Happy Birthday Tom

Today was a special milestone for Tom, he turned 70.  I tried to tell him he was going to be 80 a couple of days ago, but he was slick enough to catch my error.  Thank goodness for that, it means I’m younger, too!

We went for a day trip today for a fun birthday kind of day and did some things we both enjoy doing together.  One of my favorite quilt shows is in Coshocton, Ohio each year.  It isn’t a big show by any means, but I try to go each year because there is usually something special going on that always makes it worth the 2 hour drive there and back again.  I have gone with several different people over the years, and the show has been held in a few different venues.

Last year and this year (and possibly a year or two I missed the date for one reason or another) the show has been held in a church in town, right across from the town square.  Something fair like is going on in the square at the same time and the street gets blocked off and it’s hard to find the entrance to the church parking lot, but there is always plenty of parking and the church is a nice venue. 

You get to wander through almost the entire church and you get to see lots of beautiful things.

The special display this year took my breath away.  Walking into the chapel, the pews were covered with an amazing collection of antique quilts.  I was so taken by the display I forgot to read the labels.  Tom was talking to one of the white glove ladies and she explained that many of the quilts were made by “unknown maker” because they had no identifying label.  I took lots of pictures and tried to get close ups of the ones that spoke the loudest to me.

After we exhausted ourselves looking at the quilts we decided to walk the square and see what was going on.  When we had pulled into town, we stopped to ask directions of a couple of ladies waiting to set up their booth.  The place we wanted to be was on the other side of the blockade and we had to figure out how to get around it.  The ladies had 3 goats in the truck.  One goat was in the front seat and 2 in the back of the truck bed. It was the goats we went looking for, but alas, we did not find them on the square.  (Of course I did not think to take a picture of the goats in the truck.) The heat was oppressive and the street fair was full of children getting faces painted and singers on the square; it was noisy and we figured the best thing was to work our way back to our parked truck.  We drove around town looking at all the business that Tom used to deliver product to in the good old days.  Most of the businesses are no longer in business!  The town is quaint.  The houses are magnificent Victorian mansions in various states of disrepair.  A whole lot of them need TLC.

We wandered the back roads to the freeway and came home.  It was much greener in that part of Ohio and we could see a marked difference in the lushness of the trees about the time we crossed into the county just to the south of us.

Spring will come...

Sunday afternoon

This morning Tom and I decided on a tree to move a new birdhouse to.  It had been hung too low last fall, and facing east getting full sun for too long and it had not been a ‘home of interest’ to the locals feeding here all winter.

small bird condo

The wren builds a nest next to the air conditioner in my studio window every year.  Most times it is on the east side of the a/c and some years it is on the west side.  I checked this morning and it is on the west side for a change. The window faces north so is always in the shade.  I feel guilty using the a/c before the birds fledge figuring I will scar them for life with the noise, but I get hot and my machine gets crankier than I do when it gets too warm in here, so I do not hesitate to run it when the need arises. The way the weather has been acting this spring, it may never  need to be run this year and a whole generation or two of wrens may grow up in the relative quiet of 61 bird heaven.

The birdhouse that got moved my sister bought last year from a gentleman in Peninsula.  As I recall, she had to come home for her wallet and someone else wanted the double birdhouse but the seller knew Joanne was coming back so he declined to sell to the ‘sure sale’ standing in front of him.  It is an interesting piece of folk art made from barn wood and slate.  It has two levels and hangs from a chain.  The tree we moved it to has a convenient stump of a branch which Tom hung it from.  Hopefully it will get some attention now that it no longer faces east to get the full sun.

Since I had the camera out I walked around the yard taking pictures of the other houses we have.  The brown one is being ignored.  I saw a chickadee check it out a few weeks ago but no takers.  Maybe where it hangs seems too trafficked since the bird feeders have hung here all winter under the oak.

little brown house...too close to feeders?

pottery wren house,unused for a few years

In the back yard I have a blue one that was not being used because it was full of twigs from previous years.  I see upon taking a pair of tweezers to pull all the stuffing out that it must have been a popular abode.  It was a stupid build, though.  There is no way to open it to remove the leavings so after a couple of years there was no room for babies. 

poorly designed, but nice slate roof!

I hung a turned wood birdhouse I bought at a craft show several years ago.  I had kept it in the house because it is so lovely, but it was built to be used.  The maker attached the top with two tiny nails that easily can be pulled so the insides can be cleaned each year.

Lathe turned

Last spring Tom and Laura spent many hours when Laura got home from school making bird houses for me.  Some were used as gifts and finally this year Tom hung one.  Before the morning was over I saw a Chickadee checking it out.  You can almost see him just above and to the right of the house.

3 houses for small birds

3 blue bird houses

Tom decided to plow the garden to plant asparagus before the rains come.  It is supposed to rain for days starting tomorrow.  I bought 3 year old plants so next year we get to eat what grows.

Did you ever ask yourself why you waited so long?

Test driving the new wheels!

I got Edge Rider wheels on my Gammill.  They are amazingly silent and glide so smoothly on the rails.  I am sorry I waited so long to make the quilting experience even more delightful.

Yesterday my husband and I argued our way through getting them on and making the adjustments that had to be made.  Figuring out which side of the machine is the front and which side is the front right was our biggest challenge until we got to the vertical hold problem! The magnet on the front rail dragged after the wider wheels went on and the adjustment was difficult to accomplish.  Because I LIKE having the vertical hold when I need it I wanted it adjusted right.  That happened.  It took a while, but it happened. The machine glides like butter.  I am so pleased.

Today I put on a little quilt and I’m sitting on the stool trying out the movement and now I can happily say AGAIN, bring on those customs.  The machine is no longer fighting me.  YIPPEE!

In the mean time

Over at the barn...

Over at the barn there is little assembly line of bird house parts being manufactured by my husband and my great niece, Laura.

Our old cedar picnic table had seen better days and the holes for the lag bolts were getting too loose to tighten up anymore, so when Tony and Hazel visited from England in early May, Tom and Tony disassembled the picnic table and burned all the short wood and stacked all the long pieces for bird house construction at a later date.

Many nights after school, Laura helped Uncle Tom mill the wood to the proper thickness and I found two bird house patterns for the little carpenter crew to make.

Tom is easily confused when you have to measure and cut and when there are multiple pieces for a project, stand aside.  Laura was a huge help making a list of all the pieces needed for a bird house and how many to cut, etc.  She is an excellent list maker.

Before anything at all could be done, two boards would have to be glued together.  That was the first step.  Then milling to the proper thickness, Then measure, mark and cut out the pieces.

One afternoon Laura came and asked how big a hole was needed for wrens and I looked it up on the internet.  1 1/8” is how big the hole can go and that keeps the sparrows from using the bird house.  Down the basement and searching the drawers netted a drill bit that was the proper size.  I think this is the very first time a project got started and no tool had to be purchased…well wood glue, they ran out of that.  It doesn’t freeze well apparently!

I went to the barn today to see how things were progressing and found Laura painting designs on the bird houses so they look pretty.

Recycle, reuse and build a skill.

And they planted the beans and tomatoes in between the sunny days and the rainy days.  Perfect timing.