Seed Starting...Day 1

            Today I started my new hobby...starting plants from seed...I finally used my potting table that I made last year...

                                                                  planting

                                                  into the green house they go

I have planted Morning Glory...Cosmos and I have got a jump start on some Sugar Snap Peas...

Birdhouses...

            Here it is Spring again and once again I am finding things to do getting ready to play in the yard...

            A few weeks ago Joe and I went to the Home and Garden Show in Minneapolis...we saw some birdhouses on a stake and decided we could make them cheaper...they were asking $29.99 each for them...

             I bought a couple of ready made cheap birdhouses from Gordmans

                     Joe bought a couple of wood spindles and some metal poles
   
            Joe has drilled holes in the bottom of the birdhouses taking care not to make the holes too big and he drilled holes in the bottom of the spindles to put in the metal pole which will go into the ground...I painted the spindles white...the birdhouses were glued to the top of the spindles...the metal poles put into the bottom of the spindles...

                                                         the finished product

                        one birdhouse put into my back corner wild flower garden

 I think we made two of these for the price of one at the Home and Garden show

with a bit of luck the birds will make themselves at home like this one did last
                                                             year

Rambling down Route 66

            Joe and I have talked about driving Route 66 for the last year or so...we have seen the beginning of Route 66 in Chicago and last September on our way to Mexico we stayed in LA overnight and saw the end of Route 66 on the Santa Monica pier...

            We have been collecting books and maps for the last few weeks...

 

   
            Living in Minnesota means that we have to drive quite a few hours to pick up Route 66...we are not going to be starting at the beginning in Chicago...we have decided to head south to Springfield Missouri...spend the night in Springfield and then start our Route 66 adventure...we are planning on getting as far as Arizona...no fixed plans...stop when we see something of interest...eat in mom and pop diners...and see something of the back roads of America...

            I am hoping to keep a photo account of our trip...if Joe stops long enough in any one place so I can take photos...once he is on the road he likes to keep going...

            We are leaving tomorrow morning Friday 21st...wish us luck...we may need it...

          

           

A Ramble around Kansas City

Valentines week Joe and I decided to go to Kansas City for a couple of days...

We are not gamblers but stayed at Harrah's Casino because it was convenient

                                  Kansas City skyline from the hotel parking lot

   I used to work for Hallmark...always wanted to visit the Hallmark Center

                                                       Hallmark visitors center

Look who we ran into...which one is the crabby one

 

                                         Bar-B-Q ribs at Fiorella's Jack Stack

                                              Tried the local beer at Jack Stacks

                                           Saw this free show at Harrah's Casino

But this is the show I really wanted to see

 

Our next ramble will be Route 66 from Springfield Missouri to somewhere in Arizona

Back to Blogging...My Next New Hobby

             Anyone that knows me and knows me well knows that I love to garden...last year I made some new flower beds and got lots of new plants started...this year I want to start plants from seed...Joe bought me this little greenhouse for Valentines Day...

 

                                                         I had to put it together

here is the finished greenhouse

 

hopefully the weather will eventually get better so that I can try growing my plants from seed

 

 

Jobs in June...around the yard...

            I am very good at coming up with all kinds of ideas for around the house and around the yard...but unfortunately I am just a woman and cannot always implement things I would like to do...for instance...removing sod that has been in the yard for 20 + years...digging up old shrubs that have been around for as long as the sod...so for the last few weeks we namely Joe has been doing the heavy yard work for me...

    Joe had to dig up the sod from the new flower garden in the backyard...I did help with the bricks

 we...Joe had to dig up these old shrubs so that we could stair step this area for another flower garden

  this is the same area cleaned up of shrubs and bricks put in...yep helped here too

      4 cubic yards of garden soil sitting at the end of the driveway...I moved a lot of this

                                              stair stepped area with new garden soil

                            new backyard flower garden also with new garden soil

 we had so much garden soil that we made another new flower garden...this is going to be a Hosta garden because it is very shady in this area

            Next job is going to be stain the fence along the new garden in the backyard...hope to get to this between the showers this week...then I will start planting my new flower beds with perennials...I have some around the yard that I need to dig up and split...


.....thanks to Joe for working so hard especially on Fathers Day on my project.....

Moments in May...Thoughts of England

            I have been back from my trip home to England for three weeks...I have been thinking about this post since the day I got home...actually even before that...my sister and I were having a conversation about growing up and leaving and coming back home...it is so hard to put into words...it was then when my sister and I were talking...

            My Mom spends a few months a year in England with my sister and her family...I very often travel with her and spend a couple of weeks with the family to catch up and reconnect...as soon as my Mom arrives at my sisters she seems to fit right in and pick up where she left off...it takes me a few days to settle in and feel at home...I don't mean at my sisters...I mean in England...

            England has not been my home for 30 years...I was the one that left so why does it feel like I have been left behind...