Thursday, December 24, 2009

First holiday season at The Farm!

Greeting us from our picture window this morning.

Ok, you decide...is this snowman giving us the finger?
((Click on photos to enlarge.)

We awoke this morning to this greeting outside our picture window. (Obviously Denny has too much time on his hands.) Kathy opened the blinds and didn't notice the Holiday Greeting from across the fence. A little while later, with more daylight, Bonnie exclaimed, "Is that a snowman at the fence waving at us?" Kathy got the binoculars out and said, "I don't know if he is waving or giving us the finger." You decide.

Bonnie leaves this morning for Iowa to spend a couple of days with son, Scott, and granddaughters, Maya and Nala. Kathy plans on spending part of Christmas Day with her mother and will be celebrating her birthday at the same time.

We currently have freezing rain...nothing Bonnie wants to drive in. She may turn back if conditions worsen. Kathy will stay home and pet-sit, read and watch movies most of the weekend.

Not much going on. Bonnie still drives to DuPuy and does not expect to be offered a permanent job when her contract expires.

Kathy is working extra hours over the holidays as staffing is down at the library due to vacations.

Oops! Forgot to mention that Bonnie received an A in her cultural anthropology class. She got 100% on her paper and must also have aced her final, which was a take-home exam.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

And did she ever return? No, she never returned...

...and her fate is still unlearned.
Looking south.

Looking north.

Looking east.

On the wrong side of the tracks.

Kathy went caching last weekend in Marion and got trapped in a small park on the wrong side of the tracks. Just as she was getting ready to leave the park and go over some steep tracks a train came along. It blocked the tracks for hundreds of yards and there was no way out. She got out of the Pilot several times to walk to the front of the train to ask how long the train would be parked. Each time she thought she saw the engineers get into the engine to leave and each time they didn't. The walk to the engine was over a steep grade and Kathy was concerned about falling. She called Bonnie to let her know her status and took photos and played solitaire on her PDA while waiting. Finally the train began to move and Kathy and the Pilot scooted home.

The park was something out of a 20s movie set and Kathy could picture Zelda and Scott playing tennis on one of the courts. This was a very small area that looked like it had been a private tennis club. There were at least 4 courts (nets still up), what was once a very nice gazebo (electricity had been run), two buildings, one of which looked like it could have been a bunk house/cabin. It was like stepping into another era...or maybe The Twilight Zone. Spooky, yet very intriguing.

News: Bonnie is currently working on the paper for her cultural anthropology class and Kathy hasn't done much of anything (read Possum's cat blog).

Representative coyote

Kathy went to her mother's this past Wednesday and got only a few hundred yards from the cottage when she spied what she thought was a huge fox in a corn field heading toward a wooded area. She stopped the Pilot and the two had a stare-down before it dawned on Kathy that she was looking at a coyote, possibly one that she heard howling many weeks ago. We are keeping a more vigilant eye on our dogs when they go out.

Social Security finally contacted Kathy about her award that will begin in February. It, at last, shows the additional she will receive as a divorced spouse. Glad to have that settled.

We had our first casualty of the loft rail walking this morning as Possum lost his footing with the help of Tacumwah, and tumbled to the dining area. Kathy and Bonnie watched helplessly as the chubby little guy managed to hit every counter and banister on his way to the bamboo flooring below. He got up and walked away from it, but he has been telling Kathy that he hurts, and he has been favoring his right front leg. Bonnie hopes he has learned a lesson and will stay off the railing. Possum tips the scales at 16 pounds while his brother, Marquette, is lighter by 2 pounds.

Kathy has been bringing home items from the villa, visiting it on her lunch hour or before work, and loading up the Pilot. On one trip, while emptying 1-3- and 5-gallon carboys of wine we never quite got around to finishing and bottling, Kathy was greeted by the wonderful aroma of Concord grapes. She found a wine glass for a sample and proclaimed the wine, though no longer primo, still very good to drink. And there are 1 or 2 more jugs of it!

Kathy also went through her closet and took many things to Goodwill. She saved a few shirts for work and wore one of them on Friday. Three people told her that this very old shirt she had on and had purchased at Goodwill was really neat. And here she thought she looked like she was wearing some Harley rider's bandanna!

Kathy hasn't seen much of Denny and nothing of Barbara recently. She misses her visits with Denny. Soon Denny and Barbara will be off on an extended vacation with their new camper to warmer climes.

Speaking of climes, Kathy hasn't decided for certain about taking a class this winter. It doesn't look like Bonnie will be taking a Sat. class with Kathy, and the best time for Kathy to take the Climate and Weather class appears to be Tuesday evenings after work. So taking a class is still up in the air with Kathy though Bonnie will definitely be taking one of several she is interested in.

Christmas plans call for Bonnie to travel to Iowa to visit her son, Scott, and his two daughters. Kathy will spend part of the day in Logansport with her mother.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

A visit from Mom and Aunt Jane

The barn and deck are complete
and we can finally use our kitchen door.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The north side of the deck.
New storm doors at kitchen and basement.
Pet door in L French door.

Deck from South. Stairs on South side of house.
Pet door can be seen at walk-out.
Fence to be added later.

Entry door and window are to Bonnie's winemaking shop.

We apologize to everyone who has been waiting for an update on the work here at the farm. All of the contracted work has been completed with the exception of the storm door on the front of the cottage. Menard's gave us the wrong door so we had to take it back and exchange it. Mike will be out soon to install it. He also has one more garden post to set. Bonnie is considering her next project which may be the insulating/finishing of her winemaking room.

The barn is great. Both vehicles fit and Bonnie has been installing heavy-duty shelving. We are slowly taking things from the basement to the garage to free up space in the basement, and we are also bringing a few things from the villa to the farm. Will take some interior photos soon.

Bonnie taped lines on the garage floor to make it easier for us to line up the cars when driving them in. Works perfectly.

The deck is wonderful. The two stairways from the deck were made from recycled lumber from our deck at the campground, adding a dose of nostalgia to the project.

After Bonnie's shop is insulated, our next project will be to finish the basement. This may be followed by the last major building project - a master bedroom off the north side of the house.

Bonnie was offered and has accepted a job with DePuy in Warsaw where she will be a scheduler. It is a 6-month contract and begins this Wednesday, November 4th.

Kathy's son, KJ, got snowed in at Laramie WY this past week on a trip from CA to MI.

Bonnie's son, Scott, completed a NCO training program in Ft. Lee VA where he graduated with honors.

Kathy had her yearly evaluation at the library and it looks like she will have a job for another year. She is on vacation this week and is trying to log enough caches to get to 2000. It is certainly do-able.

Kathy's mother finally made it to the farm today, bringing her sister and Kathy's aunt, Jane. We were busy cleaning house for two days...things that we never cleaned when we moved in. The bamboo flooring cleaned up very, very well.

Marquette hid in Little Bear's kennel with Little Bear during most of the visit, while Possum spent several hours hiding under the quilt on the futon in the sleeping loft. Tacumwah had to be shut on the front porch with Little Bear and Marquette because she was making a pest of herself.

Denny's building project is nearing completion for this year. He needs to bring in some more gravel, but the car/camper port looks nice. He used some extra siding he had from the previous building and took the sides all the way to the ground. Next year he will put doors on each end. Will try to get a photo.

Kathy is very pleased with her storm doors. The doors at the front and kitchen have retractable screens which are very cool.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

It's all about the barn.

Pouring the concrete.

Builder Mike.

Framing. Window in Bonnie's shop (back of building) is in.
Click on photos to enlarge.

Mike and his crew continue to work on the barn. Next they will build the wrap-around deck on the back of the house. Lastly, they will install the storm doors Kathy purchased which are awaiting pick-up at Menard's by Denny and Kathy. Kathy has priced fence panels for the area we hope to create for Millie and Gizmo at the walk-out.

Bonnie has a job interview tomorrow for a contract job that would last 6 months. She is enjoying not working and it would be nice if we could figure out a way for her to not have to work. She loves school and wants her full-time job to be "student."

The vines still have leaves. We are supposed to have a hard freeze this weekend and that will probably be the end of the leaves. The vines are much healthier going into the winter this year than last.

Denny is still waiting for the delivery of his enclosed carport for his camper.

We hope to hear that the Pilot is ready to pick up tomorrow. They said it could take a week and Bonnie took it in on Monday. Bonnie is enjoying the rental car -- a Hyundai Sonata.

Kathy heard from the local SS office the day after she applied online. She was grilled about her work record and then told she had to send in an official copy of her marriage license and divorce papers. Checks are not issued the first month you are eligible but the second, and the date they are mailed is based on your birthday, so Kathy's checks will not be deposited until the 4th Wednesday of each month, and her first check will arrive in February and not January.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Barn raising!

Posts are set.

Floor is ready for cement.

Bonnie will have an overhang into her shop.
Rex has a floor drain ready.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Work has been steady on the pole building this week and the cement floor will be poured tomorrow. Rex was out today and set a floor drain and pipe in place which will be cemented into place tomorrow. We are hoping that while he is out here working on the barn he will have time to put the wall heater in the basement. We have a free-standing electric heater for the basement but purchased a heater that mounts on the wall between studs. Rex will be putting it on its own circuit. Kathy and Rex also need to fire up the gas fireplace on a nice day when the windows can be open and Bonnie is gone so that we know it is working ok for the winter should we lose power.

The Pilot goes in for repairs on Monday and Bonnie will be taking it in and picking up a rental car.

Today was a big day for Kathy. She finally spoke with someone at Social Security and got all of her questions answered and pushed the final online button to apply for early SS. First check will be deposited in January though she has no idea what it will be because she doesn't know if what she would receive as a divorced spouse will be more than what she will receive on her own work record. Hopefully it will be.

And speaking of early SS, Bonnie had a birthday yesterday and will be following Kathy into the land of Social Security in a year.

Kathy also has her application ready to apply to IPFW for the Spring semester. Only one course for her...Weather and Climate. She is watching a kids' video now on clouds. Not very informative.

Not getting much done on Kathy's days off. Tomorrow she will be off to Hessen Cassel for some caching. Bonnie will be meeting an old friend after class for lunch. The major excitement will be the pouring of the concrete.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Senior Citizens?

Bonnie eating ribbon fries at the Pioneer Festival
at Hier's Park in Huntington.

Kathy finally got everything taken care of re. repairs to the Honda Pilot. The estimate is over $1700 and does not include a rental car or damage not seen under the door panel. We are waiting for the check to arrive from the insurance company of the lady who ran into it, and will get it in quickly for repairs.

Bonnie received a B on her first exam which she was happy with considering she had missed a class. She is busy now planning her paper which must be 5 pages long and follow the MLA style sheet.

We ordered the storm doors last week and they will be here a week from Wed. Mike will be back this week and will pour the slab for the pole building.

Denny and Barbara took off in their new camper which they are pulling with their new truck. Shortly after they return they should have the materials for the new building Denny will put up to house the new camper.

Kathy needed a new cellphone so off we went to the AT&T store. They no longer offer the Motorola Razr and Kathy was quite dismayed. She found another flip phone she liked and the young man waiting on her said, "That is a very popular phone with seniors." So Kathy calls to Bonnie, "Bonnie, come look at the new senior phone I like."

Like it or not we do have silver hair and could easily be mistaken for senior citizens. But we are only senior citizens on the outside.

Yesterday we went to an apple orchard in Huntington where Bonnie picked up some apples to make into applesauce. We stopped at Evergreen Park where Kathy collected a cache. Then it was off to The Forks of the Wabash to tour the museum and Richardville house which was followed by a stop at the Pioneer Festival at Hier's Park where we walked around and ate. Kathy tackled a huge pork tenderloin while Bonnie ate some pork barbeque. We shared some ribbon fries.

It is a beautiful day so we really should get outside. Kathy, for sure, needs to work in the vineyard.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Builder Mike is back!

Driveway was extended to back of cottage on NW side
between N side of cottage and veggie garden.

Location of pole building N and W of cottage.

View from where pole building will be of walk-out.
More back-filling was done and gravel spread at walk-out.

Gravel pit west of Huntington on US 24.

Waterfall

Builder Mike has returned to the farm for our next project...a 24x32 pole building to house our vehicles, lawn equipment, bikes, etc., and a winemaking shop for Bonnie. Kathy is also going to have him put up some storm doors, and who knows what else we will ask him to do?

The drive has been cut and graveled to where the building will go, and gravel has been spread between the retaining walls at the walk-out. The grading has been done and the extra dirt was put up against the outside of the retaining walls. We will try to include some photos before we upload this post.

Bonnie got her car back from the repair shop today and it looks great. But the Pilot got smacked into on Tuesday when Kathy was trying to turn into the Scott's parking lot near the library. We will be getting estimates and scheduling repairs for it. Not cool. Kathy LOVES the Pilot and Bonnie had just paid it off!

Barbara and Denny now have a brand new 5th wheel to go along with their new Toyota Tundra. They had to have a 5th wheel hitch put in the bed of the Tundra. They may take off for Michigan to test things out this fall and expect to head south for a month or so in January. And, of course, they now have to have a new enclosed carport for the camper. Anyway, the camper is gorgeous, and we are excited for them. Kathy has volunteered to help with the carport if help is needed.

This weekend there is much to do. The grapes need to be sprayed with GreenCure, an organic fungicide formulated by a professor at Cornell that Kathy spent a lot of time researching. We want to spray a couple of times before winter. The staking and tying of the vines is all done and we put up two more rows of hi-tensile wire on the native grapes. We still need to screw in the earth anchors and there are more catch wires to run. We hope to get the earth anchors in yet this fall, and the catch wires can wait until spring.

There is mowing and trimming to be done this weekend and Kathy would like to finish what she hopes will be the last hoeing of the season. Between the Sea Magic foliar fertilizer, the GreenCure, and the nematodes, we are hoping to have some organic controls in place for next year. A routine spraying schedule will need to be implemented next year.

Our new tree is still alive. We haven't killed this one. We have faithfully watered it, but we just don't understand why it has been red all year. It is supposed to have green leaves that turn a beautiful red in the fall, but it has been red all summer. It will be interesting to see what color the leaves are in the spring.

Bonnie had her first exam this week and thinks she did okay. She will be busy "supervising" Mike and his young men when they get back out here and start pouring concrete and raising the barn. It is a good thing we all get along!

Bonnie has been busy brainstorming how to replace Kathy's income when she finally fully retires (which she is not considering at this time). Once again the possibility of becoming a boutique winery is being considered.

Kathy has begun geocaching again (as time and gas money allow) and the two scenic photos above are from her travels the past two weeks.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

A trip to Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter, it's red spot, and the Galilean moons
(from top) Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Last night Kathy managed to stay awake after dark and headed on down to Denny's observatory for the first time to take a look at Jupiter. We have been watching Jupiter for quite a while now and Denny offered to let us take a peek through his telescope. Kathy was able to make out four of Jupiter's moons and assumed they were the same four that Galileo discovered long about 1610. They are shown above in composite next to Jupiter. Kathy was also able to see two of Jupiter's rings.

Jupiter has a large red spot that is the size of 2-3 Earths and is a storm that has been raging over the planet for hundreds of years and will continue for the foreseeable future.

We also took a look at the moon with some close-ups of some of its craters. It was a very unexciting gray color.

Thanks, Denny, for the tour!

Friday, September 4, 2009

EVERY day is a day of labor!

Our first monthly climatological summary!
(Click on chart to enlarge.)

What we wish all of our vines looked like!

It is Labor Day weekend and Kathy is on vacation for 12 days. She has been busy working in the vineyard, setting new bamboo poles for the vines and doing some tying and trimming. We have a variety of 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old vines and could have been doing a better job of training them. They should all look like the vine in the photo, but instead, they are various shapes and sizes, and we haven't been good at establishing the roots in the first year, trunks in the second and cordons in the third. So we have probably lost another year with some of the vines. We should have been doing some trimming to allow the vines to concentrate their growth on their trunks and, in some cases, cordons, but they have been allowed to grow unkempt and send out much too much new growth instead of thickening the older growth.

The good news is that the Japanese Beetles did a minimum of damage this year and we still have lots of leaves on the vines and aren't rushing around trying to fertilize. In fact, we are done fertilizing because we want the growth to stop now so that the vines can begin to prepare themselves for winter.

We had some powdery mildew and some other vine issues this growing season, but again, this has been minimal. Kathy sprayed for the mildew and it seems to be under control. She has been researching a new product to use next season.

Bonnie's garden looks like end-of-the-summer. She was not happy with her tomatoes this year. The cantaloupes were very good and she actually has a couple of small watermelons that will ripen. The charentais are plentiful and Kathy is hoping they will be good. We still have some green beans, and there will be lots of butternut squash.

Bonnie purchased some new tires for the Jetta and will soon be taking it into the shop for the repair work from her fender-bender.

June and Liz from down the road stopped by earlier this week and we had a nice visit. Liz is an anthropologist, so she and Bonnie had much to talk about since Bonnie is taking a cultural anthropology class.

Mike will be building us a pole building to house our cars and a shop for Bonnie to make her wines in. He will be out next week to stake it out. More details and photos as they become available.

We walked a check over to Jonathan last night and had a pleasant chat with LeeAnn and Rex who were minding the store in Jonathan's and Olivia's absence.

Kathy trimmed along the road for the second time last week and got poison something-or-other. Denny was over not long afterward to help get rid of some of the smaller stumps that we keep tripping over and that the trimmer-mower gets hung up on.

Bonnie purchased a compost bin from the Solid Waste District, so all of our waste except for meat and protein items is going out in it. We may have some compost in the spring.

Kathy has been fighting a cold for over a week now while Bonnie has been adjusting to her new diabetes medication, so things are not going at full speed here.

Don continues to do a great job mowing for us. All Kathy has to do is trim around the house, garden and vineyard...and she loves to run the trimmer mower. No kidding!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

A Slice of Heaven

Mystic Pizza of movie fame

Julia Roberts put this place on the map

A veggie pizza as good as any you will ever eat

Today's photos are from a trip East we took over three years ago that included a stop at Mystic Pizza in Mystic CT. It was the 4th of July and we still were able to get a table with no wait. We enjoyed our stay in this seaport town. If you haven't seen the Julia Roberts' movie, rent a copy. This movie put Mystic Pizza on the map and Julia Roberts too! The pizza parlor is full of movie/Roberts memorabilia.

We went to the BMV Wednesday to have our legal address changed to Huntington County and to plate both the Jetta and the Pilot. The lady helping Kathy asked if her height and weight were still correct (they were), and then left her hair coloring as brown when, if you have seen photos of her in this blog, you know is quite grey. Go figure.

We have had some strong storms lately. While Kathy was in Logansport having a sleepover with her mother, Bonnie, the dogs, and the bird were in the basement, hunkering down in the face of a tornado warning. I wonder who was having the most fun?

This morning it is quite cool. The weather here at Blossom Ridge Farm is just delightful.

The Japanese beetles have been increasing in number, and Kathy may have to spray some Sevin. Hopefully this would be the last spraying for them.

Bonnie's cold is just about history. She still hacks some, but seems much improved. She managed to keep her dental appointment yesterday and took Kathy to lunch. She is busy with her finances and trying to figure out whether to purchase a carport and shed or a large pole building. Right now the pole building has the edge.

The rain has kept outside work to a minimum and Don hasn't made an appearance to mow yet. Hopefully in the next few days since it is now difficult to walk across the field for both human and dog.

Last weekend we ended up in Fort Wayne looking for blinds for the front porch and also to purchase fruit at a fruit stand. Bonnie remembered seeing a small vineyard behind a house in a housing addition north of Sam's Club on Lima Road. She was able to find it and turned into the addition so we could look at what appeared to be two homes with backyard vineyards. We pulled into one, and when no one answered the door, we wrote a note to leave behind. Bonnie walked into the back yard and found the owner, Jeff Snyder, who gave us a tour of his vineyard and his neighbor's. His neighbor was actually the one who got Jeff growing grapes and making wine, and the neighbor's vines were much older than Jeff's.

Jeff took us into an outbuilding on his property where we assumed he made his wine. Once inside he opened a door to a spiral staircase that led to his wine cellar. It was really quite remarkable though, according to Jeff, it is nothing compared to the cellars of some of the people in the wine club to which he belongs. He let us sample some of his wines and gave us a red and white to take home with us. Thank you, Jeff, for the tour, the hospitality, and the sharing of information. (Jeff's cellar has flooded 2 or 3 times, so he is currently going through a stage where he is discouraged and has turned his enterprise over to friends.)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Another hot one on The Ridge!

WBRV receiver

Summer has been on and off this year and is currently back for a brief period, presenting us with a heat index one day of 102 degrees. What we really need is rain. This is surely going to go on record as one of the coolest summers in recorded history in Indiana.

The Japanese Beetles have also made an appearance. So far they can be handled just by picking them off.

Not much going on with us. Bonnie has been ill with flu/cold symptoms and Kathy postponed her sleepover with her mother twice to stay home and care for the pets so that Bonnie would not have to bother with them when she wasn't feeling well. The sickness has, of course, interfered with Bonnie's intention of building a small deck in the front of the cottage as well as other projects she may have wanted to accomplish before her classes begin on the 25th.

The grass is getting high again and we must get Don over to mow before we lose the dogs in the weeds again. Kathy hates to mow if there is a chance that Don will be over and all she would need to do is trim. Along the road is bad again also, and Kathy doesn't even want to think about trimming it up.

No other news here. We have just been lying low and hoping Bonnie will get to feeling better quickly.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

MADIS gives WBRV two thumbs up!

NOAA logo

WBRV received it's MADIS rating this week and we are pleased to say that we received two thumbs up for our data. Lots of criteria are used to determine a station's accuracy, including comparing it's data to the data of other nearby stations. For us that includes, in addition to the other Huntington County weather stations, the weather station at Baer Field International Airport where they have more sophisticated weather equipment. So we are very excited that our data is considered to be accurate.

Here is some information on the MADIS Program:

The Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS) is dedicated toward making value-added data available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) for the purpose of improving weather forecasting, by providing support for data assimilation, numerical weather prediction, and other hydrometeorological applications.

Quality Control (QC) of MADIS observations is also provided, since considerable evidence exists that the retention of erroneous data, or the rejection of too many good data, can substantially distort forecast products. Observations in the ESRL/GSD database are stored with a series of flags indicating the quality of the observation from a variety of perspectives (e.g. temporal consistency and spatial consistency), or more precisely, a series of flags indicating the results of various QC checks. Users of MADIS can then inspect the flags and decide whether or not to ingest the observation.

One WBRV page can be found at http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/search?site=D3241 and another at http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?&call=DW3241&last=24

The first page reports on the quality control checks performed by MADIS. The MADIS rating reports on the percentage of observations that pass the MADIS checks. We are told to aim for two thumbs up.

And speaking of weather...today's weather is oppressive. The outside temperature is currently 89 degrees, but the heat index is a suffocating 98 degrees. The wind is currently averaging about 9 mph, and we have had some gusts of up to 23 mph.

Bonnie worked in her garden today but the heat got to her and she had to come in. Kathy decided to mow because the crabgrass around the cottage was so high we could not find our dogs in it. So she mowed around the cottage for about two hours before coming in to take a shower and cool down. A nap and a good book sound really good to her. The new mower worked great, even in the tall grass.

Bonnie purchased an Ossian ham yesterday and cooked up some new red potatoes and fresh green beans with it and made a delicious meal.

In her first week of retirement, in addition to signing up for a class at IPFW, Bonnie made a batch of Kosher dills and a batch of bread and butter pickles. We have tried the Kosher pickles and they are really good.

The pets are doing well. Most are napping. The basement stays at a very constant 72 degrees, making for a nice temp for Millie, Gizmo and Gennie.

We celebrated Bonnie's retirement Thursday at Cork 'n Cleaver with Judy, Diane, Lani and Andrea. The food and company were great. Bonnie seems to have taken very well to retirement!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Going to Muncie for a load of dirt....

Kathy and her new toy, with Little Bear in the foreground.

An update on Denny's climbing apparatus.

Asparagus beans.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Well, we bit the bullet and purchased the Honda Pilot. Kathy loves it. It has, as previously mentioned, a wonderful ride. This purchase goes against everything Kathy believes in when purchasing a used vehicle. It has higher mileage than she would normally accept and NO warranty. The gas mileage is not that great (17-22), and Kathy believes in paying cash for her cars and this one has payments. So we will see how this works out.

We wanted a cargo tray for the Pilot so Kathy called the Ft. Wayne Honda dealer who gave her the bad news that Honda had quit making them for Pilots older than 2008. The dealer found two other dealers in Indiana who still had the trays in stock and the closest was Muncie, where they had one left. So off to Muncie Kathy went while Bonnie stayed home to make pickles. The ride was wonderful, even if the gas gauge did go down faster than Kathy would have liked. BUT...the tray is great and will protect the back end of the Pilot. We will most likely always keep the third row of seats down to have cargo space in the back. Denny was over to look at the Pilot and proclaimed it "good enough to borrow." We think that is a compliment. Tomorrow we will drive the Pilot to Bonnie's retirement dinner in Ft. Wayne that will include three of her co-workers at Cooper, her former boss at Cooper, and the two of us. We will wine and dine at Cork 'n Cleaver. We will be stopping by the villa to finally pick up the mower Bonnie purchased from Andrea so we can keep the area around the cottage mowed, hoping that will allow us to be able to have the rest of the property mowed less often.

Kathy was delighted to hear from her dear friend, Karen, today. She asked herself why they didn't call each other more often???? So they are meeting for ribs on Tues. after Kathy gets off work. Karen offered Bonnie some canning jars and packages of Mrs. Wage's pickling spices. Bonnie will need to take inventory of the jars she has at the villa tomorrow to see if she needs any extra.

Kathy's mother is at Chautauqua with her sister and Kathy misses their daily chats. She doesn't ever call her mother while she is away. The sisters need their time uninterrupted. The next sleepover is next Wed. anyway.

Bonnie has signed up for her first class at IPFW and is taking a cultural anthropology class that includes a book called Peyote Hunt. Hmmm.... Kathy hopes to register for a class next semester called Climate and Weather...an introductory class.

We got our toter from H&H Disposal this week and Kathy was able to get the bed springs in the Farm Art photo rolled up and in the trash this week. Next she will have to saw up the bed frame to put into the trash...little by little. Good-bye Farm Art!

As promised, we have given you a photo update on the climbing apparatus Denny made for his climbing vines. It appears to be working well. The asparagus beans in the bottom photo are very, very long and Denny said that, in his opinion, they don't really have any flavor...neither tasting like asparagus nor beans! He has promised us a few to try.

Kathy has been busy hoeing the vineyard and has 3 rows done. She made the mistake of telling co-workers at the library that she keeps a hoe in her vineyard, and the comments went downhill from there! Even Denny has joined in on the good-humored, but bawdy teasing!

The title of today's blog is in memory of Kathy's father-in-law, Don Baker. Kathy called Don, Dad, and loved him dearly. Dad died many, many years ago, and Kathy still misses him. Anyway, one of the things Dad used to say was, "I'm going to Muncie for a load of dirt." Dad lived in rural Miami County near Peru, Indiana, so there is no way he would, literally, drive to Muncie for a load of dirt. We have the feeling that this phrase was a cover for another activity, though Kathy never knew just what it was. So today, as Kathy left for the Honda dealership in Muncie, she turned to Bonnie and said, "I'm going to Muncie for a load of dirt," to which Bonnie did not respond (probably because she didn't understand what Kathy said). If anyone can offer a G-rated explanation for this phrase, let us know!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

WBRV weather station is born!

Citizen Weather Observer Program logo.

Denny loves weather toys too.

Barbara and Denny's homestead.

The cottage in the background of the weather station.

It's official! WBRV officially began transmitting data to the Citizens Weather Observer Program database on Friday, July 31st. Kathy named our station WBRV for Weather (for) Blossom Ridge Vineyard. It was either WBRV or WBRF and BRV (BRaVe) sounded better to her than BaRF for Blossom Ridge Farm. We will upload our weather URL soon. Next up for Kathy is to find out how to be trained as a weather spotter.

A very happy birthday to KJ who turned 41 while on the road in OH yesterday on his way to PA.

We stopped at the Farmer's Market in Roanoke yesterday but got in on the tail end of it. We will have to get around a tad earlier in the future.

Next stop was a Meijer and Wal*Mart for canning supplies (Bonnie is going to put up some pickles and beets) and other supplies, a stop at Smokey Bones for a delicious meal of pulled pork (and a Killian's on draft for Kathy), a visit to the VW dealer to test drive a used Honda Pilot, and then on to the villa to pick up some things that we needed for canning.

Now about this Honda Pilot. Kathy has been totally opposed to getting another car...especially when Bonnie suggested Kathy use HER car for the trade-in. This Pilot is used, with more miles on it than Kathy would like and no warranty. HOWEVER, it was the most wonderful ride we have experienced in a long, long time. Bonnie thought it was a nicer ride than her VW Jetta. This car was a dream to drive...smooth ride and very quiet. Kathy had Bonnie take a railroad track without slowing down and we were sooo impressed with how the Pilot handled the tracks. So we had the dealer look at Bonnie's VW for a trade and Bonnie will be taking Kathy's Focus in for a trade-in value tomorrow. Kathy wants a hitch put on so we can pull a trailer. We need something to haul our supplies and building materials in, and this will do the trick. It has 3 rows of seats, and the third row folds down flat. This thing is fully loaded with leather, a GPS system (we got lost and turned it on and found our way back to the dealership w/o a hitch). Sounds like we have already made up our minds, huh?

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Ahh, you just like to say anemometer!

Denny setting up the weather station.

Kathy pretending to work on the anemometer
so it looks like she helped.

The weather station is up and running.

Denny and Kathy "assembled" and installed Kathy's Davis Weather Station in the middle of the vineyard today. There was really little assembling to do, but we took our time and were very careful, so it took us many hours to get it functional.

The purpose of the weather station is to keep a log of the micro climate in the vineyard so we know what kinds of growing seasons produce good grapes and which don't. Kathy and Denny are also interested in wind turbines and you need to know the average wind speed where you live to see if a wind turbine is practical for your situation. The station will be able to provide us with that info. Not that anyone can afford a 15-grand wind turbine even with the gov't rebate! It might pay for itself before we die. What is the return? 15 years?

Kathy joined the Citizen Weather Observer Program but hasn't figured out how to upload her data yet. She sent an email out for help. Another day.

Tomorrow another foliar feeding and maybe some hoeing before it rains. And grocery shopping.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Window to our world

The vertical blinds finally went up today.
In foreground is Marquette and under table is Possum.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Tacumwah assisted in hanging the blinds.

The vertical blinds finally were hung today and the window to our world can now be closed to the rest of the world. Denny will have to use his binoculars to watch birds now. ; )

We still have the windows on the porch, the two upstairs doors and the loft windows to buy treatments for. The basement also has three windows and the double doors to treat. Now that we are experts at hanging vertical blinds, we may put them at the walk-out.

The mirror leaning against the buffet still needs to go on the wall over the buffet. That is a two-person job as the mirror is very heavy. The wine cooler next to the buffet will be taken to the basement and a cabinet will take its place on which we will set our KitchenAid. The cabinet will have room to store mixing bowls and other items underneath. Kathy made room for the wine cooler in the basement this evening and also put the cover on the breaker box. She did not get out into the vineyard as she hoped, but there are always her days off.

Fruitful

Muskmelon

Golden Mama

Yellow summer squash

Bonnie's garden is providing us with a bounty of zucchini, summer squash and cucumbers. It will be difficult to eat them all before they go bad. Bonnie is planning on doing some canning and freezing after she retires. Only 5 workdays left.

Bonnie found out this past week that she is no longer borderline diabetic and must make some lifestyle changes. She sees her doctor this week and expects more tests and a discussion of how best to control her diabetes. We exercised last evening by taking a walk, and drove to a larger Kroger and Scott's in the morning to stock up on low-sugar foodstuffs she could eat. And 5 oz. of wine per day is still on the diet.

Kathy's Davis Weather Station arrives tomorrow and she is very excited about it. She has a vineyard post selected to mount it on (smack dab in the middle of the vineyard) and has recruited Denny (who shares her interest in weather) to assist in getting the station up and running. (The anemometer has to be oriented to true north and that could be a trick for one person to accomplish.) This is a wireless unit that will send all the info to a receiver in the house. The software that goes with it will then allow the data to be transferred to the laptop. We can keep excellent records of the micro climate in the vineyard. Kathy is already talking about joining a reporting group for NOAA.

Today's plan calls for (finally) hanging the vertical blinds in the dining room. Kathy also hopes to get out into the vineyard to do some hoeing.

Kathy's Uncle Bob passed away Friday night. No one could have ever had a better uncle.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Farm art or eye sore?

Farm art? (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Squash blossoms

Squash

Melon blossoms

There seems to be limited time to blog these days. We have had an exceptionally mild summer (one of the coolest on record) with highs some days reaching only the high 60s and lows in the 50s. It is a wonderful first summer at The Farm, the weather allowing us to work outdoors almost daily, and outdoors is where most of the work we need to accomplish is. We have even had adequate rain, never going into a draught situation...so far. Bonnie is concerned that our garden may suffer from lack of high temperatures. Kathy is planning on purchasing a Davis weather station to keep track of the micro climate in the vineyard and has some books coming to the library on the subject.

Today we are receiving a gentle rain. Kathy was out early pushing some dirt around. The dirt left over from when Denny worked on the drainage issue by the walk-out needed a new home, and Kathy has been filling low spots around the house and putting the majority of the dirt on the south side of the south retaining wall where it is needed. We really need some more soil brought in. Mike asked if we wanted him to bring us some if he had any from projects he would be working on and we told him yes.

The work Denny did seems to have resolved the standing water and mud at the walk-out. We need to bring in some gravel for the area between the retaining walls, and that should help even more.

Our weeds are serving a purpose while we wait for conditions to be right for planting grass seed. When they are cut the land does not look too bad. (The vineyard, of course, always looks good because it does have grass.) The weeds and crab grass are helping to keep mud and erosion issues down.

The sofa-bed frame and springs (see top photo) have become a standing joke around here. Denny comments about them on a regular basis. Kathy is trying to make lemonade of the situation and told Denny she considers it Farm Art. What do you think? Kathy moves them out of the burn ring when she has a large amount of items to burn, and then moves them back into the burn ring when she knows Don is going to be over to mow. We are, by the way, very pleased with what a great job Don is doing mowing the land.

We have been struggling with sewer gas odor, and it appears to be coming from the bathroom in the loft. It has been hard to pin down the source (it comes and goes) and Rex has tried several things now including a goose neck on the vent pipe and increasing the height of the pipe. Yesterday he changed the seal on the loft toilet. The seal that was on it seemed fine when we removed it, but the new seal seems to have reduced the odor (so far) to practically nothing.

Kathy finished her online wine and food pairing class and enjoyed it very much. (She was so busy that she had to have two extensions on it!) She has also been studying trellis and pruning systems and has many fine books she uses for resources. She is hoping to find an online viticulture certification program to take next.

Bonnie is still on track to retire on the 31st of this month. It will be nice to have her home for however long she chooses, to work on the various projects she feels she would like to accomplish before winter, and also because we have two older dogs, Millie and Little Bear, who need more trips outside these days.