A Tiny World

I went down to refresh the bird's water this morning...

I am not seeing as many birds lately, and now I have not seen hummingbirds again 

since midweek last week. 

Look who was sitting in the niche where the faucet is! 

He let me take several closeups.  

When I went down again two hours later, he was gone. 

Something has burrowed down into the middle of the garden at the old house... 

snake? turtle?  (not big enough) 

Vole?  There are lots of voles out there, but they don't usually make such an obvious opening. 

I am still picking tomatoes off the plant on the patio here. 

And I picked a bucket full off the volunteer plants at the old house. 

I took them to a friend, and she was going to pick out the good ones for herself and her daughter, and the rest were going to her chickens.  

There are still some ripening out there. 

Though the portulaca has about given up the ghost... the daisies are having the last blast of summer! 

I spent some time doing this.  I'll be doing it tomorrow, too.  

I know you're all envious! 

More Painting UGH

Well, the indoor painting at the old place is almost finished. 

The master has it's last coat on... now we have to put trim up... and then the floors... 

Ditto the orange bedroom, our former "office"... it took three coats, but the orange is covered. 

I was less careful than before, so thank heavens the floors are going to be painted with Kilz...and I admit I have paint all over me.  I changed out of my painting clothes into clean clothes, to get 

Chinese on the way home because I am POOPED. 

Before we went out to paint, we did this: 

Rhonda is pretty good at holding Lil, but a second later, I stepped up to hang on, too... you can see Lilly look pretty resigned.  However... we did have some growls.  Dr. Scott Ripperger got the stitches out post-hsaste... and we left the one closest to her eye in, so it will dissolve.  

We went straight to the old house, and I painted... with Lilly inside sleeping.  Late in the afternoon, she decided to go out and get some sun.  

Keith is making progress on the side deck, and he is out there tonight putting a few more of the 

side railings on. 

I wanted you all to see this hummingbird feeder.  I bought it a few weeks ago, but really, did not like it much out in the yard, and neither did the hummers seem to. 

Yesterday I stopped in the store where I had bought it... and explained that the birds did not seem to like it. 

The lady gave me the little hanging rod and asked me to try it... 

so... it's stuck in the geranium pot.  I haven't seen any hummers at it yet... but I'm hopeful, because they are coming to the bigger feeder in the yard regularly.  Before I leave to get grandson Chris tomorrow... I'm going to set the camera up outside and see if I can get them on camera.

39 days until Fall!

Sir Paul and More Painting

By golly, 

if Sir Paul can go out and do a 3 1/2 hour show at the age of 72...

I'm sure as heck going to keep up with him! 

Here I was out in front of the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, last night, with 

my cousin Mary Frances. 

I was taking a picture of the poster, in case you were wondering. 

We made sure to get there early, because our seats were in the upper deck. 

As you can see... the aisles are almost up and down, and I had to 

cling to the railing to make it down to my seat.  Once in it... I was in it for the duration. 

No way would I do those aisles in the dark, though the people next to me 

got up at least six times. 

There were two big screens on either side of the stage, and 

two smaller screens on either side that we could see directly. 

About ten minutes into the concert, my Samsung phone registered that 

it's memory was FULL. 

I get lousy shots with lights, anyway. 

I could have brought my little Canon, I found out too late. 

So,,,, 

So... this picture is courtesy of Rich Sugg, of the Kansas City Star. 

The show was supposed to start at 8 PM, but the crowd was slow in coming in... 

We started at 8:40, and went until nearly 11:30. 

Keith, God bless him, drove me downtown to the Lyric Theater (where I used to 

house manage) and we met Mary there, and then he made a second trip to 

pick me up.  Neither of us is used to being out late... and today we are dragging 

our patooties! 

How does Sir Paul DO it????

So, this afternoon, Lilly and I headed out to the old place to 

do some more painting. 

Lilly wasn't out of the car two minutes when she scoped out a mole underground. She's phenomenal at 

finding them. 

Then she settled down to wait on me.  When she realized I was not going to 

pack up and leave soon, she went under the side deck in the cool dirt and slept. 

I finished the long hallway and the kitchen. 

The smallest bedroom was used as our office, and in some kind of total loss of comprehension.... I painted it orange a few years ago, and the switchplate had a pumpkin motif, and  I had a matching valance ... that I never used.  

Oh, how I'm paying for it now.  It's going to take at least 3 coats. 

I was totally startled when I turned around as I came in the room... one of the kids had painted this on Saturday!!!!  

Lily and I have another full day tomorrow... painting... and then I'm going to go out and rake up all 

that refuse that we cut out of the garden on Saturday.  If I can, I'm going to take it down in the pasture to 

the brush heap.  

Amber and Jesse are coming back to help again Saturday, bless them! 

A Good Day's Work

It was VERY hot here in mid-America yesterday, 

getting up to 98 degrees... and steaming humidity. 

Despite that, our work party got a lot done at the old place. 

I admit to you that the four young people FAR outpaced 

Keith and me.  They were amazing! 

For those of you who have not read along the last few years.... we had five dogs as of two years ago. 

3 were pugs, Hannah, Gertie, and Abby, and a German Shepherd, Ranger, 

and our Brittany/Golden cross, Lilly. 

We have only Lilly now. 

However, Gertie came to us completely un-housebroken... and you see here 

before you the condition of the front room floors under the rug and pad. 

Yes, it's a mess. 

Gertie's unhousebroken-ness... begat Abby's, and also, by the time 

we moved from the little farmhouse, Abby had diabetes and was 

unable to hold herself.  

Despite following her around with Nature's Miracle here at the new house, we have to 

replace our carpeting here next spring.  

First things first. 

The once-pale-green walls slowly began to change color... under the expert hands of sons-in-law Nick, in the red, and Jesse, in the yellow.  Jesse grew up in a construction family, and is an expert drywaller and finish carpenter... and we counted on him for all kinds of advice. 

Four years ago, Keith replaced the back door, but he was unable to finish the inside work 

after he got sick.  We lived with this patch job the rest of the time.  There is also a patch in 

the ceiling from a leak that happened before we replaced the roof.  

Jesse pulled off the paneling on the right side of the door in no time... and 

had the drywall going up.  

The floor in the bedroom was beautiful hardwood at one time, but it was screwed down at some subsequent time, and of course, Gertie ruined the finish. 

Little Jace saw us using the tool to scrape the pad and staples from the floor, and told his 

daddy he could help... he DID!  He was able to get the smaller pieces of pad up. 

Daughter Andrea is a little more than 7 months pregnant... here she is in the flower bed, cutting out little trees! 

Unbelieveable!  She told me that she wants to stay active, and she and Nick are 

looking for a house where she can have a nice little garden. 

She also kept little Carson busy. 

It was VERY hot out, but we made do. 

Papaw had just gotten out of the hospital the day before, so he was on errand duty and baby duty. 

We took a break for Jimmy John's at 1.... and notice the clean white wall behind Keith. 

Mom Amber gave our hard-working little boy a boost up to get cooled off. 

Then he and I went out to do some climbing, and.... 

playing with the hose... and yes, we both ended up soaked!

I had started in the garden before the kids got there... this huge pile is mint, and 

cuttings from the two buddleias.  They are BOTH alive, and I was so happy about that! 

There are gaps now, and I am going to dig up the bed, and put some fresh dirt in it, and 

then mulch it.  

We have a lot to haul away this week.  Except for tomorrow's rain forecast, we are to have 

much cooler temperatures. 

After the kids left, Keith and I sat out on the porch to talk for a while about what still has to be done. 

All of the sudden he looked at me and said 

"It's been a long time since we were porch-sittin'"

He was right, it had been.  It felt good. 

But I also realized that it would have been very, very hard on my body to 

do the chores the way I did them this year... carrying cold water multiple times a 

day to the animals, and really seeing to their comfort and care.  

And I told him that despite the nasty floors (that are drying out now so we can paint them with 

Kilz).... I would not have given up having Addie Mae, Gertie, Hannah, Abby, Lilly OR Ranger... that they enriched our lives and provided so much happiness to us.  He agreed. 

Sometimes doors close in your lives, and God asks you to walk through another, and trust that it will be okay.  I think that has happened to us. 

We were so grateful for the kid's help.  Next Saturday, Jesse and Amber will come back, 

and we will fix the two ceilings, hang the front storm door, and do a few more things to ready the house for rental.  Last of all will be carpeting, laid by a contractor. 

We still have the outside work to do, but Keith will start on that this week, and work steadily for a while in the evenings.  I am going to finish the inside painting... I hadn't painted in twenty years, and 

I learned a lot from watching the kids.  I also painted two of the walls, first coat.  

I managed to clean up a little and drag myself to church after the kids left (and I had talked to Keith) when I realized it was 4:30.  

I almost fell asleep... and did, after I got home.   I took this picture on our back deck, though, when the moon rose.  What a beauty!  

More pictures of the progress this week, as we go along.