These weather forecasters cannot seem to get it straight. They said a light frost for New Year's Eve. Light. Not layers thick. It is a good thing the plants were brought inside the Rainstream. If they had been placed in the storage box like last winter they would have froze. Again. Yesterday a Rainstream, today a Foreststream. Who knew the versatility of an Airstream.
For four days the weather was too cold outside for these citrus plants so they remained inside. It was very tight quarters for those four days. The dog was beside herself as there was only one place for her to lay down. And seeing how she has to be under foot when you are sitting, she was not having this arrangement. Just look at her beaming eyeball stares at the Planner.
Yes, the box was outlined last year. But this was the name of the first blog of 2017 and I thought it would be great to start 2018 the same too. With no time to spare because the work force is arriving, the forms and tubes were arranged and readied to go. While everything up to this point has been the same as the Shop Box, the next few steps will be very different.
Last time this step took weeks to complete as they were done after I got home from work. This time, oh this time, a concrete truck. But first, water had to be removed. Buckets of water were removed from the holes before the truck arrived, as the truck arrived, and even as the truck poured.
Once the concrete arrived with the correct mixture, the procedure went quickly. Not smoothly, but quickly. The concrete was the wrong set and it made for more work in the end. The water had to be tamped out. Dry concrete made from hand had to be poured in and tamping began again. Fortunately the work force has a great sense of humor and we laughed at the whole mess.
Ten days later the forms were removed, the tops were leveled, and the dirt was piled up around the footings. This was not done last time and it created a spot where water sat. No reason to offer more places for mosquitoes to brood.
As before, frames were built in the Big City #1 and brought home and installed. The frames were held in place with the tractor,
tacked,
checked for square,
and then welded into place.
Welding produces some of the most spectacular lighting. These are fantastic considering I am not looking when the pictures are taken. These are a point and shoot result. Hey, I happen to like my eyesight thank you very much.
Now they just need sand blasted and painted.
Welding is a one-man band. While the planner did his thing, the dog and I did our thing. Look how beautiful the setting sun looks on her gray face.
In her old age, she has started to develop new tics. Such as eating dirt. She searches it out. Looks for just the right texture or smell or something because she is definitely selective in her eating.
She may be getting up there in age but she is just as wily as she ever was. Oh this dog, she has been a mess since day one.
Oh, what a year...
2017 turned out to be...
A freeze and heat and in between...
As I reflect, it was a year...
What did you think of my Four Seasons "December 1963" impression? Not bad for being not musically talented. Every year thousands of people claim the past year was a year to remember. Well, 2017 at Plan473 was most definitely a year to remember. A year to remember
for years to come. Years...
This happened and that happened. Things happened that will never happen again. Things happened that I hope never happen again. And to think it all started off so great. Productive even. The first day of the new year the footprint for the Shop box was laid out.
Day two into the new year and it froze. And not a light freeze, gone by mid-morning freeze. Nope. This was a true to Texas weather freeze. It lasted hours and hours and hours. Not quite 24 hours. But close. Hey, this is Texas, South Texas. Freezes are a deal.
January closed out with all ten Shop box footings completed and all of the citrus trees completely unrecoverable. The freeze was just too much.
With death comes life. And since I don't have citrus plants to care for, February brought peepers. Ten little fluffy butts. They were the cutest things ever. EVER.
To bring life one needs rain. And so it rained. It rained and rained. Rain soaked grounds for weeks on end made working on the framework impossible. To keep with our productive new year, instead of building framework we built a peeper coop. Who knew these fluff balls would grow so quickly. Good thing we started early because it took us all month to build this fortress de fluffer butts and the outside still needed painting.
Spring sprang with wildflowers, new pot plants, and a garden. March started and ended sunny but was a wet soggy mess in the middle. Chicken feet and shoes, truck and beep-beep all were stuck in the mud. Wooden walkways used to avoid mud sank and became stuck too. Yet through the mess, progress was made. The Shop Box support beams were installed, sandblasted, and painted.
Much to the seasonal limerick, April did not have showers. Nor was it too hot, or too windy (yet). It was just right. With the dry weather, there was plenty of time for work. There was chicken liberation, a connex slide (as it turns out I am not designed for this kinda stress), and a party crashing, free-roaming rooster who decided to call Plan473 home. The view from the top of the first connex box was just amazing. If you listen closely you can already hear the spring winds building.
Without April showers, there were no May gardens. The once vibrant garden died a painful death. First, there were gophers, then there was wind. Oh, the wind. How quickly it went from a gentle breeze to a spring gale. Ok, maybe that is extreme. But they were 15-20mph with gust to 30. Between the two, the plants did not stand a change. Walls were removed from the second connex box, the two boxes were slid together, a 40' beam was installed to provide support, and the man door opening was cut.
May end and June began with yet again more rain. June in retrospect was a slow month. Lots of little things were done but nothing major. As pictures are reviewed, the most notable events were the Kid going to grandmas and the peppers laying their first eggs. Some made it to the nesting box, others did not. Huh, it seemed busy at the time.
Summers remaining weeks in July and August blew by. The Shop box window frames and hatches were completed and installed. An outside shower was installed and relished. Nice cold showers on summer days are the best. Summer camps were attended so the Kid could get out of the summer heat. Chickens rapidly increased their egg production, outgrew their gallon water bottle feeding system, and developed into their unique personalities. Work was steady in order to prepare for our week-long vacation to see the solar eclipse in Casper WY. A vacation! Or not...
Yup, summer blew in. It blew in with a 150mph wind. Hurricane Harvey, what else is there to say. To recap the bad: trees were stripped of every single leaf, the Kid's trailer was smashed into trees, and we were forced to live elsewhere for a few weeks. To recap the good: the Rainstream was not lost because it was moveable, the Shop boxes held to design specification, and all 11 chickens survived.
August rolled into September and Plan473 was still squatting elsewhere. When in town we cleaned or helped others clean. Just becuase Harvey was rude does not mean we need to be rude to others. Everybody suffered. When squatting, trailer repairs were made and life was lived inside a comfy house with a full kitchen and shower/bath combo and all the AC we could stand. Life squatting was not all that hard. The chickens spent their days chasing around any bit of shade they could find while fighting off the worlds largest mosquitos and laying 8-10 eggs a day. Nature was not affected emotionally by the hurricane. Wish I could the same about human emotions.
In attempts to beautify the landscape, October was building the Kid a box to live in and adding color. While the trees and plants were making remarkable comebacks, sometimes an immediate splash of color adds the cheer needed. Many plants were bought from the local plant store who suffered considerably. The plants were wind burnt and battered. To save complete loss, they were on sale. All of the new plants were bought from them expect these two olive trees. Native to south Texas, I stole these from the squatting residence where they grow to full height and in more abundance thn the ground can support. These were salvaged from the cattle pens. Covered and grown in cow ferteralizer, they should adapt well. Surprisingly, October came and went quickly.
Monarchs and hummingbirds come in November to enjoy the late flowering plants. They were bright orange against light green foliage. There were more this year than in previous years. They were beautiful. For being a busy month all that really happened was the Kid box was completed and the Work box was started. Oh and the Kid turned double digits. How quickly time flies just like these beautiful monarchs. In abundance at the beginning of the month, long gone and only a memory by months end. With them, they took the last bits of color too.
Who knew the lack of color could be so beautiful. White, the absence of color. December started in a flurry. White flurries to be exact. December ended in frost. Well ice, well freeze, well frost. Well it doesn't matter because it ended. What an amazing year.
