How does my garden grow, and an entertainment center.

The garden is growing, despite the rocky, clay soil it's planted in, and despite the rain that doesn't seem to end!  I can't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post, we fertilized the garden space with guano- bat poop.  I didn't know how much to use, so I used all that I could get my hands on.  Rod swept it up from the barn floor and brought me bucket loads, but that supply is gone...if only I could work out a deal with the bats to poop when they fly over the garden.... Knowing that probably isn't going to happen, I've been searching for dried chicken manure.  I found several online stores that sell it, but finally found it in 50 lb. bags at a local farm supply store.  Now my fertilizer problem is solved, if only it wouldn't rain quite so much!  We haven't stepped into the yard or the garden in days, to do so would result in becoming stuck and having to leave your shoes behind in the mud to slog to safety!  Half the yard had been cleared of the debris that was raked up with the York rake, and I managed to get that area planted with grass seed before the rain started.  According to the weather forecast we were supposed to have steady rain for a day, warm temperatures, then on again off again rain for a few more days, perfect for starting grass!  What we got instead were cloud bursts, such heavy rain that it washed the grass seed into the puddles that formed in the yard.  I can see this from the door in Chris's room, I can't see if ALL the seed did this, but if the seed does sprout grass, it will probably grow in clumps with sparse areas in between.  Grass seed is expensive..I was really bummed out about this event.
On Wednesday evening, while Chris was at Youth Group, I planned to do some shopping.  On the way to the store I realized I had forgotten my list and all my coupons, and suddenly I was left trying to think what to do for two hours.  So, I wandered into stores I've never been in before, the first one was a furniture store that sells only Sauder furniture, which is mostly office and bedroom furniture.  It's inexpensive because it's not solid wood and you have to assemble it yourself.  I've been looking for an entertainment center but they are so expensive and I'm not willing to spend so much money on one piece of furniture.  But, there was one at the Sauder furniture store that I could live with, and it was on sale...for one more day.  So, with that series of events that changed my plans for the evening, I ended up with an entertainment center, in two heavy boxes, that got loaded into my van. Then the nightmare began....according to the instructions the first step was to unpack everything, compare it to the parts list, and make sure everything was there.  That took me until 1:30 am to do that, and in doing so realized that at least half of the parts were not labeled and the only way to know what part the unlabeled ones were was to study them closely and compare them to the pictures on the parts list, that's why I was up so late.  The next day I started to assemble, I made two horrible mistakes and had to go backwards to fix them, I was able fix the mistakes, but that took a lot of time.  By 3:30 am I had everything together except the drawers, which I finished when I got up this morning.  Now when the guys get home we can move the tv onto the center and set it in place, and hopefully it won't fall apart!  That was a really big job, but I would do it again, I don't mind that it's not high quality furniture, especially when I think of the 100's and 100's of dollars I saved!  I'm going to need that money I saved to buy more grass seed!!

The Garden:

Besides seeing Rod raking debris with the York rake, you can also see the garden behind him and compare it to the next picture.  The plants that look as if they are coming out of Rod's face are potato plants...  The next picture is just one week later....

The plants at the bottom of the picture are those potato plants I pointed out in the first picture.  Amazing amount of growth, I need to work out there, tie up tomatoes, thin onions and beets...but, I know I would sink if I try to walk there.

The Entertainment Center:

These are most of the parts to put this thing together, labeled and laid out in the order I'd use them in.
The old stand we used when we lived in the garage is in the background, Chris will get that for his room.

The finished project, Harley is very happy to have floor space to sprawl in again!  He didn't care much for this production, he'd sit and stare at me with big sad eyes.  When I had to work on the floor he'd walk between my arms and sit on whatever I was working on.  And he really didn't like me staying up so late, he had several methods of letting me know it was time to go to bed!

A Tribute to My Brother.

Mel Miller

November 4, 1953

June 24, 2006

Five years ago today my brother Mel passed away.  To think of one story to tell about him would be impossible, there are so many, he was quite a character!  I find that when I try to list his qualities here in this tribute I become to heavy- hearted to do that, I'll tell a few stories about him instead, and I'll tell you that if you were to have just met Mel for the first time you would know instantly that you were meeting someone who possessed the finest qualities found in people.  To know him was to love him, in his lifetime he touched many people, and he is greatly missed by his family and friends. 

I must say that there are many times when something occurs that we instantly think of Mel, For instance, he earned his living as a carpenter...I wonder what he would have thought of our house building project?  And, of course, we can't play a game of cards without Mel's name coming up... he was the expert on "Howle's Rules", quite often referring to them to tip the scales in his favor.  I don't want to say he cheated, but there were suspicious rules he quoted at certain moments of play, when he would then be accused of making them up!  It was just like him to take a peek at the cards in your hand, then tell you that he hadn't peeked- that you had shown your hand to him.  He had such a teddy bear quality to him that he could get away with that sort of thing, even though he would usually push us to the limit of our patience!  He certainly didn't need to cheat to win, ever since we were kids he had a knack to always win at games!  When we played Monopoly Mel would own all the property's, have all the money in the bank stacked in front of him, and the rest of the players were bankrupt!  And that streak continued as adults, no matter what the game.  The only person who gave him a run for his money in our family was mom, especially at word games.  They would play Scrabble for hours...

His winning streak was also legend when it came to deer hunting, he always got his deer, and usually filled all his tags, meaning he got more than one deer in a season. 

For many years Mel and I were the only members of the Miller clan left living in PA, we lived about 50 minutes from each other.  In hindsight, I wish that we had spent more time together...  The last time I saw Mel alive was on Father's Day of 2006, just two days before his accident on June 20, 2006.  He had several pieces of cheesecake and fresh strawberries with us, and we talked and talked, he stayed late, and as usual I worried about him driving home, afraid that he would fall asleep at the wheel.  Chris wanted to show him a game he played on the computer, since there was room for only one chair there, Chris sat on Mel's leg.  I'll always remember that scene, Chris was much to big to sit on anyones lap, and Mel could barely walk when the game was over and he finally stood up because his leg was asleep.  Mel didn't have any children of his own, but he loved kids-and they loved him! 

Uncle Mel, the kiddies pal...

A poem I read once jarred me, sort of jumped off the page and into my face, because in a few words it described my brother quite well.  I copied and saved it, and today it should be in The Meadville Tribune along with the picture above...

His life earnest, his actions kind,

A willing hand, an active mind,

Anxious to please, loath to offend,

A loving brother and faithful friend.

The 80's....

                            Dad and Mel       Mel and Seth (camping at Caskey's)

 Mel and Joe

                               Mel and Ben playing football, "Blue two,blue two!"

                             Mel dancing with Donna, brother Bill on the right.

Mel with one week old Chris                   

Mel came to our house to do some carpentry work, Chris was so excited to have him there, and in his honor wore his sweatshirt with carpenter tools on it. In this picture they are having a cookie and milk break, and Tigger is there too, of course.

I wish I could find pictures of everyone with Mel! 

Here's one last picture of Mel, it is for all of us...

 

The look on his face says that he loves us all...

What should I do, what should I do?!!

If someone would ask me to name one thing that was the biggest problem in the construction of this house, it would be the weather- hands down!  It rained almost all of the fall season, then the rain changed to snow, and there wasn't a melt off once in awhile throughout the winter like usual.  In April the snow turned back to rain, and I think it rained for 40 days and 40 nights....  Now the rain has become an issue again!  We really needed some rain, it was pretty dry around here.  When Rod raked the debris in the yard with the York Rake he had a big cloud of dust following him!  Now we need to shovel the piles of debris that's been raked up onto the wagon and get them out of here so I can plant grass.  Chris was working on that job yesterday while I was cutting roots that were sticking out of the ground, we were making good progress until...we got rained out!  It rained so hard last night that the motion sensor lights came on, and stayed on.  I finally just turned them all off at the switch, I didn't need to have what was going on outside illuminated.  Now the problem is MUD!  All that nicely raked earth has turned to mud.  Walking through it will result in slipping or sinking (or both), and getting enough stuck to your shoes that it's hard to pick up your feet.

Sooo... what should I do?  The sun is shining at the moment, although I see on the radar screen that's it raining in Cleveland and coming this way.  I want so much to get the grass seed down, and this rainy+sunny condition is perfect grass growing weather...  I'm here alone today, and will be until about 7:00.  If I sink into the mud I could be stuck there a long time!  Maybe Harley would dig me out..hmmm

Stay...In...Control...

...it's not easy to stay in control because suddenly, after many idle months, there's so much to do!  The grading is complete and now we have to get ready to plant grass..... green, sweet smelling, bare foot soft.... GRASS!!!  How wonderful it will be to have GRASS!!

I catch myself falling out of control every day... I try to pick one thing to do and not to start anything else until that one thing is done, but many times I'll suddenly realize that I'm no longer doing what I set out to do.  Instead, I was distracted by something else and am doing that instead.  For instance, this morning I decided to feed the birds, but on the way to the feeding station I noticed a plant that needed watered, then I noticed another, and another...next thing I knew all 180 feet of garden hose was stretched out and I was watering the garden, and the poor birds hadn't been fed yet!

And, my mind is almost always mulling landscape designs, no matter what my hands are doing- I'm mentally arranging plants,shrubs, trees and rocks, trying to imagine all the possibilities.  Except for several trees that I've always wanted to have, everything will be transplanted from existing flower beds or the "old" garden space where I started storing things until I was able to find a new place for them.  I still have six flower beds to do away with, and the old pond area still has plants that need moved, although the water part of the pond is gone.

For the second time in 10 years all my landscaping rocks, except for the pond rocks,have been gathered into one place, thanks to Rod and Chris.  As soon as the grass is planted I'll start on the patio, by that I mean I'll be laying 6 tons of flagstone.  This will be the second time I've done this.  The first time Rod was working out of town and I was on my own,I did ok with that but was never perfectly happy with the stones being set in crushed limestone- very messy!  The same flagstone has now been lifted out of the limestone and I'll be re-using it in a new patio, this time in a much better foundation because I'll be setting them in concrete.  I know this will be a really big job, if Rod helps me build a form I'm confident that I can take it from there...

I rented a contraption called a "York rake", which attaches to our lawn mower and gets dragged around the yard raking up the bigger rocks as well as roots sticking out of the ground.  By Monday the yard should be ready for grass seed!

That makes me think of our dog Bear... 10 years ago, when we first moved back here in the woods, we were anxious to get grass growing.  We had a very large yard then too, and I walked around spreading seed with the seeder for quite awhile in one direction before it was time to turn around.  When I did turn around, there was Bear.  He had been following along behind me, walking through the grass seed I had just spread.  As far as he was concerned we were just taking a stroll through the yard, not planting grass.  Bear had very hairy feet, and sure enough, when I lifted his paw to check, the hair was packed with grass seed!  It wasn't a problem though, the grass grew ok, no dog paw shaped bare spots anywhere...

Here are a few random pictures from around the Crouse House..

The Strawberries:
I guess I must think I don't have enough to do...on our way home yesterday Chris and I saw an Amish buggy parked on the corner of Rt. 408 and Johnstown Rd. with a sign attached to it that said "Strawberries".  We stopped, the strawberries were only $2 a qt. so I bought 10 qts.  I finally finished cleaning, crushing and freezing them at 2 a.m.  Check out the mutant strawberry, doesn't it look like a flower?

The Flower Boxes:

I had a terrible time finding brackets to hang flower boxes from our deck railing.  Our railings are made of a composite material and are rounded on the top, and are much bigger than wrought iron railings, which are the only round brackets I could find.  I searched the World Wide Web for many hours and couldn't find anything that would fit our railing.  Finally, at Stan's Garden Center I found a bracket with a round top...it wasn't perfect, Rod had to use his big manly biceps and bend the metal to fit the railing, but it seems to have worked...none of the boxes have fallen off the railing yet!  I had my flowers planted in those green plastic bags for hanging plants, and they weren't growing nicely.  I ripped those bags open and re-planted the plants in the flower boxes, and I believe they are smiling now!  Soon they'll grow over the sides and hang down the railing...I love flower boxes!

This is my water garden now, a rain barrel.  The only water plant that I kept was my miniature water lily named "Susie".

Bulldozers are noisy!

Monday; Tom the excavator arrived and starting moving the earth, he moved earth for 9 hours that day.  His job is to grade the yard, but also to dig a gentle swale from one end of the yard by the field, to the other end of the yard by the woods, for rain water to flow through.  Our property is on a downhill slope and we hope this swale will divert any water from the house foundation.  Tom has told me that this is the time to think of anything I want done that involves bulldozing, like moving some really big rocks that I'd like to work into the landscaping, so I've been giving this a lot of thought!

Tuesday; The heating and air conditioning guy was here on this day and installed the central air conditioner!  Happy Day!!

Wednesday; Tom is back today, probably to finish the job.  It's hot and humid, and bulldozers are noisy, so I've shut all the windows and doors and turned on the air conditioner!  I'm staying inside today, I have more than enough to keep me busy indoors.. I don't even make lists anymore, there's so much to do - inside and outside- no one needs a list!  I have so many idea's and plans running through my mind, and bumping into each other!  I think it will be like this all summer, although we hope to be done by the end of July and then plan an open house!  The garden is planted now, except for the 75 marigolds that I started from seed and will plant around the border of the garden.  It would be perfect if I have the landscaping done before I start harvesting the garden.  If my garden grows, I'll be doing a lot of canning this year!

note: Tom just came to talk to me, I had him step inside to get cooled off!  He said he'd be nearly done today, still has some earth moving to do, then finishing the driveway.  I'll add some pictures later.

In Memory of my Mother.

Ann Miller

August 12, 1932

June 8, 2001

My mother was a beautiful person, she had a love for God that was apparent for all to see.  She was kind and generous, wonderful, courageous, and her accomplishments were many ...  she was a true role model. Her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, in-laws, brother, sisters, niece's and nephews, and many friends, as well as the elderly patients in various facility's who experienced her loving care as their nurse, were all blessed to have had such a person as my mother in their lives.

Ten years ago today my mother lost her five year battle with ovarian cancer, and it was a battle!  She endured treatment after treatment that made her so sick that she must have wondered if the cure would kill her before the disease.  It seemed so cruel that such a person as she should die such a long and painful death.

Not one day goes by that I don't wonder what mom would think or say about occurrences in daily life if she were still here with us.  Lately, I think about how much fun it would be to have her here with me as our house was being built, and now as we try to figure out how to furnish and landscape it.  She was a whiz at such things and her advice would be priceless!

I miss you mom.....