Making the Bed

I bundled up in my warm ranch jacket for chores this morning.  I was still wearing it when we went to the farmers market.  We were there early because the moving company was sending a truck out to pick up our empty boxes.  The truck was waiting when we got back home at 9:00.  While Brett helped them load boxes, I put the vegetables and fruit away.  I asked one of the farmers, who had gorgeous basil, why my basil always turns black in the refrigerator.  He said to treat it like a bouquet: cut the bottom of the stems off and put the basil in water. He said it will last a few weeks and even grow roots.  I love talking to the farmers about their produce.

The front porch looks great with all the boxes gone.  The boxes had been stacked, two deep, as high as the window -- covering the window.

Brett wanted to go into town and look for shelving for the laundry room.  The lumber yard was closed for inventory - the nerve.  So, we went to the nursery instead.  I bought lavender, salvia and penstemon to plant where the picket fence used to be.  I traded my jacket for a sweatshirt, got to work planting and Brett got to work with the weed whacker.

Penstemon "Glitterbelle"

Lavender "Silver Frost"

Salvia "Hot Lips"

I added iris, daffodil and then sprinkled a mix of Sierra wildflowers over the top.  Everything is deer resistant except the wildflowers.

Brett was weed whacking under the oak trees next to the dressage court.  It looks like a park now.  In the future, he should be able to stay on top of the mowing with his ride-on mower.  We never did ride.  The horses didn't seem to mind; they were very busy.

We finished up as the sun was going down.  As soon as the sun sinks, it gets cold.  I lit a fire, threw some sweet potatoes from the farmers market into the oven, and took a long hot shower.  My shoulders ached from digging holes all afternoon.  But its a good ache and my flower bed is made.  Time for wine.

Random 5 Friday

As promised, Fridays will be my "answer questions" day and if I don't have five questions, I'll add some random facts to make up my 5. I'm linking to Rural Journal.  Hop over to read more random posts.

1. I was asked if it is too cold for the vegetables I planted in my new raised planter bed. Honestly, I don't know. This is our first winter living in the Sierra foothills so I will learn. The thyme, chives and rhubarb will weather the winter fine. It may be too late for the sugar snap peas but I'm hoping to squeak a handful before the frost kills them. I figure 50/50 on them. The lettuce won't last long once we get regular hard frosts but I'm hoping it will grow until December.

2. Feral friend Janice asked if I am classically trained and suggested that I ride like Vlad Littauer. Who?? I had to Google the guy. He was a Russian teacher and trainer, primarily of jumpers, and he was a big advocate of "forward" and riding in a hunter seat. I don't ride in a hunter seat much -- I never was a real jumper. The question about me being classically trained gave me pause. As a kid, I rode bareback on borrowed horses or western at the rental stable. I never had a lesson other than those given at the rental stable. When I was 40, I discovered dressage and started taking lessons. So, my lessons have all been classical but my formative riding years were all about yee-haw, jumping logs bareback (and falling off) and trail riding. It does tickle me no end to think about the label "classical" applying to me.

3. My very favorite author, Alice Munro, won the Nobel prize for literature. She's a Canadian writer of short stories. Amazing short stories. She writes about living in a small town; about the people and the choices they make; how small choices can change and shape a life. If you haven't read her stories, give her a try. She is one of the few authors that I read and re-read over and over again.

4. While unpacking a box, I found a Christmas letter I wrote in 2001. We had just purchased the land for Aspen Meadows, our house in the suburbs was for sale, Brett was pouring over house plans, and I was stressing about living in a travel trailer for three months with two small children and a big dog. Its a good thing I didn't know that it would be close to a year living in that travel trailer while Aspen Meadows was built.

5. I am never moving again. Never. I unpacked the last box tonight. I'm done.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad