Pottery and Bushes

Stephanie knows that she needs some artwork for her new home, but where does one find something unique?  Some people visit consignment shops to find treasures that are either so old that no one else has them anymore (thus making them unique once again), or they find goods that can be repurposed into new artwork.  Others do as we did yesterday by attending craft fairs.

ArtStreet is a yearly festival in downtown Green Bay that attracts juried artists from across the nation.  We went there yesterday both to have some fun looking at the various art media and to see if we saw anything for Stephanie.  A couple of times I wanted to Facetime Steph with possibilities, but art is such an individual thing that being there is still the best way to select something.  While we were at ArtStreet, however, we did find some treasures for which we really had not been shopping.

A couple of years ago, a potter at ArtStreet produced a large pot whose purpose was to hold kitchen utensils (spatulas, wooden spoons, etc.) next to the stove.  The artist had painted a palm tree on the pot, and since that was the "theme" of our newly-purchased house in Florida, I bought it.  I also picked up a much smaller pot with a palm tree that I use to hold pens and scissors in the corner of the kitchen.

These pottery items will fit in well with our Florida decor.

Yesterday, we came upon the booth of the same artist who continues to paint palms on various items.  We ended up buying a mug, a chip 'n dip plate, a spoon rest, and a small wall vase all in the same palm tree motif.  I have the perfect spot on the wall between the kitchen and dining room on which to hang the wall vase, and the other items will come in handy as we continue to cook and to live in Florida each winter.  Getting pottery shipped down there may be a challenge, so we may see how much we can actually take in our carry-on luggage when we fly down in October.

We had dinner with Lindsay and Chris last night, and they mentioned that they wanted to remove the overgrown bushes growing in front of their house.  They wanted to do the work next weekend.  This morning dawned foggy and cool with a promise of rising temperatures and humidity all week.  I suggested to Rick that perhaps we could go over and start the work this morning while the weather was still cool enough to work outside.

While Chris and Owen were at the store,
we trimmed away the branches of the
first bush.

Today is Chris' last day before school starts tomorrow, so he and Owen were home.  Chris said that he had to go to the grocery store, so we let Owen and him leave before we ventured over to their house.  While they were gone, we took our large pruning shears and had most of the first bush down before they ever came home.

Their bushes are terrible.  The limbs are all twisted and entwined, sometimes going back into the soil to root themselves all over again.  Although only two bushes were planted next to their porch, those bushes covered at least eight feet of territory.

Once the main branches were cut out, we put a towing strap around the roots and tried to pull out the stump.  Ha!  No go.  Rick and Chris had to do quite a bit of digging and snipping before the truck was able to extract the huge first root out of the ground.  The second root was smaller, but it still took more effort than we had originally thought.

Even cut up, the brush made a large pile
at the curb.

The stump of the first bush shows just
how tangled the roots were.  The stump itself
stands much taller than Owen.

Since Chris said to just pile the brush and roots at the curb for the village to haul away, that saved us a lot of time.  We actually were home before 11:00 a.m. which was well before the temperatures really started to rise.

Rick and Chris work on digging around the
roots of the second bush.

We'll try to tackle the third bush tomorrow.  If we can do one bush a day, then this weekend we might have only the two stumps to pull out.

Rick smoothes out the soil where the first two bushes
once grew.  The third bush awaits our attention tomorrow
with the fourth needing attention the following day.

Getting the stumps out and a few of their other trees trimmed should put them in a good position to greet the fall and the winter.  Then they will have the winter to decide what they want to plant in the spring.

Out of Chaos Comes Order

Almost 20 days have passed since my last blog, and we continue to move forward getting our house back to a semblance of organization.  Since I last posted, we cleaned out the basement, held a rummage sale, cleaned out the workroom, and made several charitable contributions.  Oh, yes, we also made a sizable contribution to the city dump!

Stephanie had given us an entire truckload of items that she did not want to move into her new house, so those items have been residing in our garage since early June.  I finally cleaned out our basement and added my own pile of items that were headed for a rummage sale.

A pile of unwanted items awaits its trip to the garage for
the rummage sale.

We were blessed with two beautiful summer days for the sale this past Friday and Saturday, but I must admit that I had the worst sale I have every held.  I do not know if the construction in the neighborhood scared people away, or if holding a sale in August is just too late for people.  Perhaps my ad on Craig's List was just not appealing.  At any rate, I never had a crowd the entire two days... just a slow trickle of people coming to browse and occasionally to buy. In the end, I was happy that I made the money that I did for items that I no longer wanted, but I am not sure that it was worth the two days of organizing the sale and marking the items, and then the two days of the actual sale itself.  To add to the misery, both Rick and I are down with summer colds, so neither of us has been a ball of energy.  Stephanie made a little money that she can use to decorate her new house, so I guess that was worth the effort.

For the last two days, Rick and I have concentrated on the one room we did not sort through before the sale: his workroom.  As he started to pull things off the shelves and to sort through 25 years of accumulations, the room seemed to get worse!  (I attach the following picture to prove it!)

We had so much in the workroom that even Rick
did not know what some of the items were.

However, as the hours passed by, we started to make some progress.  As the pictures show, out of chaos can come order.

Just getting the cobwebs off the wall and the
dirt and sawdust off the floors helped to make
the room habitable again.

Naturally, that order resulted in one truckload of goods to the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store and the afore-mentioned load to the city dump.  We still have to take a final load to the city hazardous waste facility, but that has to wait for their drop-off day on Thursday.

Look!  A floor and room in which to work!

Bins and tool chests and labeled storage boxes
add to the organization.

Highlights of the newly organized workroom: Rick took down all of the fluorescent "shop light" fixtures and replaced them with between-the-rafters cans.  Now the lights are more evenly distributed and we no longer have to worry about fluorescent tubes disposals (after Thursday!) Another highlight is that I took a box, some file folders, and the massive pile of sandpaper and organized it into an easily searchable system.

Even the sandpaper is easily accessible now.

This room was a lot of work, and we still have some "fine tune" organization to do in the tool chest and in some of the storage bins, but overall the improvement is incredible.

We both are tired, but we both feel so good looking at a basement that is now clean, organized, and actually inviting to use.  We have neglected this northern home for the past few years, so I find our efforts rewarding as we get it back into order.

Missions Accomplished

As we were taking our traditional evening walk today, Rick commented, "You know, this has been a very productive week."  I hadn't thought about what we really accomplished this week, but he is very correct.

On Monday he made the second of two stands for our rigid shuttle loom.  We wanted to make the looms easy to use, and getting back into weaving has been one of our goals this summer.  His efforts will make having two working looms easy for us now.  He put a finish of Danish Oil on both stands so the wood is protected and the looms are ready to use. We'll take the smaller 20" loom down to Florida and leave the larger 25" loom here in Green Bay.  Now I cannot wait to get a warp on one so I can weave again.

On Tuesday we traveled south to Brookfield to a shop called the Dent Clinic.  This shop was recommended to us by Steve after he saw the "ding" in the rear passenger door of our new truck.  Apparently someone opened a car door into our truck door while we were stopped in LaCrosse getting the license plate for our truck.  The poor thing was dented before we ever had a chance to drive it into our driveway!  The workmen at the shop did an excellent job; within half an hour they had our truck repaired so well that we cannot find the location of the dent.  The paint is intact, and the truck looks new again.

We also wanted to travel south to visit Steve and Chris to give them back the tools that they lent us and to give them a few other diesel truck accessories that we no longer needed. We had a very enjoyable lunch and visit with them.

Yesterday we decided that we did not want the City workers to add dirt to the sawdust pile that they left in our front yard after cutting our tree and then to try to plant grass.  Their handiwork in other yards in the neighborhood resulted in uneven ground with more weeds than lawn growing in the affected patches.  Instead, we spent the day digging out the area, removing over eight wheelbarrow loads of dirt and wood chips, and leveling what was left in preparation for sod.  We were told by an area nursery that for approximately $50 we could have enough sod to cover the area, but they would not receive a shipment of sod until Friday.  Since the weather forecasters predict badly needed rain tomorrow, we decided that would not be a wise move.

Our day started today with Rick going in for his yearly eye exam.  After he came out, we ran some errands, and then he called the Sod Farm to see if they would sell to private individuals.  They would, so we ordered 15 rolls of sod for pick-up in early afternoon.

After lunch we made a not-so-quick stop at the Hazardous Waste disposal site to get rid of old paint, stain, and chemicals, and then were on our way to Black Creek to get some sod.  For $28, we -- or rather Rick since I could not lift a roll of sod -- loaded 15 rolls of sod and were on our way.  I cannot believe how weak I have become; I get really frustrated when I can no longer lift or carry what I used to in the past.

Just one more roll of sod will complete the once bare 12 x 12
foot area in our lawn.

Once home, the sod went down very quickly.  What was once an unevenly outlined patch of mud and wood chips is now transformed into a beautifully lush area of grass.  A good watering in late afternoon hopefully got it off to a good start.

Water will both keep the lawn lush and will
allow it to take root.  A good watering also
will help the rest of the lawn change from brown
to green.

Rick is right; this has been a good week full of accomplishments, and we have not even made it to Friday yet!

Weaving Wishes

Long before we retired, Rick and I acquired two rigid heddle weaving looms. These looms are not terribly sophisticated, but we were way too busy while we worked to really even try them.  We have owned a large, eight-harness Schacht floor loom for many years; sadly, that loom, too, has sat idle for many years.

At last, though, we can start to get back into some of the hobbies that we enjoy.  A few years ago we bought a table loom at an estate sale in Door Coounty.  Rick refurbished it, built a stand for it, and we took it to Florida.  In the course of all of our remodeling, I only found time to put one project on the loom.  The tension on the warp (the threads on the loom itself) was uneven, so the whole project was not a great success.  I would like to try a new project when we return to Florida this fall.  With two looms, we both can weave if we both want to create something at the same time.

As we have been cleaning out our basement, I came across the two rigid heddle looms once again.  One is a full loom, and one is a loom that folds for easier transportation.  I mentioned to Rick that it would be good to have a rigid heddle loom in both states, but we really have no table on which to rest a loom when we return to Gladys.  Our dining room table is small, round, and glass-topped, so that is out of the question.  My desk in Gladys is new, large, and also topped with glass. It would work, but I really do not want to give up the space for a loom.  The solution?  Buy a stand for the second loom.

We looked in the catalogs and discovered that Schacht wanted over $200 for a stand for their rigid heddle loom.  "I can probably make the whole thing for less than $50.00,"  Rick said, "And I can make it out of maple to match the loom."  That notion sounded good to me.  I know that he is talented enough to make a loom stand because he already did so for the table loom that sits in the Florida room at Gladys.

For the last two days, we have been shopping for parts not only at the big box stores but also at Woodworkers Depot, Woodcrafters, and various hardware stores.  Once we had the raw materials gathered, Rick was set to begin.

The router table is heavier than it looks, so
we both had to carry it up from the basement workshop.

The bottom supports for the stand await drilling,
sanding, and securing to the rest of the stand.

We hauled the router table out of the basement, setting it up temporarily in the garage.  Rick wanted to work there because using the router creates lots of sawdust, and cleaning the garage is much easier than cleaning sawdust out of a workroom full of tools.  He started the task mid-morning, and by mid-afternoon he was finished.

The completed stand looks simple, but it took
both design skills and woodworking skills
to make it functional, collapsable, and adjustable.

I am delighted with the results.  I now have an adjustable loom stand that will allow me to work comfortably, to tilt the loom to make weaving fun, and to fold neatly when I want to store it out of the way.  We visited a yarn shop in Neenah where I was able to buy a skein of variegated yarn in shades of blue, navy, and purple.  I cannot wait to warp the loom and to weave a small scarf as my first project with a rigid heddle loom.  It should be fun, and the best part is that I can weave in the living room, in the den, or even on the back porch since the loom and new stand are so portable.

Making the adjustable slides by routing a
track through solid maple took time and
patience, but it works great!

I enjoy being retired and having enough time to finally pursue some of my hobbies. This stand will make weavinf on this loom easy and fun.

Wright and Wingspread

Much has happened since my last post.

We spent a successful week in Minnesota at the beginning of July helping Stephanie move into her new house. The only mishap was that on the day that the movers came, I broke the baby toe on my left foot when I hooked it around the bedpost of the bed frame I was trying to help put together.  Three hours in the emergency room was not part of my game plan for that day.  However, the toe has healed well and only hurts when I have done too much walking in any particular day.

Back here at home I have slowly been trying to gather items for our rummage sale.  Originally, I thought I might hold the sale at Lindsay's house, but since neither she nor Chris seems thrilled with the idea, I have decided to hold it here.  In the end, that is a good decision because I seem to find more and more items that I want to eliminate from this household.  I am amazed at the junk one can accumulate in forty years!  Actually, that is not fair.  Rick and I moved six times in the first five years we were married, so we purged the household with each move.  We also moved here 25 years ago, so I guess most of this "accumulation" occurred within that time period.  Regardless of the time, the fact remains that we have WAY too many items that we no longer use in this house.  Out it goes!

One reason I have not held a sale is because we are waiting for the City to complete our street repairs.  The City has been working on installing new sewers and water lines since May, and they are finally to the point were we hope they will grind up the street this coming week and lay down new pavement.  Once all of the "Road closed to thru traffic" signs disappear, perhaps people will feel safe venturing back into the neighborhood.

Rick had been dying to go on a short vacation, so this past Thursday we drove to Racine to see the Frank Lloyd Wright designs of the Administrative Building and Research Tower at Johnson Wax, and to view the Johnson's home designed by Wright called Wingspread.

Herbert Fisk Johnson first commissioned Wright to build the new offices at Johnson Wax.  He built the famous workspace that looks like giant golf tees support a glass roof.  We had a wonderful tour guide who told us all of the good and not-so-good points of the construction.  We then went to the Research Center.  We were only allowed to go onto the first two floors since access to the Tower is only through one single, winding staircase.  The entire Tower had to be shut down due to fire codes, so it is no longer used.  The displays, however, were interesting.  Approximately 50 top scientists and chemists used to call the Tower home as they developed Raid, Off, Shout, and many other products for Johnson Wax.

After the Tower tour, we had lunch and then drove the five miles to get to Wingspread.  After Wright finished the offices, Herbert Johnson asked him to design a house for him and his second wife.  Johnson owned 30 acres of land on the outskirts of Racine, so in 1938-1939 Wright designed and built Wingspread.  Ever trying to keep in tune with the environment and nature, Wright noted that H. F. Johnson loved the wild geese and birds that populated the ponds and wetlands that he owned.  Wright used that as his inspiration to build a four-winged pinwheel of a house.  The central core was a great hall with a 30-foot, four-sided fireplace.  The hall accommodated living rooms, a dining area, and balconies from the second floor that overlooked the main floor and provided a great space from which bands to play to entertain Johnson's guests below.

The massive fireplace in he Great Hall
goes up to a three-tiered ceiling of windows.

The four wings of the house each had a specific purpose.  One wing held the kitchen and pantry (complete with a room where the dining room table could be drawn in, set, and pushed back out to the waiting diners!), four bedrooms for the servants, and a common parlor for them at the end.

The structure blends into the landscape thanks to grape vines
that drape over patios and gardens that contain sculptures
and flowers.  This view shows the guest room windows
and back of the carports.

Another wing was devoted to the children.  Johnson's second wife had two young sons, and Johnson had two children -- Karin and Samuel -- from his first marriage.  Since the boys were all under age 12, he had three bedrooms built for the boys with a large playroom at the end.  Sadly, Johnson's second wife died before they could move into Wingspread, and her two young sons moved to the East Coast to live with relatives.  They never moved into their bedrooms.  Since Samuel did not want to move from the city and away from his friends, Wright built a huge swimming pool off the children's wing so all of Samuel's friends could visit him at Wingspread.

A third wing contained the master bedroom suite and a cantilevered bedroom for 15-year-old Karin, complete with a "Juliette balcony" at the end.  A common sitting room adjoined the two bedroom suites.

The master bedroom wing shows the cantilevered bedroom
of Johnson's daughter complete with the Juliette balcony.
This picture also shows the disrepair of the house.

The final wing, which was not open to the public, contained two large guest rooms and a carport complex to park many cars.  Wright also designed all of the gardens to help the house blend into the surrounding environment.

The gardens were beautiful  Well-placed benches among the
flowers offered plenty of space to sit and view nature.

The house was interesting to view, both Rick and I were shocked to see how much in disrepair the property was.  The facia boards were black and rotting, Karin's whole room was sagging with cracked plater, peeling paint, and decidedly uneven floors, and many of the windows showed signs of water damage.  The property has been owned by the Johnson Foundation since 1959, and I think that the Foundation had better seriously think about putting some money toward its maintenance if they want to preserve this historic site.

Grassy paths invite a person to take a walk.

Since we were able to get into an earlier tour of the property, we were back in Green Bay by dinner time.  I am glad that I finally was able to see the Johnson Wax complex and Wingspread, but I also was glad that the tours were free.  Had I had to pay to see the structures, I would have been even more disturbed by their lack of upkeep.

If you want to see Wright's work, I would suggest that you go now.  All structures need maintenance, and these buildings are crying for attention.  If they are not preserved, eventually they all will have to be shut down.

A Great Day to Garden

I guess since summer does not technically begin until June 21, I must classify this as a beautiful spring day.  We awoke to 55 degrees with the promise of highs in the low 70s.  As I type this at 2:23 p.m., the temperature has only managed to climb to 64.  So much for 70s!

However, after hot and humid temperatures yesterday that culminated in torrential downpours, we welcomed the sunshine and the cooler temperatures today, taking advantage of them both to work in the front garden.

Yesterday we were able to add four bags of garden soil to the area just before the rains hit.  We had purchased four Red Prince Weigelas which, thankfully, I was able to get safely onto the back porch before the downpour started.  They got a little wet as the screens "sifted" the rain, but the bushes themselves were not beaten down by the terrible force of the rain.

New bushes line up in the garden, awaiting
new mulch underneath.

We were in the garden by 8:30 this morning.  We put the plants out, shifted them around, and, of course, Rick had to get out his tape measure and make sure they were equidistant apart.  Digging the holes actually was easier than I expected, thanks in part to the efforts we took last week to get the majority of roots and stumps out of the garden.  In fairly short order, we had all of the bushes planted.

Eventually, the bushes will grow tall enough
and wide enough to block most of the view
of our neighbor's house.

Right now they seem rather sparse since we had to leave room for them to grow.  Eventually, they should touch one another and give us a 3 - 5 foot hedge that will have beautiful leaves and red flowers for most of the summer.  Our neighbors around the corner have two of the same bushes, and they are stunning.  I hope that ours will do as well.

Once the bushes were in place, we went back to the nursery to pick up a yard of mulch. We had spread mulch over the majority of the front garden earlier, so we had just the area under the tree to fill in yet.

New mulch makes the back garden look much better!

We had some mulch left over, so Rick attacked the back garden, pulling two bags full of weeds to prep it for the mulch.  While he did most of the weeding, I took the clippers and removed lots of dead wood and "foreign" trees that were trying to grow in the middle of the dogwoods and the Miss Kim lilac.  We really want to take down all of that vegetation and to build a fence, but that will have to wait until we have our cement mixer home next year.  We have neglected this poor yard for many years, so this was our year to try to get it looking somewhat respectable again.  I don't remember the last time it had mulch in the back garden.  It really needs a bit more, but I don't want to spend any more money since we plan to rip it out next  year.

Next year the bushes will come down to be
replaced by a fence that will give us more
privacy from the neighbors' yards.

Today is Owen's second birthday.  We are going to go over to his house soon to give him a couple of little gifts and to wish him a Happy Birthday.  We'll always remember when we planted those bushes in the front garden.  I hope that both they and Owen will continue to bloom and to grow.

Summer Snow

Although we have not been killing ourselves with major remodeling projects this summer, we have not completely turned into three-toed sloths either. I admit that health issues, cold weather (whoever heard of 40-degree temperatures in June?!), and family obligations all have interfered with our gardening progress.

I have spent a couple of mornings digging around where the trees once stood in our front garden.  Yes, we removed the main stumps, but what was left behind were numerous smaller branches of stumps and a dense network of web-like roots.  Four large garbage bags of roots later, we finally have the garden cleaned out enough to choose new plants.  We did have to get the truck back into hauling mode one last time to remove some stubborn larger roots, but we are finally to the point of going to the nursery this week to buy some type of vegetation for the now empty area.

Once we took out all of the trees, I discovered a small section of house next to the gutter drain pipe that had not seen daylight for many years.  The cobwebs and dirt in the area were thick.  Not only did I need a broom to clear out the worst of it, but I needed a bucket of water and a good scrub brush to find the yellow siding under all of the gunk.  The whole house needs a scrub-down.  We have discussed buying a power washer for this house also.

Yesterday we spent a cold, cloudy, eventually rainy day celebrating Owen's second birthday. However, the food was hot, tasty, and plentiful, and we had a good time seeing relatives while watching Owen open his gifts.  Toy trucks, a new tricycle, and a new wagon were the hits of the day.

Owen unwraps the wagon we bought him.

A new, red tricycle from Chris' parents also
was a big hit!

Right now I am not excited about spending much time outside.  It is snowing in my neighborhood.  This snow, however, is nothing more than seed pods falling from the multitude of cottonwood trees in the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, one of those giant trees (in fact, the tallest one on this street), happens to be growing in my back yard.  So why am I reluctant to go outside? The trees are messy, the "cotton" is everywhere, and I am allergic to the darn trees!  I am already tired of scratchy eyes, a runny nose, and sneezing multiple times a day each time I venture outdoors.  I know that the "cotton" will soon be finished, but not before my back yard will look like a heard of sheep exploded!

Fist-sized clumps of "cotton" gather in
my front garden.

The "cotton" seed pods gather at the front
edge the porch.  Everything looks messy
until the season is finished.

The only good thing about this season is the fact that rain is predicted almost every day this week, and when it rains, the "cotton" gets washed into the grass and no longer blows around.  I really don't want to be rained inside all week, but I don't want to sneeze all week either.

Yesterday we almost froze at Owen's party, and today the temperature reached 82 with a 66 dew point which means outside was hot and muggy. Only in Wisconsin...  We worked together to mow the lawn since the rest of the week is supposed to be wet; however, that forecast also might delay our plans to plant anything new in the front garden.

Going, Going, Gone

We arose early on Friday to an emergency at Lindsay's house since their garage door would not open due to a broken spring.  Chris was able to ride in to work with a neighbor, and once we took Owen to nursery school, we helped Lindsay pry open the door so that she could get their cars out.  Then off she went to work also.

The last two trees were not filled in well at the bottom
and were too tall at the top.  They needed trimming
away from the gutters on the house.

The second tree was smaller and easily came down.

We came home and decided to tackle the last two trees.  We were able to get both of them down and the first one to the yard refuse dump before we headed back to Lindsay's to meet the garage door repair man. He must have thought we were a real gem of a couple since both of us were in grubby clothes and filthy from taking down the trees!  We offered no explanation.

Lindsay met us at home just as the man finished installing the new springs on the door.  It took him all of 15 minutes to do the job.  Ah, what the right set of tools and lots of experience will do for a job!  With that catastrophe averted, we headed back to our house to pick up the truck and take the last tree to the dump.

Three stubborn stumps await removal.

On Saturday our task was to try to pull the remaining stumps from the ground.  We had to buy another tow strap so that we would not have to chew our lawn up with the truck.  The stumps proved more resistant than I imagined, so they took some real effort to get out.  One reason was that as we put tension on the tow strap, it grabbed the bark and slid it right off the tree stump.  What was left under the bark was a slick substance that coated the entire stump.  Naturally, at every cut branch, however, was sticky pitch.  Although the roots were not terribly deep, they were numerous.  After a good battle and numerous tries, we were able to get everything uprooted and into the back of the truck for one more trip to the dump.

A clean slate awaits new bushes or trees.

So now we sit with a bare garden.  It looks better than the scraggly trees that were there, but we do want to replant the area with something.  Rick is opting for more trees.  He wants something that is "geometric and symmetrical." (Ha!  As if those scraggly trees were...)  I want to try lilacs or hydrangeas; I want something that will add color to the yard, but something I can still prune with ease.  Rick thinks they would be "too bushy and untamed."

We tried trees.  They were boring.  We'll have to see what the nurseries offer.