Slack-a-lackin'

 The heat wave and drought continues, and the only puddle around here is me. But life continues on, and stuff needs to be done. Seems like some times I am the only one available and willing to do it, but do it I do. What exactly did I do? Well, during the high humidity and temp days, I went over to my oldest sons house to pull weeds, because he had only done it once this year, and by once, I mean for about 5 minutes. It was the weekend of our towns "back to school" fest, and I made a promise to the elderly gal he bought the house from that we would make sure he is taking care of the house. That has been an absolute fail. But I digress. So, I got over there before 7 a.m. on a Friday morning, and instantly melted, but got three large garbage bags pulled. I left the violets. Because I'm a rebel, and spiteful, and they're pretty.

And this is where I left it on day one, hoping that he would be inspired, motivated even, to take over. I mean the weeds were already climbing up under his siding at this point. I get it, he some times works 6 days a week, but if you can't do the work yourself, you need to hire someone to do it and keep it done. 

But nope. He appreciated it, but it did not motivate him 😂 So I went back the next morning, even earlier, to pull the final three bags of weeds. Honestly, I am glad that I got eyes on it, because I found issues with his foundation and ground that will need to be addressed. I can only tell him about them, it will be up to him to make the calls to get it taken care of.

I rode my bike over both mornings, which was wonderful to be doing again. Freeing, and yet, painful. 😂 But with the weekend long festival, it was easier to maneuver the streets on a bike rather than in a car, and I really want to continue on increasing my physical activity, and get more variance in my workouts. 

The sun was coming up, but luckily I was heading to the parts that were in the shade. 

That is where I started more of the soil issues. His kitchen was an add on somewhere along the way, that ultimately sank, but I can see the soil around it too is creating sink holes/washing away. This particular hole is being caused by the tube that takes the basement dehumidifier water outside so that he doesn't have to go down in the basement numerous times a day to empty it. It was only meant to be a temporary thing, but he has not moved forward yet with any of the projects that need to be done. And time is running out. Because when we move and retire, we aren't spending all of our time on his house after spending nearly 5 years on our own, and the land. Some people might think that sounds cold, but if you're old enough to play house, you're enough to take care of that house and the responsibilities that come with it. Otherwise, get an apartment where those responsibilities are done for you. Woodchuck and I have talked numerous times that if we ever win the lottery, we would have the house fixed for him BUT, we also know that he still would not take care of it after that. It is a tough place for a parent to be in, but since I get accused by therapists all of the time of stepping in and doing too much, this is where I draw my line. I digress again.

Good morning, beautiful friend! I am sorry that I startled you and took away your vegetation cover! 

So 6 bags, close to 5 hours over two mornings. I charge him this time. $20 a day. I should have charged him $20 a bag 😂, but I don't because I hope that he would save that money to do the things that need to be done. I offered to mow, but was going to charge him for that too. I am glad that he realized that weeding was more than enough on my body and declined the offer. I have to stop pushing myself physically so much.

That white tube is supposed to be on a downspout somewhere. I left it right there. 

So I spent my Friday and Saturday mornings on his weeds, then spent Sunday at the outdoor market. I was grateful that there was a breeze and the humidity was a bit less! I also made two sales, though had to reduce my prices to make that happen. I loved the spot I was in, closer to the trees and nature. 😍

In between it all that weekend, and into the following week, I worked on art. I finally finished the first Evil Eye Protection mandala, and hope to make a few more in various colors. I listed it in the Big Cartel shoppe. This is a powerful piece! The frame is willow that I cut from our land and shaped so it would dry in this shape. The eye is crocheted with cotton yarns around a metal frame and attached with cotton cord. The webbing on the sides of the eye ball is cotton crochet thread. The tassels are suede, adorned with glass and plastic pony beads, feathers are crow that I found in my forest after something made a snack of a crow. The feathers have been hand-washed by me in a natural cleaner that has essential oils in it. They glisten! www.offorestandheather.bigcartel.com 

I also finished a few of the Halloween ornaments that I will be releasing October 1st! Witch's made from small gourds, with hand-sculpted clay hats, and hand-painted. These will be released to the Big Cartel shoppe. 

In preparation for darker days ahead, and my dimming eyesight, I snagged a free lamp from a friend to use at the spot I sit at in the evenings. 

Between all of the yardwork I've done, workouts, and the intense chiropractic appointments, my body rebelled and I have been in a lot of pain again. One day here at home, I was dropping things all day, running into things, and one of the things that I dropped was one of the blown glass watering bulbs. I almost dropped the one that I replaced it with too. 😖

Our time at the land is back to short trips lately because of the heat, and getting eyes on things that we can do in a short amount of time, or when it cools off a little. Fall is creeping in, made more evident by the plants that I am seeing. Not blueberries, but dogwood. This one is native, but grows kind of crazy, branches everywhere. I have left it here because for now it is acting like a wall to keep the phragmite from moving in this direction.

We found some more tick trefoil on the watershed while we were pulling Queen Anne's Lace on our walk. I found it originally in the front forest, looked it up, and it said that it wasn't not native, etc. But this current search said that it was. So I left it for now, bigger fish to fry.

The white meadowsweet is flowering all over the land and I am continually amazed at the variety of plants in the same color scheme out there!

I am still learning about thistles. Which ones are the good ones, which ones I need to get rid of. As far as I can tell, this is a good one called a Spear Thistle. I love the color of them!

Woodchuck was able to get a picture of the crane that we find often on the pond. Usually, when we disturb it by walking up to the area, it was fly from this pond to the watershed pond. Woodchuck keeps saying that he wants to pull this tree stump out of the pond, but I love that the wildlife uses it as a perch! 

Some work has been done on the pond, so stay tuned for updates on that. I think it's been an eye opener for Woodchuck on how projects progress when you hire others to do them, and the issues that pop up and destroy a projected timeline. 😂