Such Treasures

We worked hard this weekend, especially Jeff. I am so thankful for him! We have the logging mess we're trying to clean up. The man who did it made lots of piles of brush with his Cat, but about 25% of the mess was not in the piles. That is what we are (or I should say, Jeff is) cleaning up. It is time consuming, but so rewarding. We grow more and more excited about our property with each stride we make. Jeff was out there in the hot sun both Saturday and Sunday, gathering and raking branches, and trimming branches from the trees we still have. I helped him all Saturday morning, but by the afternoon I had a horrible headache and was fighting my allergies so I sat outside and visited with him and the kids while they worked. I've learned that even if I'm not working with him, he just loves to have me there, so that is what I try to do.

There are just 4 brush piles in this picture. We have about 20 such piles on the property. They are huge! We don't want to burn them since they seem like such good compost, so for the time being we are still undecided as to what to do with them. Perhaps we will burn some and let some sit and break down over time.

When I was resting on a log Saturday afternoon, I spent time taking pictures of the kids and making little movies with my camera. I love this picture of the kids.

Saturday evening we watched "Love's Long Journey" the third movie of the series based on the books by Janette Oke. We love these movies! We went to bed early and slept well, even though it was hot.

Sunday morning we decided not to go to church and instead have another work day. We left the piles alone for a bit to do some other chores. I scrubbed the outside of the house, removing all the caked-on red clay from a wet winter. I used the broom and the ladder and cleared the cobwebs off the eves. I found 6 wasps' nests. Jeff took 4 of them down, Naomi took one down and I took the other one. I cleaned off the front patio. The house looks brand new! What a satisfying morning of work.

While I was doing this, Jeff was mowing right around the house, which is such a big area, it actually took over 2 hours of mowing to accomplish it. It was difficult work because it is not your usual "lawn" with smooth ground and short, uniform grasses. We have bumpy, sloped ground, and the grasses were really tall.

We ate our lunch on the clean front patio and then Jeff went back out to the woods to clear the brush from yet another area. I finished cleaning the back porch, put a tri-tip roast in the roaster, and turned the sprinkler on the garden and the girls, which was very refreshing during this hot day of over 100 degrees. I then went to relieve Mikah, who was being Jeff's helper, so he could go play in the sprinkler, too. When Jeff finished cleaning up just that one area, we sat on the front porch drinking green smoothies, watching the kids in the sprinkler. Then we walked around the property, taking stock and appreciating the results of Jeff's concentrated efforts.

We had to fix our wheelbarrow on Saturday afternoon, too. It needed a new tire. This was a team effort, believe me! Every one of us was required to put the wheelbarrow back together. Once it was done, it really helped the clean up effort. This picture is of Jeff and Naomi working hard to bring load after load of brush to one of our many brush piles.

Mikah and the girls worked hard this weekend. They cleaned up the barn where all their toys are. The girls helped me with cleaning the outside of the house, asked and unasked. Mikah helped Jeff tremendously. He had found a heavy chain that he wrapped around logs, using it to drag the logs over to the nearest brush pile. So we all went to bed Sunday night happy and spent.