Sunday.......

I treated myself to a new sander.  I need to sand off the top of a table and a couple of other pieces of furniture to give them a new finish.  I remember when tools like this cost so much and now they are like disposable.  My last one fell apart and there was no way to repair it.

I removed some lights from my one small Austria pine tree.  I have not done the proper job of wrapping around something for storage.  My two lawn ornaments of deer are frozen in the ground.  Even with the temps being a little warmer the ground frost is still there.  The pikes use to keep the ornaments down on the ground are all frozen into the ground.

It is a sunny afternoon but the wind is blowing hard from the northwest. That means that it a  cold wind.  I acts like spring but that air blowing into the face says winter is still here.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Two seasons.......

While looking up an address in the phone book one of my leaves fell out. I pick these leaves up in the fall and shove them into a phone book to see if I can save the color of them.  The start decoration is from my neighbor's out door tree.  She put out a nice display of metal ornaments like this one.  When I would walk by with Barney on his walks i enjoyed seeing them blowing back and forth on the tree branches.  When then neighbor took them in, just recently, I noticed one didn't make it back inside. I have carried this in my coat pocket of a week now. I decided to take it out so I could remember to give it back before next Christmas.

I hope all will have a great rest of this Saturday and tomorrow will be a restful day.  Thanks for stopping by today.

To the Sky and Back.......

The original skylight was almost three feet square.  When I had the house shingled I replaced it with the only size that I could find. A two foot square one did work well but I  never got back to finishing the inside. The older skylight was leaking and this one never ever caused any problems.

As of today the area has been insulated and filled in with drywall.  The whole area will be mudded to fill in all the cracks.  So the small little patched piece that I had to use because I have used up all of my drywall, will be mudded over and smooth as silk. I have one more area to rework and that means I have to go back and get one more piece of drywall. That one piece will be the last of any drywall work that I will need to do.

When I originally built the gallery, I place a light like this opposite of the outside porch light.  They both can be on at the same time or one can shut off the interior one if they want to while the porch light is left on.  The light I had originally was are recycled garage sale light and now I have a new one to replace it. It isn't an expensive one but it is done well in design.

I still have a lot to do with the remodel but things are getting done. I feel encouraged as that drywall work is behind me.  I have mud work left to do but soon we will be putting a coat of paint on it.  Then probably a second coat will be put on it too.

We are having a thawing out period today and snow is going away quickly.  That period of cold was so miserable.  I know the east coast is going to get our snow storm now.  I hope everyone out there stays safe.  Thank you for stopping by today.

Thursday All Day..........

Our snow has moved on now with it being very cold outside.  The same front is now headed to the eastern coastline where it always makes great headlines.

Barney does like the snow but now that he is older he doesn't like it as much.  He will eat snow and droll in it, to coat his back but after that he is ready to come back inside.

I am helping another neighbor take care of a dog who is alone for the next couple of days. The dog's owner is worried that Penny is alone but the terrier seems indifferent to that.  She likes that I come over early morning and that I give her some snacks.  After she gets her morning rub down, she seems to act like it is no big deal that she is alone.  She has her tv on all night to keep her company and her living room tv on in the daytime to keep her company.  The other helping neighbor brings her little dog over and leaves her with Penny as they are close friends. It seems like Penny has her life under control and the head boss just happens to be away for awhile.

Work on the gallery is slow but progress is being made.  I don't know if I will ever show you the before pictures but the finished work will be shared.

The remaining skylight will be boxed in today and drywall will frame it up for a more finished look. This one has not given us any problems unlike the one that we are going to eliminate.  The skylights are great for artist to get natural light but now that the artist is moving away the one will just be a memory only.

My body recognizes the moves that I have made the day before and I am having aches and pains.  It is a lot like the three summers when I worked as a janitor at school.  I can quit have aches after the job is done.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Terrarium of the Past......

Yes it is in a mushroom shape with the lid making the top of the stem look like a mushroom. If it survives the move, it will be planted with some small plants.

I have seen the red-bellied woodpecker eat seeds before and now I have proof.  It isn't a great shot but it is showing the beak with the seed being held carefully.

It was not a particularly successful day in the remodeling work.  I am replacing some drywall on a ceiling and it has been tedious work.  My next step is to fill in the cavity that is a skylight opening with layers of insulation. Then it will be covered with drywall so the window to the sky will be no more. In the spring when the roof is replaced the skylight will be removed.

It is really cold outside today.  We ran a couple of errands today and it was miserable to walk from the car to the stores.  I don't think it will warm up much and I guess I didn't mention that we have 2 to 3 inches of snow.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Archives.......

The barn is the one built by my wife's grandfather. He was the first to settle the farm. Stories are told that he and his brother lived in a shack on the property at first.  They cut the long prairie grasses and took them downtown to sell them to farmers who had livestock in the area.

The farm itself is not in the ownership of any family member now.  The city required it to become developmental property.  We will be watching this spring to see what they will do first in transforming the farm into flat commercial land for building.

The spots of light are from the holes in the roof.  The barn had a cedar shingle roof but they are mostly gone now. The hay loft was on a second story floor with the area below used for livestock and milking.

The new owners are builders of strip malls.  They lease all that they build.  They did want to let the one who had rented the land for growing corn before for us, to do so one more time this year.  The farmstead will probably be cleared this spring with the buildings and trees all being removed.

Change is hard but the area has become all filled with commercial buildings and soon a four lane road will become a six lane highway.  I am getting a lot of good work done today on the new family room area.  I did work this morning that won't have to be redone; like yesterday's work seemed to be a never ending challenge.  Iowa has turned cold again and is windy.  Not a nice day with clouds hovering and sprinkles happening once in a while.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Just a Plate....

I don't know where I acquired this plate.  I bet it was at a garage sale sold for a nickel.  It has gold edging and a decal of a a farm scene as the decoration. The scene has a title of "Winter scene, feeding the chickens' printed on it.  It is a Currier and Ives painting. My wife reminded me that my father-in-law would pick up boxes of junk at auctions and give us the contents other than the one item he wanted from the box.

The whole decal is actually low in detail and when I look closely, the print was  made up of spots of color like ones seen in cheap m magazines.

I doubt there is much value to this little plate.  I know it's the history of the plat and art work that caused me to pick it up.  I may have to find some history buff to gift it to as it never ever is displayed nor used.

Made in the U.S.A. but I have never heard of this company name.  It must have been a dime store plate.  I wonder if they ever made anything but pretty little party plates.

Remodeling is not fun.  It seems that the harder you try to finish up the slower the processes work for me.  I struggled at two things today.  The one problem will be fixed by a new layer of drywall.  The other problem will be solved when I go to the Ace Hardware and buy a new saw blade.  Some day I will be so proud of the result but right now I am grumbly and moody and will maybe work again on it tomorrow.   Thanks for stopping by today.

Well, I went on the net and found the plate comes from a set  It is sold as a large plate for cake and the seven plates for serving cake.   The whole set is priced at $37.00.  Further research said that they were also bread and butter plates.  I really don't know if there are place settings of it as I din't see anything like that for sale. I am not going to rush our and buy a dessert set to match it though as we have way too many dishes already.