Twenty One Projects. Riiiiight.

Cower, mortals, before my traffic light themed color coded list!!!! Good luck reading the yellow ones.

1. Finish the hard cider

I already touched on this one, but the hard cider was done before it began. It had an unusually slippery quality to it (like , as well as a faint hint of mold from, well, the mold that grew on top of it. Sara refused to go near it. I tossed it all into the compost instead of bottling it, since I know I was gonna get the hairy eyeball from her every time I drank one if I did.

2. Build a clothesline

This isn’t off the table yet, but it’s on hold whilst I decide where I want to erect it. Heh heh heh. Erect. Plan A had been along the back side of the garage, after I’d cut down the fire bush. Now I think I want to transplant all of our black raspberries there. There may be room enough for the two to coexist, but right now it’s a moot point, since I don’t even have all the materials to build it.

3. Cut down the fire bush

The fire bush is done, man. It’s not gone, but it’s been trimmed to within an inch of it’s life, and more importantly to within 2 feet of the garage. It looks more like an umbrella now. The yard already looks bigger for being able to see through what used to be an impenetrable mass of monster flora. And the chickens are gonna need some shade.

4. Move the woodpile

Done. To be honest, I stacked the deck. This was already done when I made the original list. In my defense, though, it was a lot of work.

5. Plant a garden

Done, even though Sara wants to add beans or peas or something. I’m done cutting and moving sod for at least the rest of the summer. We do have 11 flourishing tomato plants, 12 banana pepper plants and 2 some kind of squash plants that are LOVING their diet of llama droppings.

6. Move the leaf mulch

Done. Moved from an open pile on one end of the yard to a bin on the other side of the yard. Why did I even do this? I have no idea.

7. Build at least one solar air heater

In progress. And my plans have upgraded from a small window mounted model to a mega free standing unit. I’ll only be making on of those. I have enough clean and empty soda cans to make this work (thanks, mom and dad!), as well as some nice free 2×6’s for the box frame (thanks, Kev!) and a freecycled stationary sliding glass door panel with double glazed LoE coated glass for the cover (thanks, guy in Ware!). I also discovered half a can of Thompson’s Water Seal in the garage that I can use to weather-proof it all (before the can rusts completely and the contents waterproof the floor of the garage).

8. Build a chicken coop

Almost done! And may I say that I have no idea who that guy was who though this would only take a couple of weekends.

9. Put siding on the sugar shack

Yeaahhhhh. I’ve got a giant pile of used pressure treated decking to use as siding, but I haven’t made any move yet to start this. I think subliminally I’m putting it off for cooler Fall temperatures.

10. Build a deck

I know where I want the deck. I know how big I want the deck. I have wood for the frame of the deck. I have cement mix for the posts of the deck. I need a permit for the deck. I haven’t been to the Town Hall yet to get the permit.

11. Wrap up the 2009 Sugaring season

I still have sap lines in piles and in buckets by the shack. It’s embarrassing is what it is.

12. Make at least one batch of mead

This weekend! I swear!!!

13. Clean/organize the garage.

A constant work in progress. This weekend I made the carport side navigable again and cleaned out a mess of stuff: useless lumber, 2 televisions, a bike, some junky furniture. It’s all gone, now. Almost anything left out there by the road has 24 hours before it’s gone. I also cleaned up a ridiculous amount of wood and composite decking shavings that the table saw has spit out in service of chicken coop construction. these past weeks. If I had to walk around in the garage in the dark now, there’s a better than average chance that I’d come away with all my limbs, the ability to walk under my own power, and probably not needing a tetanus shot.

14. Construct a parking area for the sugar shack

Nope. Nothing. I remember seeing an add on Craigslist for free stone gravel ONE WEEK before we bought the truck, and hence the ability to pick up and transport said gravel. I still weep at the missed opportunity.

15. Make a sign for Occasional Creek Maple

I haven’t even settled on a design yet.

16. Build cold frames

I have the windows, but I haven’t started putting anything together yet. Again, I think this will be another Fall project.

17. Landscape the new creek

Ehhhhhh. I’ve kinda started. I dug a hasty trench to keep water from the road from just spilling over the new retaining wall the town built. It works great, but it’s ugly, and there’s nothing growing over there, so we’ve got a bad case of the erosions. Here’s the cascading solution: I’m going to cut circles around most of the trees in the yard and use the sod to cover the bare spots. Then I’m going to use the mondo pile of wood chip mulch I made disposing of the fire bush to fill in around those trees. Landscaping trifecta!

18. Build stairs for the sugar shack

Nada. I’m pretty sure I have the materials, though.

19. Install the dishwasher

HA! Nope. I did unearth it when I cleaned the garage, though.

20. Install the “new” oven

Sara would LOVE this to even get started, but it’s gonna require a professional to disconnect the cast iron heater and cap the pipes before we can do anything, and that costs monies.

21. Insulate and put new drywall in the house

I have 10-12 bags of clean, used insulation in the garage that I got from a fellow Freecycler. I got a full sheet of 1/2″ drywall from another. What I don’t have is the balls to start tearing my walls open. Yet.