Garden protection. Chickens. Yard grass.

We had a pretty good day yesterday. Although the playday with our homeschool group at the park was canceled due to their sickness, we decided that we would go anyway. We had a small, one dollar kite that we wanted to try and fly. As it turned out, we got what we paid for because it wouldn't fly. That piece of crap! So we just talked, swung, I shot a few hoops with the basketball, and the kids rode their bike.

Once we got home I decided that since it's time to start planting in the garden, and we don't want the chickens in there, that I needed to at least try and discourage them from flying in. So I put up some stakes around the gate and compost bin to do just that. Hope it works! :-)

And of course I thought that just because I spoke of what the garden needed protection from, that I would show you so you could have a better mental picture. *smile*

Other than that, Rain raked up some more of the leaves, branches and pods that've fallen off of the Poplar trees. Then the kids put everything she had raked-up into a wagon and took it to the brush pile, which is growing by leaps and bounds. We're still undecided about whether to just keep the brush pile growing for wildlife or to have a bonfire. As much as I like the idea of a bonfire, just putting the branches and stuff into the brush-pile is less work. *grin* Day before yesterday we got one of the HUGE branches that had broken off of the Oak tree cut up. Got quite a bit of wood, that will eventually need to be split.

Speaking of grass... what a difference a couple of weeks make! It went from being mostly spotty, yellowish, and brittle, to now needing mowed. Which means it's time, once again, to spend 15 dollars to get 5 gallons of gas for the mower. (gas is now at $2.49.9/gal)

Technorati : chickens, garden, grass, protection, yards

Celebi. Light bulb. Bankruptcy. Birthday

This is Celebi. I'm tellin' ya, if there's a box in a room, a cat will find it and try to lay in it even if it may be too small. *grin* Of course he's not the only cat that has been in this or the box behind him, it's just that he's the first one we've photographed :-)

For the longest time after the light bulb in this outdoor security light burned out I didn't know how I was going to be able to get up there to change it. Well, we got an extension ladder from our grandmother before she moved out of MO a few months ago. Really wasn't sure if it would extend high enough. But as it turned out, it did. It got me up to the roof of the shed that this pole is by, and the top of the shed was high enough that I could reach the bulb. Had I known that, I would've climbed onto the roof even before we had the new-to-us ladder. Oh well, live and learn I guess. Now that there's a new bulb in there, we can move the kids' trampoline over closer to the shed so the kids can jump at night if they want to and still be able to see where they're landing.

Other than that, we haven't been doing much of anything because the weather hasn't helped us be motivated. Meaning it's either been cloudy and windy, or cloudy and rainy. And when we did have a nice, sunny day a couple of days ago, because it hadn't been like that for a few days, we spent it enjoying the weather rather than working in it. We actually discussed cutting some more of the fallen limbs today, at bedtime last night. But I was outside to take the picture of the light and it was starting to sprinkle. I don't know, I suppose if it's not raining when my wife gets up from her nap, it would be nice and cool enough to get some work done. We shall see!

Wife did some research on bankruptcy over the weekend. She did find out that it has changed from being able to file every 7 years to having to wait for 8 years. Luckily it has been 8 since our last one was discharged. Now the problem is coming up with the $200 to do the filing. We also need to figure out if we can easily file ourselves since the rule changes or if we need to save even longer and go through a lawyers office. Obviously we'll do it ourselves if at all possible. We're pretty sure the last time we filed for chapter 7 and retained our house in Colorado. Pretty sure we can do the same thing in MO, but need to do more research. Just looked it up and it looks like chapter 7 is the way for us to go (follow the above link).

It was my wife's birthday yesterday, and she says it was a happy one. YAY! Although it was technically her first day to start a week of getting up at 7 a.m., I got up an extra day so she could sleep in. After she had breakfast, she opened her presents, then a little while later we partook in some chocolate frosted chocolate cake - YUM! Later in the evening, after supper had digested a bit, we drank a bottle of wine which was also pretty tasty, called Strawberry White Zinfandel.

Technorati : arbor mist, black cats, celebi, light poles, missouri chapter 7 bankruptcy, strawberry, trampoline, white zinfandel