Winterizing

Late fall is turning into winter rather quickly this year. Another round of rain snow will be arriving tomorrow night. The low 20's is the destination.

I'm thinking Friday will be below my minimum operating temperature most of the day.

That means I can stay home much later in the morning to finish closing down the house next door and finalize my own needed winterizing before heading out to get vats of pond scum ready for the cold. I heard a whisper of teens for next week.

Inside where it's warm

I pretty much pinkie swore I was not going to end up with a house full of plants.

It happens when you stay in one place long enough. Stuff accumulates.

There is good news. I'm not a hoarder. I decided some things could be annuals and left them out in the cold to die.

There is some interesting news too. Inside my tiny house there is some object, some trinket, a shiny object I picked up along the way, that covers the span of my life, all the beautiful places I have lived and so many friends along the way.

Another Day In The Garden

They didn't go far. I was satisfied after a few arrangements on the main path into the garden. For now. I can always take them for another walk if the mood should strike.

I liked the view from the front porch too. It is already on the agenda to limb up the Kousa Dogwood when it is finished blooming. I want more sun to get beneath it. That will reveal the other blue glass orb from the front porch.

My other main project for the day was replacing the light fixtures on the basement patio. They were not doing well with the snow sliding off the roof. I thought a spiked top would help.

They came in black or white. I didn't want either color. Step one was to take them apart and paint them grey.

It has become apparent that the exterior lighting mounts are wrong. I don't know if they are installed wrong or if they are the wrong kind. All my exterior lighting mounts are wrong. That is what you get when you are not an electrician and build your house yourself.

It is now on my list to change all the exterior lighting mounts one day. I would prefer they be right.

There is enough going on out there to distract me in the meantime.

And you just know the old light fixtures are going to find a new home. I like that shape a lot. I can easily see a tree in the forest having a light fixture.

The first lily is here.

Some much appreciated rain fell today. I have been having to water pots and vegetable gardens. I don't like that. Rain is way easier.

So ends another day in the garden. It has been a very artsy spring this year. Big yellow pots with Chinese Rhubarb, a rusty Mobeel, hand made glass flowers and now cement urns with blue glass orbs have found a home in the garden. Lord it's going to be busy out there in the barren time.

Eight Years And Ten Months Later

I sat down in the basement patio.

And it was good. I did not want to get back up.

A table and chairs have come to live there. It is no longer a pass through space. It is a fully functioning destination. The purpose is to sit, relax and enjoy the view. It will make a fine place for al fresco candle light suppers and morning coffee.

I will blend in to the scenery and watch the traffic pass me by. And it will be good.

The south west exposure could prove a challenge for a few hours of the setting sun. I may need a pair of shades, for my eyes, not the patio. I don't want to mess it up with blinds.

The new furniture is completely mobile. It can move with the sun or shade, rain or clear skies. I'll set there and see what happens. I have a functioning basement patio and bird's eye view now to watch the Lush explode.

Meanwhile at the Posh Estate, Lorelei has arrived.

The Snow Lounge

No surface in this house will go unlounged and I meant it. It was a bit too snowy today for Miss Collar who only managed a short trip next door and back before coming in from the cold.

I spent some time in my new lounge.

Because it has been snowing pretty thick all day.

It seems more snow is falling than is piling up. The ground must have enough stored warmth to get a melt going.

Up in the mini-loft library the real side of the Hawaiian quilt has been revealed. It still flows color wise with the Marigold walls and light blue of a Datsun tail gate.

The custom made base trim was installed to hide the metal brackets fastening the posts to the floor. My posts look like burning candles. I'm good with that. The finials are threaded on to the top. I can always change my mind if I find something more interesting. Something in metal might be nice, two small gargoyles or griffins perhaps?

It is now 17 degrees and the snow is coming in waves between clear skies.

There is more lounging in the diagnosis for tomorrow.

Closer

Sometimes you just have to get over trying to be pretty and artistic and just fasten the posts to the floor. That is what I did knowing I had bought some pre-finished molding  to cover over the metal brackets. There is another bracket on the other side of the post. They are well secured.

The pre-finished post molding fit fine. It was even a little loose until I added the brackets. It don't fit no more. Plan C and 1/2 will be some custom fit 1 x 3 trim. That is the last little detail.

The saddest part of this whole adventure is the money that got wasted on the post redo.

But the mini-loft library turned out great. The flip chair might be a tad too big, but I can live with it. You can see the it don't fit no more pre-finished molding on top of the shelves.

My hand made especially for me Hawaiian quilt has come out of storage. Color wise it flows beautifully. Up there it is safe from kitty claws. Damn varmints!

The wire railings are now taut.

This is the quilt Mrs. Baker made specifically for her long time gardener when he left the island of Maui for the mountains of North Carolina. My quilt was on display in governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle's office for three months, picking up the island's mana before it was sent on to me. It is far too nice to let kitties anywhere near it. Now it has a safe place where I will be able to see it every day.

( Now that I am looking, the flower print is the backing. The real quilt is on the other side. I'll have to refold it and show you some other time.)

I managed to get my two big winter projects done with some time to spare. More garden chores will be calling soon. Maybe. Snow and frigid are in the near diagnosis. I'll get to test out the new library while I wait for spring.

This is just a tiny sample of what is in store.

Almost

There have been some modifications in the mini-loft library. Unable to ever settle on a bean bag chair, a flip chair was bought instead. This chair opens to go completely flat for a bed and has several reclining positions as the back rest lowers. It is most comfy.

A special order staircase newel was bought so it could be cut in two and it replaced the skinny entry posts that seemed out of scale and annoyed me. I like the fat posts better.

I almost had it finished, but as you can tell from the sagging horizontal wire railing, something is amiss. I have been stymied in my efforts to find a suitable way to fasten the newel posts to the floor. They do of course make a kit for that. Unfortunately I got a 3 1/2 inch newel and all the kits on the store shelves were for 3 inch newels. Plan C is now in the works. Plans A and B have already failed.

I am really really close now to having the mini-loft library completely done. As in Next! I may even break out my hand made especially for me Hawaiian quilt to go in the library.

It is snowing again and starting to stick. There is more snow in the diagnosis for Friday night into Saturday. If I can find what I need tomorrow to fasten my posts to the floor, I will be all ready to spend one of the remaining cold and snowy days of the winter all comfy and warm in the new library.

My indoor projects will be completed and it will be time to deal with the bats roosting under the eaves and pooping all down the side of the house. Can't have that for another year. The built in bat houses under my eaves were so nice the colony kept getting bigger.

In On A Rainy Day

It started raining at noon. It started pouring a three. It hasn't stopped. I was fortunate to have an indoor project lined up and ready to go.

Behold, the finished clothes dresser and closet combo. Finished as in completely done. Next

My attempt to install the bi-fold closet doors last night failed. My rough opening was too wide and not tall enough. Some minor cosmetic surgery was needed to size my rough opening right. Good thing I had used a footer to close down the height of the opening. I was prepared for that since I knew it was a distinct possibility. That went smoothly and the bifold doors were installed. I even had time to drive to town for some nice door knobs.

I now have a bit of shelf space to spare from the former bookcase that use to hold my folded clothes. It won't take long to fill it.

Between heavy rain and melting snow, Culvert Falls began to flow. It is now on my list to make this a more attractive dry fall and stream bed with some rock work that will direct the flow in the direction I want. Every storm strong enough to turn on the falls has sent the water flowing off in a different direction. I need more precision in the direction of flow.

Miss Collar was out in the rain all day. She has a dry hideaway some where out there. The kitties were inside napping all day. That does not bode well for a quiet and peaceful night.

Out On A Sunny Day

The bi-fold closet doors I wanted, the ones I thought I ordered the first time, arrived. I got home early enough from work to get them stained and ready for installation. I plan to do that tonight.

I was staining. Button was stalking.

His sister Miss Dinah.

Hopefully they have used up all their raucous energy and won't need to help me install the closet doors.

Snowdrops reappear in the receding snow. More crocus have poked up from the ground.

There may be some painting weathers to use while I wait for the special order stairway newel I bought to replace the meager posts in the mini-loft library. There is no time to waste now. Springtime and a full work load are soon to arrive.

I'm not sure I got enough rest this winter. I think we need more snow. But it sure is nice when the kitties are less rambunctious at night.

The Wire Railing

Dinah insists on helping more than I would like. But it rained all day. They weren't going outside, no way. I got busy on the wire railing for the mini-loft library.

The entry posts were stained and the wire hooks screwed in.

There you have it, the wire railing.

I like it except maybe the posts don't seem quite right. Too wimpy. Finding an untreated piece of wood to use for a post was a challenge. The right post is out of plumb by about half to 3/4 of an inch. It was screwed in un-plumb. I didn't put enough tension in the wire to pull it out of plumb. That may get fixed. But there is a time to stop and step away before you mess up.

If I should find something better for posts, they will be easy enough to change out. For now, the next step is a medium sized bean bag chair.

The Mini-Loft Library

Behold, the mini-loft library. It is exactly how I imagined it. Thank goodness the Minion was able to rotate my failing design by 90 degrees to bring my vision to life.

I have more books than shelves I built for them. I have even more books on other shelves in other rooms. This will do for now. I have other winter projects I need to tend to. A big one being adding another layer of screening over the the perfect bat house size indentations in the roof vents under the eaves before the bats return from their winter hibernation.

In case you wonder how I get up there, the loft ladder I bought unhooks and can be moved over to the mini-loft. I was planning ahead.

It was painting weather today and I finished off the blue lattice in the basement patio. I'll have time to decide what colors to paint the underside of the decks. The tops need to be stain painted first. No sense in dripping paint from above and having to go over the bottoms a second time.

Then I painted the main beam of the service entrance porch the Waterloo blue.

But the mini-loft library was still on my mind. I went to town today and bought what I needed for my horizontal wire railings. The posts were installed just so I could see how they look. They screw into a metal base fixed to the floor and can be unscrewed for staining and hole drilling.

It's nice to see an idea that has been in my head for over two years finally nearing completion.