Appliance Trifecta

 Don't you just loooooove getting new appliances?! When our dishwasher started smoking one morning, we thought it was time to retire it. It wasn't preforming up to snuff anyway and I really hate smelly, black smoke in my kitchen. And it had a big leak when we ran it so we had to put a bowl underneath it. Our old fridge also leaked so we had to have a towel under it all the time.

 Our old stove had rusted out of the bottom and although it mostly worked (3 out of the 4 burners), it had seen better days too. We've been in our house for 29 years (yikes!) and have been through 3 stoves, 3 fridges and this is our third dishwasher. 

Here's all the appliances lined up in the driveway. Out with the old, in with the new.

There's a clever new way to carry these things now. They use a cross slingy thingy that has a strap on the bottom so they just balance it on the strap and basically carry with their shoulders and back.

 It was scary stuff pulling out the old appliances. Maybe there were skeletons, rotting things, mouse poop or any other yucky surprises. Just found mouse poop and one dead, shriveled mouse carcass.

Not too bad. We are not those people who pull out their fridge every year to vacuum the coils, so there was about 12 years of mystery stuff back there.

 We decided to go for the two ovens, one small and one larger. Everyone who has one of these says they use the small oven 95% of the time. True for us too. We've only used the lower oven once when cooking two pizzas.

On the day the dishwasher took up smoking, Sears had a sale featuring any three appliances for 20% off, ending that day.  So off we trekked to Sears to pick out our three dreamy appliances. Houston does heaps of research and I go by color. This time it was stainless steel grey. Love my new fridge too. We had a side by side freezer/fridge before but changed to this pull out freezer and double door fridge combo instead. So color us some happy kitchen campers here! Now the rest of the kitchen looks shabby!

Augering In

 We took our sheep fence down last October, moving the sheep to graze at the pastures of Willowisp Farm on the north side of Barnesville. We haven't made time to put the new fence up yet (I did get all the supplies by November) so our very good friend, Dick, showed up with his dreamy Kubota tractor on Sunday to give us a nudge and to dig the holes for the posts. Here's the crew from l to r, Casey, Garrett, Trapper, Houston, Dick and Forrest. All were instrumental in gettin' er done. The dogs helped out by rolling in poop emphasizing the fact why we need a fence. My three guys, dug, mowed, moved debris and Dick worked his magic on that tractor.

 The grass has grown waist high so we had to mow a path so they could see where to dig the holes.
Dick even pulled a couple dead trees over with the tractor. Love that!

 Forrest putting in a corner post.

A thing of beauty. Dick drove it over from his farm, 3 miles away. It has a 4'x2'x2' chunk of cement attached to it which didn't make for good gas mileage.

 Dick said that you could just "Kiss that auger" and so I did.

Downtown Luck

Houston and Forrest both work in/near downtown DC. The commute is 1 1/2 hours each way, either by train, car, metro, bike, walk or a combination. But recently a friend of ours went to work in Shanghai for 8 months and graciously let the boys stay in her condo. In exchange, they pay the utilities, keep the place spic and span and stain the deck. What a deal!

Last week I also spent the night there as we had a late night in the city. Garrett lives just a few blocks away, so he came for a visit. An extra bonus to the place, is a huge rooftop deck, complete with grill and plenty of seating for an enjoyable evening of eating alfresco.

 
Looking down one sees a garage turned living quarters.

And a nice little patio with a bamboo roof and a 'potted' garden.

It was a rainy, overcast day so the nation's capitol was difficult to see, but on a clear day.....

you can see forever! It is convenient for the guys, but I'll take my country place any day or night.
 

More Chartruese Fun

 Another shopping day at Chartreuse, the dairy barn filled with
rustic/retro/farmhouse/shabby chic stuff.

 They've switched up dealers in here and you never know what you'll find so it's always fun.
Mother's Day was that weekend so they had huge bouquets of flowers. Love how the bucket is painted with chalkboard paint (awesome invention!).

 pops of turquoise

 I was no way looking for a dresser, but when I spotted this one, I just had to have it. Hello funky, retro vibe...love the handles and the vertical details on the door. It fits so much more than my old one, I even have an empty drawer! Houston wants my old one but I'm doing a redo on it so will post pix later. He's going to England next week so I have to paint a room, which means painting furniture and doing a total makeover.

 Also not to be passed up was this mod, Mad Men style outdoor settee.

Houston grimaced when he saw it, but I love it. Now bring me a martini.

Lookin' Good Girl!

 

Can you believe this woman is 52?!!

 

We're celebrating Seal's birthday today. Going on a picnic on a mountain with girlfriends. It's a beautiful day to honor a beautiful friend. Happy Birthday Gorgeous!

Garden Centering

 This time of year, it's all about the garden. I've been visiting a few garden shops recently and have acquired quite a number of annuals and perennials.

Moving dirt, placing little plants in the fresh soil, is my way of centering, or relaxing.

 The greenhouses are overflowing with flowers, making it hard to decide what to choose.

 It seems that every flower blooming right now in my garden is purple. That's ok with me as I really like purple.

But I should have a variety I guess.

We had company over the weekend and Julie went out armed with scissors and made a few bouquets.

I walked in the house and she had found a variety of vases and pitchers and created arrangements. What a wonderful guest!

A few weeks back Forrest built me four raised beds in my veggie garden. We got top soil and leafgro from a nearby farm (I hauled, he unloaded....sweet!) and after 6 loads, they were nearly ready to plant. I enriched the beds with the wormy dirt behind the barn where the sheep live. It really is like a worm farm, hundreds of them in every shovelful. Beautiful stuff. After planting my newly acquired tomatoes, peppers, cukes, squash, beets, beans and chard, I covered everything with 'chicken floor mulch'. Thanks Farm Animals for helping with the garden!
Don't you just love the garden this time of year? The plants look so cute and unassuming (not the unruly mess they will become in August) and the weeds are at bay. Which reminds me of the lyrics of a Dixie Chicks song, "I wanna grow something wild and unruly".

 

 

Since the weather has been so nice and the days are much longer, this is our dining room. A nice place to view the garden. 

Cat Call

 I divorced my cat. We had a good 16 years together, but it was time to say goodbye.
He cheated on me.

Instead of using his litter box, he chose to use the new carpet upstairs and for his downstairs peeing enjoyment, the expensive wool rug was just dandy.

I've tried to keep him outside, but as soon as a door would open, he'd scoot in. Or he'd scratch at our bedroom door at 3:00 a.m. So annoying.

So off to a farm where my friend's son lives. He's such an animal lover. I told him this is to be an outside cat but an hour later, we got a photo text with Cheyenne in the house. I warned him!

As soon as I arrived, I let Cheyenne out of the car and a very large dog ran up to welcome him (or maybe chase him, I'm not sure). Cheyenne grew up with large dogs so this one didn't bother him in the least. He just looked up at him and said,
"Out of my way, Big Guy, while I have a looksee around."

I will really, really miss Cheyenne but there is no smell I hate more than cat pee. It does something to my brain that makes me loco. Just ask my husband! After Sheep and Wool fest I feel I have to deep clean my entire house...my way of relaxing. While doing this on Monday, I smelled, saw and felt the aforementioned places of the evil deed. You didn't want to be near me just then. I think my neighbors 5 houses down heard me yell, "That f'ing cat!" I rolled up the expensive 9x11 rug and with much effort I threw it out in to the front yard
(where it got soaked in rain and now probably weighs 500 pounds!)

For 16 years Cheyenne has been a part of Dancing Leaf Farm. He's known many chickens, and was especially friendly with Miss Crossbeak, he's outlived four big dogs and was buddies with the two current ones. He was king of all the cats we had and was just an easy going cat. And it didn't help that he was rubbing up against my leg, being all cute while I was working in the garden yesterday.

I know that once you take on an animal, you should be bonded for the life of that animal. But when things go sour, sayonara! And for one more Take that Lady, he pooped in the car on the way to the farm.  I'm just thankful he has a good home, with a loving caretaker. And now I must remember, no matter how cute those kitty faces are....NO MORE CATS EVER!!!