Concrete is finished

 The concrete workers were back this week as promised, to pour the concrete in the new garage.

The truck drivers are really skilled at maneuvering those big trucks around.

The men worked all day until up in the afternoon...then the ownercame back that evening to cut joint lines in the concrete.

I'm glad he asked me earlier if I wanted a concrete pad at each entrance. It looks nice and the dirt moving man will be able to level out around it.

It seems so strange that the building goes up first then concrete afterwards.

They know what they are doing  though and everything looks good.

Now just waiting for the dirt moving man to come back and finish.

I spent the day in the sewing room where I could look out and watch the work progress.

My quilt blocks are all sewn together and the borders are ready to sew on.

This quilt should be finished well before the September wedding date.

Carnivorous plants

 The horticulture agent at the extension office invited a speaker in to give a talk on carnivorous plants...or plants that get their nutrition from trapping and digesting bugs.

The gentleman on the left was the speaker and the grower of all these carnivorous plants there on display.

He was answering questions from the very interested young teenager there in the center  before the class.

I walked up to the front too, to get a closer look.

There were a lot more types of plants than I expected to see and the talk turned out to be really interesting.

He presented a slide show and a hand-out booklet and had so much information to share.

The session lasted for over two hours and I think he could have told us more if he had more time.

The plants are somewhat high maintenance and need lots of sunlight and must be kept moist with distilled water.  No nutrition comes from the roots so they need to be where they can attract bugs. 

I thought it might be fun to try one of these plants so I was happy to hear my name drawn for one of the door prizes...a Venus Fly Trap.

This one had the bonus of another small carnivorous plant also growing in the same container.  (you can see it in the photo above in the right front of the container). These tiny pink blooms are from that one.

The Venus Fly Traps are nursery grown now but there was a time in the past when the native ones were getting endangered by too much harvesting.

Somehow, we had one for a very short time when I was a kid.  Of course we couldn't leave it alone and eventually killed it by trying to get it to eat chunks of greasy hot dogs.

Let's see how long I can keep this one alive.  Rain water is okay but I did go ahead and buy some distilled water. 

I'll keep it outside so it should have enough bugs to eat.

getting ready for concrete

 The concrete men were here yesterday to get the garage prepped for concrete.

They had 2 more loads of gravel brought in. Once they smoothed that out it was covered with plastic sheeting for a moisture barrier, then a grid of rebar for added strength.

Concrete will be poured next week.

This company was easy to deal with.

The first company I had out gave me a job quote about one third higher.

They happened to come out to look at the job while I was at the grocery. They called me and I told them to leave their written quote on the back porch.

Well, when I got home they were waiting in the driveway and wanted me to go ahead and pay half down.  

I told them I wanted to get another price to compare first!

Heck, their written quote didn't even mention any details...like the thickness of concrete and so forth. I'm glad I didn't get tied up with them by paying ahead!

Unrelated...this afternoon we had another storm brewing.

Fairly strong winds. Enough to make me worry that that remaining tall Sassafras might snap.  All was okay though.

What I'm working on

 I've got a few things that I'm working on.

I've finished hand piecing this long term Tumbling Blocks quilt top.  I had to do some math to figure out how to cut the side pieces...and the top and bottom pieces...different from the sides.

Anyway, I finished it while sitting on the back porch in the evenings.  Now I need to decide on  backing for it.

But first I will finish my main project...this quilt for a wedding gift.

It's not all sewn together yet. I am running into some difficulty with the thickness of layers of fabric in some places where the blocks join.

I will do as good as I can without fanatically ripping out and re-doing over and over.

I like this combination of colors.

I think I mentioned I joined a knit and crochet group that meets at the library twice a month.

I haven't crocheted much in the past few years so I was rusty at it. 

 First I was trying to make a ripple stripe afghan from an old pattern but it was uneven and my stitches were sloppy.

Then I found this simple pattern online. No long periods of counting stitches and good instructions for turning to keep the sides even.

It's a good back porch sitting project too.

Puss is doing a good job of demonstrating the term "lazy days of summer".

A nice aftrenoon nap in the cool air conditioning sounds like a good idea to me too!

Blackberry jam...tried and failed

 It must be a good year for fruiting of blackberries.  I've been noticing so many patches just loaded with berries while mowing the grass.

They are sort of a problem for me really, because the roots can run several feet underground and send up canes in my flower beds.

No fun trying to pull those thorny devils out!

But, seeing all those berries made me want to try making a batch of jam.

I was able to find enough berries within reach and didn't have to wade into the weeds to get them.

I found a simple recipe online...just blackberries, a whole lot of sugar and some lemon juice. Instructions were to boil for 10 minutes.

It made enough for two small jars.  It looks okay, right?

Well, it wasn't okay at all. It was so thick and stiff that I could barely get it out of the jar.

Impossible to spread and  very unpleasant in the mouth. I had cooked it too long, I guess.

And it didn't even have a good blackberry flavor.

Total failure!

I feel like my cooking skills have left the building. 

The rest of the blackberries can just stay on the vine. Maybe the birds can eat them.