BAY LEAVES ONE OF THESE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER

Ever since we lost our Bay Laurel tree in one of the epic freezes, we've been buying bay leaves again.  2nd Man loves to cook with them.  Recently, we found some new ones that definitely not the same, ha.

Can you tell by this photo?

Ha!  They are both bay leaves but obviously not the same.  He was excited to find these quality, fresher, darker green ones and so I got to thinking...

We need our own tree again!

I searched online and found a place and ordered one. The last one we had was small, and so I decided to pay a little extra to get a bigger one.

I ordered a 3 gallon size and they did not disappoint.

This one is 3' tall.  Here is the image from the website and the one we got is almost identical.

We can't wait to find the perfect spot for it, but for now, it is in a pot on the back porch.  Need to do a little research and see if just putting it in a large clay pot (we have a couple we could use) will work and then we can move it as needed.

We should get to harvest some leaves soon!

UTILITY SINK AND WATER COOLER

We figured we should start touring things we've done inside the house.  Yes we are still unpacking, the garage is full of boxes as we slowly empty the storage unit, but we're getting there.  

This is our garage utility sink.

It's next to the garage fridge.  I found a cool metal basket/drainer that we had in storage from the old house.  It fits great on here!  This sink will be the perfect spot for washing veggies from the (future) garden, using the back grilling/cooking porch, cleaning pots and pans and other cooking things, etc.  Having a deep utility sink like this will come in handy for sure.

The fridge is on one side and so what to put on the other side of it?

We moved our water cooler to the spot next to the sink!  The great thing about this set up is that while it's close to the door from inside the house to the garage (if we need instant hot water or additional fresh water for something), it's also right NEXT to the outside door to the back yard.  As I come in and out on mowing/working outside days, I can use this sink to clean up!

And here's the best part:

The five gallon water bottle fits in the sink perfectly so we can refill it!  Remember, our water guy looked at our well water test results even before our whole house filter and said he would drink straight from the well without any worry.  Of course, we went ahead and put in the whole house filter for a multitude of other reasons and after we did that, the installer said every faucet in the house will have Ozarka quality water coming out of it, ha.

This spot worked out perfectly.  I can come in the back door on mowing days and get cold water for a break without going inside the house and then once I'm done, I can stop and wash my hands and clean up before going inside!

Win/Win!

WILDLIFE SATURDAY

Hope your weekend is off to a good start.

We were cooking dinner not too long ago and looked out the kitchen window and saw this...

...just a couple of deer strolling through the driveway and front yard.  Nothing like a wonderful meal, a couple glasses of wine and some local wildlife just casually saying hello.

We love it out there here!

#lifeisgood

RECLAIMING RAIN WATER

When we didn't have our well to water our plants, we've left the wheelbarrows to sit upright and left some of the 5 gallon buckets out next to the barn and shed.  Even after we got the well, before we moved in I only had to go a few times to fill up the buckets.

That's because all other times, I used rainwater!

We really wanted to see how it would work and how much water we could reclaim.

We are amazed at how much we collect!  This is one of the wheelbarrows after a rain (and I had already dipped in a bucket for some water)...

These three 5-gallon buckets were full up to the top (I had already used some of one bucket before I thought to take photos).  Fifteen gallons of water here just ready to use.  Now this is just to water the plants we had temporarily put behind the barn until we were out here and could use the hose.

But what that did was make us realize that we should really look into reclaiming/harvesting rainwater.

Now that we have our gutters, it should be easier to adapt something for use.  Doing some research now! 

GUTTER GUARDS

We recently posted HERE about our new gutters.  This was something we found online that was recommended to us and we think is a good extra level of protection, especially being rural.

They are gutter guards, used to prevent animals from going up the downspout.  They often use them as ladders to access roofs or as nesting sites.  The most common culprits are squirrels, mice and rats.  We also read that lizards and snakes can climb them looking for insects or other creatures, giving them access to the roof and possible points of entry.  Worst case, they can even become trapped in a downspout and die, and we SURE don't want that.

We bought them HERE on Amazon.  They are a little pricey but well-made and heavy duty for sure.  They screw on (screws included) and come in a variety of colors to match various gutter colors.  

The piece at the end comes slides off for easy cleaning if you need to let leaves or debris out of the gutter.  

We bought eight of them and put them on all of our downspouts.

They fit fairly tight with pressure, but they do have holes and come with screws for attaching them to the downspout.  It was super easy.

A couple had to be turned sideways because of the way the gutter was mounted but hey, as long as it does the job and keeps out creatures, we are fine with that.

BACK ON THE ZEN MACHINE

 The first official mow of the year is in the books.

The service shop dropped it off a couple weeks ago and I had to wait for some rainy weather to finally clear out.

I am finally able to start clearing some of the areas "post construction" that had grown up a lot.  Wish I had a before pic of this but suffice to say, it was heavily overgrown.  This area still has some construction debris, concrete chunks and such in it so I have to walk it first and move stuff or mow around it for now.

Also cleared around the well shed and Barnabas (the big mesquite).  I got as close as I could but will have to use the string trimmer for the closer to the tree.

It was a usually time, about an hour and a half and did about three acres.  The weather was cool and it was definitely a moment of Zen...until...

Speaking of construction debris, I looked at the mower before I closed the shed doors and thought, "what's wrong with the mower?".  Oh crap, a flat tire.  Sigh.  This mower has never had the tires treated with that awesome green good,, ha, so I will be off to the store soon to get some tire Slime.

There won't be any mowing this weekend because it is supposed to rain all day Saturday so I'll have time to get that and get the tires fixed. 

And hey, now I have a concrete driveway to do this type of work on!  Can't wait!  It will certainly be much easier.

Hope your Easter weekend gets off to a great start!

DANGER IN THE WELLHOUSE

So this weekend, I was outside in the beautiful weather and decided to check out the well shed.  I opened the door and looked inside.  Mostly clear, a few crickets hopped around and then I saw these two.

I took a picture from up high...see them there?  Here, let me get closer...

This was the first one.  Sorry, this one is a bit blurry, I was in the dark, with an LED light, trying to keep my hand steady enough to take a picture.  It might be hard to make out the mark on the abdomen.

But in this next one, it will become clear what they were...

BLACK WIDOWS!!

Yikes!  The well house is the perfect spot of course, dark, no one going in and out all the time, humid.  Spiders love that.  There are also some Daddy Longlegs in there, but those won't cause harm to you, ha.

I took the Stem spray (for spiders) and dispatched them quickly.  We can't have dangerous spiders in a spot we (and technicians/repair people) have to go into to check/adjust things.

We just have to be careful!

GOOD FOOD AND KITTY CAT SUNDAY

Another week has flown by.  The other day, the Zen Machine was returned after its "spa time" and it will be mowing time.  The weather has turned unusually cool, and we'll take it!

This is one of our favorite, quick, go to meals.  We roasted some chicken and asparagus.  Yes, we do pull the skin off before we eat it, It's just prettier in a picture with it on there, ha.

We like asparagus so much, we are thinking of a special raised bed just for that (starting to make our garden plans for later this year) because it's a perennial.

Here is Babygirl enjoying the same cool weather. Still a little skittish at times but coming around.  When we go out and "talk" to her, she rolls around like this.  You think she is fitting in? Making herself comfortable? Ha.

#catdistributionsystem

BOBCAT SIGHTING

Well, apparently it's a regular Animal Kingdom out here at the farm, ha.  The other morning I went outside from the back door of the garage and I saw movement.  When I realized what it was, I quickly went back inside and I took this picture.

Kind of hard to tell here, he/she ran back there and then looked at me looking at it...

Can you see it there by the fenceline running?  Let me zoom in...

Here it is.  A bobcat!  I wish I had a clearer picture but I was inside taking it through the window.  I did enhance it some so we could make out features.  Then I found a good comparison picture online...

Image via wikicommons 

Here is a better picture of what they look like!  You can't deny, what a beautiful animal.

2nd Man said no "here kitty kitty" with this one!

SPRING IS BLOOMING OUT ALL OVER

 Things are budding out!

The new peach tree we got last Fall...

Blueberries are all in bloom...

One of the plum trees...

This is the sour orange tree (the other new one, Satsuma, hasn't bloomed out yet)...

And one of the pear trees!

One of these days/evenings, I need to get working on the fruit tree beds and clean them all up and add soil and mulch for the season before it gets to hot out there.  I have to remind myself that we live here now, this doesn't have to be a few hours on a Saturday project once a week.  I can do one or two a night when I get home from work.  Or half on Saturday and the other half on Sunday.  It's a whole new way of thinking/living, ha.

Happy Spring!