Spring has Sprung

All the signs of Spring are upon us.  The sun shines brightly with soil warming rays; the birds are tweeting their hearts out; the squirrels are getting very frisky; and the spring flowers are starting to bloom.  The last sign of spring is when I hear the lawn service neighbor's mowers fire up.  It sounds like a swarm of airplanes warming up their engines for take off.  Oh, yeah, it's spring and I'm loving it.

Daffodils Rule

The daffs are putting on quite the display this year.  The tulips are budded up and most likely will pop any day now.  Some time after the two flowers strut their stuff the Iris around the corner will start their claim to fame.  Aaaah, I love this time of the year.

I tried to plant some seeds today.  I got a few carrots and four Swiss Chard planted before the rains came.  It's another misty day just like the last rain we had.  I would like to see a good rain to start the filling process for my main water supply tank for the the gardening watering.  The very small amount of rain we had a week ago only put one inch in the tank.  When it's full it boasts 24 inches of water right at 400 gallons.  It takes about five inches of rain to fill it up.  During the summer months about one inch a day is used for watering the plants.  So almost a month's watering can be stored in the main tank. 

However, this year the plan is to add a water fountain to help keep the algae down and the best part, according to my grandson, will be to add fish to the tank.  We will just catch some fish from our local lakes to add to the tank which is another thing that grandson Bradley thinks is awesome.

Terra Nova Gardens is coming along.  The main gate to the garden has been erected; the entire garden area has been plowed and smoothed out with a disc; the utilities have been marked; and the spots for the post holes have been staked. 

Main Garden Gate

Here's a shot of Terra Nova Gardens before the plowing and discing.  It doesn't look much different except for the protruding wild grape vines.  I will have to walk the garden and pull out the vines as much as I can.  The fence building can begin.  I'll start with the corner posts then fill in the rest of the posts.  A fence along the road will be made with the tall thin sapling trees you see along the back of the garden.

The inside project of the last week was plumbing.  Those that have followed this blog know that I have a love hate relationship (well maybe just hate) with plumbing.  This week the infamous bathroom that caused me fits a few blogs ago acted up again.  This time the newly installed sink and plumbing plugged.  I attribute it to being inactive for almost a decade.  Here's how it's done Old Nebraska Dave style.

Snaking out the drain

First the plumbing was removed.  I already knew it wasn't in the plumbing under the sink as it took a good amount of water to start backing up.  It would slowly go down over an hour or two.  The auger hit something hard at about 10 feet in.  After a few minutes of drilling at what ever it was phase two was implemented.

Cleaning Drain Phase 2

This is my own invention of sorts.  It can be the greatest thing ever or it can be a dog gone it why did I do that kind of a thing.  It's pipe connections hooked up to the drain with a garden hose adapter.  It can quickly turn into a disaster especially with old pipes.  Drains were not designed for pressure and if an old rusty pipe gets too much pressure it will explode out the side of the pipe.  That's why a good drilling with a drain snake is a must first.  So holding my breath I turned the water from the outside spigot on very low.  When water runs in my house, the water meter clicks and the sound of water running can be heard.  The water meter clicking right along and the sound of running water indicated the blockage was clear.  The water was cranked up to full blast for ten minutes to dislodge as much as possible and definitely flush it out to the street sewer line.  Of course the plumbing under the sink went back together without a hitch because .... it's new from the install (fluctuating voice).  Once again the sink and plumbing is in working order.  As you can see there was a bit of cleanup to do.  It was quite a wrestling match in close quarters with that drain snake.

Some seeds were planted before the rains came today.  It rained just enough not to be able to plant any more seeds.  So half the carrots and four Swiss Chard plants were snuggled into the soil.  Now a light misty rain has coated everything with a wet layer of moisture.  The forecast says rain every day this week.  That's OK the main garden water tank needs filling up.

Well, that's what's been happening in my part of the world.  Hopefully, yours is just as exciting. 

Happy trails until we meet again. (Dale Evans)

Spring Clean up Begins

Yesterday was a wonderful day to be outside tilling the soil in the garden.  All five backyard beds are ready for planting.  It won't be for another couple months before the warm weather plants like tomatoes and green peppers will be able to be planted.  It was just nice to be able to be outside in the Spring sunshine working in the dirt. 

Garden Ready for Planting

Here's a picture of the backyard with the garden ready for planting and the patio still under construction.  With the nice weather upon us here I'll be outside more and more.

The main water tank has been sealed and will be hooked up to the rain barrel just in time for the rain.  Tomorrow rain is predicted.  Light rain what ever that is.

First Harvest of the season

Ha, here's the first harvest of the season.  While digging up the garden beds, I came across these little gems.  I planted some fall carrots last year but didn't really think that any made it.  They were a little rubbery but quite tasty just the same.  I had to savor their great fresh garden taste as it will be several months before any other harvest will be coming.

Tulips and Daffodils

The flowers are starting to begin their beautification of the world.  Tulips, Daffodils, Iris, and Crocus are well on their way to blooming. 

Crocus are already flowering but a little spotty.  The first year they put on a great display but the second year down from the first and now this year very much down from the first year.   I thought Crocus were supposed to get better with age but maybe these new hybrids are not long term flowers.

Hard at work

I've been out at Terra Nova Gardens a lot this last week just working real hard.  Ah, well, except for the break times.  Here I'm waiting for the Quick Crete to dry so I can take down the stabilizing ropes.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  This is the anchor post for one side of the gate.  I call it the anchor post because all the measurements for the rest of the garden starts at this post.  The gate is up but the batteries in my camera died and I couldn't get a picture of the completed gate.  I've been giving the entire area (60' X 60') a hand rake with a stout garden rake.  I just want to get as much debris out of the area as I can before the man comes to plow up the garden.  So far I've found many treasures that have accumulated over the years.  They would not have been very friendly to the plow.  I have one more day of cleaning up before the plow man can come.  My plan is to fence in a 30'X30' section for first year garden space.  The neighbor across the road was wondering if I would have space for some potatoes so he will get a 30'X30' section behind the fenced garden.  The rest of the unfenced area measuring 30'X60' will be sweet corn for the critters and neighborhood if they can get there first.  I figure if I give the turkeys, squirrels, and rabbits easy pickings for the sweet corn then they just might leave my fenced in garden alone.  Well, that's the plan anyway.

So until next time.  Keep your tools sharp and your seeds dry until time to plant.

 Improvements on the Rain Barrel

I've been working outside on the rain water catch barrel.  This  is about version three and could possibly be the last improvement.  The weather here as been great.  Nice temperatures have given me a chance to begin with the Spring cleanup and start thinking about gardening.  Of course the first thing is to get the watering system back in service.

Improved water collection system

 This is the improved version of water flow into the barrel.  It incorporates a screen filter to keep leaves and sticks from entering the barrel. 

Under side of barrel lid

Here's a view of the under side of barrel lid.  You can see the screen covering the cut off five gallon bucket. I used a few screws to keep the bucket/screen/lid assembly from separating.

Screen filter bucket with lid

The barrel lid is in place with the bucket lid on the bucket.  The hole in the lid fits the down spout.  I have to say I didn't come up with this idea.  I found it on the Internet and thought it was a great way to catch water in the barrel.  The next rain will tell the story for sure.

Final assembly complete

Here it is all together with the gutters cleaned and waiting for the rain to pour off the roof.  The concrete base of the barrel needs to be moved over just a little more so the barrel is centered on the base.  That will be another day soon.

Keep you spade sharpened and your garden trowel within arm's reach.  Have a great day in the garden.

Work continues on the Food Storage Area

Eastern Nebraska has managed to dodge the bad weather patterns so far this year.  Only one recorded tornado in Nebraska and it was out in an unpopulated area.  Even the rains have been without concern.  The first good old fashioned thunder storm came through and left the streets clean from the winter crud and the air fresh as only a Spring thunder storm can.

The garden beds are still just a bit wet to work the soil but I expect in another week the gardening will be happening here at the Urban Ranch.  I have some plans for a couple garden beds to be fresh salad greens so I am planning on planting those soon.  Most of my garden area has always been warm weather plants so those will be started in the new seed starting station.

Food Storage Area

I started this area last year about this time thinking that I'd have it completed before the end of the year.  Life has a way of intervening doesn't it.  Well, and I just like to help others.  Last year seemed to be a year that many folks needed help.  It's sad to see how the economy has affected so many lives.  All of the moves that I helped with last year were forced moves because they just couldn't afford to live where they were. 

This started as an area that got stuffed with things that hadn't been seen in 20 years.  It was time to clean it out and bring it back into a useful area.  The walls and ceilings were bare studs.  My plan was to insulate the walls and ceilings and put drywall over the insulation.  A new wall will be built to actually close off this area from the rest of the house.  My hope is that the two outside concrete block walls will keep this area cool for storage in the winter months without actually freezing.

The one inside wall and the ceiling have been completed as far as the insulation and drywall.  Because of the new wall which will include a door the area will need a light.

Ceiling Light Electrical Box

The electrical wire was installed last year before the activities of Spring and summer gardening brought a halt to progress.  The light was purchased back then and has laid in wait for an entire year to be installed.  Yeah, I know, I'm not too speedy with projects around the home.  I'm about an hour away from having this light installed.

Shop Light fixture

I'm just a little cheap so instead of buying a fancy light fixture designed for ceiling installation I bought a shop light.  A shop light hangs from the ceiling with chains and has a cord that plugs into the wall socket to provide electricity.  The difference in price would be the reason I purchased a shop light instead of an actual ceiling light.  Some modifications will have to be made but with just a little change this light can be used as a ceiling light.  Since I had to install one light outside of the storage area and one light inside of the storage area the cost saving was about $30 for the two fixtures.  With the electrical plug cord removed and the hole for the ceiling wires to come through the fixture all that remains is to attach the ceiling box cover to the fixture, bring the wires through the hole, attach the fixture to the ceiling box, and wire the light into the circuit.

Ceiling Box Cover Ready for Attachment

Here the ceiling box cover has the knock out removed and has been placed over the hole drilled into the shop light fixture.  A little gizmo called a connector will actually fit through the hole and has a clamp on one side and a treaded nut on the other side.  It's used in electrical wiring to keep sharp edges away from insulated wires.  The connector will hold the cover plate in place on the fixture as well.  Two screw holes will be drilled to allow the fixture and the cover plate to be attached to the ceiling box.  Walla, wire it up and all done.  Well, of course, install the light bulbs.

There's always something going on around the Urban Ranch.  This year I am determined to finish some of the projects in progress.  Well, that is after I'm finished helping others.

Until next time keep the coffee on and your shadow in the garden.

Winter arrives in Nebraska

Winter finally arrived in Nebraska with a force to be reckoned.  Freezing rain and snow pelted us with two inches of freezing slush and five more wet snow on top of that.  The weight was similar to shoveling heavy sand.  I broke out the smaller snow shovel.  The temperatures dipped into the single digits with wind chill below zero.  Gone are the 70 degree days with bright sunshine.  We all knew the hammer had to fall some time but were sad to see it happen.  The good news is that it's 28 days until Spring.  Oh yeah, I'm anxious for that to happen this year.

I have to correct a grave mistake that I made in the last post.  My grandson was aghast at my utterance of building a Megatron Lego Transformer.  I must apologize to those Transformer folks out there.  This is not Megatron but it the mighty Sentinal Prime the once leader of all the Autobots who turned over to the bad side in the last Transformer movie.

Anyway the mighty Lego Sentinal Prime stands guard over the kitchen table as this picture is taken.  Can you tell Bradley is very happy about the great achievement he and grandpop have made.

I've started spring cleaning.  It's not that I thought it would make Spring get here any sooner but that Spring is always a busy garden time and spring cleaning just adds to it.  I thought I'd get it done early and not have to worry about it.  I've finished up the deep cleaning of the kitchen except for scrubbing down the floors.  My daughter has cleaned her room and Bradley's room so we are well on the way to gettin' ur done.

An update for Terra Nova Gardens is in order.  I haven't been able to work on the property because of the  snow and cold weather.  The soil there is what my Dad would call gumbo.  It's a rich river bottom soil that gets real sticky when it gets wet.  My Dad told me a young age that this soil is the best for growing any thing you want but just don't rush it when it's wet.  If any machinery is brought on the land, it will just dig down and bury itself.  If that happens walk away until it dries out and then it can be dug out.  Even though my Dad is gone, his wisdom still lives on through me. It's pretty amazing actually.

While walking over the property looking for hidden treasures, I came across a huge chunk of concrete about the size of a pickup truck bed.  It appeared that a project in the neighborhood many years ago involved concrete.  The left over portion in the truck was dumped in Terra Nova Gardens.  I spent an entire day with a pick axe and a sledge hammer breaking up the slab into manageable chunks. 

People of the neighborhood wave as they drive past and I'm starting to recognize a few that have talked with me.  Apparently there must be a city lot close that stores sand for the winter roads.  A huge yellow machine the hinges in the middle to turn and has a bucket big enough to scoop up my Ford Ranger if it wanted, passes on occasion.  I always wave and the driver waves back.  Once I got the big concrete slab dug up and busted up, along came the big yellow machine.  I happened to be sitting on a chunk of tree that made for a nice thing to sit on while resting and was contemplating just what to do with all those chunks of concrete.  The driver waved as he passed and came to a halt about 50 feet down the road.  He started backing up until he reached my position.  The window flew open and he popped out his head and asked if I wanted the concrete hauled away.  I was a bit surprised but said that I sure did.  He scooped it all up and put his finger to his lips with a Shhhhhh and off he went down the road.  What great fortune and acceptance I've had from the neighborhood.

               Click on the picture for a better

               look at the design.

After numerous revisions, the design of Terra Nova is starting to come together.  I'm not going to say this is the final design but with a little help from my friends at GRIT with their awesome garden designer, the plan looks pretty good.  Now comes the labor part which is to actually do the work.  After struggling with a concrete slab, I'm wondering what other treasures will I find as the garden beds are prepared.  Understand that this is a many year plan and I'm thinking it will take about four maybe five years to complete this plan.  That is if I don't find too many more assets to recycle.

I had another round with cars.  My daughter came home last week and informed me that the bakes were grinding on her car.  Nice. :0(  Parts were bought and work began.  I do not have an inside place to work on cars so the driveway becomes the workshop area for such things.  All went well until the test drive.  The grinding noise when the brakes were applied was eliminated but now a continuous rubbing noise replaced it.  Removal and inspection of the new brake pads revealed that one of the pads was defective.  The other set of pads were used and all was well.  The brake pads on the other side of the car looked new.  We bought this car very used about two months ago so we are still working out the kinks.  Ah, the joys of buying a used car.  Oh, I forgot to mention that it was snowing and dark while working on the car.  It took five hours for what should have been an hour job.  I love working on cars. :0)

There's more but I think I'll leave that for a later post.  Have a great pre Spring day.  Gardening season it not far away now.

Leave a comment about what's been happening in your world.

Update for Terra Nova Gardens

Progress continues at Terra Nova Gardens.  I discovered today by talking with a neighbor in the area that the tree being cut down is actually a Mulberry tree and not a cotton wood.  The tree is now all cut into chunks.  Some need to be split before being stacked. 

I had time to stake out some of the garden beds and dig one before the snow began.  It appears that this land has been the recipient of dumping for some years.  I have found many vine roots, rocks, chunks of concrete, carpet, and car parts.  That's just in the first 4 foot by 8 foot garden bed.  In another spot, I found a sizable chunk of concrete that will possibly need to be dug out and broken up.  There's many other assets to be recycled on the property such as old tires, big rocks, and four inch trees that could be used for rustic fence rails.

I truly feel like a land owner now.  My first tax assessment came in the mail yesterday.  I paid the whole $10.74 for the year.  Ah, yeah, I could have paid just the first half year of taxes but I thought, "I'll just be a big spender and pay the whole thing at once." 

Finally all the parts for the seed starting station have been bought and assembly began.  With only a few interruptions from Bradley, the station was completed.  Now the timer will be plugged into wall socket where the extension cord is plugged.  I've heard there needs to be a little wind on the growing plants to make the stems strong instead of spindly and leggy so I will get a small clip on fan to provide the gentle wind.  The seed starting station is not too fancy, didn't cost much, is adjustable, and can easily be expanded.  The lighting is two 4-foot shop florescent lights with four sunlight bulbs.  I wanted a four bulb fixture but really $30 was a bit much so I bought two 2-bulb lights at $9 each.  It works just as good maybe better.  I'll put an old towel under the heat mat to help it work a little better.  These shelves are three foot in length.  I could have bought four foot shelves but it would have been a little tight to get to the furnace so I decided to purchase a six foot shelf and cut it in half, which was cheaper anyway, giving an extra foot for furnace maintenance.

Granny blessed Bradley with the most awesome Christmas present.  Well that's according to him anyway.  This is a Lego Kreo Megatron Transformer.  There's 346 parts with an instruction book of 105 steps to assemble the awesome Transformer.  The above picture is two hours into the construction at step number 25.  Below is five hours into the assembly with the completion of step 68.  Woo hoo over half finished.  I expect another 3 or 4 hours of pure grand pop and grandson bliss.  Well, actually it is kind of fun seeing his excitement as he assembles Megatron.  It's team work.  I find the parts and Bradley assembles them.  Actually he's pretty good at it.  He's much faster at assembling than old grand pop is at finding the parts.

The weather is finally getting colder well for a couple days at least.  Back in the 40s by the weekend.  I should be able to do some more surface clearing at Terra Nova Gardens by next week.  Yesterday was a volunteer day at a local non profit organization.  Plugging some floor holes where water pipes used to go to the steam radiators before the hot air furnace retrofit happened.  Today just a coast day.

Have a great day everyone and I'll catch up with ya later.

Update for Terra Nova Gardens

It's time for an update on Terra Nova Gardens. A lot has happened since the last post. I've actually got the deed in my possession. Once again it was a little disappointing to see the actual deed. I mentioned in the last post about how unsatisfying the non signing of the final action of acquiring the property was. Well, the deed was just a piece of regular printer paper basically giving information as to where the property was located and to whom it belonged. The Notary Public stamp was not even embossed. It was just a stamp. I guess I was just expecting a little more flare. Oh, well, I can get started with some real work now. It's going to be a long process to bring this property under production. Since the weather has been so warm I've been able to start work much sooner than I expected. I first have to start with a story about a man I met on the first day working at Terra Nova Gardens. I have nothing but hand tools so armed with a rake, small branch loppers, and a shovel, I started the daunting task of cleaning out the first year's area for gardening. Along came curious Larry. He has a son that lives right across the road. Larry is an old (85 year old) construction worker that basically drives the neighborhood looking for conversation. We struck up a conversation and I explained that I had plans for a garden on this property. After a few more minutes of conversations, he indicated that we could get some fuel for his machine, as he called it, and he could scrape all the those weeds off the property. He never would quite say how much he would charge and always dodged the question. So for the good sake of the being a good neighbor so to speak, I agreed that he could help. I really didn't know what to expect. We climbed in his old beater truck and drove to the gas station for off road diesel fuel. He used his machine (medium sided Bobcat) and worked for about an hour scraping off the weed, vines, and scrub brush. After the process was finished, I asked how much I owed him. He said, "How about 20 bucks." After I got over the shock of how cheap it was, I couldn't get the money out of the wallet fast enough. Now it seems that I've made a friend for life as he has made it his mission to watch my property to made sure no one will be messing around with it.

It looks a lot better since the weeds and debris have been scraped off. I have been able to get a better look at the ground. I thought the water issue would be not enough but it seems that the issue just might be too much. There are several wet spots on the property. The soil in these spots is black mucky sticky dirt. However, with raised beds I should be OK and probably will have to do much less watering that I had first expected. I've talked with several neighbors, who probably think I'm a crazy old coot, and have discovered some history of the area. It seems that this area was a river bottom at one time in the early 1900s until they confined the Missouri river to it's current channel. The water table is high here and my friend Larry said it would take less than ten foot to hit as much good water as I wanted. So my spring up behind the other cottonwood tree, which is called in this neighborhood a sink hole, just might supply a goodly amount of water if nurtured in the right way. Since I am massively ahead of schedule, I decided to cut down part of an old cottonwood tree that would fall right in my gardens should it decide to do that. As it turned out the tree had a hollow core and most assuredly would at some time fallen in my garden area. Armed with big Bertha, my chainsaw's name, and all the technical support things that must go with a chainsaw, I started the task of cutting down the 50 foot tree. After about three hours of nibbling around the base of the tree and many coffee breaks the first crack was heard and the tree moved about a half an inch. From then on it was give that notch a little buzz and stand back and listen for more cracks and movement. After three more buzz and runs, the tree let out a major crack and moved another inch. Two more little nibbles at the back side relief cut and the tree crashed to the ground right where I hoped it would fall. For the next two days a friend of mine and I sawed away at the tree slowly but surely getting it down to the bare trunk.

It doesn't look too scary now does it? You can see over on the left side a branch that was buried into the ground when the tree fell. You will see it better when you view the video. I worked on getting that branch out of the ground for about an hour and a half. I dug a two foot hole around the branch and it still went deeper in the earth. I finally just fired up big Bertha and cut the branch off two foot under the ground and covered up the stump. One thing I did discover was the the dirt had a rich black look and had good texture to it. In most parts of our city the top soil is a little anemic and is only about 6 inches deep at most then a hard pan clay soil goes on forever. Here as I dug the two feet down the soil remained the deep rich black earth. It had a few chunks of small rock in it but all the better for drainage.

If you made it this far and are still with me, then here's a video tour of how Terra Nova Gardens look today. I hope you are enjoying the reclamation of Terra Nova Gardens.



As the sun sets behind the trees, the light grows dim, and the turkeys come to roost high in the trees above Terra Nova Gardens ever watchful for any suspious activity as the nocturnal critters creep out to see what has happened to their world. Tune in next time for another episode of how Terra Nova Gardens is evolving. Leave a comment to tell me what you think. Have I really jumped off the deep end into the deep dark depths of a sink hole or is there hope for this vision?

(Muttering to myself as I walk away from the computer with voice trailing off) Oh man, I'm just not as young as I used to be. Where is that bottle of Alieve? I sure could use a hot tub right now. Aw that hot shower and coffee will really feel good tonight. (big sigh) It was a great day. I'm going to just sit down here in the recliner for a minute. (big yawn) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz