Smaller Harvest, Spider Plant, Moving Lumber Around Farm, Gate Spid...

No squash to pick yesterday morning but I did see that my single acorn squash plant has a 6 really large squash growing. It was a leftover from last year that came up but this year the few it has will be enough for us.

The greenhouse had the bits to actually harvest and I found I have to do some serious work on the plants as they are getting way out of hand.

It took me a while to sort all the lumber in the yard and I had a solid pile of trash with a smaller pile of good used.

I got the reply email from R's teacher that she would love a mass of spider plants for the kids. My plant has been in the greenhouse all summer and holy balls was it COVERED in little plants. I hacked them all off and took them to the deck.

Well over 40, closer to 50 in total got set in the tub and then light watering. They sat there all day and overnight so I can send them with R this morning. The mother plant looks SO MUCH nice now, and a ton lighter.

So then I was loading the truck with the lumber and other crap to take to the dump pile.

I backed the truck down to below the boys' play area and spent half an hour sorting the pile of old lumber from the roof redo. It was a very needed project that forced me to restack the good lumber which consolidated it a lot.

I piled the truck high with crap wood then stopped a couple more places along the way to the dump spot.

Such a big load of trash wood. I lugged it all out of the bed onto the pile then parked the truck back at the house.

My lumber storage area has gotten all kinds of messed up. The asshole chickens had been roosting over time and made a mess. It was 2pm and I got to work puling everything off the shelves and rearranging it all.

After about 40 minutes of work I had things in much better order and ready for the good lumber to be brought in from the inner yard. The mail delivered so I headed out to get it.

I remembered as soon as I saw her web that we have a gate spider. HOLY SHIT is she badass!

She is the darkest colored of all the barn spiders I have seen around the farm this year. And she is huge!

I really like this shot of her with the sun backlighting.

With the lumber area setup I backed the truck into the yard again and began loading up the good lumber. I had the pile of used loaded and had laid a big pile of boards on the fire pit in anticipation of the move. I was pulling board off the stack when I slid the board and a BAT was there!

I was rather concerned that I had hurt it with the lumber so grabbed it quick. It squeaked and hissed at me for a while until I cupped my other hand around behind and it quieted down and hunkered down in my hand.

Such a tiny little creature with such a huge wingspan. It had worked out perfect that I caught it when I did as the boys had just walked across the creek on their way home from the bus and I rushed them up the hill so they could see it. This is only the 2nd bat I can ever remember catching in my life.

I took it to the garden shed to try and give it a spot to go but it just flew off into the creek area.

After the bat I got the last of the lumber loaded up and hauled to the lumber area. It is all piled in now and I have a lot more room for other lumber which I should move from the sorted pile. Slowly, SO FUCKING SLOWLY, I'm getting this farm cleaned up.

Hive account@stryeyz had gotten the freeze dryer going with sliced and salted cucumbers which finished. 46 hours is not bad for such a high water content.

The yard is finally clearing out and I am getting the inklings of what it will become. I have to remove all the rocks still, will move the chives and scallions, might have to move a couple elderberry, but eventually the yard will get lawn and sprinkler irrigation.

I got the bulk of everything under cover in case of rain in the later afternoon and early evening. Soaking was nice on my rather sore body.

The big storms are to our east this morning but we may get some rain later today. The spider plants go with R to school, I'll get harvest done, it's cooler so I need to work in the greenhouse, keep working on cleanup around the farm, the sprocket for the scooter arrives and hopefully that makes it work right, and I want to see if I have enough metal roofing for the small shed by the house.