big, bold, and beautiful. 
The bottlebrush was fuller than it has ever been. So full, I was worried the branches were gonna break from the weight of the blooms themselves.
Spring Break was so busy, too. There was a carnival until 11pm the last day of school and a 5K run the Kid participated in and did well at the very next morning at 7am.
more gigantically old catfish to catch,
and the biggest one of all almost got away when the Kid dropped it back on to the bank,
Of course to keep the chickens at bay from scratching in the fresh dirt, a metal grate was laid across the top. Only temporary, a long term plan is still in the development stage.
This wire grate highly agitated some of the hens, especially this barred rock. She would stand on top and pace around the sides trying to get to the dirt everyday as soon as they were released from their coop. If looks could kill, she would have pecked my eyes out already...
Storage boxes were scaled, sandblasted free of rust, holes cut out and new metal welded into place.
Honey bees were buzzing in abundance. They were besides themselves with so many choices that they couldn't decide where to go or how to long to stay when there.
On the way to visit the Worrier for Spring Break, we stopped off at the Not the Worrier casa. He is not family but the Planner has always considered him more than family and has been around longer than the Planner himself. This man has the patience of a saint, never raises his voice, and will explain a process in various different ways in order for the new learner to understand. Taking the Kid fishing is right up his alley. When they caught Big Bertha, a five plus year old catfish, they then skinned her and fried her up for dinner.
Once at the Worrier's casa, there were lightning struck trees to climb,
and finally metal detectors to play with. Mostly we found beer tabs and bullet casings. Both by the bucket loads. But under in a tree in the back field was an old sardine can with opener and an empty cartridge from an early 20's handgun. The twist can opener was the kind that came on tuna cas way back in the day that had to be inserted and then twisted around to open the can. It was retro cool.
Spring Break was going so well until inevitable happened, Covid Lockdown. At first the Kid was excited, a whole extra week of vacation. Then as the week became two and virtual learning came on full force, it was back to homeschool grind. But worse.
During these first few weeks of Covid Lockdown, time slowly crawled by. To keep ourselves entertained during the nonschool/nonwork hours another above ground garden bed was planted since the first was doing great.
The second bed was strictly for mustard green and swiss chard. Wanting more vegetable variety but lacking more boards a recycled cardboard tube from the concrete piers was cut into a 12 section and filled with sand/dirt and zucchini.
Two weeks into lock down and things were getting scary. Stress was off the charts and exhibited in various fashions. The doggo could be found trying to flip on her back to rub her back and sides. She seemed to have developed some type of physical tick and constantly wanted to be scratched. At least she looked happy when rubbing her snout across the grass, the sand, the bed, your boot...
The Planner has eye issues from constantly rubbing them,
And I went into full on nesting mode. More dead trees courtesy of Hurricane Harvey were removed and grapevine and green briar were drug out of the trees. This simple project took close to three solid days as the grapevine and green briar wrap themselves around the branches making it difficult to remove. Removal of trees and vines would hopefully allow for more grass to grow.
Needing 24 hours for the ospho to fully dry, they were primed the next and 72 hours laters painted. Having been sitting here at Plan473 for over four years I was surprised at how little rust their was. Yes, there was lots of surface rust but very little had developed into full on corrosive metal eating rust. Two boxes for a total space of 16x40 and there was only five or six spots needing new metal. Less than 2 square feet of metal. Not bad. Now the Storage Boxes have pox patches like the Work Box Pox.
With limited hours of operation and limited supplies, customers would wait in line for close to an hour sometimes more only to enter the store and shop for what they had not what you wanted. Meals for the week were planned as items were selected. At this point there is still lots of fresh fruits and veggies along with frozen veggies. I am so glad I have a fridge in the Work Box to store all this fresh produce. What a month it has been. Wonder what next month holds?
