Trimming Some Trees

We have lots and lots of trees on our property.  Sometimes they need to be trimmed up, especially the ones around the driveway. This is how Clyde trims the big trees.

 

It goes without saying that some sort of heavy equipment would be involved. 

Everything is more fun with an excavator.

 

 

Grabbing and ripping down the lower branches.

 

 

Tossing all the limbs in a pile.

Grabbing the entire pile

and walking it over to the burn pile.

 Toss it on.

 

 

And there you go....all done.  He's kind of handy to have around.

 

 



Making Fabulous Fabric Flowers

Yesterday I worked on making fabric flowers for my youngest step daughter's upcoming wedding.   They're pretty easy to make & go fast once you get the hang of it.

 

You have to use synthetic fabric, so it curls when it's heated.  

 

Cut circles of fabric in various sizes & cut 4-5 slits around the edges to make the petals.

 

Heat the edges of the fabric over a candle to curl up the edges.  I caught a few on fire but we'll just say it "adds character" to the flowers.  (Clyde gets credit for these pics.  He says "I'll take some pictures so you can put it on your thing" )

 

After they're heated up & all curled.

 

Stack 'em on top of each other

 

And sew them together. 

 

My stitches aren't neat but they do the trick.

 

Then I used a hot glue gun to glue a little piece of sparkly ribbon to middle.  The only hard part is to not get strings of glue over everything...that stuff is messy! Or maybe it's just me.

 

One done!

 

 

And repeat....

 

 

Meanwhile our neighbor's dog came blowing through our cat door to come visit and play with the fabric scraps on the floor.  Say hi to Skookum.

 

 

The final pile of flowers.

 

Clam Digging

We rolled out of bed at five this morning to go dig some razor clams.  Anytime its a minus tide AND it's not raining sideways, it's a great day to dig clams.

 

It started off kind of cloudy but at 6AM already lots of people at the beach.

 

 

Clyde made fun of me for buying waders to dig clams but after the time we dug in the middle of winter and I stayed dry while he got soaked, he appreciates them now.  Plus they look so stylish.

 

My first clam of the morning and I didn't even break the shell...yes!

 

Dad is great at digging clams.

 

One shovel full and bam! there's the clam.

 

 

Dad got his limit first, notice how nice his clams look, no broken shells...mine did not look like that.

 

 

I, on the other hand, am not exactly fast at digging.  In fact, I told Clyde that he had time to get the tripod, set up the camera, and we could do a group shot by the time I finished digging the clam.  But I have gotten a lot better believe it or not!

 

 I get so excited when I get one!

 

 

 Sporting the latest in clam digging apparel.

 

 

 

 

All in all, a pretty nice morning at the beach. 

 

 

 

Heirloom Flowers

I love to garden.  I think it's genetic.  I just learned that I had a great aunt Evelyn who recently died at 99 years of age.  In her obituary it said she "enjoyed spending time outdoors, tending her garden"...sounds like me. I just hope I live to be 99 years old too.  I think I have pretty good genes for that too.  My great grandpa Mac died at 93 and he always had a garden growing.  So, there you have it...gardening makes you live a long life!
Going back another generation, great grampa Mac's mother was a gardener too.  In fact, I have flowers from her garden growing in my garden. 

 

One of my aunts took starts of these daylilies from great, great grandma's garden back when she was still alive and I took starts of those starts.

 

 

These may look like ordinary daylilies but they are really heirloom flowers...been in my family for generations, five generations to be exact.  Makes me happy each year when they bloom.

 

Project Patio

We have totally ripped out and redone our back patio at least three times in past 13 years.  That's what happens when your husband has access to heavy machinery and wants to bring it home all the time.  The last remodel of the patio we used concrete squares that had been salvaged from a remodel of a grocery store.  These worked out pretty well as pavers for several years until the rain, freezing temps, etc. caused them to shift and get pretty uneven...trip hazards everywhere. So, six weeks ago we decided to bite the bullet, rip it ALL out and do a stamped concrete patio.  And when I say "we" I mean Clyde did all the ripping and I took pictures.

This was actually the one section of the patio that I liked still...but it had to go.

My one criteria was do NOT kill my wisteria!  Clyde was very careful not to pull out the roots.

Lots of work compacting the rock.

Meanwhile, my wisteria bloomed! (with the plate compactor still in the middle of the patio and matrix-like string across the whole area)

Clyde made a stamp so we could personalize our patio.

But the N was backwards...back to the shop it went.

Finally, everything aligned...schedules, weather...and we were able to pour the concrete!

When I said, "that's not the color I picked out!" no one thought it was as funny as I did.

Smoothing out the concrete was just the beginning.

More smoothing...

Then, they had to cut in joints to control the inevitable cracks to the concrete.

And cut in more joints.

Smooth out some more.

After all that, THEN the stamping can begin.

Lookin' good!

JT stamped the entryway with our "custom" stamp.

Hit it with some color and then air to blow away the excess powder.

Smooth it all out.

End result.

Clyde was "supervising" the project.

Meanwhile the weather was getting warmer and the concrete was getting harder so the stamping had to go FASTER.  "What happened to the 68 degree forecast? It feels like 86 degrees!"

It turned out BEAUTIFUL and I am VERY happy with the result, can't wait to break it in with our first party.  They made it all look so easy!

Now all we have to do, correction, all CLYDE has to do is pressure wash it and seal it.