Ouch...

So sore...yesterday I weeded this flowerbed...

There were lots of weeds - the flowerbed above looked like this one before I weeded it...
I weeded a whole wheelbarrow full of weeds out of the bed. Today I weeded the other large flower bed in front of the house (the one in the photo above). Tortellini, the tortoise, enjoyed wandering around in the sunshine while I weeded. I learned that he likes to eat dianthus flowers. :-D
Last night and today, DH and DS moved all this mulch (15 yards/2 truckloads) to the flowerbeds and the area around the pool and patio. DS said that he was beginning to think that the tractor purchase was a good idea, as DH moved a lot of the mulch to the patio area with the front end loader on the tractor. It saved them both a lot of manual labor...
Don't the beds look nice now that they are all mulched? The area around the flowers was deliberately left without mulch. The mulch delivery guy said not to get the mulch up next to the flowers until the mulch had cooled off for a couple of days...otherwise, the plant would get burned by the mulch and die.
Here is another mulched bed...
And another...

Out by the patio, DH spread the mulch around these plants...
but ran out of steam here...
This yellow butterfly stopped by for a drink from this puddle today...
My yellow primrose have blossomed...
And my pink lupine...
I have been unable to embroider for a while, as my d-card that I use to transfer designs from the computer to the sewing machine was faulty and needed to be replaced. We found one on ebay and it arrived today, so I was able to make this door sign for Doris' husband...
And, as usual, Let's go PENS!!!!

Just a few new things this week...

The photo I posted the other day of the lights that DH put up between the trees behind the pool didn't show up well, so here is another photo of the lights at night...
My two sisters were visiting the week before last and one of them brought some old music that my mom sent down. We divided the music up between the three of us and I decided to frame some of my music for the walls of our music room. I found 11x14" floating frames at WalMart and bought 14 of them. Since most of the music was 9x12", the pieces fit in the frames with a 1" border all around. The music was old, most of it from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, but some of it dated back to the 1890s.
Here are a couple of the pieces close-up...
And here is one with Frank Sinatra on the cover...
I made this door sign for a friend from church (if you know Doris, don't tell her about it). I am also making one for her husband, Wayne, but I'm having issues with my embroidery card and need to get it replaced before I can embroider anything else.
We didn't get much done this weekend on the house. Friday night was a wedding for the daughter of our friends and Saturday we hosted the end-of-the-year party for our church choir. On Sunday, DH planted the five lilac trees that I bought last week. The outdoor TV is not up yet, as the pole that it was to be mounted on turned out to be the wrong size. DH ordered another one, so it shouldn't take long to get it up once the pole arrives. Here is the happy wedding couple...
Oh, and of course, LET'S GO PENS!!!!

A little of this, a little of that...

I thought I would update the blog while I watch the National Spelling Bee. These kids are amazing!

Here is a photo of one of my Hot Cocoa roses. Isn't it gorgeous? It almost doesn't look real!
I have another blossom on my Lollipop Gerbera daisy. It is a variegated pink color with some very deep pinks when it first blossoms - then it begins to fade...
This is the second garden bed near the pool/patio area. It is where I planted the hot peppers, sweet peppers, banana peppers and peas. The supports along the wall will (hopefully) keep the pea plants in line...
Here is my flower bed. This is also in the pool/patio area and has mostly perennials, with a few annuals thrown in for good measure. The plants really shot up the past couple of days with all the rain we've had. I've had a couple of my coleus die, but mostly the plants are doing really well...
DH has been working on installing a TV out by the patio/pool. It will go under the garage overhang so it will stay dry. The TV will go on this pole; the hole behind the pole is for an outlet...
Here is the view of the TV pole from the hot tub...
The bench for the half bath arrived today and I assembled it. The half bath is near the pool and will also be used as a changing area. The bins on the bookcase will provide places for people to store their clothes while they swim. I still need to purchase some large bath towels or beach towels for this bathroom...

The Pens are in the Stanley Cup Playoff game against the Detroit Redwings. The best-of-7 series begins Saturday night, so LET'S GO PENS!!!

The to-do list never seems to get any shorter...

Last weekend, we were able to get the pool cover off the pool. It was a lot more work to get it off and get it cleaned up than we thought it would be. Here are DH and DS emptying the water out of the bags that weigh the cover down...
We started up the pool vacuum and it did a pretty good job of cleaning up the leaves and dirt...
And we have more critters in the pool. I found 2 adult toads and 2 young toads. Here is one of the adults and one of the young toads...
On Thursday, the weather was fairly nice, so I ran the pool cleaner again and used the hose to spray all the dirt and leaves off the concrete around the pool. One of the adult toads disappeared while I was working out there and I was afraid that it had gotten sucked up into the vacuum. I couldn't figure out how to open the pool cleaner debris compartment though. Today DH opened it and found the toad inside the bag - he was alive and hopped away! Doesn't that pool look inviting? The water temp was only about 60 degrees though!
DH has been running the electrical wires for the hot tub. The hot tub has arrived at the dealer's and is supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. DH installed the electric panel on the far side of the deck today (I didn't get a photo of it) and here is where the hot tub will be hooked up...
I found another little critter in the garage on Thursday. Fortunately, DS had already seen it and warned me that it was there, so I didn't flip out. He's actually very cute. I used to have pet mice when I was young, but I don't like to be startled, which the "wild" ones always seem to do to me...
On Friday, the box of tiles that we needed for the outdoor shower arrived. I think they will work well and I like how they look...
Last Saturday, I went to the Oakmont Garden Club sale and came home with a lot of perennials and a few annuals. Today I planted them in the flowerbed underneath the kitchen window, out near the pool.
Here is another shot of the flowerbed...
DH planted roses out by the pool a couple of weeks ago. He planted 3 different kinds. This one is really prolific and smells wonderful! It is called a Knockout Rose...
The trees have really leaved out recently and we are quickly losing our view of the river. You can just barely see it through the trees now...

Oh, and "LET'S GO PENS!"

Projects between the raindrops...

Even though it rained a lot today, DH was able to get a lot done around the house.

The pool pump has worked wonderfully to remove the 2-3 feet of water from the pool cover and even ran all night without being plugged in. I didn't realize that the pump would continue to siphon off the water even after I pulled the plug. That was actually an ideal way for it to work however, as we didn't have to worry about whether the pump remained under the water. We were a bit worried that the pump would break if the water level dropped below the pump, so I went out every hour or two to make sure the pump was still submerged. With the pump unplugged though, if the water level went below the pump it wouldn't matter. The poor little tadpoles, however, were not so thrilled about the water being pumped out of the pool cover. Sorry little guys... :-( While I drove up to Slippery Rock University to pick up DS today, DH worked today on installing the outdoor shower by the pool. This is what it will look like when it is installed - it is a stainless steel thermostatic shower panel from Wind Bay...
This is the 8 gallon hot water tank that he mounted inside the garage to connect to the shower...
Here he is soldering the connectors onto the pipes where the shower will go. He loved the hammer drill that he bought (refurbished/reconditioned - are they the same thing?). It went through the brick like a knife through butter!
Underneath the shower, he plans to put a drip pan intended for a washing machine, covered with these snapping deck tiles. They will completely cover the top of the drip pan and allow the water to drip between the tiles into the drip pan which will be connected to the drainage system. He will put a wooden moulding of some kind around the edges to conceal the sides of the drip pan. The sample the company sent has 4 slats per tile, but we ordered ones with 6 slats. They are also available with 8 slats or diagonal slats. The slats are made of "pre-treated, expertly kiln-dried, extremely durable hardwood. Mold, mildew, fungi, termites, rot and decay resistant."
Here is what the back of the tiles look like - the "plastic feet elevate for drying airflow." The tiles just snap together. We ordered tiles made from eucalyptus for our outdoor shower. Stay tuned for photos of the finished shower...
Here are some more shots of some of the plants that we put out in front of the house...just don't ask me what they are. I saved the tags off them, so I might be able to figure it out, but certainly couldn't tell you off the top of my head (although I do know that the one on the back left is a rhododendron).
I believe the tall tree is a Japanese red maple and there are some butterfly bushes in front of it...
The 5 plants to the far right are dianthus. They were all marked alike on the tags, but 4 turned out to have red flowers and 1 has pink flowers. They are still very pretty, and luckily, the pink one ended up in the middle.
Our builder has started work on the punchlist for the house. It doesn't seem possible that we've been in the house almost a year (it will be a year at the end of July). Yesterday, today, and next Tuesday the drywall guy was/will be here to fix the places in the walls and ceilings that have settled or have nail pops. He is also fixing the area in the kitchen ceiling where we had the leak from the second floor furnace...
He informed me that he hates our stairs. He just knew that the way the stairs were open up to the top floor that the house would settle all around the stairs. There was a lot of repair work for him to do around the stairs... The other place he had a lot to do was in the great room. Some of the seams in the walls are very obvious, especially when the lights behind the valance shine up or down the wall and illuminate all the little imperfections. He suggested we just leave the lights off. :-D
It's pouring rain out now, with lots of thunder and lightening. I hope it stops before the plant sale that I was planning to go to in the morning...

A third pond?

My apologies for my long absence from my blog. There wasn't much going on with the house and I needed a break. So...let's see what I need to catch you up on...

DH has been busy around the house. He has been trying to come up with a design for an outdoor light fixture that will not be annoyingly bright. He wants the lights to be directed up and then reflected back down as indirect light. Here is the start of what he has in mind...

The 4 lights will shine up and bounce light off a reflective surface that will be attached to the upper frame. Stay tuned for the end result...
A trench has been dug in the side yard from the end of the garage to the trees outside the pool fence. DH plans to run electrical wire to the trees and string up some decorative lights out there.
The Saturday before last we had a huge bonfire going. There were several trees that were taken down when the house was built that were left lying in the field behind the pool, plus some trees that fell in the remnants of a hurricane that passed through last September. We worked for 5-6 hours cutting up the trees and brush and burning it.
There are still a lot of trees that need to be cut up and burned, but at least we made some progress...
This past weekend (starting on Friday), we purchased and planted what seemed like a gazillion plants and trees. DH brought home a van load of plants on Wednesday and we brought home another van load on Friday. By Sunday evening, thanks to DH, they were all in the ground. I kept him supplied with diet Pepsi, removed all the tags from the plants, and watered them each day. Most of the plants went in the front of the house. We still need to buy and plant things near the pool and on the edges of the long section of our driveway.
When we moved last year, we got rid of our gas grill that was no longer in good shape. We decided to replace it with a charcoal grill and Saturday night we put it together...
It has a small propane tank that is used to ignite the charcoal. Once the charcoal is burning, the propane is turned off and the charcoal continues to burn. We cooked hamburgers on the grill last night and they were delicious! We haven't cooked over charcoal in so long, we'd forgotten how much better the food tastes! The container on the right side of the grill tilts out and holds a bag of charcoal...
So, this weekend we discovered a third "pond" on our property. The melted snow/rain that collected in the pool cover over the winter is about 2-3 feet deep and the bottom is covered in leaves. On Saturday I was out by the pool checking out the planter boxes...
and discovered all these TADPOLES in the water! There must be thousands of them! I also found 6 toads around the edge of the pool cover, popping their heads up out of the water every now and then for some air. DH is getting ready to drain the pool cover. I think I'll try to catch some of the tadpoles and transport them down to one of the ponds, otherwise they'll get pumped out with the pool cover water and die.
So, Tortellini had a great time outside while we were planting and watering the new trees and bushes. He wandered all around the front of the house and seemed to be having a wonderful time...
He didn't stay in the dirt and grass - he climbed up on the sidewalk and wandered around the driveway too...
Here is one of the flowers that I splurged on at Lowes this weekend. It is called a Lollipop Gerbera and the color is Watermelon. The actual colors are a bit deeper than the photo shows...
I wandered down by the ponds a couple of weeks ago and found some crocus, and some daffodils like this one...
And this butterfly...
And, wonder of wonders (!!!), I actually found the koi that we were told were in the ponds. We've never seen them in the two years that we've owned the property. There are both black and orange koi. Supposedly, the ponds were stocked with 1000 koi several years ago. I'm not sure how they survived after what I've read about the specialized care they need. The ponds don't even have a filtration system. You'll need to click on the photo to see the koi...
OK, on to the craft projects I've been working on...I embroidered this little dress for a friend's daughter...
And this little top with the furry bunny...
For a bridal shower, I embroidered napkins...
And made some placemats and napkins...
I made this necklace and earrings set...
And this one took forever to make!...
It was time for a new purse, so I made a Springtime one...
With lots of pockets on the inside...
Back in February I found a really good deal on a slightly used Pazzles Inspiration machine and have been experimenting with it. This was a card that I made for DD...
And I made cards like this for my mom and my MIL...
This is the inside of the Easter card...
And I learned how to make overlays - cutouts for photos. This one is for DD's fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi...
This is an overlay that I made for my BIL. He hasn't seen it yet. My sister will be up visiting from TX next month and will take it back with her. The overlay is 12x12...
At the end of March, DH and I drove to Winchester, VA to hear DD play Bohuslav Martinu's Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra with the Shenandoah Conservatory's Symphony Orchestra. She was one of the "2009 Student Soloists Competition Winners"...
I had a run-in with a very large, very sharp knife just before Easter and ended up with 6 stitches, and a splint to keep me from bending my knuckle. This photo was taken several days after it happened, when the wound was to be left uncovered but I still needed the bandages to hold the splint on my finger. After almost 2 weeks the stitches came out, and it is now healing up well.
I leave you today with this sign which I see whenever I drive up to Slippery Rock University to pick up our DS - it makes me laugh...