Saturday, May 30, 2009

BIG BOARD

Have you all seen the ads in the quilt mags for "big boards" for $99? Well, I saw a coherent set of directions on the net somewhere (there are a number of incoherent directions) and asked my neighbor who does guy stuff for me if he'd make one for me. The total cost of plywood was less than $18. I paid about $7 for Thermore batting and $12 for cotton duck. My friend won't take payment for the 2 hours labor but I did send him home with a large bowl of fresh fruit salad for him and his invalid wife. DO NOT PAY $99 FOR ONE!!!! What a rip off. I managed to resurrect Al's old jig saw and staple gun for the job. Will do the staple job today. I guess it will get stored under my bed but it will probably get as much or more use than the fifty year old ironing board. I refuse to give up the old rusty ironing board because they knew how to make 'em fifty years ago. Rather that those light weight plastic legs this has some metal piping about 2" in diameter. There is no wobble on this baby! Standard store bought covers don't fit it because there is a metal top as well, with a significant lip on the edge. I made a cover for it a few years ago but didn't do a good job so will redo the job having re-thought the construction.

DORIS, we have had close to 10" rain in May and like you and certainly like Atlanta, we were close to desperate for water. If my well dries up I'm in trouble.

DOG REPORT: Forgive me if I'm repeating myself. Took Shadow in for a badly needed tooth cleaning but it didn't happen because the blood work which precedes the general anesthetic showed impaired kidney function. A lab backed up vet's conclusion based on normal white count that there was no infection. Shadow had been off her feed for a couple of weeks and seemed to be slowing down. It's so easy to make the assumption that it's just age she'll be 13 years old 7/30 but since she's been on that horrible low protein diet she's eating again and lively too. The latter is good for me as she just won't allow me to skip a challenging walk every day no matter the weather. Well, the groomer just called so I have to go pick her up. I've got to remember to launder her bedding today so the utility room won't smell of dog for a while.

Jane

puppy update . . .( checking in)

. . . I'm quite guilty of not posting here. I have a different Google I.D. I use on other web sites, and always have to sign out then sign in for this one. Hate to bother Eric to change my I.D., etc. Oh well . . .

JOLEEN IN MN - Your garden photos are wonderful!!! I would have thought they are from a garden open to public tours. Truly gorgeous. The northern states can do so much more because you don't get our terrible heat and weeds.

Our puppy, Sophie, is growing like a weed. She's quite smart and is taking to her obedience training quite well. Here's hoping the potty-training will turn out well, also. She's on her second urinary tract infection. I'm not sure she ever got over the first one. If there is a third incident, I'll ask the vet to send it to a lab to be cultured. She's getting the usual Clavamox (penicillin type) and if it is an eColi bacteria, she would need something else. Only a culture would tell. Thanks you Yahoo Groups, I've learned all this..... one must be their dog's advocate. I"ve also learned about titers v.s. vaccinations, raw food diets, etc. The internet is a wonderful resource.

We're keeping our fingers crossed, though, that this round of meds will be the trick for the UTI. The potty training goes well when she doesn't have a UTI. (duh)

I finished making the drapes for our son & DIL master bedroom windows. They bought all the fabric, and I did the labor. They don't need to spend money on custom made, when Mom can do it for free! Next project will be their living room, since DIL chooses her fabric.

For now, I'm working on some new summer clothes. I'm desperate for them so must get busy. I'd really rather just play with the puppy. LOL She's such a love . . . but I digress. I need to take some photos and post them on the 'net.

We've had just under nine inches of rain at our house for the month of May alone! Several miles down the road, they've received twelve inches....for May alone. Magnolia trees everywhere are shedding or losing their leaves from all the rain. We desperately need it, but just not all at once. I heard that Lake Lanier, outside Atlanta, GA, is almost up to normal level thanks to all the rain this Spring.

Photos

Joleen, what nice photos. What's even nicer is that they are mainly 'green'.

Long winter. At least we are having spring here in Southern Ontario. The past few years we've gone from winter to summer in a flash, bodies not ready yet for the heat, I've felt like a possum with an overcoat with springs like that. At least our bodies are adjusting more slowly to the change and it's more like an 'old-fashioned' spring this year.

Rosey

Friday, May 29, 2009














Now that I know how to post pictures I could be dangerous - there are a couple pictures of the pergola, including one of the lady in the middle. We had a gazebo type twig structure in this area the last few years but the wind had taken its toll so DH wanted to do something more permanent. Two pictures are from what we call the Fountain Bed (because it has a fountain...duh) and it is the largest of the shade beds in our yard. We have several hundred hostas in various areas around the yard. There is one picture of some of the statuary we have along the side of the house - this is the area in the picture I posted first. There are many more perennials - both shade and sun - as well as a vege garden but this is a sample. And finally there is a picture of my garden helpers - a chainsaw carving done at the county fair a few years ago. Joleen in MN

Garden pictures - scroll on by if you aren't interested.



I'm not sure what order these pictures will appear but I will try to post several of the pergola and maybe a couple others from the yard -

garden picture I hope


Hopefully there will be a picture with this post - obviously it is not a pergola - this is a picture from another area of our yard from last year that I already had on my computer. I took some pics of the pergola so now I will see if I can remember how to get them from my camera to the computer....then to the chat page. Joleen in MN

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Thursday in Sunny MN

I haven't checked in for a while either - we have had a busy couple of weeks. Commencement was Friday night the 22nd, and our exchange student's parents and Grandmother were here from Denmark. They left early this morning (they were staying at a hotel in town). Both of my sisters, one niece, my mom and one BIL were here to help get ready for the grad. party that we had on Sunday afternoon (there were staying here). Early last week was spent getting the house and yard ready, Friday we started on food. We had a potini bar - martini glasses, mashed potatoes with cream cheese & sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, salsa and a chive plant from which to cut fresh chives, my mom's homemade French bread with meats & cheeses, cheesecake balls, choc. truffles, fruit salad... We have a lot of yard which I thought was lookin' pretty good - Gary decided last week that we should mulch several of the beds so 90 bags of chips and 30 bags of mulch later it looks wonderful. Oh, and two weeks ago he decided he wanted to put a pergola in the front yard in one of the flower beds. He really pulled a Tom Sawyer this time - my sister and my 82-year old mother were priming some of the boards for the roof! Anne's dad from Denmark and a couple of our friends volunteered? to help with the actual construction, Anne's grandma and I added a few more plants.... If the girls can show me how to add pictures, I will post one or two if anyone is interested- The last day of school is tomorrow, church choir is done until September and unofficially Summer has arrived - Hope everyone is starting off on a great Summer season... Joleen in MN

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A long time

it has been quite some time since I have posted. Way before we went out west.
Have been home for about a week now and am more or less caught up.(If there ever is such as thing LOL). I am involved in way too much. Will I ever learn.
Had a lovely time in BC. Had lunch with Jean and of course we laughed like crazy, spent the whole morning with her quilty friends, and if I may I'll call them friends too. A real fun group to be with. Spent money again on quilty project, after all I had none(????)
I have been reading what has been going on , but it is rather quiet. I do agree with what Rosey mentioned about Country living. It is very quiet and compared to the city I chose country. Mind you the city is ever creeping closer just like Rosey mentioned. It used to take us at least two and a half hours to get to the biggest city here and with the new roads(and bigger and wider) it now only takes an hour and a half. Just lets not talk about the accidents.
Quilts wise I have not been sewing too much lately. Hope to get at it in the next week.
Hello to all, take care and enjoy
Grace in On

Sara, the juxtaposition of your post with Jane's in relation to the country and a more urbanized living arrangement, is timely. While not wanting to tempt the fates, for breakin's occur here in the country and given our location so far back from the roadway, we are an easy mark. I recall many years ago as we were preparing to drive to the cottage on a Sunday morning, four young men came driving into our laneway. There is no opportunity to turn around except by coming right down in to the house. We stopped them, surprised as they were, and asked what they wanted. They said: we are looking for a gas station. Good try. The nearest station is out on the highways some miles away. It left us both rather shaken.

The locking of our doors never occurs except overnight and that only for insurance purposes and when I leave the house to go to town and there is no-one at home (I have, I hope, finally impressed on the other half living here that it's necessary or the insurance claim, should there be one, won't work). I remind myself, when I am visiting city friends, that I just can't walk in the door when I knock. Friends, here, knock, yell hello and walk in. I volunteer with a woman who has just in the past year moved into town from the country. She is very unhappy. Can't get used to noisy neighbours and will be moving; where, she isn't sure but she and her husband won't be staying in their home where they are now located.

It takes some getting used to if you've been a city person and you move to the country. The isolation is one of the major factors that send people back to 'civilization' because they can't cope with it. Being able to 'get out' and into town is important. You must be self-reliant. There is no popping down to the corner grocery store if you run out of milk, sort of thing. A trip to town must count and you tend to make a list and route your way through town, which often takes me two hours once I'm in town to accomplish all my chores.

I treasure each day that I am living in the country. It is the greatest gift that I've ever managed to give myself, that of being a country person after forty-eight years in a city. However, there are still limitations that I would set for mysel in looking for country property. We are an hour to the city; ten minutes to town or less. Close enough for city stimulation (and traffic and noise and pollution) yet to come home here where there is utter quiet and where my son, when he first stayed here overnight ,complained about the crickets keeping him awake all night, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I am truly blessed, for now. Oh, and it helps to have a quilt project lined up for the winter ahead. Passes the time more quickly when I can't get out because of snowstorms.

RoseyP