I am always surprised when I log in and discover it has been two weeks since I’ve posted. \u00a0I know I’ve been thinking about it, but life has really intruded. \u00a0I guess that’s what reality TV is all about: capture people as they move through their activities because they won’t have time to write about it during and after the fact they will do all sorts of interpretations. \u00a0Did I just provide justification for the Kardashians?? \u00a0Cinema verite for the 21st century.<\/p>\n
It is a divine late evening at the farm. \u00a0I tore myself away from unpacking…it seems like there are a million little things I could do to make things better and more livable. \u00a0The dining room is filled with boxes from out last few trips, but \u00a0I made a huge dent by getting all the Christmas stuff into a closet upstairs. \u00a0Where did I get all this stuff? \u00a0I barely decorated last year because I figured we were moving somewhere in 2011 and didn’t want to unpack. \u00a0I had also, over the past few years, been taking advantage of post-holiday container sales to buy big plastic tubs so at the least it was easy to transport the decorations. But what could possibly be in the six or seven tubs in the closet? I guess I’m glad I have a seeming excess since it is going to be a hoot to decorate this house with its 7 mantels, huge ceilings (can’t WAIT to put the tree in the library and hang all the nature and bird ornaments that I’ve collected, many treasured gifts, over the years), and front porch. \u00a0I’m guessing that wreaths at the windows are obligatory.<\/p>\n
I’m sitting on the front porch right now. \u00a0I finally got around to filling the baskets I bought at Big Lots last week. \u00a0I bought an already cultivated “basket” mix from my local greenhouse, actually I bought four. Two for each of two baskets. They are basically plugs with three different flowers that will spread over the course of the summer. \u00a0 Another basket that hangs in a pretty shady spot is sports a fuschia. \u00a0The fourth basket has a lovely foamy lavender flower, some thyme and some mint.<\/p>\n
They replaced some very scraggly Boston Ferns that should really have been declared DOA when they came out of the green house this Spring, but we just can’t seem to kill things outright if they show any signs of life. \u00a0To the end, I filled two pots with a few tomatillos and basil plants that were languishing in pots. \u00a0My husband believes that if you get 50 seeds in a packet, you are expecting to get 50 plants. \u00a0And, he usually does, which means we have plenty of extra plants. \u00a0We put a long row of tomatoes along the front of the property for the neighbors to share. \u00a0I have a salsa pot (tomato, pepper, onions, basil, and parsley) that I planted some time ago. \u00a0The tomato is gorgeous but wasn’t meant for a pot and is shading out everything else.<\/p>\n
The good news is that we have renters for the house who want to move in on July 1. \u00a0Husband and nephew have been painting feverishly and there is the ceiling in the bathroom to fix. \u00a0But with the exception of a few pieces of furniture including the piano, we are mostly out. \u00a0The attic and garage are even mostly empty. \u00a0A few more car\/truck loads and we will be here.<\/p>\n
I AM here. \u00a0I work on unpacking around my other work so we have both empty boxes, which we really don’t need since stuff in the attic and garage were mostly packed. \u00a0We found a couple surprising boxes of books in the garage: mostly first editions. \u00a0I also found my old book spinner from my middle school classroom. \u00a0It sits quite nicely on a round table, and I may add some of the firsts to it, but I am also realizing I am going to have to put books in other rooms of the house. \u00a0The handyman books that my husband inherited from someone went on the pantry bookshelf, and I will have a nice selection in the guest room and my room.<\/p>\n
I find myself defining pieces of furniture I need. \u00a0In the library, I need a book display rack for some of my bigger volumes; my Audobon is open to orchard orioles<\/a>, of which we have several pairs around the farm, but I may flip to bobwhite<\/a> since I listened to one call at dusk as I trudged up and down the steps with boxes. \u00a0I also need a cabinet for sheet music and musical instruments as well as a way to display some of them. \u00a0I have a beautiful dulcimer with hummingbird cutouts that I bought from the maker in eastern Kentucky when I went on a work week there more than 20 years ago. \u00a0I know how to play a bit.<\/p>\n But that is all in the future. \u00a0Right now, it is about getting furniture into rooms and putting things away. \u00a0We are blessed with closets in most rooms and an amazing built in china cabinet in the den. \u00a0We are also using the milking parlor for more long term storage. \u00a0Suddenly, we have space!<\/p>\n I have been trying to outwit nature a bit. \u00a0We have a honey bee hive in the front part of the house where the decorative wood has broken away from the house. \u00a0They discovered my hummingbird feeders and quickly became a nuisance. \u00a0I got stung trying to refill a feeder and they were chasing away the hummers as they piled around the openings of the small hanging feeders. \u00a0We played around with some bee guard designs but none of them worked. \u00a0I did a little research and decided the best course was compromise. \u00a0I moved the feeders they liked off the porch and nearer the hive. \u00a0I put the two feeders they didn’t use on or near the porch. \u00a0I have seen a hummer at one of them and the bees seemed to have moved on so perhaps I have succeeded. \u00a0We would very much like to figure out how to relocate the hive to the hives we have but they still need work and we just haven’t had time to pursue it. \u00a0They need painted and we need to get the beeswax foundation in place. \u00a0Then, it’s a matter of somehow capturing the hive and the queen. \u00a0So, maybe it isn’t a priority. \u00a0They aren’t a problem in the house and I like thinking that somewhere under the floor boards upstairs there is honey. \u00a0We should have sweet dreams \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n I have been reading. \u00a0I finally settled on an odd choice: Norman Mailer’s story of Lee Harvey Oswald called Oswald’s Tale<\/em>. \u00a0It is this odd third person\/first person, narrator\/primary source narrative interwoven with statements from the Warren Commission, interview transcripts, KGB and CIA reports, and Oswald’s diary.<\/p>\n NB: I lost my network connection when the battery died on the wireless device. \u00a0I took a break and managed to unpack another box or two, discovering my collection of old fashioned table cloths in one of the tubs. \u00a0For now, linens go on the shelves between the den and the dining room so that box was easy to unpack. There is a wide passageway created by the chimney that services the fireplace in both rooms and it is great storage. \u00a0For now it is a staging ground, first for the candles which are now back in their cupboard, now for linens that I think will end up in the marble top. I also found the doorway curtains I made for our old house. They could be used to cover the doors and keep the air conditioning in the living room. \u00a0One panel will make a nice curtain to cover the open shelving in the passageway. \u00a0And so it goes…I could walk a few more things upstairs before heading to bed. \u00a0Every thing that moves gets me one step closer to being done or at least as far along as I can get as I wait for the rest of the furniture to get moved upstairs. And walking up the stairs is good exercise.<\/p>\n If you have read this far, congratulations…you are up to date on the world of the farm! \u00a0The weather has cooled off so we can keep the windows open to catch the breezes and the cool night air. \u00a0A train is going past, its whistle warning of its approach, and I feel at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am always surprised when I log in and discover it has been two weeks since I’ve posted. \u00a0I know I’ve been thinking about it, but life has really intruded. \u00a0I guess that’s what reality TV is all about: capture people as they move through their activities because they won’t \u2026 Continue reading