Summertime, and the living is.... easy?

It's been a while since I've blogged.  Maybe I didn't think our life would be interesting to anyone.  But then, I say it's my journal...  maybe I think I'll remember later (or possibly don't want to remember) all that's going on this summer.  Maybe we've been busy...  well, Bill sure has.  So much going on...

We're closing on two houses...  one we're selling in New Mexico and one we're buying in Mexico and the e-mails (and sometimes phone calls) that have been flying back and forth keep my pea brain reeling.  

We knew we'd be doing a total re-hab on the house we used to live in...  thought we'd have all summer.  But then our long-term renter (ELEVEN YEARS!) in one half of the duplex told us that he'd be leaving (he did... less than a week later) and you can imagine what all that place needed before it could be rented again.  So we had serious work to do on 2 rentals.

Our rental agent has a lawn service keep all the rental property mowed, but Bill & I like to keep the field below the "barn-house" mowed.  The last couple of years Johnson Grass has invaded the field.  It's like grass might grow a quarter of an inch over night...  but that Johnson Grass grows at least 6".  I have no idea where it came from...  And poison ivy has re-appeared in the past few years.  While we try to stay as "organic" or non-chemical as we can, some thing just can't be controlled.

So...  to catch up I'm just going to show you some photos I've taken...  and believe it or not, days go by that I don't take any.  But my game cameras are still working...  sometimes I think at overtime speed...  I'll have upward of 3,000 photos in one 24-hour period.  Of course I blame that on those damned raccoons.  We do have at least 4 nice bucks and some does as well as those raccoons, oppossums, crows and occasional house cat.

Let's get on with the pictures...

Some views of the barn-house....

I needed to shampoo the carpet and the couch and chairs in our motorhome, so we sort of moved into the barn-house temporarily.  Bill is almost done with getting it ready for a renter.  Which, by the way, it's already rented.  Not sure if Steven is going to move in July 15 or August 15...  but since today is July 9th I have to finish getting our stuff moved back to the rig.  It's rented "unfurnished", but Steve might want that table and chairs.  That Lazy-Boy is my old recliner.  I've hung on to it... kept it in storage...  for over 15 years now.   I can only say that I have really, really, really loved having it up here this summer.  And you can see that I've practically moved our whole kitchen into this place.  I love to cook even more than I love to eat, so having all that counter space has been lovely!

Bill has spent many, many hours up at the duplex.  I'm sure I didn't work my share, but ..... whatever...  One thing I really like to do is mow grass....

The lawn service does the bulk of the mowing... around the rentals.  But below the barn-house is the field where the goats used to hang out.  I've kept it beautifully manicured...  until the last couple of weeks.  All those white flowers are clover.  Yes...  plain old clover.  But the honey bees are working it meticulously all day...  I cannot bear to mow these flowers/weeds down.  These little guys are our pollinators...  they are struggling now just keeping their existence.  We used to have 6 hives back when we farmed...  so... you know what?  this field will just look shaggy for a while longer.  Go for it, you hard-working honeybees!

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

We've been hearing cuckoos every day for weeks now.  But we were sitting in those chair in the first photo and darned if this guy didn't land in the tree right beside the deck.  I'd been thinking that Bill needed to cut that tree down as it's starting to encroach a bit on the deck (2nd floor of the barn house).  But the Summer Tanager (both male and female) visit that tree every morning and serenade the world a good morning call.  The tree is maybe 20' or so from the woods edge and seems to be a pit stop of all kinds of birds heading somewhere else.  Guess it gets a reprieve...

Last week was Garrison Keillor's last time with Prairie Home Companion.  We watched the 3.5 hours live...  on our laptop.  Having been avid listeners for nearly all of the 42 years it's been on the radio, it was really an emotional show for me to watch.  PHC will be back in the fall... but without Mr. Keillor.

I still have 2 game cameras out.  However, this particular one often nets over 2,000 photos in a 24 hour period.  I have a hard time culling out the "less than perfect" ones, but really folks, how many times do I need to see a minute by minute scenario of the deer, the raccoons, the possums...  and now the crows.  I've gotten downright brutal about deleting hundreds of photos with one tiny push of the button.  Lord, I'd hate to be the person who has to control the gas chamber... what if I became so blase about that, too?

I don't have to fill the bird feeders twice a day now.  Even every other day seems to be okay.  This is the first House Finch I've seen this year.   I suppose they've been around, but since we've been staying upstairs in the barn-house we just aren't as close to nature.

A week or so ago, my sister, Cynthia, and I went over to Marietta, Ohio.  I had to replenish my supply of Rossi Pasta (they started here in Athens, but moved to Marietta many years ago...  the best pasta I've EVER had... you can check them out on-line).  And we found a couple of geo-caches.  But the highlight of the day was having lunch together on the outside patio of the Levee House Restaurant.   We both had the soft-shell crab sandwich plate ...  fantastic!  But while sitting out on the patio, which is right at the confluence of the Muskingham and the Ohio Rivers, we watched the barges being pushed up river...  and the paddlewheeler, the Valley Gem, taking a boat load of sightseers on a wonderful river trip.

 Wild turkeys were re-introduced to SE Ohio in the late 1960's and into the 1970's.  They have done well.  I was taking the back road to Lowe's (a daily trip these days) and came across this hen and her 9 poults crossing the road.  Mom was having a bit of a time keeping the kids together, but I didn't mind as it gave me time to haul out my little camera and snap a few shots through the windshield.  

Well, we're about to move back into our motorhome.  One rental is for sure going to be occupied soon.  We're hoping to have a yard-sale at the duplex rental before it gets rented.  We're nearly done with all that house business....  

Oh yes...  I picked enough raspberries to bake 3 pies...  now we're almost through with the blackberry season...  tomorrow is a blackberry pie.  

I still haven't thought of a title for this blog...  Yes, I know I will by the time you read this, but sometimes, honest... I really do run out of words.

On that note...  

The End

Hey..  look close...  not just a butt...  but...  look...

Do folks still stick their tongue out to express their ... ummm... feelings?

Kind of like flipping you the bird but not as offensive?  I think this buck is telling me that maybe I've worn out my welcome with my game cameras...  what do you think?

That's All For Today!