woolythyme

Bet you wish you were me.....

 

Bet you wish you could wake up to one of these in your front yard....

 

This used to be a garden.  With flowers.  And shrubs.  (sigh)

 

 

and to make this even more fun...

it continues into the backyard.  As if that space wasn't torn up enough with the remodeling/renovation of the guest house...!!!!!!

(While digging the new foundation, a water line was broken...when they checked out the line, they found OLD---as in original to the 1923 house---piping that was a disaster waiting to happen.  Actually, the disaster was happening, as they discovered three leaks...eep!!! so that's why the water bill was so high last month!!!)

 

But, if you look hard enough you can usually find a silver lining hiding somewhere.

We now have our very own kitmo. (Rather handy, since we have no water.)

priorities....

I'm scrambling a bit today....our first freeze is predicted tonight.  Which means all those vacationing houseplants need to relocate or meet a quick demise.

It hasn't been a particularly great vacation for most of them.  Some years, nearly all need repotting. (Those are probably the years that I actually remember to both water AND fertilize them!) This year---they are all coming in 'as is'. And they should be thankful they are coming in---period.  

My decluttering, reorganizing, and simplifying efforts have sort of stalled....and tabletops and corners and shelves and bookcases that were going to be cleared?  oops.

The African violet that has been blooming for months and sort of reveling in the attention it got as the only plant by the window, now has to share the limelight with a big old gangly kalanchoe and a bird nest fern.

Some Halloween decorations got dumped outside so the artillery fern, a rabbit's foot fern, and a struggling amaryllis bulb could get a bit of light by the back door.

 

Begonias are tucked behind chairs...

 

A Christmas fern is sharing table space with my camera ...

 

Who am I kidding?  This begonia is living on borrowed time in light way too low to thrive...

(anyone tried growing plants under full spectrum light?  is it worth changing out light bulbs?)

 

I picked the very last of the outdoor blooms...

 

and have every intention of enjoying the succulents for as long as possible----no way will they have enough light to sustain them.  

 

I've done my 'job'....I've made a rescue attempt.  Now---survival of the fittest.

 

 

Back to the regularly scheduled program...

I have my priorities.

Christmas in July.....

 

 

Dear Blog People,

My mommy is much too busy today to blog, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you all about what is probably the very best day of my whole doggie life so far.   If you just happened to read yesterday's post, you would have heard about our famous Midwest thunderstorms.  We got a doozie last night and I was soooo scared that Mom put me in bed with her.  (swoon!!!!)  It was a dream come true.  (I usually sleep on a chair facing my mom so I can dream about being snuggled next to her in bed.)  The even better part was that my Dad was no where to be found, so I really did have a whole lot of snuggling space.  

This alone probably would have made my day pretty darn special, but it gets better.  The power went off.  So there was no nagging alarm waking me up at 6:00.  When I finally did wake up....I had THE WHOLE BED TO MYSELF!!!!!  I happy-danced around awhile before joining in on the seek-and-find game my family was playing.

I finally located them in the scary basement ( where I most definitely would never think of setting a paw); there was this really loud, gushing, wushing noise and some mumbled words that I don't think I was supposed to hear, and most definitely would never THINK of repeating.    Funny thing, though..... the usual scary-basement-storm-noise that has something to do with a sump-pump (whatever that is) was quiet.  

Somewhere in this mix....someone remembered to fill my breakfast dish, so life for me continued to be rather wonderful.

 

At one point Dad came up from the scary basement looking like a drowned rat (that's an expression; I've never actually seen a drowned rat).....something about the PVC pipe glue not holding and water spraying everywhere when he finally got the pump to pump.  He couldn't glue it back together because the water by then was too deep.  Over my head deep.  Way over my head deep.  (I sure am glad I have more sense than to go down in that scary basement.)

They had to use this fancy industrial strength hose thingy that snaked through the kitchen and out the back door.  It sprayed all over where I usually go potty, so for once, no one was making nasty remarks about my bathroom habits, because my 'spot' was really really really clean.

 

So now mom is busy redecorating the kitchen counters.

Look at what holiday she chose!!!!  All the 4th of July stuff is put away.....so we're apparently celebrating Christmas in July!  Look at all this beautiful stuff!!! (see me???? I'm right in the front.  I love that thing and I only get to see it a couple weeks every year.  THIS IS GREAT!  I LOVE today!!!!)  And every single one of those little balls was FULL of water!  It's so festive around here today!!!

And finally.....and this really IS the best thing of all....

MY (???!???) stupid, ridiculous, demeaning Santa Claus hat sort of fell apart when the new sump pump (that Dad just bought at 6 am...did you know that Lowes opens at 6 am?  I didn't!......now I know why he wasn't in bed!) sort of exploded and got it all wet. It's in the trash can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am one happy pup.

Oh, yeah.....mom said to tell you she was still reading The White Queen and still knitting on a banana leaf.  (Not sure what that means.....she said you'd know.)

Bye, everybody.  

Love and slobberly doggie kisses,

XOXXO

Freddie

 

P.S. I'm off to empty the garbage can.  The fun just doesn't stop today!!!

 

 

Joining Ginny for yarnalong.

we have flags....

I think this might make it official.  The flags mark the footprint of our little addition.  When we moved to our itty bitty bungalow 18 years ago, a lot of people thought we I was out of my mind.  (Most still do!)  One bedroom/one bathroom....about 1000 square feet.  I read a lot about small houses.  This one is huge compared to some.  

One of the first things we did was to renovate the little (really little) 'other house' in the backyard that belonged to Molly Gibson, the cook for the original owners in the 1920's.  (A live-in cook?!?  Can you imagine?)  It was in shambles.  One contractor suggested we tear it down and put up a double-wide. (We didn't choose him.) We turned the single room into a teeny sitting room, a bitty bathroom, and a bedroom.  It's cute.  Perfect for guests, but intended for our son and his wife when they come to visit.  (Daughter lives in town.)

And then Son and DIL had a baby.  And another. And another. And another.  And another!!!   Eeeep!  We're basically adding on a bunk room to the 'guest-house'!  They're probably visiting in October.  We have a goal.

 

 

So......since the backyard will be sort of torn up for awhile (sooner rather than later, I hope!!!), I spent this beautiful long weekend moving around yard 'art' and filling holes in the garden with things that will probably get bulldozed.

The bottle tree got moved closer to the main house...at least temporarily. Which meant all the bird feeders had to be moved.  

I had one left over.  So, it went where the zucchini lived last summer (and where it did GREAT!--yeah, I know it was in the middle of the perennial garden but who says veggies and flowers need to be separated?).

 The zucchini got moved to an empty planter (can zucchini be a container plant?) in the vegetable garden (now that's novel, right?); it should have been planted in the raised bed, but that's been taken over by 

rhubarb that I won't be able to harvest for at least another year (what a waste of space)

 

and

lettuce that is so darn happy now that the radishes are finally out of its way.

 

I ran out of herb pots (yes, that IS lettuce and an errant tomato plant in the pot that's crumbling)....and the sunny spot by the greenhouse is full...

 

so I filled in the

window boxes under the kitchen window that already had some herbs.

 

and the rest ended up under the birdbath.

 

Putting the raspberry plant

near the birdbath was a really really dumb idea.

A couple stray things found a home on the plant stand.

 

At this particular moment in time....everything is somewhere.  

I'm done.  (For now.)

 

 

It's time to enjoy the other flags....

Happy Memorial Day

the best laid plans....

I got up early.  5 am early.  What a day I have planned!  

All the stuff that has been put off all spring is going to get done today!!!

• I'm going to wash the windows.
• The laundry is separated and ready to go. (No, this has not been put off all spring, but it still needs to be done.) 
• The little puddle pond out back is finally going to be cleaned out. (Sun-Kissed and Bertha McDonald will be so happy.)
• Two dirty cars....I'm going to wash them both.
• The porch furniture could use a good hosing off.
• I've connected the pressure hose....the fence needs a good scrubbing.  While I'm at it, the patio can get power washed, too.
• The baseboards really could use some serious attention, and I'm going to wash the doorframe lintels as long as the scrub bucket is out.
• I might as well start some vegetable stock with all the bits of peels and leftovers the have accumulated in the freezer over the winter.

 

uh-oh...

Brown, sludgy water today.

 

On to plan B.  

I guess that would be knitting.

Stash re-organization......

 

 

Before:

(EEEEEEEK!!!!!) 

 

AFTER:  

Better.  MUCH better.  And look!!!  An empty cubby!!!!  

I'm off to go yarn shopping.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

Many, many thanks to you all for the kind blogiversary wishes!!! If you haven't had a chance to enter the little giveaway, there is still time!!

weekending...

 

:: sourdough is bubbling...i thought it might have been neglected too long, but it's still OK.  sourdough bread tomorrow!  whooppeeee!

:: pasta salad with olives and black beans and avocado and tomato and onions (tomato and onion from the garden).  life is good.

:: i have committed (long-term as it may be!) to knit Umaro, an afghan designed by Jared Flood.  his is knit in bulky---mine in worsted, so the sweater amount of yarn i had in my stash isn't going to be enough.  i went to the store to get more.  i needed 2 more skeins.  there were only 2 skeins left on the shelf.  and they were in my dye lot.  how often does THAT happen??!!  

:: a little dishcloth ... thinking about christmas

 

i'm . so . glad . to . be . HOME!!!!

 

joining Karen at pumpkin sunshine for weekending

do you hear what i hear?

said the night wind  me to the little lamb PapaGeek....

Do you hear water running?

 

 

 

 

Yes, this is our scary basement.  Yes, this is scarier than it's been in quite awhile.  The coal shute (which only gets used to store Thanksgiving and Halloween decorations) is apparently serving as the conduit for the overflow of all the water.... that is standing under our house.  Oh, this is so not good.  

 

The pots fill in a matter of minutes.  We're bailing.

 

Never fear.  Water man is here! 

 

 

 

The only thing that makes PapaGeek happier than playing with PVC pipe....is a trip to Home Depot.  I think he's going to be pretty darn ecstatic before the night is over.

 

(Let's hope the theme song doesn't turn into:  'I saw 3 ships come sailing in')

Decking the halls...fini!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After supervising all this madness...

 

I desperately needed a nap.

(I put my Christmas collar on first.)

25-thing-a-day-purge month...

January...the clean-sweep month...time to organize and reorganize...decorate and redecorate.  The Christmas stuff is put away...the house looks sleeker...cleaner....and now it needs the  (mini drum roll here, please....) --- 25-thing-a-day-purge.

 

I did this sometime last year for a month---and it really felt good.  Got rid of some clutter.  Since then, I found a book entitled Throw out 50 Things: clear the clutter, find your life.   (Of course, I had to buy it to add to my clutter)  In it--each 'category' is counted as one thing (ie, if you throw out 50 books, it only counts as one thing)...I'm afraid I'd most likely cheat and not get rid of as many things as I really could.  I think I like my system better.  By January 31st, I'll be 725 'things' lighter.

 

I sort of got a jump start.  A woman I know slightly through some regional church functions was  the victim of a fire -- yesterday.  She and her brother and dog got out--with the clothes on their backs--, they have a place to stay, they have insurance--they will be OK, but everything smells smokey.  We're about the same size.....three giant bags of clothes, hats, mittens, a bunch of handknits!!!! are headed her way.  (PapaGeek is on a church committee with her and they meet today.)  I think she'll be pleased, and I got a start on my January letting-go.  I'm counting that as January 1 and 2--she's getting a lot of stuff.

 

Now....off to the freezer.... that should be good for 10+ tosses....

 

scary stuff down there!!!!