And here we be in the middle of May already!  Life has been good cept for the left shoulder from a motorcycle crash into the rocks of West Texas mountain years back. Theme says old injuries come back to haught you in the later years. Tis true. 

Well the barrel and box garden coming along nicely and tomatoes, bell peppers and squash already being picked. 

Then there is the ground plants in front of the garage.  Dew berries coming back strong this year after cutting them to the ground a few years ago so no crop last year. 

North then South side of the fence with dew berries. 

Of course a new batch of wine being brewed in the shop with some kumquats I had frozen for a month or so.  On the 2nd week of making alcohol . 

And da wife wanted the heater put away for the summer so straighten out a few things to make room of it in the garage. 

So now it's keeping the other stuff in the SW corner of the garage company. 

Oh yes! Broken belt on the Samsung dryer finally broke after 10  years of use. Some heavy , some light/normal. LOL !  So advised to just buy another since it was 10 years old and did.  But, after watching a few You Tube vids on changing the belt, decided to give it a try. And a done deal and about 50 bucks into the project with the belt at 20 bucks and the 220 volt plug I had to get to match what's in my shop for the welding machines that was another 30. 

 

Pretty much wraps it up for what's happen since the middle of last month around here. So we just keep on keeping on. ;-) 

 And almost to the middle of April. Wow! Seens the older you get ,  the faster time passes. 

Travel on Sunday with my gals has happened once more to the gulf. Enjoy taking them places they have not been to. This time it was Rutherford Beach down South of Creole.  The scenery on the way down was great. 

Heading down on LA  27 and the Intracoastal Bridge comes into view. 

And the Intracoastal Canal looking West. And an outline of the wife's face in the picture which I loved. 

And the marshlands south to the gulf opens up before us coming down the bridge. 

Then onwards to Rutherford Beach and the gals had never been here before.  Had been over 5 years since my last trip with my granddaughter.  The destruction and gulf invasion of the last two storms of 2 years ago very much evident. 

Beach looking East. 

What was a site of some kind had to smile at the sign. All people did  was walk through there going along the beach. 

Saw thy had added a rock shelf to help rebuild the beach area. 

 Very different wave action before and after the wall. 

And no good looking shell was safe from these gals. Think they ended up with a double handful to bring back home. 

The sisters really enjoyed the trip even if the wind was really blowing their hair about. 

Only one cabin rebuilt from the storms 2 years ago. 

The wagon in front of a travel trailer home that was also set up instead of rebuilding a wooden home. 

Then at the Home Front.  Garden and Plant time as Spring and warmer weather arrive. 

Dew berries coming back after a year of absence due to cutting them down to the ground a few years ago. 

Course the fig tree doing it's thing as the weather warms. 

And the little satsuma tree in the barrel coming back after almost dying last year due to the freeze of '21. I for sure though it was gone. 

Then the watermellon seeds I planted a week ago breaking ground near the fence at the driveway for the garage. 

All these box and drum containers under Da Wife's control.  This one above, have no idea what she planted. 

 This one, tomatoes for sure. 

This one is Bell Peppers. 

As the picture shows,   she has  lots to play with and not have to bend the old body too much.  Me either as a fact. ;-) 

Only other thing, which I have not taken pics of yet is the process of rebuilding Dee's gates that were damaged when leaving one open and a big blast of wind tore it from the hinges. 

So, till the next. ;-) 

 Spring is in the air over here for sure.  

Up at 1:30A this morning and outside to see the sky. Very much South wind and fast moving clouds.  Hmmmmmm To the garage to check on the Wagon and remove a few front end bugs from yesterdays travels. 

Did take my gals,   Wife and Dee ( sis in law ) on a ride to Holly Beach, walk in the sand and water. Then off to Port Arthur Memorial Park.  Wish I would of taken pics at the beach but didn't think we'd get to the water line so left the camera in the wagon. Sigh! 

But did do some pics at the PA Park. 

Then came Monday and some attention to plants near the garage. They tell me Spring is arriving. 

The flowers just starting to appear on the Dew Berry vines that were cut to the ground a few years ago. Coming back for sure. 

The fig tree in the back yard starting to sprout big time. 

Oh the ever present kumquat tree that I need to get all of them off for this coming season. 

Onions been in bloom for about a week now. 

And last but very much loving is the little satsuma tree and was all but dead after last years hard freeze. 

Starting to flower.  

Wishing all a great ending of March for sure. 

 Wow! Over a month has past and yes, the temperatures are getting more to my liking. Love it when I see near 10C / 50F out there in the early morning waiting on Old Sol to get to our horizon. 

What has happened this way in the last month and a half? 

Did do a rebottling on the Satsuma wine and added a little anti acid power and honey a week ago. Starting to taste pretty good. The samples I've given to people still like the last Mulberry/blueberry batch over this one so far. But, we working on it. 

Next would be the new garden set up I've been working on for a few weeks. Tore down the old 4 X 8 foot enclosures that we've been using for the last 20 or so years. And build at stand up garden set up. 

The above picture is the 3 sections with the old 2 X 8 lumber removed. 

Then out of that lumber,  built these two box setups with some old roofing metal as a bottle with drainage. 

Then came these 30 gallon drums from a local flying service which I cut in half long ways and washed all the chemicals out of. 

And the 1st wooden stand set up for the drums. Only had enuff wood for 2 of them. 

Then 155 bucks worth of 2 X 4  treated lumber for the stands. As I had used up all the old lumber from the box set up. 

And now, All set up in the back yard for me and da wife. Had decided that the 1st two made from the old wood were too low so made them stand a bit higher for the new ones.  

And, Da Wife is a Happy Lady!  Me too. ;-) 

Next thing on the menu for the present times was getting a notice that the lawnmower I had ordered was finally in and would call me the next day when ready for pick up.  

Oh heck,  better make sure my old trailer I had bought in 1998 for use with my '98 Buick Century was working.  I had cleaned and painted and new wheels and tires a few years ago but had not hooked up to the present vehicle to see if the lights worked. 

And NO THEY DID NOT! 

So just tore all the wiring off and built a new harness , tested to make sure the right wire went to the right light and the plug matched the plugs output on the Traverse and after a few hours,  Success! 

So the next day was ready when received the call and off the Thib's I went. Did get the lawnmower home and practice cut for adjustments, cleaned and put in the garage till the next time the grass needs cutting. 

Now, that section of the garage re arranged for now. Oh yes, all the t-shirts hanging are from my 90's to early '10's travels about our country via motorcycles. 

So, that about catches up on the last 1.5 months. Till the next > Bring on warm weather and gardening. ;-) 

 And the mulberry/blueberry wine is all bottled up. Need to get a picture of it and the new batch brewing.  Satsuma wine in the making and the yeast is very slow in this cold weather. 

And as of the 2nd of Feb 2022 , the Traverse is one years with me. 

So, as of today,  Have had it 372 days,  Put an average daily mileage of 59 miles per day on it. For a total of 21,895 miles . And 1051.7 gallons of gas with the last fill up at a cost of $2705.43 in gasoline. 

4 oil/filter changes at $292.75  and a 2 time transmission partial flush at $77.18. 

One trip to the Chevy place for checking for a possible leak on the A/C and non found and a refill for $160.18 and That's it cept for a couple tires that were a bit worn when I got it , a trailer hitch I've yet to use. 

So let's see how the next year with this 90,704 present total miles 2016 Traverse is gonna do. 

Next thing I was doing was relearning my Canon M50 camera I've been having about a year or so. And taking pics in the kitchen from my room. And some of Da Boss and she never knew it ;-) 

And my view through the kitchen to the back door from my room. 

Full zoom from about 10 feet away on the knife rack. 

And my cluttered desk  

And my on going project of building stand up gardening boxes.  Needed to do something with all the old metal roofing in the back yard.  soooooooooo!!!!!!!!  This afternoon the legs go on is the plan. ;-) . 

And that catches me up on my blog for the last week!