Compost - Property Work

Last night Bulldog Man put together an above ground compost container for me.  We wanted to go this route to prevent rodents and snakes from deciding to visit and stick around while the compost decays.  When the compost container was up and ready for vegetable scraps, I went into the house and brought out a sealed bucket of vegetable scraps I had been compiling for the last week.  I opened the bucket to dump the vegetable scraps and wanted to gag.  The smell of rotten vegetables death hit me and I thought I was going to throw up (the vegetable scraps had sat in the closed warm bucket for a week).  I hurried up and closed the compost lid and OMG……you could still smell it.  I decided to put a little straw in the compost to help soak up the vegetable juice and let it sit over night.  Today we added manure to the compost and moved the compost container into the garden away from the house (due to the smell).

Funny story, I remember as a kid, barefoot, running a bucket of vegetable scraps out to the compost in Crestview, Florida.  Now the compost was on the ground in the far back of the yard.  As I got to the compost pile and started dumping the vegetable scraps, I felt this movement under my bare feet.  Guess what I was standing on?  A very large rattle snake!!!!!  I screamed and ran back toward the house.  My Mom came out wanting to know what was wrong, I couldn’t speak, and I was white as a ghost.  She went over toward the compost pile and realized why I screamed and ran back toward the house.  Mom immediately grabbed a shovel from the side of the house and went after that darn rattle snake.  The snake made its way out to the side road.  As Mom was trying to chop its head off a car was driving by.  It slammed its breaks on and ran over the snake 5 times before the little bastard turned into road killJ.   I never went outside to the compost barefoot and without a shovel again.  So the moral of this story is no compost pile on the ground for me!!!!!

This morning, I worked on the yard cutting the grass (again!), weed whacking, weeding, and picking up trash that had blown in on the property.  Bulldog Man and Tank worked in the garage going through and getting rid of things we no longer need.  Putting up shelves, and organizing the garage. Bulldog Man plans on making a shelf to put up the gas containers off the garage floor.  We took a little time out today to grab a brief nap in the prime heat of the day.  This evening, I’m doing some laundry and I will be going out into the garden to see what needs watering and fixing because of the wind.  Heck, I may even plant some seeds.