This week has been fairly quiet in the garden, if you look at just what I, personally, was up to.
The strawberry beds finally were covered for the winter. I removed the bird netting and broke up a bale of straw to cover them. (After looking it up, I now understand that hay is what animals eat and straw is what you use for bedding. Seems I’ve been getting it backwards.) I may cover this with old fencing. Well, it will be ‘old’ once I pull up the broken stakes and remove them. Next year I need to find fencing with smaller holes and am going to invest in metal stakes.
I had bought two bales of straw for this, not realizing just how big the bales were. The other bale will be used to cover the ground for next year’s potato patch, once I am able to turn over the soil and cover it with mulched leaves. We are having a weekend of non-freezing temps that will hopefully aid in this activity.
I also strained the apples peels from the jars sitting on the counter. This was a first for me this year, making apple cider vinegar. Once I get to the end result I will tell you all more about it. It has been a learning experience and may be one I try again, after implementing the lessons learned. :)
So that is what I, personally, have been up to. Now begins the not so quiet part, and that would be the cue for the construction workers to enter.
It began with the arrival of the jackhammer, used to break up the concrete in front of the garage. This will be the first winter, since we were married, that my husband will have to park outside and potentially deal with snow. It should not last long though, as they are moving along fairly quickly. Maybe a month, or less, and the garage will be usable for vehicles again.
After the jackhammer came the bobcat. This was the Day Of Little Boys. Olaf was first to watch them work. Then he left, to be replaced by George and Jack after school. The kids were so excited they wanted to share the thrill, so invited some neighbor boys to come watch. Four boys, grade K – 3, running around asking questions and just over all excited to have a bobcat digging up the yard was fun. The one neighbor boy stood by a tree and watched. And watched. And watched. I am pretty sure he was in love. :)
Then came the COLD spell and all work stopped. A broken hydrolic hose may have also helped with the break. They covered the trench with tarps and let it sit for a few days.
Once work started again, the trench was dug all the way in front of the garage. Now for sure we were not going to be parking in there.
Thursday rebars and other supports were added to the trench, followed by concrete on Friday. Not sure how I thought concrete would be added, but a big yellow truck was NOT what I was thinking.
I contemplated bringing Jack home for lunch to watch the action, went so far as to call the school, but then realized I would never get him to go back to school afterwards. Instead I took videos and a few pictures, which they watched on the way home from school. Their greeting after school is no long, “Hi, Mom. How was your day?” It is now, “So, Mom, what did you do with the house today?” Just a bit telling isn’t it?
Hope your week has been a good one. ~Rosie