It is late winter here but the flowers do not seem to understand this, they say that it is spring. They must have not seen the memo from the Groundhog.
Since the leaves have come out on the apple tree, I wonder if this will become an apple on this branch? Our young tree presented us with one very delicious apple last year. We hope for more this year.
"Do you think this is a good house?" Asks, Mrs. Bluebird.
Seems like Mr. Bluebird has different ideas.
"Do you think the landlord will sturdy up this house"?
"I'll go ask"!
Looks like it is not just the trees and flowers that think spring will be here soon.
I have been quite achy lately due to some heavy work here in the house. I decided to pinch off some chocolate mint from the large pot sitting on the patio and make a cup of mint tea.
For the past week we have managed to upset our household again by finishing our bedroom floor. Last year I started pushing the furniture around and scraping the floor on days I had the time and energy. I would try and scrape at least a 24 x 24 section before I quit.
This has been the main tool I have used and a stool to sit on. Not easy at all. I managed to get almost 2/3 of the floor scraped and quit for several months.
Charles decided to help me finish scraping the floor this weekend and also sand it. We worked the entire weekend and of course inflamed our muscles and joints but I guess since spring is in the air it inspired us to keep going. We kept the cost down by doing this ourselves and not renting a floor sander. We do have a couple of electric hand sanders but that requires, yes, crawling on the floor.
The floor had to be scraped before sanding. Our first day we were down to this much left.
Then we sanded.
And I started the coats of Minwax at a very inconvenient time. I started at 6:00 P.M. and while waiting for the first coat I re-read the back of the can and it said you can re-coat in two hours and if you don't leave a large gap of time you do not have to sand in between coats.
I put the last coat on at fifteen past midnight. But to be done with it, it was worth the loss of sleep and sore muscles and joints.
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The next morning. I re-read the can again and looked up some information on the internet and found the longer it sits to cure, the better the outcome. Well....
Since dust is everywhere from sanding, and furniture is pushed around all over the house, I figure this is a good time to clean all of the furniture.
We have only paths in the house because each room has absorbed furniture from our bedroom.
We are sleeping in one of the guest rooms that I was using for purging and organizing so you know what that is like, yes stacks of items. But it has a path to walk around to the other side of the bed. :) The other bed-room is holding our large iron bed, mattress and foot part of the bed and there are night stands, a sewing machine, washstand, all everywhere, but we have paths!
I feel better about getting this done before surgery. I hope to finish a couple of other projects too and then maybe I wont dwell on the unfinished projects.
One of our favorite quick meals for busy days, hot-dogs, potato and onions. Peel and cut the potatoes, slice one onion in slices and slice the hot-dogs. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper, and toss together and lay across a large pan or oven proof skillet and bake.
Bake at about 385 degrees F. for 30 to 40 minutes. After about fifteen minutes into baking, take it out and toss it around with a spoon and put it back in the oven. It is done when the potatoes are tender when piercing with a fork.
This is what happens when you put seeds in some dirt and you water it. You get "Grimlikin's"
I will be transplanting these tomato seedlings into bigger pots again, they went from the seed cups to the peat pots and now they need bigger pots. I may just grow them in containers this year because our weather can be very finicky and temperatures go from one extreme to the other.
I have been carrying these tomatoes in and out of the house since January 19th (along with many other plants). By doing this they are already basically hardened off since they are out in the sun each day. I feel we will have some dips in the temperature so they still need great care.
Charles and I both have a certain amount of pain we live with daily, but this kind of pain from doing the floor, I call making progress pain. The symptoms are; searing, stabbing, cramping, stiffness, grunting noises and irritability followed by a desire to stare at something you cannot quit looking at such as a shiny floor.
I encourage you to plant some seeds and grow at least a few vegetables and or take the curtains down and give them a good washing and ironing, paint that wall or room that has been needing paint for the last five years. You may have the making progress pain on top of the already pain, but you will be glad you did it.
My posts will be a bit random like this one a few days early or it may be a few days late with so much to do right now but I will be around and about.
Grandma Donna
