2021 April/May Island Trip – Day 4

An amazing thing about living on a large piece of property (at least it feels that way to me!) is the vistas it offers. The word ‘subdivision’ takes on a whole new meaning when the smallest parcel is 2.5 acres. While our home here (Stella) is wee, her vistas are vast. Now that’s it’s not ridiculously cold at night, I’m leaving the shade above the bed open at night. When I wake at night, the view is stunning and panoramic. When I pop up from sleep a few hours later, the changes in the sky are trackable, even through sleep/wake cycles. It’s really lovely.

Today felt more focused, and included:

• Measuring dad’s garden for a future electric fence (deer). The distances were impressive. Yes, for fencing, but the square footage is over 4450 sqft! I had to thwack half of a hawthorn tree in order to get one of the fence measurements (not to mention nettles and thorns). The fence post run every 10-12 feet and there are only two that need replacing! There are two post here waiting to take on the job.
• The truck is loaded for a dump run. Things of note… 17- 8’ fluorescent bulbs. There is no way to recycle them on the Island. They would not survive the drive home, where I could recycle them. Tossing them here is what’s going to happen. There was an old school printer, in two pieces, neither of which I could pick up! One of my Antique Tractor Accessory enthusiasts placed the pieces in the truck. At the dump, all I have to do is kick it off the tail gate! A collection of Formica pieces are loaded up… I read somewhere that Formica is having a wee comeback, and don’t have the patience, much less the time, to fine that market. Again, there’s an astonishing amount of broken glass fished out of the soil under the big fir. And I am always impressed how 5-gallon plastic buckets can degrade,,,
• Both of my antique tractor accessory enthusiasts returned today. More large things left the property! I worked on focusing on my own agenda while they were here, and am much more centered this evening.
• A short trip to town to procure non-brittle line for the big line trimmer, a new pruning saw (I will NOT prune with a bow saw), a retractable cloths line fo under the lower barn’s over hang, a backpack sprayer for hawthorniside, and a little bit of fabric for my virtual class that I’m working on each morning, and a few more deer resistant plants!
• Spraying a second coat of finish on a bird house… Photo to follow!
• Weeding around the plants I placed on the slope below Stella two months ago. Will finish weeding before I leave.
• Stella got a vacuum! She really needed it, and it feels lovely!
• When I took the vacuum back to the lower barn, I spotted two deer in dad’s garden! I snuck up on them and then gave chase! They do indeed jump remarkably high!!