Erik and Mr. Hoover

Me:  Erik, I need to vacuum the carpet. Would you like to move?

Erik:  That's OK, just work around me.

Me:  Ok.  (So I did.)

Our pups aren't afraid of the vacuum sweepers.  Erik was perfectly fine with me sweeping around him as he just watched.  He's a very relaxed kind of guy.  ;)

New Gingerbread for the House

Good morning,

We are having our 100 year old house painted again and it is quite a process.  When we moved in 40 years ago one of the "flowers" was missing beneath one of the windows.  See the image above.  We've had the house painted several times in those years, but never had anything to replace the missing flower.  Above is a "before" the power washing and re-painting picture.

Here's a close up of the "flower" that has not weathered the years well.

When the piece was removed, we discovered

it was made of plaster.  A common method of holding plaster together in the last century was by adding horse hair to the mixture.  We attempted to count the number of layers of paint, but weren't able to get an accurate count.  This piece of plaster had been held in place by one nail for more than 100 years.

My Honey engraved new flowers of wood to replace all of flowers.

He has painted them with primer

and here are four new ones mounted in place after power washing off the old paint and with the new blue paint and white paint on the house.  The flowers will get another coat of white paint.  There are three similar windows on the front of the house.

We are having the work done by our friend Bill's company this time.  This time it is being done right!

Lois

Splitting and Stacking

Good morning,

This is one of several piles of trees in our yard right now.   In this pile are six trees of wood waiting to be split.

I had already sorted through the piles and pulled out the pieces that don't need to be split.  There are three rows deep of these in the picture above.

I moved the larger pieces that will be split to the side as I pulled the smaller pieces and stacked them.  We needed to make a path for the pups to be able to get to the upper level of the yard.

 We moved the patio table and umbrella over to the driveway so the splitting could begin.  Along the fence on the right side of the picture are three large trees cut in fireplace lengths that needed splitting.

By the end of the day My Honey had split them all and I had stacked them on the other side of the property.  Now we have to get to work on the stacks you see at the beginning of this post. 

We will be warm this winter, and next winter, and probably the one after that!

Lois

Summer Morning Sky

Good morning,

I took this picture about 5:30 AM when I took the pups outside.

The temperature was in the 60's and the birds were singing.  By Noon, the temperature was in the 80's. 

This is so beautiful.  I should become nocturnal.

;),
Lois

Firewood - Day 1

Good morning,

We have two fireplaces in our home so firewood is always welcome.  What you see above is our neighbor's tree cut into fireplace lengths and dropped over the fence for us.  Yay! 

And, there is more. 

Only three logs over here by the garage?  Hmm.  Keep going to see an image of the same area a few hours later.

In this image you see three large trees on the right, a large tree without branches on the left, and an untouched tall tree in the center.  Eventually, all of these will be in our yard, too.

The three large trees on the right are next to our driveway and have managed to grow against the fence for the past forty years.  There's another one out of sight around the corner of the house.  Should any of these trees come down on their own or during a storm, there is a good possibility they could come into the third floor of our home, just about where our daughter sleeps.  Yep, it was time for them to go.

 The team is starting another one....

 These guys are terrific.  There's no way I could have ever had such a job.

 The pile grows

 and grows.

 This is only the end of the first day.  There is more to come.

Yes, that's My Honey on the right.  No, he didn't climb any trees, thank God!

Tune in tomorrow for the next episode.

Lois

Sweater Progress

Good morning,

I'm moving right along on the current sweater.  These images are of the three needle bind off of the shoulders.

This technique produces a flat seam.  (Image of wrong side above)

The shoulder seam is flat, neat, and tidy.  (Right side shown in image above.)

The front back and shoulder seams are finished so it's on to the sleeves.  The neckline will be ribbed as are the bottom and cuffs.

 This is my original highly textured pattern stitch that resembles rows of baubles.  It is especially stunning with this yarn and is also gorgeous in single color yarns.

What are you making, baking, growing this week?

This sweater is a custom order.  If you'd like to order one for yourself, comment here or send me an email:  Lois@EvensensProductions.com.  We invite custom orders.

Happy Friday!

Lois

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Pork Chop in Pasta

Good morning,

I got a little carried away a couple of nights ago trying to figure out something different to do with a pork chop.  I made this one up as I went along.

I ended up baking four large chops after coating them with Italian salad dressing.  I then removed them from the drippings and moved them to a different dish, poured pastry dough over the top and returned it to the oven for the pastry to bake and brown.  While that was happening, I made gravy with the drippings and some red wine.  This was yummy!

On the side is a Jarlsberg cheese and fresh tomatoes salad garnished with mint from the garden and oven baked onion potatoes.

This one was a winner.

Lois