Around The House

Small Dramas

August 15, 2007

There is that saying, “Stop and smell the roses,” but even if some of us do slow down and enjoy the flowers occasionally, how many of us stop to notice the little dramas in life? I mean the very small dramas in life. So caught up in our hustle, we don’t notice the birds, bees, [...]

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Early Pruning

March 18, 2007

Pruning the apple trees is a rite of spring. In past years I had a tendency to get started late and finish in a somewhat hurried splurge of activity–tinged with a bit of panic that perhaps I wouldn’t get it done in time. This year I had to take a different approach. Since I’m no [...]

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Our Reforming Toilet

September 5, 2006

Our toilet reformed. To properly appreciate this news, you must read the previous post here. Have you read that entry? Okay, good. Now you know exactly how vile, how utterly evil, our toilet is (or was). A perfectly new toilet that failed to function properly and now for several years has failed to function properly. [...]

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Mow The Field, Mind The Blueberries

June 13, 2006

Sometimes, it’s better not to think about certain things. Sometimes it’s better to pretend you didn’t see, to not think about it. Sometimes one might wonder how their can be such moral quandaries about mowing a field. We have a back field of about five acres that runs up the hill to the edge of [...]

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Pardon Me While I Step On Your Head

June 3, 2006

‘Tis the season for chicks. That means early morning runs down to the post office to pick up a box of peeping fuzz-balls that the mail ladies are eager to unload. This year I was actually prepared. When you place an order for chicks the company tells you the week they will arrive so it’s [...]

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A Resolution to Felonious Activity

May 27, 2006

Faithful readers will recall a recent post about a wild animal raiding the chicken yard. In that previous post I said, If it is a fox I think the layout of the chicken yard leaves me with the only choice of hoping there is such a ruckus the next time he comes that I catch [...]

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Spring Rain

March 28, 2005

Since last time I wrote it snowed. Another good six inches on top of what we already had. Today it’s raining. Melting snow and rain–water is everywhere. Mud is everywhere too. It’s a mess. It’s spring. The land around here is clay. With snow still covering about half of the ground, much of it is [...]

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Collecting Spiders

August 26, 2004

If you have arachnophobia you don’t want to read this. We live out in the country, so naturally there is a large selection of bugs and critters showing up in the course of everyday life. You can either fight this invasion of nature, live with it, or enjoy it. I do the last. In fact, [...]

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Smoke and Flames

June 16, 2004

Yesterday I did my first cook-out for this year. I am happy to report that it did not end in disaster. It was, I think, my most successful solo outdoor cooking exercise to date. I say solo because last year I took part in another grilling “expedition” over my fire that I think ended up [...]

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Grafting Amateur

April 6, 2004

When we moved into this place there were three original apple trees of undetermined origin, a pear tree of also undetermined stock, and a concord grape vine. The three apple trees continue to plug along, producing fruit, or attempting to produce, every year. Harvest from the grape vine has been erratic as well, again due [...]

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