Today is another fine day. A little breezy but nice. We recovered from cleaning the ponds but I actually slept in until nearly 9:30. That is very unusual for me. I don't like to sleep in. Hubby was up earlier than I for once. Generally morning starts about 7:30 for me. He often grabs another hour or so of sleep, which is fine, that way I have control over the TV for an hour.
He is a huge fan of all westerns. Old, new, 4th repeat and so on. We have the western channels and both are marked on fav. channel. Beyond that, Law and Order is next choice. I like both but not day after day. Thank goodness for the computer.

Getting too old for this!

Today was our bright idea to finally get our ponds clean. The weather is beautiful, 75 for the high, a light breeze. I did my small pond 1st. It sits on the patio. Hubby built a stand for it using railroad ties. It's filled with soil around the pond. It took me about an half hour to empty it, using a sump pump and a shop vac. After trimming some of the plants back, I filled it back up, used chlorine eliminator and put our 6 goldfish who were extremely happy to actually be able to move! And see!
We tackled the other small pond next. It took about the same time as the 1st one. Again clean water and happy fish.
THEN we made the mistake of doing the largest one. Now its not huge, but it about broke our supply of energy. It hold 270 gallons, 3 large water lillies, and assorted water plants that are very very heavy. I cant move them so hubby has to lift them out of the water. To make a story short, it took us over 3 hours to clean, trim and put them all back in. Happy fish, clean water, very tired folks.
Bad news though. Our very nice koi, are no longer with us. We will have to replace them all.

What a nice day! We had about 2 inches of rain this morning. Now we need about 18 more to catch up.
I did what I normally do when it rains, veg out. After getting up, making breakfast, making the bed I went on the computer for awhile then just lounged around. There were a couple of movies on TV that we watched, both good ones that we had seen before but were worth watching. I made a good stew with some elk meat that was given us. Yummy!!
I painted awhile but kind of gave it up when the movie got into the action.
My daughter called 3 times today, which is normal for her. She was shopping in Dallas and always calls to let me know what deals she has found! She is buying things for me to use at our annual 4th of July celebration. (more on that later)

The pictures are of stepping stones that I paint. I really enjoy doing these. They take a day or so to do. They sell really good too. The funny thing is I have nothing I have made in my garden.

I will have to take pictures of the rest of my crafts. I have just a few left after Christmas.

Here is one picture of my back yard. This is an experiment! It's from my patio looking out. The ponds (3 of them) are on the right side. As you can see it is looking winter bleak. The far shed is our tool shed, the other is our work shop. Further pictures will follow after I see if I did this one right....lol

What to do when the weather is bad!

Good morning. It's a grey day with a very good chance of rain! Hooray. We need it very much.
While not working in the garden I do crafts. That is what keeps me busy most of the time. I love painting. I cut my own wood in the morning, sand it in the afternoon and paint it in the evening. I enjoy all aspects of it. We sell most of the items I make. We (hubby and I) work together. He cuts the straight cuts on a miter or table saw. I do the band saw and scroll saw.
For years while working, I gave my stuff away. That also gave me great pleasure. I was an Activity Director for a nursing home and sold quite a bit of my stuff for fund raising for the Resident Council but didn't have the confidence to actually sell to the "public". I made pins for the employees for all the Holidays, made decorations for the facility, gave presents to others.
When I retired, I still wanted to make things but no outlet to get rid of what I was producing.
A good friend told me about a store in a town about 30 miles from us that was an outlet for those of us that were crafting and were over 50. The service is free. They take your price, add a minimal fee, sell it and you still get your price. ie; I want $10, they add 2.50 to the selling price. You can consign 26 items at a time. Thats every day if your that ambitious. I don't. They keep your item for 6 mos. It is not a booth type store. Your item is placed in a different location monthly. Usually with similar items. I have been with this store for over 4 years and have recieved a check every month since. I am so blessed.
Two years ago, we went into a store and I got brave enough to mention that I did crafts of the type she was selling. She asked to see some. She BOUGHT all I had taken to show her. Since then she has been a permenent buyer. I have set up in several craft shows over the years and most of the time it was worth the time and effort. I will eliminate one though. They turned a craft sale into a GARAGE SALE... YUCK. All the buyers wanted used stuff and passed right by the crafts.
I will try to post some of the pictures of our projects later.

Help was nearby

Well, I actually got some much needed help. Now if I can remember it all. My beautiful Granddaughter pinkrocket helped me. I fear that she will be on call often.
As soon as I can I will take pictures of my barren garden. Then will experiment getting them posted.
As to my title page, there is a good reason for it. We threw out all the garden rules while expanding and editing our garden. We nearly always buy or get the plants before we have any idea where they will go.
That began many years ago when our 3rd son was in the landscape business. (well actually well before that but thats a different story). He would bring plants of all types for us to plant. Trees & shrubs mostly. He'd say here, you plant it, and leave. Then come back a year or so later and admire "his" work. Or say, "you should not have planted there "
We were blessed with 3 of our children being in the business of landscape at one time in their lives. Tim got his degree in Plant and Soil Science and was a landscaper for many years. He was very good at it too. He had to give it up due to injuries.
The 4th son got his degree in Agriculture Education. While not really in the business he does do landscapes for friends. He is a science teacher now.
Our youngest, our daughter got her degree in Horticulture and Turf grass management. She worked in the business for a year and loves it, but it didn't love her that much. She does landscape designs and plans to get an education degree this year.

looking at my garden upside down

looking at my garden upside down hi again. I am going to have to really search the blogs sights to find out how in the world everyone does this. I didn't think I was this stupid! I wish I had asked someone all about this before I began.
On to other things.
My garden is now bare. Winter was funny here. We had far more warm weather than we wanted or needed. Little or no rain for months. Seems funny to have to water in January.
Rain for the weekend and no one cares!
We spent several days pruning shrubs and pulling the dead stuff. Oh my aching back. I know it was worth the effort but we both suffered. Usually we dont begin this sort of thing until nearly planting season but now we are ahead for once!
This next week we have to clean our ponds. They get so filled with leaves, in spite of us trying to keep them out.
We have 4 ponds, 2 larger ones and 2 smaller ones.
Koi in just the larger pond and goldfish in the others.
More on the ponds later.

Hi everyone. I hope you will enjoy reading my ups and downs. I have a lot to learn about doing this blog. Stick with me while I struggle along.