Weed Wacking Our Lives Away!

Today, Mom left early this morning for my cousin Travis's high school graduation and Dad and I headed to the property.  We checked on the bees, who are all doing very well.  In the next month or so another super will be added so we can have a bit of the bees honey.  Our garden is doing well, tomatoes, potatoes, sunflowers, watermelon and squash are all thriving.

Dad and I weed wacked our hearts out today, got all around the trailer, house, tractor implements, woodshed and some of the trees.  The only reason we stopped was because we ran out of mixed-gas for the weedeaters!  I can't believe how much we knocked down and how great it looks.

In the next week or so we hope to get the roof on the pump house and maybe even the siding!  We also plan on setting the posts for the barn in the next month!

Wow!

Wow!  That is really all I can say about today.  It was awesome!  We accomplished what we set out to do!  And there were no major hitches!  Today, Dad and I put all the rafters up for the pump-house!  One more step closer to completion! 

Dad marking off for the next rafter

Using the nail gun to secure the rafters

Me (Katie) climbing up the ladder

He is thinkin' about something...



I'm thinking about something...

The bees are doing wonderfully!  In the next few weeks we should be adding another super (I think that is what it is called) to the hive.  And maybe in a couple months we will get our very first honey harvest!  The bees are a wonderful learning experience for me and Mom and Dad love it!  This Saturday is the SABA Picnic in Davis.  Mom and Dad are going and I'm making a cake for them to take (unfortunately, work is my priority and that is where I will be). 

Progress!!!

After around three months of inactivity on the pump house, progress has been made!  The ladders were brought out. The hammers and nails, saws and levels were put to work.  Did we run into problems?  Um, yeah!  Isn't that a given? 

One post was about a foot and a half shorter than was supposed to be, so that began our troubles.  So we found a 16' 4x4 and cut it to size and went up to the hardware store (which is a little more than a quick jaunt) to get bolts to attach the new 4x4 to the 4x4 in the ground.  I guess that gave Dad and I time to think.  We revised our plans and switched to a different style roof.  Instead of a pitched roof to match the roof-line of the house, we decided to a one foot single sloped roof.  It was easier, we didn't need the bolts after all and it will use less metal sheets for roofing.  So our troubles, actually turned out to be a blessing.

So we ran the top across on the 16 foot sides and put a beam up on each of the 12 foot sides for stability.  There is a about a foot slope on the roof.  I can't begin to say how wonderful the big ladders we got were for me (who is extremely height challenged)! 

Dad did decide we were going to wait to finish putting the rest of the rafters up until next week (hopefully!) when we have a nail gun.  We did however, find enough 4x6 for the rafters and cut them all to size. 

While I was getting our supplies out of the house for today's project, I looked between one of the shelving units and the wagon and thought I saw a cat.  It looked huge so I thought she was pregnant.  I grabbed the flashlight and shined it back there and found not a pregnant cat, but a Mama Cat with four or five kittens curled up to her!  And they are all big healthy kittens with a big healthy Mama Cat.  They don't want you too close, but don't run away when you're a safe distance! 

Public Transit

This past week Dad and I went up to spend the night Wednesday after he got off work.  The plan was to just ride the bus around on Thursday to see how it worked and where it went.  It was quite the adventure.  First on Wednesday when we got there we set up my "new" (which is actually my old) mattress and checked on the bees.  I actually got pretty close to the bees and didn't die!  I was really cool to see all the bees and they had wasted no time making a comb off the queen box.  I chewed on some beeswax and talked to our neighboring horses.  The horse are drop dead gorgeous! 

Thursday morning we woke up around 6am and caught the bus in Oroville at 6:50 heading to Chico.  Got to Chico about 7:40 and went to a horrible (no joke) breakfast at this place called Jack's.  Never eat there.  Never!  We couldn't even choke it down...and I had pancakes (how do you screw up pancakes that bad?)!  At 8:50 we caught the bus back down to Oroville, hopped on the Olive Highway route 25/26 bus and rode around for a while.  We found out the bus stops right in front of the casino and in the parking lot at the Lakeside Store.  We also found out parts of town to stay away from, where to eat, and that the Wagon Wheel is supposed to have an incredible deli. 

By this time we were starving from lack of a decent breakfast and headed back to Bangor for burgers.  After lunch we fed the bees and I hungout with the horses.  That concludes our adventure for the time being, until next time!

Release the Bees!

Last week the Sacramento Bee Store called to let my dad know the three pounds of bees he ordered were ready for pick up.  "Unfortunately", he had to pick them up on Friday which was not one of my days off.  So I went to work and Mom and Dad went to pick the bees up and set them up in their new hive at Hobble Rock Ranch.  It is kind of funny since it was Friday the 13th of May...so many possibiilties for unfortunate events.  

When I got off work and got home I got a call from Mom and Dad to let me know they were just starting to "Release the Bees".  Although there is part of me that is truly excited about this event, there is a larger part of me saying "Run!  Run for your life!" since I have an irrational fear of bees.  No, really I am excited to learn to keep bees, harvest honey and market the products. 

Epic Awesomeness

After a late morning final dress fitting, my friend Jessica and I headed up hwy 65 to Bangor.  We made good time and stopped in at the Bangor Bake Shoppe and picked up some chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  We fired up the gas BBQ and grilled up some hot dogs and snacked on chips and salsa for lunch.  After we were good and full, I showed Jessica around the property.  We walked most of the five acres, the grass is getting tall and it was a little soggy from the morning dew. 

Jessica and I got a nice bon fire going in my firepit.  It turned from a baby fire into an epic amazing fire.  We got all the brush that Dad and I piled up there burned with the exception of a few long pieces that wouldn't fit and I didn't want to start the chain saw.  Then came the rains!  It wasn't too bad at first, then it started coming down! 

The clouds did break for a while (with some ominous ones coming along behind them).  We made BBQ burgers for dinner and had our cookies for dessert.  We were in for an epic stormy night!  The tarp over the trailer was flapping and one of the tie-downs snapped, rain pounded against the trailer all night long! 

I had a wonderful morning sitting on the big rock, talking to the neighbor's horses and thinking (dangerous, right?)  For breakfast we had scrambled eggs and salsa.  After just hanging out for a while we headed for Primetime Pizza in Marysville before we headed home.  And let me say, Primetime Pizza was amazing as always.

Snakes and Toads...

Well, I can say I've officially encountered a Western Rattlesnake.  Yup!  It was around two feet long and too young for a rattle.  The scariest part is that I have no idea how close my hand ever got to that snake.  I was moving the black plastic tarps we are using to control some areas of weeds and  I turned around to grab another and there it was!  That was the end of moving tarps for the day.  On a less dangerous note, I found a Western Toad.  Unfortunately I had no success in capturing it. 

We are currently in the process of renovating the trailer for me to live in while I go to school.  It is looking better, still wishing I had a barn to live in....oh well.  Dad is going to hopefully get the water heater hooked up this week, so there will finally be hot water in the closet that is called a shower.  I'm going to make an oak pull-out cutting board for the trailer to have a little more counter space.  Mom is painting of the 1970s infested wallpaper...I can't say the color is much better. 

After the wedding we will finish the pump house...hopefully no one gets hurt on that venture and I'm pretty sure that is why we are waiting until after the wedding.  It would be bad if any of us got laid up in a hospital before that major event of the year.

Next minor two projects for me are a chicken coop and a dog run.  I'm hoping to take the majority of my animals with me while I'm in school.  But like the pump house these projects have to wait until after the wedding.

Thursday we are going back up with plans of hooking up the water heater, tilling the garden, planting some sunflower and pumpkin seeds (just to see what happens), beginning the never ending task of weedwacking, and working on the road.  Ummm, that's just one day...want to take bets on how much actually gets done?