September 2018

Here it is, September 8th and it's cold and damp. It's been a very strange summer weather wise - unusually wet.  I haven't been posting because we aren't doing much. And I thought the other day, well, not doing much can be interesting, too.

We spent the majority of our summer here at the Park house - and we did take day trips over to do some maintenance on the outside of the Lake house. We also stayed over for several days several times. Our major accomplishment was the landscaping.

The front flower bed as you turn into the driveway had been "done" last fall with the spreading ground cover removed and new, small plant put in. This work was done by the local landscaper. 

Some of the shrubs were kept. The tall shrub by the light was just a baby when we planted it back around 2007

The stones you see were covered by mulch and debris. They now add to the landscape

We brought the little pagoda in the middle of the garden when we moved up here full time. 

The evergreens in the garden and by the front steps were also put in after we moved in full time. Several years we put lights on the 2 by the front stairs for Christmas.

Several plants didn't make it over the winter and the landscaper  said they would be replaced. So we decided to focus on first cleaning the beds up from fall/winter weeds and leaves and remove the dead ground cover in the second area on the other side of the front stairs. We purchased some small spreading ground cover and evergreens and when we attempted to clean out the dead shrubs, decided the job was too difficult for us to deal with. So we again had the landscaper clear the bed and plant the evergreen shrubs we had purchased. They did that at the same time they replaced the dead shrubs. That made a major impact - that entire side looks great!  We tackled the raking on the other side of the driveway in two visits. B had 2 tarps that we used to rake the leaves into and then drag them to the back to dump over the edge of the driveway. We consider this returning our leaves to the woods. 😉  So we are enjoying driving into the driveway and seeing a nicely landscaped area. We had purchased LOTS of mulch this year and had about 30 bags to put down at the Lake.  (and now I have to take pictures to show you how nice things look)

The entrance to the house looks considerable better! 


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Honey and Hazel

Here is a short movie of Honey and Hazel.

The first time they met.

I'm not sure just how I got this to work - it involved reducing the size of the video and renaming it. And it took two days of trying and rethinking!

Does this picture upload?

My video didn’t upload. Will my picture?

Ok. Picture works so I guess it’s not me.

Raining today and Honey has been busy supervising me fix supper. Now it’s nap time.

May brings flowers and green grass

After a long winter that lasted forever, spring has arrived! This week has been rainy but hey, who could complain as it was NOT snow!

Right now the windows are open and the sound of lawn mowers fills the air. 

We had winds and rain this week but missed any damage. The sky certainly looked ominous as dark clouds moved in. Honey does not like thunder storms and she was shaking before we heard any thunder. Windows were shut and lawn chairs stacked against the house. We were lucky that we missed the worse winds.

The sky looked menacing 

On a more cheerful note, I purchased a robot vacuum cleaner at Sam's Saturday during their super sale. It was $100 off their normal price and with the amount of dog hair and dirt we have, it was worth a try. After reading the directions and charging the machine, we gave it a trial run today. We also named it Hazel - remember the TV series back in the 60's staring Shirley Booth as a maid? Well, it seemed like an appropriate name! Today we gave Hazel her first run. I was concerned Honey would bark or chase it but she was very laid back.   I had a video of the first few minutes but for some reason it won't play here. For those of you who know me, I did post the video on my FB page.

Honey was curious but didn't bark or step on it. She checked Hazel out as she went around cleaning but never touched it. Finally Honey went to sleep. Hazel continued to clean. Really cool! When it bumps into an obstacle - the wall, furniture and such, it backs up a bit and continues. It did a great job on the rugs and cleaning the tile but missed a few areas. That could have been because the breakfast room chairs were in the way. Hazel got hung up a few times - I was constantly checking on her and most of the time she was busy in another room  I just picked her up and plopped her down and on she went. I'd say she was a success as the floors look good. Dog hair and dirt is gone.  I'm so glad Hazel came to work for us!

Can you believe....we have SNOW again!

After several posts about the continuing snow and cold temperatures, I was anticipating posting about spring. However, that hasn't happened as we are still having SNOW!!  Right now, as I sit in my office and look out the window, big fat flakes are falling. We got snow overnight but it was barely visible on the grass. This morning's news showed school delays for districts north of us including Wallenpaupack. I believe it was more icy than snowy.

We are ready for spring! Last year we found a mulch for the front gardens that not only was reasonably priced but didn't blow away. This year it was again on sale from Home Depot so B really loaded the SUV up several times. Worked out well as we would go to breakfast (yea!) and then stop off at the store and load up. All told we brought 75 bags home. And last weekend, when we had that short warm spell, we cleaned out the bed next to the porch and put down several bags. It's a two step process as there are leaves and such that need to be cleaned out before fresh mulch goes down. And that's not something we intend to do in the snow! So we are looking forward to working on this project soon.

This is the pile of mulch at HD.  We weren't the only ones loading up!

A short trip to the Lake

Yesterday, Tuesday March 6th, we took a ride over to the Lake house. We generally try to get over once a week. As we drove up the driveway we were dismayed at the damage to our shrubs. The snow was so heavy that it had bent many of the bushes down. So the first thing we did was hop out of the car and shook trees, evergreens and bushes to release the branches from being held down by the snow.  That work removed the snow and we then turned our attention to the decks. Unfortunately several limbs had come down onto the front deck. The good news is that the deck itself was fine.  

We also found out that the electricity to our little group of houses had been off for two days! Fortunately we have a generator - unfortunately it ran for two days! 

 I took some pictures of the storm's "work" before we went into the house. After checking out the house carefully and seeing no problems there, we went home. 

The front deck got several branches - from both the tree to the right and a tree in the back left. Both trees appear to be OK and the deck is not damaged

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In the front by the driveway this bush that has stickers was bent over. While I'd really not care if the darn thing died, I did kick it to remove some snow. 

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Not sure if it was the wind or the weight of the snow that caused this branch to rip off

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And B went around the upper deck removing the snow from the railings

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Again, the back of the front deck 

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And the front of the front deck

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And a bush by the upper deck that was weighted down by the snow. It should bounce back!

March snowstorm

It seems that a March storm is one to worry about!  Last year the March snow was bad.....and this year we got another!  We expected snow....and were told around Wednesday it would be a few inches.  And the forecast kept changing and the amounts kept increasing.  The snow started Thursday night and continued through Friday!  And the wind literally howled!  And of course, that resulted in drifting snow!  And this morning, we ventured out to dig out....and after one pass of the driveway came in.  I took a lot of pictures.....  words can’t adequately describe the storm

We have these tall evergreens next to the patio and the wind was whipping around them and they were really bending over. So I went out with the broom and beat them to remove snow. 

The patio 

Looking out over the patio through a snowy window 

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The deck box on the patio. This was Friday 3/2 and shows 12 inches.  More snow followed

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And the deck on Friday that I often show

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And this is what we saw this morning Saturday 3/3

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As you can see, we got more snow overnight!!!!

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And B got out the BIG snow blower and attacked the driveway!!

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And after one pass up and back, we took a break

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Well, the plows cleared the street - and now we have a rather high pile in front of the driveway!

Poor Honey - tired out from supervising all our work! 

Changing Weather

February has been crazy - we went from snow to very cold weather and then a record breaking warm up! Honey and I went from skating on the ice buildup out back when she went for her walks to sloppy mud that we both tracked into the house.

The warm weather the past several days was incredible! We had temperatures in in the upper 60s and windows were open. It was so nice to go out without all the winter layers. We were out and about to the Lake and shopping. We did take my car but the trunk was full on the way back from the Lake so we didn't put the top down. And then, as forecast, the rain came. This morning it was raining rather steady but the temperatures were above freezing. Temperatures were supposed to drop this afternoon so we had put my car back in the garage. We did go to breakfast but took the SUV.

I've been moving things around and taking winter things to the downstairs storage. We had a Home Goods store open up at the mall and we made a trip there earlier this week for some "stuff". Really like the store and we found several things we both liked. Hopefully I'll get pictures taken to put up on the blog.

I did make a pineapple cheesecake the other day. B had requested it when I said I was making cheese cake. Since you use an 8 X 8 pan the quantity good for the two of us. We finished it off last night.

This "small" Kitchen Aid mixer was purchased from QVC due to it's size. It's smaller than the "regular" size Kitchen Aid and easier to pick up and move about. The large one takes up too much room in the kitchen, so I store it downstairs. And it's heavy. This one is smaller and therefore lighter. And the recipe fit with no worry of overflow.

This was taken on an angle and the pan does not look like it's 8 X 8 - but it was!

I added 10  minutes to the cooking time as it was too jiggly. The recipe calls for 2 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, and a can of well drained crushed pineapple. Although it was firmer, it was soupy when cut. Still tasted good! 

Eagles, Snow and Pictures

What a busy and exciting weekend! We went to Sam's Saturday and came across a set of Emeril pots and pans that I really liked. I spent the rest of the day and part of Sunday rearranging kitchen storage to make room for the new, cleaning out stuff and washing cabinets. Most of the new things went in the cabinets along with several of the "older" things I couldn't do without.  I've also got a pile of things to share, a few to trash and some to take to the Lake. Then several pans go down to storage as I'm not sure I will use them....but.....  

Then, of course, there was the Super Bowl....and super it was!!  As former South Jersey residents we are Eagle's fans! And boy, did they fly. What a good game! YEA Eagles!!!

And we got more snow Saturday afternoon - an inch or so - and expected to again get more on Sunday. We dithered about going out to breakfast Sunday as the forecast said snow late morning but decided to wait as the car needed to be cleaned as well as the driveway. And we were really glad we didn't go because the cloudy skies gave way to a very fine snow mid morning that turned to a sleety mess due to warming temperatures (32) by afternoon. We got another couple of inches by evening. And this morning, when Honey and I went for our first of many walks, the temperatures had dropped and the snow turned crunchy. 

The morning sky was lovely with large clouds - some that were dark. The sun was peeping through and now, at 10:30 am, the sun is shining and the clouds are white.

The sun was behind me as I took this picture. 

Honey does not walk in a straight line. We meander all over as she checks out all the smells.

She criss-crosses her steps and generally goes to the back of the property. Here our tracks show we were checking out something - I think the rabbits that "visit" us. 

Uploading pictures from my new iPhone

Technology is crazy, and at times confusing!

I want to be able to upload pictures from my phone to Blogger. I find that I usually have my phone when I see something I want to capture. The camera does not stay with me - the phone does. So it appears that using Google pictures is the answer - but I'm not sure. So, I'll play around with this a bit.

Last week we had SNOW. And so I took some pictures. And when I clicked on the photo icon and chose "from phone" All the pictures on my phone were available. I chose and they appeared below! Cool!

Honey and I were out and about - she uses this back area at the edge of our property. She is always on the leash

And the deck off the breakfast area is a great place for her to explore

This tree, which can be seen from the front window, is lovely both in summer with its beautiful leaves and in winter with a mantle of snow

And my "here is how much snow we got" measure - the table on the back deck.

So I feel accomplished that I figured this out - not hard! I'm not sure the limit on how many pictures before there is a charge. I really don't want to use Google as a storage place. 

And as for the snow.......it's almost all melted. The warm up started Sunday and yesterday the back yard was covered in one big puddle with ice on the ground. This made walking rather hazardous and while Honey hated the water, I felt that I was skating! This morning the rain and continuing warm weather melted most of the ground ice and walking is easier for both of us and the puddles are now dissipating into the ground.

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New Year - New Goal

One of my goals this new year is to use the technology that I have! The current phones, computers, and tablets have changed and integrated with each other to be virtually seamless in their use. And while I do consider myself knowledgable, I must admit I’ve not kept up. 

We currently live in an Apple world! Yea, Apple!  I had Apple computers back in the day - and found them easy to use. Sure there was a learning curve, but no DOS to use - just pictures (icons). As my job changed from working with students and teachers to the business end of the district, the need to switch from Mac to PC ruled the day. So, a PC user I became.  But when I retired, and we moved up to the Lake, the idea of switching back to Apple stuff was calling. And the advancing technology with iPads and iPhones as well as computers - well, the lure of seamless movement from one platform to another was what did it. So now I have an iMac that is over 5 years old, an MacBook that is 2, an iPad that is 4 years old and an iPhone that is very new! The demands of a job require you to use all these products seamlessly and constantly. However, that urgent need learn to use everything isn’t as pressing. So I tend to use the easies route. I use the iMac much more than the laptop because I don’t like the track pad rather than a mouse. And I do a lot on the iPad but don’t use the phone much. So, my goal is to better use my technology and to better integrate it’s use. Kinda a fun goal!

And the New Year started off with more cold weather! While we had warm temperatures last week that melted all the snow and created big puddles in the back that Honey hated, it’s back to cold with this morning’s temperature 7.And we did get snow!  It started Tuesday and became heavier overnight and we awoke to about 5 inches. So we are again going to snow blow the driveway. The good news is warm temperatures are expected by the weekend so what we don’t blow will melt rather than freeze. I’ve been taking pictures and hope to post them soon.