Getting Outdoors ~ Doily Finished

 

The chicks are about 7 weeks old now, so they got a day of introduction to the hens.   They say your chicks should be as large as the smallest hen, before putting them in the coop together.  I had to laugh, as the hens were scared of the chicks and they were on the other side of the run fence ha ha!

My potted comfrey is springing back to life.

Updates with the garden(s):

-planted about 100 cloves of garlic for spring planting (it was very difficult to locate organic garlic for spring planting too).  As some of you read, voles ate our entire 80 fall planted cloves, so we moved the grow bags this year.

-started weeding the herb garden, and I will be digging up all the lemon balm and moving it to the water trough (hopefully I don't kill it, as I use it often, and I need to dig out some chives that moved their way to the green onions

-started weeding the larger rose bed (this one is terrible)

-asparagus is getting harvested

Asparagus is up that we grew from seed last year.  I gave up on it, but it did not.  It's on the weed-it list after the next rain.

-rhubarb is ready to harvest as well

Herb Garden Progress.  I filled the wheel barrow 4 times with weeds, it was that bad.  I got some of the flower bed weeded as well.  They are FULL of purple dead nettle, chickweed, and thistle.  My bum muscles are sore and my arms are scratched up.  I need a day of rest, and a slather of chickweed salve.  

My arms were covered with itchy spots. Not as bad as stinging nettle, but between that and a mosquito bite.  I had no idea that tall thistle, that is dead, can still have thorns on it.

Here is a before and in progress of part of the flower bed.  We plan to expand it (why oh why??), to make mowing easier.  We weighed a tarp down with landscaping stones to kill the grass.

 I think our plan is to put in a ground cover there, such as ground phlox.  We put it off last year.  It may be next year.  You can see the trimming has not been done.

Our hired help used to be hired to mow/trim once in a while, when we are pinched for time.  Not anymore.  We are doing it, as he has raised his prices.  He's not doing more either.  Actually he'd be doing it all in less time, so yeah, we are doing it now, and it's just taking it one day at a time.

I spent my birthday doing more weeding, replanting, and putting some starts in pots for donating to a plant fundraiser.

I also got a haircut and treatment to pamper myself at the end of the day, and dinner out.  Honestly, I would have been okay with grilled dinner on the porch, but we were in town, and our empty propane tank was at home.

One done.  Finished and blocked.  My new porch project.  Only one more to make for the living room lamps.  I ended up with a larger doily than the pattern said.  I took this on a road trip, so my stitches may not be as tight as they should be, but it still turned out nicely.  I found this pattern for free online.  

Square Pineapple Doily

Today is going to be a hot day.  No weeding today, as the ground is so dry right now.  The rain will be returning, and lots of it.  It's a brisk 49°F this morning but a high of 82°F. 

Getting more organized!

 One of the recent boxes to go through contained our DVD's.  We don't have a lot, but enough that it needed organized somewhere.  I was previously on a bookshelf in the closet. 

(carry handles)

Now they are in a zipper, dust free, viewable carry case that is stored up on a shelf in the closet.  They are out of sight, organized in one place, I don't have to dust anything but the carry case, and we can see the movie titles easily.  I had to order this online.  I could not find it in stores.

I bought these strong magnets at Menard's with the intention to put them on the grill, but I found a good use for them.  

I have metal shelving in my kitchen for jugs of water, vinegar etc.  I had been using S hooks, but they kept falling off.  These magnets hold my strainers wonderfully.  I am guessing you could find them in the summer grilling supply section in most stores.  These magnets are stronger than the hook magnets intended for refrigerators.

I bought this for the smaller bathroom.  Great for small places, and holds both cotton balls and Q-tips in the center.  Sorry if this one is a repeat.  I could not remember if I shared this one or not.  I tried to collect items to make this myself (gluing the smaller one inside the canister), but it ended up less expensive to buy it as is.

I also purchased a package of smaller zipper storage bags.  I did not like the ones sold at the dollar stores, so these were found online.  They are also the perfect size for my crocheted baby blankets.  Anyway, the initial purpose is to store bedding and pillow cases for our bed and eventually for the spare bed upstairs.

We are also moving the ironing board and iron, along with the holder we have mounted on the wall, to the bedroom closet.  It makes more sense.  There is an outlet easy to get to, we can store it on the wall, and easily take it down to iron any clothing, right in the closet.  Sometimes, just moving something makes the job go much smoother.