The Scaffolding Shuffle 072912

Trim colors, finally, on the east windows!  Now to move the scaffolding so that the lower portions of the windows can be finished and the remaining east windows can be painted.

Dinner 072712

Another hybrid dish somewhere between ragu and colache!

Horseradish and mustard encrusted baked chicken served with quinoa. I've taken some notes on tonights dishes for future changes for instance there wasn't near enough mustard on the chicken!  Oh and don't forget to salt the chicken next time.  I'm still getting used to quinoa, it's wonderful but my brain keeps telling my tongue that it's cream of wheat when in fact it is not.  Next time I'll add some fresh herbs to the quinoa at the very end.

Salsbury Steak

Salsbury Steak - well sorta since it's made with ground beef is it really salsbury steak???

Wind Damage 072612

Bye bye redbud tree!

House Painting 072112

John - painting the trim over the upstairs window.  We're back to working on the east side of the house, up until today he's been working on the soffit and the trims way up there where you see the pale blue.  This afternoon we took the storm windows out and now the task of repairing the wood, priming it, and the painting it and all of the window trim colors and then onto fixing the storm windows themselves. 

Inset Panel for Window

Had to wait until the sun went down but here's the inset panel, I covered it in a natural cotton muslin on both sides.  I plan to paint some fabric tomorrow for the next inset panel that will be going into the dining room window.  After we finish that window we have one more window, an oval window, to work on and we are done.

Window Insert

John is on vacation this week, for the rest of the month actually, and we are working on some projects around the house.  Here he is measuring the window in the stairwell to make a frame for an upholstered insert, when it was finished the temperature of the stairwell dropped a good 15-20 degrees right away!

The frame, was made with the intention of being upholstered and then fitted into the window using friction fit method.  Frame was made out of reclaimed hardwood from an abandoned futon.

First layer of muslin stapled to the back side of the frame.

Second layer of muslin, on the face of the frame, is layed on the table and the back side of the frame is up.  Lots of stapling and pulling is needed to make the piece look professional!

Fabric is folded under and pulled over to the back side and stapled into place.

Here it is snugly in place!  Now to get some fabric painted, dyed, and other wise surfaced, drapes made and those installed!

Bird Bath

I put a fat brick into my bird bath so that the smaller birds could have a place to stand and still get to the water.  The crows just stand on the board and lean over into the pan, but the smaller finches now use the brick as a perch for drinking from.

Making Hamburger Patties

John making hamburger patties using our LEM hamburger press, I really prefer my mom's old three piece tupperware press but alas that was the one thing I didn't get after she passed.  Dad says he has no idea where it made off to as  he really liked it as well.

Waxed paper is a must or you'll never get your patty out of the hamburger press.  John makes 6x6 inch pieces of waxed paper, he says it also helps to keep them seperated when frozen, and he's right they are WAY easier to seperated.

Thirty one five ounce meat balls waiting to be pressed into patties! A ten pound tube of 85% yields about 32 patties more or less.

And this is what they look like before they are put into freezer bags.  If you wanted to keep them a very long time then I recommend vacuum sealed bags, instead of freezer bags, to prevent freezer burn.

Dog Gates

This

Keeps this...

Confined to the front porch!  She weighs 12 pounds and unlike most dogs she hasn't figured out that she can actually move the gate out of the way.  Tis ok we like her dumb that way, likewise she hasn't figured out that she can actually get onto one of the kitchen chairs and then onto the kitchen table.  Yes there IS a place in this world for clueless dogs!

The neighbors keep commenting on my gate, they like it which is good because Angel sure doesn't like it!  Actually it's NOT really a gate it's my fleece skirting table, that I built back in 1996 for sorting and skirting fleeces on, but I needed a gate for the front porch, so that Angel could go leashless but not have access to pedestrians, etc.

Make sure you put the zip ties every six inches or so so that  your pet doesn't get caught up and strangled in the netting, and make sure those zip ties are on there and really tight!  Also I used regular mesh netting NOT the wildlife netting which is much thinner and easier for a small dog to break through.  Finally I don't recommend this type of gate for agressive dogs or for large dogs.   This type of gate really works only for dogs that are totally clueless, like mine!!! VBG

Redneck Bird Bath

Or shabby chic bird bath either way it's WAY hot outside right now so don't forget to water our feathered and winged friends along with your plants!