Apples and Bluebirds

The night before last, we picked apples at a neighbor's house. It was great fun and the girls took their baseball mitts as Daddy used a long tree pruner to pick the best ones from the very top of the tree. There were gorgeous and tart.

So last night, we peeled them and made applesauce. The girls LOVE applesauce. I managed to skin a finger and cut my thumb in the process. (I am not clumsy, I swear!) We ended up with 7 quarts and 2 pints of applesauce. We gave one pint to the couple who owns the apple tree.

We usually pay $4 at least for a big jar of store brand applesauce. So for the price of the sugar and cinnamon and the labor less the cost of the fun, we have a bargain!

Sad news to report on the bluebird front. A predator has wiped out Pinkie nest. I do smell the faint aroma of a skunk outside this morning, but I am not sure if skunks would raid a nest. However, the two babies are still doing well in Rainbow, although that third egg has still not hatched. I do see them laying all over and around it. Its pretty cute.

I've been painting a few more tote bags, this time with the traditional Russian nesting dolls called matryoshka. They are really fun to paint.

What a wonderful day!

Well, our tubing trip to Helen yesterday was FANTASTIC. We've had some rain lately so the river was up enough that we didn't drag much. Scott tethered his raft to Fern's and Lulu was tethered to me. He had a push stick but I did not. This would have been handy. It was about 90 minutes down, and gentle enough that Fern almost fell asleep laying in her tube. We saw a couple snakes and turtles too. We can't wait to do it again.

We got home late afternoon and we decided to get all dolled up and take Daddy out for his birthday dinner. I even put on a skirt. He picked Wild Wing and it was tasty.

I believe that Lulu has contracted Fifth Disease. She has that 'slapped cheek' look, sort of a lacy rash. She's had it on her arms as well. She has a very mild fever and some diarrhea. We are going to take it easy today. Apparently, it can be quite dangerous to pregnant women.

An update on the bluebird: we lost on egg in Rainbow nest. I found part of one on the ground. We have got to install a predator guard.

Back to Nature

I just wanted to post a few nature pictures. The first one is the caterpillar that bit Scott a while back. Apparently the crazier they look, the more noxious the bite. He had a nasty red welt for a good week.

The second picture is just a tiger lily in the front yard. I was experimenting with the macro function on my camera. Perhaps inspiration for a hat?

The last picture is the current nest from Pinkie. So currently, both bluebird boxes have nests with 4 eggs each. This will be the third nest for Rainbow and the second for Pinkie.

Prairiepolitan Flap Hat

Probably one of the prettiest hats I've made in a while. This style will make up part of my fall collection. I will have loads of unique designs like this.

In bluebird news, I am happy to report that we now have 2 eggs in the Pinkie nest! I guess he finally managed to talk a female into a mid-summer fling. The four eggs in Rainbow nest are still there and are being tending to by their parents. I still want Scott to build some sort of predator guard so that these babies stay safe.

I had great fun last night with the MOMS Club of Gainesville at the MOMS Night Out. We met at another member's beautiful home for Bunco. I had never played before but my BFF Christine is apparently the game type like me and talked me into going. We had a blast and I can totally see joining up with a group to play more regularly. There is absolutely no skill involved but it was fun to rotate tables and visit with some of the other moms that I don't see very often.

Nothing exciting planned for today except cleaning. And maybe casting on for a new hat....

Scott's birthday is Monday and we plan to bake a cake, buy him a new machete, and take him tubing, along with dinner at his fave place, Sonic. Chili cheese my friend!

Handspun Happiness

So I have started purchasing a few skeins of handspun here and there. I recently purchased a wonderful skein of bulky yarn from http://simplytwisted.etsy.com. Of course, I was immediately drawn to it because it was pink and brown. I am knitting up a pair of gauntlets that I hope to list soon:



My car is messed up - something with the brakes. Ugh. I am taking it in today. Hopefully, it won't be terribly expensive.

In bluebird news, we now have 4 eggs in Rainbow and Pinkie's nest is still empty.

More Bluebirds???

As you may know, we currently have two bluebird boxes in the front yard. One is called Rainbow and one is called Pinkie. We had one nest of birds earlier in the spring in Rainbow. We then installed Pinkie, and had two more nests with eggs. Both sets hatched, but sadly we believe that a predator got to the babies in Rainbow before they fledged. On a happier note, the first babies from Pinkie were robust and fledged successfully!

I cleaned out both boxes the other day, and less than 24 hours later the birds had built new nests. Rainbow currently has 3 eggs while Pinkie is still empty. I will continue to post about our bluebird boxes as I have become fascinated with their life cycle.

Still trying to get out of the avalanche of craft supplies and make sense of my space. I've been knitting booties, although I tire of the yarns quickly so they will become ornaments for sale in the shop:

Garden of Eating and Bluebirds Too!

This is our 2008 veggie garden. We are growing sweet corn, tomatoes, eggplant, hot peppers, banana peppers, carrots, onions, potatoes, green beans, Swiss chard, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini.

We also have blueberries, apple trees, grape vines, and a fig bush. I will have some more pictures once I get them turned around and saved.

Oh, and we have a total of 9 bluebird eggs between the two boxes! How exciting! If they all hatch and fledge, that will make a total 14 this season. I also spotted a quail this morning as we drove down the dirt road. It was just peaking out from some poison ivy. I went to take a picture and it ran off.

Oh and mercury is in retrograde? That apparently explains a lot about the absolutely insane week I had last week.

I will be listing a ton of new stuff this week - fabric cuffs, vintage lingerie, a new baby blanket, two scarves, and even a few pillowcase dresses. That means dragging out the iron....OH NO!

Oh and I'll give you a peak at one of Scott's Father's Day gifts next time!

Locks of Love Donation!

 

I took the girls to get their summer haircuts yesterday. Lulu and I talked about donating her hair to Locks of Love a few times of the last few months. At first she wanted to do it since her penpal also did it. Then, she changed her mind. Well yesterday, she decided she wanted to donate her hair. So the folks at Great Clips did their thing and Lulu was able to donate 4 10" long ponytails of gorgeous hair. I am very proud of her.

In bluebird news, we currently have one box with 4 eggs and a second box with 3 eggs last time we checked. We fledged 5 birds a few weeks ago before adding the second box. We think we have enough room for a couple more boxes.

I have made some nice sales lately through the shop. I woke this morning to see that I sold my pink and black gardening visor. Hooray! It was very cute.

I am furiously trying to keep up with spring and summer stock while also making new items for my fall collection of hats and scarves. I have some really interesting things in the works. Stay tuned!