Weekly Recap #25

{June 20 through June 26, 2016}

General

• I managed to get out of the doldrums in the latter portion of the week. It was a relief to feel more like myself. However, I did crash a little Saturday. Fortunately, I recovered by dinnertime. Usually, when I crash, I am down and out for the rest of the day and not doing great the following day.
• I am pleased as punch with the new ceiling fan Dan put up in my room (studio).

Quilting; Crafts

• I picked up the Gypsy Wife Quilt in the latter portion of the week. I cut fabrics for the Old Maid's Puzzle block {Section 2). I need to document the difficulties I have and this block is one of the extremes.

DIY Cat Playground

• We finally put together some tree limbs we managed to get for free from a ranch where the land suffered damages from storms in the area. Abby Gail has already gained confidence on this "gym" and needs no encouragement on climbing the thing. However, we need to cut a branch (on the left in picture) that is in her way when she wants to get on the horizontal branch that is between the two support structures. We also have to get some longer screws as it is temporarily attached together with a bunch of zip ties at the moment. I would love to find two more nice branches to add to the support structures.

When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all… Grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that’s it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.

~ Elton Pope [Doctor Who: Love & Monsters episode] ~

Wordy Wednesday {The Barn Continued}

The Beginning
Continued I
Continued II
Continued III
Still Standing
Still Standing II

• June 11-12, 2016: The porch roof

Note: I forgot to take a picture of the finished roof which was completed late on the 12th. You can see the completed porch roof in the next set of pictures.

• June 18-19, 2016: Painting

Note: We also painted the interior with one coat of primer.

The plan is to put on the roof of the main structure the weekend after The Fourth which is July 9 and 10.

Wordy Wednesday (The Barn is Still Standing}

The Beginning
Continued I
Continued II
Continued III
More

I thought the title of this post was appropriate considering the major storm that came through last week.

I was surprised but pleased Dan snapped a picture of me....

using a mallet to pound in some studs to support the upper loft joists....

and using a monster sized framer nail gun to nail the supporting stud to its sister stud.

So, as you can see, I am trying to contribute in the building of the barn. The barn is coming along slowly but surely. The trusses for the porch roof are up. The plan is to get the porch roof on this coming weekend.

Weekly Recap #22

{May 30 through June 5, 2016}

General

• This post is late. I almost did not write it up as I am hitting a wall and a bunch of don’t wannas. I am not sure if I want to even continue to blog. I have not even taken many pictures as I have lost the passion for it and life – struggling with chronic sickness can take a lot out of a body (and spirit).

Gardening; Yardwork; Weather

• The weather has been really frightful with one storm pushing me on the verge of hiding in a closet because the winds were straight line and sheer. The power outage did not help either. Damages were minimal with one cucumber plant stake pushed over which is now barely surviving. Two clay plant pots destroyed. I heard that there were some substantial damages around town. So, in my humble opinion, we were lucky.

• We harvested the green beans Sunday night and I plan to pickle them. (I like pickled carrots; so, I thought I would like pickled green beans.) I also harvested the rest of the cucumbers which will make one last batch of pickles. A couple of strawberry plants are trying to grow shoots and one died due to either a gopher or the excess amount of rain we received within the few weeks (4-1/4 inches last week alone). Dan asked if he could pull up a peanut plant or two to see how they’re coming along. I think both of us were surprised with what came up out of the ground!
• The hummingbirds (three of them) are still hanging around. When they first started passing through, one of them look rather skinny and hung around. The weather this spring has been unseasonably cool and wet. I am wondering if both weather and the fact one may have been sick prevented them from moving on to where they usually go for the summer. Anyway, I am still putting out the hummingbird food for them (every two days) and the one that looked skinny and sickly is now thriving. I am also pleased to see them make an effort at being neighborly; but, it is so hard for them to share!
• I started mowing Sunday morning. I only did the street side before it got too hot. I am planning to continue mowing late in the evenings as it needs to be done especially out front.

Quilting; Crafts

• I made two more clipboard frames. So, I am not totally useless. Ha!

DIY Shed aka "The Barn"

• Dan has made more progress on the barn. He took his time though because I got sick again Saturday and he claimed he wanted to be inside and tend to me. I was better Sunday and was able to do a few things. In spite of the weather and my being sick, progress is being made on the barn. The porch frame and trusses are up. The plan is to put the roof on the porch this coming weekend.

Some Links to Share

• Strawberry Pincushion (tutorial)

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring ~

Wordy Wednesday {The Barn as it Stands Now}

The Beginning
Continued I
Continued II
Continued III

Dan has been working on the porch. I have tried to help; but, have been feeling rather useless of late. The Texas heat is getting to me; but, I am beginning to recognize the signs and go inside to cool off a bit. I think that I will gradually get acclimated to the heat. I am so used to doing my yard work chores in the early mornings or late evening when it is not so hot. We don't have that kind of luxury (to work only in the mornings or late evenings) when we are pushing to get the barn built sooner rather than later.

Weekly Recap #21

{May 23 through May 29, 2016}

General

• Yesterday was a holiday here in the states which is the reason why this post is late.
• My youngest niece came over with her two young children late Saturday afternoon to visit and spend the night before heading onto Garner State Park to join the rest of the family. We are skipping camping this year due to the fact that Dan’s is bogged down with work and deadlines along with our focus on getting the Barn built. Anyway, I really enjoyed having them over and I hope they will feel free to use us as a hotel again.

Gardening

• I actually had to purchase more canning jars as we used up most of the ones I had to make Grape jelly and pickles. I didn’t get fancy colored ones this time – just clear jars. We made more pickles last Sunday modifying a recipe we used last year.

  I think we will have another batch of pickling cucumbers soon and we will make even more pickles! I will have to give some away because there is no way we will be able eat them all within a year!

DIY Shed aka "The Barn"

• Dan worked on the Barn a little more on Memorial Day (May 30th). The day dawned rather stormy and we had a power outage. Our plans to go see family at Garner State Park for the day was cancelled mainly due to the fact that there was a Flash Flood watch in effect until 1 pm for that area. We know firsthand what flash floods can entail and we just did not want to be traveling through them should it happen.

  The storms lasted until late morning here and then Dan started working on the barn. The porch post braces were added and I really like the look. The beam to hold the upper porch trusses was also added and the braces for the Barn’s trusses were beefed up on the other side. Not much was done because it was a holiday weekend and Dan deserved to take some time off.

Quilting; Crafts

• I made two more clipboard frames and am pleased with them. I used a memorial flyer of my Aunt who passed away recently to demonstrate the use of the clipboards in the above picture. These clipboards will be used to hang 4x6 or 5x7 pictures of family. The pictures are easily swapped out for newer ones which is exactly what I wanted. Plus, I wanted to hang more casual pictures rather than the nice formal ones.

  I do need to figure out how to streamline the crafting process and clean up the actual craft better. But hey, they are good enough to hang in a darkened hallway and I can always claim that they are supposed to look like crap! Ha!

Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.

~ Lilo and Stitch (movie) ~

Weekly Recap #20

{May 16 through May 22, 2016}

General

• I have struggled for more than a week (and am still struggling) with chronic illnesses. It has made it difficult for me to focus on much of anything in particular. I am also beginning to be aware that I can no longer tolerate the Texas heat and humidity. More often than not, I will come down sick with headache, stomach and body ailments.

Gardening

• I harvested and dehydrated more Basil this week. I also harvested a LOT of pickling cucumbers. We made (canned) nine jars of pickles! We will have another bumper crop of pickles come in within the next two weeks.
• I did a lot of heavy weeding in my garden. I need a sign saying “Garden of Weeden”. The thing is I don’t grow marijuana. I grow good stuff along with legitimate weeds some of which are wildflowers too. So, I don't dare put up one of these signs for fear of someone getting the wrong impression.
• For the first time since we moved here, my rain gauge reached the limit of 5 inches. There were a lot of storms that came through with one bringing 2-1/4 inches making it a total of 5-1/4 inches for the week!

Quilting; Crafts

• I took the time to make a clipboard frame using scrapbook paper and Mod Podge. It will be used to display either a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 picture. Now that I have made one, I think the rest will go quicker now I have a template to use. I want to make a bunch of them to hang in the hallway.

DIY Shed aka "The Barn"

• A severe thunderstorm in the night caused us to make repairs to the barn trusses first thing Wednesday morning. I discovered a day later that there were some damages from wind in the surrounding areas. I think we were very fortunate that the trusses were just a tad tussled. I believe I mentioned and posted a picture in my last post about the shed.

• I got fairly sick by noon Saturday which made me useless to Dan concerning the Shed for the rest of the weekend. I did help just a tad Sunday. In spite of this, he made a lot of progress. The porch roof in now going up!

Winning Love

• I was notified not too long ago that I was a winner of a “super secret newsletter subscribers only giveaway” by Heather Kojan Quilts. That prize (pictured above) arrived last week and I am thrilled.
• I also won another 100 Blocks magazine through Cora’s Quilts which was sponsored by Quiltmaker via blog hop. That prize came in last week also. I am wondering which relative of mine will claim dibs on this magazine first? We shall see.

Some Links to Share

• How to Photograph Dragonflies.

A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.

~ C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) ~

Wordy Wednesday (The Barn Continued III)

The Beginning
Continued I
Continued II

I am utterly shocked that I did not take any pictures of all the walls on the shed. We had completed that one Sunday and let me tell you, that was extremely hard work just for the two of us.

Just pictured the below without the men on top and the trusses, and that is what it looked like. Ha!

My brother and sister-in-law came out last weekend to help us build the barn and I was thrilled that they did. I was so worried about Dan and I putting up the trusses. My brother had a framing nail gun that was awesome and a much taller ladder than we had which made the work go much faster! They built the lofts which you cannot see and then started putting up the trusses before I even thought to take pictures.

Here you can see them putting up the other side. They braced the sucker and put up studs.

And, then went to the other side to nail the siding into the studs.

Here is the almost current view of the barn with all of the trusses. I am proud of them and totally relieved that we had help.

A severe thunderstorm blew through last night and we discovered the trusses were in danger of falling this morning. So, Dan went out there and I joined him to fix the problem. We discovered that the brace for the side wall failed and one of the trusses was missing a nail through the bracing strip.

We leveled the side wall/truss and fixed the brace down once again. Dan added more bracing strips to both sides of the trusses with my help. I don’t think it is going anywhere now unless a storm wants to send it to OZ. Ha!

We had to do this before more thunderstorms blew through (which is predicted from this afternoon to tomorrow morning).

The plan now it to work on building the porch roof which will take us two or three weekends.

Wordy Wednesday {The Barn Continued}

The Beginning
Continued I

Note: The weekend of April 10th and 17th was cloudy not to mention we had storms on the 17th. So, all pictures reflect the gloomy (cloudy) days and are not all that great.

The floor of the barn and the deck of the porch was laid and completed on the April 10th.

A closeup shot of the flooring and deck. We plan to stain the decking in the future to further protect it from the weather.

The first wall (back wall) was built and put up on April 16th. We managed to do this all by ourselves against the wind. I was amazed and impressed with what we managed to do!

The front wall was built on April 16th and put up on the morning of 17th. We failed our first attempt. It was a little heavier on account of the header built for the door. The Gardener must have seen our humiliation because he offered to help. I am thankful for his help because we got it on the second attempt.

The other two walls were built and put up in between storms on the 17th. These were a heck of a lot easier to put up! We were extremely tired, wet and sore folks by the end of the day!

The barn door side view.

The plan is to take off Saturday and finish putting on the siding this Sunday (April 24). We may even get started on the joists that will support the ceiling and loft.

Wordy Wednesday {The Barn Continued}

This was Dan's setup for cutting the wood. The lumber was stored in the "hangar" (garage) and there was virtually no room for him to work. So, outdoors he went!

Finished joists for the main structure on Saturday, April 2, 2016. We also established most of the concrete blocks that will support the porch on this day.

Finished the joists for the porch on Sunday, April 3, 2016.

This is the side view along with its porch.