Loud Screech....Door Opens....

We’ve had a problem with an extremely noisy front door since moving into this rental home.  The door has metal weather stripping.  Our home is constantly shifting due to weather and earthquakes.  Causing the door to slide up against the metal weather stripping, which in turn cause the door to make this extremely loud screeching noise every time it’s opened.   The noisy door opening during the daytime is really no problem, and with this loud screech you know exactly someone has come enter the house by the front door. 

Time passes, and it’s early in the morning, talking somewhere between 1AM and 4AM and the family is sound asleep in their beds…….when all of a sudden the front door comes screeching open.  Not only does it wake you out of a sound sleep, it scares the crap out of you.   

To resolve the issue of the screeching front door, I used paraffin wax on the metal weather stripping, and the door no longer screeches. This paraffin wax can be found at any store that sells the paraffin machines for hands and feet.  It may need to be reapplied after awhile, when the coating of wax has worn off.

Closet Over Grown

Don’t you hate it when you open a closet door, and it’s packed?  How about when you have to get something, and you’re required to remove items from the closet in order to get that one item you need?

I made the mistake of opening that good old closet door, and just wanted to close it fast and leave the area.  But my stubbornness stopped me; I pulled everything off of the top shelf and sorted through items.  Then we tackled items sitting in the bottom of the closet.  There was 10 years worth of Riflemen magazines in the closet. Bulldog Man received bags of magazines from a friend.  He read every single one, and was holding on to them.  I needed room in the closet, so we removed the mailing label on each magazine and recycled them.  Talk about making room in the bottom of the closet.  

Bulldog Man and I sorted through the coats; we found 5 coats in relatively good condition which no longer fit, or were given to us as gifts, and we never wore them. 

These 5 coats will be cleaned and donated to kids without coats, a great organization that makes sure all the kids in the area have something warm to wear for the winter.

Sending prayers up to all the families affected by the recent tornadoes through the Midwest. I wish we had the ability to help those hurting, as we did with our neighbors and friends 6 months ago, when we were hit with 3 large tornadoes in Oklahoma.

Duck Tape - Garden Update - Birthday - Accident - Temperatures

Duck Tape, what a great resource to use for repairing all kinds of things; like my husband’s reclining chair. Where your body touches the recliner, the material started peeling.  No, it’s not leather, it’s that stuff we call pleather.  The cushion constantly peels leaving a fine layer of pleather pieces on the floor in different parts of the house.  Instead of sewing a cushion cover, I decided to use brown Duck Tape.  This stopped the peeling and covered the worn spot.  The tape works for me…….that is until we purchase a new chair for Bulldog Man. 

Did you know Duck Tape comes in a multitude of colors and designs to include but not limited to; animal prints, college and NFL football team logos/colors? 

*****

Garden update on several areas:

Arugula, time to harvest and place in salads.

Collards, still growing, need to spray because bugs are eating at them.

Lettuce, Boston and Mesculin, ready for harvest.

Asparagus, bolting.

Tomatoes, Dad’s Sunset and Purple Russian both need cages and more time to grow.

I’m not sure what this is, it popped up in my Tomato above ground box.  This may be a melon of some sort or squash, your thoughts?

*****

Yesterday, June 13^th was my Birthday.  I told Bulldog Man and Tank I really didn’t want to celebrate, I just wanted some quiet time to relax and maybe catch a pizza in town.  Earlier in the day, I went to court with our son Tank to settle a case regarding his injuries from being jumped and injured at his previous job.  It took months to get to court.  When we went into the court room, the entire process took 10 minutes and the case was settled and closed.  I’m happy this case is over, and our son is in the process of healing.  He still doesn’t have 100 percent usage of his hand and shoulder.

Later that evening while enjoying my birthday pizza in town, I received a phone call from Tank; he informed me a young male driver in a Silverado decided to turn in front of him to get a parking space located off the side of the road.  Let me explain the situation.  In town there are several streets that are one way.  Main Street has 3 lanes, all of which head east.  Along side of the street on both sides are parking spaces.  Tank was driving his truck in the left lane east bound when another truck was driving east in the middle lane.  All of a sudden, the middle truck decides he wants to park on the left side of the street, cutting across my son’s lane with no regard to any traffic.  Instead of watching for vehicles in the left lane, this young man turned his truck toward the parking space on the left side of the street: driving right into our son’s massive 1 ton truck’s front quarter panel.  Damaged the front right side of our son’s truck, pushing in the big bumper he made for the truck. Squished the front quarter panel and the hood of the truck into the engine area.  So much for a quiet birthday L

I’m looking forward to the weekend; I have Saturday to do a few things around the house.  Then on Sunday, I return to Texas to help my Dad.

Temperatures have peaked into the high 90’s.  Any type of gardening or yard work this time of the year is done in the early morning hours or later in the evening when the sun starts to go down. 

Experiment - Tomatoes - Roses

Today, I took advantage of the sunshine.  I decided to throw my good pillows off the couch and into the wash machine on the hand wash cycle, and selected the extra wringer cycle.  Now I usually wash the surface of these pillows by hand.  Because the dogs decided to lounge on top of the couch, and use the pillows as their own personal pillows, I refused to wash them by hand; they needed a really good wash.  As an experiment, and keeping my fingers crossed, they went into the wash machine.  I was hoping they wouldn’t come apart in the washer.  When I pulled them out after the wash was finished, they came out in one piece.  Instead of drying them in the dryer, I placed them outside to dry on a chair and turned them constantly throughout the day.  Now they look brand new and smell nice and clean, not like dog.

*****

Monday, I planted my seeds in the above ground boxes and today, I have a Dad’s Sunset tomato, and a Roma tomato heirloom plant popping out of the soil. 

Dad's Sunset large orange type tomato

Roma tomato

*****

The rose bush along side of the bathroom window has started flowering.  Without exaggeration, there are over 100 buds waiting to bloom.  The landlord planted this bush, I’m not sure of the type of roses they are.  Maybe it is a Knockout rose bush?

Join - Welcome - Thank You - Canning Broth - Sweet To Die For - Bathroom - Give - Away

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new blogger to my blog. Welcome Sinder Ella at "A Modern Day Cinderella" blog.  Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

*****

Today was a canning day; I was able to put up in the pantry several quart size jars of beef broth.  Next will be chicken broth and spaghetti sauce.

While canning, I enjoyed a delicious turtle bar and a cold glass of home brewed green tea.  If you love chocolate, Carmel and graham crackers like I do, you need to try this recipe from Paratus Familia blog.  I just couldn’t help myself.  Word of advice, eat before reading blogs.  I came across this recipe, and I just had to make it and have a turtle bar immediately.  These bars are to die for, they are very rich but oh so yummy.  Thank you to Enola Gay for sharing this recipe.  It’s my understanding Enola Gay will be coming out with a cook book in the near future.  I can see myself adding Enola Gay’s book to my library.

*****

I also targeted the ceiling fan in the bathroom.  You heard right, in the bathroom.  I’ve pulled off the fan blades, sanded them, and painted them a nice vibrant glossy white.  Anything is better than the dull light wood look.  The bathroom in our rental home has no ventilation vents, just a ceiling fan and a window.  I’m trying to make this bathroom light and airy, to make it look larger than it actually is.  I have a lot more work ahead of me.

*****

Remember to register for the Real Tree Men’s Camo Vest Give-Away here.

Get Well - Beautiful Card - Give Away - Snacks - Crochet - Jars - Kitchen - Weather

                                                                                                                                                                          Pic Source: Fun.krishoo.com

I would like to start my post out by saying, Get Well to a friend, Lotta Joy.  I want to also thank Lotta Joy for the beautiful card she made and sent me.  Lotta Joy sent me this card to say thank you for the spices she received from a giveaway won.   

Front of card

Inside of card, left blank for me to use

*****

One day left to register for the Bear Grylls - Gerber Survival, Fire Starter, so here to register.

*****
Instead of making a large meal for the Super Bowl, Bulldog Man and I baked 2 separate trays of chicken wingettes, one with honey pecan BBQ sauce, and the other with hickory bourbon BBQ sauce.  Then we made up some pico de gallo dip, opened up a bag of tortilla chips, cut up various types of delicious cheese, pulled out various types of crackers, cut up a tray of vegetables, and the entire family pigged out for the evening while watching the game.   We had enough leftovers to last several days for lunch and snacks. 

*****

Great news, Bulldog Man sold his 1994 Ranger truck with topper shell today.  It was a great little truck; we used it for years, and decided it was time to sell the truck instead of putting more money into it.  Now we’re down to being a one truck family, saving money by no longer putting money and time into a 2^nd vehicle, yet another way of being FRUGAL!! 

*****

When I’m not doing things in the house or on the property, I love to sit and read a good book and do some crafting.  The last time I was in town, I picked up a book titled, “I taught myself Crochet” and some yarn at Hobby Lobby.  Yes, you heard right, I’m going to teach myself how to crochet.  I want to start out by making dish cloths for my kitchen, and then I will eventually move onto larger projects, time sparing of course. 

*****

Speaking of doing this in the house, I just finished pulling absolutely everything from my kitchen cabinets and ended up rearranging them again.  This house we’re renting is an older house and the kitchen cabinets are not real deep, making it extremely hard to store large plates.  The end result, the larger plates ended up being stored in the drawers on the far side of the kitchen.  I’ve was able to clear out a large double wide cabinet for the vegetables and fruit I will be canning in the next several months.  Here’s a picture of the kitchen, and older cabinets before we started making it our kitchen with crazy décor.

*****

The canning jars I scored at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago along with those recently purchased when completing groceries have been washed and ready for the next upcoming vegetables and fruits to be canned.

*****

The weather today, extremely foggy, drizzling, rain, and a chill causing a person to want to crawl back in bed and light a warm fire.  How was your weather today?