Junk = $$

I was going to post a picture of my WIP, but I'm so close to finishing it that I'll just wait until it's finished before I post.  I was hoping to finish it up this past weekend, but as I often had a lap filled with a happily sleeping Annie while in my stitching chair, I didn't stitch much.

DH spent a day this weekend loading up the truck with junk and then hauling it to a local scrap metal dealer.  It was one of those niggling things that he's been wanting to do since we moved here nearly five years ago.

Included with our house was a nice loafing shed with a small corral.  DH uses the shed to house our tractor and other lawn equipment.  Also included was a small ramshackle storage shed that leans precariously - we call it the Shrieking Shack - and a small tumble-down barn that is dank and half-rotted.  We plan to tear both of these eyesores down at some point as we really don't use them.  And we'd like to tear them down before they fall down.  ;-)

The Shrieking Shack

The Shrieking Shack and old barn

Both of these structures had piles of old metal in them and around them.  There were things like old pieces of drill pipe from the fence project, old rolls of fence wire, an old washtub, old rusty tools, etc.  DH had no use for these things and as the local scrap metal place pays for old metal, DH wanted to load it up and sell it.  He had 1560 pounds of metal and 45 pounds of copper wire (at nearly a dollar a pound) which netted him just over $175.00.  And he has another pile ready to take this coming weekend, although it probably won't fetch as much money as the metal isn't as heavy.  But it's a nice bit of "found" money for his fun money savings and will probably go for things that are hunting related.

Personally, I'd spend the money on stitching stash, but that's just me.

LoneStar  

The gate

Here is our new gate made with recycled components.  The only thing we had to pay for was the welder's time and DH had to buy a couple of nuts for the gate hinges.  I took the picture standing across the road from our driveway.  You can't really see it too well, but there is hog panel welded to the iron pipe frames on either side of the gate.

DH and I played with Annie a lot in the yard this morning, so she will probably spend the afternoon sleeping.  Hopefully I can get some stitching time in without her trying to sleep in my lap.  I'm nearing the end of my current WIP.  I guess I should get a picture of it tomorrow and post it.  

LoneStar

Another post-slump finish

I was digging through my fabric drawer yesterday and came upon another finish in my "stitched but not finish-finished" pile.  This is "Summer" by Redbird Designs.  It was a stitching retreat project WIP that I got in 2008, and as far as I know, the pattern was never published for sale.  I finished this after "that durn flag" but before the "August" Crabby square.  It was a very fun and enjoyable stitch.

"Summer" by Redbird Designs

It is stitched on light blue Jubilee with DMC and GAST.  The pattern came with WDW floss, but as that was before Weeks was colorfast and I wash everything after I stitch it, I chose not to use the included floss and substituted GAST.  Now that WDW is colorfast "based on industry standards," I've been using their floss and like it.

We're having a cold front today.  The high will only be 98 degrees instead of the 100+ temperatures we've had most of the week, so DH and I will be doing a little work on the property.

We recently had a gate installed at the entrance to our driveway.  You'll remember that we have a long dirt driveway - the length of a football field - and that we own the land that comprises our driveway.   Our driveway is not "public land."  If you look at a satellite photo of our land, it kind of looks like a trapezoidal lollipop (our acreage) on a crooked stick (our driveway).

Anyway, the locals know our driveway is a driveway.  Once every month or so, we get non-local looky-loos or lost people mistaking our driveway for an actual road and driving up it to our house.  There is a dirt road up the way from us that is an actual road, but as the local kids pull the sign off it a lot, it is usually not marked as such.

I'm a friendly person.  If I'm expecting you or I know you when you drive up to my house, I'll greet you happily.  However, as I live back in the woods off the main road, if I don't know you and I'm not expecting you and you drive up my driveway to my house, I'll come out on my porch with my shotgun cradled nonchalantly in my arms to inquire as to your purpose for being there.  That's just the way it is.

A while back, a gal drove up to the house, got out, and seeing me out on the porch with my shotgun, asked if this was [name of road up the way].  I wanted to say, "No, you brainless airhead, roads don't end at a person's house.  You've come up my driveway!"  But I didn't, I was polite and gave her explicit directions to the road in question.  She thanked me and got happily back into her Cadillac SUV.  

Anyway, DH and I wanted to keep the looky-loos and the lost off the driveway so we had a gate and short fence installed across it at the road.  We recycled and used bits and pieces of drill pipe and a gate we inherited when we bought the place.  We only had to pay the welder for his time and one length of pipe.  DH and I need to clear the pile of brush he cut to give the welder room to work off the side of the driveway.  I'll get a picture of our new gate and post it soon.

LoneStar 

A Crabby finish and a PSA

When my stitching slump ended, I plodded through "that durn flag" and finished it.  Then I tackled the next monthly block in "Crabby All Year."  Here is the "August" block.  I found it a very boring stitch with mostly dull colors.  But then again, I guess weeds are pretty boring (and annoying).

And as a public service announcement for dog owners, I want to tell you about a product that DH and I bought after we had lived with Annie for awhile.  Our previous dog, Emma, made small, dainty poops that "composted" and disappeared from the yard rapidly.  We never picked up her poop.

Not so with Annie.  She poops in much larger piles and likes to poop in the front part of our yard right near the front walk.  (Emma was an equal opportunity pooper and used the whole yard.)  So, after stepping in some fairly fresh poop bare-footed, I decided that it might be wise to pick up Annie's poop on a regular basis.

But what should we do with it?  Dog poop in the trash can is very stinky, especially in the the south central Texas heat.  I guess I could chuck it over the fence into the neighbor's pasture, but flinging poop is not very lady-like, especially if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.  ;-)  

I remembered seeing a dog poop septic tank called the Doggie Dooley Waste System in a pet product catalog and researched it.  Unfortunately, it does not work in soil with a lot of clay in it, which is what we have.  So I researched some more and found this product:  Doggie Doo Drain Dog Waste Sewer Line Attachment on Amazon.  We bought it and I have to say it works well.

You screw it in to your sewer pipe cleanout and dump the poop in it, following it with water (either a pitcherful or from your hose) and it goes into the city sewer line if you live in the city or into your septic tank if you have one.  We have a septic tank.  In the second picture, you unscrew the handled cap to dump in the dog doo, replacing it after you've dumped.  ;-)

Septic clean-out cap before.

Doggie Doo Drain attachment after.

LoneStar

Changes: Annie has a "fur-ever" home now!

One of the biggest recent changes in our lives was the loss of our dog, Emma.  In June, she suffered a massive, severely debilitating stroke and we had to euthanize her.  It was a very sad day at the vet's office.

We took our time in grieving over our little friend of 12+ years and we will always miss her.  As the days passed, our grief grew less sharp and we realized that the house was a bit empty.  We talked it over and decided we wanted another Jack Russell terrier (JRT).  DH was leaning toward getting a puppy.  However, due to the influence of my stitching friends Lynn and Jennifer who have both adopted several adult dogs, I went to the Texas Russell Rescue website "just to look."  I was both amazed and appalled at how many JRTs there were out there needing homes.

Long story short, we recently adopted Annie.  She is a young (1-2 years old) JRT.  She was found wandering the streets of Wichita Falls, Texas, last December by animal control.  Very emaciated at nine pounds, she was taken to the animal shelter and was slated for euthanasia due to her growling and snapping at everyone.  Besides being underweight and bad-tempered, Annie also had a missing right eye.  The shelter vet was unable to determine it if was from a birth defect or an injury.

A wonderful lady named Sue came in to the shelter to pick up a couple of chihuahuas.  Sue is involved with Little Dogs Big Hearts rescue and specializes in chihuahuas.  She saw Annie sitting sadly in her cage and she sat down beside it.  Annie soon calmed and came over to Sue for some petting.  Sue decided to rescue Annie and took her home with her and two chihuahuas, even though she had no experience with JRTs.

Annie's JRT personality was a bit much for Sue and her chihuahuas, but she persevered and Annie was very well cared for until we adopted her.   (Sue had named her "Sassy," but DH thought that "Sassy" sounded like a stripper name, and I didn't think she looked like a "Sassy" so we changed her name to Annie.)

She is a joy and all JRT and we are happy that we could give her a "fur-ever" home.  (As I type this, she is galloping back in forth in the house, tossing a toy repeatedly over her head - she entertains herself well.)  I am finding it hard to stitch as Annie wants to sleep in my lap every time I sit down in my stitching chair.  Oh well.  We must all make sacrifices!  ;-)

Sitting with my male human.

I see you!

Playing with my purple ball.

 LoneStar        

I breached the space-time continuum...

I really had no intention of neglecting my blog this long.  Yeah, a whole year.  Life happened.  I lost my stitching mojo for many months.  Other things happened.  Changes happened. 

At any rate, I am back and will be once again posting of my stitching projects and our DIY projects around the house as they occur.  

I finally finished "that durn flag" or "One Nation" by ByGone stitches as it is properly named.  I hated each and every stitch of this project.  I dislike stitching long lines of one color, repetitive motifs, and alphabets.  This project had all three.  But my DH really liked it and asked me to stitch it, so what's a gal to do?  

This gal gritted her teeth and stitched the durn thing.  And yes, I complained about it the whole time I was stitching it.  Here it is stitched on Charles Craft tea-dyed Monaco with DMC floss.

"That Durn Flag"

 

The picture is small and kind of wonky, but you get the idea.  It's a big project (400 x 210) stitches, so it was hard to get a good picture.

LoneStar

Summer marches on

The middle of the country seems to be baking in the heat, just like we did here last summer.  We feel the pain - been there, done that, took off the t-shirt 'cause we were sweating too much.  Not that it hasn't gotten hot here, upper 90s with the occasional brush with 100+, but it's "normal" for us.  August is here and that's fine.

We haven't gotten a lot of photo-worthy work done on our DIY projects, although we are making progress.  DH has been doing more electrical work prep before we get the electrician out here to do his thing.  And he had a to spend last weekend mowing and trimming much of our property.  We're getting just enough rain to keep the grass growing.

We've been fighting flying-stinging-things and creepy crawlies in the house all summer.  With all the holes in the wall from the electrical project, Emma spends her days barking "alert" to wasps and "pointing" out scorpions (evil, devilish crawlies).  Wasps are swatted and killed.  Scorpions are grabbed with our very special scorpion removal tool (needle-nosed pliers) and flushed at sea where I'm sure they have a short life in our septic tank.  All this work made Emma tired so she took a break with her Purple Puppy.

Last weekend, I was accosted by a spider the size of Australia, Iowa, a pickup truck, a German shepherd dog, a grapefruit, my hand - well, it was darn big.  I usually wake up on the weekends before DH.  I was sitting on the porcelain throne doing my business when I noticed said spider lurking under the edge of the bathroom sink cabinet.  I managed to suppress my instinctive "spider yell" to avoid waking DH.  The darn thing was too big to swat dead with a shoe (which would have made a lot of noise and made a disgusting and yucky mess on the shoe), so I dug out bug spray and gave it a good dose.  The dratted spider took too long to die and thrashed and crawled around, so I upended the bathroom trash can over it and left it for DH to deal with when he got up.  It gave him a good laugh.

I am not stitching on the scheduled August block of "Crabby All Year" this month and may not for a while.  I'm rather tired of it interrupting my stitching and doubt that I'll ever participate in a stitch-a-long again.  Surprisingly, I am still stitching on "One Nation," albeit rather slowly, and will continue on with it until I am sick of it again.  I'll try to post a picture this week.

We've been spending our evenings watching the NBC coverage of the Summer Olympics.  Each time NBC does the Olympics coverage, we cringe.  They do such a horrible job.  You feel like you are getting little bits of this and that instead of coverage of an entire event.  For example, they will show the last half of the last set in a match of volleyball instead of the whole thing.  I guess it's better than nothing, but we'd love to see an entire event.  Oh well.

LoneStar