Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, it has been way too windy for a fire. Way too windy for a skinny old man out there. There was a stretch today when I was turning my flowers sideways to the wind so they wouldn’t blow over that I had to bend over double to keep from blowing over myself. I’ll wait until tomorrow to rotate them back to where they belong. Here is my view of them for tonight.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, I’m still not sure how it gets here so fast every week. There is only one word needed for the weather, HOT. That about sums it up. I’m not a real lover of the heat. That said I spent yesterday morning moving about a cord of wood from my yard and stacking it in the neighbors woodshed. I’m going to need some more as he has purchased most of what I had stacked up on the hill. I’m sure I can find some more to make a new pile but probably not until it cools off a little bit. This stretch can’t last too long. I could not even imagine why anyone would live where it was this warm all the time. Another reason why you can keep Florida. I couldn’t imagine shoveling snow in the weather.

The flowers etc. are trying to stay ahead of the hot weather and the wind and are doing ok. I see no new flowers on this tomato but if these ever ripen there will be a couple salad’s worth here.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, finally the last couple of days I have been able to complain about the heat. The weather changes very fast from one extreme to another. I’m in the studio as it is too hot outside. Nothing I really have to do outside, I still have a couple 4-packs of wave petunias to plant up, but that is about it. I may get a few more short flowers to fill in some holes. Who knows, time will tell.

I told you last time about working on the neighbor’s woodpile. When I picked up a piece of wood I saw what looked to be a twig sticking out the end. Closer observation showed it to be a stick worm, I thought it was rather cool and was glad I had my eyes open. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening out by the fire. It has been good fire nights, the last couple, at least. Dead calm and warm, we’ll see how the mosquitos are as it gets closer to dark. I just had to move back away from the fire, it was too damn hot. The way the wood gets stacked up on the fire, you would think it grew on trees. My wood pile is going down ever so slowly but is going down. I brought down three loads with the tractor this afternoon and filled the wood box. With the fire roaring now the box is being depleted quickly. Something to do tomorrow. Job security.

Not much has been going on around here. Some days it is too hot for this old man, others not so bad if I can get out of the sun. The sun and I are not the best of friends. I feel guilty spending all my time in the studio in the air conditioned coolness.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, too windy with threats of severe weather for a fire. 

I’ll see what I can write then go back to sewing. It doesn’t seem like much has happened around here this week. Neighbor had a tree cut down. That was about all the excitement for that day. 

 

With Evan’s assistance we managed to get the display case removed from storage and relocated to the shed here. 

 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, inside, still a little breezy. It was not a bad day, I managed to get most of the plants into something. Either the ground, a planter or a pot. Now they just need to grow. Time will tell. This dragon fly was just waiting for me to get them planted. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Out by the fire. One thing is for sure, I’m not sitting too close. The fire is certainly not needed for heat. Boy hasn’t it been hot, coupled with the humidity breathing can be a struggle. Thank goodness for the heat pump and the AC. It would be unbearable for this old curmudgeon without it. 

I spent much of the day yesterday cleaning up brush around the area. Most of the time I was in under the trees so it wasn’t too bad. Today I opted to do errands because the forecast last night was that today was to be a rainy day. It was far from it. Carol commented, asking me if I could imagine doing construction in this heat. Thank goodness, I don’t remember working many days like these last few, when I worked for a living up in Rangeley.

That said, I did a plumbing job for a neighbor up the pond. I replaced his toilet for him, not a real big deal but doing that type of activity I consider work. The cutting and stacking of all the wood I have been accumulating is just something to do, not considered work. I guess it’s all in the state of the mind.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~ 

By the fire. Beautiful, calm and warm evening. Time will tell if there is a decent sunset. It’s nice finally to have a calm evening and be able to have a fire. My wood pile is getting enormous. There must be close to 12 cord up on the hill. All split and stacked. I suspect that none of the big pile will get used before next season.

I worked on some big wood today to help out a neighbor. A big tree came down during the spring storms and was still up against the house in the back yard. It was a lot bigger wood than I normally like to play with, but I was able to utilize my tractor to do the heavy lifting. I could roll the two foot diameter chunks unto the bucket fitting only two side by side. A few times I was able to lift another on top to move three at a time to get them down to the hill to be split. At the point I am at the splitter, I can stand the splitter on it’s nose and roll the wood right onto it. I can then split it into small enough pieces so I can right the splitter and split them normally. Good exercise, I can’t quilt all the time, I don’t think I can at least. Well, maybe, time will tell.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, 

Thursday pm from the studio, too windy for a fire. 

What a day today was. Here is tonight’s sunset. 

It only got better later.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, sitting by the fire. 

A beautiful evening. I did not think I would get a fire this evening due to the storms. However, the storms have apparently happened earlier than I expected and are now gone. I slept through the storm so I guess you could say it was a nap length storm.

Signs of Summer

Carol here ~ 

It's finally summer!  Not much happening here, we haven't been doing too much other than enjoying this summer weather.

The plants are loving the sunshine and we have started getting cukes and tomatoes.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. Keeps raining so no fire. It did calm down nice though, a fire tonight sounds like too much work. 

I managed to get the planter I mentioned last time made. I made, painted, set it in place and planted it today.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening, currently sitting out by the fire. Nice day, not too warm and not too breezy.

Kind of a dull sunset.

Sometimes, peaceful and relatively calm is not a bad thing. Overall not too bad weather wise. Forecast does not impress me much though. Everything I have planted is just saying, “why bother”. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

The weather is normal, meaning that it is all over the place. There have been a couple of cooler days of late making walking easier. I have gotten out of bed earlier and had my first walk before I’m usually out of the shower. Makes for a long and possibly productive day. 

I have been busy as I mentioned last time raking pine needles off the beach. It truly is a never ending project. I have decided to make matters worse and try to regain the 3-4 feet by about 100 ft of beach that has been lost over the last 20 years. Basically, all it amounts to is to rake and pull out the pine needles that were not raked up and removing the shrubs and vegetation that has grown up in the “new” soil created by the needles. Trust me, mother nature will over grow us real quickly. It is just waiting until we leave so it can take over again. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, by the fire. Beautiful calm evening, a little chilly but quite nice. 

Now Wednesday afternoon was another story altogether. That little bit of weather I mentioned I heard was coming, well it came. We even got a tornado watch. Carol and I watched the sheet of water come down the pond as the storm erupted upon us. 

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, coming at you from the studio. A storm is coming with rain aplenty, at least I read that somewhere. It was a little windy tonight so I opted to stay in. As you can see it calmed down by dark. 

Dan's Ramblings/Quilting Get-Together

Dan here, no fire tonight. Just got home from the first evening of a fall quilt get together that started last fall and has returned again for this year. We are meeting at a rental home in Casco, Maine. There are 5 others plus Carol and me. 

Carol and I are commuting, as the home is only about 1/2 hour away. With our schedules this year it just worked out better that way.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here, Tuesday evening, by the fire. Little bit of a breeze, hopefully enough to keep the skeeters away.

There are two Loons still out on the pond fishing. I was thinking earlier that they must eat whatever they get before they come up, because I never see them eating anything. With the amount of times they dive down I hope they are catching something, but if they were to catch something every time, where do they put it all? And while we are on the topic, when the fish eating ducks are on the pond what is their success ratio of catches to dives? If they are 50% successful, how are there any fish left in the pond? Just little things I wonder about while I go through my busy days.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here coming to you fireside Sunday evening. 

The weather man has been postponing the rain all day, first they said rain by 5:00, then later. Now they are saying 9:00 before it gets here. So I said to myself “might just as well have a fire until I get rained out”. I knew it was me cause I was outside all alone and besides I recognized my voice.

Rona 16 and Plants

Dan here, Wednesday AM, good morning. As many of you know I am not a morning person but here goes. 

Have had some cooler and wetter weather which meant some sewing time. Daughter Erin was coming to stay overnight Monday so floor needed to be cleaned up so the Murphy bed could be used. 

So, a good portion of Sunday evening and most of the day on Monday was spent getting the top of Rona 16, or as I am calling it, Fairy Stars, off the floor. I managed to get the top pieced with the exception of the borders. Framing border will be 1-1/2” finished and possibly a 4-1/2” piano key border to finish it off. If any of you remember back that far (I started this one in mid-April) it was to use up the piano key border pieces that were left over from the last quilt top. Hopefully they work for this one.