Through This Gate

Remember this gate from March 2014?

Well, look what is happening right now.

Stay tuned.

I think these gate pillars are the last big project. 

And, no, we won't be paving this lane to our house. I like the gravel road. Flip and I can hear anyone who can get through the gate and drive up the lane.

Trash Talk--Garbage for Two

Happy 45th Anniversary of Earth Day!!!

This beauty in our front flower garden at 7:15 a.m. today. Stunning! Is this a Tiger Moth?

Now Let's Talk Trash!

Two older adults don't make much garbage. I have learned that in the last few years. 

We especially do not make much garbage, since we recycle whenever we can. 

In fact, this week I threw two glass jars into the trash and felt guilty. Unfortunately there is no glass recycling deposit anywhere within a hundred miles from here. Not that I have found, anyway!

But for the rest we do our best to recycle and reuse in order to Save Our Earth!

What we do here in Wetcreek Territory:

1. Compost--We collect all veggie and fruit scraps in a stainless steel can (with filter and lid) in our kitchen and then empty it on our compost pile out behind our barn and carport. We have been able to use "yummy" compost for our vegetable garden a couple of times since we became "master" gardeners.

2. Recycle Plastic--Our tap water is not the best, so we do drink bottled water. We chose plastic bottles because they are easier to manage and our local recycling plant accepts plastic. This week on one of my trips into town with my mom to her doctor, I dropped off a huge bag of plastic water and milk bottles as well as anything else that was plastic trash. Check the bottom of the plastic product. You should find a triangle with a number inside it. Most plastic is recyclable and not TRASH!

3. Recycle Glass-- I don't purchase too many products packed in glass, but what I do I try to repurpose. Sometimes I use sauerkraut or spaghetti sauce jars for storage. (Remember the mice in my pantry?). We have even thought about transporting a boxful of glass items all the way to a recycling plant near our son's home in Texas.

4. Read the Newspaper on the Internet-- Both my husband and I read the Dutch and American news online everyday. Our local paper guy will not deliver out here in the woods, and we tried a WSJ subscription for a while. But I still would have to drive into our village to pick up the paper everyday, since we don't have mail delivery out here either.

5. Repurpose-- As avid collectors, we try to reuse whatever we can. Just this week my hub trimmed our boxwoods with a vintage electric hedge trimmer that his father used back in the 1970's. It worked fine! We also have our own trimmer from the 1990's, and it works great, too. Before we buy something new, we look around here for something we can use.

So back to the trashy stuff. 

We usually have one normal size garbage bag with non- recyclable trash every other week. (If I told you that while we were at the Beltway Apartment in The Netherlands for six weeks we didn't even have one full bag, would you believe me? Almost everything is recycled free WITH PICK-UP! And each real garbage bag costs about $2.50 to place in the computerized underground trash depot located across the street. And remember we are ch...thrifty!!)

Weed and Pot

Just working in the garden these days. Nothing more and nothing less!

Haven't gotten to the weeds yet. Everything is drenched! 

But the potting and planting are in progress. 

Veggie beds are full of plants and seeds and rain water. 

Window boxes are full of newly planted boxwood cuttings. 250 little sticks. Enough to replace the 150 cuttings we lost to hot, dry weather in October/November 2014.

Here are two of the five window boxes I filled this afternoon. Lots of tedious work!

And here are the quickly snipped "mother" plants that were definitely overgrown after all the rain we have had all spring. (Haven't gotten to the pots yet. Please give me a few more days.)

The Return of Love Letters Written 35 Years Ago

In the 35+ years my Dutch hub and I have been together, I can count on one hand ( or maybe finger!) the times that he wrote to my parents. He gave me his permission to publish this one:

Rotterdam   29 januari 1980

Dear Mrs & Mr C,

Finaly I find the time to write you a letter from "over yonder."

Right after we came back the work really started with all the bookings for the new season. The flight prices went up by 20% but as you see how much we have to do, it looks more that they have gone down.

In the first week that we got here Linda was a little home sick but I think that everything is okay now. Of course she is thinking a lot about you but that is quite normal.

We just got the photograph's back and we saw them this week-end. They all ( if I may say so) came out very well and now we have also some nice pictures of you all. It are slides but we want to make some prints of it.

We also and specially I think very much of your hospitality you showed us and I like to thank you for it.

Linda is gone to Dutch lessons right now. She is doing quite well. ( We can hear her talk dutch with my little nephew.)

With all my best wishes and love

J

Blogger's Note:

My Dutch will never ever be as good as my hub's English (or French or German or Italian or Dutch)! After having lived with an English teacher (me), I notice him wanting to correct the English of our American family, our air conditioner man, the neighbors, the tv newspeople, the grocery store clerks, the speakers at our monthly senior citizens meetings, etc.

So does that mean I did my job well ( or goed)?

And Another "Badge of Courage"

 I have found that planting a veggie garden involves much bending, but little walking.

While washing up the front porch will put lots of steps on your step counter. Some steps even count as elevation.

Here is my new badge:

Please, no rude comments about the name of this active volcano in Japan! 

Just be happy for me that I am still stepping up steps as well as stepping on horizontal ground.

Never Been to Hawaii, But...

Above is my new walking/steps badge. Far better than getting a refund on my US tax returns  (which I didn't!!!).

No Ides of April for me. 

I've got lots more steps to make before I call it a day!

You Know You Live in the "Sticks" When

You see two snakes in your pond and one black rat snake in the yard in one afternoon!

You see a coyote crossing your driveway at noon! (Wouldn't that be a great picture? Sorry, I didn't have my camera in my pocket.)

You see wild fish the size of your longest finger and one even big enough to eat in your pond! (Maybe the big one is one of the $10 dollar grass carps we threw into the pond last December.)

You see two herons fly off from the banks of your pond.

You see a Canadian goose munching at the edge of the pond.

You get eaten up by mosquitoes when you go out with Flip for your morning walk.

Then you know you are "in the sticks."