Tuesday, July 9, 2013

More Twaddle on Tuesday

Today the weatherman said we would be having snow and blowing wind and a ice storm...Nope. I made you think right? More of the same over here. 108 today. Now that we are past all of that for today. Here is a photo of my latest chicken rug.


This is a fun rug to hook.

This is the bit of light reading that my husband is reading for fun right now. He is also reading these other books.

 He bought this handy-dandy kit to help him make these experiments to go with this book.
There is all kinds of goodies in this box. I enjoy looking at all of the transistors and wires and just fun
little things to build. He is teaching himself all of this for fun.
So he can program a Arduino to water his grafted Japanese Maples. He built his propagation chamber so that he can water the grafts 10 minutes every hour. Here is his finished propagation chamber.

Here is what he built for that.

 This is what is on the inside of it.

He built these racks for the plants to sit on like this so the water can run through.


He put these seedling trays on those.

The water will come out here to water them. Getting the water hooked up has been harder than I think programming the Arduino. He can do that part in the house. Working on this other stuff is outside in the heat.


The garden is loving all of this heat. So do the weeds.

The white Silkies are almost grown up. I have a hard time now telling who is the Mom and who is the chicks. I still can't tell which are roosters and who are hens.


The mud ball is now so huge. The boys do like the heat for this as they can keep working on it during the heat as it dries so fast then they can keep adding to it. My son Peter is continuing to search Guiness Book of World records and so far he has not found any thing for the biggest mud ball in the world. That is his goal is to have them come out and see if he can get a listing. It makes me laugh. Sasha thinks I am nuts for making her sit here all of the time.
Some of the things we have been doing. I have experimented with fermenting bell peppers. I am pretty happy with how they turned out so far. The fermenting sure keeps them crispy. I want to try that with pickles.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday.

~Kim~

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Lessons I have Learned This Week

I was thinking that I learned lots of things this week. When it is hot I just sit and don't do much. In fact, the brain pretty much sits idle. It is cooler today so the brain is coming around.

1. Always soak the ice cream maker before you start to make ice cream. I have a White Mountain ice cream maker and if you don't soak it a day before the wood doesn't seal and the ice as it melts which is what freezes ice cream pours out the slats.

2. Never be a referee in Brazil for a soccer match or maybe a player.

3. That saying " Mad as a wet hen," isn't true. When it is hot, chickens like water to stand in and run to the hose to get in the mist.

4. For the first time in my life, my son told me I was acting like a housewife because I was watching Psyche on Netflix in the afternoon. I never watch T.V. during the day. Ever. I never have. Hence the name calling.

5. It is possible to sweat when you get out of the shower. Then you have to go swimming to cool off.

6. I am really grumpy.

7. The one good thing about the heat, is it is too hot to eat.

8. My back flowerbeds are full of white chickens during the day. My flowerbeds are full of dust bath holes and my flowers will never be the same.

9. Trying to walk even early in the morning is a chore. I look like a commercial for a exercise company after one lap.
10. People are really grumpy too. This really happened at the grocery store.

I had my basket full of groceries like normal. There were only two check stands open. A older gentleman came up behind me and he had only a couple of packages of shoe strings in his hand. I said, " Sir, would you like to go ahead of me." He looked at me with a frown and said, " You need to learn to read, can't you see the sign, that says express ( there was no sign.) He said, you need to go back to school."

I stood there not saying a word, as you know as my Dad always said, " just because someone else is rude you don't have to be." ( My Dad didn't say the word rude, he used a different one but you get my drift.)  I waited while he paid for his shoe strings and left. I asked the checker " This isn't express is it? " She said" No, there was no sign any more they had changed it." I told her what the man said, and she said,"  why didn't you say something?" I just said, " I never do, my mind always goes blank"


I once heard that we are what we are when we get bumped, the heat does that to me and I don't like what I see. I have to tell you one more thing I learned. One of the things I have always wanted to be is a Titus 2 woman. The verse says, " and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good; (Titus 2:3)

I was patting myself on my back that I am pretty good and I am not a big fan of wine. But then as so often happens, not enslaved to much wine, became enslaved to much Whine.

That has been me pretty much lately. I am trying to change that. I hope you have a nice week. It will only be 99 here this next week. I will take any kind of break.

Ciao
~Kim~





Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Twaddle on Tuesday

This morning I went out to do my chores. I was thinking about the things I needed to do as it is supposed to reach 110 today and I was thinking about all sorts of other things and I forgot to unplug the hot wire. Sasha ran ahead of me to the chicken pen and she found out that the wire was hot. She jumped about five feet straight up in the air, walked around with a puzzled look on her face.

I turned around went back up to the house to unplug the fence. ( We were unsure if the fence was working, I guess it is after all.)  She wouldn't come down to the chicken pen and stayed up at the swing set until I opened the back gate.

I turned the water on in the garden and got the hose to bring in the yard so I could fill all of the chicken waterers. I have been keeping the bunny in a wire cage on the grass with ice bottles and he seems to like it.
I also move one of the small chicken feeders out in the yard so that the chickens can eat out under the shade
trees.
I lifted the little feeder and there was a snake under it. It was my turn to jump five feet in the air and scream.
I hate snakes. It made me so sick and it makes my knees so weak. When I yelled he crawled back in a hole
under the door. I could barely make myself even look. I guess Sasha and I were even this morning.

Last year I started making some stuffed chickens. I have had fits and I have spent hours on these things. I have a rooster and a hen but I haven't finished the roosters clothes. I have the hen almost finished but I haven't got her sleeves made for her little dress and her bloomers. I thought I would show you her.

I think she looks like a chicken version of Dobby. She is supposed to have a couple of eggs in her arms. The rooster has a cute little nugget.

See her little feet? They make me just laugh. I don't know why. But they do. I need to get her finished.

I started a new chicken rug yesterday. I guess I always have chickens on the brain.

I hope to finish the rest of the sunflowers and get the back ground started. I love the wool I got for the chickens.

I really like this shape. It is fun and fast to hook.

I hope you have a nice day today. Thank you so much for stopping by today.

Oh, and here is a P.S. All of my blogs are still on blogger. I didn't loose any at all. I can still see them like normal.

~Kim~

Monday, July 1, 2013

July 1st

I can't believe today is the first day of July. My son said last night, that he totally missed June and feels like he woke up and it was July. I kind of felt like that. For a week now, I have been trying to make a flag. I thought it would be a simple project. It wasn't. I painted and repainted and sanded and started over so many times that by last night I was ready to burn it for firewood. I decided that enough was enough and I hung it this morning.

Here is a picture of it in my living room.

The first time I saw this was when I was on my Smallville kick during the winter. One like it hangs in Clark's loft in the barn. Then I saw one in the Pottery Barn catalog but with the points cut off the grade stakes.
I wanted one with the pointy ends. Then the blue part gave me just fits. I am pretty happy with it now looking at the picture. Now that I finally got it together I might try one without the wood stain.

I did a small flag with the scrap wood with no stain. I kind of like it but being a fan of the junky wood look it is different for me.

Now I think I will just do inside projects. Like sewing and hooking and things like that. Here is how it looks on my hutch.

My son got a job working for a guy that does decals among other things. I asked if his boss would let him make stencils. He asked and the guy said he could. So I am so excited that my son will make words for me now with a stencil cutting machine. The machine is a huge commercial one so it should be fairly easy is what my son said. I can't wait.

I finished my cow rug and now it has a new home. I am afraid that once I got that money in my hot little hand I might go crazy and start a Etsy store. It felt so nice to be able to have money I made to buy my own materials. Ron never ever minds, but you know it is the principal of the thing.



It is Monday, a hot Monday. 110 is what the weatherman said. Not to hot too sew though. I think what gets me the most is the chickens come to me almost crying it seems like and all I can do is give them cold water. The bunny stays draped over the ice bottles. Two of the hens laid eggs in the flowerbed next to the porch.

It will feel like a nice cool day when it finally drops to 100 degrees.

Stay cool where ever you are, Happy July!

~Kim~