More work and flowers

Got started on the other side of the house and the long garden area.  I dug out around the huge chunk of granite right by the steps to make it more of a focal point and got some plates half buried.  Then I went to town and the rain kept me from doing any more work outside today.

So, I worked inside.  The main bathroom is now grouted, restained, sealed and all that good jazz.  We wait 24 hours for everything to dry and we can have our shower back!

I then did the guest bathroom.  I probably should have taken a shower before working in there!

 You can see the red flower bush, strawberry plant, the dying spinach, marigolds, lemon balm and some others

 the bush is a crate myrtle, a bunch of salvias (yellow, red and purples), the Persian Shield in the back and strawberry plant in the tub

 no, there isn't a plate missing - its a clear one!

 you can see the granite rock on the right side in front of some rosemary - the plate border starts on the other side

 Love, love, love the celosias!

 A Persian Shield - isn't the colors fantastic?

 Victoria white salvia

purple salvia

opinions on the plate borders?  I'm going to do 2x2 boards in front, low profile.

Garden Borders and a brave sunflower

Got an idea for a border for the garden areas from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook (they have some wonderful little tidbit suggestions at the bottom of recipes). 

Jackie got the tiller going, I dug up the borderline of the garden and along the pavers.  I weeded some of the area (got more to do). Then I dug a little deeper and inserted the following interesting items for a border.  What do you think?

There's also a picture of my brave sunflower.  I got it from the "ugly, last chance" rack at Home Depot and planted it.  It had a broken stalk and three others were fine.  The other three didn't make it the broken one is growing.  Go figure.  I staked the plant once it began growing and trying to get upright.

Now I have a sunflower!  I love them and the Persian Shield is doing fantastic.

Check out the work (got more to do, I need more plates).

We Own a House

I started a SMALL project in the bathroom.  I removed the old caulk around the shower tiles connecting to the tub and the tub to the floor and used those plastic strips.  Since they don't really hold up for long I supplemented with caulking to hold and seal better.  Turned out well. 

Okay, I'm tired of the damned stained grout and trying to clean it for the last 3 years.  I got some grout stain and started scraping the grout lines clean.....

WTH?  There's caulk on EVERY single grout line. 

<hanging my head>

Okay, I have to remove all the caulk covering the grout with a scraper and LOTS of razor blades.  That took a few days since I can only do an hour or so at a time.  It revealed that most of the stains were the caulk and not the grout but the grout is still discolored.  It also revealed that this frickin hurts when you have to reach and scrape with screwed up rib muscles.

It also revealed that the grout has disintegrated all up one corner and at two tiles.  I'll have to pick up some grout and repair our shower and the shower in the guest room.  I've never done grout so this will be a learning experience.

You can see all the caulk I've scraped off in the pictures.  You can also see where I've started restaining the grout lines and how good that's going to look.

We did a lot of work Sunday - weed whacking, mowing the lawn, weeding in the garden, more removing of grout = we overdid. A few errands yesterday and I'm really tired. 

Today will be a laid back day except for some cooking (and most of that will be a rice cooker and slow cooker).  I might try my hand at shortbread again.

Holly & Blake

It's been almost 2 weeks since we last saw our oldest cat Holly and over week since Blake disappeared. We think Holly went off into the woods for a final walk and that someone picked Blake up (she's a beautiful tabby cat). It hurts.


Thank you for 17 years, Holly, our big handsome cat.