Good times and hard times

Last week was very busy with lots of traveling  which meant I had a lot of time to read. I finished the book I was reading and started another one while Bill drove us to Indianapolis twice , Franklin twice and a bunch of trips to Seymour.  Last Monday we had a great time at the Indianapolis Home Show. and played “hooky” from the gym.

On Tuesday we traveled to Franklin to have lunch with some old friends Rick and Sheila, and our oldest son, Shawn.  Bill grew up with these two and I met them while we were dating so we had plenty of “old” stories to entertain Shawn. Some he had heard before but I am sure he heard some new stories.

We must have sit and talked at least 3 hours if not more!.

On Thursday we met these two fun and crazy friends, Nancy and Dan for lunch. It has been a long time since I have laughed that hard – no doubt about it I need this girl in my life to keep me from taking myself too seriously.

Wednesday and Friday we headed to the gym for our workouts. While home I worked on the jigsaw puzzle and start my “yarn” project for the winter.  When it get too bad, either too cold or too wet, to work outdoors I do at least one  jigsaw puzzle and a yarn project. We finished the puzzle this week which was interesting. It was 1000 pieces but unusually easy since it was so familiar. It was a puzzle of our home county. I actually learned a few things about the area and I have lived here my whole life! There were places on this map that I had never heard of before.

I usually make a new afghan each winter.  However,  I have so many that I can’t even have them all out at the same time so I decided to make a triangle shawl this year. I love capes and shawls so this will get lots of use this spring. It is a simple design which means no pattern to follow step by step. This is a great pattern for traveling. Simply chain four,  slip stick to make a loop.  Chain 3, turn. 3 Dc, chain 2, 3 Dc into the circle made by the starting chain. Then repeat the following  row until it is the size you want:  Ch3, 3 dc into first stitch, dc in each st until you reach the ch2 space, (dc, ch2, dc in ch2 space), dc in each stitch remaining except the last stitch. 3 dc in the last stitch. 

Saturday was the hard time as we had to say our final goodbye to our brother-in -law, Ronald Lynch. Ron was married to Bill’s sister, Gloria who passed a year ago. It was wonderful seeing everyone but I wished it had been under different circumstances.

I am hoping this week will allow me to spend more time outside working but so far I have not gotten much done. Every time I start working outside the cats start climbing up my pants legs and I end up playing with them. These two are the ones that think they need to be carried and played with whenever I go outside.

Taking a break

This morning was a reminder that summer has ended and autumn will soon lead into winter. I am not looking forward to the ice, snow and frigid temperatures. I still have projects to finish and I prefer to do them in warm weather.

We have a lot of projects still going from this summer and I admit we waited to do a few of the things in cooler weather – like the inside of the newly enclosed back porch and the gravel path to the chicken park.

In the meantime we have been working on the foundation for the shed by the chicken park. This is a project that want from a simple metal shed to be placed over bare ground to a completely different project.

I found this 8 x 10 metal shed on sale and thought it would be nice to have out by the chicken park to hold the chicken feed and stuff.  When I told Bill were I wanted to place the shed he said  the area needed to be leveled out to  prevent the shed from becoming  full of muddy  water when it rained . I thought about it and realized he was right so we started to make a foundation to level the building.

We measured the area off and Bill dug the holes for the posts. That was not an easy job since we have not had any rain for over a month!  We leveled the post and set them in concrete.

It was super hot  so we took a bunch of breaks which led to brainstorming. “What if we  placed the metal shed here temporary and  build a regular 12 x 12 shed  over it next spring?” – he says. ” How about we use the little metal shed for the main garden and not try to move it later?  I am not in that big a hurry for this shed especially if I can have a bigger one.” – I said. We both agreed that was a great ideal.

How is it I always end up thinking up more projects? All these shed projects started with ” I think I’ll clean out the garage this summer.”  We have decided to use  treated 4 x 4 on the ground topped with regular 2 x 4  as a foundation for the metal shed. This foundation will not require digging deep holes but may require a little leveling before we can put the shed together. I plan on placing it in the space between the greenhouse and the cherry tree.  That way I can lock up the garden stuff and get a lot of it out of the garage and the greenhouse.  I love the new cover on the greenhouse!

I am still waiting for the plants I ordered to arrive so I can finish the wildflower garden. I am afraid that cleaning out the old red shed, the wishing well project,  the wooden fence around the shade garden and the gravel path to the chicken park may have to wait until next spring to get finished.  I need to take time to winterize the chicken park and the coops,  clean up the vegetable garden beds and prepare them for winter.

This past week we have stopped working and taking a mini “stay vacation.” We  started the week by enjoying a great cook out with good friends.

The last part of the week our middle son come in for Oktoberfest  and a little golfing.

And of course setting and relaxing around the fire pit.

More projects!!

Last Wednesday I started feeling “under the weather” and ended up doing only the “necessary” things outside – like feeding the animals – for the next five days. I rode along with my husband and cleaned  a little inside but I had a sinus headache, my ears hurt and I felt “spaced out” to the point were I actually took some Sudafed (those that know me  know how much I hate taking this type of medicine).                                                                                                                                                                                              Since I was not actually working outside I had lots of time to read and think. Reading is good but thinking gets me into trouble and usually costs me time, money and lots of work.  This time was no different.  One of the things we have talked about is a new shed to replace the old shop.

I was trying to figure out what size of shop we would need so  I asked my husband what he intended to use the new shed for.  He said to house the lawn mower, gas cans, and some other yard equipment etc.  I wanted one to hold the chicken feed, straw, archery targets and Shoes’ playthings. I also wanted a place to store my finished projects so I can start making more and marketing them and I really want to clean out the garage so we can park the cars inside were they are suppose to me. I figured we needed a 10 x 20 foot shed but neither of us wanted one that big since there isn’t a real good flat place to handle a shed that large plus I didn’t want to have to clean that large of an area. There was another problem – where to place it. I liked where the old shed is since it is close to the house and is perfect for making and storing projects if it were empty and not filled with junk and needing major repair. I also thought about putting it closer to the chicken park since it would house all their stuff.

But here …..

Or here.

He prefers one closed to the drive way so that he can quickly unload stuff straight into it.

I finally decided the only solution was two smaller sheds. I don’t need a fancy shed for the chicken stuff so I decided on a 8 x 10 metal shed to be placed near the chicken park. I found one reasonably priced at Home Depot and with my $25 coupon  it was within this years budget.

I plan on placing it near the chicken park so it will not be blocking any views and still be practical. It will be a lot of work since that area is not level.   It is a “portable” building  that can be placed on bare dirt but I will have to either level the area with additional dirt or build a level foundation.  This foundation is  just so I have a level area to build it on and not a permanent in the ground type foundation.  The building will  still need to be anchored into the ground with an in-ground anchoring kit. The instructions says it will take a full weekend to put it together with the help of at least one other person.  In the  mean time this large  heavy box is taking up space in the garage.

So that is another large project on top of finishing the inside of the enclosed porch.

I also thought up a few smaller projects like a cute wishing well over the old unused well. This area was all overgrown last week and I cleaned it out. I still need to clean the well pit out  from were the old cover rotted and allowed debris to enter the concrete pit. I have found a wishing well plan that should look nice and it has a lid to prevent anything falling into the pit. I may even be able to use it for storage if I build it right.

I also think a picket fence would look nice around the shade garden.

See thinking cost me time , money and lots of work! Hopefully  the doctor will get be back outside quickly before I think up any more ideas – like wouldn’t a hot tub look great  next to the side porch. Just an ideal.

No sinus  infection, no test needed but did get a RX for my trigger finger inflammation and a paper to get a tetanus booster shot whenever I get the time to have it done.

New Life for an Old Sled

This summer my husband and I finished cleaning out the old homestead and we found some “old’ things from my childhood. Of course there were things too badly damaged by age to keep but a few things  were still in good condition and are being used during this Christmas season.

I found the Santa and our “original” elf on a shelf  with the sled and reindeer that my Grandpa Green made with my mom. They are flying across the fireplace mantle this year with their original paint.

We also found a box of her old Christmas ornaments and sadly not all of them survived but the ones that did have found a place on the tree this year.

My mother had made a lot of different fabric decorations and she also had made a wooden stable which we are using this year.

We also found my old sled the one that my dad would pull me around on when I was very little. It is still all in one piece but I do not believe it or I should be out sledding in the snow at out age so I sanded it down and gave it a coat of paint.

Once that was dry I painted it with  snowflakes, a snowman, and the saying :Let it Snow!” I think this will look great on the porch for the winter!

2018 Christmas Letter

Thanksgiving has come and gone again which means Christmas is approaching fast. How is it that when we were young the holidays could not come fast enough and as we age it seems we just turn around and another year is in the history books!  We hope that you had a good year and pray that the coming year will bring you happiness and good fortune.  Our year was full of traveling, gardening , craft projects, and doctor appointments.

December of 2017.

Bill and I helped with the local Seymour Evening Lion’s Club annual fruit sale. We sold a lot of fruit even in the super cold weather.  I knew enough to dress warmly in my snow suit but didn’t know how hot that little space heater got until I reached down to rub my calf.

The sad thing about this was that after all that work at the gym I had finally lost enough weight to actually fit into the suit again!  We attended the Lion’s club Christmas party ,  Bill’s family party and hosted our immediately family during the Christmas week. We also traveled to northern Indiana to have lunch with an old college friend and his wife.

January 2018

The weather turned cold and the chickens started laying “frozen” eggs which meant a lot of trips to the coop to collect eggs. We continued to go to the gym three times a week. I decorated the house and the tree for Mardi Gras. The cold weather kept me inside so I crocheted a Mardi Gras afghan, put a puzzle together and made the decorations for Mardi Gras. We attended the Lion’s club meetings , the Indy home show and made weekly trips to Kentucky. Our old washing machine died so we had to purchase a brand new one.

February 2018

It was too cold to work outside so we continued going to the gym, the Lion’s club meeting , the shooting range, our trips to Kentucky and we also attended the Jackson County annual Purdue club meeting. We also toured the local trout farm and got together with Bill’s brothers and sisters for lunch one afternoon.  I ordered my gardening stuff and started spraying the fruit trees for the year and also started some seeds indoors. The Sand hill  cranes have returned and are a sight to see each morning.

March 2018

This was a very busy month we were still going to the gym, traveling to Kentucky, going to the Lion’s meetings, the shooting range, and church. We met Shawn and Desiree for dinner at Edinburgh one evening. and Bill went to the annual road school at Purdue for two days. I cleaned the greenhouse and planted inside.  we traveled to Columbus, IN to have lunch with old friends one afternoon. There was snow on the ground so I deep cleaned another part of the house and made pillow covers for the living room. Doug came home for a weekend to visit. We also started cleaning up my parent’s  old homestead and accidentally burnt down the old shed. That accident actually made the place look a lot better.

April 2018

We traded going to the gym for cleaning out the old house and gutting the insides out of the place. We still went to the Lion’s club, the annual Mardi Gras party and helped with the Lion’s food trailer at The Pickers Meet.

Sadly that was the last picture I took of my “baby boy” Golden Rod as someone shot him while we were in the garden. I have no ideal why someone would stop and shoot him from their truck  especially when I was within 40 yards of the cat – but they did. Planting the rest of the garden was hard after that happened but I managed to get it finished but it took longer this year and was not as much fun. We met Shawn and Desiree a few times for lunch this month. Bill took another class in Indy and had his regular doctor’s appointment but this time with his new doctor since our older doctor had retired. I painted my wind spinner, a mirror for Shawn and make a new wreath for the door.

May 2018

Gym has been put on hold as things got busy around the house. Garden was planted and I started landscaping around the swing. We dug it out, laid fabric, added stone and plants to the area – no more poison ivy !  We had a few snakes visit the goldfish pond but they didn’t stay and I just took pictures of them and waited for them to leave. The flowers were starting to bloom and the birds were loving the bird garden. I painted the old milk can and some sticks. I also got tired of dumping the water out of the fire pit ( for some reason the drain holes never drained the water even when Bill drilled them out ) so I designed and made a checker board top and added lava rock and gel cans inside – no more logs to deal with or water to dump! Doug came home for a week’s vacation.

June 2018

We had a groundhog problem at the homestead so decided to buy a new rifle – no more groundhogs and I love the way it shoots! LOL  I just love to shoot and would be at the range more often if it was closer.  We made a few trips to Ohio to visit  and met Shawn a few times to have lunch. We attended the Greene family reunion and got together with Bill’s side of the family for lunch. Bill had his eye appointment and I scheduled mine for later. We went to the usually meetings and church. I  designed and painted a wind spinner and a fish board for the side porch.  By this time I had all of the first floor and basement deep cleaned and was ready to start upstairs that meant starting a new “major” project which will take months (if not years) to finish. After cleaning all the bedrooms I started on the library which has a build in bookshelf. The bottom of the bookshelf contains old photo albums that are falling apart plus mom’s old loose photos. My new project is to scan all the photos into the computer and place them in photo boxes.

July 2018

The mosquitoes were getting very bad so I sprayed the yard a few times this month and also sprayed the fruit trees. We poured a slab of concrete next to the driveway for a future shed and went to the county fair to listen to our neighbor sing.  I went back to the shooting range to practice some more. I also decide to retake our back yard so I started cleaning up trees and shrubs. The old dog kennel was completely covered in vines and weeds which took a few days to clear. The fence needed painting and I am not sure which had more paint when I was finished: me or the fence! I had my eye appointment and ended up with new glasses. We also have a new “garden” cat – she isn’t Golden Rod but she stays by my side like he did when I am working in the garden. We have no ideal were she came from and the other two cats hate her and they are always fighting even to this day in December. Of course I had to work on a craft so I started making soda can flowers which I am still making,

August 2018

We made a few trips to Ohio during the month and a trip to the State fair. The regular meetings plus a few golf committee meetings for the annual Lion’s golf scramble. Bill continued to work up the road at the homestead and I made a few things at the house. I refinished and tiled an end table for Shawn, designed and painted a sign for the dog kennel turned “chicken park” and another sign that I wood burned for the park. We relaxed one evening listening to TOG band at Scoop the Loop. I turned 65 so had to decide what to do about Medicare – went to a seminar which helped a lot! Doug came home the weekend of my birthday.

September 2018

More golf committee meetings and finally the Golf Scramble! We made a trip to way up north to visit with Bill’s cousin and a lot of little trips to Indy to  meet family and friends for lunch.  I had a great time helping a friend paint her new house – I know I am crazy but I love to paint!  Fall came early so I put up the Halloween decorations.  We had a lot of rain so I had to spray for mosquitoes again. I did some more work in the chicken park and made some self feeders which work great until they get wet – so have to come up with a way to keep them out of the rain.

October 2018

Doug came home for Oktoberfest weekend.  Bill had a few outings with friends – he played golf with an old high school buddy and went to the Purdue/Ohio game with another friend. I want to the shoot range and enjoyed shooting with a friend. We attended the Lion’s meetings and had dinner with some old friends one evening. Bill had the extension to the homestead ready so we ordered bricks and a team of brick layers to finish that part of the house. Shawn invited us to go with him to the Keeneland Race track and we had a great time – lost more than we won but that’s okay. We went to a friend’s Halloween /house-warming party and helped with the Lion’s Halloween parade and contest. Bill had his regular check up and was told that he didn’t need another one for a whole year  – no more every six months!

November 2018

This was a busy month but  I got very little marked off of my “to do”  list.  It started out with us missing Shawn’s birthday party because Bill had out-patient surgery the day before.  The next few weeks we did not go many places and I did most of the driving. We knew about the surgery for the last month so we voted back in October.
Bill was released to drive and we made  a weekend trip to Ohio before Thanksgiving. Later that week Bill had an in office procedure. Doug came home for a week’s vacation so he was here for Thanksgiving day. We had a house full with Doug, Shawn, Desiree, Chris  Henderson and Martha. The weather decided to prove me right when I said it was an early fall because we woke up one morning with super cold temperatures and ice covering everything outside. We did get the Lion’s club Peace contest winner awarded and published in the local paper.  I did got a few more soda can flowers made and a new porch sign designed and painted but mainly I have been baking,cooking and cleaning.

That’s our year in a nut shell.

 

Do you Know how to use It?

 

Today’s post is aimed at the women. Do you live in a house with a gun? Do you know how to use it? Can you  load it , put one in the chamber and use it in the dark?  Do you even know were it is at this moment? Is it a pistol or a revolver? Where is the ammo? If there is more than one gun in the house do you know which ammo goes in each gun?  Is it loaded at the moment or unloaded? Is  there a round in the chamber? Does it have a safety?  I know many are thinking I don’t need to know this  because my husband  is a good shooter.

Think again ladies!

Imagine  this situation: It is late at night and you are home alone asleep in bed. You hear a crash in the other room that sounds like broken glass. What are you going to do?  Call 911 and wait have the police to arrive. Okay but what happens for the next 15 to 45 minutes (depending on how far away the nearest police car is from you and if they are free when the call comes in)?

Here are a few things that could happen:

1. You are totally unprepared and are too frightened to move – “deer in the headlight” symptom. You are the perfect victim!
2. You start hunting for the gun , trying to load the gun, forget  how to release the safety.                          You are a possible victim!
3. You have the  unloaded gun in hand but pretend it is loaded.                                                                  You are a possible victim!
4. You have the loaded gun and hand but you have not practiced and are scared to death about how to use it on top of being afraid of the current situation. You end up pulling the trigger as soon as you see movement in the hallway.                                                                                                             You may have just shot and killed  an intruder, your family pet, your husband, or even your child.
5. You are trained and have sent hours practicing. Yes, the situation is scary but you have this under control. You know exactly were the gun is located, how to load it, rack it, and are comfortable shooting it. You have played this though in your head and know what you are doing.  In this cause  you could  aim a flashlight at the door while taking a low ready  finger off the trigger stance at a 90° angle from the flashlight but with a clear view of the door  while staying in the dark. That way the light will show you  who is coming though the door and they will be drawn to the light. This will allow you  to assist the situation  and control it better. Today you were lucky it was just  your husband coming home early and he broke a glass while getting a drink of water.                                                                                                                                                          Everyone is safe in this scenario because  you were trained and had practiced.

The bottom line is to be prepared!  Learn how to use the gun and practice, practice and when you think you are a good shooter go practice some more! I urge all women to take a class on gun safety, join a gun club, or make a date to practice at  least once a month at a  gun range were you can get training.

We  have a great indoor gun range right in our community and a  women’s gun club.-Women Armed and Ready  ..cause a cop won’t  fit in your purse.. We are looking for new members  and meet monthly at Accuracy Unlimited  (600S CR900W, Seymour, IN 47274) on the second Wednesday of  each month at 6 pm. I would love to see a bunch of women attend our next  meeting on June 13. First meeting is free. There is a cost for gun rental (if needed) and a range fee (after you review all safety procedures and fill out the stores paper work). Yearly membership (if you wish to join us each month) is $45 for classroom instruction and includes reduced range fees and also discounts on additional classes and items from the store.

Don’t be a victim – be prepared!

 

Fire Pit

I love to set next to a fire,  so years ago I brought a fire pit. We never really used it much for three main reasons: too hard to mow around so it was usually “lost in the weeds” , I never had wood when I wanted it (plus I always had trouble starting the fire),  it was a pain to clean out the ashes and it collected water each time it rained. Oops guess that was five reasons. Any way you look at it we never used it much!

We solved the first problem back in May of 2016 by building a patio and placing the fire pit in the center.

However we now had another problem the fire screen was ruined so we had to be extra careful if we wanted to build a wood fire. I think we had one fire in two years plus I still had to dump out the water after each rain. Yes it has a few holes in the bottom but it never drains.

There was a few reasons I did not like wood as a fuel for the fire pit. 1. It was a  lot of trouble to get the logs. 2. I always had trouble getting the fire started. 3. It would burn longer than I wanted it too. 4. It left a mess to clean up afterwards.

I tried using the process logs that only burn for four hours but they still left a mess to clean up and someone had to be there the whole four hours since the fire screen was broken.

WE have a water fountain that uses Tiki torch fuel cells  at the top  so I  decided to use  Tiki  torches fuel cell inside of flowers pots surrounded by lava rocks inside the pit.  I used four of them inside the pit. They give just the right amount of fire, I can blow them out whenever and there is no mess. This is three bags of rock and I will add another bag later this summer and maybe a few more cells. Another plus is that the mosquitoes stay away.

I still had the problem of keeping the rain out and didn’t want to add any more lava rock until I found a solution. I had  found a 1″ thick piece of old exterior plywood in the garage while cleaning last year and decided it would be useful one day so I put it to the side. Last week I remembered it and placed it on top of the fir pit to see if it would keep the rain out. I waited for the rain – yes it worked!

It was a bit too large on the ends so I grabbed my jig saw and started sawing.

I just finished sanding it when it started raining. I wrapped the plywood in plastic and want inside.

The next morning I removed the plastic and  wet sanded the top  and checked the fire pit – no water inside! I allowed the plywood to dry in the sun before painting it with white gloss paint. Repeated the painting four hours later.

The next day I sketched the design on the top and started painting.

Painting took awhile and this was the end of the next day.

One more day

I still have the back side to paint white and then I plan on coating it with a water sealer but I got the main part finished in time for Memorial Day.

A new beginning

 

In case you didn’t know I was an only child which can be a good thing I guess but I would not recommend it. I was always close to my parents and losing them was  very hard. It was easier saying good-bye to my dad because he had  Alzheimer  and was suffering near the end. My mother was a different story – she had a sudden massive heart attack and was gone within seconds. That was back in 2004 since then I, with the help of my husband have been slowly clearing out the house.

In the beginning I took only the stuff that meant the most to me and my family. I was working full-time and really could not bear to clear out the house instead I  cleaned the place as if she were coming back home.

I didn’t just have mom’s things to clear out – she had saved most of my dad’s clothes as well, Over a period of time I managed to get most of the good stuff out and divided  between saving, giving it to friends and family and donating it.  Finally, I was so overwhelmed with the whole task  that it was easier to just go to work and live my life without thinking about her place.

After recovering from my shoulder injury I decided that I had to get our house under control before I brought anything else into the home. The boys had moved out and it was time to get rid of all the extra clutter and redecorate. .For one thing I really don’t want our kids to have as much of a mess to deal with as I had with my parent’s place. I’m not saying that our house is perfect but at least I have things in labeled plastic tubs and have gotten rid of most of the clutter. In the meantime ,  we mowed the yard and trimmed the hedges but never hardly opened the doors.to their place.

A few years ago I loaded up the truck with a couple of loads and brought the stuff home to go though. I had just cleaned the garage and now it was a mess again with all her stuff.  It took me a while to get our garage back and I was again burnt out. About this time we lost Bill’s mother and her house needed to be cleared out and sold. I was so glad that Bill had a bunch of brothers and sisters to help get that job done quickly.

Time past and again I put off dealing with the old house until a few weeks ago. We drove past and noticed a window broken. Turns out someone had broken into the house (again) and this time they decided to trash the inside. Lucky by this time there really wasn’t much left of value  but it did motivate me to finish clearing it out.  We spent most of the week cleaning up the mess and carrying stuff to the trash. Yes, I have some things in the garage to be cleaned, saved  or donated but it is a smaller amount and most will be cleaned and donated,  I also hard pruned the shrubs and around the trees so things looked more lived in.

I still have a few pieces of furniture to clean and find a home for but nothing that we can’t handle. While I am sorting the last of the stuff at home Bill has been removing wall panels, ceiling tiles, and floors. Once we get to the bare brick we will make a decision on if the house is structurally sound enough to refurbish,.

It is time to not forget the past but to place it on the shelf and move forward.

 

Keeping your new year resolutions?

We all made a few new year resolutions or in my case goals but have we kept them?

I have done pretty well so far.  We did miss church one Sunday due to traveling.  We have not missed any of our workouts but a few were cut short due to time limitations ; however, I have maintained my weight loss. I just need to get my mine set on losing the last 10 to 15 pounds.

The hard one was staying positive this month since the weather was so cold but I managed to look at the bright side when everyone else was thinking negatively. I finished one Spanish course and started working on another  and studying it daily. I still have trouble understanding the spoken word but reading has become much easier.

So far I have not made it to the gun range or pulled out my bow this month but I have played the guitar a few times. I also started and finished a jigsaw puzzle and a crocheted afghan and scarf.

The hardest task was deep cleaning the kitchen and nook area which took almost the whole month but it is finished.

We traveled a few times to meet with the different kids to visit and have lunch with them this month.

The last two goals for the month was to try something new  and to helps an organization. I decided to try some Brandy and the new K-pod type of coffee – I approve of both. One of the clubs my husband belongs to needed a picture broad and a website so I spent an evening working on those projects.

.   .Not a bad start – now to keep it going the rest of the year.

Oktoberfest, Garden, and Chickens

Wow! Last week was a great  but busy week. Our middle son rolled in on Wednesday afternoon and our oldest came home for the weekend.  The annual Oktoberfest was last weekend and we had a wonderful time attending it and hanging out at the house.

It was hard but Bill and I  managed to get to the gym for our daily workouts and I watched my calories very carefully and still get to eat the things I really look forward to each year. It is important to remember that a diet does not have any forbidden foods  but does have portion control.

I had not been out to the greenhouse for a few days and since Shawn loves zucchini I decided to check to see if there were any ready. It was a jungle just getting inside the greenhouse. The tomato plant had decided to see the great outdoors and is  trying to  escape.

Where there any zucchini?  Yes and this is what happens when you neglect the plant for a few days…

This one is  too big for my  liking but there we still had enough smaller ones to fix for the cook-out. The strawberry patch is still producing enough for our morning cereal and they are still blooming.

I only have one hen laying eggs at the moment and she has just finished her annual molting and looks great again.

Poor Shimmer is still in the process of molting and the other still refuse to allow her in their area so she has to be caged at night before she can enter the coop and must be in her special pen during the day.

Lady Gaga still has not produced any back feathers. I keep looking but so far she is still bare.

Quick Silver is just starting to get new tail feathers so hopefully he will soon have a pretty tail again.

Bill and I have been spending a lot of evenings out on the patio relaxing . I can’t think of a better way to end a long day then to sit back and watch the stars come out and listen to the night sounds.