April 2, 2011 Family Adventure
Saturday, April 2, Glinda and I were scheduled to go to Francis and Jenni's to help burn off their old garden spot to that Francis could keep it mowed. The spot was already there when they bought the place and moved but it had not been cleaned out enough to take care of. "Flossie" and "Lil" went with us because Mitzi was busy in Norwood with Norwood Summer Ball sign-up and Boudreax along with "Flo" and "Skeezix" were in Kansas City for a baseball tournament that "Skeezix" was participating in.
We left Norwood just after 8:30 a.m.. An uneventful trip to Rogersville found us at our destination about 9:30 a.m. Jenni made a fresh pot of coffee and we had a cup before we headed out to 'play'. The spot was truly a mess as Francis had been cleaning up the hill behind his house and piling the limbs, vines and brush in the garden spot. It was also full of the old tall grass from last summer's growth. We walked around the outside setting lots of small fires so it could burn towards the center with no danger of getting away. The mowed grass around the spot was good and green and still damp from the morning's dew. Francis decided to also trim some trees that were in the fence row and around on the property while we were there so we did and piled that refuse on the fires also. As the fire burned down we found a need to rake the missed pieces together and get some bonfires going. It wasn't bad but we soon came out of our coats as the temperature rose rapidly. There was one end of the spot that the tall old growth just wasn't thick enough to burn on its own so Francis fired up his Ferris Zeroturn mower and took the grass down on that end and Glinda and Jenni raked it up and we carried to the bonfire to get it burned. It was getting on so we headed to the house to eat lunch. Jennie was getting things ready so Glinda, Francis and I climbed up to take a look at the hillside he had spent the winter cleaning up and look at his spring. Jenni had made some chili on Friday and while Francis cooked some hotdogs on the grill Jenni also made some frenchfries. After we ate we headed back to the garden spot to load some dirt and big rocks. We were going to repair a hole in the pond dam.
Francis backed the trailer as close as safe to the pond dam and we wheeled the dirt and rocks to the site. He had purchased some bentonite to mix with the soil to help seal the breach. He place rocks into the hole followed by the bentonite/dirt mix and then more rocks more mix and so on.until we had used all the rocks and mixture and had the dam holding water once again.
We then moved to the front of the house with the remainder of the dirt and big rocks and started building a wall along one side of the entrance to act as a retaining wall for a flower garden. We placed the remainder of the soil in the area and it filled in nicely. It will need another layer of wall and dirt but we thought it best to let it settle for a few rains before continuing.
Chore time was calling so Glinda and I loaded "Lil" and"Flossie" and headed home to milk.
The video below shows some of the days activities. Enjoy.
We left Norwood just after 8:30 a.m.. An uneventful trip to Rogersville found us at our destination about 9:30 a.m. Jenni made a fresh pot of coffee and we had a cup before we headed out to 'play'. The spot was truly a mess as Francis had been cleaning up the hill behind his house and piling the limbs, vines and brush in the garden spot. It was also full of the old tall grass from last summer's growth. We walked around the outside setting lots of small fires so it could burn towards the center with no danger of getting away. The mowed grass around the spot was good and green and still damp from the morning's dew. Francis decided to also trim some trees that were in the fence row and around on the property while we were there so we did and piled that refuse on the fires also. As the fire burned down we found a need to rake the missed pieces together and get some bonfires going. It wasn't bad but we soon came out of our coats as the temperature rose rapidly. There was one end of the spot that the tall old growth just wasn't thick enough to burn on its own so Francis fired up his Ferris Zeroturn mower and took the grass down on that end and Glinda and Jenni raked it up and we carried to the bonfire to get it burned. It was getting on so we headed to the house to eat lunch. Jennie was getting things ready so Glinda, Francis and I climbed up to take a look at the hillside he had spent the winter cleaning up and look at his spring. Jenni had made some chili on Friday and while Francis cooked some hotdogs on the grill Jenni also made some frenchfries. After we ate we headed back to the garden spot to load some dirt and big rocks. We were going to repair a hole in the pond dam.
Francis backed the trailer as close as safe to the pond dam and we wheeled the dirt and rocks to the site. He had purchased some bentonite to mix with the soil to help seal the breach. He place rocks into the hole followed by the bentonite/dirt mix and then more rocks more mix and so on.until we had used all the rocks and mixture and had the dam holding water once again.
We then moved to the front of the house with the remainder of the dirt and big rocks and started building a wall along one side of the entrance to act as a retaining wall for a flower garden. We placed the remainder of the soil in the area and it filled in nicely. It will need another layer of wall and dirt but we thought it best to let it settle for a few rains before continuing.
Chore time was calling so Glinda and I loaded "Lil" and"Flossie" and headed home to milk.
The video below shows some of the days activities. Enjoy.
Cheerily
IJK
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