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

Men in trees

DH's work buddy, Billy, recently got a new fancy BBQ smoker.  He enjoys smoking ribs, brisket, and chicken wings.  Since his smoker uses wood, he was looking for a wood source.  DH struck a bargain with him; if Billy would come out and help DH with cutting and splitting wood, he could have a share of it. 

Yesterday they cut up a couple of downed trees and they will split it in another couple of weeks.  Due to last year's drought, we have plenty of dead and downed trees to choose from.  In one day, the two of them were able to get more work done than DH could have done by himself in two.  Here is DH cutting up a huge tree that fell down (we heard it!) this spring.

DH and Emma decided to take a break after lunch today.  She likes to lay on the couch behind his head - he calls her his "hairy headrest."

LoneStar

Making holes in the wall

DH and I had a nice week off together.  Projects got done.  We did some relaxing.  Then, as is often the case, DH had a wild week when he returned to work on Monday.  So this weekend we are doing a lot of relaxing in between minor projects.  

We are now ready to get the electrician out here to do the work DH can't do.  DH was able to set the new breaker box next to the old one, and the electrician will need to move the power from one to the other.  DH had to do some major construction on the wall to do this.  He cut a big hole in the wall and then made it bigger.  He replaced old, bad wood with new wood and then spent time patching the outside of the house temporarily to keep the rain and heat out.  As soon as the electrician does his thing, we will refinish about 15 feet of the front outside wall of our house.  We'll remove the shingle siding and replace it with Hardi-plank and paint.

Inside before (with the freezer still in the den).

Outside before.

Cutting the hole.

Emma supervises.

Holey moley.

A whole lotta wall gone.

Patching the hole.

Sealing the hole.

New box next to old box, ready for electrician!

On the stitching front, I finished the July square of "Crabby All Year."  Now I'm grudgingly working on "One Nation" or "that durn flag" as I affectionately call it.  I intend to stitch on it all through the month of July and then bury it in my stitching bag again.  It remains a boring and tedious stitch to me.

LoneStar

Is it Wednesday already?!

Happy Independence Day, America!

DH has taken the week off to work on the house and relax some.  I've intended to post every day this week, but I haven't.  

This weekend, DH was planning on getting up on the roof to install two plumbing vent pipes, some of the last bits of plumbing he has to do.  Of course, we had intermittent rain a good bit of the weekend which kept the roof just wet enough that he couldn't work on it.

It made him grumpy to have his plans thwarted by rain, so I sent him out to his shop to finish making and mounting the drawers and doors on his shop workbench, which he did.  

The doors and drawer fronts are made from old cabinet doors DH salvaged from a remodel at work.  He saved them from the dumpster thereby saving himself a bunch of money.  The drawer pulls and door handles we got on clearance from Lowe's for fifty cents each. 

On Monday, the weather was cooperative enough for him to get the vent pipes done.  The summer weather is definitely hotter now.  DH hates sweat running down in his eyes, so he "borrowed" one of my microfiber sweatbands to wear.  I think he looks rather jaunty, don't you?  ;-)

I've been stitching on the July block of "Crabby All Year" and hope to have it done by the weekend.  I plan to spend the rest of the month of July stitching on "that durn flag."  Hopefully I can make myself work on it enough to get a lot done on it.  

LoneStar

What do you like?

Some days when I have a bit of extra time, I like to go blog hopping.  I'll read a favorite blog and then check out blogs they may have linked to.  When I first started reading blogs, this was the way I found most of my favorites. 

What do you like in a blog post?  I know what I like and most of my "likes" have to do with formatting.  

For me, the font must be readable.  There's a reason most blog templates use old standbys like Arial, Courier, Georgia, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, or Verdana.  These are all very readable fonts that are easy on the eyes.  Some of the fancier blog templates use fancy fonts - you know, the ones that look like calligraphy or a kid's writing.  These are very hard to read in paragraph form.  If a blog has a hard-to-read fancy font, it won't make my blog list no matter how interesting it is.

Another thing I look for is justification.  Is the blog text aligned to the left (which is normal)?  If the blog writer centers his/her text, it makes it very hard to read as the eye has to find the beginning of each line.  It also takes more time to read.  So if the blog's text is centered, that blog won't make my blog reading list either.

Then there's the color of the blog.  Recently, I came across a blog whose primary  background color was black with a bright purple colored fancy font.  ACK!  I couldn't find the back button fast enough!  Reading white on black is hard on the eyes. 

And last, but not least, is music.  Just because you like to listen to Metallica doesn't mean that I like it.  As my internet connection is slower, sometimes the music doesn't start until I'm halfway down the blog post and it startles me.  Being startled does not endear the blog writer to me so the blog won't make my blog list.

LoneStar

It's bigger now

DH got installed the new window in our utility room this weekend.  The room had only one window in one wall, so we added another on another wall to give the room a lot of natural light.  And boy! I can't believe how much bigger the room looks now!  It's amazing what a little light will do!  The window is on the wall beside my stacked-for-now washer and dryer.  Now I don't have to turn on the overhead light to see to load the laundry soap dispenser.  (That little "window" by the floor is actually Emma's dog door.)

Getting ready to frame in.

Framed, ready to cut the hole.

Hole cut!

Finished, ready for trim molding.

We had our first triple-digit heat days this weekend.  Summer is here for sure.

On the stitching front, I seem to be making poor choices.  I started stitching a JBW design on some raw linen stitchband with DMC Variations floss.  The floss faded into the linen; the colors weren't popping off the fabric.  Exasperated, I frogged it all and went in search of another color of stitchband in my stash.  Alas! I don't have anything wide enough.  So I rummaged around in my stash and came up with "Summer" by Redbird Designs which I'll stitch on light blue Jubilee.  

Emma spent the morning barking at deer around our house.  Some of them will wander right up to our fenced-in yard and simply stand there watching her bark her head off.  Silly dog.

LoneStar

Possessed mower

DH had to mow this weekend.  As usual, the riding mower needed maintenance.  When we bought this durn mower it was on the advice of several friends who had a Cub Cadet mower and loved it.  Consumer ratings were high on it.  Apparently, we have a lemon.

This mower has been a pain since we bought it.  Constantly deflating tires, the belt slips off, battery always dying - it's not reliable.  At any rate, DH had to work on it and Emma helped.

LoneStar