Our RV Is Parked - Birds And Rugs and Trees

The motorhome is parked in the driveway for a couple days. We are going to handle a few haircuts, a dentist appointment, and  then we will refill and regroup to go out again. Depending on the weather, we might take off Wednesday or even Tuesday afternoon. We will see. I think our next goal is to go to a National Forest campground that we know of in northern Wisconsin. We haven't been there for a number of years. It might be nice to get back there one more time before the leaves are down and the snow begins to fall.

For right now, we have a couple things to take care of in the house...

A month or two ago, my good friend Vicky had been sorting through some of her late mother's craft items. She came across this adorable chickadee wall hanging that was only partially finished. She asked if I would mind finishing it up, in honor of her mother to make it for her and her father to enjoy in memory of their beloved mom and wife.

Of course, I jumped at the chance. Beloved Evelyn had already done the hard work of all the adorable little chickadees. All I had to do was finish up the border, sandwich it together with batting and backing.... and run over it with my quilting machine. I put pretty swirls all over it in muted grey thread.  Then I put the binding around the edge and four little hanging tabs on top.

It was a lot of fun to finish it up, and I felt thrilled to be asked to complete it for them to remember her and her beautiful work.

Two weeks ago we spent the day with Vicky and I was able to personally give it to her so we didn't have to ship it in the mail. I could tell she was pleased. We had a great day together, hitting all of our favorite old thrift stores, and a bit of silliness for lunch. 

Her father does the most beautiful stained-glass work and we have been gifted with a few of his pieces in the past. She handed me a big box and inside was the most beautiful large array of holly leaves and bright red berries with a very delicate beautiful chickadee in the center! 

How wonderful is that! What a thoughtful beautiful thing to me as a thank you gift. He really didn't have to do anything, I enjoyed working on the quilt hanging.

Now that we were home for a couple days, I decided to find the right spot to hang it. I walked all around the house looking for the perfect place.

At the top of the stairs in my She Shed, there's this horizontally shaped window that cranks open awning style. It's just the perfect place to hang the chickadee! The hook is securely attached to the glass and it will slowly descend as the window is cranked open and shut. I used to hang a smaller blue blown glass heart from Mexico, and this would fit the space better. 

Little Binney watched me put it up into place. 

She approves.

Today is Sunday, which means it's a Packer Game Sunday. We do enjoy watching the Packer games, but often I will just listen to them while Steve watches. I will turn around from time to time to watch the good exciting plays. In the meantime, I usually sit my butt right down by the sewing machine or on the bench of my Sanna Kangas Finlander Barn Loom. Time to turn out another rug---

I was looking back in my records and I've already woven 11 rugs from this loom since I got it in mid-July. Two rugs became gifts, seven are already sold from my Etsy store, and I only have two left in my inventory. Time to get some more rugs created. I like the colors in this newest one, is kind of Hit and Miss with some flashes of turquoise, bits of gray, and a few little shots of other colors here and there. I love how the colors undulate from one to another.

I weave with two strips of rags together, doubled up which makes for a thicker rug. It lays flatter on the floor and doesn't rumple up as easily. It also gives the opportunity to make more random color changes, without abrupt endings of one color and beginnings of the next color.

Before the Packer game started, Steve thought maybe we should start planting the three new trees we picked up the other day. Happily, the trees made it through the four days while we were camping without being attacked by our backyard visitors, the deer! 

We had stored them close to the garage by the pergola where we hoped the deer wouldn't find them. We were happy to come home and see that none of the branches had been munched off. The first one we got planted was the cute little Japanese maple. This one was smaller than the other two and it is a tree that will stay smaller, more of a dwarf tree. We decided to plant it in the middle of Binney's little fenced-in potty yard. We thought it might give some nice shade to the area where the picnic table is on the patio and add a little color to that portion of the house.

I know it's small now, but hopefully it will spread its branches and reach up to the sky and fill out and become a nice little tree. The leaves are so delicate and dainty and quite small. I've never owned a tree like this before so it will be nice to see it grow and mature.

We quit for the morning and went in the house to watch the Packer game. I worked on my rug while Steve kept good control of his team with some armchair quarterbacking. Of course the players listen to him, and rallied around at the end to win in overtime with a free-throw kick. It was rather chancey but they finally pulled through, with Coach Steve's urging.

It was pretty hot and muggy outside. The temps were in the seventies but the humidity was 79%. It was heavy and grey and cloudy and damp. Not the type of weather we really want to be planting trees in. But they needed to get done.

The next tree we decided to tackle was the red maple tree. This one started losing some of its leaves already, as it is meant to do this time of year. So it might look a little scraggly in the photo. By looking up close we did see some new growth on the leaves and buds so we know it's a good healthy tree. We found the perfect spot for it in the backyard near some of the other maples that we had already planted two weeks ago. We immediately circled it with a new fence and posts and secured it from all three directions with gentle ropes to keep it centered and not bend over in the heavy winter winds.

Here is an up-close pic of some of the maple leaves.  It will be nice to see the new fresh ones break out in the spring and fill up the tree. This one seemed more balanced and symmetrical with more branches than the other two maples we put in a couple weeks ago. I think it will be a beautiful shining glorious tree, based at the northwest corner of our backyard.

Now it's time to tackle the willow tree. This was the tallest of the three trees, about 7 feet or so. I was quite excited to get a willow tree. They are generally pretty messy but they are beautiful--- dipping and swaying in the wind as the weeping branches spill over and down like a shower of leaves. We had one when we lived on the river, and I really wanted a willow tree again. We carefully chose a place where the roots would stay very wet. They do the best in that type of soil condition. Along our fence line we have lots of damp land, and there was a perfect spot to put this tree.

We got it into place and filled in the ground around it and gave it a few more bucketfuls of water. Although the ground was already moist and damp, little bit more water doesn't hurt. I think this will make a nice backdrop for our yard, back behind all of the apple trees that are already planted between there and the house.

These thin wispy willow leaves are really messy. They are not easy leaves to rake up if you keep them in a well manicured landscaped yard. With locating it this far back on our two and a half acre plot, the leaves can blow willy-nilly and I won't care. I was looking close at one of the branches and there's even new growth at the tips. That's a good sign for the tree. Hopefully the roots will get a good start this fall, before the cold weather creeps in and freezes the ground.

While we were working on the trees, we heard a cacophony of crazy sounds in hoarse sounding squawks. Overhead was a big flock of sandhill cranes flying to gather in the nature preserve and the state wildlife marsh behind our home. Group after group flew overhead, screaming raucously and calling to each other.

They know it's time to get going and head south. They know better than any of those educated weathermen, don't they? As we were working on the trees we probably saw 200 or more of the sandhill cranes fly over head.

So here's our backyard apple orchard. There are five different apple trees and one cherry tree. All of them have been surrounded by six foot high fences to keep out the deer. After a number of years worth of growth, we hope to be able to take down some of the fences. Closer to the house are 6 new maple trees and a burr oak in memory of my mom. We are doing what we can to keep them safe and give them a good start.

Inside one of the circled fences around the damp moist land I saw this great big mushroom had popped up overnight. It was about 12 -14 inches high and quite delicate and pretty. I don't even know what kind it is. We'll just leave it there to do its thing. I won't bother to pick it or dispose of it because it evidently needs to grow there. It's inside of a fence, so the dog or the grandkids won't get to it either.

After we were all done with our tree planting, we were debating on what to make for supper. It felt too hot and sticky to cook.  We turned on the AC in the house for the afternoon, and I didn't want to heat it up again with the oven. There is a little crossroads country bar and restaurant called the Cream City Country Club. It really isn't a country club at all. But it's a cute name.  It's only a few miles away. We ordered up some broasted chicken and barbecued ribs for take out. They sure give you plenty of food!

There will be enough left over for lunch tomorrow, for sure.

This evening, we will catch up with some of our favorite TV shows that we missed while we were camping. It's nice that Spectrum TV App allows us to go back in our library in find the favorite HGTV shows that we enjoy watching. So now that the Packers have won, the rug weaving and tree planting is done, it's time to act like couch potatoes and watch a little TV tonight. 

Day 34 - An Easter Miracle - and Trees

(Day 34 of self quarantine) 

For Easter, 

some people want eggs, 

some want bunnies, 

some want ham. 

But this Easter, our family wanted 

LIVER!!!!

Yes, can you believe it? Our darling little Great-nephew Bennet Bicigo has been suffering and struggling for a year now with liver cancer. The first tumor was removed and a second one grew back quickly, and even larger. He just had surgery last week trying to remove it and it was too big and instead he was put on a liver transplant list.

Amazingly and miraculously, on Easter Sunday, a liver became available from a donor. Thank goodness for people who are willing to put other lives ahead of their own grief, and offer an organ donation from a beloved family member who is dying.

Little Bennett went through an extremely long surgery on Easter Morning, and we got the happy news last night before bedtime was that the liver was in and it was functioning! It's an Easter miracle for the Bicigo Family!!!

This is my older brother Steve's (Butch) youngest son Darren and his wife Chelsea who have Little Bennet, along with their little daughter Lilyan.

The world has been tumultuous and they have had a financial crisis during this questionable time of employment. I never solicit donations on my blog, but this one is awfully special and close to my heart.  A GoFundMe page has been started on their behalf:

Link to little Bennet's GoFundMe:

Bennet's Fight

from the page: Please add them to your prayers, and reach out if you might be able to help them in any way (both are facing losing their jobs due to the duration of his stay exceeding FMLA), I would be grateful, and I know they would too!

~~~~~~~~~

We are counting our blessings as Steve is finally starting to feel better. He's not totally up to snuff, and we're not sure exactly what it was that took him down so low and made him feel so miserable for a good two weeks.

Since his energy returned, a bit, we decided to hop on a new project that we have been thinking about.  It was a beautiful day earlier this week, with sun shining and warmer temperatures. A very kind friend of an old neighbor friend offered to let us dig up some beautiful young White Birch saplings from their woods.

We grabbed the shovel 

and in no time flat 

we had a trunk full to bring home!

They range between about 6 to 10 feet in height, so we staggered the variety of heights amongst each clump to make them into a nice landscaping feature.

These should transplant very well because where they were taken from is very similar to the land we are putting them on, and only 6 miles away.

By putting in a clump of 4, if one of them dies off we would still have a nice clump of 3 which I think is the most attractive way to grow white birch trees. We planted the clumps of birch trees in the front yard, balanced on each side of the house, so they are evenly lined up with the corners of the front porch. 

Let us hope they grow quickly and offer good shade and become a beautiful accent to our home.

~~~~~~~

They also told us to dig up a bunch of these small little fluffy White Pine trees. They are so soft and lush, and remind us of the huge white pines that were in our yard when we lived along the river. These little pines were actually located just around the curve from where our old home was. Perhaps some pine cones from our own original trees were part of the seeds that eventually spread down to create these children of the children of the white pine trees from our old yard?

We planted the little white pines into L-shaped formations, about 10 feet from the borders on each front corner of our property. They should make a nice accent and a definition to each side of our property, as well as a nice little backdrop. Might set up maybe a bird feeder or bird bath to look at from the front porch after they grow a bit?

Steve said he loves the sound of the wind passing through the long white pine needles --- kind of a whispery sound on the breeze.

While we were busy doing this planting, Steve remembered a cute little spruce tree back in our own woods. We moved that up to transplant into the front yard, front and center between the house and garage.  He said he hopes that someday it will grow large and we can decorate it with Christmas lights!!!

~~~~~~~

On Easter Sunday, I baked two adorable little Easter Bunny cakes. I was almost out of powdered sugar, but just like the old adage:  "Hey Neighbor, Can I Borrow A Cup of Sugar?"  my neighbor Sheryl had a bag to lend to the cause.  I decorated them up, and dropped them off at both of our daughters homes, along with some Easter surprises for the grandchildren. It felt good to do a little something extra special, even though we weren't going to see the children in person.

Our Easter Dinner was made extra special this year in spite of the corona-virus quarantine. Our oldest daughter cooked up a big family celebration meal at her home. Her husband got some aluminum takeout containers and with the help of their oldest daughter, they cooked up a wonderful meal. Their son kept their younger daughter busy, and they also colored wonderful Easter cards for Grandma and Grandpa.

When the meal was ready, they divvied it up among all of the takeout containers. They split the meals into two transport bags and had us come to their porch to pick them up.

One bag held a complete meal for us, and the other bag we transported out to our youngest daughter's home with her husband and two children. So everybody got a wonderful Easter dinner and we kept together by social media while maintaining our social distancing in each of our own homes. What a wonderful thing for them to do, and was an extra special effort during these difficult times.

Of course, she gave us so much food I think we will get two more meals out of the leftovers!!!

~~~~~~~

We woke up this morning to a final April Fool's Prank! 

We knew it was being forecast in the 4 to 6 inch range. We're very lucky to only get about 2 inches. It was still coming down this morning at 7 a.m., so we crawled back into bed for a while and waited for it to stop. By 8 a.m. the sun was out and everything started melting! Hopefully this will be the last snowfall of the year!!!

I popped out the door onto the front porch to get a couple pictures of our little L-shaped rows of White Pines in the two corners of the front yard. They show up better against the snow than in the grassy photos posted up above.

I saw the little neighbor girls next door quickly making a snowman this morning. It will be the last one of the season and it's going to melt fast. Goodbye Frosty, until next year.

The day is zooming by here, it's already after lunch.  We reheated some of our Easter Dinner leftovers for lunch. Thank you, Erin and Waylen!!!