Author: admin

Randomest Post Ever

 The Coop came yesterday! … We decided rather than kill each other attempt to build the coop ourselves, what they were offering at chickensforbackyards was reasonably priced, so we bought one from them.  It’s perfect for our eight-chicken needs.

 
Plenty of nesting box room and the interior is roomy with perches too.
 

 Initially I wanted the coop on the other side of the garden shed behind the house… you can see it off in the distance here..  However, Mike got a bit of information from one of his farm buddies that rats are attracted to chicken feed, and next thing I know, the coop is on the other side of the barn/garage.  …..Chicken.

 These are the chicken yard panels and green roof, next thing on the to-do list.
We’ll be able to run power from the back of the garage to the coop.

  Unrelated! ….I’ve said earlier that I’m a half-breed, and what I meant by that was I’m half Italian and half Irish-German.  Yes, that’s a nationality because I said so.   I was born a few minutes after midnight of St. Patricks Day…  not quite a leprechaun.  So today a dear friend came by to see This Old House bearing house warming and birthday gifts.  She fortified my kitchen chicken collection (say that three times fast) with these adorable things…

 ..a beautiful Rooster cookie jar!

                                                
                                                      and this hand stitched piece in a frame…

..and a beautiful dishtowel and spoon rest I didn’t photograph.
This is the tray on the wall above the sink… see that sign below it?
…. that about says it all.

 

 She handstitched this beautiful chicken out of old quilt material too…

H has been one of my horse buddies for many years and it doesn’t matter
 how long the span of time in between visits… we always pick up right where we left off
and there is never enough time to cover all the things we want to catch up on.
Thanks, H.  –  Now lets find some new trails to blaze.
Totally unrelated again…(I warned you this was random)
 The manchild saw me taking pictures of my orea stuffed cookies and said
“Ma…. get a shot of THIS..”
Just six months ago, he was still a twig. A stick figure! MAH  BAYBEE  BOY.
As he likes to say now, while flexing a bicep…
“BOOM”
*sigh*
 My midsection is saying the same thing.
As T-shirt weather approaches, I am thoroughly disgusted with my eating habits.
Time to get off my arse and start working it.
 After this last batch of cookies is gone.

 

Louie

 Mike and I come from Italian stock (I’m a half-breed to be honest) , and as is typical of our history, our grandparents were avid gardeners. It was a means to feed their family, not just the hobby we nurture today.  Mikes grandfather had a fruit and vegetable stand in West Haven.  He remembers rows and rows of plants in the garage and out in the yard behind the store, and the scolding he’d get if he put too many potatoes in what was supposed to be a 5 lb. bag to be sold in the store.

 Grandpa Al in his shop

  My grandfather grew roses and tomatoes and peppers and there were fig,  cherry and loganberry trees in his back yard on Staten Island. I remember harvest days when we would climb ladders and drop fruits onto tarps from the trees.  I also remember being scared beyond  silly in my grandparents presence. They were a stern lot, speaking broken English and  always, in my eight year old point of view, so serious.   Occasionally  they’d take a giant Hershey Bar out of a drawer in the kitchen and give each of us a big chunk of chocolate.

      Mike decided about five years ago he wanted to learn the art of gardening with the traditions and methods our ancestors used.  Our grandparents are long since gone… however LOUIE… Louie Louie.. is still alive and kicking it up in his magnificent garden in Middleltown.  Louie was a sheetrocker in the building business for many years. This is how Mike came to know him.   He is also an italian immigrant and fantastical gardener. That man works wonders in the soil of the small plot of land next to his house.  He also raises and kills rabbits for food, the reason I sometimes despise him… but in fairness he has let me buy two in recent years so that I could save them from his dinner table.   One of those rescue rabbits died at the paws of my barn cat… ask me how awful I felt that day. No don’t.  It’s still awful.  (I’m sorry, Sonny.. I failed you.)

  ANYWAY… Louie is tight-lipped with his gardening secrets. You cannot ask him direct questions, he will not give a direct answer. In a heavy italian accent you can imagine this line …”  Oooooh, you wanna know, huh?…..eeee hee heee…. well, I notta gonna tell ya”.     Mike has learned that he needs to just walk with him in the garden as he does his thing, and  it is there that Louie starts to talk.  In the talking, he gives away little bits of information, especially when he scolds.  (What is it with the scolding?).    “You putta da seeds in That size seed cup?  Oooh, too big, too big.  You gotta starta small, so the plant gets a little root bound. Then a they grow strong, you see?  Then a you move them to the bigger seed cup.  You young a people want things too quick, that’s a you problem.”

   This weekend while Mike paid a visit and gathered some tips, Louie gave him a big bunch of dried oregano from last years crop. This Old House smells delicous with the scent of rich oregano.

CSN Give-away WINNER!! and a spring give-away of my own…

Yes, I was going to wait another week to announce this giveaway, but I decided I wanted to give my followers a better chance at winning, so I went on over to Random.org  (thanks, kim)  and used their true numbers generator.  AND.. the number it settled on  was 39!   Comment number 39 was…

KATE the country girl! … Kate, I’ll mail you the code, and you now have $40. to use on CSN’s sites as you please.

 And so… I just reached the 200 follower mark!   It’s never been my intention to see how many followers I can accumulate… my blogging was initially  just a journal. However, it turned into much more than that.  It’s been such a pleasure getting to know you and the places you live and places you go – learning and creating and commiserating together.  I plan to blog for a long time, it’s a wonderful community.  To celebrate all of you – I am having a little give-away of my own.   All you have to do is answer the following questions in the comments section of this post and on Friday I’ll use the random generator again to pick a winner. The giveaway will be a box of spring goodness, contents a surprise.

1. Name three things on your bucket list.  

2. You’ll be stranded on an uninhabited tropical Island for a month. Name two items and one person – any person alive in the world today that you would choose to bring along with you.

3.  If you could chose any person at all to be the next President of the United States, who would it be and why?

4. Your stuck in an elevator for an hour. Who are you stuck in there with?  Jack Nicholson, George W. Bush or Charlie Sheen?

5.  What’s the first question you’d ask?

My answers:
1. To visit all the National Parks in the US,  to drive along the Pacific Palisades -California Coast, and to tour Europe. 

2. a gallon of bug repellent, a box of dry matches and the best eagle scout in America, whoever he is.

3. Brad Pitt.   Hey.. he’s easy on the eyes,  he’s a humanitarian and he already manages a small country amidst kaos.

4. George W. Bush.

5.  Question: ” ……………………………………………………..Really?!…………………………..”

An Hour of Your Time

  Did you move your clocks ahead?  I do love this practice… a big step toward the arrival of SPRING.

 This morning the light shifted…. as the sun rose and spilled over the back fields, the light cast a warm golden hue.    Robins are scouring the earth for worms and the bluebirds are staking their claim .

I think we’ve arrived, people.. my soul is rejuvenated.

Count on Martha…

..for those fabulous ideas that no human can possibly pull off full time in the style that is Martha – even she has an army to do the dirty work. She does make it look easy, though, doesn’t she?

 And just in case you notice… Yes, this post was written at 2am.  Because at 45-gonna-be-46, my sleep is not as restful or as dependable as it once was. Not that I’m complaining…. I don’t have tsunamis rolling over my house and driving my car down to the ocean today, so I am filled with gratitude at this moment and sorrow for those people.

I found this soap recipe on another blog that is relatively new. She gave an excellent tutorial with photos and used lavender and lavender oil.  I grow lavender out in the “Newport Real Estate” lamp post garden and I plan to dry it for sachets…and soap! This recipe looks pretty do-able and I’m gonna give it a go. You might see it on the farm stand this summer if I get it right.

 photo from Loxley Abbey’s soaps and sundrys –

Martha says….

We used plain, unscented glycerin soap base for these projects (available at most crafts stores). Soap bases with natural additions, such as aloe vera, goat’s milk, or olive oil, are great too.

Tools and Materials

•Assorted citrus peels, berries, and herbs
•Paper coffee filters, if using herbs
•Clean, dry containers, such as milk cartons, drink boxes, juice-concentrate cans, or yogurt cups
•Heat-resistant glass measuring cup or bowl
•Vegetable oil cooking spray or petroleum jelly
•Dough scraper
•Glycerin soap base
•Spray bottle
•Rubbing alcohol
•Paring knife

Fruit and Herb Soaps How-To:

1. Make Purees

Wash and dry all fruits and herbs; use whole berries, herb leaves, or citrus rinds with pith removed. Puree separately in a food processor. To make the herb purees, you may need to add 1 to 2 tablespoons water; place pureed herbs on a coffee filter, and wring out excess liquid before mixing into soap. Set purees aside.

2. Prepare Molds

To determine how much glycerin soap base you need, fill mold with water, then pour the water into measuring cup or bowl. Note the amount, pour out the water, then dry mold completely. Evenly coat interior of mold with cooking spray or petroleum jelly; wipe out excess.

3. Melt Soap

Use dough scraper to chop soap base into 1/2-inch pieces. Microwave soap in a glass measuring cup or bowl covered with a paper towel on medium in 30-second intervals until melted but not boiling. (A double boiler can be used instead.) Add more soap pieces as needed, and continue melting. Remove from microwave, and stir until smooth.

4. Mix In Purees

Start with 1 teaspoon puree per cup of soap. Add more as desired. The color will intensify as the purees steep in the warm soap; stir frequently to keep soap from setting. Heavy additives may settle at the bottom, while light ones float to the top. For consistent distribution, let the soap cool (but not solidify); then stir in puree, and pour into mold.

5. Pour Soap into Molds

Fill small containers 3/4 inch full with soap; for cartons, fill partially to form 1 bar at the bottom, or completely to make a block for slicing into bars. Spray surface with alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let soaps set, 20 to 60 minutes, depending on size. Transfer molds to freezer for about 2 hours (this will help the soaps release from the molds).

6. Release Soap From Molds

Tear away cartons to unmold bars. For hard containers, pry soap away from the sides, and press bottom of container to release. Neaten soap edges with paring knife. Slice large bars into smaller ones. Use soaps within 3 to 4 months.

My Bedroom and a CSN $40. Give-away!!

Above – CSN catalog
Below – our bedroom at This Old House

 We bought our new Paula Deen Savannah bedroom set from CSN online last year when moving to This Old House.  The quality is terrific and I do love this bed. I can speak highly of CSN’s service and products.  So when they approached me to host this give-away, I was happy to oblige.  We’ve been looking at track lighting options  for a few areas of our home and CSN has what we’re looking for.

 CSN has over 200 stores, so there are so many possibilities for you to choose from!   I love being able to shop there without leaving my home and I know  from past experience that my purchase will arrive without hassles. There are so many  brands and quality products in so many catagories, I’m confident you’ll have no difficulty finding something that you love in one of their online stores. Below is just a tiny sample of the wide range of products available…

Thanks to CSN, I will be giving away a $40 gift certificate to be used on any of the CSN sites! This is a great opportunity for you to spoil yourself!

What you have to do:

You must post a comment on this post for each different method of entry, and there are two ways to enter. This giveaway will end on March 14 at 5am Eastern Time and is only open to US entrants.  All entries will be verified.

■MANDATORY: Comment on this post telling me what you might buy on the CSN site if you win a gift certificate!

■ Become a Follower of  This Old House if you aren’t already. Post a comment stating that you are now a follower.

** This gift certificate will not include shipping costs, however there are items on all of their sites that offer free shipping with purchase.

I received the giveaway product mentioned above for free, but received no monetary compensation to post this. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. See my Terms of Use for full information.

Woodbury, CT

  I’m not supposed to be sitting at my computer today.  No.. I was supposed to be at a Boston College basketball game taking photos of our Roba Dolce girl, Shayna shooting hoops at half time. For every basket she made in today, $50. is donated to Special Olympics. (she went 15 for 17 from the foul line – You Go Girl!)   I’m not there today because I’m allergic to my house! Actually, the dust mites in it.  My eyes look like Evander Holyfield and I went two rounds (as if I’d last two seconds!).  I spared the good people of Boston from the site of me today.

  Instead, Mike took pity on me and we went for a ride in the rain to the town of Woodbury, a main stop on the New England antiques trail.   We had lunch at the Curtis House, Connecticuts oldest Inn, dated before 1735. 

Him:   Want to wear my sunglasses in the restaurant?
Me:    Do I look THAT BAD??
Him:   Oh.. well, I’m just saying ..you know… if you WANT to… um, just..sayin.

I don’t know, what’s worse – looking all allergy-eyed or like Michael Jackson in a dark restaurant on a rainy day.  I went without the  MJ look.  Maybe I should have tried it.

The town of Woodbury has a church on every corner and the architecture is stunning everywhere you look…

 

This house is abandoned.  Can you imagine?  I see an artisans commune, don’t you?

Love this truck.   
Since I braved the restaurant with my Rocky Marciano eyes, I decided it was
OK to venture in to Main Street Antiques and scare the good folks of that establishment too.
They have a greenhouse with a Koi pond as well as antique garden decor.
The earthy moist smell was heavenly.

    Old quilts have always been a favorite of mine. I’ve been looking for one that doesn’t cost a fortune for years, and today I finally found it!… $60. and it looks to be authentically hand-stiched, still sturdy enough to
take the wear and tear of the family room.