something learned.......

It seems like every time we go to the land, we end up learning something. This time we learned that we have to save our money for a LOT of gravel for the roads on the land. We woke up the day before the last day we were going to be there and it was pouring down rain. I mean "pouring". By the end of the day, we had gotten 4 inches. It rained and rained. We decided that we would still take the trip to Mussel Shoals as we had planned because even just taking a ride in the explorer would be better than sitting in the TT all day,while it rained. Chuck had driven over to the BNOE to get some meat that we had put in their freezer and on the way back home, as he was coming up our hill, he got STUCK! When you are stuck in that red clay...you are stuck! So, he goes to the barn to get the tractor to pull the explorer out. First, he looked under the explorer in the front to see if there was some way of hooking up the rope but there wasn't. The only way to do it was to put the trailer hitch on and tie the rope to that. The only problem was.....there were four trees right behind the explorer. So off to the barn he goes again to get the chain saw. Number one tree came down ok. No 2. ...came down and No 3 was little one so no problem. BUT! No 4!!!! was the biggest and the closest to the explorer. I mean just inches. He had to cut that tree just right for it not to land on the explorer. I could see it now....driving back to Florida with the back half of the explorer caved in. Well, he sawed...and then yelled " WATCH OUT, WATCH OUT". The tree didn't land the way it was suppose too....of course not. It fell six inches away but right behind the back of the explorer. The whole back of the explorer was covered with saw dust. It took some work to cut the tree up and get it to the sides of the road. Then, the fun began. I jumped in the explorer and Chuck tied it to the tractor. With it still raining, I was hanging out of the window, looking backwards ( not really good on my back that the chiropractor had finally got put back together again) so I wouldn't run into the tractor, Chuck pulled me out of the hole of muck. He unties the rope and I got two feet and get stuck again. This happened three times and I finally told him to just pull me the 1/4 mile down our driveway to the road. We finally got to a point to where I could turn the explorer around and was able to drive it off the land and over to the BNOE. Driving on that wet clay was like driving on ice. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Hence we have decided that since we don't want to have to stay home every time it rains, we have to buy lots and lots of gravel to put down for traction on at least two of the roads on the land. We brought a whole lot of Alabama red clay back to Florida with us...that was stuck all under the explorer. I told Chuck that it made me sad to wash it all off. I felt like I had a piece of the land here in Florida with me.

Bird houses.....

We have several bird houses on the land. The first one I put up a couple of years ago, is wooden with a tin roof. It's on the path to the BNOE house and for two years, no one wanted it as a home ( just like our house in Florida) Shell gave me the cutest log cabin bird house and I hung it at the end of the TT by my bedroom window. Last Spring, someone moved in it. I was so excited. We also have the one we bought last summer that has the Alabama licence tag as the roof. It's at the other end of the TT by the picnic table. I am always looking inside of them to see if anyone has decided to make them their home. One of the first things that I did when we got to the land was look inside the little log cabin house. Much to my surprise, you couldn't even see inside because something had built a nest and the whole hole to the house was covered. I couldn't think of any little bird that would be nesting this time of year so I called my friend, Kathy in Maine. ( she knows just about everything about birds) She just laughed at me and said it was a "mouse". My bird house was now a " mouse house". I decided that the little mice can live in the bird houses as long as they stay out of the TT. The wooden birdhouse had been occupied , by a bird since the last time we had been to the land. There was also straw sticking out the hole to the Alabama roof one so I thought a bird had used it also but come to find out, when Chuck went to clean the two out that I had thought birds had used, a little mouse stuck it's head out the hole of the licence tag one so Chuck didn't clean that one out. The little mice needed some place to live where it was warm and dry for the rest of the winter. Heaven help them if they decide to visit the TT though. We have "decon" for them to taste but someday, two mice catching kitties will be living in there so " watch out you little mices". Enjoy the birdhouses all you want!

Bush Hog update.....

Just a little update on my favorite goat in the world ( well, until I get Olivia of course)...." Bush Hog". Last Spring when we were up at the land, poor Bush Hog had broken one of his horns by butting at the fence post. The poor thing, looked really bad but then when we were up there at Thanksgiving time, he had broken the other horn and looked even worse. I thought for sure that the BNOE would tell us that Bush Hog went to " goat heaven". That is how bad he looked. I just couldn't stand to see him looking that way. I was amazed to see him looking so well this last trip. It did my heart good when I took him an apple and he was fatter than ever and his fur was bushy and he was " naaaaaaaing" away when he saw me. He just doesn't have any horns. Oh that doesn't mean he can't butt ya...cause he does...with his hard head. I don't know how long goats live for but I hope it's a long time cause ya just can't help but love " Bush Hog".

The Garden Lean-to

Chuck had gotten a bunch of gift cards from

Christmas, his birthday and his Anniversary for work( oh there is a story about work...but later) so we decided to spend them on things for the land. The first thing they bought was the wood for the lean-to in the garden area. It's a long hike down to the middle of the land were the garden's are going to be so this way we can keep all the gardening tools down there. Chuck made several trips, carrying the pieces of wood to the area because it was too heavy for me to help and risk hurting my back since I was doing much, much better the week before we made the trip. Oh yeah, the gift cards also bought a much needed post hole digger. I was amazed on how fast Chuck got the lean-to up. Remember, he doesn't have any power tools. I decided that I would like it to have lattice work on three sides of it but Chuck said he HAS to have power to do that, so that will be a " do later" project. It sure is going to be nice when it's all done though. A place to get when we are down there and get caught in the rain and a nice place to get in out of the sun, although there are tons of trees for that. Just one more project taken care of before we move up there.

Daffodil Time!

This is a really fun time of year to be on the land. " Daffodil time"!. Every year the bulbs that we planted when we first bought the land, get thicker and thicker. The biggest bed of them is at the back corner of the barn. We also have them all across from the TT and at one end. The crocus and iris were just starting to bloom the week we were up there. The most amazing part of daffodils to us, is when you are driving on highway 231, there are daffodils all along the sides of the road and in the median. A long, long time ago probably before the road was there, there used to be houses there and the daffodils are from them moving the dirt to build the road. We always stop and pick some to bring home to Shell, so she can enjoy them too. The whole week we were on the land, we had daffodils in the TT, on the porch, in the yard and even in the explorer's built in bud vase. Even though it's still cold , you can always count on the pretty "buttercups" ( as the locals call them) blooming the last week of Feb.

Pioneer Village

For over 30 years we have been going to Alabama to see Gene and George and every time we would pass " The Pioneer Village" we would say...." some day we are going to stop there". Well, the day we drove up to Gene and George's to spend the night before going on to the land this trip, was the " day we stopped". We were really glad we did because it had a lot of very interesting things in the museum. Every thing from antique farm implements, rooms of furniture from the 1800's, a hearse and a coffin,( that was really creepy) to a cotton gin, stores, also dentist and Dr's offices from the 1800's . (those were creepy too!) They were having a quilt show that weekend and there were quilts draped over everything and hanging from the ceilings. My favorite one was of appliqued cotton balls. Besides the big museum building, there were all kinds of " out buildings" and an old train. They actually had real chickens in the chicken house. The covered bridge was one of my favorite things there. We really had fun learning about Alabama history and taking the pictures of it all.