OUTSIDE…THINGS…

Bradford Pear Trees….
are a none fruit bearing tree…the have beautiful flowers on them in the spring..my dd and sil came about 7 years ago and planted them in my side yard for me…they were about 3 ft tall…that is a 6 ft. fence you see so you can tell how much they have grown!!! My neighbor who is a Master Gardner told me they start to bloom nice when they are about 7 years old…I have never seen them bloom yet cause I am not here …they block the view from an ugly neighbor guy….who another neighbor though he was going to chop me up with an elec. hedge trimmer one day and called police…but that’s another blog…

Butterfly’s and bushes….
Another time for my BD I think…my dd and sil ..gave me 3 butterfly bushes….3 different colors…they grow like wild also and I have to cut them back each year…if I didn’t they would take over my whole back yard…it is not very big to begin with…they are just now starting to bloom…did you know they smell just like honey? …no wonder butterfly’s like them and also every bee in the world….also seen hummingbirds after them…

Palm trees….
No no …not here….but do miss the palm trees and I do miss Florida…this is a shadow of a palm I got one day down at the home park when we were walking around…I bet if I had a really good camera this would have been a cool pic. I know it was pretty cool to look at…

And this is Belle…
she is mascot of the Women RV group I belong to…she is quite the party girl …or so I hear…she has come to live with me & Maggie for awhile…and do some traveling…it seems that Belle is kept in a closet a lot of the time and when she gets out she goes a little wild…like…last time she got out she ran into a flamboyant smooth talking bongo playing  flamingo by the name of Bongo Bill..they partied it up….got married…had twins…partied more…she was so hard on him that he suffered  a broken neck from a deadly fall…she took it so hard she sent the twins to live with her mother and has been in hiding ever since…She looks innocent enough doesn’t she???? or maybe look at the way she looks at you with those beedy eyes…Time will tell all for now thanks for looking and come back soon blessings G&M
ps...bet this is one bird you have not run into Judy,....lol lol lol

GEOCACHING BREAK…..

Been thinking….
and decided it was time for a fun break..new geocache friend ask me to go with her to Ohio to GeoMash Fun in the sun meet and greet geocaching event..I won a door prize pic below a lanyard..since it was the 4th week end it came in a cute happy little bag…

Some caching going on…
They hide temp caches at these functions that you can only find that day at the event..we found them all…that is my new cache friend Sue in the for ground of the pic…sometimes people go in a small group to find the temps..usually who every you came with….

Next up came the …..
meeting, greeting and eating…this is part of the group altogether there were about 30 people that attended…there were some cachers that hit some mile stones..like 5,000 or 10,000 caches found that were awarded some prizes for their efforts…

And here’s ….
Maggie all tired out after her afternoon of geocaching….lol…sleeping on the picnic bench….


And what are these….
strange looking things? Seen these growing on some locusts trees…they are like thorns very sharp…the green one must me live one … then they look like this…dead…

Anyone know what they are…I have never seen anything like them before…sure would like to know….
I had a very good time met some new peeps and had a ton of good food…love pot luck dinners…altogether we found 20 caches yesterday…we stopped along the way and found a few…and did not find a few ,,lol
Back to work tomorrow on the house…at the beginning of this post I said I have been thinking and what about is the work on the house and have come to a few conclusions that I will post about next time…so thanks for looking and come back soon blessing G&M

getting rid of it

Throwing away years of accumulation is hard to do. It feels like I am throwing away things that made up my past. Working alone … I am a bit overwhelmed today…at what I have to do yet…not much to say..so will leave you with some things I like and don’t want to part with…this is way to much for one person to do…I don’t think it will get done this year..
Things found in my kitchen…





Have  a good day everyone!

DOWN SIZING THE KITCHEN….

Or should I say emptying out a kitchen….
In the last few years this is the third kitchen down size I have done…did not realize what a big job it would be…I kept thinking I will need this or that…but that is so cute…or I have had this for ever how can I get rid of it…and on and on it goes… Below is pretty much what I will have left to take with me to Florida…some will go in the RV and some to dads…but not all will go… some bowls and plates will be put in the moving sale…but this is what I am using the most right now…

Pots and pans…..
And below is what is left of the pots and pans from last years down sizing…only 3 things here will go with me plus two small skillets and of course 2 well seasoned old iron skillets..those I am not sure where they will end up when its all said and done…

Stuff is collecting…..
That’s for sure…it does not look like a lot but it is…when you add it into the rest of the house…like I said I did get rid of a lot last few years…The fridge is only 2 years old but it will be sold also…

The cooking area….
Got rid of the stove a couple weeks ago  it was used when I got it 25 years ago it was time…set it at the curb and someone took it…so put my 2 burner hot plate on a micro wave stand…have my sisters toaster oven on counter by the sink and I got cooking space…Just like if I had it set up outside my RV….I will keep everything here but the stand it will be sold…oh and the vintage ice cube trays…to big for RV they will be sold also….

I remember last year giving …..
My dad what for because he had all these out dated spices and things…some of them were 10 years old..(mine were not that bad)…But since last years most of this stuff was over due to be tossed out..so most of this stuff is gone…how did I get 2 bottles of garlic powder and 2 bottles of Montreal Steak seasoning and 3 pepper grinder bottles..???? Full of pepper corns.!!!!

Well that’s if for now thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings G&M

A COUPLE OF MESSES….

Not a mess….
This was not a mess when I started ….this is what it looked like after painting and cleaning last summer…the first of 2 rooms I got done before my brother passed last July….nothing after that was accomplished …

And this was this morning…
Gave the bed and frame to one of my grandsons ….and we emptied the attic into this room…what a mess….a little bit of over flow was put in another bedroom…I got thru almost all this stuff today…priced, pitched and put aside for the sale….I feel much better about this down sizing today….I am not to much upset about all the clutter that surrounds me …as I will soon be rid of it…YEAH…

And this was the other mess….
A little to close for comfort..but they didn’t come to much closer…think I mentioned that they are running new water lines here in our town…at least on my side of town…

I guess they don’t have to dig up as much of the neighborhood as they have had to in past years…the do something like at the intersections of the streets like you see below and then push the big new blue pipes thru the dirt …I ask how the pushed them and the said with the digging machine…back hoe type yellow thing you see…I wonder how they fit together so the water does not leak out ..forgot to ask…maybe the snap together when the get shoved….I guess it is better to dig up just a few yards rather than everyone's…

Geeezzz …you would hardly know they were there…lol…they have fixed and reseeded some yards and replaced sidewalks…but what I have seen I am not impressed…wonder what will happen when they come to fix mine…they took out one whole sections of sidewalk and damaged a couple more…my side walk was pretty new and was flat and straight..but not now…and the city has yet to put in new cement bottom to my driveway…I hope I am still here so I can “supervise” lol

Well that’s if for this rainy gloomy Mon. … I have been working all day and now I am tired…so going to call it a day…put a stuffed pork chop covered with sliced onion and apples…in the crock pot…and now it is smelling done to me…time to eat and kick back…thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings G&M

RAIN..& A FEW CACHES…

As far as I can see….
There is nothing but rain and gloom in the weather forecast…This is getting to be a bit much for me…I don’t do well in the cloudy and gloomy days…need that sun shine on me…too depressing..

On Sat….
Finally said the heck with this and Maggie and I went out  looking for some new geocaches that have popped up in Greenville the last couple years…

So here are a few of the geocaches we found yesterday….

In-between rain drops we found 6 geocaches …not bad for us…and it has been a year or more since I found the last one…. I think Maggie has had enough already…

This was the last one we looked for…but to many peeps (aka mugglers) so we called it quits…went back this morning but could not find it…

And the rest of the story…
Son came and we got the attic cleaned out ..by “cleaned out” I mean all the stuff has been moved down to one of the bedrooms…gave one of my grandsons an extra bed so that freed up one so I filled it up with junk to be gone thru…the only thing I want to keep are a few Christmas ornaments that were from my child hood…so the rest will be sold,donated, or set out to the curb..we set some wire hanging things from my store days and someone came along and took it…love that I don’t have to worry where to take stuff to get rid of it…this week I will go thru what is left in the basement “not much” so we can put on more Dry Loc on the walls and paint the floor…Said it before cant wait for this to be all done…have a great day…and thanks for looking and come back soon
blessings G&M

DOWN SIZING…AGAIN

Minimize …
 Well I have been down sizing for the last several years…and now I am down to the nitty-gritty as they say..Going thru things in the dinning room china closets and so forth I find that the things left are things I thought I wanted …mostly family stuff…no one but me knows what they are ….only mean something to me…below is a pic of grandmothers china closet..and corner of table and chair..solid maple (they don’t make them like that today) she got it 1950 excellent condition…I will keep this ….

Get rid of “stuff”….
Below is the solid oak built in china closet that goes with the house and matches the oak woodwork…everything in these two pic’s is priced and ready for the moving sale…hope by Aug. if not before..got one room done…so far…

Or keep some?????
Agonizing over what to do…below is my grandmothers good dishes…they are bone china made in occupied Japan…she got them right after WW2 … 1946 ..complete 12 piece set…Me being the oldest granddaughter got them…I would like to see them stay in the family thru my granddaughter…hope they want them…

And along with that dish set is here bone china tea cup and saucer sets…I remember all these things as a child…and a few others that she always kept in the china closet…some days she would get out these pink crystal wine and or goblets (they were very very thin) and  she would play with me putting ginger ale in them and we would have a fun time drinking and chatting… as a child I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents..at this stage of my life I feel like an era in our family is coming to an end…and no one will ever know what it was like when I was a child…any of you seniors out there feel the same way?? Seems like the young are not interested in old stuff…lol…Well I had better get busy and keep on ….keeping on…thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings G&M