SHEDDING

It’s a summer sport. Not to be confused with sledding, which is a winter sport. The Scott and Michelle team sing the praises of Kijiji because they have scored exercise equipment, furniture, pets, pet supplies and a job using this search and purchase site. Their most recent bargain on Kijiji is this massive lawn mower which was much needed at their lawn was like a hay field in the back.
Scott, being an expert in yard maintenance what thrilled to get a great deal on this oversized gas push mower until he had to hump it up and down his basement stairs when it wasn’t in use.

Meanwhile at the other end of the 101, terry was deep in neighbourhood conversation with our newfie neighbor when “Newf” as we affectionately call him, offered Terry this large stack of thickly planed boards he had milled to build a fence. First off, Newf’s wife had wanted the fence and she flew the coop 1.5 years ago, so why build it now, and secondly, he hasn’t ever finished a project, that we are aware of. The wood sat, rotting, for over three years and was over grown with grass coming up through it. It was a kind thing to offer it to us and we were happy to take it off his hands.

Now, Terry loves a project that he can sink his teeth into. He figured he could design a shed for Scott that
a. was big enough for his lawnmower and whippersnapper and bike, garden tools,
b. build it in portable sections so it could be moved in his utility trailer and rebuilt on location in the backyard, and...
c. didn't cost much.

He designed several versions, and he and Scott “MSN”ed ideas and changes for a week or two, and finally during the weekend of Michelle’s wedding shower, Terry and Scott began working on a shower gift of a different type. They bought minimum supplies and puttered through rain and yipping dogs (Lucy, that is). The weeks of chatting and planning grew into a weird looking shed. For only $111, (strapping, hinges, stain, screws). We delivered the first half of the shed on Saturday and the second half on Sunday.





and the completed shed is moved, rebuilt and housing the awesome lawnmower as well as a few other outdoor things... great job boys!

Blog challenge

Sometimes you have nothing to blog about…so you just don’t blog. Sometimes you have too much to blog about, so things just pile up. Then you just can’t seem to blog because things seem too old to blog about when you final do blog. And then there are times when you are busy, day and night… and there is no time to blog. I have truly been hit with all three of these reasons for not blogging, in the past month. There isn’t a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t write a blog in my head about things that go on in my day. My gardens are a source of stories daily. My pond and its lack of frogs this year… Mollie and her bladder infections… walking in the mornings with Debbie (and our 200 mosquito escorts). There are new developments each day having to do with Michelle and Scott’s wedding. I have two and hopefully three young nieces coming to spend a week with me for their east coast vacation (and I have plans on them dusting, vacuuming, doing dishes and laundry!!!). Even our damp weather is bloggable (hence, the blog yesterday)
The rainstorm yesterday beat down every flower, lettuce leaf and beet green. My gardens are littered with dead bloom petals and tree leaves. It won’t be long before they dry up and compost into the soil but right now it looks like there was a teeny tiny rock concert in each one of my flowerbeds, and all that was left was the litter. . Also, the lettuce and beets were pounded into the soil and I had to go and gently unstuck them from the wet soil that held them down.
I spent my morning washing the mud off my cucumber leaves and the tomatoes. I weeded the millions of little weeds that thrive so vibrantly in my flowerbeds. there are hopes of sun times coming. My whole soul needs some sun!

an Enlightening Saturday morning

My Nanny Adele would talk for at least an hour on the phone to me, every day... sometimes more than once. I was a young mom, of two busy kids, in the days without cordless phones. Oh, I would listen to her with the phone tucked under my chin, doing dishes, making suppers, chasing the kids. On occasion, I would put the phone down to search out one of them, or go get something that was out of reach..... I loved Nanny, but oh, some days it would get so frustrating.. but saving grace.... was Kingston Ontario would have tons of thunderstorms. Nanny was nervous of them and felt if she was anywhere near the phone during one... she might get zapped through the phone~! I lived closer to the lake and could often hear the thunder come rolling up the lake before she did, and when I could get a word in edgewise, I would announce that I could hear the thunder. That would be the end of the conversation... for a bit. I loved thunder storms then, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her I was too busy to talk (listen)... so this was my way out. I feel bad now about feeling that way...

Well today.. she would be hiding under her bed! Terry and I sat in the living room with our coffee and chuckled about sweet ole Nanny and her thunder theories. My work plants are spending their first day outside today and are enjoying a refreshing cleanse of rainwater to clean off the winter dust! I brought them all home yesterday.. as Monday is my last day for the summer! Yipee...

The Glad Gardens

In looking back at my blogs from last year, I realized how often I blogged about my plants, gardens and yard wildlife. I am trying hard not to bore people with that stuff this year, but some things are blog worthy.
As you are all aware of, Michelle is getting married this summer to Scottie the Hottie. We will have lots of family here over that week and my back yard will be used quite a bit (hopefully, weather permitting). I usually have a blast with planting stuff in my back yard and I love doing up fun pots full of flowers. My usual color choices are pinks, purples and whites but with Michelle's wedding colors being bright and hot colors, I thought it would be fun to do all my pots in the same hot and bright colors.
My favorite greenhouse for plants is a family run establishment just outside of Berwick called Glad Gardens. I have gone there for about 3 years (since my other favorite closed). The own Laura and her daughter are so friendly, knowledgeable and creative and I always get so much help when I visit them. Last fall, I went out and spent an evening with Laura, looking through flower books and talking about pots, sun needs and veggies that are bright colors. She helped me make a shopping list of what plants I would need in the spring and she also made sure she ordered and started some of the seeds that she doesn't usually carry. I spent all winter looking forward to weeding, gardening, sweeping the little helicopters off the pavement and walking though my yard at 6:30 in them morning dead heading little flowers. The weekend before planting weekend, I dragged out all my pots stored away and cleaned them and filled them with soil and this cool stuff called ZEBA which is this stuff that is made to go in your soil and it retains the water for longer and helps plants not dry out so fast. Its made of the same stuff found in baby's diapers that absorbs so well, except its made from cornstarch and it not harmful to the environment. Very cool stuff. Finally, on a rainy saturday morning I drove off to Berwick and picked up all my plants that I had chosen a month earlier and Laura tucked away in the back greenhouse for me. All the plants totally filled my back and front seats. I had to go back a week later because I forgot to buy my brown eye'd susans for climbing the side of the deck. Some fun~!

In with the new

Terry finished the fence in less then 6 days, working after work and the weekend. We had such a great weekend last weekend, weather wise, and not even very buggie. Terry had come up with all kinds of designs of what we could do right at the fire pit area to sort of make it a little more private. He had some pretty elaborate design ideas but in the end, he went with a simple "taller & wider" version of the rest of the fence panels. We wanted to do something different to give that area a bit of privacy (as much as you can get in such a "back yard to back yard" environment. We wanted something that would keep down the noise from us sitting around the fire at night too.

When Terry first built it, the little boy who lives behind us was swinging on the swingset behind it and he said to Terry, I think I can still hit my ball over that fence too. You might have to make it bigger all the way across! I chuckled because we end up with his toys over on our side several times a week, and his sister comes over and retrieves them. I hope his mom doesn't think thats why we raised up the fence right there!

Out with the old

We have lived in our house for 21 years this summer. Michelle was 1.5 years old and Stephanie was just 4 when we moved here. The fence that was in our back yard was one of those fences that was wooden with the cross piece and then boards on either side, but staggered so it looks the same on the back and front. It was pretty warped and worn when we moved in but we couldn't really afford to do anything about it for a year.
The next year after a winter of planning it all out, we made a design that was unique.. we used all the boards that were already on the fence, and just dug new holes for the fence posts and painted it... It looked like a million bucks but was an affordable project. We had enough fence boards to extend the fence to include the side yard which we then made a raised garden for strawberries. Below is the fence a couple of years later, with its rounded top and dark redwood stain. Over the years we have had to repaint the fence and replace some posts but for the most part, the fence still has all those original boards which must be 25 years old.. or more.

Three years ago we took money that should have paid for a one week winter trip to Cuba or somewhere, and instead we turned our back yard into a more suitable yard for our family now that the kids have grown. It has a fire pit, a veg garden, and green grass for Terry to mow! But we never really did much with the fence... and it is wearing out.

This winter we started talking about plans for fence work. Terry played around on his Visio program and designed several fences... using all new wood.. pressure treated (something we couldn't afford 20 years ago) and he bought some boards this spring and started to play with different designs. He built a few trials.

(we didn't like this one... no space between the boards, made it look like a wall, not a fence)

Well, all the trials are over and the fence is under construction. Every night Terry builds one section, and on non-rainy nights, he sometimes can build two. We have had two rainy weekends and several nights of rain. Ugh!

This weekend will be a fencing weekend for Terry as he moves along the back of the yard. We hope to put a taller fence section right by the fire pit for a bit of privacy. the board in the middle of the two fence sections is about the height of that section. should be interesting. and for me... gardening all weekend, I hope. I have a ton of pots to fill and a veg garden, all turned and ready for planning. Rain or shine!

Wedding tidbits....

I am not sure how many know that the wedding party for Scott and Michelle's wedding is more like a family parade...

This wedding is a sweet combination of love of family and the support of friends. When plans first began for the wedding, the kids had a really hard time to single out one or two of our family to be in the wedding party, because each and every one of our cousins are precious and a choice was not possible. You know the whole "all or nothing" statement... well, it really came into play when they announced that they would find a job and position for all the members of the family.

In the end, we have several little girls and boys who have their own special job to do.

My sister, who is a master sewing genius offered to help with making little girl and big girl dresses and I sew quite a bit myself. Over the past year, ideas were passed about, pondered, plans for sewing dates made and met. January was our first sewing weekend and it took place here at my house. Gail, Mert and all Gails sewing stuff arrived and we began our plan. We sewed all weekend but didn't really make any dresses, we planned out some other projects for the wedding and shopped for bargains and sewed from morning til evening. We took over the entire livingroom and the sewing room downstairs!

The extra bonus to this visit was my sister left me with her amazing sewing machine that embroidery's so amazingly. She was going away to USA for 6 weeks and wouldn't need the machine so it was mine until Easter.. yippee... Well, let me tell you that I played for hours with this thing... the problem is.... I played and didn't sew much because its a lot of searching for things and a big of computer work to set the design and then you finally get to sew... we you know what its like to get on design websites... you lose HOURS.... hence... I never did a lick of housework, or blogged... or much of anything else.... below is just one of the cool designs I made just for fun!!!!

Ok, as usual, I got off track because of my sister's really cool machine.... anyway, after my sister's weekend here, she left for the south and I went back to winter in the Valley. We both had homework sort of... to do before we got to see each other again for a sewing date in June to make dresses.

As the winter slowly passed, I did some homework but mostly I played with her machine and didn't do any of the wedding homework!! But as the wedding date is creeping closer, a little panic started to seep in and we planned our sewing date a few weeks earlier than originally planned.

Our second sewing weekend was two weekend's ago and we had big plans. We had 7 white dresses to make.... 3 different patterns, and 4 different sizes.... some had pleats some had full lining others had wonky necklines...

I arrived in Fredericton around noon on Saturday and by 1:00 we were off to the fabric store to look at a few things we needed like 11 yards of lining for these dresses.. we needed buttons and zippers for other projects and toggles for yet other projects. Stephanie came along for moral support but I also had plans for her creative mind and resourcefulness!

Once we got home, we were full steam ahead, with Gail at the sewing machine and me at the ironing board. Stephanie occupied the floor for part of the time but moved to a chair for the last half. I pinned, gathered, pressed and organized... Gail sewed, pinned, gathered, pieced... and in the end..... by Monday at noon, we had sewing 7 dresses with a total of 5 zippers, and 75 pleats! The pictures below give away no secrets as they are inside out with their linings all pinned ready for my handsewing!

Stephanie had researched, designed and created several different types of flowers to adorn the dresses and we have settled on the 7 petal daisy.... in several different colors...

Next, the dresses are now in the mail to the girls who come from the each end of Canada and in the middle too... this is a fitting shipping.... and hemming too... they get sent back to me... I hem or adjust and voila... done! yippee.....