Little snake in the house

 I was just putting a few things away when I noticed something different out of the corner of my eye.

Do you see it?

There under the chair. A short skinny little snake. Not too scary but not something you want in the house either.

The patio doors are right there so I grabbed the broom and used it to encourage the little fellow make his exit.

Well my curious cat, Puss, barged into the middle of things to see what was going on.

 She had her head down sniffing and came right up on the snake... instantly she jumped about two feet straight up into the air!

That startled me more than the snake did!

All turned out fine...the cat recovered and the snake went outside.

 It must have squeezed in through some tiny crack.  Let's hope there is no opening that the big ones can get in through, although we have had larger snakes in the basement a couple of times.

So here are a couple of flowery photos so you won't be left with snakes on your mind.

Peonies and a tomato plant in a grow- bag.

Peonies are so pretty and their blooms last a long time if there's not a lot of rain.

The red peony bush is not so robust.

Too bright for a good photo. The blooms are more red, not the bright color that shows here.

Birthday baking

 

The Sasquatch has been baking up some tasty treats.  He likes trying out recipes that are a little different than things I usually bake.

This is a birthday month for him. When we were celebrating, he brought over this Almond Torte.

Fancy!

Mmmm!

I had baked sugar cookies - at his request instead of cake, and we had two kinds of ice cream so it was quite a bonanza of sweet things...just right for a birthday!

The Sasquatch also tries different bread recipes. Here is a loaf he brought over for us to try, still warm from the oven. Very good and so nicely shaped.

Then there were two different days of Cream Puffs as he tried out a couple of versions of those.

Take a look at all that whipped cream filling!

We don't mind being called on to taste test these goodies.  Cream Puffs are one of Lonnie's long time favorites. He remembers buying them at a bakery before school when he first  started driving.

It's fun having someone show up with surprise desserts.  So what's next, Sasquatch?

Blooms around the yard

Lots of blooms in the flower beds right now.  Purple and yellow Iris.

More Iris, purple and white Salvia.  I can never think of the name of the plant with the bright green leaves...but I like the way it brightens up the empty spaces,

This bloomer is  Weigela.

Same area from a different angle.

These unopened buds are my red peony. 

Iris with a purple and yellow mix.

The plant growing over the top of the trellis is a Silver Lace Vine.  It's an aggressive grower...pretty up close with it's small blooms but not so attractive when viewed from a distance. It has to be trimmed back occasionally because it throws a bit much shade on other plants.  I'll be moving it before it starts new growth next spring.

That seems to be the way it is with flower beds...always changes and rearranging!
 

just a swingin'

 Do you remember the cute country song from back in the early 80's called "Just a Swingin' ?

This new swing made me think of it, so I looked up the lyrics. I don't normally listen to country music so I didn't realize it was made popular again in the 1990's. 

It's a fun song to sing along to.

But anyway, our old swing was getting shabby, with a couple of broken slats and other slats getting rotten and bendy. It's been a good swing and we've had it for years. But we got lazy about taking it inside over the winter and that made it go down hill fast.

We shopped online and found one made from composite rather than wood. It arrived a few days ago.

In a flat box...mostly unassembled.

That's okay. It was easy to sit right down in the driveway and get it put together.  It is a heavy thing but Lonnie helped me get it on a wheelbarrow and get it into position.

Sitting on the wheelbarrow, it was easy to hook up the new chains and slowly pull the wheelbarrow out from under it.

Lonnie liked it right away but at first, I thought the top back was curving in too far.  It just took a little getting used to. Now, I like it too. It should last us many years.

A couple of days later I put the old swing at the end of the driveway along with... 

an old broken rusty wheelbarrow, an electric cook top, a messed up pruner pole, and a fiber glass pool net pole that leaves fiberglass splinters in one's hands.

Within minutes, a guy in a pick up truck pulled in and loaded up every single thing.

The funny thing is...he even took one of my cobblestones that I had put behind the cook top to prop it up!  Not very nice!

April snow

 

Nearly 70 degrees yesterday then snowfall overnight! 

Most of the snow melted but there was a bit on the ground in the morning.

I have never seen snow on the ground while my Dogwood tree was blooming.

Apple tree and Redbud trees blooming out back with snow on the ground.

I think there is no damage to the trees or other plants. We'll see in the next few days.

Also fortunate for morning commuters - the snow melted quickly on  the roadways.

Okay, that's enough winter weather for now!

Rainbow

 All day rain, then the sun broke through in early evening. It was shining at a low angle and really lit up the trees. The spring leaves were really glowing

It's hard to capture the colors with a regular old inexpensive camera.

Below, you can barely see a second rainbow forming on the left, just above the main one.

They don't last very long. More clouds moving in and blocking the sun.

Looking out back with the sun on the trees...

Look how green that grass is after all that rain.  Mowing will have to happen soon!

finished flooring in 2nd room

 The floor is down and the baseboards are caulked and painted in the second bedroom.

I like it!

The sub floor wasn't quite as bad as the first room but still, too uneven and with small weak and squeaky boards...so the Sasquatch had to replace it all in here too. He had to add a lot of blocking/bracing boards.

Everything went smoother this time, knowing what to expect. Laying the planks was a breeze until the last row up next to the wall. The Sasquatch had to trim each plank lengthwise and make it just the right size to still be able to snap in place without hitting the wall.

This room faces south so it's nice and bright.  As I brought the two book shelves back in, I felt like they were like black holes...sucking all the light out of the room.

I considered painting the back panel and spent way too much time thinking about stretching fabric over the back panel.  Here are a few fabrics that I could use (bought for quilt backing)

Closer up.  Definitely no more brown in here. I like the blue floral better than the gray and yellow floral.  

But wait!  This isn't the time to be starting a side project!  I need to keep sorting and moving stuff back in so I can empty the sewing room, which will be the third and last room to get the new flooring.

Maybe I'll do something about those book shelves later. (probably not)

I also need to work on computer cord management. While the floor work was being done I temporarily hung my router, 2 modems and power strip on nails in the wall to keep them usable but out of the way.

This gave me an idea to now hang them lower and block the equipment and a lot of the cords with a couple of small shutters (that used to be on the windows in here). 

Hmmm, still thinking this one over.

I found wallpaper from the past behind the baseboards in this room too.  Another blue floral.

It wasn't in here when we moved in but there was a baseball themed wallpaper on just one wall.

We are easily getting rid of the old sub flooring and base boards. We just pile it up at the end of the driveway and someone will stop and get it.

Meanwhile,  lovely weather outside.  a windy day and the pear trees blooms floated down like big snow flakes.  It's hard to be working inside on such a pretty day!