FYI...Just for Fun

Today we had 72 degree F weather.

Go figure!

Take care.

One of the Last Strawberries

Ok. You're going to think I'm goofy. Well...

Heart Strawberry

Here's one of the last strawberries we got from our strawberry patch this year. I thought it was cute. I've never seen such a pretty heart-shaped strawberry.

I hope this put a smile on your face today.

Take care.

Night Walk

Tonight I asked Hubby to go on a night walk with me. I just finished baking a batch of double chocolate cookies and felt like taking a walk. It is hot inside and cool and windy outside. The temperature is about 75 degrees F, so it is really nice out. We took small flashlights and the dogs came too. We visited our back garden with the strawberry plants in it and our side garden with all of our tomatoes in it. We checked our driveway solar lights and replaced a couple that had fallen over. It is really neat to see how different everything looks at night. Our 'Eywa' is beautiful and swaying in the breeze. I wish I could get a good picture of it to show you! We checked our peach trees and oak trees that we transplanted a couple of months ago. The peach trees are in bloom. The oak trees are blooming and coming to leaf. We checked the chicken yard for rats...none there tonight. The chickens heard us talking and a couple of them gave out a little coo.

It sure is nice to live in the country. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else! If I HAD to live in the city, I'd make sure I had the whole yard in gardens and bird feeders. Luckily I don't HAVE to live in the city. No offense intended to anyone. I just don't see myself living in the city any more. I'm a country girl and love it!

Take care.

No More Poopy Coop!

Today is the funnest day of the month! Not really!

Coop cleaning is one of the messiest, stinkiest and dirtiest things I do. Top that off with an escapee chicken and nosy dogs, then you have a day of learning how to do many things at one time. Mainly, watching lots of animals at one time so no one gets hurt or eats stuff they shouldn't. (Yuk!)

However, it's a very quiet job. Raise hands to show how many would want to do this job? Thought so. These are my babies and I take care of them.

Lola

 Around the house, if you want something, you do it. This has been my job for about the past 10 years. They are so cute! All of my pet chickens have gone to the great farmyard in the sky. I used to be able to hold them or let them ride on my shoulder. Lola was the last pet chicken to go. She was really funny and a holding chicken. She liked jewelry and always pecked at my earrings and rings. That was the easiest way to catch her. Flash her some bling, and she'd come running!

Well. I have to go for the day.

Take care.

Projects Completed

I've done a few small projects, lately. I've been in a refurbishing mode and I'm having a ball with it!

The first project...

Gazing Ball

So what! What's so special about a silly ol' gazing ball? Well, I've had it in the garden a few months. After I got it out there and we had a couple of good rains, the humidity removed all of the silver from the inside of the ball. Even though there is a plasting cover over the opening, the silver melted off of the inside. So my gazing ball turned into a 'gazing through' ball.

Hubby and I had mistakenly purchased a few cans of chrome paint because the cap was gray. Hubby needed gray paint for the wheels of his dump truck. Surprise! Not gray...chrome.

So I bought some white primer...good stuff. Right! Half of the can came out in a dry mist. The rest of it came out like normal. After the primer dried I rubbed my hand over it and took off the dried mist. Well, most of it flaked off. Then I primed again. Then I took a can of chrome paint and painted the ball several times after the primer dried. It's not a shiny gazing ball. It's got kind of a sandy texture to it in places and shiny in other places. I like it! It looks pretty cool since no one else has one like it.

Here's my before and after project.

Side Table - Before



Close-up of Detail

  We've had this side table for a long time. I've seen them at yard sales and was going to pick up another one to make a match, but didn't. Well, they are really made crappy. It's not a bad looking table, but it was beaten up pretty much. When I sanded it down, I saw how cheaply it was made. The legs were made of pieces of wood glued together, then cut and shaped. Thin plywood is the top and the shelf. The top had lifted a bit in spots and my dog had chewed a corner of the table top. It had some markings underneath the table top and on the shelf, so I didn't refinish the underneath parts for later reference.

Ta Daaaaaa!


Shabby Chic Table - After

Not too bad for a first major Shabby Chic project, eh?!

I sanded, primed and painted it with white latex paint that I had on hand. Mod Podged a piece of pretty paisley wrapping paper to the top to cover the raised area and a bad finish. I sanded the edges to give it a worn look. I gave it a coat of paste wax and put it into the 'company' bathroom for now.

I had a willow basket in my basket stash. I dry-brushed a little of the white on it to cut down the darkness. It was a really dark walnuty brown.

I still have to paint the walls and put mouldings around the ceiling and floor in the bathroom. Then I'll make the curtains and shower curtain. I already have the material for the curtains. I was planning on this being a beachy-style room. But, because of the material I have on hand, it will be a cottage-style room.

I also have that 'special project' to make for in here. I mentioned it before and I haven't started it yet. I'm still gathering pieces to finish building it.

I'd like to find a nice small chandelier-type light fixture to put in here. We're going to the flea market tomorrow! Hee Haw! I'll be scoping out chandeliers and milk glass vases for in here. Oh, and maybe some chunks of wood for the 'special project'. I hope I find at least one thing on my list.

I just noticed that it also looks like I need a piece of beadboard on the side of the vanity. This small remodeling project is starting to sprout wings! Well, at least it will be pretty and new when I'm done. This is the first room of a whole double-wide trailer load of rooms that I want to refurbish. Right now, it doesn't look so much like a trailer, but I want it to be more of a home.

Take care. I'll be showing you more of the project as I go along.

Coffee!

I love my morning cuppa coffee. A little while ago we purchased a new coffee maker. Just like anything else, it took a while to get used to the new machine. Here it is. It is the best investment we've made in a long time. I'd have to say it's probably my best investment in kitchen appliances. It has a water reservoir that you put the water into. And, here's the best part, a coffee reservoir that keeps the coffee hot without evaporating or burning. This means you get a really good cup of coffee every time. No burnt taste. No concentrated nastiness. Just a nice, smooth cup of coffee every time for the next two hours...if it lasts that long. Next best part of this little baby is the dial on the top. It's like a fuel meter. E for empty. F for full. You know exactly how much is in the coffee reservoir. You can set times and do a few other things to get the coffee how you want it and when you need it. No glass carafe! Yay! Stick the cup under the spout and press the lever down. Out comes the good stuff!



I have this near my kitchen entryway, next to my fridge. This little bit of counter space is useless except for making a coffee station.

I thought I'd share this little bit with you in case you're looking for a new coffee maker. I highly recommend this type. This brand is great, but we also have a smaller one in our camper made by another brand. It is just as good, but not as fancy.

Take care.

I hope your next cup is as good as mine will be!

Michelin Stars?

Look what I found hanging in my kitchen!

My Michelin's

I've got a 5-star kitchen! Who needs Michelin reviews?

This is another idea I got from Trash2Treasure, the site by AJ mentioned in my last post. I got 2 pieces of crappy wood rescued from our burn pile, which my hubby gave me really strange looks for. Then, I dry-brushed on the blue base color, then stenciled the stars and painted 'kitchen'. At first I was going to make some beachy-looking signs for my bathroom revamp. I did the stars first. Hmmm, I thought of Michelin stars and decided to promote my kitchen to a 5-star kitchen without the help of Michelin. My kitchen has earned this distinction, IMHO. ; ) Maybe next time I'll make a sign for the bathroom.

One of my favorite things to do in life is to cook. In fact, I just finished cooking for this week's meals. I do this on Sundays since I don't feel like doing much during the week after work. My lineup today was pork steaks in saurkraut, lentil salad, macaroni salad and macaroni with meat sauce. I'll make a greens salad tomorrow and we'll take a little of this and that to make our meals for the week. I also have potato soup, which I made last Thursday, in sealed containers in the fridge. I think this will hold us for a few days.

Take care.

Stop by again.

Some Crafting Stuff

Hello everyone!

Today is my show-and-tell for all of you. I've been crafting a little and I'd like to show you what I've done.

First, for our little home on wheels...

Wheel Cover

I bought some marine-grade vinyl because the sun in South Carolina is wicked on any kind of plastic. I cut a round and a side band. I sewed them together and made a sleeve on the open end so I could hold it on with a drawstring. It went 1800 miles and is still on the camper wheel. Yay!

Next, a few somethings for our bathroom...

Stuff Before Redo

After Painting

I couldn't stand this little etagere any more. I've had it for nearly 30 years and it had to change or go. The wastebasket above got a fresh coat of paint. The little fishies got a white dry-brushing. I should've done it sooner, but I didn't have the nerve to paint them. Glad I did!

Then...

Refinished Mirrors

I couldn't stand the little brown wooden mirrors anymore. So I painted and distressed them. I LOVE them now.

And a little something more...

Candleholder with Air Freshener

I saw this craft on a website, which I'll mention more of at a later time. This woman, AJ, has a FABULOUS way with repurposing stuff. I ADORE her website!

Anyhow, this is a cheap-o glass candle stick from a dollar store, an old candle holder and a chunk of light blue ribbon. Inside is a white votive that I had in my candle stash and the blue stuff is crystal air freshener from the dollar store. This is put together temporarily with hot glue. I just found some E-6000 to permanently bond stuff together. I'm going to change out the ribbon for some jute and seashells to make it more 'beachy'. I still need to make curtains and a shower curtain. Then I'll show the whole shebang when It's done. I have another project for this room. I'll show you that later.

Take care.
Happy crafting!!!

New Coop!

Well, it's not really new. It was actually a storage shed we made into a coop / potting shed. I like to call my side my 'Mama Cave'. : ) We've lost a few hens and all of our roos so we're only going to keep a dozen or so instead of the 40+ we had. Downsizing is everywhere!

Front View

Back View

We do have wire over the top because of hawks. A hawk got one of them last year and it wasn't pretty. Funny thing is, we had chicken wire on top of the last one and the darned hawk pulled up a loose end and crawled in, we think. This one is tied in really well. I have the muscles to prove it!

Perches



New Nest Boxes

Yes, that's linoleum on the floor. I wanted to make it easy to clean so we went out and got remnants.

BTW, I found the setting to make more than one pic fit into a post.

I spoke too soon. I may need a better ethernet card. I replaced a blown one and didn't realize 'good price' meant 'slow moving'. I'll need GBs instead of mbps.

Anyhow, I've cleaned it and it works like a dream!

Table Napkins

In case you haven't noticed yet, I cannot publish more than one pic at a time for some reason. I've got to check my settings so please bear with me. Here's the next installment.

Did you ever get sick and tired of buying paper napkins? Do you hate to have pieces sticking to your fingers when you use paper napkins? I did. So I went to my trusty fabric stash and unearthed a bit of forgotten cotton cloth to make these.

They work really well. They clean up really well. I'm saving trees. I love being environmentally mindful. I try to use what I have before I buy. These only took a few minutes a piece to make. The hardest part was trying to figure out what size. The red and gold are 18" and the flowered ones are 15". I really don't know which size I like better. I guess I better make more of each size.

Tidbit of Information - Be Aware!

Hello everyone! Today I have a small tidbit of information for you.

Last week, I had requested to have allergy testing to see what foods I am allergic to because of a certain health problem. I specifically asked for food intolerance and food allergy testing. The GP's office told me it was very comprehensive and would be expensive to pay out of the pocket.

My insurance covers it.

I made the appointment and had blood drawn.

Several days later, my husband received the phone call with my results. It seems I am allergic to dog fur! I have two dogs. I've had as many as 4 in the house at one time. I've had dogs for most of my life! Imagine my surprise to know that I am allergic to my babies! No wonder I have a stuffy head almost every day. This was not the bad part.

I called my doctor's office to get the scoop on the whole shebang. I asked to see my labs and I received them via fax. Here is the bad part...

My lab results only included cow's milk and peanuts! Everything else was environmental. Trees, grasses, bugs, animals, etc. Only 31 results were listed! They only checked 31 things! Only 2 were foods!!! Comprehensive?!

I called back to complain and they said they would check into it and call me back. I was fuming! I specifically requested food intolerance/food allergy testing. They offered to redo the testing for foods and not charge me for the environmental. They said it would only cover about the same amount of items that the environmental covered. YOY!!!  I am thinking about it. I have seven days after the blood draw before they destroy my sample.

What to do? Be charged for nothing much that would be of benefit?

The moral of the story is to ask to see your labs to make sure they are doing what they said. It is easier to dispute something when you see it right away. Why charge your insurance for things that you didn't request? I would never have known the mistake. I wouldn't have questioned it at all and would have wasted my money and my insurance money and believed I was only allergic to dogs. They want to send me for a scratchie test to find out other allergens which the blood test didn't cover. Yeah. Right! Like I'm going to believe them now. I don't like doctors to begin with and this is sealing the deal.

I'm looking into an alternate route.

Be aware! Take care.

Afghan Done!!!

Finally...here's a pic of the afghan for my GDG.

 

Full-on shot of afghan.

It took quite a long time to make since I had to change colors on every row and count stitches. It's about 66 inches by 48 inches. I ripped out a lot of rows on this one! I hope she likes it.

Now, I'm off to the races for the GDS!

(Not using names in case they come in while Mom and Dad are viewing.)

Cooking for the Week

Here's what I do on Sundays. I know...day of rest. For me, cooking is fun. I don't consider it a chore.

I make dishes I can serve up quickly for the rest of the week. After two days, the leftovers go in the freezer for later. This helps out when I can't make something because of appointments.

White rolls. Here's my story with this. I've made bread for about 15 years now. I can never get it just right. My crumb is too coarse and the roll falls apart when you eat it. When we went on vacation, I bought a loaf of bread made by an Amish woman. It was heavenly! When I cut it, it was so light and airy I thought it would float away. Literally. It was moist, cut well and made great sandwiches. No dry crumbs with her bread. It had a nice shape. The top was rounded and high. Beautiful!

Now I had something to stack mine against. I knew it could be done and this Amish woman was a master of the bread baking. I went home and got out my recipe. I read the general directions for bread and I found no more clues. OK. I'm doomed to make lousy bread. Wrong! The thing I have never done is kneaded the heck out of it and get as much flour in it as possible before the dough rips. Bingo!!! It worked. I have light and fluffy bread rolls that are moist and tender and stay together. Ta da! 

 Croatian potato salad. It's simple and a lot less fat. Cook your potatoes like normal. Cut them and put into a bowl with some onions. I decided to use red onions for color. I usually use what's on hand and that is white onions. I love the onions from the garden and I chop the green tops into the salad for color. Waste not! Vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and about two tablespoons of Italian dressing for extra flavor. I give the Italian dressing a squirt, which is probably more than two tablespoons. The longer it sets, the better it is. I like it cold, but you can eat it warm, too.

 Pulled pork butt from the crock pot. Hubby loved it this time. It's usually pretty dry. This time, it was just right. It went great with the white bread rolls.

And, with some of the white bread dough, I made pepperoni and mozzarella rolls. You can cheat with this and used thawed, frozen bread dough. Roll out dough. Line up the pepperoni along one end. I used sandwich pepperoni. Add mozzarella. Roll. Rise. Bake. This time, I laid out the pepperoni and mozzarella over about 2/3 of the surface of the dough before rolling. It made a nice streak of meat and looks good for presentation. You can use any dry type of meat for this. Don't use cooked ham! It's too wet and makes a soggy heavy mess of the bread. Dry Virginia baked ham with cheese is good. The other Italian deli meats are probably good, too. Prosciutto, cappacola, sopressata, etc. Not cheap. Wouldn't a nice calzone be good with this dough? Hmmm.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my food prep for last week. Take care.

Have a simple day!

The Wild Life

 I guess I should say wildlife. This guy is about as wild as it gets on our property. Except for a few rats, snakes and an occasional stray dog or deer. I don't know what kind of spider he is, but he made a home on hubby's work bench. I couldn't get too close so I zoomed in on him. The pic is pretty bad, but hubby was amazed at his size. Yeah. He's pretty big. About a half-dollar size. Maybe bigger.

Here's Angel waiting for Daddy who's in the barn. He's doing something and she waits patiently for him. She LOVES her Daddy! 

Here's Angel being a good girl with Nuts. We taught all of our dogs to leave the chickens alone. I used to have four dogs watching over my chickens when we let them out. This used to freak out our visitors. People think dogs will chase and eat them. Maybe someone else's dogs would. Mine are really good with chickens. Bunnies, too!

 Nuts has a hard time walking. Rightly so...she was beaten up pretty bad by her sisters and brothers and the other chickens shortly after we introduced them to the flock. She may have brain damage because of the lump on her head and the amount of blood that was on her. She doesn't act quite right.

She has her own 'condo' outside. This is what we used for a chick brooder. Hubby and I made this from scraps. If you look through the back of the condo, you'll see Nuts vegging out in the yard. She loves it out there. When we get home from work, we let her out to graze. On weekends, she has full days of grazing and lazing outside. We have a few hawks hanging around so she needs supervision. Otherwise, I'd let her out all day. She's getting around pretty good now. 

I think the other chickens are jealous of her because she's outside so often. They line up at the fence and stare me down to let them out. LOL! Chickens aren't stupid!

Later, everyone. Have a great day!

Vacation!

We are back from vacation July 9th. It was a really nice time visiting family in PA.

My stepson and his family just bought a new house. We were very excited to see it. As you see, it is not disappointing. It's really beautiful inside and out. This is the only pic we've got of the house. I hope no one minds that it's posted for all to see.

The party is for our granddaughter.

She wanted a luau party and that's what she got. This was a really cute cake. I bet you'd never guess it was all cupcakes and about 3" worth of icing on top! Yum!

They live in a gated community which is in the forest. I don't know if you can see, but this is in their back yard. Deer constantly roam through here. There is no hunting and they are smart enough to take advantage of that. Animals aren't dumb!

While there, we made a stop to my favorite flea market. There was all kinds of stuff there, as usual. I bought some woodwork as a gift for the lady who takes care of our dogs and chickens. I HAD to buy a loaf of Amish made bread and 2 pints of Amish made jelly. These were straight off the buggy and they are the best!!! Now, if I can only make my bread as soft, light, fluffy with a nice crumb as She did...(dreaming).

Then, we hopped over to visit my family. My brother and his partner have a new home and it is beautiful inside and out, too. It's way way way out in the country. It was so far out I don't even know if it was in the USA! LOL!!! They have a few acres, a pond and a boathouse with a swing. It is really peaceful there.

We stayed with my Mom at her house for a few days and helped her a bit. She lives in a really nice area, too.

It's taken me a while to get this onto the blog because my ethernet card was blown out from a storm last week. Now that it's taken care of, I'll be back with more.

Take care. I hope your summer holiday was as nice as mine was.

Sunday Musings

It's been a while since I've posted. We've been busy here.

First of all, we're trying to keep our gardens alive. We haven't had a productive rain in a long while. Last week, we had 5 minutes of rain one day. Then we had a short thunderstorm one night. A guy who I work with lives about 3 miles away. He only got the thunder.

This is in the shade. This is what we've been having for weeks! This was taken around 5pm yesterday. By 8pm, it was still in the 80's. Right now, it's 78 on my thermometer.

 The weatherman says that we have temperatures in the 90's F. The weatherman lives 35 miles away and closer to the ocean where they have breezes. I think they should live where I do. We pray for rain.

Here's a plant that is doing really well. It's Joe Pye Weed. It is really invasive and needs planted in a 5 gallon bucket to keep under control. I didn't control it, so I have to pull out the shoots from all over. On the right of the picture is why I even have this plant. Butterflies and hummingbirds love it! The flowers smell like concord grape juice, to me. The leaves are a bit stinky, though.

Here's Nuts! She got her name when she was a chick, about a month ago. Yes! A month ago. I have never seen a chicken grow this fast. She's a Cornish Rock, which is a fast growing chicken. She was acting goofy one day, playing. So I called her nuts. For some reason, the other chickens pick on her something fierce. They bloodied her comb and head around the comb. She's always been healthy, but she was the runt of the batch I bought. That may have something to do with it. Right now, she's segregated from the rest because she can't walk really well. I know that's from the beatings she's received. I don't know if anything is broken, but she can stand a bit. Her appetite is good. She drinks. She does chicken things. Oh, well. Here's another pet for me!

Here's our experimental garden in the 'back 40'. It is doing really well for not having amended soil. We were a little late planting this year. Closest plants are watermelons and cucumbers. You can barely see the cuke plants because they intertwined with the melons. Next are the squash. I have summer and patty pan. Yummy! Then green beans. Then corn. All is doing well. We are watering this enough to keep it alive.

Here's a watermelon in my hand, for reference.

Here's one of my crafts. I make crappy bird feeders. The birds love them. Probably for the food, but I have them all over the back yard. I make them once every few years because they are not pressure treated and they rot. I don't use pressure treated lumber so I don't kill the birds with chemicals. We have bits of wood laying around from other projects and my hubby gets a kick out of me using power tools, air guns and the like to make yard trinkets. Quite a few years ago, I made a pretty nice potting bench. That was a large project for me. It turned out well. It's rotting and will need replacing.

That little red building in the background was our first chicken coop. We started with 12 and went up from there. We only have twenty-some right now. Now this shed is our wood shed. We store hardwood in there to burn indoors in the winter. Yes. It does get that cold in South Carolina.

Take care, everyone. Have a nice simple life.

Babies!

Last week we went to our favorite feed store. There were these cuties there...on sale.

They are the Cornish breed. Aren't they sweet?

As you can see, their wings are half feathered out. However, they were all a bunch of fuzz when we got them. So, in 4 days time, we have chicks with wing feathers. In exactly one week, as of yesterday, their wings are fully feathered, they have larger tail feather tufts, and their bodies are feathering out a little. Their feet are huge for their size!

If this is any sign, they are going to be whopping-sized chickens!

They've already gone through two sets of increasingly large boxes. And, this past weekend, my hubby and I built them a large wooden cage which should hold them until they get ready for introduction to the flock. They are enjoying exploring their new home.

Maybe Her Last Egg?

I've had chickens for about 9 years. I used to have indoor birds and that got too messy for me. Besides, I became WAY too attached to them and I mourned their passing as if it was my favorite dog or person. Not good for a grown-up. Am I? Hmmm...I'll have to think about that one.

Anyhow, I bought a few chickens to see if I could raise them. Yep. I could, did and do! My one hen and roo are the last ones from my original batch of chickens. You heard right...nine plus years old and still hanging in there. Boy acts like the old man he is. He takes naps during the day. White Hen still looks very young and gets around well.

The pic above is a couple of my eggs to show their color. This is the best I could do with a flash at 6 am today. On the left is a white egg, probably from my leghorn hen, which I bought from mail order. The middle one is green (looks brownish) and is from Peepy, an Auraucana mix and first chicken I raised from an egg. Boy was her daddy and Sweetie was her mom. The blue egg on the right is from White Hen, who is also an Auraucana mix, which I bought. All of these eggs are very large. White Hen was walking funny the other day and I see why. Because she is very old, I think it takes her two days to move the egg along the canal before she can lay. Also, this egg looked like she ate sand and passed it. Must've hurt a bit because it is very rough on the outside. This may be her last egg.

I really hope she starts thinking about retirement. If I was her, I would! LOL!

Comforts of Home!

Mmmmmm! I know this isn't the most gorgeous picture, but it is a very comforting picture. Just think...these are warm out of the oven! Homemade! I sat down with a cup of steaming hot joe, these biscuits and a jar of lemon curd. How much more comforting can you get?! Here's my recipe.

Scratch Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
6 tablespoons of shortening, butter or margarine
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

Cut all of the shortening into the dry ingredients until nice and crumbly.

Then, add...
1 cup of milk or buttermilk (I add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup of either sour cream or plain yogurt)

Stir this all together until the ingredients are nice and wet.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead about 6 times. This will make a few flaky layers.
Pat into about a 1/2 inch slab.
Cut with a biscuit cutter or a floured drinking glass.
Place on an ungreased baking pan.
If you have dough left over, gather it, fold it once or twice and pat into another 1/2 inch slab.
Cut more biscuits.
When you don't have enough left over to cut, make a hand-styled biscuit (see top left biscuit).
Bake at 400 degrees until nicely browned.

Blessings

My Hubby and I are very very blessed. We count our blessings every day.

We have a decent house with a very warm atmosphere. We work at it constantly to get it the way we want.

We are watching our pennies so we can pay off our bills. However, we had to make a not-so-frugal purchase, lately.

Let me explain. We are working hard to pay off our debts...land...mortgage...a couple of credit cards. We are whacking at them really hard. Dave Ramsey is my hero. However, even he wouldn't agree with this purchase.

We had Thanksgiving at our house again this year. It is my holiday to celebrate with family and friends. Our old dining set had a very bad set of creaks and cracking going on. It was 35 years old when we received it as a gift. We had it for 18 years, ourselves. We donated it to someone who needed a dining set. We knew our chairs were on their last legs - so to speak. We actually held our breath during the fellowship as we had done some work to shore up the chairs. So we went out to get something more stable. This is really stable. The price was very good. I hope Dave won't complain too much.

We had our first dinner at the table this evening. It was nice and comfortable and romantic. We needed that!

I made a new recipe and we enjoyed it very much.

Take care. I hope all of you are in a better situation than you deserve. (kinda, sorta what Dave says.)