Gear Acres at Top of the Hill

What Will We Do with the Pavers

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Right after Roger told me about the free pavers, he asked me "what can we do with them?" At that time, I really didn't know how we would use the pavers and I really didn't have time to think about it, either. Part of the deal was that we needed to get the pavers off site before the demo crew brought their dump truck back to fill with all the debris and that included the pavers.

Stacking pavers is very boring so I had a lot of time to think about what we could do with all those pavers. The pavers are various shades of brown so I don't want to use them close to the house. We want an exposed aggregate concrete patio to match the existing sidewalks and the house is grey. Then it hit me like a ton of pavers. We could build a large round patio under the large willow tree. That area is very shaded and cool in the summer.

The brown of the pavers will match the dirt in that area because we will not have grass due to the shade. But will have hostas and ferns because of the shade. Plus, I didn't buy any hostas this year and I am jonesing to buy hostas. Lots of hostas....sorry I can't help myself.

The ground under the willow is slightly sloped so I estimate 1 layer of retaining block buried and then transitioning into 2 layers on the low side. When we broke apart the swimming pool we kept the wide concrete bull nose coping pieces. They are 12 inches by 24 wide and have a bull nose on one side. They are weathered because they are from the 1930's but I like the non new look. We will need to rent a concrete saw to cut angles so we can form a 18 edged circle using rectangular pieces.

The bull nose concrete pieces are very close to the same thickness as the pavers so I think that our only costs will be sand, crushed stone, renting the saw, and polymeric sand. It would be great to keep costs as low as possible because we want a pool but that can't happen until we finish the back of the house.

I did some very rough drawings and the patio will be at least 12 feet in diameter. We have a square gas fire pit and 2 heavy handcrafted wrought iron tables, that I purchased at auction on the cheap. The tables have wood tops but I want to cast concrete tops for them and a concrete top for the square gas fire pit. That will repeat the patio bull nose coping pieces.

What will we use for seating? We love Adirondack chairs but not the plastic ones nor the wood ones. We want to be able to leave the tables and chairs outside year round. We already have enough 'stuff' to store every year. So we are going to deconstruct our wood ones and trace the pieces onto solid PVC boards. This will be pricey and but they will be heavy and not blow over in a storm. Build them once and they should last a long time and only require periodic scrubbing.

For quick daily updates follow Gear Acres on Instagram.

Gratuitous kitty photos.

So that's the plan.

And as always...

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A Whole Lotta Free Pavers

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 07:56:00 +0000

In the beginning of August we had to stop work on clearing the new land to go and pick up a whole lot of free pavers. Of course it was 90 degrees and they needed to be gone ASAP.

It took us 3 days of working in 90 degree temperatures and sometime rainy weather to get them all removed from where they were located. It then took us another three days to empty two trailers and two pickup trucks full of pavers.

Roger loaded up the bucket on the tractor with the pavers and then carefully dumped them on the ground behind the barn. Then I would stack them on pallets. We already had a small pallet of this style of pavers but with the added pavers we can do a much larger project. More about the project in the next post.

There were several styles of pavers. First there were the whole pavers like in the photo above. Then there were factory half pavers that were basically a whole paver cut lengthwise. Then there were miscellaneous cut pavers and retaining wall pieces. Each style went on a separate pallet.

Laying down the first layer is important because you have to make sure to span the open area between the boards so that the paver doesn't fall through. Then each layer after that is rotated 180 degrees so that you don't form tall towers of pavers that could loosen and fall away. This way it is all held into place by the layer below and above.

By this time, my fingers were hurting and because I do not wear gloves, except when working with sheet metal, I found my hands were getting smooth callouses on my fingers and I also think my finger prints were ground away.

When all was said and done we have 3 large pallets of whole pavers, one smaller pallet of half pavers and pieces, and a small pallet of retaining wall pieces. We also have between 30 and 40 16X16 patio slabs and 30 10X16 grey concrete slabs that we plan to use to make a path through a large hosta bed planned for an area of dense trees.

I was so happy when I laid that last paver. When I injured my wrist last year when my flip flop fell apart and I fell on my hand, I ended up with several crooked fingers. I am pleased to say after picking up and laying down over 2400 pavers that my fingers are now straight. My fingernails look horrible but the fingers are straight.

The next post will be about what we are going to do with these pavers. So until then remember to...

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We Purchased the Empty Lot

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 08:30:00 +0000

I am so sorry for not posting during the summer but I have a good excuse. We were finally able to buy the empty lot next to our house. Finally!!! Now we can plant trees and veggies that we couldn't plant before due to the huge black walnut trees.

Before I talk about the lot I want to take this time to wish everyone a healthy remaining 2020. I have had very little contact with people other than family since the news broke about the virus and it looks like that will continue until the end of the year and into 2021. It is a trying time for everyone.

Back in March, Roger came home and said he ran into the guy who owned the lot next to our house and that he might want to sell it. Roger told him that we wanted it and to let us know if and when he makes up his mind. Several weeks later we agreed on a price and by mid June we signed the papers.

We actually started mowing the long grass and picking up the large broken tree limbs about a month before we signed the papers because when the weather warmed up the grass would start to grow and I wouldn't be able to see debris as I mowed.

About half of the lot was so dense with trees and huge broken willow limbs that it was impossible to see through this thick mess. We knew that there was a very large willow tree in the center of the twisted saplings and broken limbs all held together by wild grape vines but we were shocked when we finally cleared away everything and were able to get a good look at it.

Once the tree was revealed we were shocked at it's hugeness. Over 20 feet in circumference!! The ice storm from a decade ago broke off a lot of limbs that are laying across other limbs that are still attached. We are going to hire the same tree trimmers that we have used before, to take out the dead limbs and to tidy up where the limbs originally broke off.

We are still cleaning up the lot which is one acre in size. There is one small stand of buckthorn that needs to be cut down but we will leave that until the end because it blocks the burner barrel and allows us to burn even if there is a breeze. We have a lot of trees that are 2 to 3 inches in diameter that need to go through the shredder and a lot of smaller stuff that needs to be burned.

It has rained the last 2 or 3 days so once the tree debris dries out we will start to burn again. In the mean time, we have a pile of dirt that needs removing but there are plenty of deep holes in the yard that need filling and then there is the old broken down foundation from a long ago small greenhouse. The foundation is in a very low area and we will just fill in that entire area.

Our plan is to use a rear tine tiller attachment for our 'new to us' Kubota tractor, to go over the entire lot with the intent on seeding in the spring. Then during the winter we will work on removing dead limbs from the two 100 year old apple trees. These apple trees were buried in vegetation and blocked from any direct sunlight. Because of this they are in distress but we are hoping that we can save them.

Follow Gear Acres on Instagram for a quick daily update.

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5 Items I Buy at The Dollar Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 08:36:00 +0000

These are my 5 go to items that I purchase at The Dollar Tree store. YMMV (your mileage may vary) if you use a different dollar store. Unfortunately, not all items are a dollar in some dollar stores.

Pillar jar candles... Don't burn that $20.00 candle you've been waiting for a special occasion to light, when the power goes out. Six of these take up about a 6X9 inch square of space in your cupboard. No scent, long lasting, uses all the wax up so they are efficient, glass jar candles are safer, and they are 1 buck each. Store on the top shelf, out of the way, and you will be ready for the next power outage. While you are there buying candles, buy one of those lighter for lighting the BBQ. They are perfect for lighting these pillar candles and they are just a buck to buy.

Reading glasses.....$1.00 a pair. There are serious ones

or brightly colored ones.

Buy a couple of each style. One for the purse, one in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, one for the top of your head, and of course one to hang from the neck of your shirt. I have been known to wear two on the top of my head at the same time. But I am fancy like that!! Seriously, if you are over 40, invest a buck or 2 in some of these readers. Your older self will thank you.

I love these boxes of aluminum foil in pre cut sheets. They are perfect for baked potatoes or making a packet of veggies or fish for the grill. No more messing around with trying to rip off a piece that is actually square or rectangle. Mine always wads up on the little saw blade and the only thing that gets cut are my fingers. Buy 2 and you will never look back. Of course you will always need a roll for when you have a large pan to cover but these sheets are perfect for those smaller items. Your fingers will thank you.

And while we are talking about aluminum foil lets also talk about aluminum baking pans, the throw away kind. If you look closely you will find pans that also have plastic (some red some clear) covers. These usually come two to a package for $1.00. I use them when I make cold appetizers or for appetizers that I need to cook like smokey links wrapped in bacon or dates filled with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon. I make them ahead of time but don't fully cook them. Then when I get to my destination I put them in the hostess's oven for a quick warm up and finish up the baking.

Hot appetizers are so much better when they are hot. Especially if there is bacon involved, nobody wants cold bacon. They want bacon, just not cold. These are also great for when you want to bring home some leftovers from your sister's house.

And finally I am going to wrap this up with the wrapping paper and bow aisle. It is shocking what the stores that specializes in cards, wrapping paper, and bows will charge for just a bow. At the dollar stores you buy a bow, a roll of wrapping paper, and a card for what they charge for a card at those fancy schmanzy stores. If you sell items on the Internet and use tissue paper to wrap your item before you ship, then you need to check out the dollar store for tissue paper.

I hope this will save you some $$$.

The next few months are going to be stressful for everyone. If we all have a little patience and work together, we can get through this uncertain time. Know that at the end of the day you, me, and everyone around the world will be one day closer to having this time behind us.

In the mean time

always

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Dremel 3 in 1 Ultra-Saw Review

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 22:16:00 +0000

Sometimes a big circular saw just doesn't cut it and when that happens, this is the saw that you need.

Roger has been putting off fixing some of the poorly installed patches in our wood floors. From what we can tell the patches were done when the radiators were removed and forced air was installed. Some of the patches look like a chainsaw was used to cut the floor boards and then to make matters even worse, they filled the void with plywood.

So when Roger came home with this saw I knew our floor catastrophe would soon be a thing of the past.

According to Roger, he needed a small circular saw so that he could do plunge cuts. A regular circular saw is too big and the small oscillating saw is too small and the blade gets too hot, too fast when cutting oak. Kind of a Goldilocks predicament.

The saw was a good price at 99 bucks and came with the four blades in the photo above. He priced out those blades individually and the cost came to around 80 dollars. Now subtract 80 from 99 and that makes the saw $19.00. Not too shabby.

The saw also came with a nice canvas bag for storage. Too bad I didn't get a clearer photo but the wind was blowing at a steady 20-25 mph and today it is very cloudy and windy. But I think you can see that the bag is a convenient accessory.

I prefer a canvas bag with a handle over a hard shell case because they are easier to carry. Please somebody tell me that they too, dropped a hard shell case full of bits and now have a case that will not stay closed. I am hoping to snag another canvas bag off of eBay and use it for my other two Dremels and all the little bits and bobs that make the tools so useful.

Right now we are taking advantage of the no snow condition to fix some privacy fence at a house we plan to sell in the fall. Roger used the new Dremel 3 in 1 to cut off some lengths of small fence trim. I am looking forward to using the attachment for sanding /paint removal. That is the bumpy blade on the right side. I swear I am either removing paint or putting paint on.

I did do a quit search on eBay to see what the prices were for this saw and I did see some for less but then I noticed they were refurbished. I have never had any luck buying refurbished items.

I will update the saw review after we have used it for other projects.

But in the meantime remember to

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Presto Pizzazz Plus

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 05:50:00 +0000

Recently I ran across a Presto Pizzazz Plus rotating pizza oven for 5 bucks. My sister has a rotating pizza oven and if my sister has one then I need one too, right?

The pizza oven looked like it was only used one or twice. The pizza tray was in perfect condition without any scratches which is good. It didn't come with a box or instructions but a quick look on the Internet and I found all the info I needed. So I said 'sold'.

The oven has a heating element on the top and on the bottom. This speeds up the cooking time and insures that the items (yes items because you can cook more than pizza) are cooked all the way through.

The first item I tried was a $5.00 uncooked, medium sized pepperoni and cheese pizza from the Walmart deli case. Medium is the biggest you can cook on the Presto Pizza Plus. Which is fine because Roger and I only buy medium pizzas. But it's not a problem for a larger family or party because you can bake the next pizza while people are munching on the first pizza. A medium size pizza takes 16 minutes. We have since cooked a meat lovers pizza and it was another success.

Here are the pros and cons of buying a Presto Pizzazz Plus rotating pizza oven.

PRO

It bakes a great pizza.

It is not overly large so it should fit in your pantry.

In 16 minutes you can bake a pizza.

You no longer have to leave the house to buy a pizza.

You can also bake cookies, frozen pizza rolls, taquitos, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

In the summer you can bake a pizza without turning on your oven and heating up the entire kitchen.

Saves on electricity because it is just 16 minutes of 110v versus 25 minutes of 220v. No preheating with the Presto Pizzazz Plus.

You will love the smell of fresh baked pizza.

CON

No on/off switch. The oven starts rotating when you plug it into the outlet. But it doesn't start heating until you set the timer. We might add an inline switch later if it continues to bug us.

Seriously, I am thrilled with this item. Next up, I am going to make a pizza using pizza dough from the freezer case and my recipe for BBQ chicken pizza. If you saw my chicken noodle soup recipe where I use leftover roasted chicken from Sam's Club, this is the same chicken that I use for the pizza.

If you have kids that have sleepovers or you have family movie night, then the Presto Pizzazz Plus is perfect for you. You can rent a movie, buy two fresh uncooked pizzas from Walmart, buy a large bottle of soda, and pop your own popcorn all for under 16 bucks. Compare that to taking the family out to a pizzeria, then to a movie, where have to buy sodas and popcorn and before you know it you have spent 60, 70 bucks and on top of that, you had to get out of your pajamas and put on real clothes. Having to put real clothes on during the weekend is a deal breaker for me.

You can also bake cookies with the pizza oven. How many times have the kids asked for fresh cookies but you really don't want them to eat 2 dozen cookies. Buy the roll of cookie dough and only cut off enough pieces for everyone to get 2 cookies. Place the rest of the roll in a zip loc baggie and put back in the fridge. Portion control without the kids knowing.

FYI....the Presto Pizza Plus has a black tray and the original has a silver tray. The manufacturer added the word plus when they relaunched the item and wanted consumers to know that you can bake other items with the Presto Pizzazz Plus oven. Other than that, it is the same pizza oven. Oh by the way, do not cut the pizza on the tray. Move the cooked pizza back to the card board it came on and then cut it.

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Installing the Nest Gen 3 Learning Thermostat Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 01:30:00 +0000

If you haven't read Part 1, click here.

Now comes the part that gives you control over your stat 24/7 no matter where you are currently located. Installing the phone app and syncing to your WiFi allows you to lower your temperature setting on your furnace while you are away, so that you can save your hard earned cash. But it also allows you to come home to a warm house by using your smart phone to turn the thermostat back to it's normal temp before you arrive home.

Along with changing the temperature inside your home, you can monitor how much energy you have used and get extreme temperature alerts before your home gets too cold.

I'm sure you have read the horror story of a family on vacation in January, who arrive back home to find that their furnace had stopped working, and all the pipes had frozen and burst. Now they have to gut their home, deal with an insurance company, buy all new furnishing, mourn the loss of non replaceable items such as photos and heirlooms all because their furnace stopped working. If only they would have had a warning that the temperature in their house was dropping.

Let's get started.

The first step is to download the Nest app (blue logo with white house) onto your smart phone. When the download is complete you will find the Nest logo on your phone and click to open.

Nest will walk you through the process of syncing with the WiFi. You will need to know your password or PIN number of your WiFi. Our PIN number is on the bottom of the Internet modem in the world's tiniest font. The most important part is giving your Nest thermostat permission to use your WiFi. Once that happens your new Nest thermostat can start learning your family's habits and will know when to lower your home's temperature in the winter, when to rise the temperature in the summer when the air conditioning is running and no one is home, and this will also allow Nest to alert you to dangerously low inside temperatures.

Our Nest thermostat also needed to give access to Consumers Energy and permission to monitor and adjust our usage during peak use time in the summer. This was done through an email sent from Consumers Energy and was the easiest step of the entire process.

Our Nest Gen 3 Learning Thermostat has been up and running for over a month now without any problems. The instructions said that it could take the thermostat between 30 to 90 days to learn our habits so I have not noticed any lowering of temperature at night or while we are away. But to be honest I really have not been monitoring that closely. As long as the house is warm, but not too warm when we are here, then I have no compliant.

I will do an update sometime in the spring after the Nest has learned what it needs to know and by that time we will have received 3 or 4 monthly bills from the utility.

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Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 22:27:00 +0000

Roger loves the whole roasted cooked chickens that you can buy for 5 bucks at Sam's Club, Costco, and Kroger. There is always a lot of small pieces of chicken left over on the carcass after we slice off large pieces for our dinner. So rather than throw it in the trash, I throw the small pieces of chicken into a pot along with whatever else I have in the fridge.

The recipe changes from batch to batch but generally this is the recipe.

Leftover chicken pieces. Pull apart larger pieces so they are spoon size.

2 cartons of chicken broth (I prefer low sodium but you use what you like best)

2 chicken bouillon cubes to pump up the chicken flavor

celery stalks, cut lengthwise and then diced

carrots fresh, cut in diagonal thin slices or use frozen or small can (drain before using)

small can whole kernel corn (drained)

1/2 C frozen peas not can peas. Can peas are too soft

1/2 C frozen lima beans

small can of mushrooms (Roger likes this)

2 cups or 3 handfuls of large size (dumpling) egg noodles

Season to taste. I also add just before serving, a shake or two of dill weed. Also had salt and pepper to taste.

In a large pot pour 1 1/2 cartons of broth (save the 1/2 carton for adding to bowls of soup when you re warm the soup because the noodles will soak up a lot of broth while in the fridge). Add the 2 bouillon cubes and heat at med high.

While the broth comes up to temp add your chicken pieces, carrots, corn, lima beans, peas, celery, even green beans. Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat to low medium and cover.

Cook your noodles in a large sauce pan. Once they are cooked, drain, and add to the soup. Never add uncooked noodles to your soup because the noodles will absorb all the broth. At this point I add the mushrooms, cover, and turn the heat down to low for 1 hour.

You can adjust this recipe depending on what your family likes and how much soup you are making.

We prefer the large dumpling size noodles but you can also use the smaller egg noodles.

When reheating the soup in individual bowls, add some of the leftover chicken broth if the broth has absorbed into the noodles.

Store in fridge in a covered container so that the noodles do not dry out.

Enjoy

and

always remember

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Installing the Nest Gen 3 Learning Thermostat Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 06:03:00 +0000

Our electric and natural gas supplier, Consumers Energy, offered a special on the Nest Learning Thermostat. We needed a new stat because the one we have now is white and white plastic always turns yellow after a couple of years. It was nasty looking.

There are several outside ring color combinations to choose from when you place your order. I ordered the black shiny ring version. They say the grey ring version picks up the color of the wall.....I would have to see that in person....I'm skeptical like that. You can also pick from several other colors. But I stuck with basic black and shiny.

One of the stipulations of buying the thermostat at a discounted price is that you allow the utility to monitor your stat and raise the temperature during the summer during peak hours when you have your AC running. In return you also get a slight decrease in your rate. You will need WiFi for the stat to work remotely.

Let's start the installation. Turn off the furnace at the thermostat. It will take a minute or so for the furnace to actually turn off. Once the furnace is no longer running you can flip the furnace circuit breaker in the breaker box to the off position. If it is summer and daylight then you can just flip the main circuit breaker to the off position. But since it was 5PM and dark and winter I chose to just flip the circuit breaker.

Take a photo of the wires and the terminals that they are hooked to currently on the old thermostat.

The Nest Gen 3 Learning thermostat has a backing plate (where you will attach your wires) and the front display part.

Remove the display part of the thermostat from the box. In the bottom of the box you will find the new backing plate, 2 screws, and the correct size screwdriver for the screws.

Remove the wires from the terminals on the old backing plate and then remove the screws holding the old backing plate to the wall. Marvel at the discoloration of your walls and comment to your spouse that you can no longer live in such filth. Seriously, ewwwwww. Roger said he had nothing to do with that dirt and dust.

Pull the wires through the opening of the new backing plate.

At the top of the new backing plate you should see a little blue area. Look closely at it.....it's a bubble level so that when you install the backing plate you can check to make sure that it is level. Of course you can install it in an un level fashion but then the display will be crooked. If you have OCD when it comes to level things like I do, then make sure the backing plate is level before installing the screws

Straighten out the wires and cut off the exposed copper wire leaving only 1/4 of an inch exposed. Refer back to your photo of the old backing plate to locate the correct connections for the wires. EX the white wire went to W1. So I pressed on the W1 terminal and slide the white wire into the hole until the wire bottomed out. I then released my finger and gave the wire a little tug to make sure it was clamped in place and then moved on to the next wire.

The only difficulty that I had was with the red wire which is the power wire. My old backing plate only had an R terminal. This backing plate has Rc and Rh. When in doubt go to the Internet. After reading around for a minute I found out that I needed to put it in the Rc location.

When I installed a new WiFi Honeywell stat in my mother's condo before I sold it, the R wire was located in the same location as the old backing plate but I had to move a wire inside the furnace itself.

Before attaching the display unit you will need to install the batteries. These are rechargeable batteries and they will recharge using the power wire in the thermostat. Now attach the display part being careful to have the connectors lined up. Do not force it on.

Go to the breaker box and turn the power back on. It will take a moment for the furnace to come back on (if winter or in summer the AC). If you are not running the heat or AC then you will need to set the stat to turn on whichever one you chose so you can check to make that the installation was done correctly.

The display will show black if it isn't triggered by a person close by. If nothing is running it will show the ambient temperature (like the photo above) of the room. If the furnace is running it will display an orange background and the set temperature and the current temperature. If the AC is running the background will be blue.

If you wish to see the outside temperature and weather condition just press the bottom portion of the screen.

To change the mode just turn the outside ring. In the above photo it shows that it is in heat mode because it is orange. The leaf is the Eco mode, next is the fan mode, next at the bottom right is the calendar where you set the date, next is time, where you set the current time and time zone, the gear symbol is for settings, and the arrow is back to the home screen.

The installation time was 40 minutes from start to finish. This included removing the old stat, install the Nest thermostat, set the mode (heat) and the desired temperature, and then finally making sure that everything was running. This was my second WiFi programmable stat install so I knew what to expect. Roger does not like doing this kind of work at all, so I am the designated stat installer in the house.

Tomorrow I will cover syncing up the stat to the WiFi and then setting it up so that the utility company can control our AC during peak hours in the summer. This was a little more difficult because the pass code/PIN on the modem was sooo tiny that I could hardly read it with a magnifying glass.

This stat is suppose save you money by learning your habits and lowering your furnace setting when you are sleeping or away from the house. The same for the AC. The instructions said it can take between 30 and 60 days to learn your patterns. Also with the Nest thermostat the yearly battery replacement is a thing of the past because of the rechargeable batteries. Now if they could just make a furnace that changes it's own filter.

We keep our furnace temp fairly low already. I studied Public Health in college and read about a study done on soldiers that compared the occurrence of head colds between the soldiers who slept in new air tight (higher temps) barracks and those who slept in old drafty (colder temps) barracks. The occurrence of head colds were higher in the soldiers who slept in the new air tight (warmer) barracks. Our temp is set at 67 degrees in the winter. I also read an article that said you burn more calories if you sleep in colder temperatures. I wonder just how cold the temps have to be to lose weight? Obviously it is not 67 degrees.

FYI... I haven't suffered a cold in 9 yrs and my husband hasn't had one in about 5 yrs. I probably just jinxed myself.

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What YouTube Channels That I'm Digging Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 05:54:00 +0000

Part 2

99 Carpet This is probably the strangest channel I watch. There isn't any talking, just the sound of cleaning a dirty rug. It is addictive. Now I wonder if my rugs are that dirty.

Brian Christopher Slots Brian travels all over the US playing slot machines. He also sets up group slot pulls where 20 people all put in a 1000 bucks each. They put the $20,000 in a high dollar slot machine and each player gets about 20 pulls each. Then when everyone has had their 20 pulls they cash out and divvy up the money. Sometimes it's less than their original $1000 and sometimes it is a little more than a 1000 bucks. The purpose of this is to try and hit a big bonus on the slot machine that has a progressive bonus payout. This channel is fun to watch and informative for those who play slot machines at casinos.

Post 10 This YouTuber ventures out in the rain and snow to unclog storm drains and culverts. You will never look at a storm drain the same way again after viewing his vlogs.

Baumgarter Restoration This YouTuber restores old and priceless oil paintings. Very skillful and I find this channel to be very relaxing.

Jeremy Fragrance and Fragrance Bros   Here are two YouTubers who cover everything you need to know about selecting and buying perfumes for both men and women. There are many more but I feel that these two guys are very knowledgeable when it comes to the art of picking a scent. Jeremy is a little out there and some days I can't get entirely through his video but he knows what he is talking about.

Emmy made in Japan This chick needs her own show on the Create channel. She is based in Rhode Island and she finds weird recipes and tries to makes them. Like ketchup ice cream. She also buys kitchen gadgets and uses them to see if they really work.

Nicola White Mudlark and Si-finds Thames Mudlark and Lucy's Larking Adventures and Northants Magnet Fishing These are UK YouTubers who mudlark. Mudlarkers search the shores of Thames for old coins, artifacts, or bits and bobs (as they say in the UK) to make original pieces of art. Very interesting. The magnet fishermen search the waterways leading to the Thames using powerful magnets. They find motorcycles, bikes, trolleys (UK shopping carts), guns, WWI and WWII ammo, safes, and coins. They take what they want and pile the scrap metal for the scrappers to come and pick it all up.

Helen Wyatt This sweet lady from Georgia makes some of the prettiest yard art. Her vlogs are always uplifting and she is amazingly talented.

Glasshoppa and Glassfusing These are glass fusing vloggers and there are many more. Did you know that you can fuse small pieces of glass in your microwave?

Hydraulic Press Channel This channel crushes everyday items in a hydraulic press. Very interesting to watch in slow motion.

Gavin Hunyady 187 My son's racing channel. He is currently remodeling a horse barn into his race shop. You can follow that on his Instagram channel HighintheDirt. The new race shop has heated floors and will have a hoist and other interesting trinkets.

Part 1 if you haven't read that one.

Enjoy

and always

remember to

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Easy Potato Soup Recipe + Bonus Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 07:49:00 +0000

This is the easiest and most inexpensive potato soup recipe. I can't remember where I found it but when I run across that info I will add it to this post.

Ingredients

5 medium size yellow potatoes (Yukon Gold)

1 lg can of creamed corn

1 lg can of evaporated milk

1/2 lb of bacon (try to get thick sliced and smoked for added flavor)

1/4 to 1/2 of a sweet onion diced into 1/2 inch cubes

Save 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease

Pre cut your bacon before you fry it. It is much easier and you will get a more uniform size of bacon bits. When the bacon is almost cooked, remove the bits and place on folded paper towel to remove excess grease. Do NOT compress the paper towel to remove all the grease. The grease has flavor. Save 2 tablespoons of the grease.

Peel and wash your potatoes. Cut each potato into 4 pieces to speed up the cooking process.

Add enough cold water to cover your potatoes pieces by 2 inches. Use the pot that you are going to cook your soup in. Cook your potatoes (med to med high) until a fork can easily go into the potato. Do not over cook your potatoes or they will fall apart. Drain the water and remove the potatoes to cool so that you can dice them. Cut the potatoes into 3/4 inch cubes once the potatoes have cooled slightly. If you try to cut too soon the potatoes will fall apart.

Into the EMPTY pot that you just used to cook the potatoes, add the evaporated milk, 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease, diced bacon, 1 can of creamed corn, diced onions, and the cubed potatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remember that the bacon will already have salt. Better to go lightly with pepper. You can always add more later. Cook for at least 1 hr on low to low medium heat in a COVERED pot.

Tips

I made this without the bacon grease the first time. The first time I really compressed my paper towel to remove all the grease. This caused the soup to hardly have any bacon flavor. The second time that I made the soup I did not compress the paper towel and I just let any excess grease collect in the paper towel. I also added the 2 tablespoons of bacon grease when I made it the second time. It didn't make the soup greasy but did add a lot of flavor.

Try to use a Vidalia onion if you can find one, if not make sure it is a sweet onion or the onion taste will overpower the potatoes.

I like to dice my ingredients so I could theoretically I could get a piece of potato, bacon, and onion onto a soup spoon at the same time.

I find that soups always taste better the next day. So either make the soup early in the morning and then put in the fridge until time to rewarm or make it a day ahead of time.

The next time I make it I might add a small can of whole corn to get more of a corn taste.

My husband really liked this soup and I liked how easy it was to make.

We added garlic and herb croutons just before eating.

Enjoy

Below is my sister's potato soup recipe and basically everything that she cooks is good, no wait....really good. She uses apple smoked, thick sliced bacon and oh my goodness is it good. You can see by the recipe that this might have more calories....LOL She also cooks her soup in a crock pot so there is no need to precook your potatoes. My recipe could also work in a crock pot.

Try these recipes and let me know what you think.

Enjoy

and

always remember to

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What YouTube Channels I'm Digging Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 02:13:00 +0000

YouTube has been around for some time but as with everything I am the last to jump on the bandwagon. In the past, I used YouTube just for information. Basically searching out solutions to problems or for techniques.

I never considered watching YouTube just for entertainment. Since the Fall of 2019, I have been filling my evenings with YouTube in place of conventional TV watching. I'm not a reality TV show watcher nor CSI anything. Roger and I do enough CSI every time we open up a wall or remove anything not original to the house. And don't get me started on the quality of shows that are currently on network television. I lost 33% of my TV watching when Big Bang Theory finished their run last year .

I like comedies, watching 'How To' videos, cats and dogs doing cute stuff, and the biggest surprise was that I found out that I love watching mundane videos. Below I've linked to some of the YouTube channels that I have been watching. Enjoy.

This is Part 1

Dog, cats, and other animal channels

Suri Noel Korean family with 5 Scottish Fold cats. The cats are adorable.

I_am_puma Russian couple who rescued an unhealthy puma and now it is like a HUGE house cat. They recently adopted a cheetah from a circus. The cheetah was shunned by the other cheetahs which caused the large cat to be withdrawn and underweight.

Lilo the husky This channel is about a family with huskies and a rescue kitty, Rosie, who thinks she is a husky, too.

Tucker Budzyn Tucker, the golden retriever, is so cute and funny.

Oliver the Beagle I'm partial to beagles because we had one when I was a child. Oliver is a very smart beagle who lives a busy, full beagle life in Chicago.

How to videos

Cheese52 How to make cheese. My sister, niece, and I took in a cheese making class, plus I love cheese. After watching these videos you will want to run out and buy a case of rennin and start making your own cheese. I know I do.

GavinWebber Another cheese maker and he has the same first name as my son.

FoodWishes Cooking channel that makes me think that even I can cook.

CookingTree Korean cooking channel. No speaking just food making sounds. Beautiful desserts and surprisingly relaxing to watch.

Hercules Candy Family owned candy store. I've tasted their candy and it's very very good. Their grape jelly ribbon candy with a peanut butter filling is soooo good.

Lofty Pursuits Another candy store who makes their hard candies using vintage equipment.

Miscellaneous channels

Cole the Cornstar Twenty two year old, third or fourth generation Iowa farmer, who just graduated from college and is getting stuff done. Informative, funny, and just plain interesting.

Trenton and Heath Shoe repair. Yes, shoe repair but it is so interesting to see how the cobbler repairs the shoes. You can also see how good leather shoes can be repaired, unlike newer cheaper shoes. On a side note....for the last few years whenever I have purchased a new pair of shoes I have added heel and toe protectors before I even wear them. The heel protectors are great if you tend to wear down one side of your heel. By installing protectors to the bottom of the heel, the heel protector wears down and not the actual heel. Go to Amazon and you can buy an entire sheet of rubber protectors for 5 bucks. These are attached with small headed nails/brads. Might do a shoe post. I have a pair of Chanel shoes that need a small repair on the heel and I want them dyed. Might be an interesting before and after post.

Michael Oliver Not to be confused with the beagle named Oliver. Michael Oliver is an Australian metal detector/diver who finds people's lost rings etc on beaches and in the water. Very interesting if you enjoy aquatic life and finding old coins in the water.

The Hoover Boys and Green Mountain Metal Detecting Two channels of metal detecting. They primarily hunt for old coins and artifacts from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Amazing how many coins are dropped on the ground. They find gold and silver coins. I am thrilled that I find a penny on the ground when I fill my vehicle with fuel at the Speedway station. Find a penny, Pick It Up, and All Day Long, You'll Have Good Luck.

This is getting long so I am going to divide this into 2 parts.

Let me know if there is a YouTube channel that I need to check out.

Enjoy

and always remember

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Grandmother's Tuna Salad Recipe and Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 01:15:00 +0000

My paternal grandmother made the best tuna salad and she always served it in a hobnail moonstone bowl. Reminder to self....search the Internet for 'The Bowl'. For years we have been trying to crack the recipe and I think I have finally done it.

My daughter in law came very close in the winter of 2018. But I think that it was just one ingredient off and that one ingredient was Miracle Whip instead of mayo. I always felt like the tuna salads we were making looked too yellow.

My grandmother's philosophy was that there was nothing that couldn't taste better with a little sour cream added. AND if it was something sweet she was of the mind that peanut butter could make it better. Her peanut butter Rice Krispies treats were very tasty.

But back to sour cream, Miracle Whip, and tuna salad. We are a Hellman's household and there isn't a jar of Miracle Whip in the house but one day it dawned on me that Miracle Whip was the cat's meow in the 50-60's. AND Miracle Whip is WHITER than mayo. So last week I tried the recipe again with Miracle Whip and it looks and taste like my grandmother's.

Grandma Brunette's Tuna Salad Recipe

2 cans of chunk tuna in oil NOT water. Must be chunk and in oil, drained (do not rinse).

shell pasta approximately 1 1/2 cups uncooked (the photo shows shell and elbow because I ran out of shell)

celery 2 or 3 stalks sliced lengthwise and then diced into 1/2 inch pieces. Any bigger and you start getting those celery strings caught in your teeth.

1/4 to 1/2 white sweet onion diced into 1/2 inch pieces, must be sweet onion or the onion taste will over power the other ingredients

frozen peas 1/2 to 3/4 cup

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, we always salt lightly

Miracle Whip

sour cream

OPTIONAL dill weed just a dash or two

Garnish with paprika. She ALWAYS garnished everything with paprika.

Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. If you do not rinse the shells they will stack inside each other (been there, done that). Drain and place in a large covered bowl, and put in fridge to get cold.

While cooking the pasta you can dice your celery, onion, and thaw out your peas.

Don't mix together any of the ingredients until everything is cold. Add the drained tuna to the pasta and break apart the chucks into flakes and mix into the pasta. Now add the rest of the ingredients and look for any shells that might be sticking together and separate them.

In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup Miracle Whip, 1/4 cup sour cream, and salt. If you are adding dill weed this is the time to add it to the dressing mix.

Add half the dressing and mix lightly so that the tuna doesn't fall apart. If salad is too dry then add more dressing. The photo above is how I like my tuna salad. If you want more dressing then add more. Just don't add it all in the beginning. It is much easier to get to the correct amount of dressing by slowly adding. Once you have made the salad a couple of times you will know the correct amount to add right from the beginning.

Garnish with a couple of light shakes of the paprika jar. This is just for looks and was always how my grandmother presented her tuna salad at the table.

Now comes the most important part. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 12 hrs. I have found that if you don't wait, the tuna flavor will be too strong. I don't know why, but it is.

Oh and while I am talking about tuna, do not buy tuna in water or tuna pieces. It is tasteless and the pieces are so small that it is more like tuna slime and not tuna flakes.

ENJOY

Update....we haven't embarked on any interesting projects of late. But we have a long list to start on when the weather breaks.

We did a massive tree trimming and shrub removal at the Torrey Road house in preparation for when we put it on the market.

We installed a 3rd gen Nest thermostat in the Torrey Road house and I will do a tutorial in the coming weeks.

I also made a great potato soup recipe the other day and I will do a post about that recipe along with my sister's crock pot potato soup recipe which is to die for.

I am also planning on writing a blog post about how we sold 2 properties (FSBO) without an agent. One property sold for 10K under asking but 40K more than properties adjacent to it. The other sold for asking on the second day even after the first buyer's agent told me to lower the price. The property sold for 35K over identical other properties and it is still the highest selling condo in the area.

I am thinking about writing a post on my fave YouTube channels. I watch some unusual ones that if someone told me I would watch these in 2020, I would have to say 'No way'. Hint there are kitties involved and maybe a dog or two.

If any of these future posts sound like something you are interested in, just subscribe to my Instagram account where I will post whenever there is a new post on the blog.

https://www.instagram.com/gear_acres/

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A $20 Wrought Iron Bistro Table

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 03:30:00 +0000

I have a thing for wrought iron furniture. You have probably figured that out by now....right?

I was checking out the 'stuff' on FaceBook Marketplace and found a wrought iron bistro table without the top. It originally had a glass top but now it was just the wrought iron table base. But that isn't the end of the world and Pier 1 has glass rounds in stock.

But before I checked out Pier 1 (around 50 bucks for a 30 inch), I checked out our stash of glass tops. R picks them up whenever he sees them at the curb on trash days. We have square pieces, rectangle pieces, and of course round pieces. But unfortunately our stash was void of a 30 inch round. No worries....I have other ideas...LOL

Here is the table that I bought for 20 bucks. The round stock is larger than normal and the welds and the way they terminated the ends means it was a quality manufacturer. I didn't see any embossed maker marks like Woodard but Woodard did use stickers on some of their pieces.

First thing that I did was use my brass bristle brush to clean and remove any dirt or rust. Then I flipped the table over and put it on the saw horses and my piece of painting plywood/luan. It's a thinner piece of plywood so it is easy to haul out for painting or working on a project.

I always paint the bottom first and I always paint my wrought iron pieces satin black. The satin is less reflective so it appears darker. Satin is also the finish that the manufacturers use. Satin finish still has a little sheen and it looks so much better than the garish shiny semi or high gloss finishes.

After the bottom is painted I flip it over and paint the top side. I also always paint in the shade. This allows the paint to dry slower and I can see my missed spots better when in the shade because there is less glare coming off the wet paint.

I searched the barn for chairs, in between the coats of paint on the table. I found two white wrought iron chairs with bright yellow vinyl seat cushions. We didn't buy these chairs. R found them at the curb. I remembered when he brought them home. I thought to myself "nice chairs but that yellow isn't going to work...at all." Then we stored them in the barn until they were found again, 5 or 6 years later.

The first thing that I did was remove the padded cushion. I was really hoping that there was a wire mesh seat underneath the cushion but sadly no. But the more I looked at the chairs the more I liked the shape and style of them. I can always have the seats recovered. I would do it myself but there is vinyl piping around the edge and I really like that detail.

So here is the table and chairs painted. The chairs are actually very comfortable but that yellow is just not going to work at all. I am going to search for vinyl fabric and see what is out there. I need something that will work with the two patterned fabrics that I have picked out for the patio sofa and chairs.

Morrie approved.

But so far I have just 20 bucks invested and I would love to keep the entire project under 50 bucks. Tomorrow is forecasted for thunderstorms all day so nothing will happen concerning the table top. But it will be a perfect day to look for vinyl fabric at the fabric stores. Wish me luck.

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Staining the Deck White

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 03:30:00 +0000

Two weeks ago I started the process of staining my deck white. If you follow me on Instagram then you have probably seen a photo or two of the progress.

I am using Behr Solid Color Wood Stain in Ultra Pure White. We use Behr paint in Semi Gloss in the color Ultra Pure White for the trim and shutters on the exterior of our house. So we knew that we wouldn't end up with clashing white tones.

This deck will require two coats. The first coat is blotchy but the second coat fills in the lighter spots and makes everything look the same color. My plan is to get a single coat on everything before doing a second coat. We are doing it this way because the first coat of stain really highlights any imperfections or problems.

This was especially true of the top board. It gets the most sun, rain, and snow so it was not looking its best. To remedy the cracks and splits in the wood, R has been using a universal filler that we buy at ACE Hardware.

It is called Evercoat Home Fix Universal Filler . We have used it on cracked exterior wood trim and window sashes. It can be used for both interior and exterior use and we have been happy with the results. The above photo is after filler was applied and then sanded off leaving filler behind in the cracks and crevices.

I will be so happy when we can finally store the ladders in the barn instead of under the deck. We have ladders of just about any height and not a day goes by that we don't use at least one of them.

Follow Gear Acres on Instagram to get an early look at what we are up to at Gear Acres.

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Does your garden hose...

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sun, 21 Jul 2019 03:30:00 +0000

...stick out like a sore bright green thumb?

Garden hoses are a necessity if you want your plants to live but it doesn't have to look bad while keeping your flowers happy.

I decided to add a hose hanger on my deck because dragging the hose up to the deck was a drag (no pun intended). The hose hanger wasn't a problem because there are a lot of choices out there on the Net. If your favorite hose hanger is the wrong color there is always spray paint.

I bought my hose hanger about 10 years ago so I don't have a link for mine. But it was offered in a distressed black and I just can't get onboard the distress bandwagon. Why would I start out with a hose hanger that looks like it needs sandblasting and repainted? I, of course, spray painted the hose hanger in satin black.

I hung the hose hanger and loved how it looked but I wasn't all that into hanging a bright green garden hose on it. So off to the Internet to see what was available. Isn't that where we start any project these days?

eBay had grey garden hoses and they were almost the same grey as my house. Unreal. What was even more unreal was the price, the length options, and free shipping. I decided on the 50 ft length and it arrived about a week later.

Grey Garden Hose Nozzle Sprayer

Grey Garden Hose 50ft length

I chose this garden hose for several reasons beyond the grey color. First it had brass fittings. Plastic fittings are easily cross threaded and tend to leak. On the other hand, brass is sturdy and less likely to leak. The hose is 5/8th inch and 8 ply. And finally there is a spring on the end that is attached to the faucet. This spring keeps the hose from getting kinked. And all for $25.34 plus free shipping.

We finished off with a grey garden hose sprayer. Why ruin the look with a green sprayer? The sprayer also came with an extra washer. I purchased 2 with a 'Make Offer' of 6 bucks each and free shipping.

R drilled a 3/4th inch hole in the deck and we ran the new hose down to the hose faucet below.

Oh my, those deck boards look bad. But that is another project for another day. I have deck railing to stain white and wood buttons to glue in place. It is going to take 2 coats of opaque stain but it already looks a million times better.

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How to Divide an Expensive Hosta Into Multiple Hostas

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 03:30:00 +0000

I decided to stop by at a local nursery to see if they had empty wire hanging baskets. They did and they were on sale. So I thought "what the heck, I've just saved 25% so let's go and look at the hostas. Maybe I can save some more money."

Nothing was really grabbing me. Most of the hostas were ones I already owned. The few new ones that I saw were lackluster until I saw this....

...Cool as a Cucumber. How cool is that? Oh and it is 50% off. It's like they are giving them away.

So I went in for a closer look. It's vase shaped. That is always a plus because you can tuck a smaller low growing hosta under the taller hosta for a layered look.

A closer look at the leaves and we can see several shades of green. Almost a grass green with a nice splash of creamy white in the center. Sold!!!!

But before I grab one and had for the cash register, I need to look closer and see if I can find one that has 5 or 6 divisions so I can extend my savings even more. Found one and this looks like I can get 5 or 6 new plants from this one pot.

Let's do some figuring. The original cost was $19.99. If I paid that much for a single hosta then my hosta beds would be pretty bare. But this hosta was on sale for half off so it was only 10 bucks. That's better but I think we can do even better. I was able to divide this hosta into 6 plants so the individual per plant cost is $1.67!!!

Onto the dividing. Fill a bucket with about 6 inches of water and and a little fish fertilizer. I like the Alaska brand. You can buy it at Walmart and Tractor Supply. It smells like fish but a little goes a long way. Sit your bucket in the sun for 30 minutes or so. I don't like to just drop my hosta plant into freezing water (we have well water) so I sit it in the sun just long enough to make it tepid.

I then de pot the hosta and sit it into the water+fertilizer and let it sit in the shade. Every so often I swish the root ball around to help the soil fall off the roots. You will not get all the dirt off of a plant this size and that is OK. Removing some of the soil helps with the cutting and allows you to see more clearly the space between the divisions.

Go dig your holes while the plant is sitting in the water. The location I chose was around the base of one of my large walnut trees. I spaced the holes about 2 feet apart and ended with 6 holes. So my goal is to divide this plant into 6 smaller plants.

You will need a disposable utility knife like the one in the photo above. The narrow blade works better than the fat blade but that will work, too. Extend the blade all the way out and lock in place.

Before I forget.....DO YOUR CUTTING IN THE SHADE. I couldn't get my camera to work in the shade so it is one of those do as I say and not as I do scenarios. Start by gently trying to pull the roots apart by hand. That helps to keep from needlessly cutting off roots. The goal is to keep as many roots attached as possible. The first cut is to basically cut the root ball into 2 pieces. Depending on the plant, this might be 3 divisions on each piece or even 4 and 2. It all depends on how the plant has grown. Once you have two pieces put one of the pieces in the water while you work on the second piece.

The photo above shows the two halves. Using the long thin blade allows for cutting in between the divisions with relative ease, especially if it is a brand new knife. As you cut off a division make sure to put it into the water. It is important to keep the roots moist.

In less than 10 minutes I went from one large plant to 6 plants. After planting the newly liberated hosta division I thoroughly watered them with the water/fertilizer from the bucket. They have been in the ground for 2 days now and none are drooping and all looks good.

Hostas are hardy plants but using my method helps to eliminate some of the risk of dividing a large potted hosta.

I didn't just save 25% on the empty wire hanging basket with liner and 50% on the hosta plant. I used my rewards cards to earn cash towards a future purchase in the fall and I also used my credit card to earn points towards cash.

Reward cards are an easy way of earning cash back from the stores that you frequent. Today I used a $10 reward sent to me from Ace Hardware and I also got a $1.00 off my drink at Panera by using my Panera rewards card.

I punch holes in the corner of my reward cards and place them on a key ring so I have them handy and ready to use when I need them at the checkout.

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Got it!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 22:38:00 +0000

This is me at the garden shop looking for a new hosta.

I didn't find a new hosta but I did find 2 that you usually have to buy online.

One of my all time favorite hostas is Hanky Panky. This hosta changes colors as the season progresses. The middle of the leaves look completely different than the outer portion of the leaves. There are numerous shades of green, thin lines of white and yellow, and even some subtle streaking. It is a small to small medium in size and would look great planted in front of a large blue hosta.

This hosta is called Frozen Margarita and it is a large size hosta with lime green leaves that have a very thin white margin on the edge. Not every hosta in a hosta bed needs to be extremely unique like Hanky Panky. Having rather plain hostas in various shades of yellow, blue, and green like this lime green hosta, allows a unique hosta like Hanky Panky to pop.

I see more and more garden centers do what Vigoro does now and I really wish that they wouldn't do 'that'. What is 'that'?

'That' is not put the name of the hosta on the label. Their hostas are just labeled 'hosta'. For the hosta collector who knows their hostas, they will probably know that this 'hosta' is Hanky Panky. The real problem occurs when you have a new hosta customer who is laying out their landscape and they buy Vigoro hostas.

The size info is generic so there is a 50/50 chance that they will end up planting a shorter smaller hosta in the back and a bigger taller hosta in the front. Three years after planting these hostas, they will need to dig up those hostas and replant them correctly. Maybe even throwing out the smaller hostas thinking that those hostas are small because they are defective. Even worse, they could throw all the hostas away because they think that hostas are high maintenance, which they are not.

Look at the two containers. You pay 2 bucks more not to know the actual name of the hosta. What in the world?

The label also indicates that you can plant in sun or shade. Hanky Panky should never be in the sun. It is one of those hostas that need shade all day to keep its color. My mantra when it comes to sun or shade is 'no sun'. And I say that with the same intensity that Joan Crawford said "no wire hangers!"

I look at it this way. No hosta grew better because it was in the sun. Rather the opposite. The less sun the better. Here is an example of two hostas that are in full shade all day.

The blue hosta is Krossa Regal. It is a large blue vase shaped hosta. The hosta partially underneath Krossa Regal is First Frost. Both of those hostas would look completely different if they were planted in the sun. Krossa Regal would just be a large green hosta because the waxy substance that gives the leaves their blue color would have melted off in the sun. First Frost would be a pale washed out yellow and it's blue center would look green. Also both hostas would probably have scorched leaf tips and generally not look healthy.

I haven't the time to water and baby my plants and that is one of the reasons why I love hostas. If you plant them in the right location and place them correctly by size and color when you plant them, you will have a very low maintenance but a high visual impact hosta garden.

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Need more hosta info? Go to http://www.hostalibrary.org/

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling.....

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 03:30:00 +0000

....that's what R has been doing when it isn't raining. He is using the lawn roller to try and level out the lumps in the sod.

To do this he is using the roller that someone put out to the curb on trash pick up day. It has grease zerks and is a nice heavy roller. It was broken into two pieces but they both roll so it isn't a problem.

The soggy lawn is not drying out, not one bit. Every third day it rains and I am not talking sprinkles, I am talking big downpours. This makes every spot where we removed a boulder into a miniature lake.

When R isn't rolling, we are both mowing. The amount of growth overnight is unreal. Every three days we mow and hopefully that third day is not a rain day because that means the grass will be so tall on the fourth day that I will need to rake afterwards. AND no one has time for that!

I did find time to buy a few hostas. Well of course I did, I'm not dead. It is all part of being a hostaholic. Only one new variety of hosta and it is called Barbara Ann. I actually bought 5 hostas but 4 are repeats of hostas that I already own. The five hostas are from left to right Sum and Substance, Fragrant Bouquet, Barbara Ann, Pilgrim and Praying Hands (every hosta garden needs one of these very upright skinny hosta).

Tomorrow we need to get the 5 inch eavestrough up because yes it is going to rain Wednesday night and all of Thursday. I am beginning to think that building an ark might be something we need to look into. The Gear Acres Ark would have nothing but cats and hostas.

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The Rain has finally stopped...

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 02:14:00 +0000

...or so they (weather forecasters) say.

We are inching closer to having the south side of the deck done.

Here is the to do list....

Finish painting the shingles grey (just a few left)

Finish painting the white trim along the roof edge with semi gloss white

Take down the 3 inch eavestrough and downspout over the kitchen window

Replace 3 inch with 5 inch eavestrough and downspout

Prime and paint the area around the kitchen door

Paint corner trim board by kitchen door

Install bracket and hang small hanging basket

Retrieve the deck flower pots out of the barn loft

Plant the pots with flowers already purchased

Clean the glass table top, coffee table top, and end table top...3rd time's the charm

Remove the saw horses from the deck and put them down on the driveway

Take cushions to upholstery guy

Then there is the Mega To Do List

*Paint the shingles grey

*Paint the windows trim and sashes white (deck area)

*Prime the door trim (new door)

*Paint the door trim white

*Paint the doors white

*Make 4 of the faux wrought iron hinges

*Install the dummy handle on the stationary door

*~~Touch up the wrought iron furniture with black satin spray paint~~

*Take the outdoor cushions to the upholstery guy

*Hang 3 wrought iron baskets and ~~plant with flowers~~

*Haul out the umbrella and the umbrella stand

*~~Buy~~ and plant flowers on the deck

*~~Buy and plant flowers in the flower boxes on the railings~~

*~~Haul out all the deck decor items~~

*~~Put down the outdoor rug~~

*~~Plant flowers in the window boxes on the front and side of house~~

*~~Plant flowers in the pots on the front porch~~

*Fix paint on the bottom of the front door

*Add wide cove moulding to the bottom of front door

*Remove and replace 3" eavestrough and downspout with 5"
*~~Rent heavy equipment to break apart~~ what remains of the swimming pool
*Call and get estimate for retaining wall in the backyard
*Cut down almost dead large pine tree
*Finish building gable vent and prime and paint it
*Install gable vent

*Sand and prime bistro set

*Drill holes in the seats and middle of table top
*Paint the bistro set satin black w/bk and wh check table top

*Buy opaque white stain for deck railings

*Stain deck railings white

*~~Dig up boulders~~

*Move a few boulders to the area next to the driveway wrought iron gates

R has spent a lot of the non raining hours using the lawn roller to level the dents in our side yard that the tracks on the excavator left imprinted in the sod. We have had so much rain that the entire side yard has standing water.

No amount of rolling is going to help the backyard.

The lilacs came and went in about 3 days because of the lower than average temps and the overly heavy rainfall. I was really looking forward to cutting a big bouquet of lilacs. I even purchased a large clear vase at Goodwill just for lilac cuttings.

Maybe I will put peonies in that vase. Probably not because they haven't even put out any buds yet.

Go to my Instagram account to read about how an early 1900's glass dish (above photo) was shipped to me in a bag....yes, a non padded plastic bag.

I think we are now all caught up.

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My Lawn!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 03:49:00 +0000

My lawn look like the golf course in Caddy Shack.

We have been trying for weeks to rent an excavator to dig up boulders that have work their way to the surface and are so high that I can no longer run my riding lawn mower over them. There is also the removal of the sides of the original 1930's swimming pool that needs to be dismantled.

Every forecast for the last month has forecasted rain for the weekends. It has rained a lot lately. It's raining right now as I type this post. Unfortunately you have to reserve the excavator 1 week in advance if you want it for the weekend. The best deal is to rent it for the weekend with pick up on Friday at 2pm and return on Monday morning at 9am. You get 10 hours of run time and the cost is $350.00.

Friday the pick up day was a beautiful day but a short day. We decided to dig up the boulders first and then hit the pool demo on Saturday and Sunday. Here was my lawn after boulder removal.

This is my side yard and my backyard looks just as bad.

We even hand dug a few smaller rocks to save on wear and tear on the lawn.

So the plan tomorrow is to tear up that pool and try not to cry when I look at my lawn.

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Installing Extra Large Wrought Iron Brackets for the Hanging Baskets

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Fri, 31 May 2019 03:54:00 +0000

Seriously, the rain must stop or I will never get anything else crossed off my list.

I did get the corner boards primed and painted so we were able to install the new extra large brackets to hang the extra large baskets.

These brackets are from the same eBay seller where I purchased the wrought iron urns.

But Friday is a big day for us. R reserved an excavator to break apart the pool and dig up or move 6 or 7 boulders. Three of those stones worked their way to the surface over the last 6 or 7 years but now they are so high that I can no longer mow over them. R is keeping his fingers crossed that these are not the size of the garden shed and more like the size of something I can use in our landscape.

As soon as I finish painting shingles I am going to start painting the deck railings with a ultra white opaque stain.

I've crossed off a few items and added a few more items to the Mega To Do List.

*Paint the shingles grey

*Paint the windows trim and sashes white (deck area)

*Prime the door trim (new door)

*Paint the door trim white

*Paint the doors white

*Make 4 of the faux wrought iron hinges

*Install the dummy handle on the stationary door

*~~Touch up the wrought iron furniture with black satin spray paint~~

*Take the outdoor cushions to the upholstery guy

*Hang 3 wrought iron baskets and ~~plant with flowers~~

*Haul out the umbrella and the umbrella stand

*Buy and plant flowers on the deck

*~~Buy and plant flowers in the flower boxes on the railings~~

*~~Haul out all the deck decor items~~

*~~Put down the outdoor rug~~

*~~Plant flowers in the window boxes on the front and side of house~~

*~~Plant flowers in the pots on the front porch~~

*Fix paint on the bottom of the front door

*Add wide cove moulding to the bottom of front door

*Remove and replace 3" eavestrough and downspout with 5"
*Rent heavy equipment to break apart what remains of the swimming pool
*Call and get estimate for retaining wall in the backyard
*Cut down almost dead large pine tree
*Finish building gable vent and prime and paint it
*Install gable vent
*Paint the bistro set

*Buy opaque white stain for deck railings

*Stain deck railings white

*Dig up boulders

*Move a few boulders to the area next to the driveway wrought iron gates

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The To Do List is Getting Longer Every Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Tue, 21 May 2019 03:30:00 +0000

*Paint the shingles grey

*Paint the windows trim and sashes white (deck area)

*Prime the door trim (new door)

*Paint the door trim white

*Paint the doors white

*Make 4 of the faux wrought iron hinges

*Install the dummy handle on the stationary door

*~~Touch up the wrought iron furniture with black satin spray paint~~

*Take the outdoor cushions to the upholstery guy

*Hang 3 wrought iron baskets and ~~plant with flowers~~

*Haul out the umbrella and the umbrella stand

*Buy and plant flowers on the deck

*~~Buy and plant flowers in the flower boxes on the railings~~

*~~Haul out all the deck decor items~~

*~~Put down the outdoor rug~~

*~~Plant flowers in the window boxes on the front and side of house~~

*~~Plant flowers in the pots on the front porch~~

*Fix paint on the bottom of the front door

*Add wide cove moulding to the bottom of front door

I purchased this set at an auction for about 40 bucks. I can see why this set has peeling paint. When it rains the rainwater pools in the seat area and in the middle of the table. I am thinking about drilling a pattern of holes in the seat and the center of the table. Then I will sand and paint. I will probably spray paint the set with satin black but then paint a checkerboard in the seat area and center of the table. That should be tedious.

*And of course there are always more cedar shingles to take down and install new cedar shingles.

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How to Install Coco Mat in Odd Shaped Pots

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Fri, 17 May 2019 03:30:00 +0000

I purchased these two wrought iron pedestal urns from a seller on eBay. I knew that if I wanted to plant them with flowers, rather than fill them with large rocks, I would need to install a coco mat liner before I added soil and flowers.

There are not any ready made coco mats for urns that are this shape. Actually, you can barely find round coco mats that correctly fit hanging baskets. I ended up buying the coco mat that I used, from my local garden shop. I purchased 8 linear feet at $3.99 a foot and is 36 or 42 inches wide.

I ultimately lined these two urns, 2 very large hanging baskets, and 1 regular sized hanging basket, and still had a little left over.

First I eyeballed the length that I would need to do one urn and cut that length. Use heavy duty scissors and not your best sewing scissors for this task. I rolled the mat up and let it soak in a bucket of water for about 5 minutes and then flipped over the roll to soak the other end. This step made the coco mat more pliable and less itchy to install.

I took the rolled up coco mat and placed it in the urn. I lined up the edge of the mat to the top of the urn and held it in place with a squeeze clamp. I worked my way around the urn and overlapped the mat about 4 to 6 inches at the end. I then started tidying up the bottom so that it formed a nice curve and didn't stick out between the iron pieces.

Look for coco mat that is sticking out before adding your soil to the pot or hanging basket. You want a nice curve like how the coco mat is on each side of the protruding mat section.

The clerk at the garden shop suggested I put a piece of plastic in the bottom before adding dirt. She said that it prolongs the life of the coco mat and also keeps the water in the soil for a longer period of time so that the plant has time to soak up the water before it drains out. I chose the remnants of the bag that our lunch came in that day. Big John's Steak and Cheese subs....delish.

The next step was adding a good potting soil. I added about 4 inches and then tamped it down with my closed hand until it wouldn't compact anymore. I repeated this until I was about 6 inches from the top. At that point I unpotted the three large dark red geraniums and placed them in the urn. I then filled in the voids with more potting soil and finished off with a good watering and removed the clamps.

I was very pleased with how neat and tidy the mat looks in the wrought iron urns. Getting the mat wet before installing and then using squeeze clamps to hold the mat in place were the tricks that made this coco mat install a success.

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Easter Art

noreply@blogger.com (Jan Marie) — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 07:48:00 +0000

In honor of the real reason we celebrate Easter, I will show you one of my favorite paintings from my art collection. I am sorry that I do not have a better photo but all of my art collection is currently stored away while we do our home restoration.

I purchased this painting in 2007. I cannot remember the artist's name but you can see his stylized mark in the lower right hand corner. I am sure I will run across the paperwork eventually. The painting is modern and painted probably in the late 1930's, possibly 1938.

This sounds like an odd reason to buy a painting but I am attracted to square works of art (this piece is 24X24), paintings rendered in shades of purple, and religious paintings. Based on those attributes this painting was a no brainer for me to purchase.

The painting reveals more details the further you are from the painting. It wasn't until I hung the painting and left the room and came back did I even notice the crucifixion on the right and left of Christ. I was busy looking at the center of the painting as I held it in my hand and totally missed what was happening along the left and right edges.

The sky is painted in shades of dark purple depicting the storm that happened as Christ hung on the cross. The entire work is painted with a palette mostly of pinks, blues, and purples.

The brush strokes are large and layered in such a way that it results in a more detailed depiction. Upclose the faces appear blank or without features but again as you back up you can see the features. I find this painting fascinating and just now noticed a very small sage green that I never noticed before.

Have a Happy Easter. Whether you are celebrating Easter with a family dinner, attending church, or having an Easter egg hunt may your day be a happy one.

As always.....

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