The Weekend

Time is flying by; where did July go?! Now it's August and I finally had my yard sale yesterday. I guess I was one of a dozen or more in town from what visitor's said. I didn't sell as much as I would have liked, but I would say it was successful.

Now today is 'cleaning' and baking day. I have a loaf of bread, dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls trying to rise...Will be interesting to see how long this takes. Fall is starting to creep into the valley. It was 33 degrees this morning and not quite 60 degrees in the kitchen. So I have the oven on a bit to help get those dough's rising!

Still have plaster holes to patch from removing the paneling and furring strips from the wall in the tv/family/craft room. There were so many holes I decided to wallpaper the wall up to the picture rail. I found this great product called the 'wall doctor' at the Home depot site. The wallpaper is real thick and comes in different textures that is paintable. It is designed to cover problem walls like mine, but also will stick to paneling and ceilings! I got the one that looks like beadboard, but it comes in about 11 different textures. I put it up over some ugly paneling that is going to have to stay in place for another year and now it looks great! I will take some before and after pics and put them up soon.

Well, I need to get started on cleaning and stuff....I did want to share a picture with you though. Remember back in late May, I put a picture of my new hanging flower pots (on my porch)? Well, here is a pic of what they looked like back in May and what they look like today! People are always stopping and commenting on them.....

Have a great weekend....

A Unique Day at Work

Usually I am desk/computer bound all day long. I manage and maintain our database and I make maps. However, every once in a while either people feel sorry for me and invite me out into the field to spend the day with them in the mountains; or like today, I am working on a special project which gets me out of the office for a day or two.

Today I went on a hike in the Sangre De Christo Mountains; collecting samples and ground truthing an area.

The weather was gorgeous and so was the area I was in!
Here are some pictures of the stream, old mine, wildflowers and lots of trees I hiked through.

Now more computer work needs to be done; so my field days are numbered.....

Hope you are having a great summer!

I Love Summer

Summer is here, the weather is warming up....A bit too much maybe; we are in the high 80's regularly now. But with summer heat comes the farmer's market. We have a wonderful Farmer's Market about 15 miles east in Alamosa. Many of the seller's are from New Mexico, and there are also some from the local area. But to walk through the open air market, listening to sounds and soaking up the sights and smells is what summer is all about. We go to the market about 7:30am on weekends; that way we get the best selection and there aren't tons of people.

One of our favorite stalls is run by local Amish families. They have fresh baked breads, rolls, pies, jams and jellies and coffee cakes; they are just heavenly. Dave and I would rather give our money to them than some big mass produced food chain.

So Saturday, we went to the Farmer's market and bought Peach Pie, Apple Pie, Cinnamon Raisen Bread and dinner rolls. They are so good!

We also bought fresh peas, tomatoes, onions, squash and cucumber!

All elements of an excellent Summer BBQ!

Here is a picture of our First of the Summer Farmer's Market visit....As the summer progresses, the chili's, potatoes and other veggies and fruits will start showing up! Stay tuned for more!

Have a great summer!

Finished Projects!

Well my ambitious list of things to get done isn't complete, but at least I finished a couple of projects!
The Kitchen.

We have to wait a bit to completely redo the kitchen, but I had to at least do something! I look through catalogs and country/cottage style magazines all the time. I found these darling shades that button up (to raise and lower), and this matching valance; but because my kitchen window is almost 6 feet long it was going to cost almost $200 (if I bought them). So I searched on-line for the same designer material and found a 1.5 yard (56" wide) remnant for $23.00, then went to Wally world and found the blue gingham material at $7.50 for 5 yards. Below is the result. I think it came out cute!
The kitchen is all paneled (and carpeted, which I hate both). I decided to rip out some of the paneling so I could see what the walls look like...Not bad, but they aren't staying yellow (well until we get the rest of the paneling down).

The patio.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was being ambitious building a brick patio to cover the 'dead spot' under one of our spruces....Friday my friend Sine (a really, really good friend!), came over and we spent the day scraping the old mortar off the bricks and setting them. Sine calls herself 'the finisher'...She won't quit till it's done! I had gotten the 3 pieces of flagstone from Mark and Sine, and they worked out great. The walk down the side of the house isn't done yet, but a lot of it is done; especially the patio! Here's a during and after picture!

Well, I have some other stuff to get done, will blog again soon!
Everyone (okay, the 2 or 3 people that read this) take care and keep happy!

What's been going on?!

Gee; I didn't realize it has been so long since my last blog entry! I have been tied up with the blog I created to help with the Relay for Life team. Well lets see, working in the garden has been a big part of my free time; the flowers are doing great! I also started this project on a brick patio.

We love our home, but the backyard is a bit difficult. It was neglected for 2 years when the owner had to move into a care facility, so not much was living when we bought the place (okay, the weeds were doing great). We have 3 fifty foot Spruce trees and 2 apple trees in the backyard, so there isn't much that gets sunlight. This of course along with the acidity (from the Spruces) makes growing grass around the trees a challenge. One that I have finally given up on. I don't care what they say about 'patch perfect' or grows in 'shade', I have a blank spot that even the weeds think twice about growing in! The only thing that sits there are the spruce needles.



So when a friend of ours started knocking down walls of their 1890 house to add on a room, they asked if I wanted some bricks! That gave me the idea of putting in a small brick patio, under the spruce to cover that blank spot. Dave is planning on building a deck in the back yard, so I designed the patio to come up right to the edge of the wood deck. So our friend delivered us a trailer full of old bricks and I set to work. I have never worked with bricks before, but I remember all of these DIY's where they talk about making sure the area is even and level, blah, blah, blah....That doesn't work with bricks that were hand made in forms. Each brick is a little bit different in size and thickness. So each one has to be individually set based on it's sitting next to the previously set one...Each brick also has to have the mortar chipped off, but it's a small price to pay for free bricks. Of course I got overzealous in my plans and now don't have enough bricks; so talking to another friend of mine who has some spare sandstone slabs (from their patio build on), I decided to make the center the sandstone and surround it with bricks. I think it will look good when done.
Of course I forgot to take pictures of the area before my meddling, but the picture below gives you an idea of the 'bald' spot in our yard.


The tomato's are doing great, they have lots of flowers, no tomato's yet though....The apple trees are full of apples; if we can just get to them before the squirrels eat them all....I lost the first crop of lettuce, but have started another one which seems to be doing well...Maybe too well, it looks like I am going to have to do a lot of thinning.


4th of July weekend is upon us. Dave put up the flag mount on the front porch so we can hang our American flag. Want to try and get the front and back doors painted this weekend, I also have shades and a valance I am sewing for the kitchen; they are cut out so all I have to do is finish them up. Let's see what else....We are going up to Creede on Saturday for a few hours to the 4th celebration picnic up there. We are also going to go bicycling this weekend...Also need to finish tearing out the paneling and firring strips in the family room and get the holes patched so I can paint and get that room done.......Pretty ambitious, we'll see what gets done.

Till later; Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July. (oh yeah, we have fireworks for friday night too!)...

Flowers, Flowers, and More Flowers!

This has been a great week for me and flowers. Last Friday, Dave suprised me with 2 doz beautiful roses....Just because!....Picture below...They smell absolutely heavenly; which is rare anymore that roses smell at all. After almost a week they still look great....
Next, is the long awaited Peony Bloom. When we moved into this house 3 years ago, I tore everything out of the front garden except a Peony plant and 5 Irises. The first year, there was nothing and I didn't even realize that it was a peony plant. Last year I had a single bud on the plant and just before it was ready to bloom, I hit the plant by accident and broke the bud off the stem. I was devestated! This year, with another bud starting, I watched it like a hawk to make sure no dogs, cats, husbands, or myself for that matter, went anywhere near that plant. I had yet to see a full blossom, color and all; and this was going to be my year!
After weeks of patiently waiting, we came home from work today to find the Peony blossom open!
Here is a picture; the pink is so absolutely deep, it is just gorgeous (well to me anyway).
My Lace vine has started budding so it should be in full bloom in the next month or so, and a friend of mine gave me some rooted Pussy Willows that I have planted in the yard...We'll see how they do....I love flowers in the garden; even though it is a lot of work.
Well, may flowers fill your days and sunshine fill your life.
Until later.

Summer Dessert

It's summer (well almost), so I thought I would share a favorite summertime dessert. Incredibly easy and quick....
If you have Margarita glasses or other glass dishes, this pretty green dessert looks great in them.....Also as a tip to prepare ahead:
Spoon mix into serving glasses, cover and freeze. I use Shaved Andes Mints as a garnish, but if you have fresh peppermint leaves, that works too!
More recipes soon!
I hope you enjoy!