Farm Life

We went up to the farm last weekend and enjoyed the change of pace it brings. The big bucks were wandering around and the geese were flying overhead at tree-top level.

You can click on these pictures and make them bigger.

It was a wintry weekend. This is the red delicious apple tree with the water droplets still hanging onto the branches.

We have our little oak table set up in the living room near the wood stove. It is nice and cozy there so this is where we have our meals.

We planted an orange tree, weeded the raised beds and mowed the lower garden area. Sherman and Alicia came up to be with us on Saturday when Grandma Chaney took us out to dinner.

It is beginning to feel like we live there and just visiting Gilroy!

Neal and Mary Jane

Some farm news

Well, it has been a while since I have posted a blog! I lost the adapter for our camera to download pictures. I have a new one now so here are some pictures.

Mary Jane is dragging brush out of the park.

We brought up some furniture so now you can sit down in the living

room. Notice the old round oak table we got for the kitchen. The other table is too big

Check out this appropriate reading material

Instead of a mattress on the floor we now have a cool old fashioned iron-type bed

Spring is just around the corner. These daffodils were blooming last weekend

a winter shot through the old white oak in the front of the house.

We love going up to the farm and pretending like we're retired. It's not all fun though, New Years weekend I rented a stump grinder and ground out over 50 stumps! Last weekend I pruned both big apple trees , cut back the old apricot and planted two more fruit trees. I don't have to wonder about the question so often asked "What are you going to do after you retire?"

3 places

Fluffy clouds above give the air of tranquillity while gopher war is waged below. These are flares you stick into the gopher hole.This week the gophers chewed off two zucinni plants at the farm.

This is me standing behind the tomatoes in Gilroy, notice the healthy zuccini. No gophers.

The Poor Man's Orchids are going crazy in Gilroy. One of Mom's succulants is blooming

Every time I am up at the farm I work on the sprinklers to keep the fruit and vegetables coming. I went by the mushroom farm and got a truckload of compost to take up there.

Lots of rabbits and plenty of evidence of foxes around the farm. On the way out we stopped at Grandma Chaney's house and found this bobcat out in the grass. The neighbor across the street says that a mountain lion was strolling up Meadow Song just last week. We noticed an absence of deer, I think they have left the area while the lion is around!

We love sharing the area with the wild animals.

Looks like we will be busy with other things for the next two weekends. The next farm report will be three weeks from now. Do we live here and visit there of do we live there and visit/work here?

Love to all, Mom and Dad

A Good Time Was Had By All

A fitting end for an unfit sign






I got in some baby time.








A double birthday party!





























Summer fun in late May!

Not many pictures but plenty of memories. The "Grover Compound", long spoken of, has come to be.

work weekend, what's new!

This weekend we got the house ready inside, painted two more picnic tables, got the water on to the park, and other stuff.

Some wild flowers are still blooming in the park.

What are these?! We put bird netting over the cherry tree to save some for us.

1973, apprentice plumber, digging plumbing trenches with a pick and shovel. 2009, pre-retiree digging plumbing plumbing trenches with a pick and shovel! I repaired the water lines that were broken by a backhoe doing a soils test.

Claire wants to see some of the inside of the house. That is the living room and a peek into the breakfast knook.

Grandma Chaney brought us lunch and tested out the picnic tables






All in all, another great weekend at the farm.

Love to all,

Mom and DAd

Here are some of Mom's flowers from her yard in Gilroy.


Columbine, Peonies, and Roses

More Peonies

I finished making this potting bench for Mary Jane
on Mothers Day.

Can't wait to see everyone up at the Farm.

Love Dad.

Once a month, Schonce a month!

Once a month, schonce a month. This is our fourth weekend in a row!

Notice the newly painted picnic table that Grandma Chaney gave us.

I went over to say hell-o to our neighbors. Zoom in and check them out.

I got the drinking fountain going in the side yard. I'll work on the one in the park next.

Mom's azaleas are really blooming now.

Freshly mowed the day before, a peaceful morning in the lower garden


Can't wait until we are all there.

Love, Mom and Dad