Fruits of Our Labor

Some of our first fruits.

Clockwise from 12 o'clock: banana pepper, green beans, squash, jalapenos, and yummy bell peppers.

Our Garden, June 2009

We've planted a vegetable garden behind our house. It has been a lot of fun, though hard work, and we are already seeing some fruits of our labor.

We are growing 2 types of tomatoes, 2 types of corn, 2 types of pumpkin, 2 types of sunflowers, zuchini, squash, jalapenos, banana peppers, yellow bell peppers, basil, parsley, cucumbers, okra, and strawberries this year. We planted them just outside the back door and in the circle in the middle of the driveway. Everything is showing signs of fruit except the cucumbers and okra. Well, and the strawberries that we are intentionally not allowing to fruit so that they will grow a larger patch.

I wanted to show you how some of the plants have grown in one month.

And more pictures from our garden:

In order from top: 1.) the first female pumpkin shoot (fruit);
2. & 3.) our first harvest---jalapenos & green beans;
4.) the snake that lives in the garden;
5.) Erin weeding;
6.) Bill in strawberry patch.

CREDITS:
Font: Kitty Weed by KevinandAmanda.com
Garden Tools: from "Arbor Day" by Faith True (SYTYCD challenge at digiaddicts.com)
Date Stamp and Days: from "Project 365 Essentials V.1" by WM[squared]
Slide Picture Frame: by Gunhild Storeide

New Tile in the Mudroom

Bill and David worked hard on our mudroom one weekend in early May. They tore out some of the old shelving, but left the top shelf that runs along the far end of the room. Then they ripped up the old floor. They put down new under-layment and then put down a beautiful gray limestone-looking tile.

Here are pictures of the work in progress.

Below is the finished project. Isn't it beautiful?

Replacement Radiators

Let me just tell you, we have had a rough time this year with our heating system!!!

We had a freeze in the pipes which caused huge holes in a long section of pipe underneath the house, damage to our furnace, and burst radiators in one room. The burst radiators leaked and damaged the floor. It was an ongoing problem for a couple of cold months and we went without heat for over one weeks time, all added together. Quite a headache! The house is becoming such a money pit.

Anyway, we had to remove the old cast iron radiators in the library. Temporarily we had a copper pipe running along the edge of the room to keep the system's circuit complete so that we could continue using heat downstairs. Well, we finally had that replaced yesterday.

We had aluminum radiators installed. They are a little smaller than the cast iron ones, and look very nice.

The next steps are to remove the old wallpaper and paint the room; and to repair the damaged floors.

New Blinds in the Kitchen

I spent about two weeks in February/March making balloon shades for the kitchen. They are made of a cream colored eyelet cotton material. I bought the internal parts from an online roman shades store. I lined them with light filtering thermal lining which should help to keep the kitchen cooler in the summer time when the HOT sun beats down on that side of the house. I had a lot of fun making them and love how they turned out.