WILDLIFE, CRAFTS AND WEEDS

Thursday, June 13 – We are continuing our home improvement jobs. More on that in the next blog.

Marsha loves her bird feeder. But not some of the varmints that visit the feeder.

Now look what you did.

These she likes.

Notice the bungee. Our squirrel-proofing idea.

Anyone know the name of the bird on the left? We have never seen one of these before.

We have spotted a ground hog eyeing our garden. Even though we put a fence around it, we can never be too caution with that varmint. Paul put a live trap out hoping to catch and relocate it. Well, we did catch something but not a ground hog.

A face only a mother can love.

Relocation time.

When we were in Mission, Marsha learned another new craft, Swedish Weaving. She completed her first project. She made three table runners for our living room tables. She said they turned out perfect. Thanks again Donna and Suzie for introducing her to yet another hobby.

Marsha is pretty good with identifying grasses, flowers and weeds. But this one has her stumped. We sprayed them with Roundup but to no avail. It has a root system no bulb system. We dug up a few and took them to our local nursery. Several people looked at them and had no idea what they are. They suggested using Roundup at full strength and adding some dishwashing soap. The dishwashing soap will help the Roundup adhere to the leaves. If anyone knows what this weed? flower? is and how to kill it, please let us know. We appreciate your help.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

 

 

ROCK WALL COMPLETED!

Friday, June 7 – Paul's been sent to the rock pile. No, not for bad behavior, but to gather rocks for the wall and fence along the rear property line. If you recall, Paul had the driveway installers pile the unused dirt along the rear line for this wall. He's now into building the wall in preparation for the fence.

Look who is playing King on the Mount.

He found a good supply of reasonably priced boulders at a local sand and gravel yard. The only catch is he has to select them from huge piles at the gravel yard and haul them home. That means he'll be handling every rock at least three or four times.....jeesh!

He ended up making 3 trips to the rock pit picking up 335 boulders, weighing 8,920 pounds. Now that's a bunch or rocks!

He actually enjoys the wall building process. Doesn't enjoy the shoveling of the dirt in preparation, but the wall building is rewarding work.

It's nice to see the progress as he places the rocks and dirt and advances down the line. It's a pretty good workout too! A little toooo good of a workout. After working all day....OUCH! (That's his back talking.)

End of Day 1.

Paul originally told Marsha that his job for June was to build the rock wall. Marsha knew better than to believe him. It took him only two days to build a 70' wall. She just smiled and thought…I knew you would get it done in a few days.

Look who thinks the grass is greener over the wall.

Now for the fence building along the top of the wall. He's going to put some vinyl fence like you see at Home Depot. A little expensive in the beginning but no upkeep and no painting in the future. Can't have Marsha adding “Paint Fence” to his "honey do" list, now can we... :-)

With the wonderful warm weather and a little bit of rain now and then, the garden is coming along great. The zucchini are growing like weeds. The banana pepper plants have flowers and small peppers already. Marsha pulled a few of the flowers off to get more strength to the plant. Not too far in the future, we will have tasty tomatoes also.

We have lots of grapes growing along the fence at the side of the house. Looks like we may get some good eating grapes this year.

So the “Summer of Work” continues for us. That's okay! We actually enjoy the work after four years of full-time relaxation. We keep making and then changing travel plans for this winter. We decide on exploring Florida, then changed to Arizona and the Southwest. We still haven't made up our minds. We do know we'll be in the Houston area for Thanksgiving and visit our daughter, Carrie. After the Christmas Holidays, we'll either continue West or head East. Time will tell.

Side note: The guys came and finished the driveway. After the initial widening of the apron at the street, we decided we should have had them widen the drive by about five feet. So the guys were willing to come back and make the change. It really looks much better and will be nice for backing in the 5^th wheel. They even gave Paul a discount because he did the prep work by digging out the sod and spreading gravel for the base.

This was just a little to close to Marsha's flowers for her liking.

The driver promised her that he would not hurt one of her flowers. She still stood and watched. He kept his word. In August, Paul will fill in the cracks and seal the rest of the driveway. It will look like new.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

BELLA IS HARD AT WORK TOO!

Wednesday, May 29 – Paul took a few minutes to remove a metal awning from over the front porch – another eye soar taken care of. He was surprised it didn't blow-off because it was only held on by four screws. Pretty flimsy ordeal to say the least.

Before

After

Today is our 31^st wedding anniversary! Last year we dined on the Oregon Coast to celebrate. This year we visited beautiful downtown Canton, Ohio. We had drinks at a new place recommended by Marsha's hair dresser called Basil's. The drinks were delicious, and the price just right. We moved on to another new place, Sheri's at Shears. Marsha was texting with Carrie when we arrived and told her where we were. By the time we got into the lounge area, took a seat and began to order our first drink, the bartender asked us what we were having for diner. We said only drinks, but the waitress came up and said, "No, you Weavers are going to have diner." We just looked at her like she was nuts! And how did she know our name? Putting two and two together we were told Carrie had called in, and she and Kelly were treating us to dinner and drinks. WOW…jackpot. We had some wonderful appetizers, drinks and great conversation with the new owner. Thanks again girls for a great evening. Wonder where we'll be next year?

What the heck has Bella been up to while we are making all these improvements around the house? She has decided she wants to be a hunter when she grows up…sort of. We think she has more fun playing with her catch.

When it runs off, she can't figure out why?

Oh no, she is at it again.  Don't worry Judy, she always lets them go! 

The End.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!