Reporting from The Ponderosa

When one day is very like the next, it does not make journal keeping terribly interesting for the writer and certainly not for the reader. Every day, I don my uniform: a pair of capris, a t-shirt, socks and shoes, an apron, a bandana, and work gloves. (I was supposed to take a selfie of this get-up for a friend, but for the life of me, I can not figure out how to best do it. I am certain that this is just as well. ☺) I fill my insulated cup with lemonade and head off for The Ponderosa. Once there, I open the large bay doors and begin the day.

 ~behind the barn~

This usually consists of sorting tools, identifying tools, finding a home for said tools, nail sorting, and general clean-up. John saved every piece of paper, books, tools, containers, all manner of things. John has all the accouterments for landscaping, carpentry, automotive, electrical, plumbing, machinist work, masonry, and probably something I am forgetting. He was a hoarder collector. He was also an incredibly talented person who needed a lot of junk.

While I am often there alone, some days John's sister joins me. She has been a godsend helping to haul trash to the transfer station and doing what I cannot do, even though I am younger. Mary can climb like a mountain goat. Look at her up there in the loft! (I can NOT do that.)

~Mary in the Loft~
She found a lot of things up there that I had no idea of. She'd say, "I'm handing this down," and I'd say, "Let's leave it up there!"  I know that that's no way to clear a barn pretending that things don't exist by having them out of sight and mind. Mary also likes nothing better than finding me lots of stuff to take to the transfer station on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

In the evening, I am so tired that I usually fall asleep sitting in my chair. Life was better when John would gently wake me and ask if it might be time for bed. 

Because of the challenges of this time, I have been using my blog as a way to determine what was going on as proof of this or that. Sounds interesting and vague, right? Anyway, I have been wandering around in my archives for the first year of our marriage in 2008. That has been fun and a wonderful reminder of all those things we did together that first year before the responsibilities of life descended.

Thought I'd share a photo from that first autumn together when I took a selfie of us before I even knew the term. 

~2008 selfie~

The postscript on the race track behind The Ponderosa is that a town officer visited the new owner who repeated some of the same lies stories that he told me. The bottom line is that I now know that others have also been complaining, but there is nothing that we other property owners can do because he is allowed to do anything with his property, including having a race track. The new owner did say that he would limit his racing to a half hour a day and that he would put new quieter mufflers on his ATVs. 

Over and out for another week or so. You just can't take all this excitement from my corner! Thank you for visiting me today...