Screen Door weather~

 And Money Saver! (this post contains affiliate links)
We’ve been needing a new screen door.  The one we had was cut too small (odd thing is it fits the back door pretty well…more on that later) and it allowed insects to get into the house.
During the summer—that wasn’t a problem; because it was so hot we had the A/C on most of the time.  But since we’ve been having cooler temps and nice days like today—the high temp today was about 76° with a slight breeze out of the south!  Mmmm…screen door weather!

We bought the screen door (pictured above) at Lowes it was about $20. bucks.  I liked a lot of the others I saw—but some were just too plain fancy for my little farm house. I wanted something simple.

This one was about $88.00 and it was called the Columbia…well, whatever; it said ‘farm house’ too me.   
It got my wheels to turning.

So I grabbed some tools; a hammer, nails, and trusty Gorilla Glue
Gorilla Glue 5201204 Glue Dries White Bottle, 2 Ounce
 …and some little drop off pieces, saved from another project.  Don’t ask me which one…cause I don’t remember.  I don’t even know why I saved them… but I did. 
Do you do that? Please tell me I’m not the only one…

I took each little ‘triangle’ and drilled a small hole in the corners, ran a bead of glue down two edges and nailed them onto my screen. Looks good, huh?

Today… it was nice enough to paint it.  So much better!   So, I paid roughly $20 bucks and got a screen door that SOMEWHAT resembles and $88 dollar one. (I already had everything else) …Saved about $68 bucks!  It was just a little work. 
The most time was spent painting! 
Not too bad.  I’m happy with it!  Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the money I’m saving with my electric bill…having the windows and doors opened up allowing the breeze to cool the house…
linking here
God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

6 Simple Stitches Every Crafter Should Know - Hobby Farms

I've been needing to repair Honey's work jacket the zipper is broken. So I bought a zipper and grabbed my seam ripper and decided this is it... I'm going to put a zipper on there.

Well, that was about 3 weeks ago! Still haven't gotten it done and we're expecting a cold front tomorrow.

Since he's taking Coumadin...he gets really cold easily. So I've got to get this done tonight!

While looking around for tutorials for zippers. I remembered I had downloaded this pdf from Hobby Farms.

If you're just learning to sew, training a young lady (or young man) to sew OR perhaps you're rusty like me and need to a refresher course; this little page might be the thing you need to help you along.

6 Simple Stitches Every Crafter Should Know - Hobby Farms

I downloaded it so I could 'hone' my already poor  MAD sewing skilz! I'm thinking-- mending our clothes as opposed to buying new all the time wouldn't be a bad idea. Especially after last weeks shopping date with The Husband!

Just wanted to share the link!

Go there.

Download it.

Practice.

I'm just saying, "if you want."

God bless you and Thanks for reading!

Eaves dropping,Egg dropping Chickens~

 

We were gone most of the day Tuesday… Honey had a Dr. Appt. in Palestine

We went early.

Just across the street is a Tractor Supply store… I love that place.  They have lots of cool stuff ; and We don’t really have one close by here. This is perfect we go that way about every two weeks anyway…

I bought a new feeder set up …different from what we had; and a new watering can!  What we had was home made and it worked but not all that well. So we ‘invested’ in our chickens. {smile}

I also bought some lay pellets.  But then we got home and found this…

two eggs! 

Hmmm… I wonder if they over heard me yesterday tell my son that,” if they didn’t start laying, they’d be dinner? “

I have no idea who laid them. I figured they’d have to get settled and comfortable.  I’ve only had the chickens for about 2 weeks. Yes, that is all—seems like longer I know.

And…yes. they are on the ground.  I only have two chickens that head to the hen house…the rest stay out on the roost.  I’m hoping they’ll go inside pretty soon. 

While at the Tractor Supply Honey also got me this…

It’s pretty big, in size, and it has lots of information in there too.  I can’t wait to peruse it’s pages.  You may be missing me a bit…since I’m getting new books to read!  One draw back on this particular book…the print is pretty small.   Not to worry I have a page magnifier! 

I’m off to bed now.  It’s late… and I’m plum-tuckered out~

God bless you and Thanks for reading!

Besides Chickens…

We have been doing other things, too!
Last week we made a trip to Lowes…on the way, we stopped by Goodwill, I was looking for a jacket for Honey.  FAIL.
Instead I found this wonderful book, by Beatrice Trum Hunter.  It’s called The Natural Foods Primer ‘Help for the Bewildered Beginner’  --how could I NOT GET it? It practically had my name written all over it.  Not to mention--- a price tag of .99 cents! {smile} 
Whenever I go thrift shopping—I always look at the books. Not that I need more or anything; but I usually pray and ask God to show me if there is a book there that would be a good resource for my library, that I can afford.  He never fails!
I read it on our 14 hour trip to AND FROM Arkansas on Saturday.  I found a lot of great information in there. This book was copy write 1972…so some information has been replaced; but over all the information is still good!  I’ll share later some of the things I’ve learned already.
The trip to Lowes…I found these on the marked down Ooops! paint shelf.  Two empty cans—they were half off because they didn’t have handles.
I got them because I thought I could store grain or food in them.

When I got home I opened one up and it is coated~  with what?  I don’t know. So I’ve still got to do a little research to find out what it is and whether or not it’s food safe.  Any ideas? 
We also bought wood siding for the back exterior of the house.  We’ve had some wood decay due to rain over the years and it was in dire need of repair.  I don’t think I took any before photos…but here it is in progress.      Whether you homestead or not; if you own your home,  repairs are integral.   
We’re not finished with siding it yet, we still need to do the bottom pieces, trim out the window, replace the awning—and you can see we’ll have to repaint as well.  Hopefully, the weather will stay warm enough to do that this week.
We’re doing the work ourselves. It is slow going because of his health—The Husband isn’t as spry since his heart attack in May. But for the most part--  I like working with Honey on these projects…he gets a little testy at times, but mostly he makes me laugh when we work. I’m so grateful that he is here and we are doing these things together!  I praise God for that!   
I haven’t post a Non-Sequitur photo lately—I took this one this morning.
Isn’t it beautiful?

Linking here  
 

God Bless you and thanks for reading!

Togetherness~

 

This weekend Honey and I were invited to travel with one of his brothers for a day trip to place flowers on their parents grave.  I tried to get out of it…I don’t do the cemetery trips personally; but on this occasion I was glad to go; because it gave me a chance to see the trees changing in the Ozarks…a sight I’ve not seen in almost 2 years.

It was beautiful.  The scenery and the time together with my husband. It was about a 14 hr trip—we made a few stops along the way.  Got home in time to watch the Texas Rangers get hammered in the 3rd Game of the World Series… {sigh}

This morning I woke up to the smell of coffee and my husband telling me, ‘Get up, I want to spend the day together, just me and you.’

I was intrigued. {smile} 

He took me shopping. Helped me pick out some new clothes for church. Ironic, I know, since we skipped church today; but I was happy that Honey is feeling well enough to do these things.  So I conceded~ and off we went shopping!

He took me to Applebee’s (we’ve never eaten there…it was so good)

Then we went to the movies!

 

We saw The Three Musketeers   …it was certainly action packed.    I  think they took some liberties with the story line…so I’d definitely put it in the FANTASY FICTION CATAGORY…but overall…it was a pretty good movie. Only mildly violent …fairly clean.  I enjoyed it and would probably watch again if given the chance.

Came home took care of the chickens. Settled in to watch the 4th game in the World Series… Rangers vs. Cardinals… 

4-0 Win~ Rangers ~~  Yay! 

Go Rangers!

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

I’ve got a secret…

We got more chickens!!! We got them just a few days after we were given Audrey and Jayne… They don’t get along so much. But, that may just be chickens for ya!  I’ll make the introductions… and then tell you my secret.   Lucy (on the ground)  and Ethel (on top of the small cage) “Mr. Burns” -- George Gracie. ‘Say g’night Gracie’

If you think I like to watch old-time movies and TV shows…you’d guess right. But that’s not my secret…

Lil’ Aubree, “Jayne” and Me! …My secret? 

I like to hold my chickens!

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

First Monday- pt. 2

 

I already showed you all the things I DID NOT buy while there in October.

Today I thought I’d show you a couple of the things I did come home with.

For me, I knew I wanted to use my wood burning stove this winter, not just for heating, but for cooking too.  So I was looking for a cast iron pot. I thought it was called a DUTCH-OVEN; but it is more of a Stew pot instead.   

So this is what I got …it’s a little rusty. I need to clean it up a little and season it.  It should work great for cooking on the wood burning stove.    My intention is to save energy. By cooking on my heat source I’ll be saving propane.  Not only saving energy;but also SAVING MONEY!  I paid about $30 for this pot—it was worth it.

I also splurged a little and bought some goat milk soaps …

“  Our soap is made with all natural ingredients. Fresh goat milk, olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil are the main ingredients. “ This is taken from their site… 

Alpine Soaps…they are based in Burleson. It is a cottage industry.  I love supporting small businesses like this.

I can’t remember all the names of the soaps I purchased. We’ve already been using them. They make your skin so soft~

I know I bought some :

• Lavender
• Pomegranate
• Love spell
• Cucumber
• ‘Fresh Scent’ …for men’s shaving I think

Those are just some of the scents. They all smell pretty good.

I spent about $15 on soap. I know I just talked about saving money; but sometimes you have to spend a little to save a lot! The pot was a good purchase.  The soap?  It was for research!  It is made from goat milk! It all smells great. I already make homemade laundry soap.  The thought of making bath soaps sounds fun. I’d like to try it once at least. Not enough to make a business. It would help if I had a source for goat milk… So really, I’d probably have to try milking a goat first! 

Don’t know about that one~

Do you make homemade soap? Have you ever? If not what is something you’d like to do? Just to see what it’s like…

linking here

~God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

When in DROUGHT…

do without-
Hay. That is.
If you watch the evening news at all…then you know that here in Texas we’re seeing one of the worst droughts this state has seen in years…decades even, possibly a century. ????  Honestly, I’m not for sure how long. It really all depends on who listen to. 
Some say “Worst drought on record.”
Others say “worst drought in 44 years.”  Then some say, “worst drought in 50 years.
Well. I’m here to say it is the worst drought in MY lifetime. In all the years I’ve 'cared’ …it is the worst drought. Period.
I’ve seen cattle trailers hauling hay…all my life. But now, you hear people talking and they are hauling hay, great distances.  This hay didn’t come from another county.  NO.  All the hay we see going down the road here is from another state!  It’s costly;
and it’s scarce. So, what is one to do when you’ve newly acquired chickens and you want bedding for them?  Seriously, I wondered, “What is one to do?” I called around- nobody had any hay.
I bought pet bedding. {smile} Can you see my ‘light bulb moment’? 
Cedar chips. I thought it would be perfect.
It turns out – not so great. 
After getting it home and getting it spread around the coop, so my chickens could have a place to be comfortable I decided to do my research.
Note to self:

• First do research.
• Second Shop! {wink}

After reading up…I’m understanding that the cedar can create an irritation for the chickens. They aren’t allergic to the cedar, however, the cedar can cause their air ways to become opened up and then make them susceptible to other germs and airborne irritants; then they could become ill.
I had to clean it all out and replace it with bedding hay.
Turns out when calling around asking for hay…you have to specify that you are looking for ‘bedding’ hay.  They ‘Feed Store Guys’ aren’t mind readers!
Audrey  …
Jayne…
 
  So now--- I have the place all filled and fluffed with ‘wheat straw’ and it looks pretty dern good!
I’ll take pictures of that later. I’ve got something else to show you.

Do you bed your chickens?  What do you use?  Can you use leaves?
please feel free to comment.  I'm really wanting to know these things. And I learn a great deal from you, my readers!

God bless you and Thanks for reading!
* linking here

DIY Chalk Paint and a Curb~ shopped Demilune

  You might remember OR NOT… I curb-shopped this little demilune table way back in the spring. Just minding my own business driving down the Farm-to-Market…that comes to my house…and there it was on the side of the road. Waiting to be rescued. {wink}   Here it is on my porch.  That bit O’ orange you see there is a wire brush. Yes! the paint was so chippy and Au Natural  …the perfect shade of TRASH …JUST RIGHT FOR A FAUX CHALK PAINT JOB, in my opinion.    See…Chippy. To say the least.    I scraped rather vigorously with the wire brush  and got most of the loose paint off the piece.  After all, I didn’t want to do ANY prep.
 I’ll spare you all the details and just say…
2/3 paint--- to 1/3 Plaster of Paris
…Just like Sherry said at No Minimalist Here

Oh yes~ and my favorite shade of paint---Ooops! Paint by Valspar. (already on hand)
And then of course… a little bit of sand paper.  For after.
It looks much better.  Wouldn’t you say?

It’s still on the front porch.  I painted it and of course it still looks rough—but overall the paint technique worked great.  I’m going to be using it again. This was just a TEST.  I planned all along to use this little Trash to Treasure Table on the front porch.
*** Just so you know… right after Sherry posted her ‘recipe’ for chalk paint…there wasn’t a NORMAL SIZED box to be had around the lake where I live. None. Unless of course you wanted a bunch!
DID YOU KNOW??? You can buy Plaster of Paris at Lowe’s. It comes in 2 sizes…I don’t know that I’ll ever use the whole 25 lb. bag I bought.  But…I’m gonna try! 
Linked in here

God bless you and Thanks for reading!

First Monday in Canton~

 

I don’t live very far from Canton—roughly about 45 minutes.  However, we don’t get there very often. Unless we absolutely have to drive through that little town to get to where we are going… we generally avoid it.

Don’t get me wrong… I love junking- just not all at once! Also I’m not that fond of crowds; not to mention the wear and tear on these arthritic joints of mine.

Anyway—we went this last time (Oct.2011)  …here are the pictures of all the cool stuff I DID NOT buy… {smile} Rusty wheels , galvanized watering cans and sewing machine drawers  …with really cool wooden appliqués on the fronts.                  

Lawn furniture , tractor implements…and a cool pink chair with a beautiful Mum sitting inside of it.     Signage—what else can you say?  All of it cool!

  More rusty old stuff for the yard… or the mantle, or the kitchen or whatever room you’re looking to enhance with rusted up goodness… your choice!   Really cool gate… thought about getting it for behind the wood- burning stove- would be way more interesting than the fireboard that is back there now…Only I didn’t think of that until AFTER I was home and looking at this picture… I guess I took this picture to remind me of the great deal and ideal metal junk I passed up…{sigh}

Really cool Pumpkin.  Sort of like a “Potato Head” with the eyes and nose and mouth and ears, all just jabbed into the pumpkin…very clever, I thought.

That’s pretty much it. We went with the oldest daughter and son-in-law and Lil’ Bree. We were there about 4 hours or so…I was so sore the next day from walking around…glad we had the day off from babysitting and got to do absolutely nothing…because Honey was exhausted too.  I think that is the most he walked since coming home from the hospital in June, really.

We did buy some things while there… like I said “this is all the stuff we Did not buy”,remember?

** Oh, yes- I know I used the word “cool” too much in this post and it is probably annoying.  But I’m too tired to edit--

God bless you and Thanks for reading, anyway!

Houston, The Chickens have landed!

Oh my! We’ve been working pretty hard to get the last details on the coop before getting some chickens.
Saturday we worked and got the wood painted and the chicken wire on …well, all except the top.  We broke our staple gun.  Had to reschedule the chicken pick up until that was finished.
Then, today we finally got the top on and went and picked up our Lil’ girls!  They are free- to a good home – chickens.  There are just two.  I’m hoping they aren’t past their egg laying prime, as they are a couple of years old.
Either way, they will eat GRASSHOPPERS!  You know how important that is to me. YES!  I’ve already seen them in action.  They will fertilize.  I also read, that the Older Hens will teach the Younger hens …how to be good hens!  {smile}   
I’m not even sure what type of chickens these are; today was the first day I saw them and I’ve been sort of busy.  So I’ve not done any research.  Maybe one of you …my very smart readers may know?
So here they are…

Audrey

and Jayne.

The yellow one was already named Audrey and the black  (blue-ish green with orangey neck feathers) one’s name couldn’t be remembered.  I was told the kids had named them.  Mom fed them…and she didn’t remember the names. Anyway… I figured since they wandered in the MEADOW there at their previous home.  I would name the ‘black’ one Jayne.  You know…
Audrey and Jayne Meadows…he he he.
We also got a number for someone who is selling chickens locally.  So we may be introducing more chickens in a few weeks.  If the nice weather holds out.
I don’t want to mix ‘em up to quickly with other chickens. I want us all to get along first.
I did get to pick them up this afternoon after they’d been in the pen a while. But they were nervous when I held them. 
So was I.
That’s it…my two chickens. 
I’m smiling.  Can you tell?
God Bless you and thanks for reading.

Coming Soon~ Chickens!

When last we saw our little chicken coop…   It was standing near the fig tree waiting for completion and what else…chickens!

I am happy to say…that after 4 mos. of recuperating for The Husband, after his heart attack… we are back in the ‘Chicken reCOOPerating’ swing of things.

This is our progress as of Thursday morning.  We have the wire bought already; we are needing a few more boards. We shorted ourselves when we purchased materials.  Ok…we didn’t buy enough!

We used fancy recycled hinges for our little door.

AND! a fancy recycled door pull.

Once we get the last of the boards on and all of them painted and the wire on here; we’ll only be needing some chickens.  I hope the weather doesn’t turn too cold before we can establish a relationship and routine with them, once we get them.

I’m waiting with anticipation…{smile}

God bless you and Thanks for reading!