Interludes and Fear Factors. May 28, 2010

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Interludes first.

Mikka found the catnip! We'd never seen this before, so it was kind of funny.










What is the world coming to? First the Japanese Beetles and now the cat.





We got some much needed rain.





And found that the French drains we put in work great!





This one above the greenhouse has gravel over the end of it.



Now on to the scary part of putting the pool together. The part you can NOT take back if you mess up. Cutting the holes for the new filtering system. The pool is half full at this point.

We have had two cordless drills over the years, but the batteries are all shot now. We are loving this old drill. Yup, it has a cord, but it's faithful!





This is the return jet hole. We began by cutting a small opening into the liner where the return would go. This was to stuff wet paper towels inside to absorb any metal filings that might want to fall between the wall and the liner while we work, damaging the liner at a later time.





Then we pulled the liner away and drilled a starter hole in the center of the hole we needed to cut out. I used the gasket as the template for the hole.





The tin snips were used to cut out the circle, while we held the paper towels against the area from the other side.





Pulling the towels out, now that the cut is finished.





We put the return through the hole.





So we could trim away the excess liner.





A razor blade works perfectly.





Put the jet together. Simple, just follow instructions with box.





And fasten it permanently to the wall, using the gaskets and some marine grease if you have it. You should get some.





Ours did not come with instructions, the box had been broken into. The gaskets were a little confusing. We had two rubber gaskets and one cork. I looked up many places online, and they all said something different. Just make sure you've got your two rubber gaskets on there, inside and outside, and do what you want with the cork. We put it outside next to the nut that tightens the whole assembly on. I don't think it's doing anything there anyhow.

The next one was harder. The skimmer hole. We used the gasket for a template again, and had to cut out the square hole and 10 screw holes. We used the paper towel trick, which worked great.





It took a long time, being careful not to drill my hand (Michael got me once), cut or poke a hole in the liner, lose any metal shavings inside the liner, or get the drill bit wound up in the paper towels. But at long last, it was done.





Then came screwing it all together and trimming away excess liner.





I would like to tell you we completed it by ourselves, but we did not. We really needed some muscle to get those screws tight on the skimmer. My dad came over and loaned that to us, along with the marine grease.

After this, it was just a matter of filling it and seeing what leaks! There will ALWAYS be leaks. We just have to be ready to fix them.

~Faith

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A Great Sewing Tip for Newbies - the Black Widow

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Yesterday we had our sewing meeting. The teacher, our dear friend who took a much-needed vacation, had left and put me in charge. HA! But fortunately, with instructions that turned out to be a lot of sitting around a table with friends, just cutting and taping!

She buys patterns then makes them last a long time by transferring them to poster board, labeled, and hanging them, so they last forever with re-use. We had a pattern that she wanted transferred to paper, in all the sizes so she could help us make whatever size we needed.

The bodice pattern came in 10 sizes, from 8 to 26, and each size had an option of B, C, or D cup. So with 30 patterns to cut out all together - poster board was out of the question. Instead we were given copies to tape together and cut out.

I wish I'd have remembered my camera for you to see the mad chaos that ensued with hands speeding along, "Oooops! I need tape again!" and paper flying everywhere, but you'll have to just see some of the aftermath that I took this morning.





I did buy my own poster board so I can have a permanent pattern for myself. I imagine I will be needing to make several bodices over the years, and this pattern is a good basic one to elaborate on.

Here's half of the stuff we cart back and forth to the sewing meeting every Tuesday morning.





While loading up for sewing, Michael had to UNLOAD again the van, which is always in a perpetual state of gobs of stuff going in and out of it. We had these bags of lawn clippings in there for a day and a half. Michael was loading them into the wheelbarrow to haul them down to the compost pile when he noticed he'd been picking up a black widow spider along with them! Bad news.





I knew there was a reason for this tiny little bat!





Oops. Didn't quite get a dead on shot...





Isn't this photo sweet? One of my friends at sewing meeting misses her dad very much. She often wears his old shirts of which she kept a few after he passed a couple of years ago. She had a small photo of her mom and dad from 1955 which she hopes to put into an 8 by 10. So I took it home, since I am blessed with a very nice camera, and took a close-up for cropping and sending in. It would be better with some touchups, but I ran out of time yesterday.





All of our herb seeds are coming up now. These are the last of the ones we are starting in peat pots. The seeds were so tiny I did not want to direct sow and lose in all the weeds. So we have German Chamomile, Greek Oregano, Summer Savory, Winter Savory, Caribe Cilantro, Lemon Balm, Lemon Catnip, Broadleaf Sage, Anise, and Fernleaf Dill. I really wanted licorice, but it was out of stock everywhere I shopped for seed. Here's the dill.





Our indoor/outdoor lettuce experiment. We hoped the trays would grow indoors, but even though this house is very bright, it's still not enough for growing without the plants stretching for the windows. So they are outside now. These are my two that are doing the best, can't think of what they are called.





And most of the rest.





And some leftover celery that I have no idea what will happen, but we're going to keep watering it and see.





And this salad is so good in the summer. Healthy, light, refreshing, sweet, and makes a meal if need be. I know you've all made this before, but I thought I put out a reminder in case you'd not made it in a while.





Jello Waldorf Salad

1 large tart apple
1.5 cups chopped celery
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix them up in a bowl, and pour over them one large box of prepared, quick-set orange or peach jello; just enough to cover. Chill and enjoy.

Now that it's gone, I've got to make something else.

Faith

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