A day in the life. Strange beginnings...

Hubby and I ran out to the little farm yesterday. We had to run some things out, including the big monster TV he got for Christmas last year. We kind of didn't trust it being transported in the "go mini" after seeing how it was delivered. Ahem.

A few weeks ago, I spent about 8 hours moving all the clay I escavated from the pool hole up to the house and mounding it at the foundation. The home inspector said we would want to do something like that because the ground was low at the foundation. I rented a front loader to do it and made quick work of it. I also used the front loader to shift around all the garden soil I had delivered and left big piles where I would need it next. So I placed all the gray, then laid down cardboard then piled the good soil about a foot deep and put in a long sprawling bed across the front of the house and filled it with shade plants.

We knew there was a problem with the front window and there was moisture on the sill plate. Between the home inspector and us, we figured it was from poor framing on the window. It is on our list of things to do. Well, a week or so after finishing that shade bed, I noticed after a few rains that a trench was washed out between the clay and the nice dirt and that several hosta were sitting there bare root. I was feeling pretty defeated. I have more dirt, but it would just wash out. Hubby and I discussed taking a ladder to the other house yesterday but no way to fit on in either car.

So we get to the house and I decide to back up and stand on the roof of my Suburban. LOL I am a 'where there's a will' sort of girl! SO I back up the sub, get on top and realize that the gutter is stuffed with sludge and maple leaves. We haven't officially moved in so the tools we have there are fairly limited to things needed for INSIDE jobs. So it is like 38 degrees and here I stand on the roof of my car with my bare hands in icy water. We had not put a lot of thought in the fact the house has sat empty a year. I did point out that it is almost November and the trees still have all their leaves. I know where they went last year. LOL

There we are, no ladder, no tools. We do however have a small hand trowel, sticks and a garden hose. Hubby gets a branch and I shove and twist the plastic hand trowel on there until it gets stuck. If they neighbors didn't think I was nuts already, they do now! I stood on top of the car with a hose, directing hubby where to poke the shovel. Then I have to sit down and let me drive me to another part of the gutter. LOL I am sure it was amusing because it seemed the same few cars kept passing. I guess between me on the roof riding around the yard, jamming a hose down the gutter elbow and my husband with a shovel on a branch..... Think anyone offered us a ladder?? Well, the good and the bad? After about an hour of Suburban roof surfing, we got the gutter all cleaned out and it works well! Now I need a rain barrel or one of those downspout expanding things that puts it out in the yard away from the house.

More fun...hubby ran to the garage to get me a wire hanger, that I didn't end up needing. He comes back carrying a flower pot. He tells me he found a crawdad with an egg sac. I didn't believe him. So he sets it in the crotch of a tree to keep it away from the little ones. I get down and look. Sure enough, he found a crawdad/crayfish laying right in the middle of the yard. And true to what he said, it had one heck of a bunch of eggs rolled it it's tail. We go over an look around and find another one and also notice a bunch of holes a bit bigger than a finger. He decides they are coming from the ground. I come home and do some research, sure enough! I thought they were only by creeks and such?

Now I am wondering how many of these things I am going to see? Apparently they can do lots of damage. I am sure I do not want to be the pied piper of crayfish. I am not afraid of them but they make my head itch just like any other insect they are related too! We do have a low area that fills when it rains and that is where they are. I guess I'll be getting that escavator again and running some drain tile first chance I get.

Hubby's final note on the subject? "Maybe we should call it Crafish Acres or Crawdad Farm" or something along those lines. Geesh!

Our 'go mini' will be picked up Tuesday and delivered to the new house. I have picked up papers to enroll the girls in school and I guess we start our life at that house next week. :) We'll still have to run down here to finish up jobs and get this house listed for sale.

Have a great weekend!