RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

I FEEL BEWITCHED...

My stove is 18  1/2 years old and has been used extensively over the years.
When I bought it I didn't take the extended warranty on it because I had to pay more. As a matter of fact I never buy extra warranty on my appliances. It worked fine for a few years and then one day after I self cleaned the oven, the convection wouldn't work on it. I checked for fuses but it looks ok and tried several times to see if it would work but it didn't worked.

 I never had convection before and I'm a kind of a girl that I make due with what I have so I've been using  the conventional oven for all these year.

Yesterday I had an itchy nose and I twitched it as my hands were busy and accidentally push the broil convection button instead of the broil button and I hear my convection fan working. I doubled checked to see if it really was working. I couldn't believe it..... I reduced the heat and cooked the most delicious pork loin chops in no time. Then I checked to see if the convection oven would work as well and it did. I used the broil convection oven today again with great results. See what I mean about being bewitched. Had I known that I was bewitched I would have twitched my nose long before this. lol...

This past weekend my van started acting up and I could feel a little vibration in the gas petal as I tried to accelerate on the highway and the car seemed to rev up so I got the mechanic to look at it and because  the warning  engine light had come on. He checked it up and took it for a test drive but couldn't find any thing wrong except it needed a clean air filter.

He took the car to his place ( this mechanic is the young lad who works on our farm's father and works on the military base as mechanic) and he took the car to his shop which was quite a distance away.

 He called and said that the car heated up and he was very afraid that I would possibly have to replace the engine. I told him that I never saw the red warning light go on when I drove as I was watching for it... and that I was checking to see if the engine was heating up. I felt on pins and needles when I drove the car with the engine warning light on. The engine never heated because the indicator needle was in between hot and cold when I was driving it. I think that he was really worried that he had overheated my engine.
He  discovered that one of the fan has ceased up and he replaced it with a second hand one that my husband found in a repair shop and now my van is as good as before the problem and even better because of the new air filter.  I call that a good week...

My daughter Christine is flying here with her boys in two weeks and is going to borrow my van to go  the lake to be at the cottage with her sister and her family. So I'm glad that my van is OK.

On a more colorful note I have some petals to show for this week and here are some of the pictures I took. There are still 5 varieties that have not bloomed yet.

Today my oldest daughter Nicole turns ** and she was flying to Santiago from Glasgow Scotland  and I want to wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Her flight to London was delayed and she missed her connection to her destination. What a bummer. I hope that she managed to get another connection.
These flowers are for her.


This variety is called Siloam Button Box


Stella Del Oro



Mary Todd


Beauty to Behold


Rainbow Gold


New Note


Siloam Baby Talk


Either  Chicago Apache or Chicago Royal Heritage. I'll have to wait till they both are in bloom to be certain.


Gay Cravat


Blue Happiness


I'll have to research this one. It's called Kate Carpenter


Little Showoff


Toltec Dial


By Myself


Decatur Cherry Smash


Siloam Button Box  bed by the drive way.


Arthur Moore bed in the back after the heavy rain got them flattened down a bit.

Thanks for visiting and I hope that you have a safe and relaxing weekend.
JB



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

GOD IS DOING THE WATERING TODAY

As my title suggest, it's raining today so it's a great day to take life a little easier. I find that summer is slipping away so very fast. Yesterday was a very busy day and I  am glad that I don't have to work outside today so I'll knit a little on my pink scarf. It measures 21 1/2 inches so far. I can only knit a little at a time and I stop when my shoulder starts to hurt.
I just wanted to share a few photos of my little grandkids that my daughter Christine sent me a few weeks ago.

There's my daughter Christine and her happy boys, Daniel and James.


Daniel in his ExerSaucer posing for Daddy. I think that I'll need to eat lots spinach to lift up that boy when he comes for a visit soon. Look at the size of that leg...


Nothing as sweet as a baby's smile to make your day feel so special.


This cute and cuddly boy is watching a video on mom's laptop with his favorite dog..



Red lips doesn't necessary mean that James ate something that  tasted very good. Mama's lips are smiling and is going to tell us why James has red lips.


I can detect a red dabber mark on James left hand  and I think that he dabbed his lips, lol...
The fish lips looks good on mama don't you think? Maybe James could use the dabber once more while mom's lips are pursed.



Now I wonder what is going on behind this closed door..... a sneak peek will tell...


James is all tuckered out from lots of running and just being a little boy. Sweet dreams James.

Have a happy and safe week everyone and remember to take time for a little rest today.
JB


Monday, July 15, 2013

WHAT'S IN MY CAMERA THIS WEEK

Too many photos in my camera this week to show them all but this blog is my way of documenting what's happening so I'll just do my best. That's what happens when I only blog once in a while. I don't know where to begin.


I sneaked up on three of my grandkids while they were admiring a big baby eagle flying out of sight while they were weeding. The baby eagle is full grown and was too quick for me to get a shot .

Early Friday morning, around 8:00 am  three of my grandkids were dropped off at my place to weed their mom's garden behind my hedge and one stayed home to clean the kitchen counter and after he finished his work, he biked  from up town to our place for lunch. They are such good kids.



I made a huge pot of spaghetti as we were 7 for lunch. Here they are enjoying their ice cream desert.
The men went for a little nap in the lazy-boy chairs  before returning to work and are not in this photo.

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PLEASE READ ON ABOUT THIS SPECIAL WEED. You may have encountered some before and didn't know what they were good for.  It's a medicinal plant that can save you from a lot of suffering. It's called Jewelweed.
If you ever come into contact with Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, or Poison Sumac, you cut a piece of the stem and split it open and rub the sap on the area that came in contact with the poison plant and the Jewelweed sap neutralizes the effect of the poison.

I was cutting small branches by the edge of the riverbank and I must have come into contact with some offensive leaves below my throat as I was wearing a V-neck shirt. I developed an itchy rash and I was itchy for three days.  I remembered the Jewelweed and I rub some on the itch and it soothed the skin and the itch and redness was gone just like that.


They grow in the shade and damp places. They have a yellow-orange little flower when in bloom and I just picked this one in my shade garden. They spread quickly by seed. The plants are just starting to come to blossom now so the seedpod has not formed yet but you can google it to see what it looks like. Kids love to surprise their friends my making them touch the mature seedpod which explode on contact.


This is what the little flower looks like. There are two types of Jewelweeds but the one with orange flowers are the one that counteract the poison.


They are really easy to pull because they have very shallow roots. They do look flimsy and watery when small but the mature stems are fibrous.



This is a piece of the stem that I broke off and split open. I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial on Jewelweed.


Meanwhile in my gardens, my pink Grootendorst rose bush is blooming  in this heat.


and  Jackmanii clematis is starting to bloom and has tons of buds yet to open.

Last evening after supper I tackled my very dirty deck with my new pressure washer and it was quite a job as I had to remove a year or maybe two 's worth of mildew accumulation. I had quite a job of cleaning every bars on the rails. I had to stretch over the edge with the spray gun with water flying everywhere. It needs painting but that's another job for another day. I would have to bleach the wood and rinse it well before painting to kill the mildew. (too busy and too wet to take pictures)

My long daylilly bed has surprised me with blooms. I never thought that any would bloom this year because I planted them just before the heavy frost and the winter came early.  Some died because of the freeze and thaws this past winter. I'll have some pictures another time.

Stay cool, safe  and hydrated. Thanks for your visit and  I do appreciate your comments.

JB

Thursday, July 11, 2013

WEIRD CAT BEHAVIOR AND MORE...


A self portrait of a hot woman .lol






I don't tweeze my brows but that the only brow hair that grew back after my chemo. I used to have thick brows and I used to tweeze them.

This was me on Saturday, drenched in sweat. Not a pretty picture to look at but it seems that I'm not alone looking like this these days. It was hot and humid and I was cutting the lawn. I came in for a cool drink of water and saw this in the mirror before washing my face with cold water to cool down. Do I really look like this?

The sweat was dripping onto my glasses and I had to come in to wipe my face and also my glasses.Taking your own photo isn't as easy as it seems. I kind of look like a camel face.

Someone asked me if I like working at the farm taking care of the calves amongst other things. They looked at me as if it was the most disgusting job in the world. There are things that I really don't like but I have to do just because it needs to be done, but there other things that I like about working at the farm.

Every day encounters it's own set of minor problems that I have to deal with. A typical day will have one or two new twist to my routine because I deal with a living  bunch of animals big and small and even tiny and don't forget the flies...

For example this week we had another bull calf born and I needed to put fresh bedding in the calving pen. I had to climb a ladder that next to the pen,  this board ladder goes up against the wall to get to the hay loft. It's good exercise to tighten my butts muscles.

I forked a big pile of loose hay down from the loft and I came down to put it in the pen. I heard some new born kittens meowing faintly. I looked all around and I didn't see anything and I continued to fork the hay in the big calving pen then I saw the two tiny meowing kittens at the very bottom of the pile. They were not there when I went up or I would have stepped on them and they were not in the hay in the loft since I was taking the hay from a big round bale up in the loft. She buried them after I threw the  first bunch of hay down.

 I moved them in a save spot about just a foot away behind a sheet of thick white plastic next to the pile of hay. They will be safe there. The mother can see where they are but she just laid there doing nothing.

When I came back in late afternoon to do my barn chores again I was removing hay left behind in the bigger calf manger so I could them them their grain and there they were again, at the very bottom of the manger under the hay. I got a clean pail and I put them in and I placed them again in the safe spot but the mother quickly grabbed a kitten and rushed in the manger and buried it again right in front of my eyes. She hissed angrily at me and returned with the second one. Of course I couldn't let her burry her kittens there so I removed them again and put them back in the same spot out of the way. She then grabbed an older kitten  that is half her size, by the scruff of the neck and is trying to drag it away. The kitten is loudly protesting and she' s trying hard to kittennap it. I chased her away from that kitten and as soon as I have my back turned she tried it again.  By this time I'm getting pretty angry at her strange behaviour.
She tried that for a third time and I used the end of my broom stick to tap her lightly and I hollered at her and she let the meowing  kitten go.

I haven't seen her small kittens today but they must be buried under some hay somewhere. I will have to look. This is the weirdest cat behaviour I have ever seen.

What I don't like about working at the farm is I have to get up early and since I don't sleep well. I hate getting up early. I don't like that the section of the barn I work in is old and needs a lot of fixing and that the lighting is very poor. I don't like the smell or the flies on hot days, especially in August.

I like that I won't get fired if I'm late, I like working with the calves as they respond to love and they want to be hugged when I pass by.  They get so exited when I put fresh hay in their pens twice a day. They jump and kick and twirl around like rodeo horses. They all have individual personalities.

Some days I work harder and longer and some days every thing goes smooth and there are no problems.

I feed calves, little calves and  big calves that weigh almost 300 pounds and then they are moved outside and are bred. They are no longer in my care unless they are brought back in for what ever reason. I feed the cows  who calved and bull that are in my section or the sick cows and those that are brought in for breeding.

On another post I will go through a regular routine, step by step.


Progress on my pink scarf. That baby yarn is so soft and fine that it's difficult to knit even for me. I'm really not a good knitter.

If you still want to be my friend or a follower after this post, I'll count myself pretty lucky.
Stay safe everyone.
JB

Saturday, July 6, 2013

SUMMERTIME FUN IN THE BACKYARD

Just a light post to cool off on a very hot day.
What could be more fun than a great Bar-B -Q in one's own backyard with mom and dad and little baby brother.


James and Dad after some pool time in their backyard in Ottawa.


Daniel and mom  wanting to go in the pool too but ... Daniel is too little to go in the big pool and mom has to hold him, besides he doesn't have a swim suit yet.


James swimming with the sharks.


Playing with the hose filling up the pool. Hurry up water, faster, faster.


Thanks for joining in Daddy and being the landing pad for my helicopter.



James in the deep ocean swimming with the sharks.



Time to eat mom's tasty muffin after all that swimming.


Can you tell it's been raining in Ottawa. No problem, I'm all ready for the wet stuff. I've got my froggie wears on. Let's go Daddy...


That was lots of fun today. Can we do it again tomorrow?

Thanks for visiting on this very hot day. I hope that you stay where it's cool and drink plenty of fluids.
I'm tickled pink when you leave me a comment.

Have a safe weekend  and watch for those crazy drivers if you're on the road and don't get too much sun like me.
JB

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

UPDATE ON MY ACTIVITIES

I've been working on and off in between raindrop and got my long daylily flower bed weeded again, at lease the all the chickweeds that re sprouted. There are a few minor little weeds left and they are not in seed yet.


Boiling water to kill weeds is a bit extreme but it calls for desperate measures.


Today I did a different kind of weeding. I boiled pots after pots of water to pour on the weeds in the cracks in the pavement and along the flowerbed by the rock wall and I even used the electric tea kettle. Good thing I have an exhaust fan in the ceiling to suck up all the steam outside.

 The boiling water kills the weeds and leave no undesirable toxic residue. It may need another application later on.  I should have done this a long time ago. It's a lot of work filling and carrying heavy pots of scalding water outside. I had tried this method a couple of weeks ago on the weeds by the back door and it's still weed free so this will be my method of choice for killing unwanted weeds between pavers and patio blocks. I have a large area to cover so it will take me  a while.


I'm making a little progress on my pink scarf for Cancer Survivors as promised to Yaya  of        Whispering Pines blog. She is collecting pink scarves for cancer survivors and my good blogging friend Donna is also a friend of Yaya and a breast cancer surviver just like me.

 I placed a little red thread marker last evening and I can see my progress better. I'm slow at knitting as it's a purl one, knit one pattern. I'm using a soft baby yarn and it makes the progress slow also. For some reason, my hands and shoulders feel numb while knitting and hooking recently. I knitted a little  today while waiting for my water to boil and had no numbness. Maybe it was all that steam in the kitchen, he, he.

 My Childhood Memories rug is slowly getting hooked. I'm using mostly left over worms  to thin them out. For some reason, this vignette of the fishing girl is pastel.


Now for that naughty little fat pig in his mud puddle that gave me so much chagrin.  For some reason, he was a bugger to hook. I made him bigger than reduced his size and I reduced him again.I've decided in putting some grass behind him and he's standing out better. I'll admit that I had to dye some brown for the mud puddle. I'm not quite done integrating  the pig and the cow vignettes. At least I don't feel a hooker's block now.


This is an overview of my rug as of right now. I'm always wondering if I should straighten out the water  where the three swimmers are in. I had done it this way on purpose and it bugs me now... That vignette is a bit on the slant. I'll see if I can pull a few worms  and replace them with water.

Thanks for visiting and for leaving some feedback.And to my American blogger friends, have a Happy 4th of July.
Stay safe and have a great celebration.
JB