A VERY good friend of mine came over this morning and we put some real Girl Power to work. I am trying to build a duck house/garden bed/wash dam with some railroad ties, rocks and lots of dirt. We got most of the foundation for the duck house part done. My chainsaw would only cut one tie because I need to take it in to be sharpened. So, we got all of the uncut ones laid - oh, and the one that we did get cut. The two short ends are laying near where they will be placed, with an end up so that I can get it cut when I get the chainsaw fixed.
Taking a railroad tie from the main pile - we had 40 of them delivered.
Oops, this one didn’t want to fit since it seems to be warped!
So, we took it off and traded it with a lower one and then put the “funny” one on top
Two hours later, this is what we had
We were filthy and tired. I still have to cut a few to fit. Then I need to build a structure from the railroad ties to make it all about 6ft high (so that I can walk in it), put the fencing around the structure, fill the spaces between the railroad ties, make a “roof” of plywood over about half of it, build the pond and make a hole in the shed that it is built next to so that I can make a small wooden “house” inside to protect them from the snow and ice we get here. It will have a heating lamp to warm the “house”.
When the duck housing is done, we will use the rest of the railroad ties to make a dam for the wash that runs through the yard when the snow melts. Between the dam and the duck house will be about 8-10 feet which we will have filled with dirt so that I can have a veggie or flower garden. Hopefully, this will harness Mother Nature to control the amount of water and mud in the horse corral.
THANK YOU, Nicole, for all of your hard work today. It is VERY MUCH appreciated!!
The old door got broken at the bottom by the boys when they were wrestling through the house. I could NOT find the part to fix it, so this closet got a new look. I want to get the knotty pine doors for the 2 bedrooms and the bathroom. So, Great Husband…. here is the surprise that I have been working on the past near week
Please, note the coooool knob!! :-) It was the final touch that I got yesterday. I would like the knobs for the other 3 doors like this, too - OK?
THIS POST MAY OFFEND SOME OF YOU… SO STOP HERE IF YOU DON’T APPRECIATE GEORGE CARLIN.
George died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 71. His look, conventional wisdom-questioning routines and unflinching devotion to all words, no matter how many letters, a perfect match for the times. He was a revered elder statesman—a revered elder statesman with an always-young mind. Never afraid to bring out the silliness and insane about society while making us think and laugh about it at the same time. He was a major influence in liberating thought in this nation. No matter who he offended, he did it evenly regardless of race, class or creed. He had a tremendous impact on my life and millions of other other post-boomers… He planted the seed of challanging authorty and having doubt about the US Gov’t’s ablity tell the truth. Apart of my youth went with him…. he will be missed by me.
Note: The following clip features language some readers may find offensive—and that nearly all George Carlin fans will find appropriate:
Seven Words You Can’t Say on TV
This is an email that my friend, Dawn, sent to me over a year ago
George Carlin’s Views on Aging Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
“How old are you?” “I’m four and a half!” You’re never thirty-six and a half.. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key
You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. “How old are you?” “I’m gonna be 16!” You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . .. . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re Just a sour-dumpling. What’s wrong? What’s changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50
and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; “I Was JUST 92.” Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. “I’m 100 and a half!”
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!! HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay “them.”
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.. Never let the brain idle. “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge. 8.Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9 Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10.Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Yes, George, I will miss your appreciation of life!
I am in the process… the LONG and FILTHY process of clearing out a huge shed of 15 yrs worth of stuff. Old papers, pictures, baby clothes from my girls (they are 33 and 26 now), fabric pieces from my dress making days, collectibles like Coke stuff and craft stuff. Boxes of school work from the girl’s elementary school days. Broken and unused furniture (4 mattresses! and 3 bed frames that the mattresses don’t even fit!). I have been taking things to the dump (so much of it is rotten from flooding and cardboard boxing) and taking things to Savers/Goodwill. Some of it, I am repacking into proper plastic tubs with sealing lids on them.
I ran across these old pics of me - the first two are from 1973! the third is a photo from my CA driver’s license dated 1981
I sure was skinny!
I was very pretty then! If you can see between all of the red spots that the pic found in the box that it has been in since 1984 when it expired. My dad always used to say that I was pretty because I got teased about being 5″9″, my red hair and my name. It always made me feel bad but he always tried to make me feel better. Looking back, I think he was right.. I wish that I had seen that at that age, I am sure that my self esteem would not have in the toilet until I was 48 yrs old - that is when I met my husband, who not only tells me that I am pretty now but he shows it by how he treats me. Love you, husband
I got some Fly Predators this year. I have heard about them on RFD-TV, talked to people who have used them and searched them on the internet. They are little bugs that eat the fly larvae. They are very reasonably priced also. This is what they look like now…. in 2-7 days they will hatch and I will let them go on the manure piles. The bag of stuff looks like I cleaned a mouse cage lol!
I remember a day when Life in the Fast Lane was fun! But I guess as one gets older the meaning of things change along with the meaning of life. Tonight, as I was driving home from Flagstaff, the boys got into an argument in the back seats (I drive a van)…. it ended with them flinging a bottle of water through the car while I was doing 79mpr down the fast lane. The water soaked me and the front dashboard and windshield in about 2 seconds flat! I pulled off at the truck stop, made them dry everything while I screamed at them. It is lucky that the good ol’ sheriff didn’t come and get us! When DID the fast lane change its meaning for me? I must be getting old!
The other night at about 11pm, I heard a blood curdling scream from my son - “There’s a RAT in the house!”. As I jumped up in bed from my sleep, I saw a baby bunny hopping into my room….. thankfully, it was not the imagined elephant-sized rat that Luke thought he saw :-) I am pretty sure that one of the cats brought it into the house - I just don’t know when, if it was days or hours before. Then the cats proceeded to chase the screaming bunny around the house most of the night. In the morning the boys caught it and put it into a cat carrier so that it could recover from its ordeal. His dad and I tried to tell him that the bunny needed to go back out side to live a wild bunny’s life. He resisted until his older friend came over today and told him the same thing. They found a place where other bunnies have been spotted and bid it a fond farewell. She was so cute, I was even tempted to keep her but we just don’t have the room/cage or the time for another critter right now.
