It's September, Let's Catch up

 Yikes! Where does the time go??? 

It's been hot-Dilly has been helping with yard work.

And we got a basketball hoop for him-he shoots hoops every day!

There have been a few windy storms pass through-we lost some small branches and one bigger one.

I got them cut up and burned one batch then we had another blowing storm and had more! So now the fire bowls are full again!

We went to a "Flea Market" at Huibbard Park-unfortunatly the only things there were clothing resellers. Who Knew there were so many people selling used clothing-I swear they had a Hawkeye shirt for every man woman and child in the county there!

There were a few selling artwork and little jewelry, but nothing worth the time it took to park!

We've had some good park time!

I like these playgrounds that have the rubber mats on the ground-they are so much nicer!

And I've started this quilt. I bought this pattern many years ago, like 25 years maybe?  and it was the most expensive pattern I'd ever bought. $15.00

It's not a great pattern in my opinion-I'm glad I didn't start it 20 years ago!

You have to trace off all the pieces and cut the templates out and then the 2nd blocks have paper piecing-which I kind of like.

I'm using a pile of batiks that I got a couple of summers ago at a yard sale. 

These first blocks are kind of wonky, but I think it will work out in the long run.

More to come on this one!

And the Electrician came and did the check up on the generator. It's ready when ever another storm comes along!

And the saddest news too, My Mom is dying. She moved to Iowa River Hospice this week. Iowa River Hospice Is a really nice facility, they have been so accomodating. She is suffering with congestive heart failure and kidney failure. 

This was back in July, not lomg ago at all and time just keeps rushing along.

Love those smiles!!!

Well, That Was Unexpected

 It was raining cats and dogs on Friday morning, and around 6:30am I was in bed wishing the dog didn't need to go out, and I heard a big loud WHHummmP! noise. It didn't bother the dog, but I got up to have a look out the front windows.

This picture from the sliding door off the kitchen is funny because you can see the TV screen reflected on the glass, and it's telling about the severe weather warnings. A branch off of the front yard tree broke off and fell right beside the deck!

After the rain stopped I went out and had a better look. Yikes!, just missed the generator!

And missed the porch!

But did not miss the fence. Not bad though!

See where the branch came from! 

I am so thankful, a friend of Dannie's texted me asking if I could use some help with the branch in the yard! Thank you Missy & Andy and their crew with a big chainsaw!! Such good hearted people , I am sooo thankful!! We had it all cleared away in less than an hour! Good workers! 

I had to run into Menards to get a connector and a couple of new caps for the fence repair, I had enough top rail left over from previous repairs! 

There! All fixed up and good to go! 

Storms, Blinds, Catching Up

 

See Bob there? 

There was  a storm warning a week or so ago, they said we could have high winds so I went out and tied down the deck stuff. See how handy it is to have scarp quilt binding strips on hand? I tied down the smoker and the chairs and bench.

It turned out to not be a bad storm after all-no worries.

I also got new blinds in the front room! Look how nice they look! This was the first one up. 

They required the brackets to be placed differently than the old blinds. It was a smart move to wait until the morning to do the rest of the blinds-that sun beating in in the afternoon was fierce!

THey are wider than the old ones.

And are wood-look. And lucky for me they match the wood-ish trim we already have on the windows.

There! They look good! A really nice change.

See in this picture-the old on the left...and the new one on the right. I ordered from JCPennney on line. They are really a perfect fit.

And outdoors, I pulled the weeds from around the back up generator and put down the stone chips like I used last year in the front yard. 

That looks a lot better, The weeds were just taking over! My gardener has been a little bit busy.

She and her brother came and picked up Hubs and took him to the Blues and BBQ event in North Liberty. 

She sent me these Snap Chats......

Oh my goodness. I had to work and I'm a little bit glad......

So, I think I'm caught up now....next, A FINISH!

Houses...it's always something

So my old mailbox has been bumped a few too many times, it was wobbly and barely hanging on to the post, despite my hammering it back in place every few weeks. So I ordered a new one....a CUTE new one.

It was pretty easy to install, I had to shorten the post a few inches-sawsall to the rescue! And as I was laying on the ground to tighten the lag bolts, I thought for sure someone would stop and make sure the old lady wasn't in trouble. But it's all good-took about 30 minutes to get it all done.

Cutest mailbox on the block!

So Bean is now homeless...they are staying with us for a week or so, 2 of the kids are at Gramma K's house and one is at Dannie's house until they close on their new house in North Liberty. SO this beauty is living in my yard for a little while.

It needs some new wood and maybe a new part here and there, but isn't it gorgeous!  It says Des Moines Park Swing on the arm sides. Jean was gifted the swing from her grandparents who live in Des Moines.

I just love the way it looks. They don't make em like this any more! I'll be sad to see it go to it's new home in a week or so.

So after the Derecho we had some shingle damage, so the insurance adjuster came out and took a look and said, yup, you need a new roof. 

See those chalk marks on the roof of the garage? Our guy was up there quite awhile and it sure made it look bad! From the ground it didn't look bad at all, but once he marked the bad spots, WOW! So we have that to get taken care of next. It really is always something!

Rained Out

No Outreach at the farmer's market this week -last week I tried out the new little table...it's cute isn't it, KMart only 19.99 AND MADE IN THE USA!!!!!! We made pinwheels. I had a ton of kids. It was fun!

There was a short but strong storm on Monday look, here's a tree down as we were traveling to North Liberty.