As the old saw sez,"time flies when you are having fun." And for us this year it has been truer than in previous years, we worked hard this year but at a more relaxed pace, more like 40 hours a week rather than the 70 to 80 hours the previous two years. We also spent more time relaxing, just enjoying the house, the great views of the black hills and each other.
Daughter Brittany and Brady got married in August, I was the wedding planner. Thanks to wife Carol and daughter Kristen and son-in-law Gabe for lots of support and help figuring out the details. The wedding was at the Stave Church at the Hjemkomst Center with a reception at the Double Wood Inn and suites. Everything turned out great, the bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome and the guests had a great time.
Earlier in August Kristen hosted a shower for the bride and groom at Ushers in Moorhead and it too turned out fabulous. Thanks Kristen.
Sam Rudd visited us this summer - Sam and I built a wood base and installed a two person hot tub that Carol found on "Custer for Sale" on Facebook, we also did some rock climbing. Our granddaughter was here for a couple of weeks - the highlights were rock climbing and a day tubing behind a boat courtesy of Bob and Diana. And daughter Amy and son-in-law Daniel were here for a week before the wedding - they were content to shoot chipmunks and squirrels. Nice to have family and friends stop by.
I waterproofed the pond, installed the pump and filtration system and filled the pond, first with water and then a couple of days later with fish. The koi had been in a stock watering tank in the garage for the past 4 years... I wonder what went through their minds when I dumped them into the pond. Our five koi looked so lonely that we ordered six more koi from a store in Los Angeles and they were shipped overnight by UPS. It is easy to get lost in thought leaning over the rail watching the fish, there is something so mesmerizing about watching the fish swim around.
I have also been working on the landscaping around the house. There are three requirements for the landscaping, obviously it has to be beautiful, it has to drain water and it has to be fire resistant. The first project I started was creating a walkway behind the master bedroom, this required digging out, by hand, several cubic yards of dirt... I love digging in the dirt, it is like sculpting clay, you can see your progress as you go along and it is great exercise. The post and beam in the foreground is going to be a Japanese style gate with a roof. We have a problem with deer so I will install a fence between the post and the rock outside the frame to the right.
We planted several hydrangea, peonie, and barberry bushes and lamium white nancy and aguga for ground covers. When it was blooming it was quite colorful.
In November I tore a muscle in my back, the L5 rotator, and was in significant pain and not able to do much around the house. This prompted a call to son-in-law Daniel for help with one last outdoor project - the arrangement of rocks at the front entrance. We picked Daniel up at the airport on Friday night and on Saturday morning we had rolled up the EPDM rubber liner in the moat and were leveling out the bottom of the moat so water would flow. Daniel was doing most of the work, I drove the tractor and hauled off about 30 bucket loads of dirt. The membrane went back down and we began planning to install rocks. We located some nice rock at the bottom of our property, large rocks with parallel top and bottom, perfect for stacking. A couple of the rocks were too big to be lifted by my small tractor, so we dragged them up the hill to the house.
The rock in the foreground below was the largest one that we moved with the Kubota tractor. I am guessing that it weighed somewhere in the range of 1,200 pounds, the Kubota is rated for 800 pounds. We dragged it up the hill but couldn't get it completely off the ground, there was a bit of swing when we tried to lift it, the front wheels of the tractor looked flat and first one rear tire came off the ground and then the other as the rock slid across the ground. Daniel and I shared a nervous laugh as it moved and a sigh of relief when we had it firmly in place.As we worked that muscle in my back got better and every day I could do a bit more but I really relied on Daniel to do most of the heavy lifting.
We worked the hell out of that little Kubota tractor - it was the little tractor that didn't quit.
I hired Howe Excavation to move the big rocks. A couple of these were about 3,000 pounds.
I forgot to take pictures when we finished. You will have to trust me that we got the stones backfilled, the pile of dirt moved, the ground smoothed and a load of gravel spread out in the parking area. It looked very nice and then it snowed covering all the work. In the spring I will install pea rock around the stones and a tree and a couple of bushes in a raked gravel garden style.
I can't thank Daniel enough for his time and help with this project. We had a great time working together and I didn't work him too hard, we took off a couple of days to go rock climbing.
The last project of the year I started in mid November, the design and installation of a solar thermal system. I ordered five 4' by 10' panels and associated equipment just before Thanksgiving, to be delivered on the 7th or 8th of December. I will prepare a blog with that alone as the subject as we get into the installation probably the week of 14th.
And to finish this blog I want to share with you some pictures I took back in September.
Awoke this morning in the enchanted forest. A thick gray fog filled the spaces between the trees and rocks limiting our visibility to about 200 feet. We had an inch of rain overnight, the lichen and moss on the rocks shine in many shades of green/gray. Beautiful.
And finally, there is a corollary to the old saw, "time flies when you are having fun."
Time is fun when you are having flies.
Enjoy,
Van
