For sometime now, the deck on the back of the house has been in serious need of repair/replacement. It was already needing work back in 1999 when I first moved in. The boards were splitting, splintering, and bowing up. Nails were popping out of the wood every where. I have been so afraid someone was going to trip and hurt themselves on it. It was also a real eye soar.
I love wind chimes. I do not think Jon shares my passion for them. I believe to him they are more of a racket than melody. On our front porch we I have three wind chimes. Two of them I got years ago at the same time. They are identical except one is black and the other is just metallic.
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| Black “Coated” Wind Chime |
The chickens are now 4 weeks old. Most of them are almost covered in feathers now. There is still our “runt” that has a lot more fuzz than the others. The weather today has been absolutely fabulous! It was so sunny and it got up to 60 degrees today. In the sun it felt even warmer. We decided to take the gals on their first field trip outside.
Now, that is a dishcloth!
I just had to take a quick minute to show off my dishcloth. This is the third one I tried from the quick beginner dishcloth pattern. I crocheted this one Sunday evening after church while watching a little TV. I am only using the chain (ch), single crochet (sc) and turn, but it is finally all coming together.
Much thanks to all those with helpful advise and encouragment! Now, I’m thinking scarf…..
I love daffodils. I like flowers in general, but I believe I love daffodils so much because they are usually the first flowers to bloom. Many times I am almost surprised when I see them. I excitedly think “the daffodils are blooming already”. They are the first signs of spring around here and it just makes me smile.
Saturday morning as I pulled into the driveway after running some errands I caught a brilliant yellow glimpse of spring in my flower bed. As soon as I got out of the car I had to go right to it and soak in the beauty.
Continue reading “For the Love of Daffodils”
The chicks are growing so fast! There is very little fuzz left. We have started giving them treats like weeds to eat and play in. This started out as a pile, but they have done some damage. They all stopped as if frozen from the flash of the camera.
My Maggie Weldon’s Quick Beginner Crochet Dishcloth has not been so “quick” for this “beginner”. The pattern says it should look like the photo above. The first attempt I took it apart and started over so many times that my yarn had frayed terribly bad. I ended up starting with fresh yarn so that I could again easily see what stitch was what and not hang my crochet hook countless times. Still, I was struggling.
Jon and I are so excited! Yesterday we both took the day off to close on a 37 acre land purchase. We have been working on this for several months now and it has finally come to fruition. It has been so hard not to talk or blog about it (except with family). However, we did not want to say much until we knew it was going to happen.
First let me discuss the fine print. I have never tried this. This comes from conversations with one of my relatives and it sounds rather plausible. So, if anyone has tried this, please let us know.
The basic theory is that you can take a growing grapevine and simply redirect it back into the ground and back up. You bury the end of the vine four to six inches in the ground. Bend it into a U shape so the end of the vine protrudes back up out of the ground. That end then becomes a new grapevine with its own roots.
The basic concept is the same as using cuttings to grow new grapevines, but you do not have to cut them, or wait until next spring to plant them. You can do this in the middle of the summer, any time you have a cane long enough to reach the spot you want to start a new grapevine. The draw back to this is you have to start the new grapevine pretty close to the original. However, if you happen to have an unruly grapevine that you are planning to begin to use, you probably have several very long canes. You could start several new grapevines and start a mini grape vineyard.
New grapevines can be propagated from the cuttings pruned from your grapevines. Since grapevines must be pruned every year, this gives you the opportunity to plant more and more grapevines every year without going out and spending hard earned money for more. We like free.
You will want to plan your pruning with the plan of planting your cuttings. The cuttings must be planted in the same direction they are growing, that is the end of the cutting that is closest to the base of the vine needs to go in the ground. An easy way to keep track of which end is which is to cut the bottom of the cutting straight across, and the top of the cutting trimmed at an angle. This way you can always tell which end of the cutting goes in the ground.
Continue reading “Growing New Grapevines From Pruned Cuttings”
