major projects done!

Good morning from a very warm Lansing.
It hit 90 yesterday. It was soooo hot! :-)
Here's a pic before and after of the driveway....

Looks better edged and sealed. I wouldn't say it looks as good as new, but a lot better. :-)

After I got Craig up yesterday, we went out and got patio paint for the front entry, another paint roller, and some grocery shopping.

Dropped that stuff off at home and went out to Claddagh Irish Pub for lunch. I had a chicken flat bread and Craig had the spinach flat bread. We split and shared so we had a taste of both. :-)

Back home, I got the rest of the deck stained.

Above, scraped and ready to stain, and below, done.

I also spot weeded the lawn again. It takes a few applications to get all the clover and creeping charlie out.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the heat.

For dinner, I grilled chicken thighs and zucchini, and sided them with long grain wild rice. This morning, I finished organizing and pricing all the stuff for my yard sale next Sunday. Took a bunch of pics to post on Craig's list later this week.

I think today will be a laid back day for a change. I've got the majority of the spring stuff done now, so we can enjoy the summer. :-)

Right now, it's a little to early to wake up Craig, so I think I'll spray up and work in the yard.....

lucky again

Good morning. And a happy Memorial Day!
We were lucky again. Yesterday evening, powerful storms ripped through Michigan. One storm with 80mph winds ripped through Battle Creek, just 45 miles south of us, taking out trees, a number of homes and taking out power lines. But we were lucky, no damage here. :-)
Yesterday morning, I trimmed some bushes because Craig wanted to burn up a pile of branches later. So i had a very large snowball bush that needed trimming back. The branches get very heavy and hang, so I cut them up.
Here's a pic of it. It's full of white pom-pom like flowers.
After I trimmed that and a few others, I scraped the main deck in prep for staining.

Then it was time for a shower and get Craig up. He decided he didn't want breakfast, so while he showered, I ran out for the Sunday paper. After our coffee and paper, I called for a burning permit. It was a pretty decent day weather wise. Got up to 80, but mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. The rain held off until the evening where we got just over an inch in barely an hour. It came down in buckets!

Here's a pic Craig took of me with the the Tree Peonies and the False Rhubarb. He wanted to show how large the flowers are and how tall the rhubarb was. Tree Peonies have much larger flowers that the herbaceous ones.

Thanks to the very wet spring, there are like 687,000 mosquitoes this year (really! I counted!). The only way to go out in the yard is with deep woods off! I have a can just outside the patio door. It's the first thing I do when I go out. :-)

While Craig burned, I took all the yard sale stuff out into the garage. Today or tomorrow, I'll get it all ready for next weekends sale.

Dinner was pork cutlets, baked potato, and coleslaw.

This morning, I've just sealed the driveway. It took about 2 hours. I'll get a pic when it's dry. It was a nice 62 out. It's expected to hit 90 today and tomorrow, before dropping back into the normal 70's.

Now it's shower time, get Craig up and go shopping. I need another paint roller to finish the deck, and something for the grill today. :-)

Sunday post.

Good morning.
We're having an unusual Memorial Day weekend. Only a high of 54 on Friday, with a forecast high of 90 on Monday. From cold and wet, to hot and steamy. :-\
Friday, we finally had a day without rain. After we got home from work, we were able to mow the yard. Friday night was home made tacos. Yummy.
Saturday was cold and drizzly. I cleaned the Salon, and we did some running around. Office Max for Salon retail slips and post-it notes, and Lowe's for light bulbs. We have 2 ft u-shaped florescent lights in the main area, and 8 ft florescent lights in the supply/store room. 12 light bulbs, $96.00. Expensive suckers.
Back home, it stopped raining, so while Craig did his usual Sunday bookwork and laundry,( I know, it's only Saturday, but that means Sunday is free!) I took the weed whacker and cleaned along the creek that runs along our lot line.
I also did some maintenance weeding. I'm pretty much all done with the yard. :-)
With iffy grilling weather, Craig made sloppy Joe's for dinner with sweet potato fries. Both were good. Watched a movie called Red Planet. Also very good.
Today Craig wants to go out for breakfast. Not something we do often, so a little holiday weekend treat. :-)
And here's more things blooming in the yard right now...
Above and below, more Tree Peonies....

And between them, an ornamental Rhubarb. The leaves are nearly 3 ft across!

And scattered showers are forecast for today, so it looks like tomorrow will be my best chance to seal the driveway. We'll see.

4 days off

Good morning.
It's been raining for 2 days straight! Nearly 3 inches of rain total. It looks dry out right now, but a chance of rain all weekend. The good news is that's it rained on the days I'm working. :-) Also, it's just cold and rain, not violent deadly storms.
The Salon has been very busy this week, as it usually is before a big holiday weekend. The Salon will be closed Saturday and Monday. Yep, that means a 4 day weekend for me! :-)
But we're not going anywhere. Staying home to hopefully finish staining the deck, sealing the driveway, and finish up the yard's spring clean-up.
Have a great holiday weekend!

back to work, I need the rest.

Good morning.
Another beautiful day yesterday, and did I maximise it! I did more weeding, trimming, and mulching.
Here's the section of the deck I stained from yesterdays pic....
Amazing what a little scraping and fresh stain will do. I did about half of our multi sectioned deck yesterday, and I'll finish it up this coming holiday weekend.
And here's that Azalea I showed you but now from a little farther out, next to another deck section I stained.

And here's a pretty tree Peony that a stylist had in her front yard and was going to tear it out. I told her I'd take it. It was enormous! I tried my best to get a good large root ball, and planted it in my yard. I nearly lost it as it slowly died off section by section. But a small piece survived, and now about 5 years later, it's looking real good again. I can't imagine anyone not liking Tree Peonies.. They're a majestic, impressive shrub that looks good even when not in bloom.

And here's a closer look of the flowers...

And here's a blooming Cranesbil, a nearly blooming Chive, and a soon to be blooming Penstrom.

And this morning, I've already edged the driveway and the front sidewalk. It's amazing how fast grass can creep over the edge. It was nearly 6 inches over the asphalt. But now it's a nice clean line. :-)

And now it's time to go to work. Good, I need the rest. :-)

progress continues

Good morning.
It's been a beautiful weekend, and we've managed to dodge the storms that have blown through. :-)
And here's a beautiful azalea that came into full bloom this warm weekend...

And I had a comment about showing all the work I've done on the driveway.

The above pic is what it looks like now...
And below are a couple of close-up pics of the bad areas, and the crack filler I used to fill them...

Actually, once I fill the cracks and then seal the driveway, it looks pretty good!

I'll take a pic next week after I get it sealed, so you can see the difference.

Yesterday, we flower shopped and did the banking and P.O. thing. Came home and spent a good part of the day planting. For dinner, I grilled us up some country style ribs and Craig made a tasty pasta salad.

This morning I've prepared part of the deck for restraining.

I'll get an after pic so you'll see how nice it'll look when I'm done.

Now it's shower time and wake up lazybones....:-)

busy day

Good morning.
Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. Got all the way up to 84! It was almost too warm! :-)
And it was a very productive day too. I started by cleaning the Salon, then came home and sprayed off the driveway.
Took my shower, woke Craig up, made our coffee and we were off to get various things. We stopped first at Menard's and got a new burner for the grill, and another box of Preen. Then to Lowe's for Miracle Grow potting soil, and plants for some pots.
Then to Meijer for groceries and mulch they had on sale, and a stop at Harbor Freight for a new tank sprayer. Back home, we read the Sunday paper, had some left over pizza from Saturday night for lunch, and then while Craig did his usual bookwork and laundry, I went out and sealed the cracks in the driveway in preparation for next weeks driveway sealing. We had this driveway put in about 23 years ago. The company said at the time, it would last about 15 years. And it is cracking real bad, but every year, I seal the cracks and coat the driveway, and we've been able to make it last a bit longer. I had to use 2 gallons of crack filler this year. Took me over an hour to finish. I'm hoping we can get a few more years out of it. :-)
Then I replaced the burner in the gas grill and gave it a good cleaning. I also scooped out the old soil in our 3 pots I plant, and put new soil and planted the plants. This warm weekend has really got the trees leafing out, and the flowers growing fast. But that will change. The weeks forecast is for us to drop back into the 60's for the rest of the week.
For dinner, I grilled us some chicken legs and thighs and potatoes, and served them with some baked beans.
And here's some more pics of the yard....

Above, a mass planting of Beacon Silver blooming under some pine trees, and below, and pretty little shrub called Dwarf Fothergilla. Aren't the little bottle brush flowers pretty?

Above and below a couple of fern leaf Japanese Maples.

And last, a flowering Crab Apple tree.

the weekend begins, for me anyway.

Good morning.
Our spring continues. :-)

As you can see in this pic, the trees are just leafing out. A bit late this year, but with this weekends temps near 80, they'll catch up fast.
The work week ended good with a happy prom girl, she loved her 'do', and apparently, no rapture. :-) Wasn't he wrong once before?
I awoke this morning, and although I haven't ventured out yet, all appears to be as it was.
Although scattered rain is in the forecast, I'm going to try and really get a bunch of yard work done this weekend. I'm about 85% done with the weeding, and I need to spread more mulch, and I hope to work on filling cracks in the driveway in preparation for sealing next weekend.
And here's some things blooming in the yard......

it's Friday

Good morning.
It looks like we're going into a nice warm stretch of weather. :-) Looks to be in the 70's all weekend. :-)
The Salon has been nice and steady this week with nothing much out of the ordinary. I do have a prom do to do tomorrow. Those are always a lot of fun. Also, one of our stylists is a new grandma, and the happy parents brought their 1 week old baby girl in to show her off. I forget how tiny newborns are! It's funny to see all the women go gaga over a new baby.
With all the rain and now warmer weather, the yard is bursting out all over. I'll try to remember to take some pics this weekend.
And now it's time for my shower and another 2 days of work.
Have a great weekend!

too many leaks!

Good afternoon.
Well, our fricken cold spring continues. It's only 54 out today. Yesterday got all the way up to 53. It should be around 70. :-(
Of course, the weather is suppose to start warming up tomorrow, Just in time for me to go back to work. :-(
Anyway, I got on the roof of the mo-ho, and discovered some serious cracks in the caulking around the bathroom skylight. Scraped, cleaned and re-caulked it. I can't believe I didn't notice that when I cleaned/sealed the roof. So while I was up there, I checked the rest of the caulking and fixed what looked like it needed.
I also did more weeding, I'm about 7/8 done.
I also discovered we have some sort of leak in the mo-ho. I discovered some dried up water stains on the floor in the kitchen. After we bring in the kitchen/couch slide, we seem to get some water coming out from under the cabinets. I know we don't have a plumbing leak as the pump doesn't run, so I figure it must be a drain leak. Well, after we got home, I got out the flashlight and tried to find the problem. Sure enough, we had a leak in the drain pipe from the kitchen sink.
Apparently where the flexible hose meets the PVC pipe, a seal has started to leak, so, I got some plumbing tape, and wrapped the joint. It did the trick, no more leaking. :-)

I put some paper towels under it to keep an eye on it should it start again.

The flexible pipe allows the slide to move in and out. That's why kitchen slides don't go out as far as dinette slides. All that plumbing. :-
I also took the peroxide to the shower ceiling around the skylight that got stained from the water leak. It took some time, but it all came out. That peroxide is amazing! I wish I would have thought to take a before and after pic.

And that was the rest of our weekend. Now tomorrow, it's another busy week in the Salon. And busy is good! :-)

trip #2

Good afternoon.
We've just returned from our 2nd trip of the season.
The weather again wasn't the best. Cooler than normal temps only in the mid 50's and mostly cloudy. But at least we weren't in a tent. :-) And there were a few tenters in the campground.
This trip took us 200 miles north to Young State Park on beautiful Lake Charlevoix.

That weekend was Boyne City's Morel Tastefest.
Does everyone know what a morel is? It's a special mushroom that for some reason can't be grown commercially and can only be found this time of year. I understand they can be found across
most of the country, but grow mainly in certain soil types.
Anyway..... we left Lansing around noon on Friday and headed north. Part way up I let Craig drive. I usually drive all our trips. He doesn't like driving the big guy, but he knows he needs to once in a while, especially on longer trips when I need a break. Of course, while he was driving, the jacks down warning siren went off nearly causing him to lose control. But he got the mo-ho safely stopped on the shoulder of the highway. I turned on the hydraulic jack pad and saw the light showing the front passenger jack wasn't up. I pushed the store button, and the light went out instantly. I don't know what caused the alarm to go off, the jack wasn't down, but obviously wasn't making contact with a sensor that says it's up. So, Craig was happy to get me back driving. :-)We arrived at the campground with no other issues. :-)
We reserved a nice pull-through site with a view of the Lake.
Got all set up, and ordered pizza from a place we found on the net, Spicy Bob's. An easy drive from the campground there and back. We got 2 med pizza's, a traditional beef and mushroom, and a specialty, philly cheese steak. The philly cheese steak was very good, the traditional, so-so. We finished the evening watching Toy Story 3.
Saturday....

I awoke to cloudy and cool, 53 out. Played on the puter for while. Then, went out and scrubed the bug guts off the front of the mo-ho. It looked as if we drove through a swarm . It was nasty!Went back inside and wrote part of this post on notepad to be published when we returned. I took my shower, and discovered a small stain by the skylight. That means we have a leak on the roof around the skylight seal. The stain wasn't wet, so it was an older stain. Probably from the heavy rains we got during April. When we get home, I'll have to get on the roof and reseal the skylight.By time I woke up lazy bones, it had started to rain. And it rained a-l-l day. Little did I know, 53 ended up being the high for the day. :-\

But, we had plans, and a little cold rain wasn't going to stop them. We bundled up, I made our coffee, grabbed the umbrellas, and off we went to the Morel Mushroom Festival. It was just a short 15 min drive from the campground to downtown Boyne City. They had an arts and craft show, a farmer's market, and a carnival, besides the big tent for the Morel Mushroom Taste Fest. We wandered the grounds and Craig bought some cherry apple salsa.

Craig wanted one of these ugly large carved mushrooms and I said don't even think about it. he said it would look good in my shade garden. I said don't even think about it.

Then we went into the big tent for the tasting.
They had numerous area restaurants serving Morel infused dishes. We ended up trying, the Chicken bacon Morel spin rolls, the Home on the Range Buffalo Morel Perogie, the Steak and Morel Pasties, and the Morel and Steak Pizza. We wanted to try Cooper's Morel Mushroom Soup, but by the time we got through the others, the tent was so crowded, and the line for the soup was ridiculous.

We left the festival, and wandered through their downtown, looking through the different stores. Managed to not buy a thing. :-)

Since it was still raining, and we couldn't go biking or hiking, we took a drive around Lake Charlevoix.It was a nice drive. Back at the mo-ho, we played Parcheesi on the puter, where I beat Craig twice. :-) Then I played a couple of other games, while Craig fixed us kielbasas for dinner. With our TV only getting 3 stations, and nothing we liked, we watched a couple of DVDs. It was still raining when we went to bed, but we slept good.
Sunday.....
I awoke to 46, but no rain, partly cloudy. Played on the puter awhile and watched the morning news. Woke Craig up around 9. Made us coffee and off we went. Stopped at Micky D's for a sausage,egg muffin and headed about 20 miles north to Petoskey, MI where there is the Odawa Casino. And as you know, that's almost never a good thing. :-)
And today wasn't any different. But I left only about $10 down, although Craig was down a bit more than that. But it's a nice casino, and wasn't busy at all. On the way back, we stopped and picked up the Sunday paper. Back at the campground, we read the paper, and then got the car loaded on the car caddy for an early Monday departure. It had finnally gotten nice out. It was near 60, sunny, and the wind was being blocked by all the trees.

So we took a walk through the campgrounds. there's 3 here at Young State park.
The original Pines and Oak, and the newer one Terrace. Way back in the 80's when we camped in a tent, the terrace campground was new and just a big field with campsites. It's also huge with 8 loops compared to the Pines and Oak campgrounds with just 2. Well, the planted trees through that one too and now it looks much better, but still not near as wooded as the others.

After our walk, it was getting sooo nice, we got the chairs out and relaxed and enjoyed some nice weather and the beautiful lake.It ended up getting all the way to 65, after a forecast high of only 54. You can never trust the weather people. They're almost always wrong.
For dinner I cooked pork steaks on the grill and had them with a pasta salad we picked up with the paper.Watched some TV and called it a night.
Monday morning, 38 out with a beautiful blue sky.
Finished typing this post, and started to get the mo-ho ready for the drive back to Lansing.
And now I'm typing this from home, as we returned safely. Got there and back safe, and every thing functions normally.
It was another good trip.

it was a good day

Good morning.
We are in for a short stretch of summer like weather, with temps in the mid 70's all week, before falling back to the normal 60's this weekend.
I've just been lovin this weather! It took so long to get here, but It's here and the yard is quickly coming alive!
Yesterday morning, while Craig slept, I did some maintenance on the mo-ho. We have a small leak around the windshield. Apparently with all the road vibrations, the seal around the windshield has cracked in a few spots. Even though I now caulk the windshield every year, it eventually starts leaking again. And right now Craig doesn't want to spend money on a replacement, since the leak only causes water to drip on the dash. Well, we have managed to get some water stains on the accordion shade that pulls around the window. So I went out yesterday, and spot cleaned it with peroxide. It takes out the stain real good!
I then did some more weeding before I woke up Craig.
We did our running around, and back at home, I worked in the yard and he did more paper work.
I'm getting a real good handle on the weeds. :-)
For dinner, we tried a new chicken recipe, Orange Chicken with Sweet Potatoes. It was sooo tender, moist and tasty!

Of course, if your interested, the recipe is here.
So it was a very productive weekend, and now, another work week lies ahead.

Our wonderful spring continues...

Good morning.
It's been a great weekend so far.
Sunday took me to Muskegon to spend Mother's Day with my Mom. Helped her clean her apartment, and cut her hair. We then went to Applebee's for lunch where I had the Bourbon Steak, and Mom had the house sirloin. They were very good. Then over to the VFW for drinks, visiting, and some pull tabs. Mom doesn't get to the VFW because the driving service for seniors doesn't go to North Muskegon where the VFW is located, so it's a treat when I come to town and take her there. The place was quite busy for a Sunday. Found that they had a Mother's Day breakfast where all Mothers got their breakfast free. Mom enjoyed visiting with people she hadn't seen in a while. We left there, and picked up some groceries for her. Got her back to her apartment, put the groceries away, and headed back to Lansing. Returned home to find Craig had finished correcting our returns and did laundry. We relaxed on the deck with cocktails enjoying our continued spring.
Monday morning, while Craig slept, I cleaned the interior of the mo-ho, and washed the outside. I also washed the Kia and PT Cruiser. I then did a bit of weeding. After Craig got up, we did our usual bank, P.O. and grocery shopping. Back home, I did more weeding and Craig mowed the grass. I then mixed up some weed/grass killer for the pathways. A customer of mine owns a company that is developing 'green' products. One that they just put into testing is a herbicide. She asked me if I could use it in my yard and give them feedback. My yard is a good test site because I have many different possible application areas. I have gravel paths, paved paths, and mulched paths. Some in sun, some in shade. The stuff she gave me needs to be mixed, 1 part herbicide to 3 parts water. I mixed it up, and sprayed the paths. I have to write down the date I sprayed, the areas sprayed and monitor how fast they wilt and die. She said some types of weeds may need a second spraying. It will be interesting to see how it works. I also mixed up some lawn weed killer, and spot weeded the lawn.
We then relaxed the rest of the early evening on the deck soaking in the nice warm weather, and the greening of the yard. :-)
Craig made ham steaks for dinner, with home made mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.
And now, I'm going out and do more weeding. I'm about 3/4 done and hope to finish it this week. :-)

It's Mother's Day!

Good morning.
Spring weather continues with today going for 67 and sunny. :-)
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, and just finished my shower, working on my coffee, and as soon as I finish this post, I'm off to Muskegon to spend the day with Mom.
The week ended very busy, and we came home and was able to sit out on the deck with cocktails. ;-)
Craig made very tasty taco salad for dinner.
He's still sleeping at the moment, but is staying home today to finish the amended state returns.
So off I go!
Happy Mother's Day!

why do cars have boots?

Good morning.
Spring like temps appear to be here for good, finally. :-)
The salon has been fairly busy this week with me also being booked today and tomorow.
I took the PT Cruiser in on Thursday morning. It's check engine light was on. Turned out to be some sort of sensor. While I had it there, I had them check on a "clunking' noise. They said I had a torn boot, and a bad ball joint. Does anyone know what the hell a 'boot' is? And why is my car wearing a boot? Anyway, it will be done this afternoon and I will pick it up today after work.
We seem to be replacing an awful lot of stuff on this car. I wonder if it's because we tow it so much. His 1998 Honda Accord has never been in the shop. It has it's original everything! Maybe Chrysler just makes crappy cars. :-\
Not much else to say, so it's off for my shower.
Have a great weekend!

a working weekend

Good morning from a cold Lansing. Yep, our colder than normal spring continues. :-(
It's 39 out right now with a high forecast of 58. Yesterday got only up to 48. Although Monday was pleasant and 60. I spent the entire day weeding flower beds. Tuesday, with it so cold and windy and sprinkles, we spent a good part of the day running around. While Craig slept in, I placed an on-line order for the Salon and read some blogs. I showered, got Craig up, fixed us coffee, and off we went. First it was Menard's for crack filler and driveway sealer. I try to get that done on Memorial weekend, and it was on sale, so got it early. Then it was to Kohl's for a pair of work slacks, and Meijer's for groceries. After we dropped all that at home, it was over to Home Depot for deck stain. I try to re stain our deck every other year.
By mid afternoon, I decided to bundle up and work out side. I weeded another bed and spread preen. I'm about 3/4 done with the weeding, and the beds are looking good. :-)
Craig came out later and cleaned and filled the bird baths. We have 5 of them scattered around the yard.
And it's another work week that looks to be fairly busy. And to start the day, I have a cleaning appointment at the dentist this morning.
So I'm off for my shower....

Good day, bad voles, tasty pork

Good morning.
Yesterday turned out to be completely different from forecast. Forecast was for scattered rain and 63, and instead, it was mostly sunny and 71. :-)

After cleaning the Salon, it was so nice out that I did about an hour of weeding before taking my shower and getting Craig up.

After our usual coffee, and Sunday paper, I went back out in the yard, while Craig did his usual Sunday bookwork and laundry.

Here's an early morning pic of the yard...

The evergreens almost completely circle the back yard. Gives us some nice privacy and is also a pretty good deer deterrent. Deer won't go where they can't see through or over, so the evergreens look like a solid wall to them.

I spent nearly all day weeding one of the larger flower beds. And I only got about 2/3 done. The weeds are real bad this spring. I think it's going to be preen time. :-)

Can you see me? Craig snapped this pick while I was working on that bed. And that's a Star Magnolia blooming next to me. I also discovered that both of my clematis vines that grow up the arbors behind the pond are gone. Voles nested near them and did them in over the winter. :-(

I'll now need to find something that grows fast, as in August, my gardens are being used as a backdrop for wedding pictures.

Then, as it approached 4pm, I decided I'd weeded enough and we relaxed on the deck with cocktails, taking in the warmth. It felt sooo good! This was only the 3rd day we've been over 70 this spring, and it looks like the last for a while. We've had scattered rain this morning with a high forecast of only 57.

For dinner, Craig cooked a pork roast my mom gave us back when we saw her in March. It was sooo good! Of course, there was nothing lean about this roast. :-) Funny how fat makes things taste so good. :-)

And now I'm going to try and get a little more weeding done before I wake up lazy bones. :-)

blah, blah

Good morning.
It turned out to be a very busy week in the Salon. For me anyway. :-)
I did get out fairly early on Friday, and gave the yard it's first mowing of the season.
Saturday was busier at work and I didn't get out until 2:30. But that was early enough to work in the yard. Scooped more debris out of the pond, and started weeding one of the big flower beds. This one will take me awhile. It is full of creeping charlie. :-(
And with a couple of days of no rain, the rivers are starting to recede and the many roads that were closed due to flooding have reopened. They are calling for more rain tonight and tomorrow, but hopefully not a lot.
After Craig got home, we relaxed with cocktails, and while I played on the puter, Craig made us tasty pizza for dinner.
And now, while Craig gets his beauty rest, I'm off to clean the Salon.