started burning

There was only one day this week that wasn't too windy to start burning some of the branches from our fallen pine tree.

It's a huge stack of branches. You can't even see them all here because some are in back.

It's too much to burn at once. I don't want a big fire...so I moved a few branches at a time to the burn pile, then added more as those burned down.

It was tricky to keep the fire small, but also keep it burning hot enough. It's was more like I was sending smoke signals!

I got about a third of it burned that day. I will start earlier next time and finish it off.

This time of year, it's well worth getting up to watch the sunrise. It comes up so fast...changing each minute.  

This photo was from Friday morning. Some pretty purples and reds...predicting rain!

April showers bring May flowers!

what I've been sewing

One of my quilting groups, the Mt Washington Quilting Bees, has invited another group, Log Cabin Quilters, to our potluck dinner in June.

We want to make it a nice and fun day, so we are trying to think of party favors or small  gifts for them.
One idea was these holders for the purse sized tissue packets. They are cute and quick to sew up!
We were asked to make the tissue holders with sewing themed fabric if possible, and luckily I had this yellow fabric with straight pins printed on it.
This little project is finished way early!

For my current quilt project, I have all of the larger triangles cut, some sewn to each other, and a few of the smaller triangles cut (will need 168 of those!).

Things are moving along smoothly for this quilt. So far, I am happy with the colors I'm using.

I am trying to use this catalog photo as my guide.

Also trying not to use any floral or girly looking fabrics. It's a man-quilt!

we lost a tree

Saturday, when it was so windy, we came home to find that one of our big, beautiful, healthy pine trees had blown over.

It's one of a grouping of evergreens out near the highway. 

It's hard to make out in the photo below...but you can see it fell just behind this other pine tree and the top is over the driveway.

We are fortunate that it didn't fall into the electric line, or the road. And it just grazed the other tree - no branches were broken on it.

I went out with my reciprocating saw and cut off the branches that were blocking the driveway.

 When we first saw the tree down, I was afraid someone had run off the road and hit it with their car.
That has happened before to trees out there.
But no, it had to be the wind. The tree wasn't hollow or rotten. It broke off below the ground even.
I put my foot in this photo for scale. It was a big tree!

Well, we can't dwell on it...but it was a much appreciated tree...for privacy and because it helped muffle the highway noise. 

So what now?  

We always call on the Sasquatch to help us out with the tough jobs.

He came over with his chain saw and got to work.

It was several hours of heavy dirty work. The pine sap is sticky and gums up the saw and gets all over clothes and skin.

My foot again to show the size of this tree.

The Sasquatch cut the branches into smaller sections...

Then loaded them on a trailer and took them to the back field where I will burn them. Not all at once, though!

He stacked up the larger limbs and the trunk sections out by the road and put up a sign for "free firewood" and someone picked them up the next day. 

 Job well done!

Now, instead of a beautiful green pine tree - I have a view of the telephone pole, the gas meter thingy, and the neighbor's sheds and garbage can.  Bummer.

I will feel better when I get something planted to replace it. Something fast growing!

my husband spoils me

Close your eyes and imagine that your husband (or loved one) has bought you something new and exciting to drive!

What would it be?

Maybe one of these?

Yep!  It's a dream come true! A new riding mower!

Actually it's for both of us, but I really enjoy grass cutting so I'll probably be using it most often.

It's a good quality mower, and it should last us a long time.

It has a roll bar, a cup holder, adjustable seat...the works!    What more could a girl want?

The delivery guy did not have the owner's manual with him...and he said he would drop it by when he was out this way again.  

Yeah, right.

I called the mower shop and asked them to mail us one. Hope it gets here before time to cut grass again so I can be sure I'm operating it correctly.

It will be a shame to use it and get it all dirty though!

buttermilk pie

This is such an easy pie to put together - I don't know why I don't make it more often.

The ingredients are simple.  I have made it by adding a tablespoon of vinegar per each cup of regular milk to sour and thicken it, in place of buttermilk, but real buttermilk gives better tasting results.

It's a super-sweet pie.

Buttermilk Pie

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 heaping Tbsp. flour

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 unbaked pie shell

Cream butter and sugar until smooth.  

Mix in the flour, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla - beating well after each ingredient is added.

Pour filling into pie shell. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes...or until filling is set.

We had pie after our Sunday dinner of Mini Meatballs in Sweet and Sour Sauce, jasmine rice, buttered mixed vegetables, strawberry romaine salad, and toasted buttered Hawaiian rolls.

Also we all had a sample of an Indian dish that Chopper brought for us to try out. It's called Vegetable Biryani and he buys it at Trader Joe's.  It's one of his favorites and he thought we would like it too.

I really liked it! I like Indian spices. Next time I am at Trader Joe's I'm going to pick up a couple of these dinners for quick meals.

One more picture of the Buttermilk Pie.

I wanted you to see what a well behaved pie it is. No collapsing and pouring out into the pie pan when you cut it!

trouble in darlaville

Well, there was trouble, but it's taken care of now.

Sunday evening, I noticed my garbage disposer wasn't working...just humming - and not a pretty tune!  I tried the reset button, but still just a hum.

It's an older disposal. The workers who did my kitchen remodel (eight years ago) were reluctant to hook it back up even then , telling me that the uninstall and reinstall would usually make it quit working.  But it did work. All together, I think it's probably at least 13 years old.

 After looking things over I figured I could replace it myself - instead of calling a plumber.

It's probably not something I would have attempted except for the fact that my drain and trap are all held together with screw on plastic nuts/connectors. They allow the pipes to be disassembled without using hacksaws and replacing the parts.

So, you just take the dishwasher drain hose off...then unscrew the drain pipe and trap and remove it.

Twist the disposer and it comes right off.

Make sure the breaker is off and check wiring with an electrical tester.  Then disconnect the old disposer wires.

Take the nasty old thing and pitch it in the trash!

Not many parts in the new disposer box! I will take that as a good sign!

Here's a step that's important not to forget. The new disposer has a plastic piece covering the drain hole for the dishwasher - in case someone wants to use it without hooking to a dishwasher.

That plastic piece has to be punched out and removed or all that water will back up into your dishwasher.

It pays to read the directions! 

Oops...someone didn't follow her own advice. I had the wires all connected when I realized this little round thingy (below) was supposed to be screwed into that round hole to the left of my thumbnail...before the wires were pushed through.  So there was a do-over for that step.

Everything else went together smoothly.

Nnngggnnngggggg.   Hear that? It works! Yippee!

I meant to order the disposer from Amazon early in the week, but I totally forgot about it for days. By then, I figured I'd better go ahead and get one at Lowes.

It was $13 higher there. I asked about price matching...but they only do that with actual sale ads...no internet price matching. 

Still saved a bundle by not hiring a plumber!

spring blooms

Earlier this week there were lots of pretty spring blooms around the yard so I took a few photos.  Hope things aren't too beaten down now, by the rain and wind yesterday.

Hyacinths...

There is a pink one too but it is never as robust as the purple ones. 

This is a little apricot tree that was here when we moved here. It has had a growth spurt in the last few years...it is getting more sunlight since that diseased sycamore tree in the background doesn't leaf out as much. 

A close up of the apricot blooms...so sweet!

Nearby is a Red Bud tree. This was here when we moved in, too. They do grow wild in the woods here - so I'm not sure if someone planted this or if it grew on it's own.

Our pear trees finally bloomed, but the wind was blowing all the petals off yesterday. It looked like a flurry of enormous snow flakes!

This is a Flowering Quince.  it will really be pretty is it ever starts getting bigger.  It might need some compost dug into the soil around it.

My one and only tulip, which for some reason is growing under the Contorted Filbert.

The red is sort of jarring among all the pastel colors of the other blooms!

Speaking of the Contorted Filbert...when I was weeding this week, I noticed one of the lower branches had rooted where it was touching the ground.  I snipped it from the main tree and dug it up and planted it in a flower pot for now.  I'm not sure where I will put it if it does well - but there must be a spot for it around here somewhere!

Speaking of weeding - in that same flower bed, I once had asparagus growing, and now every year one or two of the plants will still come up.

Well, I was weeding away when I noticed an asparagus stalk about 8" high, so I just snapped it off and ate it. Just as I swallowed I though "that really didn't taste like asparagus". 

 As I looked around I didn't see any more asparagus...but I did see some stalks of Iris emerging from the ground.

I think that must be what I ate... an Iris stalk!   Bleh.

Now this last plant isn't blooming but I'm glad to see it looking so perky this spring. It's a Hops vine that I planted last year. 

They can grow really tall/long, so last year I stapled that vinyl mesh to the fence post for it to climb.

But the plant did not want to cling to the mesh. No matter how many times I tried to get it to twine around and climb the post, it would flop off or that stem would wilt and die.

I need to look up some info and try something else, I guess.