Continuation French Drain, Poppies :-), Zeva, Refrig Pickles..............

French Drain continuation……

The gravel’s been laid at the bottom of the trench; pipes have been glued together, and laid at a slight angle on top of the gravel, to ensure the water will drain down the pipe and into our fish pond. We even setup one of the gutters to run down a spout into a pipe in the ground, which in the end will be totally connected to the French Drain. This will take the rain water away from the house and prevent issues with the foundation.  Now we’re ready for the next step to add more gravel to the trench and on top of the pipe.

A slight delay causes us to push this project off the delay; Bulldog Man needs to leave for work in Salt Lake City, Utah for a week. 

The second delay, severe thunder and lightning storms. We’ll have to pick this project up again, once the sun comes back out and the ground is dry.   

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A nice surprise; Kymber and Jambaloney over at the Framboise Manor Blog sent us these amazing Poppies as a housewarming gift.  We decided to place them around our tornado shelter……because they’re pretty, they signify success in following your dreams, and most of all remind us of those military soldiers who lost their lives protecting us, and fighting for our freedoms…..Remember Flanders Fields (WW1).

These Poppies have touched us in an amazing way, thank you so much Kymber and Jambaloney…we love y’all. 

Oh Kymber, there was a little bird just sitting in one of the poppies taking a little bath :-)

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Tank needed longer leads on the welder mounted to his flatbed truck.  Instead of purchasing 200 foot leads separately from a welding shop, he went ahead and purchased 400 feet of wire wholesale and created his own 200 foot leads. He also purchased a mechanical reel to attach directly to his truck, to wrap and ground the leads, making it easier for working large jobs.  Bulldog Man helped tank pull, split, and setup the wire on the reel properly.    

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The making of refrigerator pickles…..I used a spice package by Ball and McCormick (like the ones in my last give-away) in order to make bread and butter pickles.  I only really needed to come up with the vinegar, sugar, and water.  The rest was quiet simple, no processing in a pressure canner, or a water bath.  My bottles went directly in the refrigerator and will be totally eaten up by one person in our house….ME!!!!

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It breaks my heart to say this; we had to give up our sweet little girl, Zeva.  We had her for only 2 days and trained her to bark to go outside to do her business, and introduced her to walking on a leash.  She was very intelligent, and a sweet German shepherd.  Our plan was to train her as a security protection dog, for out on the farm.  But first, Beans (our rescued Chihuahua) needed to give his blessings.  We introduced the 2 dogs and they both seemed to be fine with one another.  Once home, Beans started to become distant, with us, and Zeva.  He sat on his bed and anytime Zeva would get near him he would leave a wide berth.  He started closing down………he would give a dead stare, not move, eat, or drink. 

What to do….we acted fast!  Beans was here first (he’s our baby), and we rescued him.  We weren’t replacing him; we were bringing him a friend, a companion.   Obviously this was too much for Beans to handle (maybe because Zeva was a puppy).  We brought Zeva back to her original owner (lovely breeder who lived on a ranch full of animals).  She took Zeva back and totally understood.  Zeva was adopted that afternoon by a family who recently lost their female shepherd.  They kept the name we gave her, and will send us pictures. 

Beans is still acting a bit strange over the situation.  Tomorrow we go to the Vet., to make sure everything’s okay.  

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We recently found several worm webs in trees around our driveway.  This time of year it’s usually the Eastern Tent Caterpillar (appears in late spring/early summer) which looks very similar to the Web Worm (they appear in the fall).  These worms can stress your trees, making them susceptible to diseases, other bugs, and drought.  

The easiest way to get rid of these worms and their webs are to spray them with bug spray.  We prefer to cut the branch down and burn the entire branch, web, eggs, and worms. 

As for the tree’s with  branches 30+ feet up in the air……they’ll have to just be left alone because…. I’m not climbing my happy A$$ up these trees to cut limbs/branches down at my age.  There’s just no way I can do that now!!!!