Monday, August 17 - Paul purchased a new satellite tripod and a couple accessories. The old tripod was getting pretty wobbly, and he didn't think it would last through our fall/winter travels.
We both made time to help out with a home build our church is doing for the local Habitat for Humanity Organization. Marsha is the coordinator for all the snacks and meals for the days our church works on the house. This particular Saturday, she provided a delicious lunch, and Paul joined the men working on the framing of the house.
Marsha has been very busy working on all her crafts. She found some time to create a couple of pine needle baskets. She is working on a few more also.
The orange baskets is holding some of Paul’s precious Petoskey stones he brought back from Michigan. The other is a cracker basket.
As if she doesn’t have enough hobbies, Marsha found a new hobby this summer…mats for the homeless. There is a group at our church that calls themselves the Bag Ladies. They crochet plastic mats out of plastic shopping bags. It is a great way to recycle the bags and makes a great barrier between the person lying on the cold or wet ground. She has set a goal of making one a month. It takes about 700-900 bags to make one mat and about 70-90 hours. The size of the mats are about
3 1/2 feet wide by 5 1/2 feet long. Yes….just about every free minute she has goes to making the mats. She really enjoys it.
Marsha baked 92 loaves of various sizes of Zucchini bread. She freezes most of the loaves. We love it with coffee in the morning. She also gives away tons and tons of the loaves to family and friends.
Just a small sample of the loaves and muffins.
As mentioned in a previous blog, Paul has been Mr. Trapper this summer keeping busy re-locating about a dozen groundhogs and raccoons. Marsha still noticed something was digging around her bird feeders so Paul set the trap again expecting to catch another raccoon. Well, you might of guessed it......a SKUNK was in the trap the next morning! YIKES!!
Paul has trapped and relocated numerous animals over the years and this is the first time he trapped a skunk. With no experience moving a skunk he resorted to Google. He found that many areas have laws against relocation of skunks because of their tendency to be carriers of rabies. Also, there's that threat of getting sprayed.
He was successful in getting the trap covered with a tarp and not getting the proverbial skunk treatment. Actually, it was fairly easy to get that cover in place. That skunk was probably happy to get out of the hot sun. Now how to lift the trap into the back end of his truck? He didn't want to get the skunk upset again and have it let loose with that killer smell.
Since it was only digging around the bird feeders and eating wasted seed, Paul decided to just let it go here. It wasn't eating Marsha's flowers or digging in the yard. If it continued to be a nuisance, he could always re-trap it and attempt to relocate it.
So, Paul simple released the lock on the cage door before removing the tarp. He stepped back and yanked the tarp away letting the trap door fall open. Peppy La Pew ran across the yard, under the 5th wheel, along the fence and into the neighbor's driveway culvert. We'll see if he is brave enough to risk the rage of “trapper Paul” in the future.
We have had some of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen in Ohio. We were visiting with dear friends who live on the lake by our house and witness a gorgeous sunset.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
What a great idea to reuse those plastic bags! It looks quite thick so I can see why you need so many bags.
ReplyDeleteYour new pine needle baskets are very pretty. Paul certainly collected a few rocks!
I wish we were a little closer. I could use a few loaves of zucchini bread...yum!!
Great catch Paul! So glad you didn't smell up yourself:) It will be interesting to see if the skunk comes back!
Beautiful sunset along the lake:)
Were you a victim of "Leave Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day?" That's a lot of zucchini bread but it tastes oh so good when zucchini season has passed. You'll be enjoying summer long after it has gone.
ReplyDeleteLove your baskets! You've become a talented craftsman with pine needle baskets.
I was feeling sorry for that skunk thinking it would be missed by its family. Congrats to Paul for not getting skunked!
Summer was late in coming, but it's been beautiful!
Nice work on that Habitat for Humanity House...and not a beard among all those workers!
Did you learn about those plastic bag mats from Delcie? We had a few skunks visit our backyard pool when we lived in Texas. Terry had to scoop one out once. He just put it over the fence and let it go.
ReplyDeleteMarsha, sorry you and Paul don't have anything to keep you busy. All good deeds, so good of you two.
ReplyDeleteDo you ever wonder what you would do if you didn't have a project? Have fun.
ReplyDeleteGreat story about the skunk!! I think I would have used a telephoto lens to take those pictures haha. That zucchini bread sure looks good - I love that stuff. Almost time for pumpkin bread too - that's a big favorite. Take care and don't work too hard!!
ReplyDeleteReally nice work Marsha.
ReplyDeleteWill "animal control" come and get the skunk if you trap it again? I know some areas have people that do that.
Always keeping busy and enjoying this amazing summer weather.
ReplyDeleteWish my hands worked better but they just don't anymore. I really love your baskets and those rugs. What a great idea. Paul is awful brave to get so close to Mr. Skunk. Hopefully he will find greener grass in the neighbors yard.
ReplyDeleteI'm really surprised that skunk didn't 'let loose'!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping we can see you while we are in the area, but you don't sound like you have a spare minute. Are there any recommended RV parks near Canton?
ReplyDeleteI brought cheese sticks, crackers, and small cans of soft drink for snacks to my church's HH build one time. They were thrilled to get snacks that weren't sweets and they thanked me for drinks they could actually finish before break time was over. Wish I could do more than that but building itself is no longer within my abilities.
ReplyDeleteThose mats look like something I might be able to do but I'd never get enough bags to make them since our trash output pretty much uses ours up. Hmmm. Wonder if I could get neighbors to donate some? Is there a pattern/instructions for the mats? How do they get distributed once finished?
You guys need to get back on the road to rest up from all that work you are doing. Never heard of the plastic mats ... an excellent method of recycling with a purpose.
ReplyDeleteYou two sure keep busy. Now I'm going to get busy reading some of your past blogs on upper Michigan and take notes. Thanks for doing my leg work.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog. I am so much more interested in what's going on than blogs about museums. I will admit it - I don't like museums at all. But your bowls are terrific (Doug can we smuggle just a few pine needles out of the country?) and your mats and your zucchini loaves. Now that I like. Have I got a recipe for you! Blueberry, zucchini cake.
ReplyDeleteJust getting caught up with blogs. You guys know how to keep busy, your generous donation of time and talent to the less fortunate is admirable.
ReplyDelete