Another Trip to Provo/Orem

Purpose of trip is to purchase Christmas presents for the grandkids and great grandkids.  We stopped at Walmart for some presents and things for us.  Sam's Club for things for us. Toys R us for presents. Then Babies R us for the two new babies. Deseret Book store for a couple of gifts. We got gas at Sam's Club, and the final stop was at the Red Barn.

Deseret Bookstore had some expensive nativity collections.  The one below was around $150.  It is very small and seems like it would not be too difficult to make.

 This was a count down board to Christmas.  A true countdown would start with 25 in the 1 position.

It was about 5:30 when we got home.  We unloaded the car.  I turned the water on for the ice display.


Comments and questions are welcome

Prunning, DI, & Christmas Lights.

I am looking for the  Christmas lights.  They were in totes and boxes in several places around the garage.  First I found boxes of magazines and books.   I saved some books that I wanted to keep and re-boxed the rest of them and they are in the trunk of the car. I put some of them in the trunk yesterday afternoon.  Carol and I then drove to Fillmore and left them at the DI.    
This is not much of a picture.  But it is a box of bowels, ceramic mugs, and other things that I didn't dig deep enough to see what they were.  I was going to put a label on this box listing some of the contents inside so I would not have to open the box again.

I have a box of unshelled beans.  It took me about a half hour to end up with a couple of pounds of dry beans.

There is a box of in-threshed seeds of the Salvia Pachyphylla.  Threshing would empty a box and the seeds could be put in a small coin envelop. I could go into detail of the threshing procedure, but ill keep it simple.  I rubbed the in-threshed seed between my leather gloves.  I brought the fan from my bedroom and winnowed.  the chaff blew out and the seeds fell back into the bucket.  I used a sieve to let the seeds  fall through and I discarded the chaff.  I used a fine sieve and the small chaff fell out.  With a straw in my mouth I could blow out the lighter chaff particles.

The wind a couple of days ago had messed up the two wreaths.  I added a few more stems and wired them in.  I have a large needle use for closing burlap bags.  I attached the wire to the needle and pushing it up down through the wreath as was able to make the stems more secure.  I added two stems each with red berries to give a little more color.

It took me a couple of hours to prune the yew bushes.  It looks a lot better.  The picture is of one on the left and the other one on the right.

The nights are a little colder.  I am building an ice display. The photos below show it.

We drove to the Fillmore DI and left there boxes of books and magazines, and a few other things.

I spent the rest of the afternoon putting up the Christmas lights.  I did the Maple tree,  part of the Linden tree, and covered the two yew bushes.  I am about half was finished.  The maple tree is quite tall.  I used an oak stick from last year and made it longer by inserting into a PVC pile.  I had to carve the oak so it would fit into the PVC pipe.  The top of the oak is forked some.

 Below is the connection between the oak and the PVC pipe.  It is cold and my hands were a little shaky.  Hence, fuzzy photos.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Warm First and Wind &Storm Second

Saturday, Robert and Frank were here.  They thinned the plants in three of the raised beds.  Here most of the plants were removed.  A few were transplanted, and bunch of onions were pulled.

 

These don't look like they have been thinned, but they have.

Today, I tried my hand at building some Christmas wreaths.  I cut off branches of yews, pinion pine, ponderosa pine, red dogwood, and arborvitae.  I started to make the wreathes in the house, but I changed to greenhouse three because of the mess I would make in the kitchen.

 I watched a YouTube video that showed me how to do it.  I made the first one and it just didn't hang right.  I watched the video again and found my mistake.  Using a different method of tying the cuttings to the arbor, I made the second one.  It hung really well.  I took the first one apart and rebuilt it.

 Here is where I took it apart.

I drilled a hole between a couple of bricks in the pillars on both sides of the porch.  The wreath on the left pillar.  And the wreath on the right side.

Here are both of them.

With the wreaths finished and cold weather approaching, I moved the tractor for house five to house three.  Earlier this morning I started the compressor, but it was too cold.  I tried again this afternoon and it started right up.  After the tank was full, I pulled the compressor to house five where I put air in the tractor tires.  It start right up.  The bucket was on the tractor so I hauled five buckets full.  to a new garden west of house five. I don't know for sure what to plant there.

Then I drove the tractor to the north door of house three.  I had to cut branches off two different trees to make to the door.  I filled soil on both sides of the threshold in order to drive in.  I moved a few things in house three around to make room for the tractor.

The weather has really cooled.  I turned the water on so pipes would not freeze and the water to ice creation.  We will watch it grow as the freezing weather continues.

The birds were eating the sunflower seeds that fell to the ground.  The feeder was empty and I was going to fill it tomorrow, but did so today.

Comments and questions are welcome

Viking Stool is Finished

This morning I cut off the tenon the was protruding above the seat.  I sanded the off the little stub.  I then cut some off the bottom of the legs so the would rest flat on the floor and that the seat would be level.  Below a side photo and front view

Comments and questions welcome

The Beginning of Christmas Decorations

After breakfast and some of the chores, it is time to begin the decorations. I was checking things out in house two.  I went back to the house and a truck drove up.  It was Andy and Dusty Bray.  They wanted some Gambel Oak cone-tainers.  We talked some of the 2x4 challenge.  I took him into the house to show him what I made out of a 2x4.  I then showed him some of the other things that I made both in the house and in the garage.

We then went to the church for a viewing of a lady that lived in the ward for a long time.  She has been in Delta in a care center.  We came back home, changed clothes and went to Fillmore.  I wanted to get a couple of fruit boxes for storage.  They didn't have any.  We then made it home and I started to move all of the Christmas decorations that in the bathroom closet.  Below is the nativity.  We have had this for years.  It doesn't take long to take them out of the box, but a longtime to put them back in the box.

 Christmas stockings hanging on some decorative Christmas plates.

 We have had this one since American Fork.  Joseph and Mary are making their way to Bethlehem.  Carol starts moving it on the first of December and moves it down one position each day.  It takes 25 days.

 Several years ago, Carol put this puzzle together.  I all the pieces have the same shape.  We glued it together and have a clear acrylics piece over the top of it.  It sets in the center of our coffee table.

 We have nutcrackers here and nutcracker there and nutcrackers everywhere.  On the edge of the fireplace.

 In front of the TV

On top of the TV

A group of crystal balls, merry-go-round and the cuckoo clock.  The cuckoo clock would not work.  Last year when I put it away, I took out the batteries.  It works now because I put new batteries in.

A lathe would make it much easier to make legs for the stools.  I have a lathe and I pulled it out of the corner of the garage.  The motor that I found, I think, runs the lathe.  Both were really dusty.  I blew the dust away with my blower.

I found a stool that I made when we lived in American Fork.  The seat is made from a large piece of wood that we found in the desert east and north of Eureka.  It fell a part and has been hiding under some of the boards. I found one of the legs at another location.  Somehow, I need to glue back together.

Next week I hope, I will put some shelves on the west wall between the corner and the window.  I moved the many of the boards to expose the corner and to get a better idea of the shelves.  The photo shows the boards that will be on the shelves.  After I get the shelves done, I will leave the car outside and move all the boards and put them where the car was.

With the Christmas decorations up I have a little bit of time to work on the Viking stool.  I made the wedges a couple of days ago.  I trimmed them a little for a better fit.   I made a paste with saw dust and Elmer's glue.  I mixed it in an ice cream tub.   I used the mixture to glue the legs to the seat.  My theory was the saw dust would fill the uneven spaces between the tenon and socket.  I then drove in the wedge until it would not go any further.  I did the same thing for the other two legs.  I then used the paste to fill in some cracks.  The picture is pretty fuzzy.

Andy and Dusty Bray stopped by to get some Gambel Oak cone-tainers.



Comments and questions are welcome

Thanksgiving and Eagle Mountain

We left right at nine and we were at the home of Eric and April at eleven.  It took us two hours to get there.  The traffic going north was relatively light, but the traffic going south was pretty heavy.  We had an enjoyable time.  April and May making preparations for dinner.

I could not get a good picture of Hanna.  She has an eye infection and was not feeling very well.  I thought this pretty cute sitting at her feet on the edge of the little table.

Carol and April comforting Hanna.

Payten certainly likes her picture taken.  This is one of many.  All of them are not here.

Me and Quintin.  He did not sit still enough to catch him smiling. This is one of five pictures that were taken by May.

Payten again.

Quintin trying to get down.  He is being held by May.

I used both of the pictures.  This one gives a better look at Quintin.

This one is a selfy.  I am holding Payten.  I cropped me out of the picture.

Payten and me.

Lisa and Eric and their family came for desert.  They brought some of the desert with them.  Cherry pie, apple pie,   Robert, Jeanne, and Sadie came a little earlier.  Below is Jeanne, Sadie, Lisa, and Eric.

 April and Emi on the sofa.  In back are Carol, Tie, Emi, Dax's girl friend, and Dax.

 Here are Alex and Chase Gray.

 Tai and Emi Gray, Emi and Dax, and at the far right is Jeanne Johnson

 Emi and Dax, Emi Gray, Jeanne Johnson, and Sadie Johnson

Quinten Johnson playing with Payten and Hanna's birthday present.

 May and Quinten

 Lisa, Emi, Dax, and Tai Gray helping themselves to desert.

Comments and questions are welcome.