Author: Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.

The Day After Gallbladder Removal Surgery

May 20, 2026 The day after surgery (May 7), I continued to follow the doctor’s pain management medication instructions. I was alternating between Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen every three hours. At night, I when I had to wake up to take my pills, I would walk around the house and go back to sleep. I was […]

And Surgery Time, Gallbladder Removal Surgery or the Medical Term, Cholecystectomy

May 20, 2026 On May 6, I had my gallbladder surgery. It went well. Beforehand, I made sure to tell the anesthesiologist that I threw up after my colonoscopy and felt nauseous for a while afterwards. Bruce thought I didn’t need to do that since they wouldn’t use the same drugs. I am really glad […]

The Final Resting Place of Pine Tree One’s Broken Stump

May 19, 2026 On May 5, with my gallbladder surgery the next day, Bruce and I worked hard to finish up with the yardwork and gardening tasks. Bruce used his minion to move the broken stump of Pine Tree One to the burn pile. Bruce happily used the tractor to carry and dump the remains […]

Cutting off Trees Reaching for the Power Lines

May 14, 2026 Bruce had been talking about cutting off the trees reaching for the power line before they became entangled in the power lines. I wish I had taken a before picture. It doesn’t look that impressive just seeing the after picture. On May 4, Bruce took his electric pole saw and cut several […]

Destruction Continues on Pine Tree One’s Stump

May 14, 2026 On May 3, Bruce went all pickaxe on the Pine Tree One’s stump! Bruce pulled out the visible roots from the hole and the mounds of dirt. He piled the roots into two separate piles. He moved one pile to our branch storage area. This pile was left and still needs to […]

Walking Around the Back Field

May 13, 2026 It had been long enough that I can’t remember what I did on May 2, other than walking around the back field. I was so busy I didn’t have time to take pictures of my work to jog my memory. Some of the blueberry plants have ripening berries.

The Reign of Destruction Continues with a New Player

May 13, 2026 On May 1, Bruce’s reign of terror and destruction continued as he once again worked on removing Pine Tree One’s stump. He wasn’t going to let a little thing like a moat stop him! A new player entered the field to pull the stump out, Cliff the Big Red Truck. For those […]

Bruce Reigns Terror on Pine Tree One’s Stump with Tractor

May 12, 2026 In the morning of April 30, Bruce continued his reign of destruction on Pine Tree One’s stump. He needed to remove logs from around the stump to reach it from a different angle. After watching Bruce for a bit, I went to check on the garden. I watered to soften up the […]

Update on Recovering from Gallbladder Removal Surgery

May 12, 2026 I am in less pain from my four wounds. Yes, “wounds” is the term used in the “how-to recover and what to watch for” document from the hospital. The surgeon was great about providing a pain management strategy using medication. The rest of the document came standard from the hospital. The document […]

Starting to Dig Out the Stump of Pine Tree One with the Tractor

May 11, 2026 Since Bruce got his tractor, he decided it was time to put it to use. Since this post has a lot of pictures, I am going to see if I can do a read more. It may or may not work.