Progress, Peaches and a Pigeon?

Well a little more progress has been made on the House Project as August seems to be flying by and the target date of Mid September approaches quickly. I sat and thought a little more realisitcally last night about the prospect of living in house while the excavation takes place. Reality is setting in. Tom indicated awhile back there will be an 8 foot mote around the house. A hole 8 foot deep, ??? wide. Doesn't really matter how wide, 8 foot deep means a gangplank walkway into the house. One with balance issues and fear of heights would not willingly choose the narrow walkway to navigate in and out of the house several times a day . Not without a gun to her head anyway. So we'll be rethinking that plan. Here you see a couple weeks ago the greenhouse still in tact. With the help of Travis and Jacob what Tom and I didn't finish in the demolition of that was completed and part of the slate removed from the porch roof. A second day, and the alternate team, Travis and Nick, finished taking the slate off the roof and put protection over the roof that covers the part of the house we use, rather than just the porch. Sadly, at least sadly for us, Jabob is entering his senior year of high school on both the soccer and football teams and his diligent preparation and practice for those sports keeps him busy, and unavailable. And the other two workers are college bound. We are wishing we'd hired them all earlier as they were very good help.

Midweek last week I got a call that there was an opening at the sleep lab if I wanted to take it, thus having the test of efficiency of my CPAP settings to control the sleep apnea that hinders restful, restorative sleep. I took the appointment, had the test and am now waiting for the respiratory therapist to call for an appointment to reset the CPAP with the new settings which will enable me to get good sleep again. That plays a big factor in how the rest of me functions, I have discovered. Morning headaches and more muscle aching first thing in the morning are directly related to poor quality sleep. An Ah Ha moment.

The end of last week with some good assistance from Kristie, we were able to add 3 more batches of sweet pickle relish to the canned goods storage shelves. Good news for the family members that seem to relish the relish!

Peach harvest was next on the agenda, all 6 bushel were picked and laid out on the racks where the onions were dried. Which meant onions had to be trimmed, sorted and bagged prior to the peaches being picked. That was a job well done. It took about a week for the onions to dry fully and be ready for storage. And they are now hanging neatly from the ceiling joists. Peach canning yielded 48 qts of beautiful peaches. They were really nice this year, thanks to Tom's hard work and diligent adherence to the spraying schedule. Considering the amount of time required to prune and tend to the orchard, plus the expense of all the oil based sprays, one would wonder at the economical value of even keeping an orchard. There is no advantage except the sheer satisfaction of a good harvest, and being able to eat fruit that was home grown. That to us is worth the effort and expense...at least for now.

And now, the Pigeon? While some of the family was here visiting, excitement broke out when a white pigeon was discovered persistently inspecting our barn and the ground around it. The grandchildren were finally successful in capturing the rather tame bird, and we observed a band on it's leg. After some phone calls, emails and investigating...we have in our posession now an all white female Birmingham Roller homing pigeon. First owned by a man in FL who later gave all his birds to a man in Detroit. The bird was quite off course, and we were informed by more than one source would probably not be wanted back by the owner in such a case. Her name is Ruby until further notice. The most interesting part of the whole event was that Tom had prayed first thing in the morning for a special blessing for our family that day. How much more a blessing could we have enjoyed than for a very tame, very white pigeon to fly into our lives, on Marlie Jo's 12th birthday no less. She being the ultimate animal/ bird lover no less. A very memorable occasion, you can be sure of that. Greatgrandma and Greatgrandpa, look how much she's grown!!!

It looks as though Ruby will be learning to call this her home. Tom has investigated a little further, and the helpful local man that raises homing pigeons is looking for a mate for Ruby. We were encouraged by the fact that these are the birds rented out for release at weddings and funerals, bringing a blessing and joy to others as well. Tom has a plan for a loft for her and her future friend and will begin to work on that within the week.

Today while the large pile of shrubbery extracted from the front of the house burned , Tom built 2 nice, 4 foot high composting cages. Next year the plan is to plant tomatoes around that composting cage. We'll get a jump start by composting what we can now for next summer. Doesn't that sound frugal and good? There'll be a lot of food scraps yet as I finish up canning for the year.

The Summer Kitchen had to be rearranged when the fridge was moved in and we discovered Plan B would have to be initiated as space for the 2 freezers yet to be moved was quickly becoming nonexistant. Boxes of canned goods had to be taken off shelves, shelves moved, boxes of canned goods re-organized on the shelves, labels made to indicate where to find things. butcher block table turned ( When did that big bench get so heavy???) And finally today things were in place. The 2 freezers will be the next project. Getting them empty first, then out of the basement and across the lawn to the Summer Kitchen and into position will be a challenge. I made supper in the Summer Kitchen while the peach cobbler baked in the oven, heating up that space rather than the kitchen. What a wonderful space that Summer Kitchen is for us. We are blessed.

Tomorrow a batch of soap, laundry and finally the making of the V 8 juice is all on the agenda. Lord willing, those will be the tasks for the day. And already the week is nearly done. This summer is flying by!