Yes, that’s the sound of time ticking away as the end of my summer approaches. My first day at work is just over a week away and we have so much left to do. I don’t feel stressed, but last night I dreamed that I left school to run errands during lunch, got lost, the GPS on my fitness watch wouldn’t work so I didn’t know where I was, and I couldn’t contact anyone at the school until after my students left for the day. I have never left school at lunch to run errands, but the rest is understandable. My iPad GPS can’t figure out where we are, so The Weather Channel keeps giving me the weather forecast for Columbia, SC, which is driving me crazy. I bought a new fitness tracker watch: It went through 2 CR2025 batteries in under a week, and the seller only gave me a partial refund for what is clearly a defective product, so more frustration. And I guess I am a little stressed about starting work at a new school, although I really like all of the people I’ve met already and the school has great policies in place. For one thing, they are really serious about cell phones — there’s a time and a place for them, even in the classroom, but they can be such a disruption and distraction.
But, back to the farm, while we still have time. We now have electricity, air-conditioning, water, septic, and a land-line phone for when the one-and-only cell phone tower takes a day off! The propane company is coming out tomorrow to discuss where to place the propane tank, and Hubby is working on the foundation for the front deck as we speak. He’s trying to get the footers in before the rain returns so that the cement can cure.
His brother, thankfully, has an electric cement mixer which is making life a little easier. I am being no help whatsoever having succumbed to a bad cold! I couldn’t get through a summer without one, I guess. The front deck will be built in two stages — the first giving us a way into the house that meets code and the second a place for the whole family to hang out. While the footers are curing, we’ll add the underpinning to that part of the home before building the actual deck. Of course, the back deck will take precedence over the family deck as we don’t want anyone to break any bones by trying to exit through the back door.
I’ve been very happy to put laundry baskets in the back doorway and walk around the trailer to retrieve them and hang clothes on the line. A family friend gave us his old washing machine and it has been wonderful to wash clothes at home, even if that does currently involve climbing up and down shipping-pallet steps! I don’t know why the machines at the laundromat never seem to get clothes clean and barely rinse the detergent out. I love the way clothes smell when they’ve been dried outside, but I had forgotten that they don’t feel very soft and fluffy if there’s no breeze while they are drying. I may need to bring the iron and ironing board down here. Sigh…. I hate ironing.
So now that we have closet space and 765 square feet of home, we’ll start bringing furniture and work clothes down here. I have a couple of teacher-workday outfits here, but no dress shoes, makeup or jewelry, so I guess a trip to the city is in my near future. I also want to dig up some daylilies to add to the hostas I planted over the septic tank so that we know where NOT to drive the tractor. Talking about the septic tank — we decided to have the septic system installed and are very happy that we did. We realized that we were in over our heads when we measured the slope of the land. What looked fairly level was actually a seven foot drop over the length of the leech field. It was well worth paying a professional to work with the inspector to get the permit approved. It’s not like we don’t have plenty of other things to keep ourselves busy!
It’s been a short summer for me, but a great one, and I don’t have to go back to the city when school starts. Sadly, Hubby does, but that will make getting the house on the market easier and it will all work out in the end. At least this way, one of us can keep an eye on the bees while the other tidies up loose ends in the city.
But it looks like the afternoon rains are coming, so time to sign off and grab the clothes off the line!
Lazer Creek Apiary 