The decking is finally all on, just in time for a coating of snow and ice. We need some railings, we need the final section of stairs and some final finishing details. But we almost have our deck back!
Decking
Stairs to nowhere
After two months on the job, almost all the new windows and doors are in (except for one sliding door on the lowest level). Two new ceilings, one new wall, one new sillplate under the front door area, lots of painting — and the indoor work is almost done. The carpenters are back on the deck project and yesterday built these stairs to nowhere. Actually they go to the landing, but the next set are needed to get to the deck level. Then the railing posts will go up and clamps will go down that hold the decking down (no nails or screws in the decking surface) and the decking will go on. It is so good to be in the construction phase again after so much destruction and re-construction for the past three weeks.
I know why they call it Fall
The leaves are quite pretty here, but a gentle breeze started baring the trees today. The Japanese maple is still hanging onto some beautiful red leaves.
Reflections
My sister’s dog, Spike, is watching a squirrel or the birds at the bird feeder. I was sitting to the side and captured him “touching” his reflection in the glass door.
Ready, Set, Blow!
There are two new wind farms between my sister’s home in Des Moines, Iowa and my Dad’s in eastern Nebraska. During the drive today, I was totally amazed at how fast this one had gone up in Walnut, IA. It was not there during our early August trip. It is not in production yet, so all the windmill heads are pointing in whatever direction they were when assembled by the men with the large cranes.
When operational, wind farms are absolutely beautiful — with all the heads facing the same way and slowly turning in the wind — generating electricity and putting it out on the grid. Huge cross-country power lines are located near this field — a necessity for the wind farms to be feasible. There are 67 total windmills in this area with 35 more to be built before the end of December of this year.
Just hangin’ around the pond
Yesterday was a great day for being a frog and hanging around in the pond. Here is one of this year’s new frogs. He likes to just hang suspended in the pond in amongst the lily pads. Look at how he is keeping just one “finger” (I believe it’s his middle finger) on top of a lily pad to keep from drifting away with the water moving away from the base of the water fall. And his older brother/sister is playing peek-a-boo nearby. I think they are the same kind of frog (pretty sure they have the same parents). But isn’t it interesting how one of them appears to have only 3 toes on each front foot and the other clearly has four? And the front ones don’t appear to be webbed, do they.
A rainbow of fabric
For the past few days I have been working on assembling a sample quilt top for a class that I will begin teaching at the end of September. Here is the strip set ready to be cut into shapes for the quilt top. Marbles the snowman is moderating the process.
The top assembled and ready for embellishing. I will be “fussy cutting” some frogs, dragonflies, and flowers from scraps of the focus fabric and appliqueing them onto the plain part of the quilt top.
‘Tis the season — for my birthday, that is!
My birthday gift from my sister just arrived. She is a ceramic artist and this is one of her best yet! And her subject is one of my favorite things.
Ahhhhh……. a cool refreshing fountain!
Hummingbird in the flowers
t’s the end of August and the hummingbirds are busy stocking up on nectar for energy for their long flight to the southern USA and beyond. Earlier this week I caught a male hummingbird, by sight, on the deck but he wouldn’t stay still long enough for a photo. However this female, that I call Hummy, has been feeding all morning and isn’t scared by my opening the door for a closer photo. Some of the pictures are thru the glass doors (two panels as a matter of fact) so they are somewhat distorted. But the three at the plant on the metal hangar I took with the lens sticking out of the open screen. Hummy wasn’t the least bit scared of the human with the camera as she was busy gathering from newly open blooms in the bright sun of this beautiful Connecticut Friday!
Depending upon the angle and what Hummy is doing, sometimes you almost cannot see her wings, but look at her cute little feet curled up under her body as she hovers and drinks from this flower.
Then Hummy went to the ice plant — a bit of a surprise as she doesn’t usually mess with the yellow flowers at all. But perhaps she was just doing a taste test as she prepared to take a break and sit for a bit. It’s funny, but I never think of hummingbirds as sitting down and perching on something like a normal bird, but they do.
Tasting the yellow flower —
Heading up to the rest stop —
Taking a much-deserved break —
So, since I wasn’t getting anything done in the house anyway, with watching the deck constantly with camera in hand, I decided to go out to the other side of the house to capture the “frog of the day” photo. This one is a female and she’s really flattened herself out on this lily pad, enjoying the day and keeping cool and wet in the water on top of the lily pad.
And, last but not least, another pond-side member of Mother Nature’s family — this toad. It is a nightly ritual with me (and sometimes hubby goes along or goes in my place) to go out and say goodnight to the fish and check the area around the pond. A week ago on Friday night, we went out together and hubby spotted this toad backed up into the house right under the front door. He too was not a bit concerned by us going in and out stepping right over him. He also didn’t seem to mind when I got out my camera and took his picture. But then again, maybe he did mind — that kind of looks like a “glare in my general direction” on his face.
Here’s Toady —
The word “oasis” comes to mind
I was on the lower patio this weekend, stretched out on a hammock with a good book and warm sun on my legs. I could hear water splashing delightfully in the fountain and could look to my right and see the sparkle as the water fell from the second tier into the bottom. Looking up to the main deck, the plants on the deck railing were spilling over the edge. And my thoughts were, “What an oasis this is!”. And I didn’t have to drive miles using expensive gasoline or go thru security at an airport to get there — this is my own back yard. How often are we so busy fixing and planting and weeding and working and repairing and …… and not taking the time for enjoying. So I did quite a bit of that this weekend — some of the work too — but definitely some of the relaxing. What a wonderful place to be!
Today’s water lily — a new bloom on the white plant.
