Wednesday Goings-On

 Happy Hump Day, Everyone 😀😀😀 How's your week going?

 

I've been a busy beaver for sure!

NATIONAL DOG WEEK

Did you know it's national dog week?  Apparently, it's celebrated the last week of September.  I told Mr. B he couldn't be stinky during dog week so he let me give him a bath.

My handsome boy and smells good too!

 

GARDENING

Despite it being Autumn, my flowers are still blooming.  I'll be enjoying these right up until frost.

 

Every week, I spend a little time each week "training" the Laguna Climbing Roses on the chain link fence.  This is just a fancy way of saying I zip tie the vines where I want them to grow on the fence.  As they grow, I snip some of the zip ties off.

 

This is year two and the vines have grown tremendously.

 

 This is what they looked like last summer:

I bought a Hibiscus plant on clearance a few weeks back. I'd planned on putting it in one of my floral beds, but I've learned this one is a tropical plant and will not survive the winter weather here.

So, I'll just enjoy the pretty pink blooms this year.

I learned last year that if I trim off the withering blooms of my Double Knockout Rose bush, it will grow faster and produce more blooms.  Last year and this year has seen the most growth than in the past 13 years. 😍  Have any of you readers had the same experience?

My strawberry plants got a late start (i.e. I didn't get around to planting them until late).  They are just starting to bloom and form fruits.  I'm not really sure if they will ripen before frost.  I plan on putting in a couple of raised beds next year and put them in there. 

This is my first time growing strawberries like this.  Will they survive the winter in pots if I place them in the non-heated garage?

 

The mums I mentioned in a previous post ::finally:: are starting to bloom.  I see little peeks of color!

 

My coworker brought me two big potted mums left over from her wedding a couple weeks ago.  I'll have to find a spot for them before winter rears its ugly head.

 

HOME IMPROVEMENT

I have to special order window well covers for my basement wells as they're 42" wide.  A few weeks ago I did all the other windows except this one by the gas meter.  I miscalculated how many I'd need.  So, I had to order one more.  Thankfully, there was free shipping.  Gotta love that, right?!

 

These covers never seem to last longer than a year or two.  This one was in sad, sad shape.  They literally disintegrate over time.

 

 

This one is always such a pain because the edge of the window well is very close to the gas pipe and I have to cut the cover to fit around the pipe.  Previously, I used heavy scissors to cut a notch.  I usually ended up cracking the window well cover.  This year I had a brainstorm idea.  💡  I used a wood burning tool to cut the plastic.  It worked pretty good.  Don't accidentally touch your leg.  Ask me how I know!

Much better, don'tcha think?

Another project I'm working
on:  Great Stuff in the gaps and cracks along the sill of the garage walls.  Last year, I did the south and west walls before the cold weather set in.  This year, I started on the north wall.  I was a bit over-exuberant in my spray technique.

I read that I could use a serrated knife to cut away the excess.  Off to Dollar Tree I went to get serrated knives.  Pack of two $1.25.  Can't beat the price for what I'm going to use them for.

The results turned out great.  Once the Great Stuff debacle was resolved, I caulked along the front sill plate to reduce water seepage.

CASITA CAPERS

After weeks and weeks of de-oxidizing, polishing, and waxing I'm happy to report that the exterior of the Casita is done.  Thank goodness!  I've received a variety of comments saying, "I drove by your house and it looks so shiny from the street!" to "It looks good.  You won't have to do that again for 3-4 years."  I hope not!

 

I did a couple of other simple repairs.  When I bought the Casita back in May, the cable TV port was missing the cap.

 

 

It was pretty dirty, so I cleaned it up before installing the new cap.  If you look close, you can see my reflection in the lower part of the photo (so shiny!).

I installed the Anderson ball hitch on Ruby, my Highlander.  It weighs a little less than 60lbs.  Why you ask?  I'm going camping this week!  My last trip before I winterize and put the Casita away.

The weather is supposed to be in the 70's during the day and 50's at night.  Perfect camping weather.

YUM-YUMS

I've been cooking up some low carb things that have actually turned out really tasty.

First up, is low carb pizza.  For a 7" personal pizza, it ended up being 342 calories with 9 net carbs.  It was delicious!

If you're interested in the recipe, leave a comment below and I'll post it in a future blog post.

Next up, I made egg bites two different times.  The first time, was just eggs and veggies.  The second time:  eggs, veggies, bacon, cottage cheese, and shredded cheeses.

While the veggie only ones were good, I ::really:: liked the ones with cottage cheese in them.  They were so creamy delicious.

 

Not low carb, but I made a small apple cake to take camping.  The recipe called for walnuts.  I didn't have any so I topped it with a few chocolate chips.

 

 

STITCHY STUFF

I'm plugging away at the Halloween Mailart.  I'm hoping to complete the stitching while I'm camping this weekend.  I just have the back to do.  Can't show the whole thing, but here's a sneak peek:

QUILTY BITS AND PIECES

I found a not-so-local quilt shop that's doing an in person block of the month program.  We met for the first time last night and were given our first month's fabric.  The quilt is called Violet Crush and the shop sample is SO gorgeous.

I plan on cutting the fabric while I'm camping so I can start sewing next week.  There are five blocks that need to be done in the next month.

This will be my first in-person BOM participation.  It's going to be fun... each month when we bring our blocks in, our name goes into a drawing.  If we bring a show-n-tell piece (doesn't have to be quilt related), we get our name put in again.  At the end of the 9 months, the shop does the drawing.  Fun-Fun-Fun!

To end off this post, I'll leave you with a photo of my Autumn office decor.  I don't know how long this will stay out since I have Halloween decorations to put out.  I really need to make an Autumn-themed table runner for the top of my cabinet.  Currently, I have two: Patriotic and Winter.

Until Next Time,

 

Homestead Happenings - Summer 2024

 Lots of hustle and bustle around The Homestead in 2023:

• Shrub Removal HERE.

• Flower Bed Landscaping HERE.

• Concrete Work HERE.

• Planted Climbing Roses HERE.

• Planted Hostas HERE.

• Planted Irises HERE.

• Planted Daylilies, Peonies and Tulips HERE.

• Planted Mums and Setup my Water Feature HERE.

What's new at The Homestead in 2024?

 

The railing on my front porch really needed to be painted.  There were quite a few areas showing rust.

 

Preparation is the key to a good paint job.  I needed to protect not only the concrete, but also the brick of the house.

 

Some may say it's overkill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.  Ask me how I know...  I used gloss black Rustoleum spray paint to freshen up to wrought iron railing.

 

Doesn't it look much better?  There was an ulterior motive to get the railing painted.

 

Last year when I got my Bailey girl, her first mama was moving out of state and gave me three deck planters similar to this one, but without the coco liners:

 

Since my railings were painted, I could install them.  Yay!  My problem with installing these was the bracket is made for 2x4 deck railing and my railing is wrought iron.  What to do?  What to do?  Zip ties to the rescue.  They very securely hold the planters in place and since they're black they're not noticeable.

I soon filled them with plants, and look how lovely they looked.

 

 

Fast forward several months and they've filled in nicely.  I couldn't be happier.

Since I didn't have time last fall to finish all the mulching that needed to be done, I did more this year.  Twelve bags so far. 

 

I mulched the bed on the west side of the house.  It went from this in 2023...

to this...

 

to this in 2024...

 

I've had these rocks forever and thought this was a good way to use them and hold the window well covers in place. 

I also mulched the southwest corner of the house.  I call this The Alcove.   

The roses are Knockout roses. I've figured out that if I trim the faded flowers, it blooms more profusely.  It only took me 15 years to figure it out. Hee Hee!

I still need to put a border between the mulch and the grass.  I have bought some to finish the front and start on the other beds.

Until Next Time,

Homestead Happenings - Part 6

Did I mention Summer/Fall 2023 was very busy around The Homestead?

 

• Shrub Removal HERE.

• Flower Bed Landscaping HERE.

• Concrete Work HERE.

• Planted Climbing Roses HERE.

• Planted Hostas HERE.

My coworker's Mom gave me a bunch of irises to plant in the areas where I had shrubs removed.  So in the fall of 2023, I also planted irises.  I had no idea what the colors were until they bloomed earlier this year.

Beautiful Maroon Dwarf Irises

Purple Irises

More Purple Irises

Purple and White Irises

Close up of the Purple and White Iris. Isn't it beautiful?!

White and Yellow Iris

It was exciting to see what colors the irises turned out to be. They have grown so much this year, I will probably need to propagate next year.  Where will I put them all?

Until Next Time,

 

Marvelous Monday Update 8/5/2024

Happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  Mine was very busy and productive.

 

LOTS OF DIY

Last summer, I created a water fountain for the front of The Homestead. It turned out as I envisioned.

The only issue I have is the solar fountain is free floating which means it sprinkles water outside the half barrel.

When I was at the home improvement store over the weekend, the citronella plants were on clearance for $5.  It was a HUGE plant.

I bought it not for the plant, but for the hanging planter.  The plant was a bonus, LOL.  I've never had a citronella plant before.  It smells good!

I took the hanger off the pot and clipped the three legs off.  I straightened them out as best I could and attached them to the fountain base.

No more free floating solar fountain.  It still sprays a little water outside the barrel, but not nearly as much.  I still want to put some larger river rock in the bottom.

A few years ago, I bought solar gutter lights for the side of the garage that faces the backyard.  At the time, I didn't have an actual electrical light on that side.  Due to the building collapse and subsequent repairs, I had a light installed so I no longer needed the solar lights on the side of the garage.

I installed them on the house gutters where there isn't much lighting.

I'm pretty pleased with how both projects turned out.

GOOD EATS

Thanks to the generosity of a coworker who had excess garden produce, I made two quarts of refrigerator dill pickles.  I'm so looking forward to eating these once the recommended time has passed. 

I also made three pints of refrigerator strawberry rhubarb jam.  It tastes really good.  Two jars are now in the freezer.

THRIFTING

One of my favorite things is to find a good deal at the thrift stores.  I found a Calvin Klein dress (over $100 new) for $7.49!

Isn't it pretty?  I have an outdoor wedding reception to go to next month and I'm planning on wearing it.  Won't it look good with a nice pair of sandals?

Until Next Time,