…that old farts can do more than pass gas!

This afternoon we started with this.

Using the shovel to get under the rim of the barrel to lift it.  Then slipping the pickax in beside the shovel to lift the barrel higher loosened it enough to allow Jay to tip it up while I slipped the dolly under it.  He could then tip it back onto the dolly and move it out.

Here he moved it into line with the other barrels lined up down the back driveway.

Next Jay tipped it off the dolly and allow me to move it out ready for the next one.

He said, “Smile while I sit on the tractor and take your picture.”  This is my yeah right smile!

In line and ready to clean out and fill after all the moving around. 

Jay parks one of the barrels out at the end of the driveway to take to his sister, Marilyn in Mount Clemens.

Time to get busy with the mower and clean it up.

Supervising this whole project from the roof of the shed is my buddy.

Notice how he seems to be changing color to blend in with the shingles.

Next it was break for lunch at Arlene’s Diner in Otisville then on to McDaniel’s Farm market for the material to fill the cleaned barrels. 
Jay is out there mixing the growing materials but I have to start preparing supper so it is good bye for now!

The exercise I needed but the punishment I didn’t deserve!
Monday we went out to McDaniel’s farm market for two rhubarb plants and some veggie plants for the garden barrels.

One plant went in each garden in the corner (on the north east and the south west of the front of the dome) for protection yet still getting sunlight during the day.  These plants have gone to seed so we won’t be able to harvest them until next year.  But with a little luck this should take care of the rhubarb shortage we have every year when jam making time comes.

Of course you can’t go plant shopping without buying some inedible things too.

So four Ornament Cabbage plants found their way into the berm out front. Two of which the critters dug up last night but I lovingly tucked them back into the berm this morning. 

My second can’t eat is a Hen and Chickens that I put in the middle of the berm with plenty of ‘egg room’.  ( A small joke—I know too small to be out alone.)

While out working on the berm I found this.

Strawberry plants growing among the grasses. Of course I had to ask Jay about them because every thing I find with three leaves are automatically Poison Ivy to me .  How strawberries got from the top of the hill at the side of the dome to out in front of it I have no idea.  I’m not very bright when it comes to identifying growing things I didn’t plant I’m afraid!

 
Now comes the punishment part.  As you know both hubby and I are old farts!  So moving heavy things take a little engineering.  This time it was getting the garden barrels from out by the shed and placing them along the back driveway for ease of watering and weeding.  Well we used the tractor and our trusty flat dolly with the wheels that rotate.  Like when we moved the air compressor, the dolly was tied to the tractor and Jay tipped the barrel while I pushed the dolly under it .  Which sounds really simple until you find the barrel has been sitting in the earth and grass for around a year.  Breaking it loose with a pointed shovel under the rim, then pushing a pickax in beside the shovel allows you to lift the barrel up high enough to slip the dolly underneath.  Then with the tractor to pull it along the driveway and into the grass makes positioning it easy.

We managed to move three before the tractor decided it needed to rest and it was betting too dark to work anyway.  I did manage to loosen three more, for moving later today, before shutting down.

Up on a chair on the porch sits one large tomato plants, three small one, some green pepper plants, and a cartoon of Mush melon seedlings ( my idea) waiting for us to bring the other barrels up and clean the weeds out of them.  So if it don’t rain we have a busy day ahead of us today. 

Tomorrow is the birthday of one of my favorite people on the internet. 
Mrs. Dof is one year older and I’m not saying how many total. 
But please do go visit her and wish her many more. I know I do!!

Yep that is what I am today.  Just finished deleting records from Excel after printing them out. 
I set up the form for listing medical expenses for June through December.
Have to go to the farm market and buy two more rhubarb plants to set out for next year seeing the three new ones from last year did ‘diddly squat’ as my grandma used to say.  I have only the one out in the front flower garden producing. So now the hunt is on for enough to handle the canning this year.  Eventually I will get this problem solved and everything producing enough on time.

Now on to the Birthday party.

The flag went up yesterday morning to announce the delayed celebration.  Mike and Dar had come up Saturday night so Micheal could get a head start preparing for the grilling on Sunday. Two salads , a huge veggie tray, the meat, with pickles and etc filled the table. 

Here is the Birthday ‘boy’ with this beautiful cake that Les and Anne brought up. 
A little story about this cake.  Anne was trying to decide on the sun and bees or one with flowers.  Les said it didn’t matter because he probably couldn’t see it anyway.  I told Jay this and he came into the kitchen saying, “Oh what a great cake and it has wasps and checkerboards on it!”  Of course we all laughed. 

My next project was to make sure I didn’t miss getting anyone’s picture so I got that over early.
This covered Les’ family.

Wife and very able cook were next.

Then Sweet Thing by herself because David had a prior commitment.

After our meal everyone helped in getting things cleared away and we check out some old video tapes for pictures for Courtney’s graduation party.  That brought back a lot of memories for me. 

All in all it was a full day for this family.

Update:

Some one forgot to show you a picture of that beautiful cake with it’s wasps and checker boards !  So here you are.

As is my habit I took Brandy and walked down for the newspaper.  While out we took a turn around the dome looking at the flower beds.

The bush in front of the dome is now at the height of my chin.  ( I’m 5’ 8.5” tall now).

A closer look at the blooms before they decide to disappear seemed in order.

The storm damaged Bleeding Hearts are hanging in there as you can see.  The bush is not as full as before the storm but it is blooming and surviving.

Out on the end of the berm the Lilac bush that got tore up when the County dug out the ditches on the front of the property last year is valiantly trying to grow.
So I guess our flower color of the week is purplish-pink.