May 26-June 1, 2019 Sunday School Girls Over, Fence Work, Memorial Day

May 26-June 1, 2019 Memorial Day

Fence Work, Garden, Grapes

See the three purple Allium blooms?  I love those!

Hello, Friends!

All-in-all a hard working week.  It's still been cold, mostly gray, and fairly chilly.  I only had one migraine this week so I was able to make progress on various projects.  

The Peonies I moved are happy in their new spots and preparing to bloom!

Sunday School Girls Over:

After church and Sunday School Dd invited the girls back over to our house for another campfire---roasting hot dogs and making S'mores.  FA and Kayleigh came home with us and the other girls showed up over the course of the afternoon.  The girls had a lot of fun together, celebrating the end of the year and goodbyes.  FA will be at a summer camp for the next 10 weeks and Kayleigh will be moving out of our area in two weeks, so they wanted to fit in one last hurrah! 

Dh finally brought out the Power Spray for me to start on the fences.  SO much chipped paint everywhere!

Fence:

We have a big fence around our pool and around our deck that needed re-painting before we even moved in three years ago.

  While waiting for Dh and me to decide on the right flooring for our house I have been working on the fencing.  

I had been asking for Dh to show me how to work the Power Sprayer for about six weeks and he finally got around to bringing it out and showing me, so I took off with it! 

Wherever you see brown you can see where I've worked!

 I just can't believe just how long and tedious it is to clean one small section, much less trying to clean the whole fence.  I knew it would be work, but I don't think I realized just how long it would take to just spray off the fence.  I thought the most tedious part would be the painting!  I need to reevaluate my expectations on how long this job is going to take if I am going to do it right; which I am. 

The transplanted hosta's are all accepting their move too!  They look like they've always been there!

Flooring:

The painted floors have started to break down at the seams and they have become a priority at this point.  I'm glad we were able to buy a few years by painting them when we first moved in, but now we really need to put in permanent floors.  Dh and I have been going and looking at our options at various stores and Dh has been doing internet searches and reading reviews online.  He is a very thorough purchaser!

Armoire:

I found a beautiful old armoire at a thrift store ($36) and Dh spent the week trying to convert it from how the previous owner was using it (an entertainment center) into what I need--- a cabinet for my clothes.  This week he made two big box drawers for the bottom.  Next, he will make the shelving section for the top part.  It is going to take a while before all the parts are made, but he did have to buy a bunch of wood to make the inserts so I am sure he spent over $36 on all that new wood! Plus, he bought stain and polyurethane to finish the new wood after it's all built.  I didn't plan on him turning it into a project or buy wood to fix it up, but it will be easier to organize with all his helpful shelves and boxes inside!

Two years ago, for Mother's Day, Dh gave me this Lupine (which was *supposed* to be purple but is a peach color in actuality) and a Foxglove.  The Foxglove didn't make it, but the Lupine returned again this year.  Lupine always make me think of my favorite children's book: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

Memorial Day:

We had a work day while thinking about all those that have served and sacrificed for our country.  Dh and Dd had the quintessential hamburgers on the grill though!  Dd was so excited for her upcoming trip to Indiana to see the "L" family she cleaned out the car.  She was surprised to find a huge mouse nest in the spare tire area!  Dh went over all the basic car tips---how to fix a flat tire and those types of things.

Chickens:

Can you see Miss Lemon in the left chicken tractor and Charlotte in the right tractor?  

Miss Lemon and Charlotte are STILL brooding and I continue to put them outside in tractors a few times a week to help break the cycle, but it doesn't seem to be working!  

I cleaned lots of gutters this week--full, every single one of them!

Wind: Leaves

This week for the first time this year, I could hear the wind blowing through the leaves!!!  It is such a wonderful sound!  It is the first week we've had enough leaves for that summer sound to happen...welcome summer!

Gutters:

It took a few days, but I finally got ALL the gutters cleaned on our house and outbuilding!  Boy, is that a big job when you live in the woods!  Also, a job that needs repeating too often for my liking!

Grapevines:

I finally got all the pruning done on the grapes then Dh said he wanted to put the old wood fencing back up this year.  I tried really hard to pull the vines out of the metal wires but I kept breaking the new growth, ugh.  So I did the best I could and freed up all but two sections and re-trained the vines onto new metal posts that I put up around the clothesline.  It will make this year a good transition and we will also be able to reach the grapes easier this year, but I will still have to untangle the wire after this year growing season.  Hopefully, in the fall or next spring, I can remove the whole grapevine from the fence and have it free-standing and separate from the fence and we can re-paint the old wooden fence and put it back up.  We had taken off the panels to put up a rabbit-proof metal fence and intended to reattach the wooden panels right afterward but never did.  I already see lots of new grape clusters forming, albeit very tiny!

FACETIME:

Yay for Facetime!  This week I got to have a nice chat with my friend Heather via Facetime!!!  It was great getting to hear her voice and see her face!  Dear friends are such a blessing and I'm so appreciative.

Open House:

Dd and I went to our first "Open House" this week.  An Open House is a party for someone graduating.  It was really nice to see such a massive turnout for Becca's party.  

What do you use your satellite dish for?  A birdbath makes an excellent purpose when reangled properly.

Henry and the Hawk:

Henry chases and barks at any visiting hawks in our yard.  He alerted me to them twice over the weekend.  I've never had a dog that knew that birds were a danger; especially when we have chickens.

STILL trying to plant my seedlings!  I had tray after tray to rehome.

Church:  

This week on Sunday, we had missionaries from Kenya sharing their stories.  It was very interesting and inspiring.  Dd played the guitar, along with Becca and Joe, while FA sang a special song.  They did a great job and we all thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

These are the ones I found---Dd found three too, not pictured.

Nature/Woods:

Morrell Mushrooms Popping up and getting eaten!

 Mayapples are blooming

Leaves in abundance

Compare the growth in just a few days

Garden:

Seedlings growing!  Eating asparagus, turnip greens, spinach...

I'm still planting new seeds, transplanting the veg we planted inside, and rearranging our garden.  We took down the plastic from the hoop houses on Saturday and then I had to lay it back on top of the ground two days later when the temps dropped back to high 30's- low 40's!  Of course.  

Last week for hoop houses

We should have kept the plastic on for another week.  The garden is doing really well, I'm especially excited to see so many green beans popping up through the dirt!!!  I can't wait for fresh green beans from my garden.  I've already stopped buying spinach from Costco as I'm able to survive off our own supply! Yay!!!

We planted LOTS of potatoes this year! Four beds full!

Dd's ACADEMIC PROGRESS THIS WEEK:

Reading:

The Invisible Man 
by H.G. Wells: Completed

Set in turn-of-the-century England, the story focuses on Griffin, a scientist who has discovered the means to make himself invisible. His initial, almost comedic, adventures are soon overshadowed by the bizarre streak of terror he unleashes upon the inhabitants of a small village. 

Lots of Peony bulbs ready to burst!!!

Training Henry:

This week Dd has been trying to train Henry's nose!  She put dog treats under a plastic cup and then tried to teach him to follow his nose.

Home Economics:

Shepherd's Pie: Dd made a wonderful dinner for us!  She worked hard and the mashed potatoes on top were absolutely perfect.

Auto:

Dd went through a repeat training with Dh on auto things---how to fix a flat and other handy info.  She also cleaned out the car.

Can you see the two rows of green beans coming up through the middle of the island bed?  Yay!

Nature:

Dd found 3 Morrell Mushrooms!!!  I'd found 5-6 before.

What a good boy, our Henry.

Art:

It was a really big art week for Dd this week.  She spent a lot of time downstairs in our little painting studio area.  I love when she gets into her zone and spends time making art.  

I've been bringing lots of greens to the chickens in the pen and trying to get them out for little nature walks to eat bugs.

Painting Shoes: 2 hours

Dd has been painting her white converse sneakers this week--two pairs.  She did a really lovely job.

Acrylic paintings: 10 hours

She gesso'd (paint a thick white paint on, like you 'white out' on paper)  over all five or six previous paintings that she did not like with gesso so she could make new paintings.  She completed one painting and is in the process of another one.

Chalk Drawings:

Dd and Hailee went to our church and made a big greeting for Becca's Open House at the Fellowship Building.  I'm not sure what all they drew as it stormed over the night, but I'm sure they did a great job.

Music: Guitar

Strings Group practice AND played the guitar while FaithAnne sang during the church service.

The girls love being out!  But, they usually don't stray too far from their safe pen.

Work Outs:

Two workouts this week

Next Week: Dd to INDIANA

Dd will be driving herself to Indiana to spend the week with her 'second family,' the "L" family.  She is beyond excited and looking forward to seeing her adopted family.

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