Thursday, February 28, 2013

This Old House....:-)

Our time was winding down to get a few more things done around our home in Oklahoma.  One of the things that we needed to do was replace a fence that had been repaired twice in the past year.  I figured if I was going to beautify the place, I had to get rid of that old fence that was falling apart in some places.  Good thing we got to it when we did as it started to rain and slowed things down a bit.

But first, we decided to move the bird feeders to the side of the house and one across the yard.  We knew that nobody was going to take an interest in sweeping the porch once we were gone.  So, it was just good sense to move them.  I mean the little guys were showing up by the hundreds!  We counted 3 separate flocks that would come to visit us on a daily basis and they were all telling their friends!  haha


they are soooo cute though!  haha.  They just sit there waiting their turn to jump on the feeder.....haha.


So, this place seemed to be a better fit for the little guys.  It didn't take them long at all to find it either!  So, all is well and the tree should get a good fertilizing from all of the shells and .......well .. you know. By the way, we went through 135 pounds of bird food in less than 7 days!  They were looking pretty plump when we left! haha


Scootard swept up after we got the feeders in place.....Thanks, Scootard!


In the meantime, as with any old house, there is always something that needs repairing or replacing when your house was built in the 1940's.  The guys were busy at work in the backyard tearing down the old wire fencing and pulling up old hedging to prepare the space for the new......



it never occurred to me that there would be so much mud out there.  But it did rain quite a bit which delayed the guys from even starting the work back there.


while they were tearing things up back there, I managed to salvage the original gate to the fence and have thoughts of using it for a trellis of some sort in my garden once I get it up and going.....


The ground was so wet when the men came back that the cement had not set.  What you see here are the poles that had to be set two days later.  We were wondering if we would be there for the finished product since we had plans to start our road trip back toward San Francisco in a couple of days.....


Once things were a "go" to put up the wiring, the guys got right back to work installing the fencing.


This time, they installed a 4 foot wide gate instead of another 3 feet wide like the one I will be using as a trellis.  I like the smaller gate better as it did have a little decor at the top.  This is a no-frills gate, but it seems that they did a great job.  If you live in  Lawton, OKC or surrounding area in Oklahoma; Chisum Hale Fencing Company is the one to call....:-).   They gave us a year warranty on their workmanship and said that if we have any problems with the fence to call them and they will come out and fix it.  And they put it in writing.....:-).  One of these days, I will either replace or rebuild that old brick grill.  For now, it holds our firewood for the fire pit we used earlier in the year.
 

Next, it was off to the store to get some paint to add some color on some chairs that Scootard and I picked up at a second hand store for the garden.......


Scootard settled on this color......


which of course had to be mixed........


the clerk put the paint in this doohicky to shake it up and blend the colors.  I have no idea how green, red and navy can make Madras Blue.....but it did!


 After getting back to the house and getting  the drop cloth and chairs in place, we went to work painting them. Scootard advised me to start at the bottom with the legs and work my way up.....


The hour was growing late, so I tried to get it done quickly....


Then I guess after a while he thought I needed some help with this project......


by the time we got all three chairs done it was dark outside.  This was the last one we did and our last project before resuming our trip back to California to finish our adventures there.  All three will be placed somewhere in our garden once we get back and get it going.  It was still too early to plant anything in that region, but at least some of the cosmetics would have been done when we return.  But I gotta say that I'm not crazy about this finished product.  This one is what they call "Buttered Sweet Corn", but it is a flat paint and not like the semi-gloss of the Madras blue that I had mixed.  I will probably add some kind of sheen to it when we return to make it look a little more pleasant to the eye.


Here are the finished products.  Not too shabby - eh?


Well, for now..they will have to rest under cover next to Ms Vickey until we return again.....:-).


We packed and were ready to go the next morning...


 
tomorrow would be the start of another adventure!