Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Hey, I'm Back


I wasn't gone or anything.  Just tired and not blogging.  Here's a shot I took of my garden haul one afternoon.  Roses (David Austin), my two tiny beets, four small carrots and the calendula flowers I am clipping and collecting to use to make a salve.


My fig tree is doing better now that we moved it into a shadier location.  Not wilting as much.  These are the figs on one branch.  I have lots of branches.  I have no idea when figs ripen but am seeing more and more recipes on the food blogs using fresh figs.  Mine are far from ready (brown).


The last thing the guys did around here (before moving on to framing a garage and breezeway) was take the siding off the bay window.  Just looking to see if there was any rot.  What they did find, was little to no insulation.  I may have mentioned in years of posts, that the bay window was very cold.  Well, G could run his whole hand into the opening on the right side where the window should meet the wall.  And look at the foam!!!!  This is PACKING MATERIAL for the window in transit.  And at the bottom, a few bits of pink.  Sigh.  The window will NOT be missed.


The best part.  The little peak where the chimney was.  Isn't that perfection?  J is all about the finish detail and this took a very long time.  And it's perfect.  There will be columns and a can light in the curved ceiling (which is hand cut bead board- each piece back cut to fit the curve).

No more work until the doors and windows arrive--which could be 8 or 10 days from today.  The first set of doors was damaged so we got backed up 4 to 6 weeks.  It happens.

The strange thing--neither G or I really care that the job has stopped in the middle.  We are both so busy, that the plywood walls just aren't that big a deal. And it's still summerish. J can't believe we aren't
upset.  We laughed and told him to "Go, do the garage".

We chatted, finally, about the budget, which is blown due to the rotten rafters and the new peaked roof. Things that had to be done to make everything sound and nice looking.  And we talked about my kitchen ideas and the bathrooms.  This may be a very busy fall and winter here at my house.  But J wants every bit of everything here in the house before he begins.  No more waiting for stuff to be delivered.

My kitchen counter is finally covered in tomatoes.  I finished the vegetable soup today.  G has pulled half the cucumber vines out, the weather (wind) blew all the corn to the ground.  We have eaten about a half of what was there.  Small but tasty.  I have pulled the potatoes out of one bucket.  Nice ones.  Not as many as I had hoped but more than last time.  Lots of kale for fall soups.  No more green beans or eggplant.  The onions are in and very tasty.  The late season broccoli looks good as do the Brussels sprout plants.  Tons of good sized green peppers on the plants.  I'm hoping half turn red in the next week or so.

G and I will celebrate our 45th anniversary on Sunday.  Life is good.  We're happy.

2 comments:

Annie said...

Oh those beautiful roses!

I enjoy hearing about how the work on the house is coming along,also seeing the pics.

Last but not least, Happy Anniversary, the years move right along, don't they? We are up to 51 years!

: )

Deborah Boschert said...

I'm so happy you're happy. Really! It sounds like a throw-away little phrase, but it's not. It's big.

I have a neighbor with four giant fig trees. I tried one at her home, just raw right off the tree. It was a little odd. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. She gave me a basket and I sliced them in half, smeared some cheve on each half, wrapped each half with a strip of pancetta, then skewered them to hold the pancetta. I put them on our George Forman grill for 3 or 4 minutes ---- and they were spectacular! Everyone loved them.