See Herb Garden, Part 1 for the start of this project to turn the previous owner’s leftover topsoil aka Karl’s dirt pile into an Herb Garden…

The pile has been weeded and some garden weed and feed applied. I smoothed it out mostly in the shape I think I want and have been putting a few rocks in the vicinity in preparation for making a rock border and maybe a few here and there in the “garden” for “interest”.

Last weekend I went to the nursery, clutching my “Swan Bucks” (nursery coupons) only to find that they do not have any herbs left. Same story 2 other places. Sooooo… decided that I would let the snow do what it will to my shape and start looking for seeds and plants in the Spring. The garden catalogs always have ideas for “planned” gardens and although I don’t necessarily want that, I decided I probably need some help in what looks good as far as mixing the height of things. And I might add some perennials that make pretty cut flowers for the house - there are a few that the deer don’t like - at least the nursery says so…I haven’t consulted the deer…

Although not a casualty to the deer, one of my hanging baskets gave up the ghost last week. The blue lobelia went first - I’m thinking too much sun as I know it likes shade. The lobelia died in both baskets, but everything (mountain bells) died in the smaller. I finally put the thing out of its misery, moved the remaining basket to a hanger on the garage and got 2 baskets of petunias from the end of the year 50% off sale. Hopefully, all will hang in until the snow flies… It was impatiens that did so well last year.

A little weather note … 2 months ago yesterday, it snowed about 4 inches here. We had our longest, little “heat wave” this past week of 3 days that barely hit 90. This morning it is 44 and maybe will make it out of the 70’s… with another mini-heat wave of 3 days due this weekend. After this weekend we are past the mid-point of August and although September and even October can have beautiful warm (upper 70’s) days - the days are getting noticeably shorter, the light is changing - we are headed towards Fall! I love this time, love Fall - this morning’s cool, crispness is a wonderful signal that it is not far off!

Oh, not really…

But, yesterday - August 1 - the chimney sweep, Doug Heil, was here and swept the chimney. I am ready for fall fires in the woodstove.

But, January, 2006, I DID have a fire in the hole…chimney. It was frightening on several fronts…

I was sound asleep at all of 10:30. The living room smoke detector went off and before I even jumped out of bed, the bedroom one chimed in – the wood burning stove chimney, well actually the stove pipe, was glowing red and the stove was trying to “breath” and smoke started pouring out so I grabbed Bob’s carrier and literally threw him in it, called to Karl to “load up”. Karl was out the front door and by the garage door before I got to the garage. We were in the Jeep and down the driveway toute suite… but – no flames so I left the Jeep running (down past the house!) and tiptoed back – things looked a little calmer. It was VERY smoky but the stove had stopped heaving so I grabbed computers and small electronics – still no flames… opened windows and doors, took down the smoke alarms and removed batteries – they were all going off – it was pretty dramatic and VERY loud.

So… what to do. Ironically I did not call the Fire Department. I was due at my first meeting later that week, it was Sunday night and knowing the department is all volunteer – anyway, stupid but I thought, well, no flames and those guys are all home with families. So…. Moved the Jeep to a spot off the driveway by the road – came back to the house – moved the motorhome down the driveway past the house – moved pets and all stuff and me into the motorhome. About midnight, the smoke had cleared so I put fresh batteries in all the alarms and reset them – none went off. About 1:30 a.m. the stove was stone cold so we went back in the house.

While I was sitting in the motorhome listening and expecting my house to burst into flames, I had a long think about whether I had made the right selections for fire insurance and what I would do if the house burned and it wasn’t as fun as it sounds. It took me the better part of the next week to “recover” – I realized after that I should have called the Fire Department right away. They have a chemical they use plus I would have had company, i.e. less stress versus sitting on my own and thinking about worse case scenarios. I would have been back in the house several hours sooner AND probably saved my chimney which was a $600 hit to replace.

The good news is I learned some things…

Doug Heil is a nice man, knows chimneys, knows wood - he inspected my wood source, was more than fair on charges and got there lickety split.

I need to be vigilant about the condition of my chimney and clean or have it cleaned regularly.

The local fire department crew LIVES for “the run”…don’t hesitate to call again!

My fire insurance is good, I KNOW what it is and what is covered and that I could rebuild and replace the “stuff” if I had to.

My dog and cat…and me as well - we do fine in an emergency…although Bob was a bit miffed at being literally tossed into the carrier.

…maybe not as miffed as I thought. I left the carrier open on this daybed and he went in on his own, not 2 days after the fire drill…

At any rate, neither pet panicked or ran which was a mini-”back of the mind” nightmare I had had on occasion when thinking through what I might need to do in event of a fire.

August 1 - the chimney is clean and ready for Fall.

**in response to questions about the 2nd chimney and the other “thing”…the 2nd chimney is for a wood cookstove in the kitchen. Previous owners had the cookstove but took it with them - I hope - someday to get one so have left the chimney. The other thing is the top of a “light tube” - like a small skylight.

Yesterday afternoon I needed a break from programming and was thinking on a little strength training session. But, it was beautiful outdoors - not too hot, nice breeze…so I combined a bit of strength work with the start of my herb garden project.

The “plan” for the herb garden is to smooth out the pile of dirt - topsoil pile left by the last owner and somewhat commandeered by Karl. (see King of the Hill )

The weeds and grass need to be removed. I am going to mow around the pile a bit and surround it with a rock border. I’m not sure what herbs or other things I will plant - I will wait and see what the nursery has when I’m ready. I hope to be ready to go to the nursery by mid-August when they put all perrenials, including herbs on sale. This should work well as I don’t plan on killing myself to get the dirt ready for planting.

This not killing myself to get it all done RIGHT NOW - this is a recently acquired “skill”. In my youth and not so distant past I would have decided it all needed to be done immediately. Yesterday, as I approached the dirt pile with my first wheelbarrow full of rocks and looked at the grass and weeds that needed to be pulled - and I was already hot from picking up rocks - I said to myself…”Hmmm, think I’ll just clean up this one little corner for today”. That’s when it struck me that I’d changed - and the thing is, it is a good change and a change that makes the project more fun than work! I don’t NEED to do it all RIGHT NOW. I can do a bit at a time - taking breaks in my work day to get outside and do something active. And I find myself looking forward to what little bit I might get done today - and enjoying thinking about how I might arrange rocks and what plants I might get…some day…

This change to doing projects a bit at a time - yes, partly due to the fact that it is not as easy at 52, almost 53 to work physically hard for hours, but it is driven more by an appreciation for enjoying the moment and the task versus a “just get it done” attitude.

I cleaned up the little corner of the dirt pile, dumped my first load of small rocks and took a moment to look at the progress. The sun warmed dirt and just pulled weeds and grass had that “working in the garden” smell. Karl was working on a stick nearby. It was a simple, joyful, moment - one I might have missed if all I had in mind was getting it done.

I’ve got plenty of rocks to choose from…

Enjoying the moment, smelling the dirt, feeling the sunshine…Herb Garden, part 1.

If you don’t know or remember what Plan B is… search “Plan B” in the search box and all related posts will appear for your reading pleasure!

Karl and I headed to Kalispell by way of Somers, MT (walk) for groceries shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday. I love shopping early - practically no one else in the store and I can meander a bit. The meandering ended in the cold beer section as I knew “we” were going to be finishing the electric service and yesterday was to be day 1 of a 2 day heat wave - temps forecast to be in the upper 90’s. An ice cold beer might come in handy later - and Bill has a friend who collects micro-brewery bottles so we are always on the lookout for local beer. Shortening the story a bit, I bought a 6 pack of Wild Huckleberry Wheat Lager brewed in Whitefish, MT at the Great Northern Brewing Company. They only make the Wild Huckleberry in the summer - it has just a hint of huckleberry and sweetness and Bill had not had any huckleberry anything yet. And the label is pretty and unique enough for friend Roger’s collection.

Back at the “ranch”, Bill was in the “fortress of solitude” - what he’s taken to calling the bus as it is his tv and computer room while I’m working… I announced breakfast and after that we headed out to finish up the electric service project. Bill had connected things at the garage end last week and then had a 2 day hiatus to take the bus to Missoula to get the satellite tv equipment looked at. That’s important to know as it did not go well and necessitates a number of phone calls for this morning - this figures later in this narrative…

Saturday, the garage panel was installed as well as the rv outlet boxes:

Climbing the ladder and tossing the wire over the rafters as well as stapling it to the trusses and the wall - that was my bit. It required major supervision. I managed to keep from dropping my hammer on the supervisor but it was a close call a few times…

So Yesterday, which was to be the FINAL day for the electric service part of Plan B…the plan (there is that dirty word again…) was to pound the 6 foot ground rod, 5 feet into the ground (my job…) and hook up the business end of the wire to the main power pedestal.

Remember what the ground looked like on Trenching Tuesday??? I apparently forgot… The ground rod is currently in the ground - just short of 2 feet, with a bit over 4 feet to go. I have to get a mallet of some sort… or have crazy Dave come back with his machine and push it in. It is in far enough for short term. The connecting of stuff to the power pedestal went easier although I had a role in that also - minor and my part always involves going low or high…in this case in the dirt to glue and assemble the final pvc elbows. But after that, I was released and took a short nap while his highness finished up the technical stuff.

Then…..about 2 p.m….all done and ready to turn on a light and plug in RVs!

Light in the garage! Power in the garage - that’s a charger plugged in and its little “charging” light was on! Next, plug in the bus - power and shortly, all 3 A/C units came on line!

Winnebago (30 amp) - this is getting too long and I maybe already lost a number of readers who don’t care about electric service to my garage…suffice to say, the 30 amp has a problem and the troubleshooting was unsuccessful and also baffling and involves my SurgeGuard unit which tests for “good” power before sending it on to the Winnebago. AND the SurgeGuard tests the 50 amp fine…ruling out a problem with the SurgeGuard - we think….

Bottom line - frustrated, hot, man who hates to stop with things not working and more phone calls for this morning. I’m not going anywhere near that bus, which will be the scene of the phone calls, until maybe late-afternoon and then I’m going armed with Wild Huckleberry beer…

My apologies to all hoping for pretty mountain photos today - maybe tomorrow! And for those who felt lost with yesterday’s post…”WHAT??? you mean you have not been following the minute details of my life for the past several weeks??? - it is NOT all about me???” Oh, well…Click here to read the prior post wherein Plan B is described… Then, click on the flower in the pot (upper left corner) to come “home”.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity here at la casa…

Dave and his grandson Zack - Bill supervised… - opened the trench. There were a few rocks…they are not called the Rocky Mountains for nothing.

The line was laid in the trench and then the backfilling started. The trench crossed the phone line 3 times and the main power to the house once. Kudos to Zack and Dave for their delicate work around those spots and everything still works! (The “Call before you Dig” people had been here and marked everything accurately.)

My vision of this process was that it would end up with a neat little foot or foot-and-a-half of dirt where the trench had been dug. I bought two bags of a mix of grass seed and starter fertilizer in a kind of foam stuff that is supposed to get grass going in 7-10 days. My plan was to put this down on the strip of dirt left by the trenching and have green stuff back (vs dirt/mud) in no time.

So…another plan is required. I was told that I need to leave the whole thing alone for awhile…let it rain, snow, etc. on the ground and see how the rocks and dirt settle in. Then maybe some compacting and topsoil. So be it.

Bob took things pretty much in stride until the other fun of the day occurred. The new mattress set we ordered was delivered…3 times. We ordered a California King and they don’t sell many so there was confusion over the boxes and the frame but 3 trips and we had it all set. And OMG - vast improvement and I feel like a new person this morning! I went too cheap on the queen set I bought when I bought this house - it was soft and saggy and too small for Bill, Bob (the cat for any new readers!) and I…and yes, Bob has wormed his way onto the bed at night, but mostly sticking to the foot between various feet. Daytime naps he takes on his own spot.

That was our day. Today, who knows?