Stripping!

So I have a new project.  Since I finished painting the bedroom, and it's mostly decorated, and I finished re-screening the screen porch, since little fingers/paws/noses have enlarged holes in the screen which were there when we moved in... Stripping the radiators!

My husband has been on me for a while about how the paint on the radiators is robbing us of money and efficiency!  So goodbye painted radiators.  Hello antique looking metal.

I actually think it's going to look really nice.  I'm using a goop called Citristrip.  It seemed to work in about 4 hours on the radiator.  I wanted to test a small portion, and it just wiped right off.  I think tomorrow I'll spray most of it with the stuff before we head out in the morning, then see what has happened by the time we get back.  It does smell like oranges, but I don't think I'd want to sleep in the same room where the stuff is doing it's work.

Also - the finished bedroom.  Mostly finished.

I think the green came out pretty well (It looks kinda yellow in the last pictures from the interior light.

The Screen porch also looks great.  I still have a little trim on the outside to finish... and you really can't tell from these photos that there is screen there... but it's unripped and great!  I promise!

Tomorrow, maybe off to get new couches that aren't 24 years old.  Woo.  And maybe a chaise lounge!!!  I'm thrilled.

I know it's been a while... but here I am again...

So It's been... 2 months since I last posted?  Summer has been kind of a whirlwind.  I wish I could say I've been super productive...  but... not so much.  I did get the bedroom finished, and the garden is still doing well.  We had to sell my beloved car... *sniff*  But we're doing alright with only one vehicle so far, until I can get my little beater truck to haul my own dirt and mulch and wood and boulders and such in.  Whee!

We've also had company come to visit us, gotten away one or two weekends ourselves, and pretty much just chase the almost-three-year-old around.  It's exhausting.

Some of my cherry tomatoes.  These are called "Italian Ice, and don't get much darker than the shade of yellow on the end.

Black Krim.  It's kind of deformed.  I don't think that will affect the taste.

The tomato dedicated beds have gone a little wild.  I've done my best to prop them up, but the fruit on the ground seems to be doing fine.

Mmmm.  Can't wait to sample this one on a burger.

A different cherry tomato variety.  Also yellow.  Very sweet though.  MMmmmm.

Broccoli in bloom.  The butterflies LOVE this stuff.

Just some of the tomatoes I picked today.  I gave as many away two days ago.  Did cut some up to put on tacos tonight.  Mmmmm. 

Finally. The finished room.  I picked a mossy green color.  It looks really nice.

The trim was a pain to paint.  Also need to figure out what i'm doing with the radiator.  Going to try to use some "non-toxic" goop to strip the paint off and see what shape the poor things are in underneath.  Would like to have the old iron show through, but if it looks disasterous, might have to find out how one can deal with ugly radiators.

Mmmm raspberry crisp.  I was inspired today.  And this was one of the easiest things I've ever made.

As long as I have a fear of making pies, I think I'll stick to crisps.  Mmmm Happy Desserting!

Kayaking through the wilds...

So tonight, I made dinner.  Beef stew.  I had a plan.  Have dinner ready right when hubby got home, then coerce him to maneuver the cars so I could go kayaking.  My plan succeeded. I hopped in the wagon with the baby, he jumped in the car with the kayak.  We met up at where I would end up at the finish of my kayak journey, jumped back into my car with the kayak, drove up to where I wanted to start my trip, he dropped me off, then returned to fetch the other car whilst leaving my car there so I could bring the kayak home when I was finished.

Whew.  I know.  Sounds complicated. And it is.  But really, it's the easiest way to start out a kayak trip and not have to worry about relying on someone to pick you up after.  And I knew I could take my time without inconveniencing hubby or baby or hopefully any rescue authorities (since I left my PFD, BAD TIFFANY).

So I started out.  I love kayaking here.  It's the outlet of Geneva Swamp, which is an outlet for Conneaut lake, so the small stream is called Conneaut Oulet, I think.  It starts at a rusty old bridge on the opposite side of the swamp and is this beautiful, nature, life-filled, secluded place.  It never passes a residence except when it meets French Creek.  I always see a ton of bird life, insects, and mammals.  Ranging from bald eagles, muskrats, owls, red-winged black birds, frogs, turtles, herons, deer, insects of all shapes and sizes and colors and bite proficiency (bring lots of spray), and more!  There is also a myriad of plant life, from flowers to grasses to soo much poison - ivy in certain areas I try not to splash the water on myself for fear that I will get it purely by contact with the water the stuff is growing all around.

Tonight was no exception to the wild-life sightings.  I found out that snapping turtle can climb pretty scary high up in mostly horizontal trees.  Even giant snapping turtles.  I swear it was trying to ambush me.

I also found out that the bald eagle that lives in this area perches in the same trees every damn time I kayak, and I always forget about this until the next time I kayak there and still miss the tree it is in until I'm under the tree and hear the great WHOOSH SHOOSH of wings.

I also did not take my telephoto lens.  So here the guy/girl is, if you can make it out.  Also, while I was floating along, enjoying the beauty of this majestic bird of prey, 2 immature baldies flew back and forth around the parent.

We've had a ton of rain in recent days, so the water is very high... but this place is so beautiful an quiet and amazing.  I always feel like the only person alive in the world when I go here.  Until some plane flies over or I hear the clunk of a truck crossing a bridge in the distance...

Then there was the most exciting part of the evening.  The strange creature did not move from the bank of the creek as I got closer.  She stared at me.  I stared at her.

Why Hello there!  Aren't you Cute!

And Inquisitive!  I have to say that seeing this little heifer during my kayak trip was the highlight.  I've always liked cows.  She came right over to check me out, and when I didn't offer her more than a couple sweet words, she turned and headed back away from the bank.  It made my night.

I really love kayaking back here.  I always see/hear/feel/experience something new.  I always get a greater appreciation of nature and how much more life there is around water...  oh, and mosquitoes.  Lots of bug spray.

Sunset/Moonlight Kayak trip

I saw a link on a local events website about moonlight paddle trips.  And I thought, hey, I can do that myself. So tonight I did.

Fish were jumping, birds and frogs were very noisy, I even saw a blue heron and an osprey.  I was a bit worried when the thrumming frog chorus started to sound like the "Jaws" theme, but I continued on.  It was a very nice trip, and though I didn't take my camera into the kayak with me, I did snap some pictures before and after.

I hope to get out again tomorrow or Thursday with less cloud cover.

Yard and Garden update.

So.  I know it's been a while.   First big news is we found a swing-set.  The baby is so happy.  I didn't really know someone could be pushed on a swing for hours at a time until now.  And I can swing too!  Just Jason has to push the baby while I swing.  But it still works out.

This is it the day after they installed it.  I decided I didn't like the pressure treated look, so today I stained it.

Now it looks like it's been exposed to the wind and rain for years.  I like how natural it looks, even if I did stain my hands more than the swing-set.  Oh, well.  I've never been one for precision.

I also decided to build another raised bed.  That brings the total to 3... and I have 2 more in mind maybe before the end of the summer... i just have no idea how i'm going to get dirt back to fill them if I put them where I want...

We're enjoying our lettuce already, and I've started to hand pick pests off of the broccoli.  I need to find myself a few toads and encourage them to hang around.

I have a giant load of mulch that I picked up, and I still need to finish putting it into the beds... but I guess I didn't really need an entire truckload... I will soon be mulching around ever darn thing in the yard.  The painters finished our house, the gardens are pretty well underway, and now I can spend the rest of the evening taking a brisk run, then maybe falling asleep on the couch.

No, even if you wear daddy's sneakers you can't run with me sweetie.

A Rose by any other name...

might look just as pretty as these, but I saw the pink and cream one at a plant place right on 322 in Wyattville (great place, tons of selection.  Go there.) and picked it up.  I found a great place for it in my front garden, so picked up two more today after garage sales.

I like roses... I mean, I'm not a rose freak, but I think they're very beautiful, and these ones smelled amazing.  I have a few nice love scratches from them already.  They are all Jackson and Perkins roses... which I'm not sure what that means, but if you want more info.. you can go there.

Deja Vu! Again!

So I got up this morning, saw it was a beautiful day, and decided to build another raised bed.  Because I like growing my own food a lot.  And I think my husband might have me committed if i mention chickens again.  Sigh.  Oh well.  I'll keep chiseling away at that.

So I headed out to the local Home Depot, bought some wood and some new screw bits for my power drill (having ruined the other ones I had on my last raised bed), and headed home.  First I mowed the grass.

Now... I've always been a grass mower.  I was recuited to the job by my father at a young age.  We had about an acre of yard with the house in the middle and I was taught, "Always blow the clippings away from the house."  This method, being tried and true to making a rake-free yard, and making nice even lines on the yard, has pretty much been the norm my entire life.  We moved to our own house, and I blew the clippings away from the house.  away from the house!  AWAY FROM THE HOUSE!!! *twitch*

So last summer, our old lawn mower finally gave up and died.  Plus it used soo much gasoline that I wanted to get something slightly greener, even if it was still a gas mower.  We got a model with a bag.  I was so excited.  I bagged the clippings and added them to my compost where they turned into wonderful food for my gardens.  It also had a mulching feature, which I had read and heard is very good for yards.

Today, after much consideration, I decided, I would not bag.  I would not blow the clippings out of the yard in a certain direction!  It was time to mulch!  And mulch I did.  I feared of clumps of clippings dropping off the blades and leaving ugly green masses that would turn brown and then kill the grass under them.  This did not happen!!!  I was thrilled.  Even the dense grass that I hadn't mowed at all yet this year didn't clump.  And now the clippings are embeded in my grass to feed it!  I am pleased.

So I had the area for the raised bed mowed(sorry about the tangent).  And I got to work.  Mom watched the baby, and I got most of the base done, and finished the second layer after hubby got home.  I think it turned out very well.  Tomorrow I will get dirt and mulch and really work on my gardens.

Three raised beds!!!

My mescalin mix is almost ready to eat!

The broccoli is also doing well.

I really love growing my own veggies.  I hope to get some of the tomatoes in in the next couple of days, depending on my dirt progress tomorrow.