Post Christmas

 

I hope you had a very nice Christmas. Its so different to be thinking of a New Year. Don't you think? I think that 2018 just raced by. I jokingly told Ron, I might as well leave all of the Christmas stuff out as Christmas seems to get here faster and faster.

I took everything down yesterday and got the house cleaned and everything put in order. I loved waking up to a nice clean house this morning. I sure missed the Christmas tree though. I loved the lights. We have a cold front coming and with the extension cords lights on the eves we couldn't shut the windows completely so it stayed freezing upstairs. Now with them down all of the windows are closed and the house doesn't have a north wind blowing through.

 

Our youngest son, Peter is on his way to visit his girlfriend in the Philippines to spend Christmas with her family. He wasn't able to come home because of starting a new job and his PTO didn't transfer like they told him it would. He had to work 10 hour days until he left yesterday. We did Face Time with The Hollar Homestead on Christmas eve and we got to watch the boys open presents. Odd isn't it the times we live in. It was better than nothing so I will take it.

 

We had the other three who live here Ellot, Nik and Emilie and William and Makenzie over for Christmas morning breakfast. It was nice to have them here. Ron is home until next week. I have mentioned here that we make mulch from lawn trimmings, leaves and all of the chicken manure. We used all that we made last year on my flowerbeds and on our front lawn. When we had to let our lawn die a couple of years ago because of the drought, it really did a number on it and the ground because it so scorched nothing would grow. After Ron worked on it in the fall it now looks like this.

This year, by putting mulch in our flowerbeds was life changing for me. I could go out and in thirty minutes keep weeds out of my flowerbeds both front and back. In the past it would take a week or more of working hours in the heat to keep them weed free, which really never happened. It was more like hacking back the amazon with a machete.

Here are some pictures I went out and took so I could show you our newest and best hobby.

This is my brothers pasture on the other side of the fence. Its our leaves though. So yesterday Ron raked up all of the leaves and today in a bit we will go out and load them in the tractor bucket and take them here.

At the extreme end, is the mulch that is almost ready. The middle is still cooking and the one closest in the picture has just started and is not hot at all. Ron went outside with me and took the piles down so you could see the heat. 

 

 We just love watching that steam. We just laugh every time he takes it down to stir it up as we add new material. I also stand there with a hose to spray it down. You need water too. 

This is the darkest mulch pile. That is how you tell when its ready to use, there won't be any more steam. We are going to add gypsum to it because our soil here needs that to amend it. Its pretty alkaline here. It also helps with water absorption.

If we ever have many disagreements, its over how we use this wonderful stuff. I want it for my garden. He wants it for the yard. My garden is going to be big this year. I am out of all of my canned food. Here is my garden area in need of some love. 

Ron is going to put in a fence for me. We have so much wildlife out here that its kind of unnerving. Here are the latest game cam photos.

Can you tell what this is? Look at the hair on top of his back.

This was about the time I am out in the back in the morning. It might be a young coyote. There are some more pictures.

This is a picture of normal coyote.

 This coyote is around everyday. With the other things that are moving in, there are some beautiful red foxes like this one.

I put this one on my phone to show my brother next door. I have my chickens locked up like Fort Knox. There are still raccoons, possums, and skunks. There are stray dogs that come through. Big stray dogs. It is so funny and scary the things that show up on that game cam.

I hope you have a lovely New Year. I am so excited about my garden this year. I am already drawing up plans and of course, making lists of seeds. I always buy more seeds than I can plant.

Have a lovely day,
~Kim~

"You've got to be able to make those daring leaps or you're nowhere,"  said Muskrat.
---The Mouse and His Child,
Russell Hoban, 1967