Before and After Pics

Camera batteries charged so decided to throw in a before and after- Brown was ok and in good shape but the blue sparkles!!  Four down ........ one to go- Gotta go carve some pumpkins- two days to Halloween

Little Windy

We had a huge change in the weather this week. Some time Monday night the winds started to pick up. By the time we got up on Tuesday the wind was blowing at 35+ mph with gusts to 70 mph and it was raining. This lasted all day and through the night. Wednesday morning the wind was still blowing and it was snowing. There was a little accumulation but it melted fast since the ground is still warm. We were lucky though and didn't lose the big old tree-just a few smaller limbs. Finally today it is sunny, wind is still blowing but nothing like the past two days.
I brought the fish in- Found three of the tadpoles-one is almost a frog, it has all four legs but still a bit of it's tail, one has it's back legs and the other is all tadpole still! Lot's of the snails survived and there are lots of babies. The fish all look good except for one that didn't grow much and is missing it's top fin. Now I just need a slightly warmer day to get the pond scrubbed one last time before winter sets in.
We had a freeze last night but the greens still look good in the garden so we just might eat off of them one more time before I pull them up. I would like to have them out of the way and maybe even plot out the beds before winter. I have the plan drawn up and a supplies list started. We are going to be building  an A-Frame trellis for each of the tomato beds. I am also going to need a square foot grid for the mixed beds. I am excited about the new garden plan since I will be able to add all of the annuals that I like but don't seem to have a good spot for in my flower beds.
I have also almost finished upholstering my kitchen chairs. As of noon today I have just one left to finish. My goal was to be finished today and then to paint the kitchen this weekend but have decided to wait on that until I get the cabinet hardware ordered. The new plan for that is to paint the weekend after Thanksgiving. Aubrey will be off so instead of trying to get it all done and put back together in two days I will have three. Gotta love the deadlines. You can tell it is almost winter because now I am switching from lawn and garden mode to home improvement mode. Have to have something to keep me busy though. Starting January though-no excuses-I will be working on a new stained glass piece each month.

Busy days

Today we finished cleaning out the garden. Pulled out all of the okra plants and made a run to the compost sight. It was overcast and a little chilly, but it was nice to get this job done. It will be nice to be ahead of the game when spring rolls around. Still had enough time to get the yard mowed-and leaves mulched. My rhubarb patch looks terrible. I think it is time to thin it out, maybe even move it to a new spot. The cherry bushes also need to be moved. Looks like I still have plenty to do before the snow falls.
The weather is cooling off again this week-looks like we could have our first freeze by the end of the week. I have to go buy an aquarium to move the fish inside for winter. My pond isn't big enough for them to overwinter in. Should be fun. I know I have at least one tadpole that still hasn't started getting it's legs yet, so the grand kids should enjoy watching that. Just what to do with it this winter if it becomes a frog? Oh well I'll worry about that when it happens! I haven't spotted the other three- they have either grown their legs and hopped off or stay close to the bottom. It will also be nice to see how much the snails have multiplied. I started out with 10-so we will see.
Looking forward to some more sunny days to get everything done. Maybe even a couple of more Bar-B-Que's!

So this is fall?

We had a few nice fall days- chilly enough to turn the heater on. But the something happened last week. Somebody pissed off mother nature and she decided to turn up the heat. Off went the furnace and back on went the AC.  I can't take the heat anymore- It makes me edgy!!! We did make it to Sioux Falls to look at an old stove- It was very pretty and if I didn't have my mind set on a double oven I would have bought it. Drove on down to Canton, SD to see the double oven one and it was in great shape so we brought it home. That was a long day-Anyway, Albert is in the process of running a gas line for it and it should be up and running by the weekend.  Very exciting! Glad I have a big kitchen-enough room I can keep the electric stove hooked up until this one is ready.

Also my Vinyl arrived within two days of ordering it-Very impressed---I will be ordering from Vogue Fabrics again. The colors are great and I almost have one chair finished. Corra is very excited about them. She just had to sit in it because "everyone knows she has never tried a blue chair before".  Now I could use a few of those rainy days to get all the chairs reupholstered.

Along with this I am also emptying out the garden. I picked 4 1/2 gallons of peppers so today we canned 31 pints of hot sauce. I am glad that job is done. Hopefully this will last a year! We are expecting our first freeze next week so I need to get busy. The days should start cooling off starting Tuesday- so full speed ahead. So I guess it is a good thing that it hasn't rained because I have a lot of yard work to do. It is finally dry enough.
I did take the time to make another run to Joann Fabrics to pick up some more craft stuff. Have to stock up before the snow flies-