Hot Enough to Fry a Groundhog?

So imagine my surprise: I go out the back door, turn to go down the basement steps on my way to check my laundry -- and there he is. Chuckie. Splayed out on the cool of the basement steps my resident woodchuck refused to yield his position.
I actually had to find a long stick, go around the outside edge and poke him in the hind end before he reluctantly moved. (After I took photos, of course.)

The really disturbing part? A second groundhog was spotted munching in the orchard at the same time. One groundhog might be tolerated -- it's hot, the gardens not doing that much to worry about protecting it from a nibble here and there, and I wasn't really feeling all that up to groundhog transportation right now. But two groundhogs means a breeding pair, means baby marmota, means it's time to set the trap after all.

Summer is Upon

Are You On Our Mailing List?

It's a question I have to ask whenever I am at the register at work. "Are you on our mailing list to receive coupons? Your total today is..."

Some people are on the mailing list already. They have the coupons that got sent to them in the mail or by email, they use them, and they grin at the savings as the total $$ decreases.

Then there are the people not on the mailing list.

"Did you have any coupons today? Are you on our mailing list?"
"No."
"Would you like to be? All you need to do is fill out this card with your name and..."

How they respond is interesting. Some of them are already grabbing a pen looking for the place to sign up.

Some of them are in a hurry and want to take it along and think about it.

And some just cut me off with a quick "No, that's okay."

Today it occurred to me, in many ways this is a lot like how people respond to the Gospel message.

The first way is that those of us working for the Lord are required to ask people if they want to be on the mailing list. We are supposed to share the good news of salvation with everyone and offer them the opportunity to be saved.

The second way is that while some already have their coupons in hand and know all about the saving work of Jesus there are a lot that don't and are just waiting to be told. "Oh, that's great," they say "No one's ever mentioned this to me before. What do I need to do to sign up?" They're eager to get on God's list.

The third way is that many people will take what you've said and want to make a decision later. They don't want to stop to do this right now, they have other things that are more important to them, and all you can do is hope they remember what you said.

The forth way is that some people just don't want to sign up. No matter what they're not putting their name down, they're not joining anything, and they're certainly not interested in praying anything. They're "okay" just like they are and they don't want whatever you've got no matter how good. That's their choice. All you can do is ask the question.

And that's the fifth way. All we can do is ask the question. We're not responsible for how people respond. We can tell them about the savings from coupons or about Salvation through Jesus Christ, but we can't control how they respond. God knows that. He only requires that we ask the question.

Are we asking the question?

If You Were Thinking of Building a Lawn Chair....

... because you wanted something different than the ergo-plastic Adirondack-wanna-be lawn chairs everyone else has from Lowes, and Walmart, and K-Mart, and Krogers, but that's the only outdoor furniture you can find already made that's half decent and anywhere near in your price range [pause for breath] What would you choose?

The literalist's Lawn Chair?

A tempting pun but I suspect it's higher maintenance than I'm looking for. Moss in a shady spot might be more along the right lines -- if I want a green chair.


Something elegant though, like this one from a Garden Design magazine. Of course that involves buying a chair and covering it with moss....

So maybe something more like this?

Okay, not seriously, because 10 or so years is a long time to wait for lawn chairs, even cool grow-it-yourself ones like these from Pooktre but it's so tempting. Check out their website.

What I'm really trying to decide between is this classic British seaside folding deck chair. Which I totally think I could make myself -- after all, I do have my own electric drill now -- with minimal effort.

Nobody this side of the Pond seems to have these, so short of importing and freighting them from Jolly Old England, I'd have to make it myself anyway if I want one. And I do love the look.

I'm also liking the very different look of these romanticized Adirondack style chairs
which I found at Victorian Trading Company. My reaction to the photo was "That would look great on my patio." My reaction to the (with shipping, over $800 each!) price tag was "HAH! Not for two bits of scroll on some one-bys! I could make six for that price."

So I'm not sure if I want to make these because I really would like them in my garden or just because I'm sure I could make them for so much less. You know, if you don't count the cost of the power saw -- I wanted one of those anyway.

Opinions?

Photos in this post are images from the internet I copied to my inspirations file. I am ashamed to say I have forgotten where I found most of them. If you recognize the photo please leave a comment I would love to acknowledge all my sources. Thank you.

Last Puppet

Remember this puppet? She was that last one waiting to be repaired/remade for VBS. [Okay technically there was another puppet but it was in really rough shape, I scavenged parts off it for the other puppets and all that's left is a disembodied head.]
Anyway, she's had her cosmetic work done and went back to church yesterday with:

new hair

... in pigtails...
total body remake
... skinny arms, elbows, new hand, an actual body...

and eyelids.

Now don't tell, but I also took off the monkey ears and left them off. Doesn't she look better that way though?

As Requested #1:

More from the world of puppets. This fine fellow is all ready for "Saddleback Ridge" VBS, and for some reason he wanted to be named after the president -- you know, Millard Fillmore 13th President of the United States. [Actually, he really wanted to be named after Pres. Grover Cleveland but when I explained that there was already a very famous puppet named Grover.... ]Wardrobe change, a body, elbows, mending holes... Millard was not in too bad a shape to begin with, and his faux fur wig just needed some careful combing and a touch of hot glue to be good as new.


And for those of you wanting to see "before" pics -- here's a look:

Stripped of her sweatshirt (shown in photo below) but not yet given a body, etc., the as-yet-un-named puppet #5 is the last puppet to repair. (Puppet #6 needs to be completely remade and may not make it to VBS.)

For some reason she went bald right after this picture was taken.

The Right Thing To Do

My wee house was built well before current building standards made the use of reinforced retaining walls mandatory. Which is why the hollow cement block wall started curving in a bit. Coincidentally it is also why the wall cracked horribly when hit by a heavy object.

Now, I'm a handy person and my great temptation here was to head to Lowes grab a bag of Quickrete, fill in the damage and parge over the rest. Cosmetic fix. And I had almost talked myself into it. After all it would be much cheaper and I really can't be affording major repairs right now.

But a cosmetic fix would crack again in a few years, the wall would still be hollow and, really, the right thing to do is to rebuild it, with rebar reinforcements and concrete fill and mortar between all the joints -- the works, done right and up to code.

So these are the before shots.

And these are the during.

The contractor agreed with me it needed to be redone, and done right. (Of course he agreed, that's the option that involves hiring a contractor.)

So the wall's come down, and the wall will go back up again. When it's done I don't suppose anyone looking at the back of the house will even realize that I've had anything done to it. But I'll know. I'll know that it's strong and solid. I'll know that it's been done right. I'll know how much it cost to do the right thing and be glad I did, even if no one else ever notices.

Because in the end, doing the right thing... well, it's just the Right thing to do.

VBS Puppets

The children's church puppets, packed away in a suitcase for nearly a decade, aren't so bad really. Handmade in, I'm guessing, the 1980s. They all boasted "stylish" sweatshirts over the formless turtlenecks they called bodies and (I kid you not) socks for faces. At some point someone had taken it upon themselves to brush the hair -- that curly nylon fluff "angel hair" stuff -- which did not turn out well. But they have "good bones."

The cast of six puppets went home with me to see what I could salvage for the upcoming western themed Vacation Bible School. Once the sweatshirts are removed, the arms properly sewn shut, and a few holes mended, it's all about the hair. Well, okay hair and bodies. They are all getting foam bodies inserted into their shapeless turtlenecks. But the hair is what you notice.

Esther, now sporting a removable orange bandanna, decided to remain a blond. So with a little of that crazy "fur" yarn her wig was knitted, fringed on one edge for bangs, and hot glued down. Two pigtails were tucked under the edges and hot glued in place as well. As you can see, Esther is thrilled with the new look.

Next up was a square jawed brunette....

Red is happy with his makeover too. He never felt right as a brunette and has always wanted to grow a beard, says it makes him feel more Biblical.

I told him it also made him more gold-miner-howdy-there-pardner-yippie-i-yi-o-ol'timer. Very versatile and very fun. Naturally, Red claimed the red bandanna for the upcoming event.

Two puppets down four more to go.

Moldy Lamp Makeover

I couldn't help it. Every time I looked at the ceiling lamp I thought it looked moldy. With it's splotchy greenish finish it didn't match anything in the living room -- but can you paint ceiling fans? Well, I thought I might try, and I began blobbing on the black acrylic craft paint. It came out pretty well -- sort of an oil rubbed look, not shiny, and much better than that strange blotchy greenish color. Don't you think?

Magnetism

How much would you pay for decorative fridge magnets? It was not a question I had really ever considered before. The aisle display mocked me with pretty magnets stuck to big price tags. Well, bigger than I was going to pay anyway.

Then I saw the little clunk of 12 undecorated magnets selling for the same price as one of the fancy ones. SOLD. Magnets I needed. Decorative I could manage, I hoped, on my own.

Out came the button box with all the spare buttons in their little baggies, the random leftover beads, the scrapbooking glitter, and the super glue. I tried a few things.

For most of my magnets I decided on stacked buttons with a finishing bead or "rhinestone" to hide the button holes and a bit of glitter thrown in here or there. Anytime the superglue got drippy the magnet got glittered -- no sense wasting glue. :-)

I also made a "Clean" magnet for the dishwasher ... and I'll admit it took a couple times to get the printer to print in the same color as the centers of the daisies in the old lace I used, but I got it eventually. I think they turned out pretty well.