Summer To-Do List

We've been officially into summer for more than a week, but things at our little homestead are so behind that I'm just now getting around to figuring out what I want to accomplish this summer before going back to work. Too many things.



1. Finish the garden.

You know, like actually getting the fence done. Putting the rest of the mulch down. Weeding out the mess.

2. Clean up the basement.

The workout room is pretty much finished. And the bathroom is functional. But the main room is a disaster. Boxes and broken items, a stove and a refrigerator, a huge pile of recycling lie around waiting to be taken care of. This needs to be done before winter hits again (Hey, four months comes sooner than you think!).

3. Get the craft room organized.

It’s in the same state as the basement, minus the old appliances.

4. Finish those curtains!

Yeah, the fabric is still sitting on the cutting table waiting to be sewn up.

5. Paint the living room.

Gray.

6. Kitchen

The current plans are to refinish the countertops with concrete and paint the cabinets. This will be a semi-big project so this will probably be the focus of the second half of July.

That’s it. Only six items on the list, but most of the projects are pretty lengthy. This week’s focus is the garden. Then we will be heading on vacation, so by the time we come back, it will be time for the kitchen. If we are able to get that done before the end of July, that will leave only two weeks in August to complete the rest. Eek! Better get on it!

We have a gate!

It stopped raining for a whole day so we were able to install the gate that we built a while back.

Looking at this made me squeal with delight.

Nearing the completion of our garden project, we spent Saturday making the area pest proof. We installed the gate, put rocks along the bottom of the fence, and started putting the trim around the lattice.

Gizmo and Leela were around to help.

We created the gate some time ago using a piece of lattice cut to size (it’s something like 3.5 feet wide) and four 2x4’s on each side. The lattice is sandwiched between the eight boards. Then we bought a self-closing gate kit at Lowe’s. It was very easy to install. We first had to decide which way the gate would swing. We hopefully picked the way that is the most functional for anybody who would want to come down here!

Mike was able to do most of the installation himself, so I was able to snap some pictures. Just screw the hinges on, and put the latch on, and you’re done! We also bought a handle, but since the gate is self-closing, it’s really just for show. We haven’t put it on the gate yet.

As you can see, there is still a lot of lumber remaining in our garden! We did get a start on making the pile smaller by framing out the lattice on the fence.

This is going pretty quick, so hopefully it’ll be done soonish.

Mike filled in the gaps in the fence with some large rocks that we dug up while putting up the fence. I spent most of my time weeding and laying down mulch. More of that to come later. It’s really starting to look nice!

Once the mulch is down and the trim and header is put on the fence, we will be able to call this thing done!