My Genius Husband

Now, first of all, I need to be sure to state that I know mine is not the only genius husband around. But he is my genius husband.  :-)

Back when we were working on the new landscaping for the front yard, we discovered that our original plan wouldn't work because of a French drain that ran beside the driveway.  Our Plan B (or was it C?) was to use small river rock inside a rock edging and plant boxwood, which we did. BUT we realized our pretty river rock would soon be orange because we have our own well and our outside water is full of iron which turns everything but the grass orange.  Our underground sprinkler system covers the whole yard with the exception of the new area because it was formerly (huge! gigiantic!) shrubs, so we had to supply some sort of watering system.  

Enter my genius husband!  Our garage has a set of faucets that run in-house (read treated) water.  The original owners of our house, who had it custom built, probably installed them for washing cars, but Dan realized that he could run a hose from them to water the new area, thus preventing orange rocks.  He dug a hole, crafted a pop-up sprinkler head that the hose could attach to, and added a green cover to be placed when it was not in use.  Voila!  Green grass, no orange rocks!! It's easy to run the hose out of the garage (it's usually left attached to the faucet), water that section, roll up the hose and replace the cover.  

Yes, it's October and we're still watering.  The days have been glorious and the colors are beautiful!  ♥

A Family Project

This is a little late in coming to the blog because I forgot to take my camera. Yup, big oops. So I decided to use my cell phone camera. Which I was totally unfamiliar with. The pictures were all taken outdoors and in the sunlight, which meant I never really knew what I was getting. All this to say that the pictures did not turn out exactly stellar. But I do have documentation, of sorts.

So what were the pictures of?  Well, my dad built a combination shop and garage in back of their house about 1965.  The roof is sloped to the back with the very back just above ground level on the hill behind.  The original roof was tarred and Dad had redone it some years back, but it was leaking and causing him to worry. At ninety-one, there was no way he could do the job himself anymore. Family to the rescue!  

On Saturday, September 6,  Dan and I drove down. Bruder Bear had arrived the night before and son-in-law Eric and grandson Cameron were due in shortly after we got there.   Dad had decided to put on a tin roof this time and he and Dan had already figured out all the materials needed and those had been delivered by the local builder's supply earlier in the week. 

Now commenced the figuring, measuring and hole drilling.  As Dan, John, and Eric conferred, at one point, I heard someone utter the comment that there were too many degrees working on this project! I had to laugh. (How many degrees you ask?  Five between the three of them.)

Conference in process with Dad overseeing.

Finally deciding on the correct placement for the holes for the screws, they began the work.

The hole drilling station.

John placing the first strip.

A terrible picture of the whole crew.

It was a hot day but the guys worked hard until late in the afternoon when, red faced and worn out, they stopped.  That Saturday also happened to be my mom's eighty-ninth birthday so after a rest and some cleanup, we all drove down to the local Mexican restaurant and had a great meal together.  As we headed back to our trucks after eating I remarked to Bruder Bear that it had been many a year since we'd been on main street together on a Saturday night.  Lots of memories in that town.

The roof was finally completed Monday morning and BB headed back home.  It was a great weekend with four generations of family working together.  Poor dad was stewing about not being any help up there, but I assured him everyone who was working was doing it because they wanted to.  I told him it was time to reap his harvest.  ♥

Happy October!!

Ahh, one of my favorite months has arrived!  Brilliant blue skies, crisp mornings, and carpets of brightly colored leaves.  Absolutely gorgeous in every direction.  

And here inside the resort, the call to cozy meals is being heard.  Time to bake bread, cook up soups and stews and bake a few cookies.  Yesterday I made a loaf of yummy whole wheat bread and realized I needed to pull some bags of extra flour from the freezer so they'd be available for the next baking.  A few years ago I bought a bag of King Arthur white whole wheat flour.  I'd been reading about it and thought I'd give it a try since I'm not a big fan of things that taste heavily of whole wheat. It did seem lighter.  Since then I've used one I really like from a brand called Wheat Montana that my dad bought for me (available at a market in their town). I finished that one up and now I'm going to try one from Trader Joe's and see what I think.  I've also used Bob's Red Mill stone ground whole wheat, but for a 100% whole wheat bread, it's a little heavy.   

Meanwhile, small steps on the updating of our house are continuing.  Dan is working away on parts of the yard and last week we installed a new toilet in the upstairs guest bath.  An elderly guest was here a month or so ago and after using the facilities, she confided in me that she thought she wasn't going to be able to get up from our standard height toilet.  I told Dan it was time to replace it with a new higher model as we couldn't have guests stranded in the potty.  I had fallen in love with Kohler's Tresham line of bath fixtures and was planning on using them for our bath, so I was thrilled to find they made them in the color already in the main bath--Mexican Sand.  We ordered one through our local plumbing shop and Dan was able to easily install it.  

Only at the resort will you be asked to admire a beautiful new toidy!!  Now to replace a few faucets in that bathroom and the light fixture and it'll be set.  On to more projects!!!  ♥

New Project in the Works

I started a new project in the sewing room yesterday. My Bruder Bear is going to be a grandpa again and so it was time to start a new quilt for the little one. We know it's another boy (great-grandson number six for my parents), and so I picked out some cute boyish fabrics at the quilt shop a couple of weeks ago.

Most of the fabrics are from the Giraffe Crossing line by The RBD Designers for Riley Blake.  I'm going to use the Yellow Brick Road pattern by Atkinson Designs, which is the same pattern I used for soon-to-be big brother Grant's quilt.  

Meanwhile, it's a very dark and dreary day here at the resort, so I think that makes it a very good day to spend sewing.  And maybe for making a big pot of soup.  ♥

A Couple of Finishes

Hey, as promised, I'm back!!  

Down in the sewing room, I finally got gutsy and decided I needed to quilt the window scene wall hanging using the Through the Winter Woods fabric.  Yes, it had me buffaloed because it had light and dark sections and I'm an "all over" quilter girl and what color thread would work on both?  Answer:  none.

So Tuesday afternoon, I gathered myself together and came up with a plan.  First I put the layers together and pin basted them, then I stitched in the ditch (right down the seam line for those not acquainted with the term) around the scenes and the window frame.  Then I basted around the entire edge of the quilt and put it on my Handi-Quilter and using a brown variegated thread, stippled quilted the border.  I changed to a cream thread and lightly stippled each scene and...I was done! And I'm happy with it.  Turns out it's no big deal to change thread colors!  What a dork I was about this!  

I may stitch some lines through the window sill, but that'll just take a jiffy using my regular sewing machine.  

I also finished the herringbone table runner from the same pattern book as the window wall hanging several weeks ago.  It's not the best photo as the light was wrong in my sewing room and I was too lazy to drop the blinds.  

I think I'll make two more projects from the book.  Can you believe that, after almost forty-three years of marriage, we've never had a real Christmas tree skirt? There's one in the book I really like, so I hope to tackle it soon.  Also, Ann gave me a jelly roll of this fabric for my birthday and there's a log cabin quilt, using those scene panels, that I believe I'll try.  That will most likely be after Christmas, though.  

Ah, the joys of being a quilter--there are always more patterns and fabrics calling to us!  ♥

Thankful Thursday

Wow, I can't believe what a slacker blogger I've been this month.  But then again, there's only so much you can say about dusting, organizing shelves, and cleaning sinks.  Yeah, it's been that exciting here this month.  

But, this morning I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.  I try to do at least four posts per month, so stay tuned for a flurry in the next few days!

Meanwhile, I know Thursdays have become known in the internet world as "Throwback Thursday", but today I decided I would do a Thankful Thursday.  So, in a few words and a few pictures, here goes:

I'm thankful for this perfect little ceramic bird I found last fall in a drugstore next to the shop where I get my hair cut.  It makes me smile.

And I'm thankful for my trusty ancient NordicTrack.  I can't believe that for the last one year and nine months, most days, I climb on it each morning and work away. It's a love/hate relationship, but still, I'm thankful!  

Hope your day is as beautiful as it is here!  ♥

September?

Well, it looks like I've missed a few weeks here.  Things have been busy, and when I've had down time, I've been lazy.  :-)

I have my little house picture done and hanging.  I've left the frame matte-finished, but I may varnish it later. I do like it!  And it solves a bare-space dilemma for those times when my Christmas stocking and my little flag banner are out of season.

The little basket below it holds our car keys and I've made different garters for it for various seasons. I haven't been to a Longaberger party in years, but I sure love the baskets I have and use them all the time. (We'll just have to ignore the fact that the light switch isn't centered...  Bah!!)

I have finished changing out Americana decor for fall and it feels so good!  Love, love, love the fall season. And here's that Edyta Sitar runner I made earlier this year. Doesn't it look perfect with this arrangement on it?

So far I've found no bags of cute little pumpkins at Safeway, but I'll keep checking.  ♥