Digging In the Dirt

The last three weekends have been spent trying to get my backyard flower beds pretty.  I have let them go over the years and last summer with the drought and heat I totally ignored them.  Luckily I still have some perennials that survived the drought and the weed infestation. 

This is the first time I have ever tried to condition my dirt and get my flower beds totally weed free. 

I used my garden tiller that I ordered from Amazon.

It is really a great tool for breaking up the dirt and helping to weed the flower beds.  The  bad thing is it only lasts for 20 to 30 minutes and then the battery needs charged for 8 hours.  I started with the flower bed that had the most weeds and Bermuda grass that had crept in.

The dandelions took over and choked out the ground cover I tried to grow. 

It took me both Saturday and Sunday last week.  The weekend before I removed all the dry stems from last years perennials. 

You can see the ground is hard and dry and full of dormant Bermuda and weeds.  Plus under all the rocks were thousands of little ants.  My son enjoyed spraying Raid on them. 

Our soil has a lot of clay in it and it doesn’t drain well.  I was told to mix Gypsum into  the soil to improve it.  One of my patients said it is good to use on your lawn too, so I spread some over the grass with a fertilizer spreader. 

I also added some soil mender soil mix.  Click on the image if you want to read about it.

 

I had bags laying all over the backyard.

I bought new perennials and my husband bought some mulch, but it was only enough to cover one bed.  Looks like we have to buy more and then I will take some photos of all my  hard work.  I will let you know if the flowers flourish in the improved soil. 

Have you started on your yard work yet?  Do you maintain everything year after year or did you let your beds go like me and now you have to pay the price?

Project 52 Week 13 Details

There is a park with a fountain in it.  I have never stopped to look at it until now.  I want to return when the water is flowing from it.  While the fountain is dry, it is easier to capture the details.

The fountain has oxidized and the colors it has produced are some of my favorites. 

I love rust.  I have always loved rust.  There is some rusty goodness on this fountain.  On the base.

And on the grate and bolts at the top.  I also love the green color. 

The bowl has greens, blues and whites. 

The fountain as a whole is so pretty, but it was the details that drew me in. 

Bags of My Life

I looked up from the couch and noticed all the bags hanging from my bar stool.  As I was looking at them all I realized how these bags represent my life. 

I have my everyday handbag that I carry to keep my personal and necessary items close.

I have my work bag that I carry everyday to work.  I use it to  bring water, snacks, lunch and my organizer notebook in it. 

Then there’s my gym bag that I use to bring water, money, a towel,  and my Kindle or a book to read to the gym. 

I have several camera bags I use to store my camera and gear or to bring it when I take photos for people.

These bags pretty much sum up my current life.  I think your baggage changes as you change.  Years ago I would have added a diaper bag to the mix and I certainly didn’t own enough photography items to need a camera bag. 

Has the baggage changed in your life?  How many bags do you need to get you through each week?

Sun Sun Mr Golden Sun…………

Thank you sunset for making the trees around my house glow and look beautiful. 

Linking to

Sweet Shot Tuesday @ Life with My 3 Boybarians

Project 53 Week 12 Hunger

When I think of hunger, I think of the homeless.  We have a homeless population that live under a bridge downtown.  It is called Tent City.  I wanted to capture it in a photo, but I am scared to go there.  So I stopped at a light and through my car window I got a quick shot of some of the belongings and people on the side of the overpass. 

I didn’t have a good zoom lens so I cropped the above photo to show you better detail of some of the people that live here.

You can see a couple of tents on the edge.  There are a lot more under the bridge.  I have seen photos in our newspaper. 

I wish these conditions didn’t exist in our city or anyone’s for that matter.  We do have places that feed and shelter the homeless so hopefully they don’t always suffer from hunger. 

Texture Tuesday

Last night my continuing ed photo class met downtown to try our hand at capturing some photos.  It was in the 80s last week and last night it was cold and windy.  Our class was cut short and our sun was almost non existent due to the clouds.  We snapped a few photos while walking around and then headed home to get warm. 

I thought one of mine would look good in black and white and I added one of Kim’s textures to it.

I used Kim’s The Veil texture.

Pinterest Problems

Just letting you know a diet ad was pinned to one of my Pinterest boards and I didn’t pin it.  I did some reading and this has happened to others as well.

I am currently running a virus scan and malware scan to see if anything shows up on it.  I changed my password on facebook and Pinterest.  When I try to log into Pinterest with my email and password it won’t let me anyway.  I can only log in by using my facebook.  Not sure why. 

With the legality issues I have been reading and now this, I am thinking of deleting my boards and maybe my account. 

I hate when bad things happen to a good thing. 

Sign of Spring

We have had some great weather during the week of our Spring Break.  My son spent most of it on a school trip to Washington DC and the surrounding area.  He got back last night.  He loved his trip and Virginia. 

While he was gone my husband and I took the dogs for a little day trip to Caprock Canyons.  Did you know that there is a herd of Buffalo that are descendants of Buffalos owned by Charles Goodnight in the canyon.  I got a photo of them, but I didn’t close so just know all the brown blobs are Buffalos.

The girls were hot and didn’t like the Canyon.

I tried a high density filter on my camera, but I don’t like how unnatural the sky looks with it.

It was a nice day and good for us to spend some time with nature. 

We have also done some work around the house.  I have started cleaning out the garage and my husband got the front yard mowed and edged.  I bought some top soil and grass seed to fix the bare spots in the back yard.  That grass always gives me trouble. 

Today I worked on the front flower bed.  I trimmed up the shrubs and plants and cleaned up the leaves.

I also planted a few Pansies and Violas. 

I put the Violas in a large container I keep on the porch.  I added a little stone looking bunny I have had forever and I made a chalkboard sign using a paint stirring stick and a wooden plaque I had as well. 

When the flowers grow some more I know they will look much better in the container, but it is fun for now to have a little bit of spring in the front yard. 

I will be working on the horrible back yard flower beds soon.  The weeds have taken over back there.  I ordered a small electric bed tiller that I hope helps me keep them under control. 

I will have to let you know how it works. 

Have you been getting things ready in your yard now that it is getting warmer?

I have a funny dog pic to leave you before I go. 

My husband was sitting on the couch loving on Harley and Izzy came and sat on his head.  That dog cracks me up. 

Linking to

Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Project 52 Week 11 The “Eyes” of March

This month I have noticed daffodils blooming everywhere.  I thought it would be a challenge to get Izzy to sniff one of them while I capture her eyes in the shot.  Well I got one eye and  not the shot I had in my head, but I am still happy with it. 

Want to know how I got her to sniff that flower for me?  I put a little piece of bacon inside.  She went crazy checking out all the other daffodils looking for bacon in them.  It was funny. 

“Enamel” Tag on a Wire Basket With Grapevine Balls and a Light

Phew.  What a long title.  I wasn’t sure how to label this post.  I thought of naming it “I copied a copier”, because I did.  My friend Korrie at Red Hen Home recently made some faux enamel stencils that you can see here.   She copied the idea from Suzanne at Meridian Road.  You can see her faux enamel tags here.   So I was feeling crafty and lonely Sunday, because my husband was at work and my son is on a week long school trip touring the Washington DC area. 

I finally finished painting my 3rd barstool that I started almost a year ago (here) and I made an enamel tag using Korrie’s ideas.  I put it on my wire basket that I filled with some grapevine balls, a leafy floral and a small light. 

I used scrapbook paper.  I think a cardboard tag would have worked better, but it was just for fun so it will do.  I like how the light brightens up my entryway. 

And the tag is just a fun bonus. 

What have you copied lately? 

Aged Globe With Dark Brown Wax

When I redid my son’s room several weeks ago, I changed up the décor in his shelves a bit.  One of the things that my son wanted to keep in his shelf was an inexpensive globe I bought him years ago.  I liked the globe, but it looked too new for our industrial/vintage room redo.  So I waxed it.

I mentioned I would show you more details about his shelf when I revealed his room redo here.

When  I took the photo of the first shelf the globe really bothered me.  It just looked cheap and new.  I also noticed my son’s grandpa’s vintage trumpet was really dusty.  So I dusted it and changed up the globe. 

I rubbed some dark brown Briwax all over the globe with a paper towel and I decided to spray the stand with my Krylon aluminum spray paint I used for other projects in the room.  I gave it a quick coat of black glaze too. 

As the coat of aluminum paint was drying outside on a piece of cardboard, a bird used it for a toilet.  Lucky me.

The base was originally a black plastic and the curved side part was clear.  I like it better now that it looks like metal.  It makes it look more expensive and the wax gives it an aged well used look.

Now for the rest of the shelves. 

I used my piston frame holder I made here in this shelf and some other silvery metal items. 

On the next shelf I added another framed print of my son with his dad from years ago at the fire station and a pop of red with a basket and some baseballs.  I wanted to use all the letters I redid to make them look like metal blocks (here), but I just couldn’t figure out a way to fit them all so I just used the D.

This shelf has a helmet David’s grandpa gave to him.  I think it was his friend’s helmet from the Korean war, but I am not sure.  My son wants to be an aeronautical engineer when he grows up and loves planes, especially military planes, so we added the book to this shelf.  The eagle was painted by my husband in high school and the grenade was bought at an antique store. 

To the left of the helmet are army hats my husband’s dad wore in the army years ago. 

There is a tan one and an army green one.  I have a photo of him wearing the tan one in my entertainment center. 

I love having special things like this in my home.

The next shelf are some books David wanted to keep.  I thought they would be more interesting in these locker baskets I got last year at Target.

The last shelf is full of more books, a hot wheel case that was my husband’s when he was little and an ugly monkey thing.

My son really wanted to keep that case in his room and my husband’s mom gave David that ugly monkey right before she died.  My son insists that it be out.   It is hard to argue with things your child holds dear and special.  Plus this is his room so I think it should be his choice. 

Do you have special mementos in your child’s room?  What is kept in your son’s room that your kid loves, but you don’t?

Linking to

Meet Me Monday @ You’re Talking Too Much

Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming