Well, the crazy weather had us chasing our tails for the better part of March. I think March Madness refers to basketball tournaments, but it is such an appropriate term. March is always Madness!! And it definitely spilled over into the weather. The crazy March weather! This is staring to sound a lot like my last post, isn’t it? Yeah, the crazy weather has been a recurring theme for me this year. Sorry!
This spring we never knew what to expect and how to plan for all the work we needed to do. Was it going to be raining cats and dogs? Or was it going to be sunny and warm? Maybe it was going to be brutally cold and windy? Who knows!!! Typically the day would start one way and then switch just as you were really getting some work much needed work done. As you can tell March is now driving me to Madness!!!
What kind of work were we trying to do you ask? Well, we were trying to do anything we could honestly! Can you burn brush piles in March? Maybe. If you have a death wish!!! The weather reports were so off it wasn’t even funny! If it called for 2 inches of rain we would get nothing. If it called for light rain we would get several inches. So, we would watch the weather and plan to burn on the day before a heavy rain. Nope, the wind would be brutal. Or the rain would get here a day early. Or we would have had 3 inches of rain only 2 days before and the brush piles were too wet to burn. We tried a few times to burn wet brush piles and it was just a waste of our time. Jim always seemed to want to burn when it was dry and windy. Of course he did! I wasn’t really on board with that idea for one small reason. I really don’t want to meet all the neighbors in court after burning down their homes. Nah, not fun. I think they would be much more hospitable as neighbors if we don’t destroy their property in the first few months we live here. If good fences make good neighbors, then I’m sure that neighbors who don’t burn down your property are even better neighbors! Makes sense doesn’t it???
Since burning was tricky most days, we switched gears and let Jim play with his toy. His dozer, of course! He was so happy that I think he would have invented work to do with the dozer if we didn’t have any work to do. Lucky for Jim, we have lots of work to do that should keep him busy for months or even years to come. Yes, realistically, it could take us years to get all our work done here. I can’t tell if that makes me happy or makes me want to cry. Hmmm, I’ll get back to you on that one…..Anyway, with all the work, the only problem was where to start working! Well, Jim’s mad dozer skills got busy getting a hole ready for the brush pile to be buried and for the barn to be pushed into. Sadly, the old barn’s time has expired and it is leaning a little too much after some of the strong winds we’ve had. Thankfully, we have been able to salvage some of the oak boards from the interior to save. Now, I just have to figure out what to make them into…..
You can’t tell in this picture but you just know Jim is smiling! He’s a happy guy right now. And I’m a happy gal ’cause I can see my girls from the front porch now!! The brush pile is no longer in the way. Yippee!!!
The kids thought the piles of dirt and the huge brush piles were specifically for them. Well, sure if that makes you happy little ones.
Camden especially loved all the dirt. He is a boy after all!
I don’t remember what was going on in this picture….maybe I’m taking too many pictures…Nah, that can’t be it.
I do remember what was going on here. I caught Maylin on camera sneaking up on her brother.
You just know this isn’t going to end well for someone. I mean, it’s just too tempting to NOT throw dirt at your brother’s head when he isn’t looking.
Well, it ended better than I thought, but I do think it’s better that they go their separate ways now that Maylin is armed with that giant tree branch!
Since we have moved to a much smaller house, we needed somewhere to store all our furniture and extra “stuff”. We looked at storage buildings but we couldn’t find what we were looking for in our budget. Then, we stumbled upon shipping containers. Ah, yes, an affordable solution. I will admit that the storage container is not as attractive as a storage building might have been, but at a fraction of the cost, I can live with it. Maybe I’ll get bored one day and paint it. And maybe elephants will fly that day also! HA!
Jim did a marvelous job leveling out this spot for our new shipping container.
That man has some serious dozer skills! Ahh, I love a story with a happy ending!
I snapped this picture of the truck delivering out shipping container. Nah, I’m not excited or anything…
Jim was supervising the work like an expert.
It fit perfectly. Now we have somewhere to store all our stuff. The kids have other ideas though…
Maylin and Camden ran down
and then they ran back. They ran back and forth for hours! They loved it and I got some yard work done. Ha! The shipping container is already paying for itself!
Throughout March we had been monitoring the eggs and trying to keep the temperature and humidity at the right levels without an internal thermometer. Talk about driving yourself mad! We will definitely get an internal humidity thermometer before we hatch more eggs. Other than that, it’s really pretty boring to incubate eggs for 21 days. The incubator turns them automatically. Aside from that, it’s just a waiting game. More waiting….
The caterpillars on the other hand were really cool! It always amazes me how fast they grow. Some days it seems like they double in size in a few hours! The kids loved watching them grow. And then the magic began and they started hanging from the lids and forming their chrysalises.
In just a few days the caterpillars were tripled in size.
Before we knew it they were turning into their chrysalises.
And then the flu??? Yeah, that wasn’t in my plans! And it certainly wasn’t fun for any of us! The flu lasted for weeks at our house as it took us each down separately. Jim was knocked down first and then Maleah. Almost 2 weeks later I was sick and then Camden. Almost 3 weeks later poor Maylin was the last to catch it. All I can say is Good Riddance and I hope we never cross paths again, Mr. Flu. You are not nice and not welcome here again!!
X marks the spot. Please drop supplies for the Carter’s directly below the X!
Although we’ve had a lot going on and it might seem like I complain a lot about the crazy weather I really do love spring. I especially love the flowers. I love being able to go outside and let the kiddos pick big handfuls of flowers.
One of my favorite parts of Spring-the Flowers. I always have flowers of some sort on my table or counter….or both.
Sometimes, I have flowers in every room of the house! Because, why not???
Here’s to more lovely spring weather (I hope!), to a flu-free house, and lots of work being completed!! Happy Spring Everyone!!!
