A nice day to sit outside...

Yes. It's been a long time since I posted anything on here. Just looked... May 25, 2013.  I'll try to catch you up with what we've been doing later. 

Today... The sun is shining. The wind is rustling the leaves of a sycamore tree along the bank. I can hear a trolling motor... Someone is out on the lake fishing. Now an airplane is humming in the distance. 

 

Here's a photo of our view of the lake. It will be a better view when all the leaves fall off the trees & vines. If you look way out there, you can see that the Cypress trees are turning a gorgeous bronze. At the edge of the grass there is a clump or two of Goldenrod. 😞 It's one of the reasons I take Claratin D every day. 

We are finally getting around to painting the rails and porch. Yes. We've been in the cabin more than two years. I haven't been motivated to get started on it til now. Doesn't it look nice???

I have a chicken that needs to be put on the grill. I'll try not to wait so long to post another update. 

Back porch and a screen door...

We're almost there!!! Not ready for putting up the screen, but getting lots closer to putting up the screen door. 

All the framing is white. To keep up with my weird sense of style, I chose "Cooled Lava" by Valspar. Purchased at Lowe's in TXK TX.  

Driveway culvert...

Covering it up. Smoothing it out...

Driveway repair continued...

Joe on the tractor getting the trench a bit deeper. 

Driveway culvert...

Putting in a culvert takes a lot of digging! Thank God for big machines, and guys

who know how to run them!!! This should stop the runoff. 

Hey!!! I got that photo in the middle of the paragraph!!!! Didn't know I could do that! 

Driveway being fixed.

Our driveway has needed to be repaired for a while. Today is repair day. Yesterday Buddy & Tommy brought the dozer out here on Tommy's big trailer. Early this morning Joe came out with his tractor and went to work!  

Springtime and Violets...

It feels absolutely wonderful outside today!!! The sun is shining!!! There are a few very thin clouds to the north, across the lake. The Red Bud trees have bloomed.
Well, that photo is fuzzy. It focused out in the lake instead of the branch I was holding.
It's a very nice 79 degrees. Opened windows is my idea of spring time in the south. Can't imagine living anywhere else!!! Well, along the beaches of the Florida Panhandle would be nice... Or maybe a nice cabin outside of Durango Colorado... Either of those would be nice, too. ☺
Oh! I almost forget about my African Violets. They are blooming quite nicely in the kitchen window. I was afraid they wouldn't like their new environment. But I shouldn't have worried.

It's Spring!!!

Sitting here in my car listening to traffic and lots of birds. All the trees are showing buds at the ends of their branches. Sun is out. It's only 52 degrees. It is feeling like Spring!!!
I'm thinking the tree in front of Little River Memorial Hospital is a Bradford Pear. David has been doing Physical Therapy here for the past week. He got a very good report from his doctor yesterday. He can go to three days per week next week. His recovery is going so much better than with his other knee replacement. 😊

Days are getting longer...

It's almost 6:30pm. The sun went down below the horizon maybe 30 minutes ago. It seems like just a few days ago it was dark at 6:30. It was warm enough that I raked some of the saw dust where Charlie & crew cut down the leaning tree. WHEW!!! I may be sore tomorrow. But it felt really good to be outside.

The tree is down!!!

This tree has been leaning as long as we've lived here... Since October 1981. At some point it was struck by lightning. Over the years it started leaning a lot more. Last summer one of our sons asked if we'd seen how far it was leaning.
No. We hadn't. Not good!!! Sometime around Thanksgiving, we noticed a split in the back of the tree. Good Grief!!! We called a tree trimmer. He never called back. His loss.
Two days ago I was driving down College Drive in Texarkana. Saw a guy up in a tree. He had a chainsaw and was cutting the top off what was left of a very tall tree... The tree was just a few feet away from the house. The yard was clean. Limbs were loaded on trailers. Safety ropes were tied to the guy in the tree. Ropes tied to the tree trunk to control where it went after it was cut. I was impressed. I saw all that as I drove by.
There is a car wash a couple blocks away. I turned around and went back to get a name & phone number. Charlie McMillan with "McMillan and Watson" out of Texarkana. He called me Friday morning. Came right out here to look at the tree. He and the guy that climbs the trees looked at it. Discussed what they could do. Gave us an amount and how long it might take to complete.
They got here about 7am. It's 10:30 and they have most of it loaded on trailers.

Murphy Bed is almost done!!!

It has been a long time since I've posted anything. Things happen. Posting from my phone is a bit limiting. It puts the photos all in one place & in whatever order they choose. Can't post the narrative between them.
Therefore... Here are the three photos I took as Shaine was working on them. Paint will be later.

Snickerdoodles and Childhood Memories...

Today was a good day to bake the cookies I'd made a couple of days ago. They remind me of the Teacakes my grandmother would make for me and my sister, Mollie, every Saturday morning. Except for the cinnamon, these Snickerdoodles are the exact same cookie. While this Fiesta cookie jar isn't the same as Granny had, in my opinion, it's the thought that counts.
The ceilings of our cabin are beadboard like the ones in her house. She had corner cupboards where she kept that cookie jar full of fresh baked Teacakes. We could have only one. And we had to ask for it. If we didn't use good manners we didn't get that cookie. I don't remember ever not getting one. Although, we'd loved to have had the whole jar, we knew better than to ask for more or to make that little old woman mad!!!
Last night was the annual get together for my family. It was so good to see all of them! It is such a sweet reminder of Christmases years ago when all our sons and daughters were the little ones running around. Now, they have little ones of their own to do the running and laughing. While there were quite a few who couldn't be there with us, we missed them and love them all.
Aren't families the best thing ever??

Storm's about gone....

We got 3.5", give or take a few tenths. The wind is blowing. White caps on the lake. And, we can see more of it than we did a month ago. Eventually, the leaves will be gone and we'll see lots more lake. It will also be a lot colder! When the wind blows across the lake, it is VERY cold when we step out into an open area.

French Door Curtains, Done...

They're perfect for our little cabin on the lake.

French Door Curtains, Part 2...

Oh! My Goodness!!! I love it!!! I even like the darker hardware.
Now, for the other side.

French door curtains...

I spent a couple hours at Lowes this evening, going through their curtain rod collections. Found ones for both doors and the windows over the bookcases. But they didn't have anything long enough for the two sets of windows in the sunroom. I'll look online tomorrow. I want to get as much done tonight as possible.

It's supposed to start raining tomorrow afternoon and start cooling off. Something like 38 degrees Monday morning. I have to move all my plants inside the house or someplace where they won't get too cold. Enough for now. I need to get the rods and hanging rings up.

One Window in the Bathroom...

The glass in the window in textured, so we can't see out, but more importantly, no one can see in. The white semi-sheers are all I want in here. Unless... I decide to add a valance that matches the bedroom drapes.
The curtain rods/hardware came from Lowes. These didn't take nearly as long to put up. David's drill is making it much easier and faster.

One more window...

Last night I put up one more curtain before quitting. They look even better in the daylight! I still have a bit of tweaking to do, but I'm very pleased! And calling these "almost done". 😜
I am thoroughly in love with the semi-sheers!!! They're linen and polyester blend. And they're washable!

One window done.

I love the way these curtains look! But I do need more clips. And I didn't measure as well as I thought I did. Should have been about an inch higher. I may wait til tomorrow to rehang them.

Curtains are here!!!

Our mail carrier, Marilyn, delivered the two boxes today from Country Curtains.com. Here's the pile after I emptied the boxes in the floor.

Ok. The photo is curtain rods and a few curtains on the bed. My phone won't let me use photos stored on it. I have to take a photo when posting here on my blog iron Facebook. Will have to do some research on that.

I'll post more later.