Some Assembly Requred

Which box contains the instructions?

5/14 we had three truckloads of materials delivered.  While the house is now on site it will be take some doing before it actually looks like a house.  Nickelmen Construction has been charged with the huge task of making it work.  So far they are working on flooring framing and they have not had an easy go of it.  Marrying up an un-level cement block foundation with a new poured foundation had given them a few reasons to scratch their heads.  We are so fortunate to have such accomplished guys working on this project. 

As framing continues this week,  our excavator is readying the foundation for the concrete slabs to be poured.  Chris and Ron Frye came up with the creative idea to use the cement cylinders as fill for the garage.  The building inspector and engineer ok'd the idea and we will save some $ and use up some of those pesky cylinders.

The grape vines have lots of baby bunches of grapes. 
You can see the bee hives in the upper right.

The garden is growing like crazy!  I have canned several pints of strawberries and this week I hope to can peas.    Everything is up and growing.  My June bearing berries are almost done and the summer squashes will be ready to be harvested this weekend.

The warmer than usual weather has had many effects.  This morning I discovered a caterpillar nesting ground on the broccoli.  I harvested what I could and cut out any crawlies I could find.  While I was mourning the loss of broccoli,  the chickens had a feast! The flea beetles have my eggplant leaves looking like lace.  I sprayed them off with the hose then treated the leaves with some hort oil.  Fortunately the three eggplants that are hanging look fine.

I am a bit disappointed in the rhubarb and I think I am going to rip it up and try a new variety.  The problem is that I have a variety that does not turn red.  In my mind, rhubarb should be red and I really don't like eating green rhubarb. 

The End of the Alley, Junk Yard Alley

The area formerly known as junk yard alley is no more.  Last weekend we hauled the last of the trash into the dumpster.  We still have to pinch ourselves to believe the trash is gone.  Some highlights of what we found.....

• 100's of shower door 
• toilets in many colors
• sinks in many colors
• formica laminate
• corian countertops
• whirlpool tub
• shower
• steel girders
• dishwashers
• ovens
• stoves
• cabinet doors
• 6 wheel barrows
• corrugated metal roofing
• culvert pieces
• pvc pipe
• many many tires
• ride on lawn mower
• tile attached to subfloor
• pink and purple big wheel
• hundreds of 5 gallon plastic buckets
• cutouts from bathroom sink holes
• an international truck with 1988 plates
• fire escape ladder

Turkey Nest,  notice the poision ivy.

Now that the tough stuff is done we were able to take on a fun project.  The four of us blazed a trail about 1/2 mile thru the woods.  Jackson is anxiously awaiting his new mountain bike so he can attack the trails.  About two dys after the trail was finished,  we came across a turkey nest with a dozen eggs.  I guess we will have to avoid that part of the trail for now.  Yesterday while making breakfast,  I only had one egg and was very tempted to grab one of these and see if anyone would notice.  I think the eggs should hatch around June 1st.  I am very tempted to go out on May 31, grab a few eggs, and raise Thanksgiving dinner.

The garden looks so nice,  this time before the weeds take over things always look so promising.  We have been getting strawberries daily and if we have the warm days promised by the weatherman tomorrow should be a bumper crop.  The potato experiment is going well.  Both the grow bags and the bed of straw have potatos growing.  We have also been fortunate to have many fresh lettuce salads.