Cutting Up Pine Number Three

May 23, 2025 Bruce gave the downed pines numbers based on how close they are to the house. Pine number one is the leaning pine. It is closest to the house. The broken pine is pine number two. The large pine that fell over with the roots exposed is pine number three. Bruce has started […]

Skyline of Blackberry Homestead Changed Again

May 20, 2025 First, Bruce, Nox and I, as well as the house and outbuildings, are fine. We had a violent thunderstorm hit around 5 o’clock clock this evening. It rained so hard with strong winds that we had white out conditions from it. We were under a tornado warning. We had the closet door […]

Trellis Up, Strings for Tomatoes and Netting for Beans and Cukes

May 19, 2025 Yesterday (Sunday, May 18), Bruce l took me for a 15 minute motorcycle ride. My physical therapist said I need to see what happens when I ride. He wants me to ride every day for 15 minutes for a week. We started on Saturday. After we got back home from the ride, […]

Update on Bruce’s Dad, Grill Ready to Grill

May 18, 2025 Bruce’s dad managed to go home from the hospital yesterday (May 17, Saturday). I do mean managed. There was a lot of miscommunication happening at the hospital. The doctor (neurologist) didn’t know my FIL had been moved to a regular room!!!! Who authorized moving him out of ICU then? Several hours after […]

Estate Sales Finds, Update on FIL

May 16, 2025 This morning, after we got up and took care of Nox, we headed out to two estate sales. At the first estate sale, Bruce bought a pair of plastic sawhorses and a couple of levels. I bought a 3 quart stainless steel sauté pan with a glass lid for $12. At the […]

Trying a New (to Us) Restaurant, FIL Injured, Trellises Put Up

May 15, 2025 Today (Thursday, May 15), Bruce drove me to PT. While I was in PT, Bruce tried to call his dad. He got the answering machine twice. Bruce decided to hang out in the lobby while my physical therapist had me do various exercises. Afterwards, we went to lunch at Ricatoni’s Italian Grill […]

Starting to Clean Out the Shed

May 15, 2025 I realized I forgot to mention that we started to clean out the shed yesterday (Wednesday, May 14). The barn is attached to the shed. I believe the shed was built around the same time as the house. The barn was clearly added on later. The shed wall sticks into the barn […]

Just Around Blackberry Homestead after the Rain

May 14, 2025 In was raining the morning of Tuesday (May 13), when Bruce drove me to PT. We got there early, so we went to next door to Home Depot to get more trellis supplies. I kept an eye on the time and headed over to PT while Bruce finished shopping at Home Depot. […]

Rain and More Rain

May 12, 2025 It rained so much on Saturday (May 10). We weren’t able to do anything outside because of the rain. Nox even had to go outside in the rain. Bruce spent some time replacing the outside door knobs since he could do that without getting wet. He replaced the standard door knobs with […]

Started Setting Up the Trellises, Change of Plans

May 12, 2025 On Friday (May 9), we started to set up the first trellis. We decided the trellis was too short for tomatoes. We are going to move it to the other side for the peas and foot long beans. We went to Rural King, Lowe’s and Ace to find more metal electrical conduit. […]