Look who came to inspect the Awning!!!

What a fun surprise...

John and Dianna Berry were on a quick Valley tour and stopped by for a visit........yea

Awesome Awning

Done. Terry spend most of the evening "lashing" the awning down, during a rain and wind "episode", and the awning behaved. Remember, we had no idea how this was going to work, as we were inventing the wheel. Anyway, we sat out on the deck and admired the project until fairly late and finally I got too cold and had to come in. I am wondering where the chimney will go for a fireplace so we can sit out longer at night. Ok, kidding.

Pictures...

In the afternoon, one of our Black-backed Woodpeckers that visit the bird feeder came for a visit and literally walked every inch of the brand new wooden support posts, pecking and peeking and then rat-a-tatted the small hardwood disks at the top for a few minutes. It had a very metalica rattle to it... gave us quite a chuckle.

Terry.... lashing, as he calls it.

Last night, in the dark... done. The funny lighting at the top of the awning is one of those Christmas "tubes" of lights. We are going to look around for something a little more "summery" but there is no rush.
Time will tell if this will hold during a high wind. We are prepared for disaster, and Terry has come up with some design changes that need to happen when we take the fabric down in the fall. As well, as the painting of the tubing, etc.

So there you go. Thank you for all the nice comments. We enjoyed putting it all together, and it was fun to blog it too.

Almost There.....

8:00pm....sewing is done. We did the hardest sewing tonight, with Scott and Terry holding the whole awning while I sewing the back portion on, and all the velcro for the top of the awning. That was somewhat painful. Terry couldn't wait for daytime.... he was dying to see if it will fit. This was all done on paper.... never a test fit... actually this is it. The test fit
It fit... perfectly. Everything is bolted in place... and the awning gets put on today. YIpeeeeee

Making an Awning?

Oh dear, I thought I posted this one, and when I went to make a new blog.... oops, I hadn't finished this one... so I will finish it, post it, and start my next blog.

well, this weekend has been relaxing, creative and full of laughs. First off, Joan spent the weekend and we always have fun looking for new projects and we seem to end up on adventures. This weekend, we discovered the amazing food at Vicki's in Wilmot. The fries are better than a chipwagon (my favorite way to get fries) and the poutine was so amazing, even I liked it...
Michelle showed her grandmother just how good she is at dying hair and doing highlights.... sorry Joan, but I had to put the picture up.

Kim and her girls arrived on Saturday for Graces Kentville Soccer Tournament. Caliegh spent the day with her Grandmother and I, as we struggled through trying to make an awning cover for Terry's creation. Caliegh got the fire pit ready for an evening fire by cleaning the chairs, sweeping all the acorns off the bricks, she hauled firewood, watered my garden and picked the snowpeas and cukes. She also kept Mollie busy, with lots of attention. We had a yummy supper... slow roast Pork on the BBQ and taco salad, deviled eggs and fresh beans and new potatoes. Scott and Michelle made their yummy Ice Cream Cake for dessert.

The awning.....

Well, we found fabric for the awning that I mentioned way back in mid July that Terry was dreaming up. It is to cover the entire back deck and to replace the store bought one, that we purchased 3 years ago, to give the deck some break from the hot sun, in the afternoon. The deck is quite large, but the 12x12 gazebo crowded the chairs and made the deck feel quite small.

You will see the fabric we purchased from Fabricville... at a great bargain. The fabric was $15 a meter and we needed 15 meters. Imagine my utter joy when we went to pick out what we needed and the sign said "Buy 1 and get 2 free". Our 15 meters ended up to cost just over $90 including the thread!!!

So, our weekend project was to make this long stripe of fabric into a solid tight awning for the steel frame Terry made conduit being thrown out at the school. What a strange sewing project when you need to use a right angle ruler and a level as sewing tools!!! With many hands (Scott, Joan, Terry and Caliegh) we managed to get the awning sewn together to cover, and then made all the necessary attachments needed to tighten it up.... until it came to the velcro. The stores were closed by the time we got to that part... and up until then, we had no idea how we were attaching the upper part of the awning to tighten it up... Velcro is the logical answer, but when you are inventing the wheel, sometimes there are too many things to think about and you just solve one problem at a time. So, Sunday we stopped for supper, and then the rains hit. Today it is my job to sewing on all the velcro and then tomorrow, maybe, we will actually mount to to the deck and start tightening up the cover. Yipeee

Oh yes, and Mollie. Just couldn't help posting a pic from the weekend... cause she is just so darn cute.

Sunflower Success & Wildlife Dinner Theatre

Well, I didn't really plant this one. It appeared amongst my tomatoes and I just didn't have the heart to pluck it out!!! I did plant some but they didn't material to much. This Sunflower stands 7+ feet tall.

Our Suppertime Dinner Theatre last night. Little birds mad at this red squirrel. The red squirrel mad at the cat down below. And four hummingbirds darting around the beans, to make the whole scene just that much more hilarious.

Well, the long weekend has come and gone with a feverish blur. My, time flies when your on vacation!!! Some highlights from last week...... Meet Sonny..... he is our 18 year old cat. We picked him from a litter of 2 orange cats and 2 calico's. That was in 1989.... the year Stephanie started school. She has just completed her 5th year at university. He is a gentle and kind old boy, who has lost his hearing due to age about 2 years ago. Sonny has this funny way about him. He picks a favorite spot to sleep and then adopts it as his "official" sleeping spot for a month or so, at a time. He has chosen wicker baskets, the downstairs bathroom sink, the wall unit in the living room, Scott's dresser, my pillow, my bookcase...etc. His summer favor place, which has been a reoccurring spot... is the driveway, or on the roof of the car. This summer, his new spot is under the car. We have to do a "under the car" check, every time we go out. Well, on Thursday, I didn't check well enough, because I backed right over Sonny's foot. Well, not over it, I think I squished it, enough for him to give a yell... and I stopped, and pulled forward (after a 3 second delay in which my mind went into shock, and I couldn't even figure out what to do...go forward or backwards). Anyway, I put the car in drive, crepted ahead a bit, and he darted out from underneath the car.... oh my. He limped at break neck speed around the house, up the cat ramp to the deck (which we built for him a couple of years ago... ) and when I finally caught up with him, he was pretty mad. After 2 days of aspirin, rest, pampering and Sardines with stinky oil (his favorite treat), he is absolutely fine and back under the car!!!! Not even a limp!!! You would think he would make the connection that that wouldn't be such a great place to lay. Or, maybe he is smarter than we think...he probably knows that we are going to be so paranoid about him being under there that he knows he is perfectly safe now....

The same day...... while being eaten up with guilt...thinking I have maimed this poor gentle soul, I was taking solice in my garden. I started watering the side garden (which I call my "spare" garden.... I put things there temporarily, until I can give them away). I was planning in my mind... what to put where, who to give this too, and so on, when a blinding stab in my armpit sent waves of hot piercing fire down my body... from pit to elbow, and from pit to ribs... I screamed and dropped the hose... and didn't even know what hit me.... Terry came around the corner and batted off a hornet that had stung me just at the front of my armpit, and must have hit a nerve (he was obviously paying attention in biology class) and the pain went all the way down my side. I was sure I had at least 2o stings down my ribs.... Oh, Ann, I can only imagine how bad your sting under your eye was.... That was quite a shock. So my day was over, as far as I was concerned. I slept with a pack of ice under my pit, all evening!!! It still hurt the next day. Terry found a swarm of hornets living under the siding on the house. Problem has not been solved yet, so I won't be watering there anymore...til its solved.

While I was away in Ontario, the gardens decided to grow like crazy. The tomatoes got completely out of control. You know, when the parents leave and the kids party the entire time your gone.... my tomatoes decided to try this little game. I spent two days after coming home... trimming, harvesting and so on.

The scarlett runners produce huge beans, about 8 inches long. We don't eat these, although some people do. I harvest the seeds for the next year, so if anyone would like some seeds, let me know. These beans are so fun to grow, they grow as tall as you want them to. The hummingbirds love the little orange flowers, and I have morning glories just starting to peak their flowers up though the leaves to fill in the lack of color at the bottom of the beans.
Scott had a birthday on August 1. Supper was easy.... KFC. The once a year I buy it, and why not.... it was so hot that day, who felt like cooking. But we did have chocolate brownies and chocolate ice cream for dessert. We bought Scott his very own Tilley. He has been using Terry's for the summer, and a Tilley is something you will own for life, so he might as well have his own. Its great for camping too, and I think he will continue to camp in the future. Michelle made his birthday a "Senators" theme. They came pretty close to the Stanley Cup, so he now is totally decked out for next season when they win!!!

Michelle took advantage of a perfect day off, to read Harry Potter, again. Much more relaxed this time, since she now knows the ending!

That has been our week and weekend. Little highlights.... making 16 bottles of Raspberry Jam, (oh and picking all the raspberries from my friends bushes). ..... caddying two games of golf (Terry played and I caddied), as well as a day trip to Bargain Harley's.... Church.... & learning how to graft the toe of a sock...(sort of)

Great news, too, Stephanie got offered a winter (during school job) with the NBCC, working 10 hours a week. Just enough to suppliment her meager school allowance, and enough to keep in touch with the council for the winter, in hopes of a summer job next year too....

I am BACK!!!!

Its been a busy busy two weeks.......

Ottawa.... hot but beautiful. The hot part was not so bad, actually, because homes and stores mostly have "Air". Which is a contradicting term, since they have no "fresh air" just AIR. But the outside air, was less than fresh.... The car trips were my only stresser, and I didn't even have to drive anywhere. I was surrounded by city knowledgeable people, was was lucky I didn't have to maneuver the streets myself.

Ottawa was ...family, fun meals (raclette especially), home improvement projects, Ikea, C.A. Paradis (fantastic kitchen store) and huge malls and grocery stores. 6 days, not long enough, but yet, just long enough. I also watched and am now in love with Eddie Izzard, the comedian. You need to check out his clips on You Tube. He is hilarious. Really good take on things, and he has a melting pot of European accents to further make his stand up enjoyable!!!

The drive home was smooth and faster than going up. Weird. I didn't do much driving, just the last 2 hours. But the trip is so smooth, it didn't really feel like we were in the car much. The drive through Montreal is so exciting (both in a good way and a bad way) that its over before you know it (but in actuality it takes almost an hour to get through the city at 9:30AM). Then, we are just 2.5 hours from Quebec City, our first stop. We chatted, and stopped for a pee and snack. Then a wonderful visit to my Aunt Angelines for lunch. We spent 2 hours there just catching up and seeing all the changes to the front of the house because of the city "improvements" they are doing to beautify the waterfront. Ma Tante gained about 12 feet in her front yard because they narrowed the big street she was on. She lives at the bottom of the cliff on the waterfront, just under the Plains of Abraham. The nice stone she has in her new flower beds (along the newly paved driveway, thanks to the city) are from a 50 year old retaining wall in back of her house that her hubby put in, when he built this little house. Those trees you see behind her house is actually a cliff going straight up. its so fun. In the second picture you can see the line on her lawn where the new grass is. Its about 3 feet from the bottom step, and she has all new lawn. She laughed because its rare to have a city "give" you something. Now she had to go and buy a little electric lawnmower.



Then after we left Quebec we were an hour from New Brunswick. That province has to be THE most beautiful province. The rolling hills, farm lands, the rivers, and yes, even the bridges are beautiful. Sickly to be on them, but beautiful, just the same. I am glad I got home before I saw the news about the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.

We arrived at 10pm to my sisters and after a yummy snack and a visit, we slept soundly. Tuesday morning we had a 7:45 coffee shop meeting with Stephanie and Sean (at Reids) and then onto the highway and we were home by 3pm. Nice to be home..... but it was just as hot here. ugh