Back from Vacation to Cold Weather

We had a little mini vacation to bring in the New Year. We arrived in Cancun, Mexico on January 1st for a few days of sun, relaxation, food, drinks & more drinks. Greg met his quota from the warehouse he buys from & they treated us, along with about 50 other dealers, to a trip to Mexico. A little business (very little actually) mixed in with pleasure & relaxation.

I wasn't in the picture taking mood so you won't have to be bored looking through my vacation pics.

I read a lot, & relaxed a lot more. I had spa appointments & naps & food every 4 hours or so although the food wasn't that great. The place we stayed at was an all inclusive & we weren't expecting too much. It rained a couple of days but that didn't bother us at all. We pretty much stayed on resort property & took it easy. Even though Mexico isn't our favorite destination, overall it was a nice vacation.

Leigh I did get to start your book but I didn't make it all the way through, yet. Loving it so far, very organized & will definitely be a great reference book!

Anyway we came home to the South to very cold temps. It got down to around 19 degrees here last night. Not even 1/2 as cold as the rest of the nation but cold for us! The last time I remember it that cold was almost 10 years ago. Here are a few pics from then.

Christmas in the Country & Happy New Year

We went up on Christmas Day, after spending the day with family. We were greeted with wind & cold, not unusual for this time of year. Why does the wind always blow in the wrong direction for the current season? The NE wind in winter is just brutal. We may not have ice & snow but wet & very windy conditions make it unpleasant to be outside. Nothing like our Northern neighbors have to deal with but unpleasant nonetheless. Our house sits on a slight hill in the middle of field that was used to grow many things like watermelons & cantaloupe & even tobacco at one time. There are no trees so no wind break except for the other side of the house. That NE wind would be most welcome in the Spring & Summer but it rarely happens.

Not many projects planned as we were only there for a few days. We did get a delivery though. A garden shed! It was our Christmas present to ourselves (or to me actually). It was put at the top of the garden which will give us some definition in that area of the yard. Here's a before (note the dead oak tree - all 3 of them died):

And, here's the after:

The 'front'

The 'back'

It's 16 x 24 & will eventually have a shed roof over the back with a potting bench & outdoor sink. I love it!

In other news, we had a couple of rotten steps that needed to be replaced.

And, my cousin gave me a couple of ears of Glass Gem corn. I had given his boss a few seeds to see if it would grow there. I think it's beautiful. Can't wait until I am able to be there for the majority of the growing season (1 year & 6 months to go!).

We came home early to pack for a quick vacation before heading back to work. I'll post about that once we're back home.

Hope everyone has a Happy & safe start to your New Year!

Merry Christmas

Homemade Gifts Finished!

Here are the first table runners & hot mats that I made for my friend, sister & Dad's wife.

Front

Back

And more table runners & pot holders for the people that work for me.

The table runners are all reversible with fall fabric on the back. I made 23 various 'cookies in a jar mixes' & attached the potholders to them. Didn't get a pic though.

I've also continued to find fabric at bargain prices from estate sales. Here's a pic of my latest purchase:

This was about 1/2 of the entire box ($25 for all). I plan on making a wedding quilt for a cousin that is getting married next June out of some of this. A simple 5 or 6 inch square pattern. I'm still a novice.

For now, I've put it all away just to get my dining room back. It's very addictive but taking a break is essential to hopefully keep me from burning out. Would love to have a room to keep it up all the time but that isn't possible right now.

Oh well, gotta get back to wrapping presents.

It's been one year.

And I still miss her so much.

What God took from us. Will we ever know what he gave back? I still have hope & dreams for all those to follow but I crave the forgotten memories of those gone.

Moving In-laws - When you try to "Do it Yourself" with Help from Others

We started this waaay back in November 2012.

In-laws (remember they are in their 80's) had a vacation trailer in one part of the state & they requested, due to circumstances beyond their control, to move it to our place in the Country. We were thrilled they would be nearer & agreed.

Along with the trailer, there was a porch, a small BBQ shed & another storage shed for storage.

The first step was moving the actual trailer itself which they hired someone to do.

The electric company then ran the lines to a new junction box & an electrician connected the lines from the trailer to the box. Greg dug a 300' trench to our well & got the water connected.

Weather then set in, remember the driveway delays? Well, it caused this to be delayed as well. Fast forward until February 2013.....

The second step was moving the porch. Rather than taking the porch apart (our preference), FIL decided it would be easier to just cut it in half & move it that way ... not.

Lining the 1st 1/2 up to put on the trailer.

Justin is a whiz bang trailer backer upper.

Here's a pic w/the 1st 1/2 of the porch 'installed" using the drive through method.

The 2nd 1/2 was a bit more difficult to move for some reason. For one, it almost slipped off the trailer while in the 3 hour transit, due to an uncle not tying it down well & Greg not double checking. If it had fallen off, Greg said he would have set fire to the sucker & called the fire department. Regardless, they got it moved & since we couldn't do a drive through my Dad used his tractor to lift it off the trailer & put in place. Thank goodness my Dad was available & my BIL was there to help as well.

Thank goodness for BILs. See FIL supervising?

Next was the buildings. Greg tried to move the small one but just didn't have the 'power' needed to get it on the trailer. So, we went back to the guy that had moved the trailer to begin with. He kept telling us "next weekend" then again "next weekend" & on & on. We just had to wait tight. In-laws could at least get in the house with water & electric.

So we put the crepe myrtles in & watched them bloom:

And, then waited & waited for the trailer mover guy to call again. In July they finally! got the the other buildings moved.

They then hired a local guy that was as slow as the trailer mover guy, to get the porches straight & to add screens to the porches. Finally in November 2013, they are settled ... only 1 year later!

This is just to our left of our Country House & we are so glad they are moved in to their new 'vacation' place.

Note: We were up there couple of weeks ago when In-laws were also up & heard the tiller going, it was around 5:00pm & getting dark. We had just gotten there & Greg said "I'm not going over there to see what he's doing now". Turns out that FIL was trying to 'surface' till the ruts that were there from the movers tires. That tiller can jerk you around like nobody's business, especially in clay soil.

He . never . quits (remember he's 84). 

Been busy .... quilting, avoiding the Bridge traffic & such

I haven't posted in a while. I have been filling my working time (corporate bs) with quilting table runners for Christmas gifts.

I have the unfortunate situation of having to deal with traffic from the recent bridge issue that happened in our fair city. So, I have been either going in very early or very late. When I go in early I come home around 4:00p & actually have energy & time to work on projects. When I go in late ... not so much.

If home early I sometimes find time to work on my mini projects:

Small runner 48" x 12"

I have 3 tops made, all from scrap or estate sale fabrics & 1 more to go. I also have fall fabrics to 'back' them with.

I have planted a fall garden again in a different spot in the city with hopes of having enough sunshine to actually grow something. I put in a couple of raised beds which have now sprouted 'volunteer' tomato & 1 habenero(sp?) plant. I'll post pics this weekend of the beds.

Enjoying a rainy Tuesday night, getting ready to have pork tenderloin, potato cakes & fresh sauteed green beans (from CSA). Will hopefully have another post this coming weekend. Hoping the cool weather comes in like predicted.

Quilt(s) & Shams

First I made a lap (fireside) quilt from donated (& some I contributed myself) Crown Royal Bags.

It is all messed up but will serve it's purpose by the fire. I learned a lot during the process. 1. Sew along the seam lines. 2. Make sure your corners are square. 3. Have many sharp blades to cut that unforgiving felt. 4. Many more that I won't mention.

I also made a quilt & shams recently. I built the quilt top at the retreat I went to a few months back & decided that I would try my hand at machine quilting since it was all (mostly) straight line. I then decided, since I had left over squares cut the appropriate size that I would fabricate shams in miniature squares. I need fluffier pillows to fill out the shams but am happy, over all, with the turnout.

The quilt is a bit wonkeyed but the shams actually are quite uniform. I am learning as I go.... Anyway, the quilt fits the futon perfectly & is perfect when the occasional extra guest needs a bed.

Note: I bought the quilt/sham fabric at an Estate Sale a while back. I think I spent $4 or $5 for about 6 yards. I have much left, even after this disaster.

I am now on to table runners, place mats & pot holders for Thanksgiving/Christmas gifts.

It's a pleasant way to pass an afternoon. Just wish it had rained so I didn't feel so guilty for not getting my fall garden planted.

There is a lot of math involved in quilt making which is definitely NOT my expertise. But, I can follow patterns which have it already figured out.

Remembering ... My Way

I was in the air on the way to Chicago for our fall conference. Our flight left at 8:50 & we landed in Atlanta around 10:00a & I had to find a way to my Sister-In-Laws house, where I stayed for the next 3 days.

It's one of those days that play back in my mind like a power point presentation.

Click ... First class upgrade, yeah!
Click ... Seat mate - Yousef (yes, he was Palestinian)
Click ... Flight attendent telling Yousef that he didn't need a newspaper with a lady sitting next to him.
Click ... He's headed to Puerto - Bacardi headquarters. He's a VP with them.
Click ... Really nice guy. How did we get on the subject of Tree Surgeons?
Click ... Oh no, we are in a holding pattern, we will most likely miss our next flights.
Click ... If we do, we can at least grab breakfast.
Click ... Finally land but stop on runway for a long time.
Click ... At the gate but doors not opened.
Click ... Pilot "Everyone, there has been an incident, exit the plane & then immediately exit the airport."
Click ... Yousef & I look at each other confused ... "What the heck is he talking about?"
Click ... Exit plane & notice everyone gathered around TV in concourse restaurant.
Click ... Oh my God, the towers are burning!
Click ... Had forgotten to bring new cell phone. Head to Crown Room Club to get in touch w/Greg.
Click ... All circuits are busy. Call work 800 #, get Assistant to patch me over to Greg.
Click ... Greg answers & I start to talk then get disconnected.
Click ... Repeat patch. Greg - "Thank God you are alright! You need to get out of there."
Click ... Me - Looking at a TV in the lounge area "Oh my God, one of the towers just fell!!!!!"
Click ... Greg "GET OUT OF THAT AIRPORT NOW!!!!"
Click ... Me "All the rental cars are gone. I can take Marta, please call V to meet me at Sandy Springs."
Click ... Tram not running. Eerie feeling walking to exit. Had never looked closely at the marble statues.
Click ... On Marta. CDC employees get on, they had been ordered to evacuate. That really scared me!
Click ... Waiting on V. Call my boss from the pay phone. He was in Milwaukee headed to same conf.
Click ... V picks me up (thank God for helpful relatives!)
Click ... The 60" TV in their house never shut off for the next 3 days.
Click ... Driving to Southern GA to meet up w/Greg ... No planes in the air. Not right for Atlanta!
Click ... Met up w/Greg in Southern GA at one of his cousins restaurant (Captain's Corner - Vidalia).
Click ... Relief to be coming home!

The whole experience seems very surreal. Especially when I think that I was in NY just the week before & happened to have stayed at the Marriott that sat between those towers. After dinner one night, we actually went up to the Windows on the World for an after dinner drink & walked around looking into several of the conference rooms just to see the views, which were spectacular at night.

Yousef & I met up a few times for lunch & I still keep in touch w/him, although he & his family have since moved out of the country.

Labor Day Nemisis(s)

It really is just one nemesis but in two different forms ...... WEEDS!!!

We knew the garden was going to be bad since it had been 3 weeks since it had been weeded. And, we weren't disappointed. (Double click on each pic to 'biggefy'.)

But, we also encountered them in our pond. Our pond is spring fed so it has a good supply of fresh water. But when it rains it obviously raises the level. To compensate & keep it from overflowing the pond dam, we have a drain pipe with a galvanized wire cage above & around it, to keep out weeds. The pipe drains into the branch area & eventually away from the property altogether.

When we got up in the morning, we noticed that the pond level was very high & it didn't seem to be receding. Plus, we can normally see the upper portion of the cage sticking out above the water, but we couldn't see it at all. Greg got in the fiberglass john-boat & paddled to the drain pipe. It was BARELY draining a trickle & the water level was about 2 inches from overflowing the dam! We would really be in trouble if that happens, as the dam would erode & eventually break & drain ALL the water out of the pond.

It had rained so much lately that the suction of the water into the drain pipe was originally very strong & on top of that the pond weeds wrapped themselves around the weakened cage & caused it to collapse on itself thereby stopping the pipe from draining. Greg started pulling weeds away from the cage. I was standing on the dam at the time & could hear the exit pipe start to gurgle very loudly. I wasn't sure what the sound was at first as it was a guttural sound like an animal stuck in the mud trying to get out. Finally a huge blast of water pushed through, (I couldn't see it, only hear it) & eventually the water started draining steadily again.

These are part of the weeds pulled away from the cage.

About 1/2 5 gallon buckets worth.

After about 3 hours, you could see about 2 inches of the, now bent, cage.

And, the water was receding from the dock as well.

Greg pulled a few more weeds the next day & before we left you could see about 4 inches of the cage.

My Dad will be up this week & will check it to make sure it isn't stopped up again. We'll need to replace the cage apparatus. We are looking to replace it with stainless cage so it doesn't erode.

After working on the drain pipe we decided to tackle the garden. This is what it looks like. There are hedgerows growing! This is War!

I have newspaper in the some of the block holes & initially thought that the weeds were growing up through the paper. However, after either pulling or string trimming, it appears that the newspaper is helping keep the weeds in the holes, at bay. There are a few coming through but nothing like in the beds.

Almost all the beds have newspaper or cardboard, leaves, hay & a layer of compost but as you can see the weeds don't care. They are definitely worse & harder to pull in the beds w/less 'matter' in them. The 2 higher beds in the front (eventually the asparagus beds) have a thicker layer of compost on them & the weeds seem to be mostly surface weeds most likely brought in by birds. I pulled the weeds out of those 2 beds by hand.

We decided to try an experiment with black 6 mil plastic. We had a few leftover old warped boards so we measured and put a frame of board along the length of each bed & stapled the black plastic to the boards & then put block on the ends. We only had enough boards to do 4 beds but we'll see how it goes & cover the others if it seems to work.

I still want to put down cardboard or landscape cloth & wood chips in the pathways. But need to find a source for wood chips.

Oh well, at least I don't plan on planting anything in most of the beds until the spring of 2015 we will keep fighting until we have conquered the blasted weeds!

Oh, and a note on the grapes. Yes, the other vine is definitely the white variety.

I got about 2 quarts from it & about another pint from the last of the red ones!