Misc Update

Not a whole lot happening these days. My cousins wife had their baby. I think this is the sweetest pic. Big sister has been waiting patiently for little sister to arrive. She came a day early.

Here's the quilt top I made for the baby:

Before quilting & binding

Was headed to the country a few weeks ago & as I was leaving our city house something caught my eye in the front yard.

Yes, this was a turkey in the city. He was still hanging around when I got back but Nelly chased him/her any chance she got & I haven't seen him/her again.

Been busy tying up legal stuff for my mother. My sister & I sat at the SS office for over 2 hours only to be told (by an unhelpful agent) that the paperwork we had received didn't contain the right information & we needed to supply different documentation. Got that taken care of the next week, with an agent that was very knowledgeable & had us in & out within an hour. Part of her estate will go into probate so we'll have to deal with that soon enough. It's a huge run around with government agencies & banks & patience isn't my best feature.

Unfortunately, some of my country friends lost their Dad a few weeks ago. I had the baby shower to attend later in the week so I went up early for the funeral & was able to spend some restful reflective time in the country.

While there, I made arrangements for the counter tops for the barn kitchen to be delivered & installed.

Detail shot.

It's a quartz material which we love. You can set hot pots directly on it & it doesn't require any maintenance. Unfortunately the island measurements were wrong. The guy that measured only measured the width, not the length & presumed it was square instead of rectangular. There is supposed to be a 10" overhang by the sink side (to hide trash can) & 18" on the dining room side to be able to have counter seating. Hope to get replacement in a few weeks. It's aways something!

28" too short & needs trim out done, along w/stove vent.

I mowed grass & then relaxed the next few days while watching birds in & around the pond.

And fought off wasps.

Why do they always build their nests at door entrances?

My peach tree.

The other one, had 1/2 as many as this one & the wasps & birds had bitten into most of the fruit. I harvested about 10 or so over the course of a few days. They were very sweet & juicy. Had one for breakfast each day & brought back a couple to have w/my yogurt & granola for breakfast.

On the last day, Nelly & I were sitting on the back porch when I noticed this pack of dogs down by the pond.

There were actually 5 of them. They splashed around in the water & tried to see if they could get the fish feeder to give them some food. They didn't stay long.

Love the look of a mowed lawn.

Overall it was a nice visit & love the sunsets this time of year.

I'm staying indoors as much as possible these days. The heat is hard enough to deal with but this humidity is overwhelming! I'm going to work on a two separate lap quilts for the baby's brother & sister. One top is done but still cutting fabric for the other one. Will post pics when done.

An Update! (Picture Heavy)

Didn't realize it had been almost a month since I posted! I've been in the country taking care of a few things. We went up over Memorial Day & got a lot of stuff done on the apartment. We got the appliances placed in the kitchen & the shop pretty well cleaned up. I stayed the following week to get the baseboards finished painting & the gas hooked up to the stove.

Here's an updated pic of the kitchen. Still have to put the panels on the island & the countertops ordered & installed, but it's coming along.

The best news of all ......... We got the pantry started. One side is done & just need additional pins to hold the shelves for the other side. Now all I need to do is fill it up!

These are the shelves that I got at the World Market going out of business sale in January 2015 ($15 each). Three & 1/2 on each side. Greg had to cut the 1/2 one & fabricate the shelves but as usual, he did a great job. Once the shelves were up we decided that we needed a top in order to make full use of the space. There is no way we could have purchase wood to make this shelving for $105. It would have cost twice or maybe even three times that much. I can't wait to get it finished & start moving stuff in!

We got the grass mowed & everything cleaned up around the yards. Also had these for dinner one night, along with some potato salad.

The following weekend I hosted a small cousins get together to swap recipes for a family cookbook that I agreed to coordinate. We'll see how that turns out. Everyone is so eager to get one done but only a few actually take action to make it happen. I've got until the end of the year to use the software to get it finished for printing in January. So far, myself & only a couple of cousins have added 75 recipes, 50 of which are mine (or friends & MIL). Oh well, I'm not going to stress about it, if they don't contribute by the deadline then it's their loss.

Anyway, it was a lovely week, even if it was a bit HOT & no rain ALL week. It did cool down enough at night that it wasn't unbearable like it is in July & August. The mornings were nice until around 10:00a then you definitely wanted to find shade. I watered trees most every day, all the established ones are doing good. The ones I planted last October are struggling but I'm crossing my fingers. TS Colin brought some much needed rain to the area the day after I left.

Each morning as I was enjoying my cup of coffee, this guy showed up to spray the surrounding fields.

I have seen them do this before but not so many days in a row. The only thing that is different is that the field is planted in corn instead of squash, melons, cotton, etc. The fields behind my Dad's place & directly behind our lot are pretty small so it was pretty impressive to see his skills in getting to those. I'm sure it's pesticide he was spraying but there was no wind & he was very precise. Most mornings on his direct approaches I could see his face, he was that low.

He flew & sprayed a different direction each day. Although I don't like pesticides being sprayed, it must be an awesome job to get to get paid to fly each day.

In othere news, the Crepe Myrtles are doing great!

And Nelly enjoyed her time in the country as well.

I'll end with this parting shot. Thought it was pretty cool & shows that the property is not all completely flat. This is looking from the barn down the driveway through the branch.