windy day

4/1/09 Wednesday
It’s going to be a windy day and they say it will be blowing for three or four days. This will be hard on the already severely damaged greenhouse. I just haven’t the time or money to build the wooden frame that would not just save it but make it better. Even the ropes holding it down are about dead. They’re the poly plastic kind and the sun just eats them up.

I heard a commotion outside with the dogs going crazy so I hurried out to see. It was the old man and he had his dog in the truck with him. That’s what got Rascal and Trixie so worked up. When I walked up to his window he handed me a check saying “I can’t let you pay for those tires. There was no arguing about it so I accepted. That would make him feel better so it’s the best thing to do. That helps take a bite out of the $570.00 we spent to get back on the road that night. Speaking of bites, Cherie finally got her itemized bill from the hospital, along with additional bills from various doctors or services provided. Of course they had run every possible test they could cram in there so her anxiety attack cost more than three grand, way more than I feel it should have been. She’s going to negotiate payments and that will simply be what we can afford, about fifty bucks a month. That goes to the hospital but the other individual bills may not be as easy to negotiate.

I can’t believe it’s already noon. Don’t feel like I’ve gotten a thing done. Last night I prepared nine seed starting trays. I watered them well this morning to soak the soil mixture in preparation for planting. I hope the soil mix works. I put in 1/3 sifted composted horse manure (with a little cow manure mixed in) 1/3 peat moss, and the other third was some potting soil I found under the sand that the wind blew in. The bag was ripped but there was plenty of dried up dirt left.

I left the sprinklers on all night. This is the same as last year and the year before. I might be getting better in some areas but still forget badly. I want to invest in timers that turn water on and off. Automating that would be of tremendous value and help reduce my leaving things on and forgetting.
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It’s warming up now. That means I must come in and rest more often. Would rather stay out there working. I’m getting lost a lot today. I was unloading the stuff I picked up at the landfill and it took a long time because I kept getting distracted by something else that needed doing. I was out with the tiller running when I remembered I was unloading the truck. On the way to finish unloading I saw some broken glass that the wind had uncovered so picked it up. About an hour later as I was digging a trench to install the sprinkler system out front I remembered I was unloading the truck. It’s unloaded now. I’m intending to finish the irrigation tubing project, at least the small part that I’m going to plant the cannas in. Don’t have a clue if it will happen but that’s my intention.
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Well, my morning has just been scheduled. It’s been windy all day but as I was working on restoring “Paco” a squall came through with a vengeance. I couldn’t see the house from the garage because the sand was so thick. I shut the garage down and came in. A section of wood fence flew up and caught on the handrail with a bang. I knew that the odds were slim the greenhouse would survive this, and it didn’t. Cherie was upset and went out with a flashlight to recover it but it was gone. There are pieces of it and everything that was in it strewn all across the fields, along with some fencing. So tomorrow morning, when it gets light out, I’m picking up pieces