engine rolled off the tractor scoop 3 times(we all have bad days)- and Petra at rest

garage/shop trim getting primer-maybe barn red on walls?

Scrap Guy came back with a few helpers to get some more stuff lying about. I showed them an old v-8 engine(complete) buried in the ditch and they went for it...a bit like the three stooges though. I finished my part of the half baked St. Lou gate project. College Kid came by to do a little exterior trim painting-garage front looks nice with the primer on. Laundry again then final cb450 cam chain tensioner adjust(I got it right this time-TDC on left cylinder then go another 90 degrees)-I hope to get the engine in the frame next week. It'll mean paying someone to help but it will be sweet to get it done.

Nobody wanted my old king size mattress so I dismantled it to manageable pieces. There's lot's of useful material in there. Two large pieces of a plastic netting that would be great for keeping birds off fruit trees or grape vines and there are 2 large moving blanket like things as well as 2 pieces of nice 1 1/2 " foam  similar to pillow top mattress material and then the quilted outer cover too. I used the quilted material over the plywood of the bed platform I made, to protect the mattress. Of course there's the inner metal springs which I got a scrapper to come pick up this evening along with a bunch of other scrap lying around the property. There is also a latex exterior primer on site for the painting going on- and three bottles of cheap wine.

Petra in action w/her rubber frisbee

I put 8 elderberry seedlings into containers so I can take them to St. Lou and 3 went into the ground here to compliment the other 4 survivors from last year. I made the uprights for a set of wood truck racks/bed sides/canoe racks for a project I owe someone and my hired helper worked on paint prep on the shop/garage.

crab apple

Back from St. Lou and the crab apple, as well as one of the old red bud trees, is in full bloom finally. The order of elderberry bushes was on the new front porch when I arrived.

lower portion

upper portion

Last week I started working on a gate for someone- welding and adding artistic touches to something someone else started constructing. It's hard to see details on the 10'6" tall thing while it's sitting on the trailer, but I've added an arch w/bicycle wheel and a curved/s-shaped cross/support piece and some wrenches, a fan blade, bike sprocket and an old bit brace for decorative features. I'll try and finish this coming week and take back to The Lou.

Now there is, where there wasn't but where there had been, and now should be for a while- a porch, of sorts. Next I will build a giant rabbit- a giant wooden rabbit.

This is as good as the red buds have done so far here on Route K, maybe all we can expect this year.

The porch moved along today. I bought some 2x6's for the decking- but due to a solar flare, just when I was at the hardware store, my brain malfunctioned and I bought too few boards. I added a center support under the joists and installed what decking material I had- more tomorrow maybe...no rush. The camper went away today to a happy family.

the blue heron in tree at rear of my place- another pic through my kitchen window glass

No rain today! The sun came out and the porch project called me. Amazingly, the wood I bought over a week ago- before the rains really started, was still as straight and true as the day I stacked it in the garage. I framed up the joists and cut off the 4x4 corner posts.

I put the tent camper on Craigs List as it seems it's not going to get used by one and only me- so I pulled it out of the garage with the 8n and set it up. Lots of folks have responded with interest so it appears it will go fast- camping season is here.

coffee can w/no bottom on large tongs

the cleaned wax

Bees wax clean up this evening. I'm melting down chunks full of bee barf and misplaced legs so I can filter it through a piece my old long johns- last worn TODAY. I'm using an old frying pan I found in a recycling dumpster to solidify the clean wax. Eventually I'll make some candles.

I've been in The Lou doing a little plumbing and such and away from my personal space. My forsythia is in bloom now and the red buds are showing a little but nothing to brag about yet-not like last year. There's been a lot of rain recently and everything is greening. The wake robins, may apple and wild ginger are popping. At least one of the bald cyprus seedlings I found while on a bike trail last year, then transplanted, has survived. The apple trees are pushing out buds. The chicory is full of edible new leaves.

a chair I found in a St. Lou alley

chain in place with new master link (held in tweezers)

Rain today (everything is sprouting and greening). So, I got my hair, 6 months long and bushy, cut off and did some grocery shopping then worked on the cb450. The engine is now timed (crank to the 2 cams)and the cam chain installed with the new master link and the cam chain tensioner installed with new gasket and adjusted. Do you hear that...the sump pump's on duty-it's running like every 10 minutes now.

using a punch and hunk of metal to expand link pins

cam chain tensioner from the cb500t ready for cb450

And on another note: If you've been wondering what's up at the I-land compound (Iowa property in The Lou), Eric and Becca, the great urban farmers are working the land there still and have made some recent improvements. You can see 2 of the apple trees I planted in the nice pics....and my old chicken coop.Becca and Eric hard at work...on Iowa ave

There was a good chance of rain today but it never came down, even though I'd hung laundry out. The porch support blocks are all in place now with mortar setting up. Next I started sculpting the terrain, bermed high for the old brick porch, to better suit the new wood deck going in.

through the kitchen window glass

The male bluebird was hanging around, keeping an eye on their nest box.

The peach blossoms look delicious.

The red bud trees and the crab apple are just showing a tint of red. The peach trees finally have some full
open blossoms. The forsythia transplanted last summer are weak from the drought and just getting to showing some yellow. There are forsythia I see as I drive into town that are pretty full.

I started on the building of a new porch deck. I purchased new lumber(ouch!-I'm all out of salvaged lumber) and some Dek-Blocks for the supports. I mortared some bricks on the old footing to place the blocks on. The finished deck will be about 5" x 10".

If I weren't so normal- and busy saving the world for aliens to practice their crop art, animal mutilation and probing- I would collect heat sinks from broken electronics gear, and maybe start a club or something...maybe it would be more of a support group.

Day 2 of no wood burned, tis good. More apples in the food dryer and laundry on the line today.

1" pvc union

use center piece

The big news is I finally came up with a good hose adapter for the IBC 275 gallon totes I have for rain water catchment. The first 2 contraptions did not function well but now I've discovered the right pieces. Some totes take 2" pvc readily. The ones I acquired last have a course threaded spout of an odd(to me anyway) size. So, get yourself a schedule 80 1" pvc union(it accepts 1" schedule 40 pvc just fine)-you'll be using only one of the 3 main pieces. As seen in pics-sand down fitting to fit in the black "slip joint " nut that comes w/the tote. Then glue on 1" fittings to get down to 3/4" pipe thread and you're on your way. My 2nd tote/bulk container is filling w/rain water as I write this...a nice gentle rain.

assembled w/hose manifold installed

sand to proper diameter

No fire required this morning. I rented a 35 pound chipping hammer (for the 3rd time since buying the place)and had the hired help break up the old front porch slab and brick work then haul it to the ditch with the help of the 1948 Ford tractor. The garden welcomed some garlic chive seeds gifted me. The peach trees are finally pushing buds out and the raspberries also-seems a few weeks behind what I saw in St. Lou.

The bluebirds are back and busy nest building in the box I can see from the kitchen window. I shot a picture through my window-not sure how well it turned out. I graded the drive with the tractor and blade. There were numerous piles of gravel left along edges after pushing snow. I planted swiss chard, lettuce, spinach and a few pumpkin in the garden. Then I messed with getting a hose on the rain catchment tank but I need some different fittings to succeed. Something's been eating my seedlings in the cold frame- do rolly polly bugs (pill bugs)do that ? That's all I see in there.

Route K projects have been held in suspension for a while due to another stint in the Lou. But I'm back. Deeds were dealt with and taxes were done (finally, the new year begins)while watching chicks and ducks hatch and grow. See the video of the few day old ducks we put in the tub at my friend Terri's. I enjoyed dumpstered fruits, veggies and veal and baklava so plentiful one would not question the idea that streets in the U.S. of A. are paved with gold.

Of course you've read "A Prayer For Owen Meany"...well I'm reading The thrift store find "The Hotel New Hampshire" by the same author-John Irving. So far as I've got, a 1937 Indian motorcycle plays a significant role.