OT,, Yard duty today!!

Springtime around here always gets the wife to thinking, that always means I am in for some more work. So couple weeks ago she decided that we needed to replace the ole wooden deck out back. We removed it all and the crew showed up and put in a flat stone deck, with yard path to the water fall feature in the pond area, looks good and easier to maintain and no more wasp nest under the deck. That is a good thing.

Then she decided it is time we finished the back porch screened in area we started some 8 or 10 years ago. We have had the steel roof on for a long time, but still had about a quarter of the area with huge concrete blocks sitting on the ground. So, first thing is to move all those 18X18X4 solid concrete blocks! So, got out the shovel, the pry bar, the chain and the yard tractor with its little tilt trailer. Moved a couple and it was a royal PITA!! Took two of us to get one muscled into the trailer. Broke for lunch and she went to take a nap, naturally.

So, I got to thinking and looking and trying to find an easier way to move these big butt chunks! Ask myself, what would the Egyptians have done?

Took a sheet of 3/4 in plywood and drilled two holes near the front corners large enough to put my 3/8 chains through. Made a rather short loop and hooked that to the back of the JD yard tractor. Simple now, lift up one corner of the huge block, pry it up on one edge with 2X4 and flop it onto the plywood skid! Drag them one at a time to where I wanted them and used the pry bar again to slide them off. Moved 24 of those big bad boys in less than two hours!

Shoot, if I had been around when ole Moses and his Jewish slaves were building the pyramids,, would have finished a heck of lot quicker!! :-)

So, now, if it doesn’t rain too bad tomorrow here, will start finishing up the last of the back porch area. Putting in 2X12 treated boards on top of 4X4 treated lumber. Going to look good and just in time for the daughter and kid and hubby when they show up in a month.

Course the next step is to put in screen all around this area.. Jeeze, it never ends does it?

Oh, garden going good, blooms on the tomatoes, winter onion crop dug already, and new onions going good. All the herbs and what not are looking good as well. She also found time today to put in the squash mounds

While we were sitting out with coffee this morning, saw a small hawk swoop in and grab a bird out of one of the trees. Feathers went flying everywhere and he took off with is breakfast!! We get to see that pretty often out here. Usually early morning but had one come down last year mid day and land right above me in the tree!! Glad I was bigger than he is!!

Man, I am tired just typing this, I though that retired meant that you slowed down.

Oh, and this after spending some time over at Daddy's place getting his big tractor running and showing my baby brother (43) how to run it, so he can start the field mowing. I bet you a dollar to a donut he screws it up... Durn city kid! :-)

Thanks for sharing it all. :-) --Dawn

I own some land about 3 miles away. I was sitting in a deer hunting shooting house back a year or two back and it was real peaceful and quiet and I was just enjoying the day. A big red tailed hawk swooped in and landed on the metal rood over my head and was trying to get a grip as he slid off the roof. Man, you talking about a noise. Still nice to sit there and watch the turkeys and deer feeding in the fields.

I have a couple of some type of much smaller raptors over there that are blue grey and they hunt all around the place. They are bad on the mice and rats as well as the small snakes.