barn…

27 Sunday Aug 2023

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drove out to Dugald on Thursday to pick up some roasting chickens from a new place – Hoogies Ranch…

it was a lovely drive and the weather vacillated between sun and cloud…

besides two dogs wandering the yard, these cute barn cats were very friendly…

so far, we’ve had one of the chickens and it was delicious… there was lots for supper, a chicken salad is in my future, and chicken vegetable soup with dumplings has been requested;-)…

I’m sure we will order from them again…

pods…

26 Saturday Aug 2023

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the volunteer purple datura in the front garden has grown huge over the summer…

when I was out watering the other day I noticed that many of the seed pods had already popped open so I went out and collected some for next year…

this one is a shade of mauve and opens upwards rather than hanging down…

the flowers are also quite small…

the seeds have already started to pop out into the bowl and I will let them dry a bit more before putting them into an empty pill bottle to store for the future… and I will be sure to label them;-)…

in a pot in the garden there is another white datura… this flower is much bigger and also opens up rather than down…

I will save some of those as well, being careful of the prickly bits, lol…

bolt…

25 Friday Aug 2023

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a bolt let go on one of the chairs in the living room…

it has been sitting with a sign saying broken on it for months…

I’ve been looking everywhere to find something to replace it, without success…

it finally made it out onto the deck where we had a look at it…

a piece of 2×4 was cut to size, painted black, and then screwed to the edge of the chair…

it is as good as new… and the footstool still fits underneath…

I am very happy;-)…

warped…

24 Thursday Aug 2023

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there has been a loose board on the lower deck for quite some time now, which has tried to trip people up for ages…

it was a bit warped and we had tried screwing it down at the two ends, but clearly the wood underneath was not in good condition in those spots… recently, the hose got stuck in it, lol…

finally, I lifted it right up and checked underneath only to discover that the screws in the middle were too short, so I brought out the drill and screwed in much longer ones…

and now it is no longer moving… yay me;-)…

deal…

23 Wednesday Aug 2023

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Monday I cleaned up after supper…

the deal is whoever makes supper doesn’t have to clean up…

so, I was happy to be doing the dishes;-)…

had a delicious meal of shrimp, red pepper, and Shanghai noodles with a delightful sauce…

the food was prepared while I relaxed and watched some tv…

what a treat;-)…

claws…

22 Tuesday Aug 2023

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last week I watched a hawk chase a sparrow down the lane… I didn’t hear any screeching, so was hopeful that the sparrow made it to safety…

on Saturday, I was quietly sitting on the back deck, drinking my tea and reading when I heard a kerfuffle…

suddenly, a juvenile Cooper’s hawk came off the shelf in the pergola by the driveway gate… it had a sparrow in its claws…

it flew to the ledge on the main deck with its prize… after sitting there for quite a few minutes I walked over to get it to leave the garden… I got very close to it before it finally decided to fly up to the wires above the deck, and then, away…

the whole time it was in the garden the sparrows and chickadees were sounding the alarm…

hope it doesn’t come back again…

completing…

21 Monday Aug 2023

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we’ve been working away at completing projects that have been started, but not quite finished;-)… I’m sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else, lol…

Wednesday, it was the back gate in the new fence…

the dirt was dug up under the gate area, two old concrete pads were discovered under a few inches of the dirt… they were removed and then some quarter down was laid, packed down, levelled, and new blocks put down, level with the lane… soil went into the spots on either side and some work on the slope up to the shed took place…

this is going to make the taking out and bringing in of garbage and recycling bins so much easier…

meanwhile the sky filled with threatening clouds, spots of sun, and then more of the “going to rain” cloud variety…

the project is not quite done, and just as we came in for lunch the wind went crazy and some rain started down…

good timing;-)…

goal…

20 Sunday Aug 2023

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as we declutter the basement, we have found a few things to move into other areas of the house… and our goal is to set the items up as they get moved, lol…

most recently, a light fixture that originally came from my parents’ apartment made its way into the den…

it got screwed into the wall, a smart bulb was added to it and connected to Google Home…

working nicely and it will be great for guests when the couch transforms to a bed;-)…

sanded…

19 Saturday Aug 2023

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one of the projects that has been in the works was to replace the cutting board in the kitchen…

many weeks ago, the board was cut to the right size… it was a little thick and needed to be sanded a bit…

time went by… then it was sanded, but needed to be oiled… the oil was purchased…

it finally got two layers of oil and made its way into the slot under the counter…

looks amazing;-)… maybe too pretty to cut on, lol…

oops…

18 Friday Aug 2023

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last night I ran around the house gathering all the boxes for a Big Brothers Big Sisters pickup today…

had all the boxes in the dining room and marked as required…

set the alarm to be sure I was up at 7:30 to put the boxes on the front steps…

made sure they were all on the steps before 8 but then when the boxes weren’t picked up by noon, I went back and reread the email from them…

apparently they are coming next Friday, not today… oops…

so I went out and brought all the boxes back in, lol…