The activity level is high around here ...

Let's just say, the activity level of 'getting things accomplished'

around the Waa household is about a 10 on a scale of 1-10.

For starters, the garden is now planted, we have a permanent chicken coop door for safety

measures and the flowers are all planted for the summer!

Let's mark this one on our calendar, the garden is planted and it's May 25th!! Waa-Hoo! Peppers, tomatoes, red onions, potatoes, beans & lettuce. I'd like a half a row of carrots but not sure if I'll get this. I think Jim is going to make a lot of salsa since we have 8 tomatoes & 8 pepper plants growing. But from his previous years, I think he has the thought of 'plant more so we can have enough in the end' some may die or bugs will get them, it will be interesting & peppers are no easy plant to try to grow we have decided. We also are placing straw down for weed control & Jim has gotten out a sprinkler for future watering! Another Waa-Hoo!

The evening was perfect with a bit of wind to keep away the bugs & CMW went to the grandparents (even though she was just watching a movie), it was much easier to get things done. I will add, C does not like the wind if she isn't preoccupied. I also laid down a bag or two of wood chips, trimmed up the tulips and mad note of what other landscaping projects needed to get done. What a great night for accomplishment!

After 10 months of having chickens, I finally have a sweet new permanent chicken door and let me tell you, it is very sweet. And I give a huge thanks to Jim for this because he is helping me protect our hens. We have had a skunk a little to close for comfort, some far away sightings & some near but this last one was actually in our chicken coop according to our neighbor & we don't need visitors like this, no no! The chickens are fine, they are still making eggs, I'm still delivering them and we haven't seen the skunk since. But we are now ready for this skunk to be deceased and Jim has borrowed a gun & will be on the look out! He even suggested a bounty for it. Our neighbor actually suggested me taking on the task of shooting this animal, I call him crazy. I don't like nor do I tend to have anything to do with guns. So, I will leave this task to the Mr.

This last weekend, after a trip to the cities for the week to visit family & friends along with some shopping, CMW, myself and Jim all caught up on rest & I'd have to say, we took naps two days in a row, so nice! A somewhat rainy Saturday didn't stop us from going to town to support the runners of the Fargo Marathon & two church missionary families heading out this summer to their new ministry locations. We also went shopping for flowers! Sunday was another beautiful summer day & I wanted to make sure I had a little something to do outside besides just sit! CMW and I got three pots of flowers potted, planted Dalia's & Canna Lilies in the ground & watered. Jim was working in the garden some with tilling and putting up the fence. Now I am on to fixing up the wood chips, pulling weeds, and I'm ready for summer's sunshine & beauty to start blooming.

Our next major project in progress is painting our house! I'm the encourager in this project and we both can't wait to have it done! I'll keep you posted!

Projects

I'd thought I tell a little bit about what Jim's been up to. He has been busy building a chicken coop for our 12 chickens coming in August. CMW was a big help too. We built it one weekend and this last weekend we stained it so it won't tune grey. This was Jim's idea. It is quite portable, the front and back walls detach and the roof will be where we get into the coop. Just the right size for 12 chickens and the fence will come when we get the chicks and when they are ready to venture out.

He also is putting in a more efficient drain system so our house will stay free of H2O. He has dug trenches, leveled them to the right slope and is going to throw down some rock and cover up the tubing and he'll be done. I hope he'll be done. It's a lot of work to keep changing the drainage system each year.

He's planning to plum our outside sump pump to the inside sump pump. It runs most of the winter and he wants it to say ice free this year. And then it's to the furnace. He wants to re-plum this to go out the side of our house instead of up the chimney. I say, whatever, it's work he's creating not me. All i know is by September, I'll have a new stove and a slightly remodeled kitchen. I'll be so excited about this and I'll let you know when it happens.

Jim is also working on his sail boat, his hobby cat. He is getting it ready to sail and I'm thinking August, he might get it in the water.

CMW pounding away.

The basic shape, a roof that is clear and water resistant is opens!

The man, busy at work. What a great husband I have.

The color we stained the coop!

The new systme to keep the water away from the house.

The grey tubs that will be in the ground.

The Sail Boat.