Arthur's cast off, again

Don't know if I blogged this, but after they took the first cast off, the doctors decided to put one back on Arthur's broken leg. Well, now that one is off and he is on the road to getting some flexibility and muscle back in his leg.

Shed Building

With my dad's enthusiasm we finally got started (and nearly finished) putting together a sheet-metal shed that I bought about a year ago to cover our well and pressure tank. Until this weekend we were staring at a big blue plastic tarp. To say the view has improved is to understate it.

We have raspberries, kiwi and some fruit trees to plant. Many have already been planted. We have deer-proof fence to erect. Strawberries, garlic and rhubarb are really beginning to take off. Heidi has turned the house into a greenhouse with hundreds of seedlings growing in tiny pots; marigolds, onions, tomatoes and more.

If we can manage to nurture all these things, we're going to be up to our ears in goodies this summer and fall.

Scooba dooba doo

Despite some travails with our Roomba Discovery, I took the plunge again with iRobot and purchased a Scooba for Heidi's birthday present. (What could be better than the gift of never mopping again?)

So far we're pretty darned happy with it. The grout is so deep between the tiles, that it doesn't clean it, so we'll still have to do that manually. For the other 7/8ths of the floor though, we have an industrious little helper.

I think they've improved the AI in the Scooba as compared with the Discovery SE we had. I can't help but marvel at how well this one follows the walls and finds its way around the perimeter of any kind of obstacle.

Also note: despite the hard-sell they're doing on the "special" Clorox solution, once you open the package, you will find that a white vinegar and water solution is also approved for use in the Scooba. Heidi went to a seminar on natural cleaners and found that there isn't much you can't do with:
Vinegar, Baking Soda, Borax, Alum and Hydrogen Peroxide.
I'll see if I can get recipes up here soon.

Heidi's Birthday

Today is Heidi's birthday.

Three days ago I heard the first bird of spring.

Yesterday we got a "walker" for Arthur and he went back to preschool with it and was practically hailed as a war-hero.

Tomorrow I'll attempt to erect a deer-proof fence around our garden.

Premature

Ok, so I was a bit premature; we have snow on the ground and Arthur is back in his cast. His leg wasn't quite healed enough to leave it off.
Winter hasn't left us quite yet. I believe March 1st is equal to the latest date of the year that we've had snow fall and stick in my memory.