Progress and More Challenges

Guess what THIS is???

Its a baby grape vine sprouting for the very first time in a growing tube. COOL huh?

I was so stoked when Andy came in from watering the vines last Monday and announced, "We have bud break!" It was magical. I never dreamed they would grow so quickly. Now, we have to nurture them and protect them...YES!

This past weekend we finally took a whole day to work on the property. Every weekend something has come up and we have been unable to put enough hours into the projects we have wanted to tackle. Saturday, we cut weeds. I can now say that about half of the property is cleared and we can finally see the ground again.

The fruit grove has hit a setback. Two words. Ground Squirrels. As much as I hate cute cottontail bunnies, I now equally hate adorable little squirrels. I traversed down the hillside to check out all of our lucious fruit, which is NO WHERE NEAR being ripe, but the ground squirrels have already got after it and eaten more than half of our crops. Not that we are so worried about the fruit THIS year, but in the future this will be a big problem for our grape vines. I have been counseling with several pest control experts and I am going to check out ground squirrel bait at Home Depot. GRRRRRRRRR!!!

Oh, and of course, the bunnies are still an issue. They have eaten ALL of my geraniums, which I thought they would leave alone because of the strong scent...but..NOPE. Poof. Gone. I am finding some plants that they are not eating, so I will continue to plant those, little by little...I WILL have a lovely landscape by this time next year. So much to do.

The band project is going well. We are very excited about the music...its still too soon to reveal our creation, but I will say...we are finding a groove, and it ROCKS.

I gotta get back to work, I've been sitting on the computer far too long this morning. Family to feed and chores to be done, you know how it goes. I am grateful to Blogger for designing some new templates, the blog is looking very "pro" now.

Overwhelmed

OK, I admit it. It's a big project. But, what can I say, we are dreamers and do-ers.

This week we are feeling the stress of living out here in the country and the massive challenges of owning 5 acres of property. Last night we had 3 people come out: a handyman to help us understand our irrigation lines and advise us how to make it more efficient, a pergola salesman to give us an estimate to build a patio cover on the front of the house, and our friend Roger to put protective covers around the new grape vines we planted on Memorial weekend. All three drove up to the property at the same time, just as I had put a tri-tip on the grill. The meat caught on fire and burned the outside to a crisp...(that was just a side note to add some humor to the story.) hahaha

ANYWHOOOO...Handyman Wayne was able to set Andy straight on the irrigation lines, I was not privy to this conversation, nor did I want to be. This falls under the "heavy lifting" category that Andy agreed he would manage.

The pergola salesman wanted $10,000. Good-bye!

And Roger...poor Roger! Well, let's just say he got a taste of what we are dealing with. Critters had already started chewing on the vines "stubs" we put in the ground, AND they also chewed up the drip irrigation lines we put down. Little bastards! So, he installed protective covers for each vine and he is devising a plan to get the water line up off the ground.

As for me, I am starting little projects around the house. Later this month I want to start painting the kids rooms, and I am also building a new planter outside next to the carport. It doesn't sound like much, but it something I can handle.

I guess the biggest frustration for us right now is that things keep breaking, we don't have time to get out and do all the maintenance...let alone the improvement projects we want to tackle. Its a lot. But we have time. We just have to keep telling ourselves that.