Getting Closer

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Sweetheart's Mom mentioned a particular type of plantain that is even better than the regular one I am familiar with.

Here is what we've been using.





And I'm wondering if this is what you were talking about, SM?





We tried to get as early a start as we could yesterday, to beat the heat. With the rest of the metal sheeting in place...





...we turned our attention to digging the French drain above the deck.





Adding a little water to make sure there is a drop in level toward the direction we want the water to flow.





That ended up being perfect. Now we had to direct all the rainwater collection off away from the pool dugout. I made this up myself, so I sure am hoping it will work. LOL





We tried to save the turf for reuse.





Now digging out a bit deeper for the pipe.





I forgot to take photos of laying the special pipe for French drains, but if you go to my tag on French Drains you can see how to do that there.

It's finally ready.





Now to cut the PVC pipe at a difficult angle. Directly above the deck is the normal French drain type of pipe. But out in the open lawn we have to have something that will support the tractor for mowing, and some way to have it out there without it being in the way of the mower blade. This is what I came up with.

Normally, cutting PVC is easy with a variety of tools, but the size and thickness made all of those ways difficult without special tools which we do not have.

I had heard of using string to cut PVC, and we found this video...

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-cut-pvc-pipe-nylon-string-218323/

So COOL!

So off we went to work some magic!





Only it didn't work. The string kept breaking.





I have no idea why. I thought it could have been because we had to get a start on the pipe with the hacksaw since the cut was to be at such an angle, but we also tried it straight across on uncut pipe and that did not work either.

After about 50 failures, I was back on the internet trying to come up with solutions. But while I was gone, Michael did it the old fashioned way. Hack away at something until it doesn't exist any more.





It took a while, but it was effective. Awesome!





So we laid it in, attaching it to the drain pipe.





We tried to get it as flush with the ground as we could. The problem is that in order for it to be perfectly flush, the angled pipe cut would have to be a good three feet long. That is not feasable.





And here it is, all covered up with the remaining gravel from the pile in the driveway, and utilizing only a couple of turf squares we'd set aside. The grass will quickly grow over the remaining earth. We'll have to mow over it carefully to get a feel for how high to have the blades.





Lunchtime!!! Michael went for the dark lettuce in the herb garden, and I went to pick lettuce from the shaded bed.





Some of you wanted updates on this particular project. They are doing fine. They are a little spindly, just getting a bit of dappled light in the afternoon, but they taste wonderful. The leaves are more delicate and tear easily.





I had also taken a couple of pear tree trunk suckers, put rooting hormone on them, and stuck them in this very light and rich soil mix. They seem to be doing well after a month.





We washed our lunch outdoors, enjoying the cool water from the hose.





Then we took turns spelling each other on mowing the place, and continuing digging out the caved in banks around the edge.





I am hoping the more gradual slope of the banks in combination with the redirection of water flow will keep erosion to a minimum. I don't want to buy retaining wall stones as they are too expensive.





Now to focus on the deck. We checked to see where we were at for level on all the boards. Of course, to make it perfect we would have to dismantle the entire thing and redo it. Not gonna happen.





So instead we reset the blocks and added a support post where necessary.





And that was where we had to stop. The deck boards have shrunk significantly over the years and we needed another board to add in, as well as new deck screws. We grabbed those really quick on the way to Men's group and Ladies Night.

Can you pick yourself off the floor at the cost of screws? It kills me!

~Faith

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I Have A Confession.

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I hate video games, they are limited in my home. But I have fallen victim to one.

Most people would not consider this a game, but I do. It's a ridiculous waste of my time and it's on this screen I am looking at right now, and that makes it video.

www.FloorPlanner.com

Yup, we leave it open on the PC and, at various times throughout the day, we stop by for a few moments and add on to our dream home.

It's educational in a way, you might say. True, but it's also sheer fantasy. This dream home has about 30,000 square feet, and that's NOT counting the 20 foot wrap around covered porch with complete wrap-around deck above.

But, if you need a fun distraction through the slower winter months, have at it. It's free for home use and you can have 3 plans saved.

Don't let the small size of the grid fool you. We quickly pushed the limits and found the grid expands as you build on, and on, and on....

Yesterday we went to can the last of those pears and apples I'd not gotten too. And they were way too far gone.

So the horses got some nice treats, and the compost pile is a bit larger. And my back porch is emptier.

Michael has just about gotten his school work done and we are heading out to sew with friends and practice dancing.

Here was last week's get together.





One young girl was in a wheelchair all last year. She's out of it, and dancing for her is slow and a bit shuffly, but she is having a wonderful time.

Ashlee and Elaine, at my place last week. Working on an overskirt. I had to sneak this photo!





And Leah, helping me fix my dropped loops in a knitting project for my daughter.





And would you believe this amazing sewing job! Ashlee is just learning to sew, and she was so happy with her progress on the skirt, that she went and got herself a pattern and is sewing this cute sundress, all by herself! I am ecstatic to see her discover a talent she did not know she had.





Last week I also began to try to work on this truck again.





Typical beater-type truck: can of starting fluid, and a pair of pliers to be able to open the hood, since the handle broke off.





It's so bad to leave a vehicle uncared for, but I have not been able to get to it. The tires badly need to be moved as they are developing severe flat spots.





So we got some handy old mobile home skirting sheets that I keep around for this kind of work.





And we needed to see about draining the old gas out of the tanks, as it goes bad if not used. I turned on the key to see how much gas we were going to be dealing with in the two tanks, and found that I had no power at all.





Time to drag out the charger again.





Put your red on positive, and the black on negative, then plug the charger in.









And don't let this fool you. For some reason, the charger reads full at first, then it slowly drops over the next hour or so, then begins to come back up again. I'm not convinced I have a correctly functioning charger...





Underneath the truck, I find an exhaust pipe that has broken off the muffler which is help up by baling wire.... bummer.





I do locate the two tanks, and follow the hoses coming out of them up to this little unit, of which I have no idea what it's called. Generally, I'll look this up, but I have no time at this moment, as I am desperately trying to get off to sewing again!





And that's where I THINK I will need to be working if I drain the tanks. However, I've got to get the electrical problem fixed first, and the (hopefully) charged battery is sitting on the truck cab floor, waiting for me to grace it with my presence.

Seamstress by day, grease monkey by night...

~Faith

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I Seriously Need A Cellar.

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I've got stuff all over the place.

















I ended up canning til 3 a.m. this morning, trying to get all those pears off my floor.

Remember these?





Well, they've been sitting on my kitchen floor for 2 weeks. There are still two boxes in the back porch, seen above, but now my floor looks like this, and I've got one more 7 quart load going in the canner right now.





Ooooh, I just got to blow my air horn into the phone on another unwanted sales call. I have my number on the registry, but these guys like to break the law and call anyhow. So this usually works for a few days.

I feel like I just cleaned my right ear....

~Faith

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If you lay down, you may never get up again.

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So had become a rueful joke amongst those of us who share my own particular lifestyle.

We are TIRED!

But you know, it's a GREAT tired. By Friday night, we were fairly wiped out and, while sitting on the couch at a get together with friends, it was hard to not want to run screaming for the shores of Tahiti.

We took a Saturday Shabbat rest. Now, Shabbat is all about setting aside your worries, your tasks, the things that encumber you and remembering that the most important things are your relationship with God, and the joy and fun in the simple things of family and friends; resting in God, and remembering that He takes care of us.

But, as I often do, what began as something fun, my photography, turned into work (coming up with an order) about 3 hours into it. I asked for God's leading in it, in prayer, and suddenly the whole truth occurred to me. Whereupon I laid it down, and we spent the rest of the day playing games, reading, watching a movie, taking a nap.

Have you been able to yet open your windows? I can't wait, every winter and summer, to get to the milder weather that allows me to keep the windows open as much as possible.





I LOVE FRESH AIR!!!





I am excited about getting another scoby. I have not had one in a while. I had ordered one with a woman, and we were to go in halves, but I never heard from her again. The last few days, however, I've been chatting about it with a friend on a forum and she may be able to send me one sometime soon. You want one of these, don't you. Admit it.





Weird news of the week: My husband, who is thousands of dollars in arrears for support, and in defiance of a court order, left me a message on the machine. He'd accidentally deposited more in my account than he meant to. Please send him a check or wire him the money. He needs it.

Upon conferring with my attorney, I am keeping it and applying it to the money he owes. However, I fully expect retribution, so the money will be saved for those future weeks of punitive vengefulness. I'm so grateful I have a church family who steps in and cares for us when we need help. They have done so much for us.

The pears!





Here they are. Well, these and more that are already in the kitchen by the time time photo was taken.





They are now under newspaper in boxes, awaiting the magical time of ripening. And I am awaiting the magical time of stubbing my toe in the darkness when I forget they are there.





We are finding a few things here and there in the fusarium-decimated garden. No, not the bananas.





We are finding far more rotted produce than anything though. The melons on the counter were picked from dead plants. We have opened two of them and found they were still unripe. I suspect the rest are the same. But it's worth a shot.

A precious hubbard squash. I'm so happy!





Must get busy on those chores today! Next item, learn how to braid onions.

~Faith

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