06/28/2022 I really can’t believe that in 2 months, we will have been Kentuckians for a year. How? Why do I feel like we just got here yet when I really think about it, I get visions (more like nightmares) of Walt and the never-ending story. Time flies, especially when you wonder what in the heck you’re doing in Kentucky.
We’re slowly making this place look like a home, nothing is easy OR CHEAP. I would need a full-time job to be able to buy flowers like I used to, back when they were reasonably priced. It’s ridiculous now. Then there is our soil. We had 20 loads brought in. I was told (liar liar) that it was good soil. It’s not, it’s hard pack clay. We added 3 huge bags of peat moss and a dozen bags of compost and manure. It’s still nasty. Bill hooked up a sprinkler system immediately because he knew he wouldn’t want to listen to me whine and moan because I had to drag the hose to water. It’s not the watering I mind, it’s dragging the hose. I hate doing that. I can stand out there mindlessly for hours and water, but don’t expect me to drag the damn hose too. We planted along the front of the house and between the house and the driveway. That’s it so far, there’s always next year, I need to see if everything dies before the end of summer to help me decide how to proceed.
Before any of this garden stuff happened we got company! It was fabulous. My sweet friend Andee, who lives in Tennesee, {she’s one of the attractions for us moving to the KY, TN area} and her sons came for a few days. Andee and her husband are also the people who came and brought food and bone broth and leaf lettuce when Bill was in the hospital. We have not seen the boys since 2013, Bill hasn’t seen Andee since then either. It was so nice to have them visit. Let me say, she and Joel have the nicest, most well-mannered handsome young men (12 & almost 17) I’ve ever met. The guys were so much fun to be around, easy-going, and great with the dogs, they even cleaned up after our meals. Impressed….
Andee and I worked together at Bank of America and if you ask her she will tell you I deserted her. Looking back, I’m really surprised BoA allowed us together in the same building. We were loud and constantly laughing about something. She made going to work fun.
Anyhow, they arrived on a Tuesday morning. We took the dogs for their morning walk after they arrived so they could see the property. They’re big outdoors fans too, especially the boys, plus they love dogs.
It was a lot of fun having them come to see us, we enjoyed their visit very much and anxiously anticipate the next.
We are still walking the boys in the morning. Many times early because it’s been so blasted hot. We’ve noticed a variety of different critter poop and a ton of wildflowers. I also just realized we have a Mulberry tree, I’m not sure that I’ve ever had a Mulberry, but I will soon.
Bill has been busy mowing and burning up expensive diesel fuel in an effort to keep the grasses low. There are fewer ticks that way.
We (I) finally decided on an above-ground pool, it came last week. It’s 20′ around and 4′ deep. Plenty big to get wet and float. Bill has been working in the blazing sun to get the ground leveled. It took 2 trailers full of sand and a lot of compacting. On the day of the pool delivery, the driver called when he was close and Bill drove down to the end of the driveway with the tractor, loaded the pool on it, and brought it up here.
We set the pool up on Saturday, it wasn’t hard, just time-consuming. Instructions said it would take 60 minutes. I’m not sure who was able to do it in an hour but they are superhuman.
When we started filling the pool, I was inside the pool and Bill was outside. He asked what the lump was behind me. I turned around and noticed it was a chunk of wood, maybe 3-4″ square, UNDER the pool. I had to get out of the pool, he lifted it up and I crawled under the pool to get the chunk of wood out. Fun times.
I’m still driving out of town for groceries every few weeks. On Friday I was parked near a cart return and as I was finished and getting in my car, I noticed something on the ground by the trash can. I leaned over and picked one up, there were 2. They are heavy and rather steam-punkish. I looked all around, there was not another car near me, nobody around. Since they were by the trash can, I figured, finders keepers. I love them.
We have pseudo WiFi currently. Bill found this thing that gives you a limited supply of data so I can use my laptop and not tether it to my phone for a signal. He’s currently watching something on the TV, which we couldn’t do prior to this gadget, unless it was a DVD. Things are looking up. We’re still waiting for Elon Musk to make Starlink available in this area. I sure hope it’s soon.
And last but not least, my friend Kyle who lives on Roatan sent me a message the other day that said “you’ve got mail.” At the Roatan Post Office.