Back From A Vacation From Hell

Well, I've been back from another one of my legendary horrid vacations.
Friday I slipped on the back deck, landed awkwardly on my side and back, cracked a couple ribs and rearranged my chitlins.
Sunday I got a call that my Dad had passed away. We buried him Tuesday.

It's just been a bit rough here as of late but life all in all is blessed.

Rain, Rain, Rain

It's been a flood of Biblical proportions today and tonight. So much so my dish signal was lost so no TV. Not a problem though. I turned off the lights and watched God's light show... It was awesome!

Vacation Coming Up

Yesterday morn at near quitting time I was asked if I wanted to take vacation next week. While it was short notice I agreed. There are a lot of things I need and want to get done around the house...
Spring cleaning, get a couple more raised bed gardens built, build my greenhouse, maybe have the crew what built my storage barn put a roof over my deck & question them about a pole barn by the barn, find the best price for an egg incubator and buy one, maybe even go fishing.

Gourd Garden

Well I wasn't feeling too beat down after work yesterday morning so I managed a little garden work. To wit, my raised bed for gourds. It's on the South side of my house, 4' x 8' x 16" deep. Last week I mowed the area w/ the blade of my mower set to its lowest setting. After I got the frame built yesterday I laid several layers of cardboard down as a biodegradable weed/grass barrier then dumped in a couple bags of oak leaves. I had only 1 bag of humus/manure mix which I scattered somewhat evenly over the leaves. Using the empty bag as a yardstick I estimate it'll take some 20 more bags of dirt to fill.
When I go get the soil I'll also shop for some seed corn so the gourd vines will have something to climb on. I know by its very nature corn is a hybrid plant but I'll be looking for seed w/ "heirloom" varieties rather than "hybrid".

A Pair Of Plum Trees

This morning at 5:00 break my best friend, Gail texted me that one of our local home improvement stores was having a sale on plants. As soon as I got off work I hauled ass over there and was one of the first 10 or so in line waiting for the gates to open.
I bought 2 Santa Rosa plum trees which are now planted in the duck & goose yard. I also got 2 packs of 4 each tomato plants and 25 packs of seeds, mostly root crops; carrots, beets & radishes.

The soil is still a bit soggy for even working on raised beds but the weather lady says we should have at least a few days of sunshine coming. I'll try to at least get the raised beds I want staked out so I can cut wood, dump dirt and add seeds soon. I'm gonna try filling the raised beds for the roots almost full of leaves and compost then add just enough soil to let the seeds get a good start. That should (might?) make it easy growing for the crops and easy harvesting.  Hey! I'm all about easy picking when it comes to gardening!