I've had it with awnings

It wasn't long after we moved here in 1986, that we began noticing problems with the 2 big bow windows on the front of the house. 
Some leaking from the top during blowing rains and some rot happening in the wood frames along the bottom. 
At that time my husband we didn't want to go to the expense of replacing them so my husband found a repair man who was able to replace the outer bottom trim.
Then we had awnings installed to protect and keep the wood from getting wet.
I really never liked the way they cover nearly a third of the window, blocking out the sky and light. 

Over the years we have replaced the awnings 3or 4 times.  That doesn't sound like a lot but really, they have looked bad for more of those years than they looked good.  Covered with green algae or whatever.

That's how they were looking this spring so I began my ritual of whining and complaining about them.  

Every time we'd pull into the driveway, I'd say "Look at those horrible awnings".  

Finally I had poor Lonnie worn down from it all and he said "Let's just take them down!"

So, one evening we got out the step ladder and started trying to take them off.  It was harder than I'd thought.

First, these rods had to be unscrewed and removed from the bottom part. They were there to keep the awning projecting out from the house.

After the rods are out, the awning is supposed to be able to slide out of a channel holding it at the top. We could not budge it and by this time Lonnie was bleeding in three places from trying to maneuver the step ladder among the shrubs below the window.

We couldn't leave the thing hanging down over the window so we just sliced it off with a utility knife.

 See the difference - the underside compared to the outside.  Yuck!

So this is how it looks now. One awning on and one off.

Or mostly off.  You see the scrap hanging there above the window trim.

It's a much nicer view from the inside now!

See the difference?  This is the other side with the awning still up.

So now what?   The Sasquatch is going to bring an extension ladder and help get everything down.

There is rot in the wood of the window again anyway. We'll plug the holes with wood filler  for a temporary fix while we do some shopping for windows.

We will probably end up just replacing with regular windows.  The bow windows are nice but certainly not necessary.

Why yes, these are quadruple "E"s !

Yep, I am wearing size 4E !  But it's not the good kind of EEEE....it's my feet.

The shoes I have been wearing for yard work and mowing these last few years were all shrunken and curled at the toes when I got them out this spring.  I thought they might soften up if I wore them awhile but instead they were pressing on my toenails and causing a problem there.

So I had to do some shoe shopping. I didn't even bother with trying on women's athletic shoes. They are all too narrow.  Actually many of the men's were too narrow for me as well...until I noticed these wide width 4E shoes.  The ugliest ones in the store, but ahhhh! Lots of toe room!  And only $14.97!

    

I must have inherited these feet from my dad.   He wears very wide size shoes too.

Now, since you had to listen to my shoe story, I will show a coupe of pretty photos.  Everyone has been commenting that the trees are blooming so beautifully this spring. I am sure you've noticed them too.
This is my Redbud in the back yard. There are a few blooming in the woods around us too.

Here is the dwarf apple tree also in the back yard. Just a couple of weeks ago I was doubting if it even had any life left in it.  

Within a matter of days it went from dormant to fully bloomed out like this.

Well, time to go out and start that mower and try out my lovely new shoes.

raised garden beds

My poor cedar raised garden bed has just gave up and fell apart.  I can't understand why Lonnie's is still holding up okay (his is on the left).  They were put in at the same time by the same person (me).

I considered not replacing it.

In the spring, I get excited about growing vegetables but over the summer I get tired of weeding and watering them and discouraged when they don't produce like I think they should.

I was looking at some corrugated metal raised beds, thinking that they would surely last longer than the wood ones.

The Sasquatch offered to construct some for me, using sheets of corrugated metal from Lowes, but then I found these on sale on the Tractor Supply website.

The size is nice...35" x 46".  Maybe room enough for about  4-6 plants?

They were easy to put together and came with extra screws.   Tidy and attractive looking so maybe that will encourage me to take better care of my growing vegetables.

Of course I won't be using it here on the porch. It will go back to where the old one was.

Now I will spend more money buying dirt to fill them up than I would have ever spent buying the amount of vegetables that I will grow here.

Sheesh!

Spring is tiptoeing in...Daffodils are blooming.

The grass is looking green.      My Contorted Filbert is full of Catkins.

And we are having some lovely warm days!

Puss meets a vulture

Actually these photos are from weeks ago. I had taken them with my phone and had trouble getting them to a place on my computer that I could access from my blog photo uploader.

The photos were taken through the window and door so I didn't interfere with this meet-up.

Puss saw the black vulture out in the yard and she wanted out the door so she could go chase it...but instead she stopped at the edge of the porch...and the vulture slowly walked toward  her.

They were about a foot apart.

I hope you can make out that photo.  The vulture is on the left, facing left, with it's beak pointed to the ground.  Is it showing submission? 

Puss just sat there and played it cool and soon the vulture strolled away.

 Puss started to follow....

But decided to hang back...

Then she got brave and went to crouch under that bush to the left of the bell post.

The vulture got fed up with all the bluffing and circled back around to strike this menacing pose...holding his wings open to look as large as possible while staring down the cat.

Then he turned and flew away.

It surprised me that the cat wanted to go out and confront the vulture because she has been afraid of the wild turkeys coming up in the yard...maybe because they are always in a group. The turkeys have also approached her, just curious like this vulture.

a mighty wind

We recently had an unusually warm (78 degrees) and very windy (44 mph) day.    It was the kind of day that you could feel the wind buffeting your car around on the road while driving.

Lonnie and I had been to visit my parents and just as we were walking out their door to leave, we heard a big "CRACK"  and saw a large tree breaking off near the edge of their woods.

I figured we would have more downed trees when we got back to our house.  There were a couple of them, but this one had been leaning already.  A Sassafras.

The other was a fairly tall pine near an area we recently had cleared.  Of course it had to fall perfectly into the cleared area so it can't just be ignored.

Someone (me) forgot to latch this screen door to the screen porch and the wind whipped it back and forth until it was demolished.

These dead trees had fallen during an earlier rainy spell over the winter.

This apple tree had partly fallen years ago but kept growing. The branches got so heavy on one side from trying to reach for the sun that the whole tree went down completely, also while the ground was saturated.

I have been trimming off the smaller branches and taking them to the burn pile.

So, there is a lot of wood to be sawed up and dealt with.  

I wish I had one of those big wood chippers. I could turn all this into mulch!

tried a new food

First up... The Sasquatch brought this cheese he found on close out at Meijers.  I think it normally sells for around $6.00 and they were clearing it out for $2.99.  He brought it over so we could all try it.

It's called "Grilling Cheese"...and can be fried to get a golden crust on the outside.

It came in a block.  The Sasquatch sliced it in roughly half inch slices, then coated the slices with olive oil.

Then browned them in a non stick skillet.

Look at these crunchy creamy morsels of fried cheesy goodness!

They were good on their own and also good to use as dippers for guacamole.

We enjoyed trying this and came to the conclusion that next time, either slice them a bit thicker or don't get them quite as browned, to leave more creamy inside.

The Sasquatch said he was going back to buy the remaining blocks of cheese if there were any left at the store.

We were wondering if this method would also work with mozzarella or provolone.

I see that the Grilling Cheese is a whole milk cheese whereas mozzarella usually seems to be part skim (I think?) That may make a difference but it's worthwhile to try it out.

Now here is a recipe that I tried out....

The recipe was in the booklet that came with my "Veggetti" spiralizer.  You have probably seen them.

It's a handheld cone with very sharp blades inside. You just twist and push a vegetable through to crank out thin spiraled strips. 

I used zuchinni.  It's actually pretty good just like this. Lightly sauteed in butter or olive oil, then add salt and pepper.

But I wanted to give the recipe a try.   I made some changes...left out the honey, used dried ginger and garlic. Didn't have chili or sesame seeds but added some hot sauce and diced peanuts.

Mine came out with a runnier sauce.

It was okay but not sure if I'd make it again.  I like the zuchinni better without the glop on it!

PS:  The "Veggetti" slicer is extremely hard to clean. Food gets stuck along the base of the blades...and they are super sharp as my thumb will attest.

quilting progress

The quilting on my flannel quilt is nearly finished.  Even though I backed it with reqular cotton fabric - it doesn't slide around under the needle quite as smoothly. I suppose because it is a bit thicker.

Maybe another reason it is going slower is because I keep turning on Netflix "Grace and Frankie"

 It's a funny show but my problem is I keep pausing to watch all the scenes that feature their gorgeous beach house.  It is the stuff day dreams are made of...with the ocean right out their back door.

Quite different from the yucky weather here.

And I have been working with the leftover scraps and have a few more blocks made for a smaller quilt.

There is enough border fabric left over that I will be able to add it to this one also.

And enough episodes of the show left to get it quilted too!