Ed Soehnel

We are taking care of 2 Corgi dogs, Kona and Nala, a puppy.  They are clients of Sue’s who are on vacation.  They stay with us through Monday next week.  Romeo and Nala are in heaven, playing constantly.

The wife carrying competition looks fun. http://ow.ly/1MbPv

First weekend with great weather, but very windy. We weed-whacked with a new 4-stroke machine that performed great (gift from my Dad…thanks, Dad) and mowed the south meadow. Here is some quick video of Sue doing the mowing.

We’ll finish the additional meadows around the house next weekend.

We also planted 10 Colorado Spruce Trees that we got in the mail earlier in the week…see photos. We will use the chicken coop as the nursery, since its a nice enclosure from the deer and other critters running around that can destroy plants. Unfortunately, we have not had time yet to fix the roof…see photos. We were planning on having contractors do that earlier this year when we did the guest room remodel, but since that went over-budget, we scrapped this activity. We plan to fix it later this year by putting in new 2 by 8′s (which I already have).

The dumpster is also full…finished loading it full of junk; see photos. That is dumpster number 12 since we moved in a year ago, and many more to go.

As you can see from one of the photos in the album, the grass we planted in the front is coming along nicely.

Also, a photo of the damage the wind has recently done to the upper barn room. I will work on that next weekend.

I like doses of Willie Nelson from time to time.  Listening now while I crunch through some spreadsheets in the office.  I stream it from Pandora through my phone into my bluetooth headset.

Only major activity planned for the weekend is weed-whacking and mowing.  I think I have about 6 acres to cover.

We finally found furniture for the back deck that was not too expensive (Big Lots).  Got a small fire pit from Home Depot on sale.  Now enjoying hanging out on the back deck in the evenings by the fire, with the coyotes howling off in the distance and the frogs croaking away from the pond.  Makes for a nice way to end the days.

We will be moving our dogs to a raw diet, which will be 70% raw meat, 10% organ meats and 20% fruits/vegetables.  We are researching chest freezers and local ranches where we can order large quantities of grass-fed organic meat.  Surprisingly, lots or ranches within reasonable driving distance where we can order.

We are finally getting nice warm spring weather. Wore shorts to the office and hope to get out for a walk at lunch. Started reading the Kauai travel book last night to get ready for our upcoming trip with the whole family.

With warm weather approaching, here’s recent outdoor projects we’ve been working on.

Seeding

We seeded half of the back yard (fenced it off to keep the dogs off of it) and once growth is established, we will seed the other half. We also seeded the front off of the south side of the house. It is part of the driveway, but we are eliminating its use as a driveway and will seed it instead so that it looks nicer in front. We used a blend of high mountain grasses that grow naturally in our area. We should start seeing growth in a few weeks. Images below.

From 2010_05_House_Projects

From 2010_05_House_Projects

Dumpster Work

We brought in another 30 foot dumpster and loaded it with junk from the recent remodel of the guest bedroom (pile below). We also tore down the old dog house that was on the east side of the backyard by using the reciprocating saw and the tractor to knock it down. The chicken coup is also finally cleaned out from all the wood that was piled in it.

From 2010_05_House_Projects

From 2010_05_House_Projects

From 2010_05_House_Projects

From 2010_05_House_Projects