Plumbing and Yard Work Make for a Good Day!

Saturday proved to be a productive day for me.  I was up at 4:00am and writing my blog and searching for gardening blog sites.  I made my healthy bowl of oatmeal with raisins and my Benacol butter (plant sterols/stanols for lowering cholesterol).  And then ..... I got the plumbing wrench and went to town on cleaning out the bathroom sink drains.  I have to disconnect the lever that makes the stopper go up and down so that was the purpose of the wrench.  I have a double vanity in my bathroom and for 17 years now, I have not used one of the sinks because the plumbing job was a little shoddy and the stopper pretty much stayed down all the time, causing the sink to drain really slow.  I decided yesterday ... no more.  I was going to fix it so that it drained properly and I did.  After completing my bathroom plumbing, I headed to the hall bathroom.  Cleaning these drains out is pretty gross but if it keeps them flowing and the plumbers away, I'll do.  I am happy to report the bathtub and sink in that bathroom are draining well also.  <smile> ... it's the little things that can make a homeowner happy.

It was not until after lunch that I was able to get out in the yard.  That was OK because it was a bit cool yesterday morning.  By the afternoon, it was beautiful.  I was able to get the black film down in the raised gardens, put up the trellis' on the west end of the beds so when I get flowers or something growing, hopefully it will offer a bit of shade.  I made four smaller planter boxes for the other four trellis' in my yard.  I drilled drainage holes in four large plastic planters I bought at the end of the season last year at Big Lots.  This makes these planters ready to use.  I mended the fence on the east side of my house.  I didn't get my planting soil because  1) I ran out of energy and 2) when I finished working, it was almost dinner time and 3) I ran out of energy ....<laugh>.  I'm very happy and blessed that I had great energy yesterday and could get all this done.

Looking from the east.

The trellis' are actually in the ground 6-7" and screwed
on to the frames.  I think they will hold up.

Little planter box I made out of the scrapes from the beds.
The ground is so hard here at my house, it is very difficult
get anything started growing.  This is made out of a
2 x 6 which gives the seeds six inches of soft soil to get going.

These are the other three planter boxed I made.  I ran out of
cedar (note the middle one).  These three trellis' are centered
between my raised beds and should offer up much color when
the flowers get blooming.  Of course I have to get them planted !

And this my friends is called fence weaving.  It is a new procedure

for fence mending that I made up yesterday.  The top rail of this

 fence panel is rotted and there are four pickets that have 

come loose because of the rot.  My neighbor has

not done anything about it so I took it upon myself to at least

try to hold the pickets up.  The pickets lean in to their yard and they

have two dogs and I have my pooch.  I didn't have a board quite

long enough to fix the rail.  Guess we will see what happens next.

<smile>

Last but never least is my NWS rain gauge.  It is on my back fence

so I can monitor the fall.  Working for the NWS for 26 years

has taught me a lot of about weather.  I am blessed with an 

open field behind me and oh yea.... the fence you see, my sister

and I put that up three years ago.  

So that's my day in pictures.  I hope you enjoyed it.  

My grandson, Braxton, woke up with 103 temperature yesterday.  He got to take a trip to see the doctor and his ears were clear, strep was negative so he was diagnosed as having a viral infection.  Viral infections are rather rampant these days.  I say ... give 'em an antibiotic just in case.  Of course we all know the doctors don't do that anymore.  I pray he is feeling better today and does not wake up with any bumps.  Madelyn has been fever free since Friday afternoon but she has the rash that actually spread a little to her bottom.  When Bonnie had Brax were at the doctor, Bonnie mentioned it to the doctor and she said if it has spread to her bottom, it was hand, foot and mouth disease.  (Both babies go to the same pediatrician)  Last night Madelyn got a bath in Aveeno Oatmeal bath stuff and then Caladryl was applied to try to get these bumps dried up.

Guess that's about it for now.  I feel very blessed to have all these sore muscles and sore hands this morning.  To me that means .... my life is still going on and I am able to continue doing the things I love.

Psalms 7:17 ... I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness; and will sing praise to the Lord most high.

Blessings my friends and family.

genam44@charter.net