Wow! Just had a friend remind me " Blog Time"! Over a month since last post! Yikes. 

But, been a pretty chilled month for sure. 

For one thing. July usually means the figs are ripe. I  probably did about 10 gallon bags before they quit. 

I generally just picked a gallon at a time as that was enuff to clean and package at a time. ha ha h a

Also, the Dew berries finally played out but had about 6 gallons of those picked , Plus the amount friends picked. Had a problem with the first batch of wine I was gonna may. Not sure what I did but for sure did something different like hurring the chemicals I use which cause a big froth . So , that went to the trash and I started over paying attention this time. LOL 

And besides that , really getting use from the new Hustler Dash 34" lawnmower. Cutting my and sis in law Dee's yard. 

The Dew Berry in the 3 gallon bucket just bubbling away. For about 4 days was doing a set of bubbles every 3 seconds and after a couple weeks down to a set about every 30 seconds to time to  transfer it  to the 3 gal jug. 

And a week later in 1.5 liter bottles for a week then .75 liter bottles. Came out really well according to my taste test friends. 

Well all know I  walk the graveyard lots and the city has been doing lots of work out there to clean the gully that serves as drainage for the area.  I even use it as a new walkway at times. 

Looking East

Looking West. 

And now ,  Rice harvest is the happing things with thee farmers. Been seeing golden fields of grain for a few weeks now and last week saw the 1st cutting happening around here.  Much more sites later during the week. 

This field was off the service road between Roanoke and Welch. 

This cutting was happening West or Roanoke last week, 1st I saw in my roaming's. 

A cropped image to see all the great herons getting their food. 

Then moving to what's happening with the gardening.  

After production stopped,  cleared all the dead vines and kept the new ones for next season. 

The watermelon seeds I planted a few months ago and still not the 1st sign of a little melon so cleared this  out a few days ago. 

Then there is the new school being built and open house the 6th of next month I've been advised. Passing by  last week they were painting the guide lines for traffic . 

That about catches me up for the last month on happenings. Of course with a final message of life! ;

 Oh yes, an old friend reminds me to get this blog caught up. I then see it's been over a month since updating it. And, it's been a fun and constructive month at that. 

Still learning the M50 Canon camera and playing in the full Manual mode  as per auto mode. But, when taking pictures on the fly in the Wagon, the setting need to  be right. We getting there though. And I still take less than 1 % of my pics with my cell phone. 

The main project for the last month was the shop. Built it in 1980's from metal that was being discarded from the Fred Wilson Drilling company days. We built 7 new rigs here in the Jennings Yard and Refurbed the older 7. 

So at about 50 years old I decided to clean house in it. Was pretty hard just throwing stuff away , cept what I gave to my hot rod neighbor. Stuff for building and maintaining motorcycles and cars in my go fast days. 

A couple pictures of the before starting the project. Oh the Dryer in the picture. Belt went out and the work cost to change belt was not advised by peeps that do this  work on this 11 year old drier. So bought a new one and decided to see just how hard it was to change the belt. Sheesh! Gotta take the whole front off and some of the back to get to it. But I  did just for the heck of it myself and sucess. 

So first part was done after removing everything from the East wall , pressure washing, painting and rearranging my stuff. 

Then came the center and back wall . 

Ready for pressure washing and painting. And below, done deal with things back in place. 

Then came the heavy stuff to be moved without scratching my new floor.  

And the series of the finale West wall. And everything back in place minus what I got rid of. 

Next even of the month was Brenda and I's 55 wedding anniversary. Kept it  low key and we took a trip to Loggerheads and had fun with my friends that work there. Great afternoon for sure. 

Then decided to re do the clothesline posts in the back yard that are about as old as the shop as I built them in the 70's for sure. 

Now , both post painted and back in use. 

And that about wraps up the main things done since last post. 

 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. ;-)