Happy T Stands for Tuesday Everyone
Each week we share a drink related post with friends-you are most welcome to join us. Link in my right hand column with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth
Last week I did get all the steps and landings coated with Thompson's water seal just before the temperatures dropped 40 degrees-which is normal for this area during the changing seasons.
After a couple days off to catch up on domestic chores and reading new books from some of the authors I follow I got back on the hallway project.
Phase two section was finished up with coat of the kilnz paint and I have started on the third section. I have removed items in this section-which was allot--I still have no cupboards at all in my house and no closets came with the house-so this ended up being a conglomeration of things and allot of canned foods etc, hunting gear. It is all boxed up and in our huge bedroom for the moment-ugh
There are two stacks of very heavy ceramic floor tiles that need to be moved-one stack goes in the bathroom and the other stack for the hallway needs to come out from the wall so I can paint and texture the wall. So hoping I can get that done by friends at deer camp-which starts November 8th.
I am going to see if I can manage laying the tile for the hallway with hubs instruction-we just can not afford that couple we were using which is a shame-it comes down to the fact they are just soooo slow for what they are asking per hour of wages.
The hallway is long but straight so am hoping I can tackle that. Now the bathroom is a whole different thing entirely. Hubs with his severe arthritis now and other health issues just can't do work like this anymore-won't think about his til after deer camp or after Thanksgiving.
Late this afternoon (Sunday) it warmed back up to close to 60 with no wind and lots of sunshine; so I grabbed my camera and took a 45 minute walk on our property.
We just do not have the lovely fall colors this year do to lack of rain, but there are loads and loads of acorns for the wildlife this year.
I kept the photos smaller-just click on them to enlarge fully.
We have allot of this pretty moss here in our woods-I always thought of dyeing with it-have any of you natural dyers tried it??
Deer prints amongst the tire tracks
Late yesterday around 5 pm or so---check out our handsome visitor-so cool this is just outside our bay window in living room He stuck around eating corn for about 15 minutes while a doe and her youngster were eating too. After the buck walked back into the woods a whole herd of does and youngster wondered in.
Last Tuesday was my birthday and the week before was hub's birthday so we treated ourselves to breakfast out. We rarely eat out anymore do to the gluten free for me and really lack of a quality restaurants close by (we don't do fast food)-and I can put together a much nicer meal too (smiles) We do enjoy going out for breakfast though.
The place we go for breakfast is called A Taste of Andy's (I looked for a website but they only have a presence on facebook) and they have a special breakfast which is their best value-biscuits and gravy, hash browns, two eggs, and choice of bacon or sausage, toast with any choice of beverage tax included also.
First photo is hubs plate and for me to keep it as close to gluten free as possible I get two scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and they slice up a fresh tomato instead of the biscuits and gravy and toast
hubs had coffee and I had ice water.
This restaurant also has an extensive lunch menu too perhaps we will check that out one day. I like that their breakfast plate is not greasy
and for my beverage this week I am sharing a new wine I picked up at our Aldi store. This one is from France and is on the dry side which we prefer. They had a note that the limit was 6 bottles so I figured it must me good-It was -I love it and next time I shop at Aldi hope it is still available. a nice to have around for the holidays.
and a closer look at the label
Since Tuesday is the official day of Halloween---
Happy Halloween to all of you!
Good morning Sunday,
I believe Autumn finally arrived last night to stay this time.
We have been enjoying gorgeous weather for the most part all last week after the one day of dipping into the 30's F-no killing frost yet.
Weather has just been beautiful with full sunshine and up into the 80's F here. On the way to town yesterday I even finally viewed some gorgeous fall colors in the trees-I will take some photos soon.
I am posting early again for T Stands for Tuesday-I have more time right now to post on Sundays This is where we share a drink related post. Our hostess is Bleubeard and Elizabeth- Find the link to the T Party in my right hand column.
I did get all the wood steps-railings-decks all coated with Thompson's water seal finished yesterday early afternoon. Just before the big soaking rain that blew in with cooler temps-today it is to rain gently most of the day-we really needed this good soaker to avoid any forest fires here.
I am finally finished with my contribution to the guest space. It took me 3 weeks from the sanding of the plaster to priming to painting-to painting the floor with grey wood stain-to rearranging the furniture-to the wood water sealing--seems like a long time-feels like a long time. haha This project really gave me sore muscles every day opposed to when I was working on the hallway project. Hubs does need to set up the lighting in there, and we have one of those little heaters I need to clean up and carry up there. I also need to clean and fix up the bathroom that is downstairs in the business space-there is a shower there too which needs cleaned and I bought a new woodsy shower curtain for it. I also bought a grey fleece throw to cover up the red couch that is in the guest space.
This leaves me now with a bit over two weeks to get back to the hallway project, clean and tidy up the house, figure what food I will be making and be ready for deer camp.
I think I will be taking today off to relax and contemplate-lol and to work on our medicare plans today too. after that I am going to read this afternoon and just "blow" off the day. For supper making corned beef with all the fixins-easy peasy
I have been reading a couple books about Alexander Hamilton The first one The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs. This is historical fiction-but I found it more historical than fiction. A really excellent book where I felt I really got to know his story. I would highly recommend this book to any of you that enjoy reading about American history (photo found online)
When I finished reading this book and reviewed it-- on my book bub list that came in there was another book about Alexander Hamilton published in the early 1900's by his grandson that includes actual letters and writings by Alexander Hamilton-titled the Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan Mclane Hamilton
I am glad I ran into this book-it contains all actual writings by Hamilton and his family and others with a little commentary, and for me I felt this book was a good compliment to the first book.
Alexander Hamilton was quite the man-a genius really, a very caring and compassionate person who loved his country and family so much-and would defend with his honor. (photo found online)
On another subject--
On a sad note for me-remember my corn husks papers? I haven't looked up the date that I sent the package off to Germany but I am almost sure it is approaching a month. So I am thinking that the postal police must be testing and retesting the paper to make sure there is nothing suspicious in it-lol
I recycle mailing envelopes and I had found a nice big one to safely pack the papers and also to include lots of little surprise bags of fibers etc for Valerie's mixed media projects. I was worried with the distance it had to go that it would not stay sealed safely so what I had on hand was duck tape-which now that I think about it must have made my package stand out to the postal police. So my fear is after all this time they have confiscated it or tossed it-either way it's gone. (although I do hope some day it will just show up-but at this point not holding my breath)
No one's fault but mine--but I hope they are still duped over the papers lol
Not much different to share for my drink this week, I am still mostly drinking Bali coconut waters while I am working and in the mornings I am drinking my decaf herbal beverage and sometimes in the evenings I am relaxing with a cup of tea. In my Yellowstone mug of course-which is my favorite (you can find this mug on their non profit site Yellowstone Forever shop online)
Behind my cup is a birthday postcard I received my author friend of the Yellowstone time travel books. My birthday coming up is on the 24th Hubs and I are a week apart on our birthdays-kinda fun.
Back on that day of the solar eclipse I took a couple of photos on my walk. These are views of part of our 1/4 mile driveway-on both sides is woods or deep hollars
Happy T Day everyone-sorry this is such a long post-right now I don't have the time to post every day so I guess I made up for it in this one lol
I would say my hubs had a splendid birthday this year. Today is his birthday.
Yesterday morning he did check out the river boat and brought it home. It is quite the boat made in 1960 for the Missouri conservation dept and is quite long 22 feet. They no longer make the longer boats.
We are close to the river so will be perfect for fishing especially on these warmer fall days and with conservation just building a brand new access down the road from us perfect!
photos will enlarge just click on them
This morning I went to town early to get every thing registered and tagged-the guys will try this out tomorrow afternoon-we'll be back into the mid 70s again too.
Hubs favorite food is bbq ribs on the grill so I always make that for him on his birthday. We have been too busy to fix my oven in the house so since a nice day a dragged out the dutch oven and made him a lemon meringue pie.
A neighbor friend of ours gave me a dozen of fresh cage free eggs-that's why the filling is such lovely yellow
I use my red flyer wagon that we picked up at a barn sale a couple years ago, to carry the hot dutch oven up to the house
My ribs got a little over grilled this time but they were still moist and delicious.
Right after lunch I even got a part of floor stained-so a good day
Good morning everyone,
I am writing and posting a little early-Sunday Morning-as we just got a cold front that dropped us over 25 degrees and I am taking advantage of this much cooler weather for a break and to work and play at the computer.
Hubs is gone for the day with a close friend to buy a fishing boat for the river. They are headed to Arkansas. This sounded like a very cool boat with everything included-it is very long a little wider, and was originally made for Missouri conservation department so this is an older boat but sounds like it is in very good condition. I am very excited for him. Hubs has worked all his life even as a child and is finally taking time off for recreation. He will be 74 next week and has never had quality health- I remind him it's time for fun and for sleeping in when he wants to--way past time really.
The float trip idea got him into thinking he would love this way of fishing instead of always driving to the lake for fishing which takes more driving time. He hasn't gone on his float trip yet-but thinking they will probably use this fishing boat instead. Will be much easier for him to get in and out of too with his severe arthritis.
On Tuesdays I am so enjoying posting with the T gang for a drink related post and a visit with friends and artists. To join us link on right hand column-our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth.
Nothing new to report-lol-we have had perfect weather-well a few days near 90 but still perfect for my painting project. Yesterday I put the second coat on the walls since I had plenty of paint left over. I am pleased with the color. I had two gallons of semi gloss white and 1 gallon of very dark blue semi gloss-so I mixed these together hoping for a lighter blue-to go with my tan ceiling color.
Surprise it was purple-wow not what I wanted at all. So I grabbed some left over cans of paint that were in the brown tones that had just a little left in them. after much stirring it came out to a slate blue.
This color actually intrigues me-it looks light grey in the pan, goes on the walls light, and then as it dries it darkens up allot. At first I wasn't sure if I was still seeing a lavender-but asked a friend that came over and asked him what color do you see-and he said a slate blue-so that made me happy lol
Yesterday after the second coat of paint went on-which it really did not need-I was quite pleased. and depending on how the light goes on the wall I see blues, or greys interesting paint color for sure
I did have one mishap-I hardly ever use painters tape-but the line I needed to break from the ceiling was not clear so I had to use something--when I pulled off the tape-ugh and double ugh it took off chunks of paint from the ceiling and started to peel off the wall paint--and I had no ceiling paint left since I had dumped that into the wall paint mix. I did manage to scrape enough off the sides of can to paint a little so not as noticeable so I will not ever use painters tape again that's for sure lol I had thought of buying a sample of the ceiling color since I just need a little to really fix it-but I think mentally and getting up and down ladders-I am done with this I can always do that next year if it still bugs me
(all photos will enlarge just click on them)
In the middle of the room are pieces of furniture that have been wrapped and covered-a couch and matching chair, a large ottoman and two full size bed frames. We are on the hunt for a couple mattresses next.
Also the rest of the stairs and deck project got finished too last week. The stairs were done last year and now finally the deck. This turned out to be an expensive project even though we had most of the wood already. It is hard to pay out allot of money knowing when we were younger we could have done it ourselves. I am remembering what my late Mom telling me-- it is a given that one needs to budget money for help as we age. so that's just the way of it. By taking over the sanding and the painting we saved over $600.00 of labor.
My sanding of the drywall mud definately was not perfect and the walls show that-I did spend three full days hand sanding too-but this room is clean and useable so that's a good thing. sanding plaster is just not my "thing" lol
I took a couple photos of the view looking down from this space as you can see in this pond (and also in our other ponds) they are covered with duck weed brought in by the geese that visit us-that is another project to kill that off as it robs the ponds of oxygen.
If weather permits I hope to brush on Thompson's waterseal on the deck and all the steps and railings-but we are pushing it to get that done-and it rained over 5 hours last nite so they are good and soaked now. The stairs turned out gorgeous with a turn and another landing-so much construction debris lying around I couldn't get a nice photo to share.
Right now we just have the big sheets of plywood on the floor so I am working on cleaning all the plaster dust off and will stain the floor hopefully next year we can find a 16 x 20 indoor rug for that space
So I still have a few more days of work in there but with it warming back up to the 70s on Tuesday I plan to be done before end of next week.
On my last post someone had asked what deer camp was. We retired and moved here for hunting and fishing and to live in the woods as simply as possible. Up until two years ago we only heated with firewood that we cut and split ourselves-I actually really miss that but hubs is not in shape now to do that-it is allot of hard work and one handles the wood so many times as well. We do still have a good amount of firewood we split-cut-and stacked last year so we would have it if the power goes out or if we have some severe cold coming in-save on the propane gas
We have almost 300 acres of woods with up and down terrain and lots of wildlife. Turkey, deer, bobcat, cougar, bear and more. Since we bought our property back in '98 and then retired to here in '03 we have friends that drive down for deer season. We also enjoy lots of really good food and we catch up on each other's year. As we are all getting older most of us don't care if we harvest a deer or not. lol I would like to butcher one for the freezer this year though as we didn't do that last year.
Through out the week I have been enjoying cups of tea and my herbal coffee substitute in my favorite Yellowstone cup. Photos show a cup of spiced apple tea which is really delicious has lots of cinnamon, and my herbal coffee substitute has added pumpkin spice creamer-yum I just started using a little creamer I love this brand as it is all natural ingredients no artificial anything
Happy T Day everyone!!
Just a note: Elizabeth pointed out in comments that many are thinking this space is in my home-but no this is a little barn shaped building that we built over 12 years ago for a garden-tool space. Over the years it has changed its usefulness-the first floor is my husband's business, and this space shown is the second level with steps to it outdoors-we are fixing it up for house guests that come for a visit-like a big extra bedroom. There is also a bathroom and shower in the downstairs shop.
I just posted about hubs birthday lots of photos-go here
Good morning all,
I have been really feeling my age over the last few days. The weather took a dive-like a 40 degree drop so it now feels like fall and October and a little rain too which we need so much. I think that gets to our old bodies too However by Friday we will be back up to near 90 degrees f again. Typical for Missouri though.
Since it was so cold and my body needed a break from the work I went to town food shopping yesterday. Wow was that a big job-I hadn't shopped for over a month. So you can imagine how full my car was and I didn't even buy much meat this time-still have that in the freezers. and like a kid I bought some of our favorite haloween candies-lol I hid half of it-just because. Neither of us need it that's for sure but it's fun.
Once I get my bones working this morning I am going to work on the walls in my hallway today as I know the other space will be damp and cold til tomorrow or at least til this afternoon as we are to reach the 70's today.
I need to paint a kilnz coat over the tissue paper on the second area I had finished. The third section is all boxed up and out of there for now-but there are two stacks of very heavy tile that needs to be moved so I can work on the walls. also a cabinet that will go in the upstairs space. So progress
Hubs needs to call tech support today as the windows that came with my computer will not let us register it. Other than that I love my computer especially since it is quiet didn't realize how noisy my old one was.
I miss my crafts allot as this time of the year is when I like to natural dye, make paper etc. With deer camp coming up soon I will need to wait til mid November. Time is just flying by too fast this is for sure.
Hubs is getting excited about his river float trip coming up.
Happy Thursday to you all just wanted to drop by and say hello
Wow I have missed all of you, and also really missed the Second on the 2nd for October.
My computer decided to quit on me over a week ago. Hubs found me one online and it arrived over last weekend-I have the basics set up but not everything-and I have to hunt down all of my passwords in a file before I can get back on to my favorite sites. So it is all going slow for now Love this new computer nice and quiet over my old one.
Nothing exciting going on here except for hard work every day. My hallway project is waiting for me now. I can't imagine at my age now (69) to being doing this like our Deb has been for a couple years now,
One of the first years that we had moved down here upon retirement I had originally set up a large garden space like the one we were used to up in the Midwest farm belt-wrong didn't happen with this soil lol Before I figured that out though, hubs built a little mini barn type building with new friends we met here to house all of my garden tools etc. While they were building they decided to go ahead and make a second floor. We thought it would be a nice space for when our friends come to stay with us for a long weekend or so.
I was amazed how they built this fabulous space with no blueprints-they just built it-thought that was pretty cool.
Over the years the downstairs has been different things-now it is my hubs business space.Til now we haven't used the upstairs.
Last year we hired someone to build stairs to the upstairs and this year we hired him to put up sheet rock and paint--this was just going way way over our budget so I told hubs I would take over.
I do Not enjoy hand sanding drywall-ugh and with tall ceilings-super ugh lol so that's what I have been doing most of last week. After cleaning up all that sanding dust I painted the primer Sunday and this morning-and then after lunch I painted the ceiling. Tomorrow I hope to get the rest of the walls painted and then really clean up this space.
I wanted to buy a nice indoor-outdoor carpet for the 16 x 20 foot space but everywhere I have checked they want around $400.00 So that is just going to have to wait. It would really be perfect for this space since the floor is more like a sub floor.
We are back to summer weather again-today was almost 90 degrees f tomorrow a huge drop in temps and then back to summer temps--so the weather has been perfect for my project-but it just does not feel like autumn here at all.
Hubs is planning on a river float with a friend next week. Should be fun for him-he has been suffering from a very painful knee area-he fell and broke a small bone in there. So not totally enthused about this adventure of his-but he should know his limitations.
In the evenings I have been reading allot, watching the Voice, and still spinning my bison-I had bought allot of it in small amounts.
Sorry I have no photos of my own to share this week.
I have been drinking lots of teas and also coconut waters while working I have been full of paint so didn't want to bring my camera up there.
I checked online for an Autumn Tea Party type photo-and found this delightful photo--I love apple cider and this reminds me of warm cider while reading my favorite books.
Happy T Day!!
Hi everyone,
Over a week ago my desk top computer was no more. The windows 10 program after a year of prompting me to update finally forced me to upgrade and that was the demise of my old computer-sigh I think that is just what the industry planned on too ha ha since technology upgrades so fast.
I was concerned that I would not be able to sign back into google-I have my passwords saved in writing but I did not save the email that was connected to google-so am happy happy I remembered what I had set up many years ago.
Today we finally feel like fall-breezy, rain, a little sunshine too. I needed to stop working on my hallway project and switch over to working on a space we are redoing above hub's shop for guests to sleep. We hired to get the work done-we can not handle the heavy sheet rock any more and to tape-sand-paint. It was getting just soooo expensive that I suggested to hubs I would take over with the last of the sanding and the painting- what was I thinking?? LOL
I mostly do the textured walls and ceilings in my home so as not to do all the sanding of the plaster-ugh and this space has very high ceilings too which was putting a major pain in my neck and shoulders-I think I got it now-taking today off for the most part and will clean up and then prime and then paint and get back to my hallway.
I wanted to drop by so you all knew what happened to me. I have missed you all-especially my T Party friends. Am hoping by now that my corn husk papers and goody package has arrived to it's destination in Germany. My email has been so so to check in with.
Happy weekend everyone!
