Monday, October 12, 2009

Holes and slow weekends

Okay a few weeks ago didn't I mention 3 little projects that were to be accomplished quickly and efficiently with the help of the back hoe?

Quick my foot. They started with what they thought would be the easy repair on the broken field tile. That quickly escalated to replacing a few feet, er, 15-20 ft of tile. Then when that got really dug into, nope, not as bad as they figured, but hey while we are here, let's just tile the loafing shed. So most of the weekend was spent watching as they played in the dirt. Good news is that the wet area by the barn is now tiled and draining away. Hole in pasture, fixed and filled. Next-hydrant by barn. Then ducks.

So while the boys had fun playing in the dirt, I walked through the house, made my list, checked it twice and cursed myself for not doing the darn errands on the way home. What a waste of time and gas to run back into town on the weekend to do what ever. But making the best of it, we also knew that the orchard would only be available for pick your own on the weekend, so might as well make it worth while? Off to the bookstore, craft store, and then out to the orchard. With $1/pound apples, can't pass that up, unless you go with the Ms. 30 lbs of apples later and by far she is the pickiest picker, we are loaded with apples. Largest apples, no bugs, no dings, perfect apples. Okay so that's not too bad, unless you're the one having to carry most of them.

Back home, boys still playing in the dirt. I made apple crisp, french dip, and loaded up the dehydrator with apples, grapes, bananas and peppers. Only issue is Merlot. Damn dog, any chance she got, she snuck her head in the bag of apples and ran off with one. Oh then there's the grab the string of skin from the peeler and try to run off with it. Do you know how long the strings are when you use the old peeler/corer machine? Really long but at least I got to her before she wove it around chairs and the other dogs.

Finally got too dark for them to play with the big boy toys so it's now parked in the middle of my front yard, just waiting for them to come back and start the hydrant project. Boy dogs love it-great big tires to pee on :)

Lator gators....
C

4 comments:

Dawn said...

I throw the peels in the dehydrator too, for potpourri(SP) later in the winter when I need the nummy fresh smell.

I need to get out and get some more apples too, but we certainly dont find orchards with $1 per pound. Lucky you!

penni said...

I can just see the boy dogs lined up at the big wheels. Chase would think he'd died and gone to heaven. The apple orchard and fresh apples sound wonderful. . . . and when is it you sleep?

Cindy said...

Actually, I spent most of the afternoon on Sunday sitting in my chair, dogs covering every inch of the floor-snoring of course, reading a book and watching NASCAR. The trip in town was only an hour and 1/2, that's because the orchard is only 5 miles from the house :) Also helps when you have the Ms helping in the kitchen, I'm turning her into quite the cook!

As far as the peels--heck, that's why I have poultry. The worlds greatest garbage disposals! They eat all manner of vegation that I throw at them. The dogs get a lot too-they move nothing more then fresh garden stuff or snooping in shopping bags. I loose more apples, bananas and pears that way.

I'm hinting at one of those counter top composters for Christmas this year-for the stuff that the ducks can't eat.

Sherilyn said...

hehehe Merlot (LS) sounds a LOT like her mom! Remember the great tp episode in our house when Ruby was about 9 months old? 3 levels of our 4 level split were strung with tp from our bathroom. Then she and Duchess took less than a couple of minutes to shred the whole roll into little pieces! Oh, we were ready to sell them both to the gypsies! At least the apple peel strings are edible, so you didn't have to pick up the little pieces. ;)

Sounds like you had a more productive weekend than we did...we just tried to stay warm in Mason City. No snow up there, but it was plenty cold! We missed you!

S