The swing--swinging

Lets all take a turn.. . The day the swing was finished, in fact, about five minutes after it was finished, there was already heated discussion on who was getting a turn.


It turned out perfect. And it is fun! Even my 13 year old, big-ol-boy goes out to swing.

The swing

I really wanted a swing in the backyard. REALLY bad! I had priced out the ones that stand alone with a little umbrella. Spendy. I looked at building my own, but the price was prohibitive, like $75 just for supplies. Then I talked to my brother about my issue . He suggested a simple pattern. And wouldn't you know it. I actually had everything I needed right in my garage! It didn't cost me a Dime! Here is what I did.




step 1. find some wood that is the right size. These are drawer pieces of real wood. Also, get some sturdy roap. I have some 1/2 inch roap that my husband does not remember having. His loss...My gain.

2. Glue the pieces together and clamp them with ....clamps
3. drill 1/2 inch holes for rope to go through
4. paint - I primed it with white first, then went back over it with Lime green.
5. cut two lenghts of roap. Length from the ground to the branch and back.
6. loop the roap over the branch so it hangs evenly to the ground.
7. tie a knot in each rope about elbow high (your elbow)
8. thread the roap through the holes and tie a knot on the bottom.
9. tie the roap off on the bottom of the swing, cut any remaining roap, knot the end and burn it with a match (this keeps it from fraying. I could not bear to cut the beautiful rope, so i have TONS of knots under my swing.
10. Take it for a test swing.

Rose - chick to Chicken

Rose as a day old chick. She looks like the standard yellow chick with a hint of red. She was so fluffy.








Rose as a teenager. She was kind of mangy and scraggly looking. She was also more aggressive than the other birds. We were afraid that she was not a Rose, but that she was a Randy (Rooster). Thank goodness, she started laying a few weeks after the Older chicks.



Rose as a full grown chick. She has a beautiful red color with white lacy collar of feathers. Her comb is huge and brilliant red. She is not the biggest bird, but she ended up being pretty.





Rose lays a nice medium sized brown egg. And she is consistent. Thank you Rose.

Ginger's growing up

Ginger - baby chick, beautiful, stripes, the prettiest one of all of the baby chicks








Ginger - young bird, good coloring









Ginger - full grown chicken.
She is now bearded and has a squashy comb - ugly bird

But, she lays a light green-blue egg which is pretty.

Sometimes the most beautiful things turn out to be something other than you imagined.

Wire Connectors....or something else?

I know you did not know, but these
wire connectors have found a new use.

EAR PLUGS!




I feel like Shrek, or Frankenstein.
OK, here is the story. I was running the table saw, all by my self. You know the really loud one on it's own free standing table with the large whirling blade in the center. I was looking all over the garage for the earplugs, which obviously my husband put in a very safe place, when I came across an item that resembled ear plugs. So I thought, why not....I need to cut the noise, these may help.

Low and behold, they actually worked really well. Not soft, but also not going all the way into my ear canal. It worked in a pinch.


Pretty neat.