On The Road Again!

Some of our friends had been watching the weather for us and warning us of impending storms that threatened to cover most of the US. We had given ourselves a deadline (after having spoken to Border Patrol and Customs) several days to get back to Canada, but really needed to leave very soon.  So, we left after having finished our chair and fence projects around the house the day before.

We had gotten about 3 miles away from the house only to hear on the radio that EVERY road we had planned to travel on had become impassable.  So, we headed back to the house, left our bags in the living room and decided to see what the next day would offer us.  Thus my blog begins!

Since we were planning on driving and not stopping for a while, we ran through the local drive-through and got breakfast.  Not very impressive, but it would have to do since we had a lot of miles to make up for.

It was a pretty, but plain (pretty plain) drive to Texas which was going to be our first state. It wasn't going to take long since I am not that far from the Texas border....

There were a couple of pictures that we wanted to take, but didn't get the chance to on our way through as we were in a hurry to make it back to Oklahoma....

the closer we got to the Texas line, the more interesting things started to get...

We finally crossed the state line.....and then........

 
just a few short miles later......Here comes the BOOM!!

Scootard pulled over to get some shots of what we were seeing.  

Here is one of the shots of what was around us......

and then we came to this......The whole road became a skating rink and we were the skaters!  It was somewhere along this stretch that our tail end spun out.  Now, I gotta tell ya.... I'm glad I'm potty trained!  It was quite unnerving to have your tail end spin out with a trailer attached to it....

and this kind of road was to be our companion for several miles before things got better....

You gotta have a sense of humor to make people who are passing through your town think that they have been......"somewhere else"!  I mean, really....where have I been all my life!!!???  hahahaha

 

Hey, the have food on Earth!  How about that?....haha.

Shouldn't take long to feed the planet since there are only 1,065 "earthlings" on it....

We chuckled about that one for a little ways down the road and before you know it, we had hit New Mexico again....

Since this was out THIRD TIME coming through these states in 3 weeks, there ain't much else to say......

This picture was taken in Roswell, New Mexico. It's a shot a missed getting the first two times through....I liked the way the rows seemed to go on forever....:-)

And these reminded me of the velvet hills that I had seen in California our first time through except this wasn't  California and the hills were all brown or golden instead of lush green.

It was time to take a rest break and get some gas.....

We had blown through most of our Gatorade and snacks. Scootard was happy to get out and stretch a bit as was I.

It was had to believe that so many hours had passed and we had been in Oklahoma just that morning.  The sun was beginning to set.

and it was a gorgeous display as always.....:-)

 Now, I gotta tell ya.....we had been to this spot before when it was much lighter outside.  The sands are white and much like talcum powder and Scootard had left Oklahoma with a jar to capture his treasure in....

When we finally decided to call it a night, we had made it to Las Cruces, New Mexico and was greeted by this dude.....

12 hours on the road had us both exhausted but thinking; "hey! this will give us more time to spend in California since we piled two days of driving into one day"........:-).  Cool beans!  But for now, it's time to sleep and get ready for our next days drive.
 

Next stop......San Diego!!  Stay tuned.....:-)

This Old House....:-)

Our time was winding down to get a few more things done around our home in Oklahoma.  One of the things that we needed to do was replace a fence that had been repaired twice in the past year.  I figured if I was going to beautify the place, I had to get rid of that old fence that was falling apart in some places.  Good thing we got to it when we did as it started to rain and slowed things down a bit.

But first, we decided to move the bird feeders to the side of the house and one across the yard.  We knew that nobody was going to take an interest in sweeping the porch once we were gone.  So, it was just good sense to move them.  I mean the little guys were showing up by the hundreds!  We counted 3 separate flocks that would come to visit us on a daily basis and they were all telling their friends!  haha

they are soooo cute though!  haha.  They just sit there waiting their turn to jump on the feeder.....haha.

So, this place seemed to be a better fit for the little guys.  It didn't take them long at all to find it either!  So, all is well and the tree should get a good fertilizing from all of the shells and .......well .. you know. By the way, we went through 135 pounds of bird food in less than 7 days!  They were looking pretty plump when we left! haha

Scootard swept up after we got the feeders in place.....Thanks, Scootard!

In the meantime, as with any old house, there is always something that needs repairing or replacing when your house was built in the 1940's.  The guys were busy at work in the backyard tearing down the old wire fencing and pulling up old hedging to prepare the space for the new......

it never occurred to me that there would be so much mud out there.  But it did rain quite a bit which delayed the guys from even starting the work back there.

while they were tearing things up back there, I managed to salvage the original gate to the fence and have thoughts of using it for a trellis of some sort in my garden once I get it up and going.....

The ground was so wet when the men came back that the cement had not set.  What you see here are the poles that had to be set two days later.  We were wondering if we would be there for the finished product since we had plans to start our road trip back toward San Francisco in a couple of days.....

Once things were a "go" to put up the wiring, the guys got right back to work installing the fencing.

This time, they installed a 4 foot wide gate instead of another 3 feet wide like the one I will be using as a trellis.  I like the smaller gate better as it did have a little decor at the top.  This is a no-frills gate, but it seems that they did a great job.  If you live in  Lawton, OKC or surrounding area in Oklahoma; Chisum Hale Fencing Company is the one to call....:-).   They gave us a year warranty on their workmanship and said that if we have any problems with the fence to call them and they will come out and fix it.  And they put it in writing.....:-).  One of these days, I will either replace or rebuild that old brick grill.  For now, it holds our firewood for the fire pit we used earlier in the year.
 

Next, it was off to the store to get some paint to add some color on some chairs that Scootard and I picked up at a second hand store for the garden.......

Scootard settled on this color......

which of course had to be mixed........

the clerk put the paint in this doohicky to shake it up and blend the colors.  I have no idea how green, red and navy can make Madras Blue.....but it did!

 After getting back to the house and getting  the drop cloth and chairs in place, we went to work painting them. Scootard advised me to start at the bottom with the legs and work my way up.....

The hour was growing late, so I tried to get it done quickly....

Then I guess after a while he thought I needed some help with this project......

by the time we got all three chairs done it was dark outside.  This was the last one we did and our last project before resuming our trip back to California to finish our adventures there.  All three will be placed somewhere in our garden once we get back and get it going.  It was still too early to plant anything in that region, but at least some of the cosmetics would have been done when we return.  But I gotta say that I'm not crazy about this finished product.  This one is what they call "Buttered Sweet Corn", but it is a flat paint and not like the semi-gloss of the Madras blue that I had mixed.  I will probably add some kind of sheen to it when we return to make it look a little more pleasant to the eye.

Here are the finished products.  Not too shabby - eh?

Well, for now..they will have to rest under cover next to Ms Vickey until we return again.....:-).

We packed and were ready to go the next morning...

 
tomorrow would be the start of another adventure!

For The Birds!

Well, this has been one interesting trip as most of you know!  If you can believe it, we are STILL in Oklahoma.  But our plans (chuckle, chuckle), is to leave in the next few days AGAIN.

In the mean time, we did manage to get a LOT of work done around the house and property including the trimming of hedging and the falling of some dead trees.  After getting most of the mess out of the way, we starting thinking of how to beautify this aging property so that it is more pleasurable to come back to every year.  Now for some reason unknown to me, I decided that putting out a bird feeder would be a good idea.  I have two cockatiels that I have owned for the past 7 years named Bubbles and Pickles......

Meet "Bubbles"....

And "Ms Pickles"......

ok.  So, one would think that having two of my own birds right in my home would be sufficient. For some reason, my love of animals got to me and I decided on this little bird feeder out on our front porch. It was only there a couple of hours before a couple of birds showed up and realized that that "thing" hanging over the bush was not going to eat them...ha.

Then I noticed the bush itself!  Oh dear......

I had to go to breakfast to think about where this adventure might be leading us......haha.  So, we went to a place called "Jimmy's Egg".

I guess this is "Jimmy".....hahaha

I have recently subscribed to a social networking site called "Pinterest" where you....well, pin up your interest.  One of the things I discovered was how to make some bird baths from practically nothing or very cheap.  I figured...Hey, if they eat surely they need something to wash things down with and bath...right?  So, we headed off to Goodwill and some other thrift stores to see what we could come up with to help our feathered friends.  I found these three items; (child's mirror, candle holder, pot top)  for less than 5 dollars and came up with this.......

  

the trick was to somehow secure the pot lid to the candle holder thingee in such a way that when the birds sit on it, it will not tip over.  Scootard took the foam handles of some garden kneeling pad to make it fit more securely together.

Then I thought....Hey!  why not put a bird feeder outside of the kitchen window along with a "makeshift" bird bath?  I took an old plant stand and put a pan from a planter pot on it, put some little rocks in it for weight and presto; a bird bath!  It didn't take much time before they found this one too.  But we also had to look up some other birds that were showing up to see what they were.  the ones you see at the feeder are "house sparrows"

 but we now have two pairs of Doves and some Rose Neck Finches that show up every day as well.  I took this picture off the web of a ring necked dove.  I never seem to have my camera when the two pairs show up in the back yard....

And here is a picture of a male cardinal that comes.  We have also seen a female which has a brown body and a red face....

but these are my favorite ones....the Rose Neck or some call it the "Cut Throat" finch....there are lots of these that come....

 I have seen one or two of these robins hanging around, but I think the others run them off since there is power in numbers!

and this is a shot of the House Sparrow feeder from the kitchen window.  Notice the makeshift bird bath on the left....:-)

 
Part of our beautification process for this old house is to replace a fence in the back that has been repaired twice in the past year.

but of course you cannot (or should not) "replace" a fence without checking with the city first and obtaining permits.  After they come out and locate the lines for cable, gas and internet, they will mark the lines with flags and paint so that they workers will not dig the ground in that area.

Before they came out, we figured there were some things we "could" do without their permission that would not get in the way of any thing.  We decided to put out some solar lights (three of which we have had to return) and we separated some Iris bulbs that had stopped blooming because of over crowding through the years. Hopefully, they will bloom again with a little tender loving care.  This red flag was put there by the telephone and cable company.  It runs the length of the yard from the house out to the alley..

This one is from the gas company and it runs along the back fence all the way to the meter...

  Somewhere in our travels, we turned into "American Pickers" and found our way to another thrift store after eyeballing some beautification options for the backyard.  We found this chair that a lady wanted to charge us $10.00 dollars for.  We managed to get her down to $5.00.  But it does need some help.  So, we picked up some white exterior gloss paint and some brushes to give it a "face lift" of sorts later.  Not bad -eh?

This is a picture of what I hope to accomplish when we return.......

I also managed to snag this child safety fence that I will use "somewhere out there" for a lattice for some trailing roses or some other colorful vine....:-). Right now, the plan is to use it as a cover for a brick grill that is desperate need of repair or rebuild. total price for this fence?...$5.00!

 I am happy to say that our Ficus trees that we whacked back a few weeks ago are starting to give us some new leaves.  I mean they were cut back to virtually nothing.  I wasn't sure it was going to survive!

 

Meanwhile, I decided to take a look at the bird feeder hanging at the kitchen window and this is what I saw!  There was no more room at the feeder so the birds starting lining up on the fence and window sills!  And we had already plowed through 25 pounds of wild bird food!

And then a quick peek out front and they were lined up on the garden border because they wasn't any more room at the feeder.  I moved the bird bath down to the garden and off the porch!  Sheesh....what was I thinking when I started this??.  Scootard is sure that we have over 200 birds showing up now. We have been able to add the Robin Red Breast to the visitors list now but you don't see him in this picture.   oh dear....

and as you can see, we have lined the flower bed with plastic to kill out any grass and weeds and prep the ground for when we return to do some planting.

It was time to buy more food after only 3 days!
This is a 50 pound bag.  haha.  When we pulled up to the co-op, the guys says "I knew you would be back"! haha.  I told him that they were eating us out of house and home...hahaha.  He went on to tell us that some of the farmers have been complaining that the larger birds are pulling the grasses up from the root and causes problems for the horses and cows. He told us that the natural food source for these birds are either dormant or underground for the winter.  So, they depend on humans to keep them supplied.   My family doesn't see how that is possible that the farmers are having such problems since every bird in Oklahoma has gotten the word that there is plenty of food and water at our house!  We haven't seen the larger birds with the exception of the doves though.

I thought, perhaps I need another bird bath to put somewhere.  I found this anchor/hocking dish at the same place I found the chair and gave the lady $4.00 for it.  I found the decorative glass rocks for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree......:-).  cool- eh?.  I think I'd better quit now!

Scootard decided to join the festivities and added two hanging bird baths....

here is the second one....

It is mid day and all of the feeders are empty!  I have cut open the second 50 pound bag.......

We have counted three separate flocks of birds that have to total close to 300 by now!  I'm sure they will find somewhere else to get their daily meals after Scootard and I leave for Canada in a few days....

Wow......what an experience!  hahaha.  Maybe humming birds would be a better choice?  haha

gee whiz!