In which hogsfuel is delivered and we start to plan a great party

I gotta say nice stuff about East Valley Sand and Gravel: I called and talked to Lori in the office there at 9:00 this morning; at noon, this gigantic dump truck and trailer backed down the driveway to deliver the hogsfuel I ordered. Wow. Just, wow.

I'm pretty proud of my trailer-backing skills, but there's a reason they let this guy drive the dump truck: he's really an expert.

The driver negotiated a tight turn to get in, and then positioned his trailer exactly where we needed the stuff dumped out. Then he pulled forward and re-positioned the truck so IT would dump out in exactly the right spot.


About half of the load in the truck got jammed in there, so he "bounced" the truck somehow and out it came, right on target. Cool. Just like I used to do with my Tonka truck back in kindergarten, only a lot bigger.


Tomorrow, we'll spread the hogsfuel around the new sacrifice area (details about hogsfuel and the sacrifice area in this earlier post) with the tractor, and then we'll start planting railroad ties. Wheeee!


Speaking of the tractor, we'll use that tomorrow for another important task: picking up the pile of burned junk (old wires, rusty nails, and other horrible things) left by the former owners in what will soon be our new pasture. There's not a lot of places on the property I actually want to bury junk like this, but I did find a location: the holes left behind in the front yard where I removed the plastic ponds!


I've always been mystified by people who live in the Swamplands and spend perfectly good money and time to install plastic ponds. Ponds around here are not pretty and zen after the first year. Usually it only takes a month or two before the thing fills up with scum and weeds and mosquito larvae. Blech. NOT what I call decorative landscaping!


I finally had time today to remove the plastic ponds installed by the former owners...these would be the same people who figured that burning nails and broken pop bottles makes them go away...ahem, no it doesn't! Anyhow, the plastic ponds are out of the ground now, and listed on Craigslist for some other Outlander to purchase. And now there are three big holes in the yard--which can be filled up with junk from that nasty burn pile, then covered with landscaping fabric and big rocks, and then I'll never need to think about that particular corner of the yard again! THAT is decorative landscaping, Swampland-style!



Willy and I took a break from digging out the ponds and spent time pulling wire and blackberry vines out of the garden space behind the blueberries. The wire is left over from grapevines and raspberries that were planted in that area years ago. The grapevines are surviving, barely, after being overwhemed by blackberry vines and scotch broom. The raspberries are mostly gone.


The WIRE is still there, buried under all the weeds, and it seems to have made a bargain with the rabbit gods, because there is such a lot of it!


So here's my plan: we're going to have a party on June 21st for just about anybody who wants to come out and visit the farm. We'll provide hot dogs and marshmellows, and lots of WIRE for all our artistic friends to use to construct artistic things. At the end of the evening, the now-beautiful, artistic wire creations must leave the premises.


Good fun, yes?


Oh, I suppose we'll also let folks pet the chickens, and feed carrots to the horses, and just generally enjoy a day in the rural wilds of the Swampland.


So, who wants to come to the party?


We'll put Jim in charge of the hot dog roasting fire. He just loves using the Dragon!