Winter fun at my house.

It snowed here last Monday. The pictures I took of that morning and first day, for some reason are just on my Facebook and not in my picture file, but I can tell you it was amazingly beautiful and fun to have. The snow lasted until Friday when it started to rain. It was melting very slowly because it was soooo cold. The first 4 pictures in this post were taken on Tuesday and the rest were taken on Wednesday.

See the little bird on the bush? They were all out playing in the snow!

I thougth the picture of my covered deck made an interesting pattern.

You can see a little of the driveway and that it still has snow on it.

This & That - probably not that interesting!

Well since I can't post pictures of what I've been creating for Christmas; I will show you a few pictures of what is going on around my home.

The first three pictures are of Lake Tahoe taken this past September. I spent a week there with lots of rest and visiting with friends.

This little bird flew into the window and was really knocked koo koo. I took it inside and warmed him up for a bit, until his eyes quit spinning, they really did look that way.. he is back doing his usual thing of chasing off the other birds whenever he can. He does seem to have a knot on his head now!

And then there is the squirrel that likes the bird seed. I put up a special feeder for him with a corn cob in it and he will run past it to the bird feeder. Go figure! The pictures where taken from inside my sunroom through the screen, so they are not real clear.

I hung this seed sock up and within 24 hours they had it empty! They fought, yelled (as in loud chirping)and in general were very entertaining.

I haven't refilled the sock yet, I will, but I don't think I can afford to keep it filled all the time.

This is a picture of another work-in-progess. I seem to have a lot of WIP at my home. I had a pond/waterfall taken out and filled in and replaced with this fountain. I still have alot of rocks to relocate and I am thinking that a couple of Italian Cypress would look good along the fence line behind it and plants around it. I will bore you with finished pictures when it gets all done, probably next Spring! I am totally happy with this do-over.

I started putting out some Christmas decorations early, doing a little at a time. Here are some pictures of them so far. My decorating is kinda sparse and simple. I will hopefully get a tree this weekend and get the rest of the decorating done.

My mantle in the living room.

My Santa area! I love the Santas that don't look like the typical red suit Santa.

My little gourd Christmas penguins and I actually did paint these a few years ago!

Last year after Christmas, I saw all these woodland creatures on sale and just had to buy them. I couldn't think of what to do with them this season. I decide they belonged in the sunroom where they would be close to the outside creatures!



Okay, thats it for now. I hope when I hit post, the pictures and comments are where they are suppose to be!

Decorated Outdoor Room

I think I'm done with the decorating of my covered deck. That doesn't mean I won't be adding, changing or redoing it as time goes by. I am so enjoying this new space. Early morning is peaceful and with so many birds in my yard, it is a fun show too. Late afternoon is relaxing with a cup of coffee. The evening is festive once the solar lights around the top comes on and the battery powered candles come on, along with the other solar lights in the yard. I'm am so into those solar lights. You can put them anywhere with ease.


This first picture is taken from inside my sun room looking out and with the Ikea (love Ikea) curtains loose. I love the way they billow. Reminds me of the song, "the answer is blowing in the wind", with my answer being, yes I love it!!!











This picture is from the other side.














The other pictures are just from different angles..


























My cat would really like to roam outside and I won't let her.

































































I hope you enjoyed seeing my fun project. I have to dig up another yard project to do now. Quite literally, dig...........which means more plants need to be put in and hopefully a small kitchen garden. Very small kitchen garden! I also need to get the small waterfall back up and running. There is always something. I'm doing some art work but can't post it. It's a secret!!!!!

The latest.

WARNING.............VERY LONG POST
Read at your own risk.............


This first picture is the before. Don't know if you can tell, but the patio slab is very sloping. I have fought with this for years, trying to come up with an idea, cheaply, to fix it. It should never have been done this way, but, that's beside the point now...... I finally made my decision to have it covered as if it were a deck and add a top. Not that it was the cheapest way to go....as usual. I knew of only one person that would be able to do this and do it RIGHT, like it should have been done in the first place! I hope I don't sound bitter, I'm not, really... Anyway, after years of trying to use it without feeling like I was leaning, which I was, it was time for action.





















This is the under-frame for the deck. They were able to shape it to make it level. The difference in the level was about 10" on the left side.













This is the frame for the top. I told my comic carpenter I was going to publish this and he was okay with it......another reason I wanted him and his partner to do this. They also had it done in the amount of time they said they would. No having to hunt them down or check up on them. That was a nice change from some of the work I've had done in the past.












This is the top. They had cut it and stained it at their shop and then assembled it in my yard. I was very happy they did that instead of having stain all over my big patio. They made the top out of redwood, the frame and posts out of pressure treated wood and the deck out of Trex, which I wanted very much...








So now they are ready to put the top on top......














It's a bit heavy and big getting around my odd yard.






Little by little.

Think they got it...

Hummmmmm, now what. Let's see....

The smile says it all.......how do we get it up there!

Who you gonna call? Tayler, my very strong youngest grandson......

They have it figured out.

Okay, one on the saw horse and two to hold.

Don't think it is working....

Well, maybe a little adjustment..

Okay, we got it!!!!

Totally a 3 man project...

Some more adjusting. Oh, yeah, the kid on the crutches, not so much help....but, he wanted to.

Now, focus on the deck.....

It's all done!!!!!!!!!!! Now the fun part, decoration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so weird to step out on it, feels good! And from the inside it shades the sun room and guest bedroom. For some reason when I'm standing on it, it makes me feel like I'm in the mountains, don't know what is up with that, other than I'm just weird......Can't wait to put up some Smith and Hawken lights and a very comfortable lounge chair with a small table for my early morning coffee and create a outdoor curtain for the one side and and and ....whewwwwww. I like it. Thanks for reading my long story.