Supervising Rock and Mulch Moving

Lest you think I have been lying around for over a week doing nothing......

I'll have you know if need be I can supervise just about any project very well thank you, from one of the windows in the house.

I've. Done. Nothing.

But supervise that is.

I did plant some plants in the buckets I've been collecting.
Those are now hung from chain along a garage wall in the back yard.

And just like I said I supervised the hanging job from the window.

I think they'll look pretty when they get growing and fill in.   I always forget to water what hangs there, so maybe the extra deep buckets of soil will help these from drying out so fast.

This week the iris are blooming, along with everything else.

  

Spring came s l o w l y here in Minnesota.

The lilac bush below our bedroom window makes the room smell wonderful and this is my first year with blooming peonies bushes.

And this pile of rock in the driveway,
To replace mulch that the chickens scratch in and make a mess........

Turned this area.........

Into this...........

All while I supervised.

Everything but the old metal wheel was already planted there, just in mulch instead of rock.  HA... take THAT chickens, lets see you scratch and make a mess of these rocks!

So the rock pile while not gone yet, is much smaller now.

But then yesterday this arrived on the driveway.........

To re-mulch some areas that didn't get rock.

I will probably supervise the mulch moving too.

And the duckens are getting big.

You have probably heard that Google reader is going away July 1st, so if you have been following Bliss Ranch that way, now is the time to switch.  I would love to have you subscribe via email, or you can click the Bloglovin' box on my sidebar.  Bloglovin' is also a reader, it's the one I use to read blogs too.  I don't want to lose any of you, my followers are the best!

Linked up to:
Summer Inspiration Decor @TownandCountryLiving 
Share Your Creativity @It'sOverflowing

A Raised Panel Door Gets Some Cottage Style

This month's edition of Building With Brawn, exposes what happens when the man gets a wild hair and just up and gives the door a new look.

 

There is no good before & after of this project, and honestly there is just no good photo at all.   I couldn't get it right no matter how hard I tried and I finally just said "whatever"!. 

(Ok, another honestly.... I didn't try too hard).

But I did try hard to at least find a before photo.  I did what any good blogger would do; I looked through nine-million-nine-hundred-ninety-nine-thousand photos to find one that had a glimpse of a before.

Before the dawn of time

Here is your before photo.  Yes those are ghost heads, you got a problem with that?  Look beyond their felt eye sockets and you will see the yellow-ish (mostly ish) door and the wood trim.

I don't know what happened, the door used to be stained a walnut color, and along the way it was painted.  It had been that way for quite a few years, well minus the ghosts, waiting for time, inspiration, or money.

Apparently inspiration arrived after Brawn made the grooves in the plain flat lazy Suzan project and wondered if he could do that to the door.

Groovy Grooves

The door and trim had already been painted white when inspiration hit him to start groove'n up the door panels.  

Brawn reasoned if his plan didn't work, then we'd have to get a new door.

When I finally grabbed the camera the transformation was well under way and I spent the time I should of been taking step by step pictures, interrogating Brawn on what he was doing.

This man formally had a thick full head of curly blond hair

Basically he made himself a straight line track to follow and took the router to the door, cutting grooves in each panel as well as the panels in the sidelites.  When done, he went back and sanded inside each groove till it was smooth. 

It was finished with another coat of white paint, and we ended up with a front door that has a bit of cottage charm for which we spent a big fat ZERO cash on.

The grooves are hard to see in the full door photos, but in person they are noticeable.  It's known as bad photography.

Sorry, weirdly colored over exposed spots on these.  Maybe it was the ghosts?

I like how the groovy door looks with the rocks. 

The last thing to complete the project will be to forge a nice black knob back-plate and buy some cottage style hardware which will include some sort of hinge straps.   I added that to the never ending list and then I will maybe put some effort into a decent full view photo.  

Maybe.

Linking the Door Redo At:
Catch as Catch Can @MyRepurposedLife 
Link Party with Karen @Redoux

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
Time to Sparkle @TheGunnySack 
Knick of Time Tuesdays 
Project Inspired @Cupcakes & Crinoline 
Trash to Treasure Tuesday @KammysKorner 
Make It Pretty Monday @TheDedicatedHouse 
Make the Scene Monday @AlderberryHill 
It's Party Time @ThreeMangoSeeds 
Creative Inspirations @EmbracingChange 
Tutorials Tips and Tidbits @StoneGable 
Made You Look @MadeInADay

The Door Redo Featured at:
Made you Look Link Party with Kim @ MadeInADay 

Pallet Look Plate Rack Thingies With Chicken Wire and Rebar

Once upon a time in a dining room far far away, (so far in fact one photo shows snow)
A crazy lady decided it was time to redo her dining room.

In November '12 she bought six chairs from craigslist, where she drove alone to a strangers home to see the chairs, and lived to tell this tale.

In February the walls were painted by the crazy lady's loving husband. 

A table was made, also by the crazy lady's loving husband.

Chairs, oh the evil chairs, were painted, painted again, maybe even three times - she has blocked that info out - waxed, sanded, tacks removed, seats recovered.

She tried to describe for the man of her dreams, the vision that was in her head for the redo.

He had a hard time recreating something he could not see in her head.  But he is a patient man and humored the crazy lady instead of telling her to build the darn stuff herself.

He labored in the melting snow.

 And wrestled chicken wire.

He built.  And rebuilt, to please the woman with the vision, because she did not like his first interpretation of what he could not see in her head.

He questioned her..... "you want steel rebar rods for what???  You don't care if they are rusty???".

He took her to the electrical department so she could find galvanized caps that matched her vision, for the rebar.  He did this probably because he was tired of trying to figure out what she was talking about.

And the patient man hung the faux pallet wood plate holders on the dining room wall, with their old rusty rebar and chicken wire, where they wait for the crazy lady to wax them.  Where they wait, to be accessorized.  Where they wait for her to finish the graphics for the six chair backs so the dining room will be complete.

The dining room is patient like the man.

But the crazy lady is loosing her mind over this.

So 'Ya Wanna Aerate Your Lawn?

What is this big orange contraption?  Well let me just tell 'ya.......

It's called a plug aerator. 

Our lawn wasn't looking so great the past couple years and one supposed answer for that problem is to aerate it.  There are a couple different kinds of aerators, the plug aerator that pulls out hunks of dirt about 3" deep and chucks them all over your grass, or the kind with spikey things that leave little divots all over your yard.

The plug kind was what the rental place had - $50 for three hours - so that's what I got. 

Yes me.  I made the decision to aerate the lawn. 

Because it just made sense last weekend, with a to-do list of 30 things, to do something that wasn't even on the list.

And I also had to clean the dirt back out of those plugs to return it back to the rental place.  Pain in the you know what.   All the pressure washer did (FYI that's my all time favorite outdoor tool to use) was splatter me from head to toe with mud.

There were five of these big jugs that had to be filled with water to weigh down the big orange thing so the plugs could dig down into the ground.  Then you drive your lawn mower all over your yard and make holes in it. 

By the time I was done I was wondering why no one tried to stop me.

Don't drive on cement, or over landscape rock, or anything else you don't want a plug to put a hole in.

As each kid came out of the house, or in the driveway, I got the same question....

"WHAT did you DO to the LAWN?".  

I was asking myself the same question.

I'll tell you right now they don't think I'm Einstein.

THIS is suppose to help FIX my lawn?????

I read up on the process and the lumps should melt back in to the ground, but do they melt right back in the 3 inch holes they left?  I'm thinking no.  So will I be getting a big toe stuck in a three inch hole every time I run around barefoot?

 I am well aware what that looks like smeared all over my yard. 

The jury is out on whether or not aerating the yard will actually help it.  A layer of fertilizer gets put on, and some weed killer, so in a month I'll have to let you know if I see any difference I can directly attribute to the aeration. 

I'll also let you know if I get a big toe stuck in the ground.

Because nothing says "welcome" to a house like dirt clods all over the nice green grass.

Chair Back Graphics

Coming soon.......... yes really.  

The never ending dining room redo is nearing completion.

There is only one "o" in correspond and two "r"s.  

It's spelled wrong.
You can corr, I'm going to coo.

I am not changing it.

I have been working on the
six chair back graphics 

and deciding which transfer method to use.  

The drop cloth has been washed and cut, 

ready to replace this velour type fabric.

All the chair back tacks have been removed.  

All 600 of them. 

 They will NOT be polished to return them to their copper luster.

Mostly because I don't want copper luster.

The vintage bronze patina works for me, since truthfully......

there is no way in helll

I am polishing 600 little tack tops.

The chairs have all been painted and waxed and sanded.

The seat bottoms have been patiently waiting for the backs to be ready.  

Soon they shall wait no more.

Shake Rag Alley, Mineral Point Wisconsin

 My closet at the Mineral Point Hotel

Remember my dining room chairs?  Yeah, well they're still not done.  I'd work on them today but my family is crying there is no food to eat.  I'd do chairs tomorrow but it's thrifting day.  Friday?  Ok, Friday it is.  Forget about the 10" tall grass that needs mowing and the 10 FOOT high pile of laundry.  Or those dishes that I can't seem to get washed so the kitchen is clean.

If you can forget those things for me, I'd be happy too forget them as well.

 The Mineral Point Hotel, Mineral Point Wisconsin

The story is that I have been out of town twice in the last two weeks for a total of 7 days.  All that does is make more laundry with less time to do it.

 Stairway of the Mineral Point Hotel

Everyone knows if you have a trip, there is one day preparing to go and one day re-acclimating after arriving home, so if I count in those additional 4 days, then I've been worthless around the house for 11 of the past 14 days.

(Whether I count those additional 4 days or not I've been worthless around the house.)

Lobby of the Mineral Point Hotel

Have you ever toured Wisconsin?  It's more than just cheese, although if you want cheese there is plenty to be had.  And beer.  And wine.  I lost count of the breweries, wineries and cheese stores, and I visited my fair share of both.  Wisconsin is a beautiful state and I wanna go back there, if for no other reason than the beer.  And cheese.  And wine.

Leinenkugel Beer Crates holding tourist information

Our trip started out in the northern part of the state where my little buddy Janel from Nellie Bellie lives, and ended in the southern part.  I have not figured out how to combine traveling with people who don't know I blog and also visiting bloggers, so I peeked in her windows on my way by, ate a piece of cheese and downed a beer in her honor. 

Bessies Blend, an award winner from Carr Valley Cheese, and Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewery to be exact.

There are so many little towns in Wisconsin that have a story and ooze with charm. The town of Mineral Point is no exception.  They have a very active arts council that has helped oversee a revitalization to their quaint downtown.  And they have done it very well.

 Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts hosts visiting artists who conduct hands on workshops.  Say you wanna learn about blacksmith-ing, this is the place for you.  Jewelry making.  Hone your writing skills.  Bent willow furniture making.  Photography.  Gardening.  Community plays.  Just check out their list of classes.  Antique shops, entertainment, trails, restaurants, B&B's, this town has it all and the population hasn't even hit 3,000.

Have you heard of the Little Free Library?  Take a book, leave a book.  Cute little book stands like this scattered around town.  We traveled with friends, and George is a writer so he was intrigued with this concept.

Want some wine?  They've got that too.  Local and organic.

There is also a brew pub, the Brewery Creek Restaurant, where I had the best burger of my life.  The brewery is also a B&B.  I was going to take a picture of my plate of food like good bloggers do, but I was running out of reasons to give our travel companions for why I was taking photos of odd little things.

FINE... the truth is that I ate it all before I even considered taking a picture.  Do you feel better for forcing me into that confession?  I had the specialty fries too.

The pub brews it's own beers.

View of a room entry at the Mineral Point Hotel

The owners of the Mineral Point Hotel also help run Shake Rag Alley.  I noticed the hotel is for sale, and I'm guessing the way the town is booming with shops and tourists that the owners can't keep up with both.

Our huge bathroom.  No I did not take a long, relaxing soak in the tub.  I'm not sure why, other than the bed was so comfortable I wanted to sleep.

We discovered so many interesting towns in Wisconsin, if you get a chance to go, do it.   Mineral Point was by far the highlight of our little tour.  Stop by Shake Rag Alley and find out how they were able to turn the town into a thriving little artsy mecca, then tour the town.

*All photos taken by a crummy little point and shoot camera loaned to me by my daughter because it fit so nicely in my purse.