That Just Right Piece of Furniture

This house of ours had a deep, painful void. A place of emptiness... cold, vast and unpleasant. Yes, that's the only way to describe it! Oh, not really, but it makes the story more interesting, don't you think?

In our eating area of the kitchen, we had a wall with a nothingness quality to it. We tried to fill it with plants and then commenced to ignore it's unfinished appearance. We looked for just the right hutch for more than two years. Who knew it could be so difficult to find the right piece of furniture! What we found was either of the wrong style or, more often, the wrong price range. You know that range...way too much!

I had a little time recently and secreted myself away to Topeka and I saw her. At first my mind could not, would not register what I was seeing! There she was and she was perfect. She was newly made in an old style using salvaged wood. So she has a comfortable, well-used patina. I fell deeply in love with her...now what would my husband think?

To my deep satisfaction he loved her, too. At least he humored me with, "yes, honey, it's perfect". I know he cares for her about as much as our cats. So we bought her and pulled our previously readied van around back. To my frustration we found that only her bottom would fit in the van. I know usually it's the bottom that has trouble squeezing in, but you see, she's very tall. We explained we would return with a truck. With one last look, we said goodbye and promised to return as soon as possible.

If she had known the state of her chariot, she may not have agreed to come home with us. Our truck is a classic, a 1975 Ford that was once used to deliver monuments to the local cemeteries. It must have had a life before stone deliveries that involved emergencies judging from the light on top?!?

It's not safe to drive this particular truck more than 55 miles an hour, but we were in no hurry. My boys refuse to ride in it anywhere beyond town for fear a door will fall off. We brushed all this aside because our hutch needs to come home.

A moment to talk about the store where we found this hutch: Gallery Classics. It's a wonderful store filled with Belgian antiques and all manner of gorgeous house decorating accessories. If you are in Topeka or even the state of Kansas, you may want to stop in at this store. I know it's not the first time I've told you to drive for hours for something, but if you've taken my advice and had some Ted Drewes custard, you'll be loading up this weekend to visit Gallery Classics. I just know it!

We gently laid her better half in the truck, carefully strapped her in and headed home. We nearly killed me carrying her into the house. I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to carrying furniture, even though my incredibly patient husband has the heavy end.

Once we got her positioned, we stood back and thought...just right. It will probably take years to fill her shelves, but that's ok, as I imagine the collection of keepsakes will eventually tell our family story.

"Honey, about those curtains."

I think I heard groaning.

The Great Wall

We had a bit of a drainage problem after the house was completed, so earlier this spring we had the handy-dandy, earth-mover man come and re-work our driveway.

As an added bonus, his work created a place where we needed a rock retaining wall. In my imagination, this wall would offer endless landscaping opportunities... or at the very least add some interest to the front yard. The only downside is most of my outside "images" involve work for the husband. Fortunately on this one he didn't seem to mind.

We headed down to the local stone yard and selected a tumbled limestone called Dover Shell. This stack was delivered Saturday morning.

After the rain stopped and the area dried up enough, Bart got busy on this weekender project. He measured, dug, selected, hauled and leveled. Repeat, repeat, repeat!

As I watched and took photos I could feel some words bubbling up and pushing to get out..."would you like some help?"

"Sure".

My job was backfilling behind the stones. I felt a compulsive need to try to separate as much dirt as possible from the gravel. ho ho hee hee...I'm afraid, I wasn't much help.

About as much as the cats....

...who had a compulsive need to walk the wall.

The hubby finished up on Sunday evening.

Isn't it cool???

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

Here's a video of the sacrifices, bravery and devotion of Dads.

Video

Emerald Green Means Mowing

We live on 14 acres, so we have plenty of room for a yard...as opposed to fields. Our yard is about an acre, and fortunately, we already own a riding lawn mower.






You might be thinking, "uh oh", who will be moving that lawn and those fields. To our delight, our two oldest boys love riding the lawn mower. Dane volunteered the other day and instead of mowing just his half, he mowed the whole yard!





For the fields, you ask? We have Alice. An Allis-Chalmers tractor to be more descriptive. We own Alice with two of our neighbors and we manage to smoothly take turns and take care of repairs. It's funny how the first year you own an old, almost antique, tractor, many repairs are needed. Alice seems to be in fine working order now.


Just as the boys enjoy mowing with the riding mower, my husband and I love mowing with Alice (I almost said riding and thought that didn't sound right). We are both quite sneaky about Alice-each trying to get her out first to mow our favorite spots. Grass length has been a point of contention at times. I'm for longer, he's for shorter. My brother, Marty and our friend, Mike, also enjoying mowing on Alice. They usually ask if time will be available for moving when they visit. Those city slickers! Takes one to know one...


Alice the tractor, the closest I will get to lifelong dream of owning a horse. ?!?!

Digging in the Dirt

The counter in my pantry has become Garden Central. I needed a place to organize seed packs, references and other supplies. Even the garden trowel - a little dirt among the cans of soup and boxes of rice never hurt anyone...

Last week was big for planting. One Monday, tomatoes, bell peppers, cantelope and watermelon plants went into the garden. Thursday saw the planting of zucchini, cucumbers and green beans. Also, a few petunias out front...gotta have some flowers!

By far the most important variety planted this week was the wind fence. Bart picked up the wood at the lumber yard and had the fence up in no time. He was right that my idea of a charming, weathered, picket fence probably wouldn't stop any wind. On Wednesday evening the fence was tested! We had gusty winds with the threat of severe weather. I went to bed worried about the new tomato plants and put off looking for half the next day. They were just fine!

The plants are taking off in the garden. Lettuce and spinach are close to the first harvest. The potato plants look great. Kohl robi and corn are peaking through.

I haven't had any no shows yet. I am, however, out of space! Darn I thought that garden bed was big...not with the likes of watermelon and cantelope. Hmmm...expansion in the future??? Shhhh! Don't tell Bart...not yet anyway.

Raised Beds - Is there a Pea Under that Mattress?

A raised garden bed has many advantages. It allows for deeper tilled soil, slightly earlier produce as the soil warms up faster and good drainage. So any garden girl worth her salt must have a raised garden bed! Bart and I went into the lumber store, had a quick conversation with the lumber man and ordered the wood. The ideal wood is cedar or redwood, but we took a bit of a shortcut and got treated lumber. I hear the organic gardener's gasping! I'm a newbie organic gardener and hope to improve substantially with age.

Mason took a wood shop class this semester and throughly enjoyed it, so I thought I'd ask him to help. Oh, my. I wasn't prepared for his sophistication, his dexterity, his knowledge. He knew, oh so much more than me. Well, ok, that's not saying much. Let me rephrase. He has mastered many woodworking skills. He measured the wood, and positioned and handled the electric saw like a pro.

We carried all the pieces to the location and he drove in the stakes.

We had a little trouble screwing in the nails, so Bart took care of that later in the evening.



Filling the beds with quality soil was a bit of a challenge. We had good dirt all around and it just took about ten thousand shovelfuls to get the beds full. We prevailed.

Next we planted lettuce and spinach seeds, and potato and onion sets and I'll be darned if the plants didn't sprout.

My handy-dandy assistant Bart did a fine job on the signage.

Step Two: Build Raised Beds - Complete. Now, we may need to devise a plan for a little problem we may face this summer: hot, southern winds.