After soliciting recommendations from neighbors last month, last Wednesday I finally called a guy several of them have used for outside clean-up. He showed up the same day to give me a bid for cleaning up ivy, blackberries, volunteer saplings, and weeds, mostly right around the house and in our garden space. His price was acceptable, so he and his crew showed up bright and early this morning and started work. By the time they knocked off, things were looking ever so much better; when they come back next Tuesday they will finish the rest, including killing the ivy. (I'm glad they didn't do any spraying today; the dogs will have four more days to run freely before I restrict their access in an abundance of caution.) I took before photos and duplicated them as best I could after they left today, although doing so doesn't show how dramatic the improvement is in some areas. And yes, the weather is as gorgeous as it looks!
On top of that I've made some progress on my One Big Thing of 2024. Wednesday I got rid of a lot of stuff in the cabinets so I could put other stuff away, then loaded up my old phone/fax machine, flat-bed scanner, and color printer and hauled them off to electronic recycling. I listed the two birdcages on Facebook Marketplace and one of them has already been picked up. Again, I tried to match before photos I took to show progress; you might have to squint to notice much. 😉
Meanwhile, my chances of attending the women's retreat are not looking good. The expectant ewes are just barely beginning to develop udders, although Broadway is waddling/gimping about most uncomfortably. Her dam moves the same way when heavy with lambs. Hopefully Broadway won't have the same problem Bernadette did with her first lambing; if you recall, Broadway was delivered by c-section.
I collected photos and fleece samples from the ewes this morning before turning them out. It was a small-scale rodeo; I ended up in the bedding (more than once) with bent glasses and a broken fingernail. I have yet to collect photos and samples from the boys; will do that in time to mail the lot of them off on Monday.
Enough time on the laptop. I've got a horse to ride, a house to clean, and supper to make.
Wishing you a good weekend from . . .
5 comments:
Clean-up (both outdoors and in) always feels so good! It's a shame it quickly becomes chaotic again. Good job on it all.
You've got a lot of great space to work with (both inside and out). You'll feel great when you have it just the way you want it. Carry on!
That's the challenge, Leigh – to keep putting enough energy in to keep the chaos from returning! Inside it's the human mess, outside it's (mostly) the rampant growth.
Oh Mama Pea, I doubt we'll ever achieve "just the way I want it." I have two other adults in the house who generate their own indoor and outdoor chaos!
Sometimes it just pays to pay someone for major jobs. I know you must be really pleased to be getting so much "spring cleaning" done, both outside and in. I can see the progress in the bonus room. I totally get that it's a process :-)
That's a good idea! It's always nice to have everything looking nice. Unfortunately, I don't even have a lawnmower, to just keep the grass looking good. I'm thinking of buying an electric mower, that I saw at BiMart this week. Even with that one, I'm not sure I can handle it.
I'm sorry the sheep are not seeming to be ready to lamb at a good time for you!
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