Sister Tackling Cancer - Starting Spring Gardening

Today, my wonderful sister, Linda, started the radiation treatments for breast cancer. She will be receiving localized radiation treatments twice a day for 5 days in a row. Prayers or kind thoughts or loving feelings towards a healthy outcome and positive healing are appreciated.

With everything else going on in our family, this is the last thing she needs to be facing at this time!

She sent this message after her 2nd treatment was completed today to everyone on Facebook. Letting everybody know that she has her "Schmootie Attitude" in high gear and is meeting this head on.

The prognosis is good for a clear outcome as well as she has something very, very special to look forward to... 

A NEW-TO-THEM CAMPER!!!

Steve helped them locate a wonderful newer camper to replace their aging one.  It's in like-new condition,  it even has that "new camper smell".  The sellers think they maybe only slept in it 3 times while they owned it. It was stored indoors and kept in pristine condition. 

Before leaving town for her radiation treatments, she was able to start loading it up with their gear.  Just look at that happy girl! 

 

She had so much fun finding new places for everything and storing it all away. It is something very positive for her to look forward to during this radiation process.

She just can't wait to get it out to the lake, set it up, start a campfire, and sit down in her woven lawn chair next to her husband. She never asks for much in life, just this. She loves camping and campfires and cooking outdoors and fishing and hunting.  This is her life. She is a true Yooper Woman.  All she wants is to get through this and go camping.  Let's all pray that she is granted her wish.

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Last night we had a crazy biker gang pull up an invade our yard. My goodness, such a radical biker bunch. Please notice the little pink helmet peeking around the corner from behind her daddy's butt.

They hung out on the front porch for while, and we had a nice visit. I brought out a big bowl of freshly cut up watermelon as a treat. The weather here has turned warm and sunny. It felt like summertime!  

They only live a mile away, so they made it back before dark. Just in time to wash up and get them off to bed for school the next morning. 

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Speaking of morning, this morning I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful golden sunlight streaming in our new windows!

We still need to complete the inside wooden trim around the windows and hang the Heritage lace curtain valances again. Then I can also put all of my colorful little blown glass paperweights along the window sills. 

Little Claire, 4 years old, was quite upset last night to see that all of grandma's paperweights are off the sills and stored away in boxes. That just didn't settle right with her. It's her job to wipe them down and dust them for me when she comes over.  When we are done, I think I will have her over to help put them back in place again. 

Today, Steve made himself busy working on the soffit and facia of this little overhang on the kitchen nook.  It had never been covered up before, and was a perfect spot for wasp nests and spider webs and bugs!  ewwwwww

It was kind of a One Man Job, not much for me to help him with. So I made myself busy with potting my precious tomato plants temporarily into individual flower parts. Actually, I had to put 2 plants per pot.  They will reside here for a week or two.  I can bring them in at night, and bring out in the morning to get fresh air and sunshine.  They need to harden off and acclimate to the new weather.

My garden plot for my tomatoes happens to be located right where Steve is working. The space is invaded right now with ladders and tools and pieces of siding and soffit and facia and rain gutter. There's really no room to put any tomatoes in the plot right now. This is the best spot in our yard for growing tomatoes, plus it's within a fenced area to keep the sassy deer out.

The weather crept up into the high seventies and it was very nice working on the shady side of the house in the afternoon. I think my misplaced rain barrel just happened to become a work table?

Once the soffit and facia are done, and getting the rain gutter hung back up, the downspout will start filling my rain barrel. I like using fresh rainwater on my plants as opposed to city water.

I had rooted and grown some ivy indoors over the winter, saved from the last few summers.  I put some of it in the silly hanging baskets on the pergola. Little Claire calls them "birdnest" planters. Lol.     

They came with the pergola when we bought it last spring from facebook marketplace.  The sellers threw them in for free.  I don't think the husband liked them at all.  hahaha

Last summer, I let the ivy grow down and weave itself among the lattice work of the pergola.  So this year I gave it a little head start and helped guide it through some of the lattice already. 

Last year, I had also planted some ivy down at the base of the pergola on each side.  I figured it would die off over the winter, and I could plant some new stuff this spring.  But to my surprise, the ivy that was planted in the ground wintered over in the sub zero temps of Wisconsin!  It is growing and sprouting new shoots and greening up!!!  So this will weave upwards in the pergola trellis and meet up wit the ivy growing from above.  It made a nice covered secret entrance to either side, into the She Shed or into the garage. 

 

This is the backside of the pergola, and looking through it is forward into the front yard and the street. On the front portions of the pergola I have red and white Clematis vines that are just starting to grow. Soon there will be blooms, as I see a lot of buds. 

Steve finished up the soffit and facia right before dinner this evening. What a nice neat job he is doing.  Next up is the window trim and siding.  

The weather man is predicting some rain tomorrow. We are going to take a break from all these siding and window projects. We are going to go up in see Steve's dad, Pops Pfundtner, to spend some time with him in the morning and do a few projects for him around the yard. Also we are working in a visit with my sister on the way back through Green Bay where she is staying at a hotel nearby the hospital.  

I think she needs a hug. 

I think we all do.

Around the Yard

Friday was a cloudy day... perfect to get out and about in the yard and do some weeding.  Also perfect to take some photos!  No bright sunlight/shade making the pics appear dappled, and also the colors are better to photograph on a cloudy day. Wanna take a walk around my yard today?

I had my two helpers....

Binney and Finney

I have a couple of plastic rain barrels that I painted up with stencils and Kryon paint for plastics, and Steve added a little spigot to the bottom for filling my watering cans.  I like fresh rainwater for my plants, rather than the chlorinated city water. It looks a little crooked in this pic, perhaps next time I have it drained down a ways, we should shore it up a bit?

 I stenciled my metal watering cans to match too...

Our yard is just COVERED with these little "helicopter" seed pods from the soft maples in the neighborhood.  About this time of year they are coming down almost like snowfalls, and cover the ground and sidewalks and our flowerbeds.  ARGGHHHH

I want to put down my pretty black colored mulch but it's too early yet.  Last year when I spread my black mulch, it looked so neat and nice and trim, contrasting against the green plants and bright blooms.  As soon as I spread it in late may, the helicopters came down and it looked like wood shavings all over that didn't go away.  They just dry up and lay there... obliterating the nice work I did on the flower beds!   They stick up all over the lawns and look like an invasion of dead dragonflies--- LOL

So this year I will wait to spread my mulch 

until the helicopter invasion is over! 

In front of the garage on both sides I put these pagoda shaped planters. They are standing on guard! I found them at a rummage sale last year for a buck a piece. This year I planted some "cathedral bells" climbing vines that are taking off like gangbusters.  I found out they are poisonous to pets and children, so we are making sure that nobody messes with them or pulls off the leaves.  Soon they will bloom with big huge purple blossoms shaped like bells.   Anxious to see them in bloom.....

 (see all those helicopters on the driveway too?) 

I was in the garden center at Walmart yesterday and kept walking past this plant.  It's called Hens and Chicks.  I passed it by twice, each time wondering if I should get it or not?  I have never had any Hens and Chicks, but my daughter Erin bought some and they were kinda neat.  The leaves are hard and firm and waxy, like spikes. 

Well, the third time I walked back past them, I grabbed it!  It is arranged so nicely in the planter for $11.88.   Hmmmmm

I thought they were pretty funky cool!  

(or are they ugly?) 

I read up on them and they only grow for three years, sending out shoots of chicks that you keep replanting or let them spread in a flowerbed.  They are a succulent (cactus) type of plant and can handle drought.  Well, on the third year, it sends up a big spike that blooms over the top, and then the plant dies off!!!  I would imagine it's only the top clump that sent up the spike, and all the sides and babies are new plants to grow for 3 years themselves.  

I cut off about 10 of the babies and stuck them in soil in smaller pots, but I have to get some good cactus soil to replant them once they take root.



About 20 years ago or so, I got these coleus plants from my friend Connie.  Each year I dig a bunch up, and bring them in the house to winter over.  I cut the straggly snips off and re-root them in water and keep making more and more plants.  I have given away countless numbers to friends and family.  My friend Juanita winters them over for me too, in case mine ever accidentally die off.  These are the two newest clumps I started from slips a few weeks ago.  The rest are already in the ground around the house.  I will be able to plant these sometime this week and let them take hold.  By fall, all the clumps are huge lush magenta and fuschia colored plants, with bits of soft green and pink in their centers.  They shoot up tall stalks with tiny lilac colored flowers that don't seem to match the plant at all!

Around the side of the garage, facing west, is my row of tomato cages.  I have 18 plants in this year, with some heirloom varieties and some good Early Girl and Best Boy for eating as soon as they ripen.  Yummmm MATERS!  I do some canning and we enjoy the fresh taste of tomatoes all winter long too. I have another rain barrel coming just off the garage roof downspout to water these in the backyard.  They take a lot of watering because the garage eave overhangs and protects them from any straight down rainfall.

Around the back yard are a lot of perennials, 

planted from over the years of the family who lived here before us. 

Lilacs and peonies ....  traditional old fashioned blooms!

Right before we first bought the house, a huge box elder tree was rotting in the far backyard, and a big branch had fallen off (right where we would be parking the motorhome!)  Once we bought the house, we cut down the rest of the rotting tree so it would not fall and damage anything else. Turns out the other big one next to it was all rotten and hollow inside too. The area was all torn up from cutting them both down.  Instead of digging up the huge 3 foot wide stumps, we buried them in mulch and made a big connecting flowerbed between the two stumps!  It kinda borders the end of our backyard, without having a fence there.  (we have such nice neighbors, we don't need a fence)

 (I need to do some weeding and spread mulch back here too) 

The previous owners had a nice clump of tiger lilies to make a corner area with some more peonies and ferns that come up each year.   This is where we put the intricate cut out camp fire ring that was a Christmas present from our daughter Heather and soninlaw Jesse (he makes these!)

Tucked away behind the tiger lilies are the two sweet grave markers

and the "Ducky Statue".. 

which has wrapped around it's neck the collars of both 

our beloved Duke and Ducky.  

 After pausing a bit back to there to remember those two loveable goofy hounds, 

I wandered up into the front yard to start watering plants that direction.

Here is a big pot of impatiens that are just taking off. Hope they soon become bountiful clumps of pretty red and white blooms!   And my five barberry bushes from Mother's Day should be taking off, and I want to cover the ground around them with black mulch (once those helicopters stop falling and I can rake off the ones around the bushes)

Up alongside the house, it is kinda "messy" yet.  A couple weeks ago this was all a flurry of bright yellow and red tulips and daffodils.  I have to wait for all the tulip stalks and leaves to die off before tidying up this area.  If you cut them off too soon, they don't put the energy back into the bulb for next year.  They need to die off naturally.  I have about five or six clumps of straggly coleus planted along the house.  Soon they will be lush and full and pretty.   Up near the porch is a super duper clematis vine on a trellis.  It will be huge purple velvety blooms all summer long.  Growing like gangbusters, and surrounded by lily of the valley plants.  I love the cut out fretwork of the lattice around the bottom of our porch.

I had to stop to take a pic of the American Flag... we put it out each morning and take it in each night.  The red, white and blue, go well with the red geraniums and white bridal's wreath bush alongside of the front stoop.  I painted the alternating squares of hunter green last spring to spruce up the plain appearance of the front of the house.  Just beige and white was boring to me, so a bit of hunter green here and there made the house look better, in my opinion.

My front flower bed used to be a row of thick old heavy cedar shrubs.  Two broke off the previous winter, so we cut them all out.  Now all the pretty fret work lattice can show towards the street!  I put in rows of hostas and some coleus clumps, plus a row of those red and white impatiens.  Along the far right on the corner i added clumps of hydrangea (my FAVORITE plant!)  that were transplanted from my friend and old neighbor Charlotte up in Oconto.   We added the little cement scallops that I coated with concrete stain so they don't chip and peel like paint would.

In the front yard, we put in a weeping cherry tree two years ago as my Mother's Day present.  I added more scallops around the base and stuck in more impatiens there too.  Hope they are soon big clumps of blooms! The weeping cherry tree is already done blooming this spring and will soon have bright red cherries growing on the branches for the birds to enjoy.

On the other side of the porch, facing north, I put in another trellis and a beautiful clematis vine that Steve got for me last year. It makes the most delicate white blooms, with fringes of burgundy and tiny center streaks of pink. Amazing how lovely these clematis flowers bloom in the evening or early morning, then curl up during the heat of the day.

I added a few clumps of ferns that are not doing so well, and a hunk of hosta.  Got more hostas to shift over here, maybe later today Steve will help with that.


Well, that was a tour of our yard, the last side of the house is just some big cedar shrubs and our doggie potty yard! Guess it's time to take them out for a walk around the block.....

 ARF ARF! 

Upcoming Weekend around Our Old House

We were looking at a three day weekend that we HAD planned to help our kids with a special task... but now it's been delayed until next week.  I will blog about THAT next week then when it happens.  Let's just say they are frustrated and irritated and anxious and excited--- all rolled into one big ball of emotions! But I can't say till it's done and happened. 

Instead, we are avoiding the busy campgrounds and staying home this holiday weekend.  We will go out to dinner on Saturday, heading up to our friends Sharon and Fred's house. And the plans for the rest of the weekend???? 

OUR OLD HOUSE PROJECTS! 

I already started one yesterday afternoon.  When Steveio got home from work, I had him set up the ladder on the front of the house.  I don't care to go up on a ladder unless he is home, just in case.

I took out my green paint (solid colored stain really so it don't chip and peel like paint does)  and did up every other square on the front fascia....  They are kind of  "gridded" sections with a texture that trapped dirt and looked darker than the smoother sections between.  So I decided to make them dark green as a feature instead of just looking like grubby and dirty white sections!  I have five more sections to do.  I ran outta time and had to get supper going, so I will finish it later this afternoon when Steve comes home to do the ladder again.  See the one grid to the right above the 227 number?  That is what I mean about looking grubbier than the smooth sections....

We already have some dark green trim here and there on the front of the house, that I did last year, including the sides of the front steps.  But I wanted a bit more for contrast.   I think it will look good when it gets finished. Once the flowers and hostas all come up in the front flower bed.  Add the two big white cement planters on the front stoop with green ivy plants and red geraniums---- ahhhh we think it will look great!

Next, we might put a "pediment" up on the top gable end for an added feature. 

I was going through my photos this morning and found something I forgot to put on my blog the other day... with the grandtots...  were these fun little wiener doggies!  My mom bought each of her great grandkids one of these in Florida and I brought them back to Wisconsin for them, and they took the wiener doggies all home.  But the wiener doggies are soooo cute and adorable, that I saw them up here at Walmart and bought two more just to keep at our house. 

 Set a cooked hot dog on the green grid.... 

(note the little doggie dish at the left end for catsup!)

Now set the wiener doggie down on top and push downwards

which cuts the hot dog up into small bite sized pieces to dip in the doggie dish of catsup!

 How cute is that????

plus.. it's a no choking hazard for the toddlers on the hot dogs 

because the hot dogs are now cut up into small bites.

The other thing I forgot to mention the other day on my blog was my helper Chelsea in my Loom Room.  I love it when the grandtots want to come in the Loom Room and play with my machines.  She was helping with the weaving of this big heavy looper rug! She pulls the chains of looped fabric through the open shed of the loom---- while pressing down hard on the appropriate treadle with her foot.  (this loom there are only 2 treadles, so it's easy for them to understand)  and then she can weave a new row of the rug. 

Once I help with setting the chain into the exact right place, making a good corner,

she pulls back on the beater with all her might --- BAM BAM to pound it into place! 

Pounding hard and making a racket is right up any grandtot's alley....

I finished weaving up that rug yesterday and added the header to the end ... the headers get folded over three times, clipped into place, and then hemmed on the sewing machine.  I also started a new rug in rich jewel tones in a twill pattern on the other loom.  Might work on that one today a bit.  I do a little at a time and come back again and again throughout the day. Easier on my body that way.

But I think first on the "to do" list this morning is to give two doggers a bath!  They are always up to their doggie shenanigans and full of fun and mischief in the backyard. The white portions of their fur can get pretty grubby.  So I will toss each one in the laundry sink for a soak and scrub.  

Here they are hanging out with Steveio, they are hoping for some treats....  Notice Finney's new begging routine? 

He figures by draping himself over our feet, we can't get away from him.  It's his "stake my claim" position and he has to be just a tiny bit closer to us than Duke's position.  It means we are HIS.  LOL

SEE???

I did do some sewing yesterday too... I am working on a new quilt.  These are the blocks I have started that grandtot Chelsea helped with over last weekend.   I am going to set them apart with rows of black sashing so they really POP out.  This is the fabric I bought while on vacation in Florida, and will always think of my Mom and Auntie Lois helping me find it when we were down there.

 Kinda hard to photograph, but they are purples and lilacs and pinks.. not blues....

The morning sun is streaming in on the front porch as I type this.  The temps are in the high 40's this morning, but soon to get to 70 or more. Steve was here sipping coffee for a while, but now has left for work.  I snapped this one before he left....

Now that we finally got some spring time weather in Wisconsin, and the danger of frost has passed---- I planted some little pansies with "Happy Faces" as my Mom says....  into colored bamboo pots for the little rack by the back door.  Being all cement between the garage and the house, it's nice to have a splash of color to greet us as we go in the back door.

I also bought 18 tomato plants that need to get planted along the west side of the garage, so I think that will just about fill up our weekend around the house.  If not, I am sure Steveio can add to the "to do" list around Our Old House!