Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Day Three Hundred Ninety-Six

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Several of these beauties are now lying on the ground from all the rain we had over the past two days. I’ll go check on them later and see if I can somehow prop them up.

I’m about 1 hour from finishing my puzzle – just have to fill in some background pieces. When I was sitting on the sofa with my sweetie this morning, I decided to count how many 1000 piece puzzles I have assembled this year. The answer is: Fourteen. I’ve done fourteen puzzles since I started my first (which came from John Derian) on January 12th. I have two more on the way, so I guess we’ll eventually get to sixteen. I’ve been gathering all my puzzles together to drop off at my friend Heidi’s house. She works with a community-based organization that has a resale shop. I asked her if the community organization she works for would like them for their resale shop and she answered with a resounding yes. I feel good about donating them.

I didn’t see our wren at all over the past two days, but that makes sense because it was raining. I started to worry that he may have given up. But no! He’s back this morning, adding more nest building material. The other day I watched him face the opening and look at it, then go around to the side of the trailer to check that out, then the other side, then around back, and finally, he hopped up on top of the trailer and looked out. It was adorable.

I had a great coaching session with my friend yesterday. I wrote to him afterward and thanked him for his loyalty and for giving me the chance to work for the first time in over a year.

The sun has come out and I’m feeling grateful.

Tomorrow? We reach the two-week-since-our-second-shot mark. That means….drumroll…we’re headed to our favorite bookstore! We’re so excited. We’ll also walk around the charming town of Rhinebeck – we’ll walk on actual sidewalks and look in actual shop windows. There’s also a large antique shop there, and we may stop there as well. On the other hand, we may be too overstimulated by a simple bookstore visit. Who knows?

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Day Three Hundred Ninety-Five

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Lilac buds.

Periwinkle in the woods.

Just beyond the lilac side of our front lawn are the remnants of two old stone foundations.

This one is near the road.

And this one is behind it.

They’re separate buildings. I can’t be sure what they were used for, but I suspect they were outbuildings of some kind. We wondered for a while whether they were actually on our property, but they are. We found the property markers last spring. The foundation that borders the road is just inside the property line. It’s rather wild in this area, lots of fallen trees and the rusty remains of barbed wire (on the edge of the property) and there’s also a very rusted enclosure where some sort of animal was kept – most likely, chickens. That’s a mess, and it would have to be removed by professionals. We’ve just left it as is. But it’s evidence of life lived long ago on this just-under-two-acres where we live. Our house was built in 1891, but these buildings seem older.

On to other things: For the past two Sundays, the email version of my post hasn’t gone out. Last Monday, it went out, attached to Monday’s post. Who knows why? When I realize that it hasn’t gone out, I usually do what they call a ‘ping’ to update the feed. Anyway, that’s all I can do. I really have no control over it and I’m not going to pay for another service. So, as always, if you don’t get the email, come directly to the blog.

It’s another rainy day today and I have to coach my friend again, so I’ll be zooming with Bombay. Rather exotic! When I coached him the other day, I realized it was the first time I had worked professionally in over a year. It was awfully nice to rediscover that I can be of service and I’m good at what I do. Awfully nice.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Day Three Hundred Ninety

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We’re at 390 days. Do I stop titling the blog post by number of days at four hundred? Do I keep on going? I’ve been thinking about that lately and I can’t decide what to do. I don’t know if I want this to go on endlessly. My question this morning…

We went to our local nursery yesterday. There’s very little there as it’s too early in the season to have plants outdoors that might not survive a frost. So far, it looks like we might skate through the next few weeks safely, but you never know. Of course, I knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of stock – I was there specifically for the pansies, which they had in abundance. I also got some more potting soil, a couple of beautiful Italian pots that I knew I had to snag while I had the chance. Don stocked up on some vegetables. Oh, and I bought my seed packets.

Still, there’s so much to be done outside! So much cleaning up. We came back and raked gravel that had been deposited on the lawn by the snowblower back onto the driveway. I cleared the culvert, which was clogged by wet leaves. That was really exhausting, as the opening to the pipe that runs under our driveway was completely blocked and I had to straddle the culvert. The county is supposed to do this – the culverts are their property. But they rarely do. We also started to prune the big burning bush in the garden. It takes both of us because some of the branches are too high for me to reach.

Today, I’m going to rake out one area of the garden bed – where the grasses grow. Better to get the dead grasses out now before the new growth gets too long. And I’m going to plant the pansies in the pots. I didn’t get to that yesterday.

We get tired out and stop. I’m determined to not push myself like I have in years past. I can take my time and I’m going to. I think, counting the trip to the nursery/farmstand, we were doing something outside for just about two and a half hours. Not all that long.

We came inside, took showers, checked each other for ticks, and took it easy for the rest of the day.

I’m thinking it will be soon be time to put the cushions on the glider and move the Adirondack chairs out of the shed and onto the porch. I’ve already moved the chairs and bench back onto the Funky Patio and today I’ll move two more chairs and a little table out to the Secret Garden.

It feels good to be getting some exercise and to be outdoors again.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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