My Tireless Retirement - Week 57

 

Hello everybody!  Spring!  It is here and I am so very happy about it.  Even if it means I have to pull weeds, I’m completely fine with that.  Plus, it makes my chickens very happy because I give the weeds to them as a snack and they love to eat them.  Soon the trees will be all leafed out and I have blossoms on the fruit trees now.  The tulips are finally blooming and so very pretty.  I’m so excited to see my yard in all its glory.

 

My neighbors were out of town and let me use their trash and compost recycling bins to get rid of some of my backyard debris.  Instead of parceling it out over several weeks I was able to get it all out to the curb in just two.  I have one more pile of leaves to clean up and go into the chicken’s pen area and a few more pieces of rotten wood from our old fence that I had planned to burn in our firepot, but it didn’t happen.  The firepot itself has rusted out so that is now slated to go to the curb as well, probably in next week’s trash pickup.  So far I’ve managed to get rid of all this stuff around here without a trip to the county landfill or the added expense of that visit.  Best of all, most of what I had in the backyard to get rid of has been rehomed or recycled and what has been sent to the landfill via the weekly curb pickup is stuff that will breakdown quickly.  Yay for that!

 

My neighbor's tree as seen through one of Laverne's windows

Once the fruit trees were pruned I was able to get outside and get them sprayed just in time before they blossomed.  With all the rain we’ve had I was wondering if I’d get the chance to get that done, but I did.  I’ll spray them again once the fruit appears.  We have problems with moths getting at the trees and fruit as well as leaf miners.  I try to use organic sprays whenever I can to control the pests.  After pruning and spraying I’m hopeful for some pears and apples to can this year.  We didn’t have a good crop last year, unfortunately.  Here’s hoping for improvement this year!

 

Cheese omelet, bacon & a mandarin

There were a few good deals at the grocery stores so I was able to fill in some low spots as I continue my pantry challenge.  During the week I was able to use up things I already had on hand to make meals.  I had made some crack chicken a couple weeks ago and then took half of that to remake into a small pan of enchiladas the following week.  Several meals for myself using up chicken in the freezer dated in 2020, some cheese in the freezer dated 2021 as well as the end of a package of corn tortillas and a half of a jar of green chile sauce I’d had in the fridge for a little while.  It was nice to get that all used up before it had a chance to go bad.

 

Jack napping on the couch in Laverne

Me antagonizing him
He loves it, don't let him tell you any different

In celebration of warmer weather I picked up my favorite angus beef hotdogs on sale at Fred Meyer and those made an appearance a few times during the week as well.  Somehow hotdogs equate to summer for me and now I’ll have some to take camping so Laverne and I can have a weenie roast if we want to.

 

I splurged on this massive dahlia

On May Day (May 1^st) I picked up a load of flowers and a couple new perennials to plant in my yard.  After careful inspection I am happy to report that almost everything I planted last year not only survived me but also our lengthy cold snowy winter and is coming back to life.  My Irish moss didn’t make it, but I’ve never had much luck with that in the past so lesson learned, no Irish moss.  The flowerpots are now planted and I’ve added the new perennials to the main flowerbed as well as a fall chrysanthemum I had in a pot.  At long last it is looking so lovely outside.

 

Last week I was able to get all of my windows washed inside and out as part of my quarterly housekeeping checklist.  I cannot tell you how good it felt to wash off all the winter grime after countless wind and rain/snow storms and get to look out on my yard through crystal clear glass.  Call me crazy, but I’m just so tickled to have clean windows right now.

 

Along with chatting with the neighbors, window washing, yard work, planting flowers and some more decluttering I also spent a morning doing a door swap on the downstairs bathroom and then I spent the following day painting said door which morphed into a complete refresh.  Definitely not what I had planned to do with my day, but I’m super happy I did it.  I sure love the final results.  I’ve also started another project that I hope to have wrapped up by the end of next week so stay tuned.

 

I hope you all enjoyed a fabulous week and have a blessed week ahead.