I tried to get a screenshot, but it didn’t work out as clear as I was hoping for. But to summarize the important information from it, the temperatures over the next ten days top out in the low 80’s! This summer has been a hot one, with the temperatures in the 90’s pretty much every day. For me, that is overheating range, especially when it is in the high 90’s. That’s why I gave up on living in Southern Nevada all those years ago!
Mid to low 80’s is wonderful! That means mornings on the log splitter, afternoons working in the shop, and yard chores done with reckless abandon! Maybe it is time for our house to have cooling system installed, rather than relying on the natural cooling it does on the bottom floor. But when half the house is unbearable for most of the day, it gets limiting. It would be bad all night too, if not for that huge fan I put in the balcony door in the evenings, which clears the hot air out within half an hour. It is three feet in diameter and pushes air like crazy.
We are packing boxes. I have been buying boxes down at Home Depot, so we have plenty, and they are uniform in sizes. We have been packing up all the books and display stuff on the shelves around the house. No, the field is not sold, but we don’t want to be suddenly rushed when it does finally get picked up. I guess we are getting too old for that. Anyway, who wants to have to ask for help on a rush job, and then be unhappy with the quality of the packing? So we are carefully and somewhat slowly putting things into the boxes, neatly and thoroughly wrapped.
Meanwhile we shop, too. We are looking East because places are cheaper there, and because rain more plentiful. We are looking for a barn and a couple of out buildings. We could use a storage building too. It would be nice to have a garage separate to all this, but it is not necessary. Missus needs a building for her art, and I want a wood shop. Those would fill the couple of out buildings I mentioned. More than that would be gravy. But what would be really nice to add to it would be a shop she could use as a store to sell from. That would be dreamy!
I am keeping an eye open for a trailer, and we have been talking with the kids about what kind of hell we want to go through when it comes time to drive the car and the truck all the way out to wherever with llamas in tow. We have also talked about the business of coming back for our stuff, and how that would be best arranged, or if it is better to hire a moving company. There are so many possibilities, including me flying back and hiring a U-Haul truck, loading it with the help from the boys, and then driving out East.
Meanwhile, back here on the farm, I have arranged to have a ten foot hole dug in the back yard so the county inspector can come assess the soil, and tell us what to install for a septic system. I paid the county guy already, so that is $300 sorted. Next I have to pay him another $500 for the permit to install a new septic system. Then it is time to find the contractor who is willing to come and do it. A state plumber has to connect the new system to the house, then the county guy comes back for inspection. If it passes, then we can bury it, and away we go. I am expecting this all to run around $10K or so, if it all goes smoothly. I will NOT be hiring the two contractors I have spoken to so far, who have NOT been clear about the process, or helpful at all, in any way. I have needed someone to explain the process, and instead I have got someone who got mad and huffed off because I did not know it already. I have never done this before, and some men are really useless when it comes to helping another man learn how to do something. They can be so degrading just because the second guy does not already know the first one’s job.
Anyway. Also, back here on the farm, this year has been challenging because we knew at the onset that it was going to be one of some kind of change. I have been buying the gates and feeders and waterers for the animals to finish the place up, and get everything looking consistent. The goats have nice feeders and waterers, and the horses and llamas across the street have nice waterers in their grazing pastures. We decided to take a year off any gardening, but the weeds didn’t. Blimey! The llama pen at the front of the yard is higher than me! It is not a show property this year, that’s for sure! I should go see what I can do to it with the scythe.
We got rain yesterday. The rain we have finally got in this last few days has been just about all of it for the whole summer. Everything has greened up so much from it! The pasture is short, but looks so much better for the green! I wish it were longer for the llamas. The back pasture across the street has stayed amazing, as it does every year. That one grows well on leeching from the canal, as it is down hill from it. The back of the house side of the street has been getting the occasional watering from the pivot line on the dairy behind us, so has also stayed green and watered the fruit trees. I really appreciate the farmer there for that! Having only one hydrant on the whole property makes it a real pain in the backside to keep everything watered. Missus has had a couple of hoses branched off from the hydrant and on a timer, so her herb garden and flower garden have been getting regular watering, too. The grass around those areas has stayed nice and tender, so I suppose she can blame herself for me wanting to move to where it is much more rainy. I want our animals to have nice tender grass to feed off of.
We are not sure now of the garage sale. Missus seems to not want to really mess with it. Send it all to charity! Except for the few things that really are worth more than a dime. Those can get listed. The rest can go to the charity shop in one go, and us be done with it. Well, it just proves she is generous, as I would be happy to put it all up at the dump. We have been overwhelmed by stuff since we moved into this place with my grandparents to look after them. They were terrible. She loved to shop at the charity shop, and he could not throw anything away, so between them, they were perfect together. And not in a good way! We are finally to the point everything here is ours, but now we need to reset, and start fresh, and get things down to what we need, and all the excess be damned. Time to reset the situation! And one thing I will look for soon after we move is curio cabinets! The things that are on display should not be collecting mountains of dust!
I could go on and on, now that I am on a roll! But it is getting to half past seven in the morning, and I have chores to do, even on a Sunday. The girls start school tomorrow, and I need to help them figure out their Zoom logins. I get to turn most of their learning to their online academy, and have a year off to focus on this move, or whatever else needs doing. I will be teaching the younger one on her reading, and on her Homestead-Economics lessons. It is suitable. She is my constant shadow anyhow, often arriving to where I am headed next just before me.
So, that is a bit of where we are at, and why. Makes a good weather synopsis, doesn’t it?