As usual, Summer has gone by faster than we’d wish. Fall will shortly be upon us and then the endlessness of winter. I’ve accomplished some of what had been planned for the season, but by no means all.

We finally finished the kiddos’ structure. The tarp roof it came with is considerably too small, so for now, it has no roof. It will eventually have a wooden roof and a climbing wall off the back. For the time being, however, we need tofocus on rebuilding the greenhouse before hurricane season can wreck it entirely.

We finally got the junk pile hauled away, and in its place is this year’s firewood (which we still need to stack.)

We had a super hot dry summer, and it’s been hard on the plants and gardens. We’ve had a few things up and die on us, and we may not see the full carnage from that until next spring, if the hewt prevented the trees from storing enough energy to hold them through the winter. The weather has been hard on us, too. It is extremely diffficult to accomplish tasks in heat-warning weather.

I have absolutely no idea if we’ll actually get any garden harvest. I have lots of blossom, but the amount of fruit may not be amazing. Hopefully, we get at least something.

I am currently in the middle of another DIY project:

Building a “James” washing machine. These machines have been in existance since the early 1900s and work very well. They are a fairly simple build, as well. The hardest part has been sourcing the materials necessary. We finaly found a small shop locally from which to buy the necessary stainless steel sheet, and the rest has been plundering hardware stores for this bit and that bit and making do with things that were never meant for their assigned task.

The pieces are all cut out, and yesterday I got them drilled and sanded. Today, I am working on the varnish.

We still haven’t made forward progress in the house build for the year, but I am actively seeking a contractor available to clear the build site at this time. I also have an inquery in to a salvage company in the hopes of selling the engine out of the bus. Both for whatever funds we can get for it, but also to prevent any environmental accidents in the future.