Grumpy's it is always in perfect condition... except me... I am in mint condition...

Last night I shared with Mr. Grumpy a few things I had been stashing away (read still putting away Christmas stuff) like the seeds for this years garden!
And all the seed starting stuff I have been gathering...


And I finished fertilizing all the trees & shrubs... which I normally do in January but what with 2 jobs.... hmmmm is this a taste of things to come in the garden???

And we (Mr. Grumpy) got the stove pipe cleaned out so there will be no spring chimney fires this year! And I got a spring calf on hold so we are going into raising our own beef (with Brenda & Chas!). Today I got the dormant spray (1st coat) on the fruit trees and the last of the manure on the asparagus.


Now back to the manure piles! Or maybe back to laying on the couch and reading thru my new books... and if I do that then let's talk about peak oil soon, OK? And in the mean time look around the Google (as that idiot calls it) and look up peak oil yourselves...

OK Already... catching up

I know it has been awhile, but really, I have been working like a dog at Lowe's and have just been exhausted each night. Days have been busy with real estate when I have some time off from the pay the bills job. But I promise to be back to being my old self soon.

So to recap; all the garden seeds are ordered except for the Territorial Seed Company and I am getting ansey for the snow to go away (as we all are!) so I can play in the garden again. Some seeds have arrived and more are coming, I ordered from 4 different companies this year... Now if the snow would just go away!

I really love the snow but the gardening is my stress relief valve and I could use the relief these days! Retail nowadays is nothing like 25 - 30 years ago when I was last at it. The main thing that has me totally out of sorts is the fact that almost every single box that comes into the store says "made in China" on it. Not a good thing for our economy in the long run... Mr. Grumpy still is OK with his statement that I can walk away from Lowe's anytime I want and we will get by OK. And that rebate stimulus check "in the mail" is that a joke or what. I can just see my Buyers saying they now have a down payment!!!
On a brighter note I will shortly have 3 agents at the company and our location should be available to us sometime in Feb. so that has me jazzed. And the website is almost ready to re-appear after the parting with RE/MAX! And on a garden note we awoke the other morning to a present from Max...
Yuppers a big steaming pile of shit in the yard, gotta love that guy (from a gardener's point of view). Max has more if anyone needs a load to start with the spring garden, and his price is reasonable too!

Enough for now, I will be showing houses today, and again next week! Funny thang... I need to sell just 3 houses and I will make what it takes me to make at Lowe's in an entire year. OK time to hit the shower and get back to laundry & KP detail...

Winter Prep 101

Today I got a great breakfast! Well the thought was there... someone decided I needed the magic of sculptured eggs...
But the finished yummy breakfast was not exactly what the creator envisioned... but the thought made it the bestest breakfast ever!
And the kitchen prep crew kept everything moving and clean & tidy...
With the 19 on the temp-o-meter this morning it was time to drain the pipes... umm the garden pipes (you dirty minded readers you)... so I finished up some watering... (that is a hose...)Funny that the strawberries are the last of the fall colors... And what with it only being about 40 when I went out... I dressed for the event (also worried about the stalking paparazzi!) After the watering and the pipes (water pipes) draining ( get outta the gutter!) I went on to the exciting adventure of digging the last of the taters!

And considered planting the 180 tulips that HWMNBN bought me when we went to COSTCO the other day...

But I decided that the sore back had had enough and it was time for a late afternooner of Advil & cocktails... And then the BIG EVENT happened, a blogger that I read actually read my blog! This ranks just under the filming (my being discovered by HOLLYWOOD!) event and a few steps under the most wonderful attempt of angel eggs I have ever scene (seen) that happened in our very own home this early AM.

So there is a fire going in the woodstove, we are getting by on a pre-made dinner and visions of sugar plums (hot guys) will soon be dancing...

In our heads (the ones on our necks!)

The Burn Day (at last)

Normally I would have posted last night but this Kevbear was way too tired and sore, so that by the time we finished burgers we were ready for bed...

I started the morning off right for a Sunday burn day brunch with the breakfast of champions!

The before... getting ready... After some discussion we decided the pile was too big and we drug a bunch of branches off the pile.

Burn,baby, burn...

Junipers can fight back...

The after... no brush pile and all the junipers limbed up to give the fruit trees room to spread out. Eventually the junipers will all go the new orchard area is now 90' by 100'!

Pre-dinner relaxing after we hit the showers.

While we were burningthe brush, the sheets were in the wash so when we were done it was fluff the feather bed and get ready for some great sleepkins. Of course I was so tired I slept like shit...

And now I can get the burn clothes out of the washer and out on the clothes line. Yes, the weather is still good enough that we can get away without the dryer... And then I will drag my sore carcass down to the new improved orchard area and finish laying out the fruit trees!

taters!

After our downpour last night (glad I cleaned out the raingutters!) I decided today might be a good day to start digging all those taters. So I started in on the Yukon Golds...

This was (told you so) also the day I started in on cleaning the garage and getting it ready for the doggies winter condo. Mr. G worked on the house. I also cleaned up the garden shed so there was someplace to put all the tools from the garage & the lawnmowers. The boys love to chew the pullcords off the power tools each winter. What can I say, Boys will be Boys...

Mr. G did mention once or twice that since I let Housekeeper go there seems to be a lot more things we need to do around the house. Lucky for me we lay Gardener off each fall so I get away with no complaints there... But... with the current real estate market and me being a Realtor I really felt we needed to cut back somewhere. I overheard Mr. G on the phone saying we were also cutting way back on Christmas this year (WHAT!) so it looks like I will be on a street corner soon... Should I sell it by the inch or by the pound???

My all time favorite actor is on right now and it is becoming harder to concentrate...

When Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up you just get some amazing movies. And this one is one of those Christmas crossovers that you can catch all year. I was always more of a Cary Grant kinda guy but I think Depp has only scratched the surface of his acting at this point. And while mentioning movies last night this was on and I just have to stay up and watch the Milan scene...
Tomorrow Mr. G is going to get those new snow & ice tires for the Hybred at Costco and will be bringing Mom's 2 little monster (some of our puppies) doggies for a visit while she is off on a road trip. 84 & on the go, hope I will be so lucky in life... of course I do have Mom's genes, no wrinkles yet! And tomorrow I will continue to work on that damn woodpile & the garage (sigh). Chance of snow tonight... OK a very small chance...

Squirreling

I get in this mode every fall where I am sure we will starve (to death) or freeze (to death) during the winter months. I think it is from growing up for some of my wonder years on the edge of the Sierra's and actually getting snowed in and having no water for spells. It could also be that great, great uncle Luke died in the Donner Party in the Sierra's back in the 1800 somethings. He was not eaten! Anyway winter is my favorite season and I love to know that the wood is split and stacked and there is plenty of food (nuts) stored away.

So here is the new seasoned wood in front of the old seasoned wood waiting for the Kevbear to get to stacking. There used to be a nice woodshed to put it in but the bitch neighbor from hell filed a complaint that it was a fire hazard to her vacant lot and the county made us move it, it was too close to the property line... it is now a wonderful garden shed!

So as part of my squirrel activity I went to the big city and bought some extra food. On Saturday I put 20 pounds of cheese in the freezer and another 6 meatloafs (12 total so far). I get this way... This year I did some research (thanks LDS) and bought some books and came up with a plan! A meal plan. I looked at what we eat and how often, as I am the cook in the house this was easy. I then looked at 2 weeks worth of meals, I then broke it down into what each meal took to make. I then figured these meals (with variations) for 8 months. Just until next years garden starts producing. And then inventoried what I already had stored away, and thought "oh shit I need more stuff!". So I shopped... Mr. G does have a point (ignored by me) that we do not have the room for my squirrel list. I am determined... I am also very worried...

We have some class A idiots running things these days. We are in a war over oil (#2 so far) and will be in more soon and very few leaders say we are in a war over oil... yet. We have an economy that is running on borrowed time that could pull many things down world-wide... soon. We have a government that is not addressing the fact that we are in a war over a dwindling resource and should really be putting the $'s into some new energy avenues. So I am worried...

I spent Sunday canning. Now I have not canned for 20+ years, so I thought that it might be a good time to get in practice again, what with having a garden and all. So I put up a dozen quarts of dill pickles and a dozen pints of relish. It was cool out so it helped warm the house up, and it helped get rid of most of the veggies on the dining room table. The zucs will become zuc/carrot breads for the winter hoard. Next weekend will maybe be applesauce... There is also that wood -pile waiting...

First Frost

It always seems to happen about this time. Just as we are ready for a bounty of tomatoes... it hits. Never fails. I was out until almost dark last night picking peppers, squash, watermelons, cantalopes. Got most of the tomatoes covered with some extra coverage for the artichokes and watermelons. So I will hope for the tomatoes, there is plenty of corn, and we will have potatoes to last all winter! Plus there is the bonus of all the strawberries & aspargus that I planted that will be good eating next spring!

This morning went down to the garden, sure enough... it hit 29 last night and when I get home tonight I think it is time to pick the last of the baby peppers, zucs, & cucs. It is due to be 29 again tonight and then warming to give me false hope on the hundreds of tomatoes ready to ripen. I will be canning this weekend... the dining room table is loaded with vegies.

After a bad start to the first ever garden at this house (2 freezes in mid-June & neighbors from hell deciding to have free range bunnies (bunnies dig)) I thought I might get a break on a September frost. So I would say we had 80 frost free days. We did get to eat our first corn two nights ago and it was as sweet as honey. And Mom & JR who helped with the watering while we were gone did get a huge bounty from the garden. New rule... do not take a September trip when you have planted a big garden.

The big, giant, bloated Super Walmart opened yesterday in town and everyone wanted to go, Mr. G stopped after work to see it. Mom wanted to go but no one wanted to go with her so she will go today. It was on the news, it was an event, there was no parking... it is 5 acres under 1 roof for crying out loud. And twice that in pavement. There is a Home Depot going in next door, there is a Lowes going in down the road... and our economy is going where? To China? To Saudi Arabia? I am sure we will see these giant boxes be empty shells in the not too distant future. Both those countries could pull the plug on the US dollar and send this SUV, buy more and more, heads in the sand economy of ours into a depression that would make the 20's and 80's look like cake walks. So I will get better at canning, plant the last of the fruit trees this coming spring, and plant a much bigger garden next spring!