So today is the big day - the sale on our rental house officially closes today! Both sides have already signed the papers, today is just the handing over of the keys. That is, after we finish cleaning! Our (very sweet & wonderful!) renter is moving the last of her things out this morning, so after I post this we are heading up there to mow the lawn one last time, do a brief cleaning look through, and grab cuttings of some plants.
One of said plants is the backyard apple tree that we both love, so hopefully our first experience with fruit tree grafting goes smoothly... My friend & officemate at work is good friends with a local orchard guy, so I might get her to set me up with him to do it right the first time. And in the meantime, I've been closely reading this article on grafting over on Curbstone Valley Farm's blog to make sure I do everything as close to right as I can today!
So wish us luck! After today, the next big step is handing the proceeds of the sale (plus a good chunk of our savings and pretty much every other cent to our name, darn economy!) over to the seller of our current home who holds our mortgage, as part of an agreement in our contract with him. At least we then we will have a huge chunk of our mortgage paid off, so that will be a happy day too :)
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Dirty little toes in the garden
Over the weekend it was uncharacteristically hot for this time of the year around here, and Little M and I were out in short sleeves & bare feet. Hers especially were quite bare - and got rather muddy! First we were just playing on our small patch of green grass at the west end of the house where it was nice and shady. She was climbing up her slide the wrong way and sliding back down (sometimes) the right way. I wish I had some pictures to share with you, but apparently I've been slacking in that department and haven't been carrying the camera around with me!
Then we decided that we needed some water. Well, Little M decided we needed some water. You see, the day before I had mowed the grass, and dragged a hose up from the lower field planning to water the lawn. But then I couldn't find the sprinkler. So the hose was just sitting there beside the slide, and Little M decided she wanted to water something with the hose. Luckily earlier in the day we had figured out where the sprinkler was, in a random tub in the garage. Once we noticed it (while getting my bike ready to go for a bike ride) I remembered that I had put it in that bin when I took the crawlspace vent covers out of the same bin last fall. Seemed like a good place at the time... now I'm thinking not so much! The garage is definitely an area where I need to do some tidying up & organizing! But anyway, we knew where the sprinkler was, so we went and grabbed it out of the garage.
Once we hooked the sprinkler up, Little M had fun playing in the sprinkler! She made sure to keep coming over to me with wet hands to wet my hair down. I suspect she was doing the same for Tia, who contrary to being an irish water spaniel, generally doesn't like water very much. After Little M finished playing with the sprinkler, we decided to head down to the garden. Here's where she went from a wet little girl to a filthy little girl!
As I watered some of the plants that have been coming up in the garden (mostly peas), as well as the perennials, she kept ducking her head into the stream of water! And then grabbing dirt and patting her head... Needless to say her head, hands, and feet got rather muddy... Luckily it was so warm out she didn't mind getting a little extra hosing off before we went inside, her still a bit muddy and definitely all soaked. And with the sun being up so late into the evening, it was then time for a bath and bed! I just love involving her in the garden chores :)
Then we decided that we needed some water. Well, Little M decided we needed some water. You see, the day before I had mowed the grass, and dragged a hose up from the lower field planning to water the lawn. But then I couldn't find the sprinkler. So the hose was just sitting there beside the slide, and Little M decided she wanted to water something with the hose. Luckily earlier in the day we had figured out where the sprinkler was, in a random tub in the garage. Once we noticed it (while getting my bike ready to go for a bike ride) I remembered that I had put it in that bin when I took the crawlspace vent covers out of the same bin last fall. Seemed like a good place at the time... now I'm thinking not so much! The garage is definitely an area where I need to do some tidying up & organizing! But anyway, we knew where the sprinkler was, so we went and grabbed it out of the garage.
Once we hooked the sprinkler up, Little M had fun playing in the sprinkler! She made sure to keep coming over to me with wet hands to wet my hair down. I suspect she was doing the same for Tia, who contrary to being an irish water spaniel, generally doesn't like water very much. After Little M finished playing with the sprinkler, we decided to head down to the garden. Here's where she went from a wet little girl to a filthy little girl!
As I watered some of the plants that have been coming up in the garden (mostly peas), as well as the perennials, she kept ducking her head into the stream of water! And then grabbing dirt and patting her head... Needless to say her head, hands, and feet got rather muddy... Luckily it was so warm out she didn't mind getting a little extra hosing off before we went inside, her still a bit muddy and definitely all soaked. And with the sun being up so late into the evening, it was then time for a bath and bed! I just love involving her in the garden chores :)
Monday, April 23, 2012
Crazy weather all around
So my friends & family in Ontario woke up this morning to a bit of snow layering over their spring flowers. Here we had been having a later than normal spring, so unlike usual, our flowers aren't out yet. But the last couple days have been really really hot. It got into the high 70's or low 80's yesterday and is looking like today will be about the same. Hot & icky!
I love that things are warming up, don't get me wrong, but I'm still waiting for spring to truly be here, and not yet ready for summer! Looking ahead at the forecast though it looks like it will cool down substantially in the next couple days, and we may have more frosts coming our way. Hopefully no snow though!
I love that things are warming up, don't get me wrong, but I'm still waiting for spring to truly be here, and not yet ready for summer! Looking ahead at the forecast though it looks like it will cool down substantially in the next couple days, and we may have more frosts coming our way. Hopefully no snow though!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Cleaning up the living room!
We have one space that serves as our living/family/dining room. Not too big, but the right size for us right now. The (non-eat-in) kitchen opens up to the room, and so we have basically the one living space. We've got fairly well defined zones in it right now, which helps a lot. TV area, sitting area by the wood stove, dining room/kitchen table, play zone, and main walk way through from the front door entry way to the sunporch. It's fairly easy to keep clean, since I try to have a home for everything. The problem is that since its small, a little bit of disorganization or lack of cleaning goes a long way to getting the place looking like a disaster!
Luckily it doesn't take that long to get it back to looking civilized again, especially since most things have a home where they belong to return them to.
Ahhh... having the place tidy and clean makes me feel so much calmer & content! Especially having the table clear. It ends up being a bit of a catchall for things that really should be put away elsewhere. Every so often I just have to put my foot down and get it all cleared off. There. Much better!
Luckily it doesn't take that long to get it back to looking civilized again, especially since most things have a home where they belong to return them to.
Ahhh... having the place tidy and clean makes me feel so much calmer & content! Especially having the table clear. It ends up being a bit of a catchall for things that really should be put away elsewhere. Every so often I just have to put my foot down and get it all cleared off. There. Much better!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
