Squirrel Visit, Sun, New Growth, Trailer, Wander, Tooth, Mandolin C...

Yesterday morning was the first of the cold nights in this short snap and there was a bit of color on the few thins clouds to the east above the trees.

I had been out for about 10 minutes when I saw movement in the tree closest to the tub and watched squirrel scamper down to the base. I was chittering at him the whole time and he wasn't particularly phased.

He hit the top of the brick and after a quick look he was on the ground between the tub and the house.

He ran a little ways then stopped and stared at me as I kept talking to him from the tub. I am pretty sure that it is my squirrel since none of the others get this close to the house. He runs all over the roof of the shed right off the corner of the deck and I've seen him on the privacy barrier right outside J's bedroom window. I'm pretty sure I know where he lives, in the top of a tree in the creek that I can see from our bathroom.

The sun is now hitting the other side of the valley by 6:30. It is so nice and will be soon gone when the time change happens again.

We ended up with a nice sunny day, cool and windy but nice and sunny. I spent some of the morning cleaning the area by the slider, vacuuming, and organizing. It desperately needed it and the slider is much happier now that I have the dirt, grit, and rocks out of the track.

I got the umbrella setup on the table on the deck but will wait a bit to bring the cushions for the chairs out as we are likely to get rain again soon.

The chives in the pots in the deck are starting to pop out little bits of fresh growth. They are always the first thing to show on the farm every year when the snow is gone. My row is about the same amount of growth in general.

I got the text that grain was ready so after picking J up from school I hooked up the trailer and got the empty barrels strapped down for my run this morning.

I had a few squash that had gone way, way, way too bad and I duffed them into the sheep pen to let them eat what they will. I also slid a new Vita-lix tub in for Spring time.

I hadn't been up top for a bit and I took the dog with me to go walk the fence line. The sheep are all down by the bale so I can easily have the dog in the pen with me. We made the circuit then popped out to the edge overlooking the valley. The geese were making a racket down by the river and were loud enough I could hear them over the passing cars.

At 5pm I joined the weekly zoom mandolin class for the first time and it was super helpful. I got to see Tim explain the exact holding of the neck with the left hand and I am now seeing what I need to work on. It was nearly 90 minutes of varying good information and I am super happy that this is a part of his method as we can get feedback weekly.

Before dinner J came over the trash can and was spitting into it and when I questioned him he showed me the now very loose tooth. He apparently bonked it and it came super loose. He got a tissue and after a bit popped it right out. Thankfully it is on of the lower so he won't have such a bad lisp now that the top front tooth is almost in.

Outside a bit earlier as we were both tired and I needed to be up early to go get grain this morning.

Which I have already been out to do. It took me a bit longer than other days since I had to hit all 3 breweries dropping empties at 2 and picking up seven barrels of grain from 2. I will go out and empty them in a bit once it warms a bit. Today I will spend time practicing the mandolin, picking up more garbage littering the yard, I need to get dinner ready early since the boys have wrestling practice this evening (their last before the home tournament on Saturday).