Saturday, November 10, 2007

Being and Living Green. . .



How many of you just throw in the trash, your coffee grounds, cold coffee, tea bags, cuttings from vegetables, egg shells, potato, carrot peelings, the water used to boil eggs, potatoes, vegetables etc? Now I know some of you live in small apartments and don't have gardens, but do you have house plants? Above you see my kitchen compost. Mostly coffee grounds. But, when I do boil eggs or potatoes, the hot liquid goes in there also. Then ether hubby or myself will go out, grab the little shovel, and bury this around the roses, and/or other plants. When I remake my coffee for the next day, whatever coffee is left goes out also. One way to kind of save a bit of liquid that a plant could use, and the nutrients even in coffee is good for the plants. My rose blooms are huge. My yard looks amazing. Plus I have plenty of worms.
My little "bucket" has a lid, so no one has to look at the stuff inside.
and for all of you who just have a small apartment, but have house plants-use the cold coffee to just water your plants. Your other kitchen waste could be used around your complex if you have bushes, trees, and the like.

There are a few exceptions to what can go out. DO NOT PUT ONION SKINS OR GARLIC PAPERS OUT IN YOUR GARDEN. Most onion skins and garlic paper has a dry greyish powdery mold on. tho this will NOT HURT YOU, this mold will grow in soil and spread thru out your soil. Go ahead and throw these things in the trash.

It's one way to help the old Mother earth and feel good about giving back to her.
What has Deborah been doing?


Here is one purse I am doing for "spring". Don't ya just love the colors-kind of like an Easter egg I think. I used cotton yarn, and the pattern is from "i Crochet" magazine from Lesiure Arts.


My purse for the winter months, except the holiday weeks, I went a bit darker and used novelty yarn for the top. A bit different from what you see on the cover of the magazine. Again this pattern is in this magazine "i Crochet" from Lesiure Arts. I am showing the purse right before I assembled it. The orange bead for the pocket closure is from "2 Roses" in Tustin, Calif. They make the most beautiful beads. And how well is goes with the novelty yarn I used.


I confess, I ordered Beth's book "Amigurum". I think her designs and patterns are "the cat's meow". I finished the monkey and am working on the cat. But, you can see I did change colors and used buttons as embrodry for me is tough. Below are some seperate shots.

Thursday, November 08, 2007


Canadian Super Scoopers.
This Martin Mars Flying Boat is one of two remaining flying in the world. They are based in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, and are used to fight forest fires. The aircraft gained fame during the heyday of Pan American World Airways. The recent fires in southern California contracted them for support. They are pure beauty flying. A small lake caused the very low approach to scoop water to dump on the nearest fire. Enjoy

Thank you Canada for your amazing planes and pilots. As you can see these pilots are "VERY GOOD".

Tuesday, November 06, 2007



Mirror. . . mirror on the wall. . .

Our neighbor Joe did a small cap for the fireplace. The only thing that had ever been up on the mantle was the top board with the wavy edge. the rest was always just the bricks. Now, don't get me wrong, I think fireplaces are ok, but I personally don't use it for wood fires. Plus this fireplace was also gas, which still wastes the heat up and out. To much polution and heat goes up and out the chimmey. I had my plummer, Gary, come in and cap the gas line. We took out the old grate and faux logs. Joe took the grate for his patio fire pit and we used the logs to "critter" proof the bottoms of the wood fence.

Talking "green" here, the wood that Joe used was from the root cellar in this house. Old growth Douglas fir shelves had been down there since my parents bought this place. More than likely the old shelving was cut during the late 30's right before WW2. Victory gardens would have begun to spring up and the storage of "root" crops and canned items would have been stored down there. With the explosion population that began in California, and the urban sprawl up to now, the root cellar isn't used anymore, due to flooding, so hubby dismantled the shelves. Joe took the rest of the shelves, but used a couple for the cap. I also decided to have him put the "rough" side facing out for everyone to see.


And Joe being Joe, did the bit of trim on the bottom of the cap. Plus, here you can see a bit of the new fireplace screen I bought. A bit gothic, but when seen with the entire room, it's perfect. I still have to stain this piece to a redbrown. I am slowly darkening some of the wood pieces of furniture that was just coated with varnish way back aobut 25 years. Along with the wonderful glass front bookcase opposite the fireplace, the warmth of the darker wood against the flat white of the walls makes everything just "pop".


Here, Joe was using screws to anchor the top onto the cap. Hubby would love to be able to do things like this, but with his hands that shake, somethings he used to do, are becoming memories. Joe also helps Dave, with things like building new gates. Dave will do most of the work, Joe just kind of supervises, and cuts the wood on his table saws. Hubby loves the help and the "male bonding" thing with Joe. Joe, himself does woodworking. He has built his own kakak, dressers, his island and other various things. He owns his own pool business, and works for FedX not only for the extra income, but for medical and dental.