ACRYLIC STORAGE BINS TRASH TO TREASURE

 Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor, and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

Saw these, they were all piled into a box that was closed, on top of the dumpster.  I opened it and found a bunch of acrylic plastic storage containers.  I brought them upstairs and sorted through them.

Here they are:

There is one long narrow one, one smaller bin, two 4-compartment bins, and four bins that have air flow holes around the sides.  There were so many, they didn't all fit in the same picture...

Here are two more very large bins, with handles on each end for carrying!

We're thinking of plenty of uses in the new pantry but they are also used in fridges and freezers and I was just thinking how wonderful some would be to store things we put up in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer.

We popped them all in the dishwasher to make sure they were clean (though they looked brand new) and then we put them in a box to await the big move.

Hey, for whatever reason, someone didn't want them and so we'll be happy to get a jump-start on storage solutions for the new house.  A few less things we'll need to buy to stock up our pantry/freezer!  Win/win!

Nope!  Not this weekend!

#farmshark

CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE SLITHERY KIND

New house update will be tomorrow, I didn't get my photos uploaded in time...but trust us, it will be an exciting one!

This weekend, I was scoping out the yard ahead of mowing, looking for rocks, pieces of wood, etc.  Oh and looking out for that electrical line, when I saw this:

See it there in the grass?  Maybe?  Let me get a close up for you:

There it is!

In fact, here, check this out:

I captured it (ON VIDEO, ha).  I believe it's a rat snake, common and non-venomous...and bonus points, they take care of rodent control.  It was headed toward the house and I walked around it and guided it back to the grass and the shady are of a tree and the pasture behind us.

Still, not something you want to just randomly run into but we will be getting used to sharing our property with the native wildlife.

'Tis the season for #farmshark!  You never know where it might show up.

GOOD FOOD AND SHARK WEEK HOBART SUNDAY

             

Here we are!  Shark Week 2025!

Last year, we had hoped we'd be in our new house this time but, you know, reality happens and things work in the time they are supposed to.  So this year, it's one more time watching it at the apartment, ha.

The other night, we had some leftover chicken and 2nd Man made some cilantro lime rice and added the chicken to it.  I sliced up some avocado and put some roasted hatch green chili sauce on top.  Delicious!

Here is Hobart, safe and secure, hiding from the sharks!  Because...

#notspoiled

WE MISSED SHARK WEEK

 Regular readers know how much we enjoy this.  Alas, we missed it!  Well not all of it, we had a few shows set to record and caught them.  I had grand plans for this year and our must see TV, Shark Week 2024 on Discovery.

Normally, I post "farmshark" sightings but didn't get any pics done this year either.  It seems Hurricane Beryl had other plans for us.  

This was the schedule (click to enlarge).

On Monday July 8th, Houston was hit by the hurricane.  Sigh.  While we didn't lose power for long, the internet and cable TV were longer to come back fully.  Things we had set to record didn't and half the time the guide didn't work so we couldn't set new ones to record each night.  Oh well.  They'll be repeated so we can just keep this listing for future reruns.

I got gifts for us! The plan was to give them in the middle of the week. Again, grand plans, ha. Ocean color gift bags and red tissue paper. Seemed "sharky" to me.

Found a couple of fun gifts for us.  These are "Bento boxes" that I was going to head to the store and fill with some candies, his favorites and mine.  I wanted gummy fish and gummy sharks and even saw some dark chocolate sharks.  But alas, no going to the store to get them on my lunch break.  Well, we can use them later for something fun.  And then what are the other things?  They are shark socks!  They go up your ankle, mouth up, so it looks like a shark is attacking.  No, we won't wear them out in public, ha, but when it's cold this Winter, we'll be able to remember the warm days of Summer (and the hurricane?!? ha).

And we didn't forget about Hobart!

Look at these:

Little shark cat toys!!!  I mean, how perfect is that? Hobart was thrilled.  Notice one is missing?  Pictures of him "attacking the shark" coming soon!

I was a little bummed about missing it, but 2nd Man reminded me of something: next year, shark week will be on our new big TV in our NEW HOUSE!

SHARK WEEK AT THE FARM?

LET'S DO IT!

END OF SHARK WEEK BONUS

 Well, as Shark Week on Discovery Channel comes to an end, I had a surprise for 2nd Man...

I got these back in February (Valentines Day) and held onto them for this week.  A little July Shark Week Valentines is always welcome, right?  They made the perfect dessert treat and besides, he's FINTASTIC!

Speaking of a treat...it seems we got a little rain at the farm and guess who showed up?

No, not a #farmshark...

Jason Momoa aș Aquaman at the farm

#farmaquaman

OK, well maybe not but hey, we could always hope, right?

PHONE CALL FROM THE POWER COMPANY

 We posted the other day about the local power company doing their periodic brush/tree easement clearing last week.  We thought all was good.  Then yesterday I got a call.  My phone said it was possible SPAM so I declined it.  About 15 minutes later, 2nd Family called and said "the power company called me and they are trying to reach you about your pear tree?"  

Oops.

This is the tree in question.  You can see the lines above it.  It looks close but it's about 10 feet under.  However, that's still a problem.  I got in touch and this is what the guy from the power company texted me:

"Yes, that pear tree behind your outbuildings needs to be cut at about 6 feet from the ground to be able to stay in the utility Easement. We only allow shrubs and hedges that are maintained at 6 feet annually."

Well crap.

Now this is in no way connected to our orchard area, those are all far away from any power lines (that's why we located them in their spot behind the house).  This one is the "wild pear tree" that we posted about last year.  It's been ignored for a long time and is doing great on its own.  When it was planted, it was only about 3 feet tall.  Now it's about 10 or 11 feet tall. 

In fact, it produced a LOT of pears for us last year (still put up in our freezer), but I guess now we'll cut it back to six feet.  We're not sure how it will react to such a dramatic pruning, but it has proven resilient all these years, we hope it makes it through this event.

Never fear, we still have two pear trees in the orchard area so we won't ever go without pears!  Besides, we have a guard out there...

#farmshark

POWER COMPANY EASEMENT CLEARING

 Every few years, the local power company comes through all the rural properties and cuts back everything that runs near the power lines and is within their ten foot easement.

Update at the bottom 7/27

This past weekend, they had done the front of our property.  This is from the driveway where we pull in all the way to the other end.  Click to enlarge, see that third pole waaay down at the end of the road?  That's how wide our property is at the front end.

My plan is to mow that this coming weekend and hopefully keep it mowed so it stays like it is.

Update: I have decided, thanks to your comments and 2nd Man's concern, not to mess with this on the new mower, at least not right now.  It should stay clear for awhile, maybe we can figure out something in the Fall.

We need the space for when we have a new fence put up along the front.  But for now, that's not a priority.  Let me just keep it cleared for a while.

Here is the other side of the driveway, the front portion of 2nd Family's property.

Oh no, we think all that clearing has angered the...

#farmshark!

😀😀😀😀😀😀

HOT DROUGHT AND FARMSHARK

Went to the farm.  Figured I wouldn't have to mow.

And I was right.  It's turning "Summer beige".  Or maybe "drought brown", ha.

I did need to cut back some bushes and trim some things.  Also needed to work in the orchard area because it was out of control before things turned brown so it was a good time to do it.

I edged around each bed and then used the electric mower in between each one.  It looks much neater, albeit a little dry.  I did water it all very well and watered everything on the porch.  

I worked my butt off in the heat and I realized it was after 3pm.  I checked the weather app:

...99 degrees with a feels like of 117!

On the good news side, I came back into town and was looking through photos and I think I found out what happened to our missing apples:

That darn #farmshark

😀😀😀😀😀😀

SHARK WEEK STARTS ON HOBART SUNDAY

 Those who have been visiting us for a few years know that in addition to NASCAR, we also love Shark Week that comes to Discovery Channel every year.

It starts tonight!

CLICK TO ENLARGE

In years past, there were silly shows.  We didn't really like those, they would do something peripherally related to sharks like Jackass doing stunts in the ocean...I think once, they even had a mermaid show and how they could coexist with sharks.  Um, no thank you. 

This year though, these all seem pretty legit shark shows (albeit with some goofy titles, ha).

Now, we also will have our own silly thing we do every year and that's where we have a fun picture of a #farmshark sighting so watch for those this week in posts, you never know where they might show up.

Oh and most every year, they have a host to intro episodes, comment between commercials, etc and this year it is hosted by...

...Jason Momoa.  Sharks AND Aquaman?

We're OK with that...

And just to get things started:

When Hobart is sleeping, we won't even let a shark disturb his sleep.  Because...

#notspoiled

#notscared

#farmshark

OFF TO THE FARM IN THE HEAT

Off to the farm today (after dropping off my Jeep at the shop).   It's hot again.  Farmshark at the end of post.

We need more rain

This was last Saturday at the Farm.  Now we have had some scattered showers a couple of days but from what 2nd Family has said, not much fell at the farm.  We'll see if what did fall greened things up some.  I might have to mow, might not.  We'll see.

Last Saturday at 3:46pm:

103 temp

104 official high

Felt like 115.

Wasp nest

We were out of wasp spray last weekend so the plan this weekend other than watering, is to take care of this nest built INSIDE the porch fan.  I'll walk around and look for others too.

___________________________________

Every year during Shark Week on Discovery Channel, we find some photos of the elusive farm shark that appears from time to time at the farm...

Farmshark in the yard

Um, yeah, I'm good...I can go the shed/barn later.

#farmshark

HOSTESS/TELLER STAND TRASH TO TREASURE

Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

Here is one of the latest!

(farmshark photo for today is at the bottom of the post)

After some research, we found that this is called a "hostess/teller stand".  Used, obviously by the name, to have signs saying "enter here" or "section reserved" or something like that.  I found it next to the dumpster but  it was loose and leaning.  I thought "well, it's broken, that makes sense why they dumped it".

Then as I picked it up, I realized it was just the pole that was loose.  I held the pole, reached underneath and tightened the nut and then turned the pole the last bit of the way to tighten.  Perfect!  It raises up and down and the sign portion can be vertical or horizontal.  

They sell online for anywhere from about $60 to $100.  It's a bit very dusty but is nothing that some paper towels and cleaner won't fix.  I was even thinking it could be painted in maybe a distressed, farmhouse style.  But what to use it for?

It would be fun to print a dinner menu and put in it or maybe even a special note to display at certain times or events.  It'll be fun.  We'll repurpose it!

_________________________________

Every year during Shark Week on Discovery Channel, we find some photos of the elusive farm sharks that appear from time to time at the farm...

NO, not Bill!  Stay away from the truck Mr. Great White, we need this vehicle.

#farmshark

PEARS IN THE HOT WEATHER

The farm truck watering method seems to be keeping the pear tree happy.  For those who missed it, this is a pear tree we planted about 8 years ago and ignored because we changed the location for our fruit trees.  This one kept growing and is now bearing a large amount of fruit.  It's not near a watering source so we came up with a way to water it HERE.

It seems to be working.  Here they are this past weekend.  They are changing to a nice color.  Still pretty small though, not sure if that's because they are the first real harvest or the lack of steady watering early on.  Even if they stay small and we still get a bunch, we'll use them for something!

We saw some videos online that said you can tell a pear is ripe when you lift the fruit up and it just pops off.  I did that a few times and these all came off.  They still don't seem like they are at the right stage.  It's still a bit early but of course maybe our heat has accelerated the process?  Whatever it might be, I stopped at seven and brought them home.  They are currently in a paper bag on the table near near the window.

Still might be too early, but since we have already pulled these, we'll wait to see what happens.

____________________________________

Every year during Shark Week on Discovery Channel, we find some photos of the elusive farm sharks that appear from time to time at the farm...

Who knew Hammerhead sharks like pears?

Stay away from our pear tree!

#farmshark

COYOTE ENCOUNTER

So...I was watering the orchard area and I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye.  Something stood up and came out from under the shade of the trees on the property behind us.

At first I thought it was a fawn because there are quite a few deer on that property and it was smallish and tawny brown.  Then I realized it was a young coyote!

It looked at me, I looked at it and we stared at each other for what seemed like a long time.  It turned away and ran off another direction, periodically looking back.

It's not in this photo, this was taken after it ran off and I resumed watering so we could show you where I was and where it was. I think the watering and my timer going off after each watering was enough to make it run the other direction.

This is not the same coyote of course, but this is one we captured on the trail cam a couple of months back, one of many captures on the trail cam.  This one is walking across the front yard and down the driveway.

Look at the deep green, sigh.

Here are two more coming back from the other direction on another day.  We always hear that they are as scared of us as we are of them, but it's still a bit unnerving to just have one about 25 feet away.

We're gonna have to add this to the front yard!

___________________________________

Every year during Shark Week on Discovery Channel, we find some photos of the elusive farm sharks that appear from time to time at the farm...

Forget snakes, this is reason enough to stop and turn around on the mower for sure!

#farmshark

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 Another week has flown by.

It is so hot, but we're relaxing inside where it is cool and we are eating well.

2nd Man made pork medallions and gravy over rice.  It's always so good.  He browns the pork (tenderloins cut into pieces), removes them and makes a brown gravy in the pan and puts them back in...

...then it is served with rice.  We put some gravy in the bottom of the dish, put the rice on top and then some of the pork and a little more gravy on top.  Goodness in every bite.  We had a salad on the side.  So delicious.

Regular readers know that we are fans of Shark Week on Discovery Channel and of course it starts tonight.

You just never know where a shark might show up in a photo this week...

 Speaking of, here is Hobart sleeping on the towels that I pulled out to get ready for laundry.  He fell asleep and was not even phased by the Great White shark that was next to him.  He can sleep through anything as long as we keep him comfortable because...

#notspoiled