I just added a link to 'The God Whisperers'. To quote Pastor Mike Keith from his blog: "Pastor Bill Cwirla and Pastor Craig Donofrio host it and have lots of fun doing it. However, there is some great theological discussions on the show. They cover some very deep stuff but they do so in a very understandable way. Give it a listen!"
http://www.godwhisperers.com/
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Wednesday 9 September 2009
All New Flower Beds
As most of my family know I love flower gardens, if I had my way the whole yard would be nothing but flowerbeds. That being said this is what I managed to accomplish this spring and early summer. Even though our spring was very late or non-existent on the nice days you could find me outside digging flower beds. In case you have forgotten what the back of the house looked like when we purchased it I've added a picture.
The back of the house faces South with the back of the shed facing East.
These beds are on the east and north side of the shed. We had to raise the east bed, while digging out the driveway, to make room for the motor home, we moved topsoil to areas that needed to be raised, the east side of the shed was one of those areas. Some of the plants have finished blooming, they are all new most are transplanted from parishioners gardens, divided perennials do not have many flowers the first year. The delphiniums are finished as are the tiger lilies, most of the colour comes from the few annuals that I purchased or members of the congregation gave me.
A closer view of the north side of the shed, the ornamental grass will probably be moved as I am thinking of adding a small water feature on that corner. I love adding rocks to the garden to give interest.
This is a small bed that I made by the steps, the bed is east of the deck and south of the house. You will notice I brought my old runners that were in the garden at Nipigon and Gram ma Emma's purse, my frog garden ornament is also there. The tall delphiniums are just about finished. I have lots of hens and chicks in both the shoes and the purse and the ground with a few other plants to fill in and a couple of annuals to add colour. My only flower box is on the deck to appear part of this garden.
On the east side of the house I found peonies, lots of peonies, which I dug up and once all the weeds were clear I replanted many of the roots, they never bloom the first year after transplanting. I plan to mainly have interesting greenery in this bed with hostas, elephant ears, Bergenia's, for flowers: columbines. Next spring I shall take advantage of the early sales on hostas to add here and I might just dig up most of the peonies as there are just too many.
The concrete patio has a small flowerbed against the south side of the house but the few plants I put here will be moved and will be replaced with planters to cut down on the amount of water that is sprayed against the house. As you see we love to encourage the birds to the garden, our cats TV. I find it hard always winding and unwinding the hose so it usually sits on the concrete as you see it in this picture, it doesn't look very tidy we will have to try something else to make watering easier for me.
This flower bed is on the west side of the house against the chainlink fence of the school playing field. I had two big cauliflowers in this small space which have been cut and eaten. The tall plants at the back, I have no idea what they are called, but they are a late blooming flower to add interest in the fall. I have various types of day lilies, a white veronica and a purple veronica (which isn't in the picture), the other flowers are annuals with of course my rabbit garden ornament.
I just had to take a picture of a cauliflower that is in the garden. This is the third one that was big enough to harvest, as you can see from the leaves this is truly organic no powder was used to keep the cabbage butterflies away so the heads have to be cleaned really really well to get rid of all the green caterpillars.
So there you are, my gardens that I worked on this year. Hopefully next year I can work on the front of the home to add colour and interest. Of course that will all depend on if we get the porch repaired or replaced. I hope you enjoyed walking with me through my garden.
The back of the house faces South with the back of the shed facing East.
These beds are on the east and north side of the shed. We had to raise the east bed, while digging out the driveway, to make room for the motor home, we moved topsoil to areas that needed to be raised, the east side of the shed was one of those areas. Some of the plants have finished blooming, they are all new most are transplanted from parishioners gardens, divided perennials do not have many flowers the first year. The delphiniums are finished as are the tiger lilies, most of the colour comes from the few annuals that I purchased or members of the congregation gave me.
A closer view of the north side of the shed, the ornamental grass will probably be moved as I am thinking of adding a small water feature on that corner. I love adding rocks to the garden to give interest.
This is a small bed that I made by the steps, the bed is east of the deck and south of the house. You will notice I brought my old runners that were in the garden at Nipigon and Gram ma Emma's purse, my frog garden ornament is also there. The tall delphiniums are just about finished. I have lots of hens and chicks in both the shoes and the purse and the ground with a few other plants to fill in and a couple of annuals to add colour. My only flower box is on the deck to appear part of this garden.
On the east side of the house I found peonies, lots of peonies, which I dug up and once all the weeds were clear I replanted many of the roots, they never bloom the first year after transplanting. I plan to mainly have interesting greenery in this bed with hostas, elephant ears, Bergenia's, for flowers: columbines. Next spring I shall take advantage of the early sales on hostas to add here and I might just dig up most of the peonies as there are just too many.
The concrete patio has a small flowerbed against the south side of the house but the few plants I put here will be moved and will be replaced with planters to cut down on the amount of water that is sprayed against the house. As you see we love to encourage the birds to the garden, our cats TV. I find it hard always winding and unwinding the hose so it usually sits on the concrete as you see it in this picture, it doesn't look very tidy we will have to try something else to make watering easier for me.
This flower bed is on the west side of the house against the chainlink fence of the school playing field. I had two big cauliflowers in this small space which have been cut and eaten. The tall plants at the back, I have no idea what they are called, but they are a late blooming flower to add interest in the fall. I have various types of day lilies, a white veronica and a purple veronica (which isn't in the picture), the other flowers are annuals with of course my rabbit garden ornament.
I just had to take a picture of a cauliflower that is in the garden. This is the third one that was big enough to harvest, as you can see from the leaves this is truly organic no powder was used to keep the cabbage butterflies away so the heads have to be cleaned really really well to get rid of all the green caterpillars.So there you are, my gardens that I worked on this year. Hopefully next year I can work on the front of the home to add colour and interest. Of course that will all depend on if we get the porch repaired or replaced. I hope you enjoyed walking with me through my garden.
Tuesday 1 September 2009
We are now into September and still nothing much has happened to write about. Last Friday I went for an interview, which I though went really well. It was an accounting position at a non-profit group who build and rent low rental units and are involved in various other activities. They are linked with the Habitat recycle shop, the Community Kitchens, and handle grant moneys for organizations that are not incorporated. I think it would be a good fit for me.
Looking for work when you have so much experience is tough. People don't want to pay a really experienced person, they only want to hire individuals with minimal experience. I don't even get phone calls to see if I would be interested. The other downside to looking for work here is they offer below average salaries, which means taking a cut in pay if I do get offered a job.
I do have lots to keep me busy at home though. Trying to keep the yard looking presentable without starting any new flowerbeds is hard work. Not the starting flowerbeds is easy. The lawn, if you can call it that, gets too long for our push mower which means once we've mowed I then have to go round and pull out the weeds that did not get cut because they were too high. We all know that weeds grow far faster than the grass. I would love to have the funds to rip the whole of the yard out and start again but there really isn't any point to doing that until we decide what to will do with the front porch.
The front porch needs leveling and does not have any proper footings. Putting footings under an existing porch will be hard. We are now considering ripping out the existing closed in porch to put up an open porch that would have the illusion of being a wrap around. If we do that where will the freezer live? We could purchase two smaller freezers to put in the basement and sell our large one, unless anyone can come up with a plan on how to get the large one into the basement. Once we have decided on the porch we then have to change the siding and we have no idea what is under the old wood siding. Landscaping will have to wait until we sort these two things out.
Keeping up with the house work is also very hard. With no air conditioning and sealed windows on the main floor, so no cross breeze, it isn't long before I am dripping and exhausted. Richard does the upstairs because there are carpets up there and it is too hard for me to vacuum.
The other things I have that can keep me busy are my many sewing projects that need doing, and of course there is always work to be done on my One Name Study. I recently finished transcribing all the entries in the USA 1930 Census for my BOXALL and variant name.
So there you have it although I haven't had any offers for work I do have enough to keep my days pretty full.
Looking for work when you have so much experience is tough. People don't want to pay a really experienced person, they only want to hire individuals with minimal experience. I don't even get phone calls to see if I would be interested. The other downside to looking for work here is they offer below average salaries, which means taking a cut in pay if I do get offered a job.
I do have lots to keep me busy at home though. Trying to keep the yard looking presentable without starting any new flowerbeds is hard work. Not the starting flowerbeds is easy. The lawn, if you can call it that, gets too long for our push mower which means once we've mowed I then have to go round and pull out the weeds that did not get cut because they were too high. We all know that weeds grow far faster than the grass. I would love to have the funds to rip the whole of the yard out and start again but there really isn't any point to doing that until we decide what to will do with the front porch.
The front porch needs leveling and does not have any proper footings. Putting footings under an existing porch will be hard. We are now considering ripping out the existing closed in porch to put up an open porch that would have the illusion of being a wrap around. If we do that where will the freezer live? We could purchase two smaller freezers to put in the basement and sell our large one, unless anyone can come up with a plan on how to get the large one into the basement. Once we have decided on the porch we then have to change the siding and we have no idea what is under the old wood siding. Landscaping will have to wait until we sort these two things out.
Keeping up with the house work is also very hard. With no air conditioning and sealed windows on the main floor, so no cross breeze, it isn't long before I am dripping and exhausted. Richard does the upstairs because there are carpets up there and it is too hard for me to vacuum.
The other things I have that can keep me busy are my many sewing projects that need doing, and of course there is always work to be done on my One Name Study. I recently finished transcribing all the entries in the USA 1930 Census for my BOXALL and variant name.
So there you have it although I haven't had any offers for work I do have enough to keep my days pretty full.
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