Busy, busy, busy

By now you may have figured that out, though, since my blogging has been pretty poor as of late. Our to do list seems to grow as we get more done, rather than shrink. Its that time of year, though. There is just gads to do. Highlights:
*Suddenly we have mosquitoes after not having them the four year's we've been here. Black ones that swarm me on the mower and apparently are hiding in the grass that needs mowed. Nice.
*The apple trees are loaded-so loaded we need to do some more staking. Good thing.
*The pears, on the other hand, I am worried about. There are a few pears on one, though I am confused about this since I am not sure of the pollinator (it's a Bartlett as is the other big pear tree, and they cannot pollinate each other). The pollinator I planted, a Seckel, is lost to what looks like fire blight. So far I don't think it has spread to the other trees, though I am doing some late trimming of anything that looks suspicious just to be sure.
*We have started cleaning up the "summer house" we gained when Grandpa H passed away-also known as the basement. It should help with electric bills quite a bit this summer as it stays wonderfully cool. There is just a lot of sorting yet to do, and then a lot of painting. It will be nice once I am in to canning and such, as well, as that kitchen stays a lot cooler. The kids have enjoyed something different.
*We should have been blown off the map months ago. Seriously. We had noticed a nasty smell coming from the basement laundry/utility for ages. Tried cleaning and such to no avail. Finally (might I say AFTER lighting a bevy of candles) Dad decided to double check all the gas lines to be sure the smell wasn't a gas leak. And what did he find? The line to the water heater only finger tight and BLOWING gas out like mad. So our gas bill should be reduced, as well. The plumbers that worked on this house were seriously stupid. They have so many "oops" throughout the house, most of which were serious. Its no wonder the company who did the house for us is out of business-and before the housing slowdown ever happened.
*I managed to pick and process a 5-gallon bucket of strawberries last night from a local farmer. I love knowing that we will have them available in the future whenever we want them. I need to figure out and plant our own patch.
*I now have a long line of rhubarb stretching across where the top garden used to be. I love rhubarb ;)
*The garden is mostly mulched, and we are pulling radishes. There should be more things coming in soon. I am behind on where I want to be with planting due to the rain. None of my vining plants are in because the ground just hasn't warmed up like I like, plus I have extra crops of beans and such I would like to get in. So, if we could get a couple dry days, I could till like a madwoman and get them going. I need to. I still have potatoes as well, and there will be my sweet potato order from Sandhill showing up any day now.
*Our neighbor lent us a mule so Pony Gal (and consequentially, me) could learn how to ride a horse. So far, pretty good. Pony Gal loves it. I think the small mule is all the higher I would like to go for a while. I am sure I'll get better with time.
* Due to a sinus pressure I had no clue I had, I managed to rupture an eardrum last week. That led to some serious pain. Pain went away. Came back with extra force over the weekend. Fled to the dr. Dr said it was just more pressure from a lack of drainage. Went to Balance Rx, the naturopathic pharm in town. Got the goods. The goods performed. I was suddenly draining nastiness I didn't even know was there. Anyway, the ear is healing well, but I still have to pull the old man routine as I can't really hear much out of it, and probably won't for another month and half or so.

There's more, I'm sure, but I am also sure my time is running thin and the kids will be up soon, and I am still topless, so I should move on...