So many projects...so little time!

Kathy's new toy...

...and what it can do!

The trimmer-mower was here!

What Denny and Barbara...

...did on Wednesday!

The driveway was enlarged and a stone walkway added.

No more walking through a sea of mud!

Mike did the back-fill and some grading

as well as the driveway.

More of the grading and back-fill.

Lots of projects going on at The Farm.

Mike was at The Farm this week. He enlarged the driveway and also created a gravel path from the driveway to the front porch steps so that we don't have to walk on the boards anymore. (How nice!) Mike also did the back-fill and grading up around the house. (No more big ruts!) The latches were put on the doors of the crawl space under the porch and the siding on the south side of the house that had buckled was replaced. There is still some buckling on the west side that they worked on and are hoping will straighten out without having to be replaced, and a very noticeable buckle on the piece of siding under the loft windows that hasn't been addressed to our knowledge. The caulking also needs to be applied to the cement siding. Kathy thought Mike had applied it this week and had applied a tan instead of a gray color, but he explained that the caulk on the siding had been part of a partial tube he applied after the siding had gone up and that he needed to purchase another tube and it would be the correct color.

Mike also took care of the siding for the dryer vent and Kathy found the cover for it and got it snapped into place.

Kathy got her new toy out on Wednesday and was pleased that she was able to get it up and running without a hitch. She cut down some heavy weeds east of Bonnie's garden, a few along the road, and a section along the fence row. She had hoped to do more of the fence row today and work in the vineyard, hoeing, putting some taller stakes next to the native vines, and maybe even trying her hand at putting in some earth anchors she bought yesterday, but the weather is not cooperating.

The nicest surprise of Wednesday was Denny and Barbara showing up to work on the drainage issue at the walk-out. For some reason no one had accepted the responsibility for completing that project, and though Bonnie had thought she had someone lined up to do it, and other people had expressed an interest in doing it for us, the work was not getting done.

Denny, a ditch digger in a previous life, took ownership of this project for us and showed up with all the tools of the trade and came up with a plan. He and Kathy jumped in his van and went to pick up the tile, connectors and the earth anchors for the vineyard, and Denny had the trench dug and the project well under way by day's end. Today he brought in some stone and covered the tile he had laid so far before the weather got too bad. Bonnie wonders how we ever got so lucky to have Denny and Barbara for neighbors. Another dinner out might be in order!

There are still some odd leaks. Where the dishwasher was draining into a pipe in the basement it started to spill out and Kathy thinks she has that taken care of. The bathroom sink continues to leak no matter what Kathy or Rex do to it, so that will need to be taken care of. Don't want to have to keep catching drips under a sink indefinitely. And, hopefully, Rex now has the drain hose for the washer because the temporary fix is dripping more each day. Will need to give him a call. Perhaps he has also had time to call Sears and find out how we need to adjust the broiler in our stove so we can use it.

Fruiting wire goes up!

Bonnie measuring the height for the fruiting wire.

Next comes the hole.

What you don't want to have happen with high tensile wire!

Finished! Five of the Marquettes are tied to the fruiting wire.
(Click on the photos to enlarge.)

It was a very long day here at The Farm as we strung the fruiting wire in the vineyard. First Bonnie measured the height for the holes in the posts. She then used one of Denny's drill bits (a little overkill on the size) to drill the holes. Next Bonnie cut some PEX tubing which she gently tapped into the holes to protect the posts. The 12 1/2 gauge high tensile wire was then threaded through the PEX in the posts and was secured with Gripples at the end posts which, of course, required a Gripple tool to tighten the wire.

The first row was not pretty. We put the Gripples on incorrectly and then didn't use the tool right so couldn't tighten the wire. After much cussin' and discussin' we decided to try to find a video on the Internet that Bonnie had once seen that would show us how to use the tool. (No booklet or instructions came with the tool!) It took a while, but we finally found the instructions online and realized what we had been doing wrong. We decided to do the next four rows and then go back and cut and splice the wire, and replace one of the Gripples on the first row.

Somehow the wire got all tangled up which added more time that we care to admit to the project. When we were all done we decided to go ahead and tie the cordons on the fruiting wire of the 5 Marquettes that are our most mature vines. We currently have 79 vines. 76 of them are in the vineyard and 3 are spares in Bonnie's garden and will be used for replacements in the vineyard. We have one vine in the vineyard that Kathy thinks may not make it.

No work for us tomorrow as we are off to see the witches of Oz.

We need to string two sets of catch wires on the four rows of vines we are training to VSP(Vertical Shoot Positioning). We will use the top wire cordon system for the row of Niagara, Concord, and Frontenac Gris. Unfortunately, that means that Kathy will have to struggle with the high tensile wire again! We are using 12 1/2 gauge monofilament for the VSP...much easier to handle!

Kathy will be back at work on The Farm on Wednesday...if not sooner. We are thinking of starting the work on the drainage tiles ourselves once we have a plan on how to do it! Kathy has just about had it with the mud at the walk-out basement where she lets her dogs out.

Bonnie's garden is doing well. Most all of her fruits and veggies are up.

Rain, rain go away!

Bonnie weeding her veggie garden.

Kathy has all the tilling done...for now!

We had a most awful storm Monday night. The lightning and thunder looked and sounded like it struck right next to our house. And then there was hail. The garden and vineyard survived with little damage. Our plan calls for us to put up the fruiting wire for the vines this Saturday, weather permitting. We will be off to Indy on Sunday to see Wicked and to eat at Maggiano's - a treat for Kathy and her brothers and their significant others from Kathy's mother, who has also treated us the past few years to Cats and The Lion King. Kathy thinks that this play will be her overall favorite.

After a questionable start, the new microwave appears to be operating ok. It sounds like a freight train and Kathy doesn't remember ever having such a loud microwave. The top latch on the door didn't want to latch when we first started using it so, of course, the microwave would not work. It took a while to figure out what was going on. Now, with use, it seems to be better. What is it with us and microwaves?

Mike called to say he hoped to be out on Friday to expand our driveway. We need to stake out our changes for him. This is all weather-dependent, so we are not hopeful that the weather will cooperate.

The price of gas continues to rise. Kathy, who now has the longest commute of her working career, has discovered that she doesn't mind the 40-minute drive to work, but the gas prices are taking a chunk out of her paycheck. She must make the trip to Georgetown three days a week.

Refusing to spit

A rare photo of Kathy. Today at Vintage Indiana, Military Park, Indy.

Today we took a rare day off and went to our second Vintage Indiana at Military Park in Indianapolis. As usual, Bonnie didn't last long and Kathy could have tasted all day. We signed the age-verification papers for 8 wineries and now can have wine shipped directly to our home from those wineries. Kathy suggested to the owner of one of the wineries that there be a central database accessible by all of the wineries so that if your age was verified at one winery, you were verified for all of them. Each winery would enter their verified customers into the database and then other wineries would only have to consult the database when an order arrived to see if that customer was registered in the database.

Some of our favorite wines from the wineries whose tents we visited were (in no particular order):

Merlot - French Lick

Vignoles - French Lick

Rhubarb - French Lick

Cabernet Sauvignon - Brown County

Plum - Brown County

Riesling - Winzerwald

Gewurtztraminer - Winzerwald

Chambourcin - Oliver

Catawba - Oliver Creekbend

Cabernet Franc - Huber

Late Harvest Vignoles - Butler (We liked every wine we sampled from Butler Winery)

We sampled approximately 30 wines from 8 wineries. Bonnie treated to Lone Star on the way home. We have noticed at Lone Star as well as some other eateries, that the portion sizes have been greatly reduced while the prices have risen. An example is their signature lettuce wedge with blue cheese. We used to share one because it was so large. Now it is about half the size it once was, which is quite a normal portion, but not the huge size to which we were accustomed.

The big news here at the farm is that Barbara and Denny have returned from their travels! They arrived home yesterday, shortly before Bonnie arrived home from work. It is so comforting to see movement down there again, and Kathy has already had a chat with Denny who, as is typical, was already out working hard on his homestead. He has sprayed his fruit trees, mowed his yard, and harvested his veggies. We helped ourselves to a serving of his sugar snap peas while he was away and they were delicious. Bonnie also cut some lettuce and spinach and we had a most delightful salad. We look forward to seeing photos of the new grandbaby and hearing about their trip.

Mike didn't make it out this week but we expect he will be out as soon as he can to extend our driveway among other things.

Rex connected the reverse osmosis to the through-the-door water on our fridge but it didn't taste as good as the RO right at the sink. Kathy is thinking it may need to work out some odors in the tubing??? Rex also adjusted the gas to the stove again and it is much better - no more shooting flames. Kathy made macaroni and cheese and baked it as a test and it turned out just fine. We don't have the broiler adjustment right yet and Rex said he would call Sears for advice. There is too much flame.

Rex hasn't been back to finish the washer and dryer yet but they are usable.

The saga of the microwave continues. We returned the microwave that wouldn't work to Sears. The 90-day warranty had expired because we bought it in November. So even though it had been in the box and not installed for half a year, they would not give us a new one and insisted on fixing it. Bonnie bought a new one anyway and said she would sell the first one once it was fixed. We got the second one home and didn't even have it out of the box when we saw a huge dent in it. A part was missing, and the protective film was off of it. We wondered if this was a returned item that somehow got back in the inventory. So back Bonnie went to Sears and had that microwave replaced, checking inside the box before having it loaded in her car.

Here is something we noticed about Sears. Kathy bought a Craftsman Trimmer/Mower. The salesman told her he had only 1 in stock. When Bonnie bought her microwave that same day, she was told they had only 1 in stock. But when she returned the dented microwave a day later, she was told they could exchange it for her because they still had two in stock. We have decided that Sears trains their salespeople to tell customers that there is only 1 in stock of whatever they are interested in so that, if they are on the fence about a purchase, they will feel like they need to buy it before someone else gets it.

So Kathy has her trimmer/mower but refused to use it on her days off because she might get it dirty (it rained!). Jonathan was over Friday evening and mowed our taller weeds and Kathy will use her new toy along the fence row and along the road and other places Jonathan might not be able to get his mower. The sad news is that a mommy rabbit had a nest in our tall weeds and the nest was mowed. So far Kathy has counted 3 bodies. : (

Blossom Ridge Farm

What Bonnie did on Sunday.

What Kathy did on Sunday.

The photos show why we are Blossom Ridge Farm.

Bonnie spent Sunday working on a couple of raised beds in her veggie garden. She planted bush beans, carrots and Swiss chard. She will be putting boards around the two new raised beds eventually.

Kathy weed whipped the vineyard and did some more tilling. She has two more rows of vines to till.

Mike was by yesterday and took the cover off the AC. We decided it wasn't worth the effort to take it off in the summer and put it back on in the winter. Mike will be here this week to extend our driveway and do some other work he wasn't able to get to on Friday.

Rex will be back with the hose for the washer. Kathy brought the vent pipe for the dryer from the villa, so we have everything we need to get the installation of those two appliances completed.

Kathy and Rex forgot to change the broiler setting to LP from natural gas and didn't get the oven setting closed enough. Bonnie tried to bake on Saturday and was greeted by a huge flame in the oven. Kathy got the stove manual out and knows how to set those two things to LP but Bonnie wants Rex to do it.

We are still without a microwave. Bonnie will be taking it back to Ft. Wayne and, hopefully, we will get it back soon...or a new one.

Millie had an episode today and Kathy isn't certain what it was. It didn't last long.

June and Scooby stopped by to say hi when they were walking at the campground.

Keeping busy indoors!

Bathroom - wall colors photographed lighter than they are.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

View of kitchen from dining area.

(Walls are darker than they appear in photo - a dark salmon.)

Kitchen

Kathy spent the day doing laundry, trying out the dishwasher, and picking up the cottage for a few photos. She touched up some walls with paint. We actually did very well moving things in and did very little damage to the walls and floors. The floors still need to be cleaned, especially the bamboo, but we are continuing to move things to the farm from The Fort, so won't do a thorough job of cleaning until we are completely done moving. Not to mention that it is silly to clean the bamboo when the basement steps are still so filthy. They will be washed down, sanded and painted.

Kathy programmed the water softener yesterday and it charged last night without a hitch.

The washer takes very little soap because of the soft water. We will need to remember that! Bonnie is enjoying the soft water...especially in the shower. Kathy is trying to find out how many ppm the iron content is in our water. She set the water softener hardness higher because of the iron content, but would like more accurate info. And she is thrilled to now have some clean undies to wear. Bonnie suggested she buy some more. What a novel idea!

The basement floor is holding up. It did need another coat of paint and is filthy from all the traffic. It will be difficult to keep it clean until the drainage tile work is completed and some gravel is put down at the walk-out. Right now, every time Kathy lets Millie and Gizmo out to answer the call of nature, she has to stick their feet in a pan of water to wash off the mud! That is only because it rained quite a bit yesterday. Today Gizmo took off while Kathy was cleaning the mud from Millie's feet. He found his way back to the basement, but not before Kathy was wet and muddy from trying to locate him!

The washer and dryer seem to be performing well. There was a question as to whether the washer would be able to push water up 8' or more to the drain that would remove it from the house. Kathy had checked the manual and it stated that the washer could do it...and it has so far today. We do need a longer drain hose. Rex had to extend the one we had for a temporary fix and it is leaking a little where two hoses are hooked together. We also neglected to bring the flexible dryer tubing from The Fort and we have a temporary fix there, too. Kathy will be picking that up tomorrow on her lunch break from work and Rex will be responsible for picking up a longer drain hose.

Kathy decided to test the dishwasher this evening and it seemed to do a good job and did not leak. No leaks is always a good thing.

Rex and Kathy worked on getting more hot water coming out of the shower head. The water was warm but was not hot. The hardware came shipped from the factory pre-set to save hot water, but it was too cool for us. Bonnie will be happy now because Kathy took a shower this afternoon and can attest to the fact that the water is now much hotter.

Kathy treated herself to a trip to town today and visited both Wal*Mart and Owen's. She got a few items and was delighted to see that Owen's carried some of her favorite Private Select items, including her favorite ice cream! That will please Marquette who gets a teaspoon or two of vanilla bean ice cream every night. Sometimes Possum joins him, but never Tacumwah. Marquette also gets a splash of skim milk in the morning too. He is the only cat of ours who seems to like milk.

All three cats ate well today. It is the first good meal Possum has eaten in almost a week.

Andy or his people were a no-show today so Kathy had no stove tonight. So with the microwave not working, it was sandwiches...again! Bonnie, on the other hand, met a friend at Casa's in The Fort for dinner. Maybe she will bring home a doggie bag? Kathy isn't too proud to accept leftovers from Casa's!

Oh, to be able to eat a homecooked meal again!

Railing is 1 1/2" wide and only our Bengal,

Tacumwah, is brave enough to walk it!

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Possum setting the table. He appears to be

having a problem with the placemats.

Kathy had the day off today and worked with Rex to get the stove, washer, and dryer up and running. The stove is almost functional. There is a leak in the gas line at a connector near the house that needs to be fixed before the gas can be turned on to enter the house. Andy will be sending someone tomorrow morning to fix it.

Our brand new microwave is dead and we are NOT happy about it. And because the stove wasn't working yet, we had nothing to cook in or on. Kathy got her crock pot from The Fort and threw in some food Bonnie picked up yesterday at My Menu.

Most of the water leaks are fixed now. There is still one under the kitchen sink we are watching. Kathy and Rex were so busy working on the stove that they did not get the washer and dryer hooked up before Rex had to leave. He came back later in the evening with LeeAnn to hook them up. Kathy needs to do laundry because she is out of clean undies and will have to hand wash some or borrow some from Bonnie who always seems to have enough for 3 people. And Miss Millie needs her bedding washed.

Kathy tried the reverse osmosis water today and she said it is excellent. Rex needs some tubing in order to run it to the fridge for drinking water and ice.

Mike will be here on Friday to get the AC ready to go, fix some buckled siding, caulk the fiber cement siding, and put latches on the doors under the porch.

Bonnie planted part of her garden (the plants) Monday and Kathy started tilling around the grapevines. It rained today, so that kept Kathy out of the vineyard.

A HUGE thank-you to Rex and LeeAnn for working on our appliances today!