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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Roadside before trimming.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

After trimming.

Another "after" photo.

It has been a busy time here at Blossom Ridge Farm. Kathy has been on vacation, or, as she calls it, a working vacation. She goes back to the library tomorrow for one day only before she has two more days off...then she works Friday before having two more days off. Hmmm...we detect a pattern here.

The hoeing is caught up, the vines have had a foliar feeding which is also supposed to help with mold and mildew and other nasty vine issues. The trimming along the road (all 300' of it) has been trimmed once. Kathy managed, of course, to get poison ivy, but not her worse case, which was contracted when clearing a fence row.

Bonnie has been weeding her veggie garden and insisted Kathy remove the previous photos she took of her garden and replace them with more weed-free pics, hence the later date on the photos than the date of that post.

Denny went truck shopping and came home with a 2010 Toyota Tundra! Very, very nice!

Today Kathy finally got around to shortening some inexpensive navy bed sheets to hang over the windows of the walk-out doors. Not the greatest "curtains," but they will keep the sun from pouring through the windows and making it too hot for Millie, Gizmo and Gennie. Kathy also bought them a small fan for when it gets over 80 degrees in the basement.

Kathy's son is now driving solo for Hiner Transport here in Huntington. He completed six weeks of being a driver trainee, did his orientation, and was given his own tractor, an '06 with over 300,000 miles on it already! Kathy drove to Hiner yesterday for a tour of the tractor and thought it was very nice. KJ has a small fridge, a microwave, a CB radio, a Tom Tom GPS, and the TV Bonnie gave him with built-in DVD player. Bonnie also has an older laptop he can use while traveling. It has bluetooth and wi-fi.

July 4th was overcast here with some light rain. Most cities postponed their fireworks until Sunday, but Timber Lake set theirs off about 10:15 p.m. We couldn't see much of them because of the trees.

The 4th included a funeral, wedding and birthday and Bonnie headed to Pierceton for the wedding of the daughter of a friend we used to camp next to. Denny, Barbara, their son Keith and Keith's fiance, traveled to Michigan to celebrate daughter Shelly's 4th of July birthday, and Kathy drove to North Manchester for the funeral of Allen Dingess, the father of KJ's wife, Sherry. Allen was only two years older than Kathy, who herself lived in the North Manchester area for over 20 years, raising her family on two acres in the country. It is sad to know that we will never get to visit with Allen again.

Kathy heads to Logansport for another sleepover on Wednesday and is very much looking forward to the time with her mother. They are doing surf 'n turf this month...sauteed scallops and fillet mignon. Yum!

We worked on the villa a few days, getting it ready to show. We had to move everything that was still on the carpet to either the garage or 4-seasons room so that the carpet could be cleaned. It was disappointing that some stains did not come out. After the carpet was cleaned we returned to mop and clean. No word from the people who kept after us to show it. That is twice that has happened now. We also set some large pieces of furniture by the road to be picked up and that should have been done today. We still have much to give away, throw away or donate, boxes to go through....