More Native Plants

One of our favorite nurseries, Echo Valley Natives, has lost their lease and will be closing at their current location so it gave me an excuse to go and visit. (They may reopen in a new location if they can find one.)

In March 2020, I planted a Lonicera ciliosa (orange honeysuckle) but it died pretty quickly. I've been hoping to find a replacement because I really want one of these plants for our hummingbirds. I figured it would be worth checking with Echo Valley before they closed in July. They had two little orange honeysuckles and they also had the Lonicera hispidula (pink honeysuckle) and I purchased a couple of those as well. I'm hoping between the four plants at least one of them will survive and thrive.

Of course, since I was there, I found it hard to resist getting a few unplanned natives. I got a couple Dicentra formosa (bleeding hearts), Oxalis oregana (wood sorrel) and three Lupinus polyphyllus (bigleaf lupine). Other than the honeysuckle, we don't really have room for these plants so I'll just plant them in the beds with the other plants and they can do their best to compete for space.

We have been enjoying our yard so very much this year. A little more rain would be nice as we're already feeling compelled to do some watering, but it is worth it.

The Parking Strip.

The flower bed under the black walnut.

The view of the hidden garden from the back patio.

When I was poking around my photos, I was reminded this is what the area behind the garage looked like just two years ago.

More Garden Benches

When we were cleaning up for our holiday BBQ, Jeff made a snarky comment about our junk pile of wood on the side of the house. He was right, it looked bad. This is roughly how it looked over there, though the wood was stacked next to the house, not spread out all over the driveway. (This is a photo from last fall, I didn't think to take a recent one.)

It finally prompted me to use up the last of the good pieces of scrap wood. Since we were planning to have a BBQ, I thought it would be helpful to have more seating, and because we still had some short pieces of pressure-treated 4x4, I was able to reuse my plans from last year.

Jeff and I quickly sifted through the wood and found we had enough pressure-treated 4x4 to make two more benches and once we confirmed we could find enough long pieces, we spent about an hour cutting everything out. (We used whatever kind of wood was handy, without regard to the species, though most of what we had lying around was cedar and fir scraps from our fence and shed projects.)

Then I spent the next few days staining everything.

These benches went together pretty quickly. We decided to use fewer slats on the top this time around because we are hoping it will be easier to clean the seeds/leaves out of the gaps.

The old white bench was also partially disassembled/cleaned and restained with the green stain. I'm not sure how durable the finish will be since we applied green opaque stain over the top of the white opaque stain, but we won't be putting it back under the maple tree so hopefully, it won't need as much scrubbing.

The rest of the weathered wood I didn't think I would ever use went off to the dumps before the BBQ. So, while the side of the house still looks a little junky, it is better. I do hope we'll get the last of this stuff cleaned up this summer.

Holiday BBQ

We are really happy to be vaccinated! Jeff scheduled a BBQ for this past weekend so we spent the last couple of weeks sifting and cleaning the many piles of junk that had built up over the past year of being quarantined. I didn't really take much in the way of photos because the room themselves have not really changed; they're just cleaner.

We took two loads of trash/recycling to the dumps and dropped off one load at the charity shop. I still have one big pile of textile recycling building up on the front porch. I still have to finish sifting before I call them to pick up the pile.

We've had some wonderful weather and it was great to be able to entertain out in the backyard over the weekend. The hidden garden has been lovely and we got lots of compliments from friends that had never seen it.

We'll likely spend quite a bit of the summer visiting friends we have missed for the past year and doing day trips throughout this lovely state. The pandemic really helped us appreciate the ability to get out of the house.

Outdoor Cooking

With no range in the kitchen, Jeff was motivated to pull our old camp cooker out of the shed. It was a lovely day to do some outdoor cooking.

This past week, he also finished gluing up the small stools we made out of scrap shiplap siding last fall. 

It was originally delayed because we were trying to figure out how to make them more durable than the original stools which were simply nailed together into end-grain. Then we got distracted (as so often happens). Finally, Jeff decided to cut some small pieces to go into the corners so he could screw into both edges.

We found some neat clamping straps to use during glue-up.

Finally, another project checked off the ToDo list. Now I just need to get the motivation to finish the back stairs. LOL

Trying to Purge

Jeff told me I could get a long arm quilting machine if I found a spot for it so I have ramped up my basement sifting and purging efforts. 

I had the idea if I could get rid of four racks in the front storage area, we could move our workout area into this space and then I could use the back half of the family room for the long arm machine.

I've been making steady progress sifting and unloading tubs filled with sewing gear and costumes now that my closet is finished. With an hour or two of box shuffling and empty box flattening, we could nearly empty the four racks, but I am still spending my time trying to sift boxes we moved upstairs. My goal is to get the bedrooms all cleaned up again. It would be nice to be ready for guests now that the world is opening up again.

I was astonished to find I had 4 tubs/boxes of fabric scraps! I cannot believe how many times I've moved them. They will not be moving again. I had planned to just bag them up and recycle them, but then I was thinking it be worthwhile to cut up the wool scraps into squares so I could make rag quilts from them. But then as I started going through the fabrics, I started cutting up all the scraps. I've already spent three days on the project. So, I'll still have one bin of scraps, but they'll be packed much more efficiently. (I inherited the hoarder gene from both sides of my family tree.) 

Once I'm finished, the remaining bits of fabric will be turned over to a textile recycler.

Closet Finished!

With all the drama in the kitchen, I never got around to posting about my closet progress. It is finished! And I have unpacked ALL the clothes! 

I thought I remembered downsizing my square dance clothes before I packed them up originally, but I clearly still have way too many. That bottom rod is crammed full and I'm worried there is too much weight on there. I will definitely need to disassemble some of the skirts to make quilts, or start dancing again. =)

I scored 5 large tubs of plastic hangers in rainbow colors off craigslist so I actually
managed to hang all the shirts/blouses on color-coordinated hangers. LOL

I'd forgotten about some of my really beautiful medieval costumes. I definitely need to try them on and see if they'll fit me again.

Electrical Fire

Yesterday evening, we had a bit of excitement. Jeff put on a pot to boil for dinner and the range started on fire. He didn't notice immediately because he had left the room. After a few minutes, the kitchen filled with smoke and all the smoke alarms started going off. 

Jeff thought it was perhaps a leak in the gas line that was burning, but we couldn't find the shutoff to the range and when we couldn't figure out how to turn off the gas to the house, I called the Fire Dept. They came within five minutes of the call and finally extinguished the last of the fire in the range and turned off our gas for us. Our Blue Star Range is kaput, poor thing.

This is likely where the fire started. Apparently, it was an electrical fire.

I am so thankful we only lost the range. While it was happening, I had visions of our whole house bursting into flames. Beyond the range, the only "damage" is a fine layer of soot on everything the smoke touched. Jeff and I have spent a couple hours cleaning up the soot, but there is still plenty left to clean.

Today, obviously, I was compelled to do some shopping for a replacement range. We've been talking about getting an induction range for "the next house." This obviously, gives us the chance. If I was not picky, I could have bought a Wolf 36" Transitional Induction Range and it would be installed by the end of the week. But, alas, I am picky. Very picky. I just don't want a stainless steel range in this kitchen.

When I discovered the Ilve Majestic II 36" Range had an option for induction burners and came in Emerald Green, we had to track one down to take a look. 

Unfortunately, it will take up to 14 WEEKS to arrive. Despite the horrific wait time, Jeff and I decided to order this range so there is a good chance we will not have an operating range in our kitchen until the end of August. I guess there will be no canning this summer.

Luckily, Jeff does a lot of cooking with the Instant Pot. And perhaps we'll finally get some use out of our new-last-year BBQ.