Finally, a quiet day.

After spending a hot, humid day out moving sprinklers and taking care of our herd of horses, today is a day to relax.  It is truly magnificent here today.  Sunny, warm but not hot, with just enough of a breeze to keep the heat from sweltering us as the day progresses.

Sitting in the shade and soaking this all in, it is wonderful to sit back and take a break from the chaos of our property.  We have a five year plan, and this is only year two, but sometimes it seems like we put in a year's worth of work only to get three months of return.

At the local sidewalk show, the annual Allied Arts Show, I was horribly disappointed.  It seems the unique artists are gone, being filled in with more of the same.  Either its cutesy, over colored, or something I wouldn't want on my property.  There were a few elements, but the old sparkle is gone. I have to admit my mum and I were heartbroken at the lack of originality.  Hopefully, as the economy starts to recover, so too will the artisans who made this a remarkable experience.  Until then, we love our house, our pets, and our life.  We can sit in the sun, enjoy a coffee, and think how lucky we are.  After all, we're not broke after a weekend of shopping.

BlytheLea L.E.

Ach, sprinklers.  Here at BlytheLea, our outdoor irrigation is off of a canal and metal lines that have to be moved twice daily.  It feels, after years with underground PVC, like we've descended to the Stone Age.  After nearly a week of trying to fix the breakage wrought by a lazy person who shall not be named, we finally, finally, got it all up and running.  Today, though, marked the first real test of having to move it all after an hour of work, simply to get them going and water some more.  Now, after this, will be time to move the lines yet again.  Oh how I miss underground sprinklers that run off a timer.  Still, we love our home and property, the horses are happy, the garden is thriving, we can simply count the sprinklers as our daily work out from here on out.  Oh, and weeding.  Sprinklers and weeding.

Off to move some more water,

BlytheLea L.E. & J.R.

Have a similar experience?  Let us know!

Early Morning Sunrise

We at BlytheLea are not morning people.  We simply get up because we have to.  Tragic thing about summer, if you want to get anything done before dying of heat stroke, you have to get up early to do it.  That was teh case this morning.  Up nearly in time to watch the sunrise in order to get the raking done.  Tomorrow will be up at dawn to clean up the mess of today.  Sadly, the window is a small one, but here we are, rewarding our effort with coffee at Starbucks.  Maybe, just maybe, we can make this work!

In other news, our corn is finally sprouting!  Super excited to watch as our corn spirals come in.  As soon as it looks like something other than dirt and sprigs, we'll post an update.  In the meantime, still have the horses to watch out for as the heat rises.  Luckily, the smart ones like to be hosed down.  Okay, so they're all smart, but the two who bear the brunt of this weater tend to be the smartest this time of year!  Well, here's to another day done, and another coming tomorrow.

BlytheLea L.E. & J.R.

We welcome feedback!

Not so Helpful Helpers

Just a quick update here.  The garden is starting to take off.  Our planted from seed melons and squash are quickly gaining on the bought plants, and in a few days, I think, will pass them.  Tani, our oldest of our equine herd, has always loved watermelon.  We plant one for her every year. 

 However, the problem with the garden is our puppy.  Count Nikolas Ilyavich Rostov, Nikki for short, has taken to helping in the garden.  He likes to walk where we're watering, run through our melon patches and our corn spirals (our corn will look like a landing platform for aliens soon).  However, we love him, so we have to accept this and smile.

And here he is!  Okay, that was about all I had to share today.  Thanks for those who visit, feel free to comment. Now we'll be sitting out back waiting for the grass/plants to grow.

BlytheLea L.E. and J.R. (and Nikki)

The Problem With Weeding

The problem with weeding, besides that fact that I hate to do it, is that the process usually ends in injury.  This time, it began with an injury, and now I am miserable and my mom has thrown out her back.  It is a never ending cycle.  I would love to say that with all this misery came result, but after planting all morning, well, it will take awhile to admit results.  However, I will finally have pictures to post and prove that this is working when the corn and peas do pop up, and, thankfully, the weeds are much more controlled.  That means the picture might even look nice, too.

An additional problem with weeding is the prolonged sense of misery.  Yeah, there are proper ways to weed,  I worked for UPS for four years.  I know the ten rules to proper lifting and lowering, but sometimes a stubborn weed or patch of grass just makes you so focused on destroying the invader you forget the mechanics of your own body.  That, however, is not the additional problem.  No, that would be the fact that sitting down to sew will hurt for the rest of the day too.  C'est la vie, and la vie hurts right about now.

Signing off...

BlytheLea L.E.

P.S. Feel free to leave comments, questions, and if you'd like to see what we've accomplished so far, our shop name is  Mumaroo and we are on Etsy and Facebook.

Summer is here, and the heat is startingt to swelter.  Luckily, we've got air conditioning.  However, this means that the work outside is less and the work inside is much, much more.  The garden is up and running, though we have to water twice a day in this heat.  We'll sit back and wait to dine on the fruits of our labors.  In the mean time, there is still sewing for Mumaroo.

Ah, sewing.  In the span of one day, I managed to knock out three dresses and post four.  I was pretty impressed with myself, if I do say so.  However, I have to admit to hating the following things: bias binding, grommets, and arm holes on doll dresses.  I love to create the patterns, though, and that keeps me going.

Mum will be doing curtains soon, and getting those up will be a welcome relief.  However, it means my time with the sewing has been curtailed.  I'll be sitting twidling my thumbs or being outside working with the horses in the heat.  think I'll brave the heat.  Until next time...