sunny day work

Andrew was home today and it was nice outside so I did some video content for work.

Follow bexley public library social media channels to see all the team's great work from home during this time.

Tutu testing the breeze.

A reminder that sunshine brings us together.

Can you see the spider webs in the orchard trees?

This past-expired baking mix project went better than the cocoa mama cookies.

(Look at those fun dish towels)

With aunt Margie's classic white icing, it's a win win treat.

I'm leaving a sink of dishes for bed.

rage weeding is just the thing

After several hours of working from home, I took care of the chickens and called friends and family while lightly weeding the lavender. I forgot to take before pictures but in sure you will appreciate the effort just the same.

These are the new plants I planted last year. 

One has clearly given up and a few are kn the fence but its early yet.

Here are some plants greening up already.

Can you see the little weeds already coming up?

This is the largest.one of the new plants.

Andrew made scones on Saturday.

And tutu wants to know when I'll be done on the laptop.

california trip photos

Well, I've been inside quite a bit these last few days. Yesterday I made some cookies from a box mix in the back of the pantry.

I used crisco butter flavored sticks instead of butter and they were a little dry after mixing but they were okay.

The cute blueberry dish towel is a recent addition to the kitchen. I love cute dish towels just like my mom. 

Andrew and I went to California in mid late February and these photos are from that trip.

I though this fox sculpture was cute. It's the Sierra Nevada fox. 

learn. about the sierra nevada fox

In Santa Barbara,  near one of our favorite restaurants called State and Fig, is this wonderful water fountain. There are about 20 turtles in different sizes and a couple different species.

See a nice short video here of the turtle fountain in the La Arcada Courtyard of Santa Barbara.

turtle fountain video

This is an indoor saltwater aquarium in the Kings Hawaiian restaurant in Los Angeles. It's a restaurant by the Kings Hawaiian bread company.

These are pictures from wine country in the Santa Ynez Valley.

A pretty shot of a shop in Los Olivos. Home of this wonderful 4-h mural.

And here is a picture

of me in Los Alamos at Bedford winery. Here I am enjoying the company of a terrier far from home and my own little Tutu.

Hitch is 7 and has seen rough days. He followed his current owner home one day and has been greeting customers ever since.

And I know, that's a great hat I'm wearing.

I'm always amazed and what California can grow all year. I mean I know it as a rational fact but seeing 4 foot tall blooming rosemary in January never fails to delight me.

And our wonderful friend Amy had her lemon tree loaded with lemons just ready to be made into lemonade.

I have pictures of Andrew but is reticent when it comes to pictures on the blog. I'll just end with a picture of one of the places he loves best. It's way too windy for me but he loves the Korean Bell of Friendship.

learn. more here

a busy day of light industry

Today was a day of loose ends. I thought I'd give you a potted plant update.

The pothos is doing well despite Moxie sneaking in and taking 6 leaves off of it. It would certainly be fuller if she hadn't. She only ate three leaves and threw them up pretty quick.

The cute rabbit figurines are from J. Woeste Garden Center in Los Olivos.  They have great items and this year is the first year I shipped to home.

This is my best spider plant baby so far. I have a few more that will be ready to pot soon. The Dutch rabbit figurine is compliments of tidying the basement.

This bandanna.

And this bandanna.

Are examples of my second sewing lesson on February 9th. I'm just getting around to posting them.

Today I hung this picture I got at the Santa Barbara Sunday art fair in February.

Modeled after one of the artists chickens, she sure resembles my girls. The picture is in the guest room/writing room.

This handsome boy might be on the internets soon. You will have to stay tuned.

A day of of getting ready for spring.

Well the night of the snowy day I took a nice hot bath since I could have the hot water to myself.  I've been reading books that I own but I've never gotten around to reading. I put a lot of stuff in my bath like epsom salt and baking soda (to keep from getting pruney) bubbles of course and some aromatherapy. This time I tossed an old floral blend of dried herbs and flowers.

I stay in a while and try to be myself like a lobster but sometimes it happens.

On Sunday Andrew and I tidied the basement so its safer for n.v us and the pets when there is a tornado warning like there was last spring.

We got rid of a lot. Andrew even attached an eye bolt under the stairs so I can hook up Tutu's leash while I get the cats in the event Andrew is away.

Here is a picture of Tutu right now as I write this. 

Another project we did is work on peeling on peeling tomatoes to make sauce for pizza later. We get busy in the summer and just freeze them whole. The bags of tomatoes were taking lots up lots of space.

Once we peel and blend, all three bags will equal one bag of tomato base to make a sauce.

They skins will go to the chickens.

One of the boxes I came across had a variety of items including these glasses.

Check out the fancy detail.

These belonged to my great grandmother Carmella Lizza. This is where I get my Italian eyes and hair.

Carmella came to America from central Italy at around 12 years old after her widowed father remarried. A wealthy family in the village were moving to America and needed someone to care for one of their elders who was blind. 

Carmella agreed and never looked back. The family ran a grocery store and every morning an Italian cook for the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad came to the store to water for cooking. His name was Felix Lizza.

Carmella raised 5 children and went to Mass. She died on Easter Sunday long before I was born.

I have plans for these glasses so stay tuned. Not to wear though they are just too heavy.

Here is a link to the hens enjoying tomato scraps one of the hens does a cute thing.

hens and tomatoes

See you next time.

The day it snowed feathers.

Hi readers, since I have a little extra time I will try to blog a little more and you can follow along with me as I do things on the little homestead. As a first responder, Andrew is still on duty. How I work at the library while we are closed to the public is being determined.

Anyway part of being prepared for an extended stay at home includes a trip to the feed store. I was running low on chicken feed anyway. 

The iron fighter is softener salt. I hear folks in the city sometimes have a water softener. It is essential out here with well water and especially where I live because of the iron. Sometimes when we are planting a tree or digging a hole for a post we run across veins of iron in the ground. If we didn't have the water softener, our white clothes and bathtub would eventually turn orange.

I tried to get so.e good pictures of he snowfall today. I don't think I have every seen snowflakes as big. The size of silver dollars didn't seem right and really the flakes reminded me of feathers. Especially the flake in the middle. Can you see it?

Later I went to take care of the chickens. I had never seen snow on the pen like this before. Not only did the thick flakes form a heavy blanket of snow, but then they settled like stalagmites.

The green tabs are zip ties for added protection for the chickens but that's a story for another day.

The snow is very heavy on the chicken wire ceiling of the pen. It will melt before it sags too much. Remember the chicken wire ceiling keeps predator birds like red tail hawks out.

Speaking of the chickens. They are doing fine and laying eggs. Today I gave them a treat of scratch grains.

Thia scratch mix has sunflower seeds, cracked corn, barely and millet. It is kind of like cheap candy for chickens. I can use it to lure them back into the pen if they are ranging. I can use it to put in a corner of their pen to distract them while I change out their water because they like to jump on their empty waterer while I'm changing it out and get it dirty.

Scratch can boost their metabolism a little when it gets cold...its high calorie but winter was so mild this year I have a lot leftover.

And sometimes it's just fun to feed them out of my hand. I'm going to upload a video let's see if it works...well here is a link.

hens getting a treat

Tutu is watching the snow. I will write more later. Take care of yourselves.