Coming down the Mountain to reality.
It was another early morning and this time I went to Lake O’Donnell. Once again the sky was rather boring, but it still felt great to be outside and photographing. Hopefully later this evening I’ll have a chance to start sorting through my pictures. After the lake I attempted to see the goats (they weren’t out yet) and took a handful of pictures at Lake Cheston. I also stopped at Green’s View again. Little Man was nursing when I got back to the cottage and after everybody ate we took a nice walk. More nursing and packing up gave way to lunch – sandwiches from Stirling’s which we ate at the pavilion next to Lake Cheston. After even more nursing back at the cottage we finally hit the road. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic and we made good time. At the condo we unpacked, prepared dinner, and bathed the Little Man, who is now sleeping.
5 months, 3 walks, 2 many goats to count.
I woke up before the crack this morning and dragged myself to Lake Dimmick. It was nice and crisp outside and I was happy to be out in the fresh air. The scenery was beautiful even though the sky lacked interesting clouds or color. Afterwards I drove by the University Farm but the goats weren’t out. My next stop was Green’s View overlook before returning to the cottage.
The big news is that the Little Man turned five months old today. He has really been in a great mood all weekend – lots of smiles and laughter. I suppose the Mountain does us all a bit of good. He was still asleep when I got back, but he woke up and started nursing shortly after. Then we took our first walk of the day which was wonderful. We followed that up with a visit to the goats and then the campus coffee shop so that Liz could get some breakfast.
After more nursing and some tummy time we went on another walk. It sure is nice to be able to go out during the heat of the day and not feel miserable. There were a lot of other people out as well. After the goats we drove over to Tracy City to see if their grocery store had any better produce than our Piggly Wiggly. It did not. We had a relaxing afternoon before our final walk and goat visit. Liz and I celebrated the Little Man’s five months with ice cream (dairy-free for her), and he had breast milk. It was a low key evening and I did not go out for sunset.
Little (mountain) Man.
We all slept in this morning after getting to the cottage pretty late last night. The day was beautiful and after I went to Piggly Wiggly for some supplies and we ate breakfast, my parents came by for a little visit. They were headed home from Chattanooga. Luke didn’t cry at all while they were here. After that we went on a walk on the greenway. Then of course we went to see the goats. In addition to the regulars were five new ones, off in another area. We had a low key lunch at the cottage and there were some thunderstorms this afternoon. Once they cleared we went on another walk and visited the goats again. We finished up our excursion with a visit to the pottery shop next door to see our friend Debbie. Back at the cottage Luke nursed and then we went out to dinner at the Mountain Goat Market. It was rather crowded but we found a table outside. Luke was very well behaved the whole time, and the sky was lovely. He got a bath back at the cottage and now we are just relaxing and following the football games on our phones.
More playing in the dirt and a happy Little Man.
I got to the farm about 6:45 and moved some rocks while it was still relatively cool. It was a pain to sort through the dirt pile for them, but thy will be nice to have. There are still a lot more to go. I hadn’t realized how dry things were until I was walking through what felt like inches of dust behind the house. Tomorrow it is supposed to storm, and for the first time I’m looking forward to it. That should help get the dust under control and cool things down a little bit. I’m pretty happy with how the grading is going, and the finished product should look pretty good.
Luke was in a pretty good mood this evening. He had a busy day. Liz was at the office any my parents, along with my aunt and uncle came to visit. We did tummy time and gave him a bath. I cooked more butternut squash in the air fryer. Both the owner’s manual and cargo cover for Liz’s new car arrived today. So did the key I ordered. I will go to to Ace tomorrow to get it programmed.
Another hot Tuesday.
I looked after Luke this morning until my mother arrived around nine. Then I went by the bank, fireplace store, and Lowe’s on my way to the farm. I did a little more work on the tractor before my dad arrived and we went into town to get some things from Ace and order cabinets at Big Box. Back at the farm we spread out the big dirt pile behind the house and now the area looks so much better. I hope to finish up the grading back there tomorrow. My aunt and uncle came by at the end of the day to check things out. They hadn’t seen the farm since just after we bought it. I drove back to the condo and played with Luke and we all had dinner.
Tractor therapy.
This morning my alarm went off at five, but I stayed in bed another thirty minutes. I arrived at the farm around 6:15 and wanted to see how my repair of the finish mower worked. Short answer: it didn’t. I didn’t even complete a full lap of the back field before it broke even more comprehensively than it had before. I guess I’ll need to take in in to the implement shop. Determined not to get down I unhooked the mower and started moving some dirt around. Usually time on the tractor is very relaxing, and today was no exception. I covered up some of the drainage pipe that was around the footings, and started doing some rough grading around the house. A tractor isn’t really an ideal earth moving tool, but it worked pretty well, if slowly, today. I would like to get a tooth bar to make digging a little easier.
After a couple of hours of digging I went to Home Depot in Spring Hill for a blower and dryer vent cover, then to Lowe’s in Columbia to see if they had another roll of sleeved drainage pipe. They did not. Next I drove to Shelbyville because I thought I had a lead on some more siding. That was a bust, but the guy can make the window screens I need. I tried to take a nap upon returning to the farm around noon, but it was too hot, even with the fan running. So I bit the bullet and painted another section of the foundation. It wasn’t quite as dry as I would have liked, but I wanted to be done. Now I just need the plumber to seal up where he sent the pipes through the block. Then I can add more drain pipe and cover it all with dirt. I spent the rest of the day moving even more dirt behind the house where the deck will go. There was a ton of rock that I’ll try to separate and do something cool with.
Traffic was pretty light driving back to the condo. Once there I took the battery out of the Fusion and loaded up my car with a bunch of stuff to take to the farm. I want to declutter the condo so I can take pictures of it this week and list it for sale online.
Hi.
I spent a little time with the Little Man this evening. I read him a new book that came in the mail today and we played with the bookimal. He was in a good mood the whole time.
Walking and Wal-Mart.
Those were the highlights of the day We were able to get out before the heat. Afterwards we relaxed, moved stuff from Liz’s old car to her new one, and did a little organizing around the house. This evening we watched a Brandi Carlile concert special from Bluegrass Underground, saw a great sunset from our balcony, and gave the Little Man a bath. I also cooked some butternut squash in my new air fryer. It was pretty tasty. And we did lots of tummy time.
