The Challenge

So, what does one do when one is unemployed? Joyously, temprorily unemployed? Well, if you're like me, you decide you're going to get a lot of "projects" finished. My dear friend Rose suggested that I go for a project a day. So, for the next 18 or so days until I started work again, I'm challenging myself to finishing one project a day, taking pictures, and posting about it. Some of these projects will be crafting, some trash to treasure types, some remodeling stuff. Who knows, you'll just have to drop in and see. :)

Here is DAY ONE:

The topiary-actually the first topiary because I have two other partially done. I've had the tiny little pinecones on the shelf for several years. I picked them up when I was working at our county historical museum. After I got all the pine cones glued on I realized I had some little spaces that needed filler and thought I'd put pheasant feathers in the spaces, but that was too many feathers and all my dried plant material was too big. So, I went for a little walk around the yard and came up with some rose hips, some daylily seed pods, some morning glory seed pods and some yarrow. The yarrow and morning glory seed pods I spray painted gold before tucking them in the little spaces.

I can't decide if this thing is finished or if it needs something more. Any opinions or ideas are welcome.

Meet the Mongrels

I may have mentioned my mutts in other posts, but I don't think I've formally introduced them. Here are my helpers.

Meet Flash the Wonder Dog who is part Basset Hound and part Beagle and who knows what else. Flash belongs to a friend of mine, but has come to live at our house indefinitely. We got off to a rough start, but I'm very attached to him now and he's very devoted to me. Or at least he's very devoted to going for rides and eating donuts from the gas station.

And Lady the Bug who seems to be mostly yellow lab, but is much needier and more nervous than the average lab. She wandered into town and Flash brought her home. Nobody else wanted her, so I fed her and here she has stayed. She's very social, loves little kids, but doesn't much like my old neighbor man even though he lets her drink out of his birdbath.

They are of no help what-so-ever in the garden. Flash gets bored when I start gardening and wanders off to parts unknown. Lady insisted on putting herself between me and whatever I'm working on, hence the name Lady "the bug".

I can't even begin to tell you how many plants they've mashed, stomped on or used for bedding. But I can't imagine life without a dog.

30 and holding

No, I'm not talking about me being thirty. I'll admit to being forty and proud of it. No it's The Beast that's 30 years old this year. My favorite set of wheels. My gardening pickup. My junk hauler. The reason my husband sometimes shakes his head and rolls his eyes and says I don't listen to him. He didn't want me buying another vehicle and I went ahead and bought this one anyway. It's mine, mine, mine!

This old Ford had been sitting under a shade tree for at least 15 years when I bought it. Before that it was a service truck for a farm implement repair shop. It runs pretty good. I had to have some work done on the brakes, but otherwise, it's a great set of wheels. Well, as you can see, the day I took the picture I had a tire off that had gone flat. I don't drive The Beast every day unless one of our other vehicles is in the shop.

But I'm rambling and not getting to the "holding" part. At the moment I've got The Beast pretty well loaded up with junk. Aluminum cans to go to the recycler, demolition garbage from my bathroom, assorted lumber I pulled out of the dump that's good enough to use. Just odds and ends like that. Well, then we've had a little rain. The other day I walked past and noticed a funny smell. I got to looking and since The Beast is parked on a bit of a downhill slope, the box had gotten a lot of rain water in it and, wonder of wonders, it wasn't draining out. The rain water was getting a bit smelly and slimy like a stagnant pond.

A thirty year old pickup box was still holding water!!! In my world, things like that just don't happen. Heck even my ten year old Ranger has enough holes in the bed that it won't hold water.

So I had to start it up and turn it around so the water would drain out the back. It probably held about 80 gallons. Wish I'd have had my camera handy to get a picture of the waterfall!

My Apologies!

My apologies to any of my friends who may actually read this blog. I had good intentions of posting at least several times a month and then my internet connection when to hell in a handbasket, and while it's still not repaired, I have learned to work around the problems.

Then my computer had problems and I had to take it in to the shop and I don't even want to talk about what that cost me!

And most recently. Monday night while I'm trying to write my news column, my keyboard bit the dust. Luckily a friend of mine had a couple old keyboards laying around, so I got up and running shortly. My old keyboard had well worn keys that had lost a good bit of their bounce. This one is still nice and springy and I really like it. My husband says it's ugly. Why you ask? How can one keyboard be any more or less ugly than any other? Some kids really had a lot of fun with a blue permanent marker on this keyboard. Use your imagination. But, I don't see an ugly keyboard, I see the sheer joy some kids got out of coloring all this with marker.

Anyway, I will be posting here soon. Got some pictures on my camera, and the bathroom project progresses, so stay tuned for new posts.