Friday Favorite- Lockset

With all the work happening at the old house I have to keep reminding myself that soon we'll be able to start on the new house.  The scale of the old house did not lend itself to the changes I really wanted to make to my living space.  Tall, narrow schoolhouse windows just can not be made to look 17th or 18th century no matter how hard you try.  The new house's bones are much more suited to the look I want to achieve.
While shopping at the Fort Frederick 18th Century Market Fair last month we bought this lock:

This is the outside knob.  Just a simple wrought iron knob.  The amazing part is the inside:

I am not sure where we will use this latch, but wherever it ends up I will be happy just looking at it.  It was made by a blacksmith at or near Prickett's Fort in West Virginia.  The mechanism is very cool.  Every time I walk by this lock I am reminded of all the interesting things we have planned for the new house. 

Blooms and Birds

The blooms and the birds have gone crazy around here.  It's hard to get very good pictures of the birds, but here is a decent one of the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak that comes to visit regularly.  His mate also comes fairly often, but she is much harder to get a picture of.

We saw our first hummingbird on Saturday so the hummingbird feeder went up yesterday.  We have been visited multiple times by one or more Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.  We have three different kinds of woodpeckers, mourning doves, finches, sparrows, nut hatches, blue jays and a very pretty bird today that could possibly be a Baltimore Oriole.  We'll have to get a better look if it comes back. The cats are happy with all the great programming on kitty TV.

But the flowers and shrubs are the real story.  Everything is blooming like mad.  The rhododendron have just started, but the azaleas are amazing.

The tree peony is at its peak.

I almost forgot the wisteria!

The lilacs (I have white lilacs! Who knew!) are just about past their peak.

Pink Lily of the Valley?!? I don't think I ever saw pink.

Even the blueberries are blooming like crazy. If half of the blossoms become berries we will be set for the entire winter.

And the wildflowers are getting in the act too.  The buttercups have beautiful swaths through the fields.

And there are more flowers in bud getting ready for their big day.  Can't wait!

Beltane

A lovely Beltane day here spent working in the garden, checking on the new turkey poults, and listening to English Country Dance music.  And to top off this Beltane I harvested ramps from the woods and cooked them in a pasta sauce for dinner.  Next year we need to have a space for a bonfire.

It seemed appropriate that the apple tree and cherry tree buds began to open today and the turkeys hatched.  Spring is amazing right now.  Here are some pictures:

Turkey Poults!

After waiting through most of April while two of our turkey hen sat on their eggs we finally have babies!

 

At last count we had ten poults, but its hard to really count because they hide under mama's wing.  

And there are still more eggs to hatch out! Hopefully they will be good moms.

Spring in the veggie garden

I've been able to get a little gardening time in while working hard to get the old house ready to list for sale.  The fence posts are in and ready for the fencing.  Amazingly, we got all the posts in on the first try.  At our old house we would have put in one post for every 4 posts we got in at the new house.  At the new house we stretched a string and put all the posts in a perfect line. That never would have happened at the old house.

The mini hoop house at the near right in the above picture is home to Siberian early tomatoes.  They have been outside for about three weeks and are doing quite well.

The large hoop house is home to the paste tomatoes and tomatillos.

I have been a raspberry pusher and have gotten rid of many of the raspberries in the garden.  A few people have made the mistake of saying "I'll take as many as you want to get rid of" and then had to say "that's probably enough."  I have filled Prius's, Excursions, and minivans with raspberries.  Still lots to go though.  And the red raspberries will be staying in the garden until fall.  Just not enough time to move them this spring.  Now I have to adjust the garden plan. 
And here is a gratuitous picture of some pretty little tulips that are just about to bloom right outside the vegetable garden.

Can you love a tree?

Is it possible to love a tree?  Because if it is, I love this tree.

When we first viewed our new house at the end of last April the tree's blossoms were mostly over.  Last year all the flowers were about 2 weeks earlier than usual, but this year is back to normal.

I have always wanted a big old magnolia tree and now I finally have one.  One of the best things about this tree is walking under it every time I walk across the little bridge to get the mail.  And the smell is wonderful when you are engulfed by the tree.

Even now, as its leaves are beginning to fall, it is lovely walking through the petals on the ground.
Yup, I love this tree.

The new septic system at the old house

One of the things that has been holding us back from putting the old house on the market, besides finishing up multitudes of projects, is the need for a new septic system.  The old one was limping along for years; fine for us but wouldn't have passed inspection.

Last fall we had the design, permits and contractor all lined up and ready to go.  The only thing holding us up was permission from the Department of Health to actually break ground.  Apparently the soil conditions at that time were not right, so the waiting game began.

Tuesday night Alan got a call from the contractor that they would be starting the next day.  Alan went over Thursday night to check on the progress and take some pictures:

We were working around the new house on Friday when Alan got a phone call from the contractor (who also is the engineer who designed the system) with the news they had hit rock. (we were afraid that would be a problem as there is a huge amount of rock in the area.) In three attempts to dig the holes for the tank and the pump tank they kept hitting the same granite ledge.  They were in the process of getting another, very expensive, piece of equipment to drill out the rock, adding many more dollars to the project.  We decided to head on over there to see how things were going.  Luckily, in the meantime, while they were waiting for the equipment they tried digging in one more location and had success.  We arrived to dump trucks, backhoes and skid steer working away like crazy. But by the end of the day the line from the house was hooked up to the new 1500 gallon tank and we could use the plumbing again in the house.

The engineer says they should be finished on Monday.  Now we can no longer say the septic system is holding us back from selling our old house.  Time to get this place finished!