a hymn for trim

Progress!!  Several seemingly eternal drawn-out projects are finally coming along or completed.  Happily, one in the FINISHED category is the dining room.  We lived for months with it blocked off by plywood...but we finally have floors, walls, and even trim!

We had a pocket door installed between the dining room and the mud room (which is where we keep the litter boxes and the dog crate).  It's hard to see here, but one of the bottom panels is removed from the door, so the pets can go in and out as they please. 

An old exterior shot shows more detail.  The old dining room was tiny, with a low ceiling and only one window.  You had to go outside onto the covered porch to access the mother-in-law quarters that became Todd's office space.  We ripped off the old dining room and back porch(es) and added a much larger dining room that encompasses the old dining room plus the back porch.  The garage is now connected and we love it. 

So much light!!

I bought a low wood table at IKEA for some plants...and I'm going to get another one when we go again.  I love it.

I'm trying to add more house plants in general, despite my abysmal record with keeping them alive.  A Dracaena trifasciata (snake plant) is perfect for our dark kitchen.

Because the house is so dim with its long covered front porch, I didn't want to have any curtains.  We've got bamboo roll-up shades in the living room but rarely use them.  Definitely no curtains in the new dining room...but I did decide to add some long cotton plaid curtains in the bedroom for a little softness.  I'm really loving how it looks.

I also added several chairs to the front porch.  We've already got a pair of adirondack chairs, but I bought a couple of simple faux wicker patio chairs.

Claudia approves. She sleeps in them all day long!

We also added a couple of wooden patio chairs for the other end of the porch, and a new patio set for the back of the house.  It will be so nice to eat amongst the flowers!  :)  Even with a canopy, though, it's a bit warm right now for outdoor meals. 

And drumroll...the barn addition is nearly complete!  We added about 600 square feet.

Concrete floor and electricity are coming within a week!

I am going to love my view from my future potting station!

I've been thinking a lot about views lately.  I can see quite a bit from my office window...

Next year, this view will be amazing, with the tall cut-flower garden!  I can't wait! I'll be trimming up that apple tree to give an even better view.  Right now, I'm just enjoying all of the late summer flowers...

...and plotting, always plotting, for next year.

Have a great week!

a barn yarn

A month or so ago, my need for a potting space and Todd's need for more storage merged into a concrete plan - we needed to build an addition onto our barn.

The supply truck rolled in last week...

...and now we're really moving forward!

It's not going to be huge, but it will be large enough to give us some breathing room in the main room, AND large enough for shelving, tables, and storage, all devoted to next year's garden.  Hooray!  Hopefully it will be done within 2 weeks.

We are frequently checking on the progress with our special inspector!

Thankfully, after two weeks of miserable hot, dry weather, we've had a torrential rain and a slight cooling-off period.  It's still 6 weeks until September, so I'm happy for any reprieve from the part of summer that I most dislike.  I've been able to work outside a bit.  So many pollinators!  It makes me happy that despite my garden being a total flop this year (front is too overcrowded and can't be corrected until fall, and you know the story with the back garden), it still provides a benefit to bees.

All sorts of little flies rest on the flower heads...

...and I love the tiny worms I sometimes find!  Is it just me, or does this inchworm (family Geometer) have a tiny line of hearts on his back?

The recent rain was so heavy that it broke the stems on some of my tall flowers, but I was able to make bouquets.

Yesterday, I staked the other tall flowers that had been flattened, but not broken, by the rain, and was able to take some quick photos to determine what exactly I had, and how I was going to fix my mess.

Gulp.

Lupine and baptisia are too difficult to move, but I could dig out the culver's root...heavily prune the baptisia...remove the winding trail of german chamomile and cosmos (that are smothered by everything else anyway)...relocate the clematis (on the wooden trellis) and the betony (totally smothered)...dig out every last cleome seedling...for starters.  I could preemptively stake the yarrow and coneflowers.  The coneflowers, especially, are four feet tall and sprawling everywhere, all over. Also, I've got a ton of pink obedient plant interspersed here that's been growing nicely all year, but not a single bud yet.  It must be a late bloomer.  Odd, because my white obedient plant in Indianapolis bloomed early and lasted all summer.   I'll wait and see if it's worth its space here in the front garden.

Here it is from the other side.  Double gulp.

At least I've got good company in Claudia.  My other cats are otherwise occupied.

Have a great week!

"Barkeep, make mine a double."

With temperatures in the mid-90s daily and no rain in sight, I don't have much motivation to work outside.  But, while the indoor cats do keep me entertained...

"Whiskey.  Neat."

...outdoor chores have to be done.  Weeding, in particular, has fallen behind, so I picked the coolest day of the week (a mere 89 degrees), got up early, and started working.  It can be extraordinarily difficult to weed when your cat thinks that your weed bag is a giant pillow.

Once I got her situated, though, I could enjoy the morning.  This tiny soybean beetle (colaspis brunnea) landed on my leg for a brief moment.  I've noticed a lot of insects that prey on soybeans lately, which is odd, since there are no soybeans nearby!

This mottled sand grasshopper (spharagemon collare) stayed one step ahead of me.  Like the soybean beetle, this type of grasshopper isn't considered a serious pest...and I think that their speckled camouflage is so interesting.

I've often seen these "gnat plumes" outside, but I started watching them with great interest while working last week.  Why do they congregate like this?

Well, it turns out that to gnats, this plume is a perfect singles bar.  It's easier for gnats to find mates in groups, so the males will form a cluster - usually against a contrasting color, like this tree -  and will circulate.  Female gnats can easily see the cluster and slip in for a quick mating. 

The most interesting find of the morning, though, was this female wolf spider.  Now, if you don't like spiders, you should skip ahead - but I encourage you to peek!  I used to hate spiders, but now I think they're fascinating.  This female wolf spider was dragging her egg sac behind her.

I pushed her away with a stick, because I didn't want to accidentally squish her as I worked.  To my surprise, she shrunk up...

...and rolled her egg case to the front.  Apparently the sacs are attached to her abdomen with silk thread, enabling some flexibility.  Wolf spiders carry their egg sacs because they are ground hunters and don't make webs, so they need to cart the eggs along when they travel. 

I suppose she moved her egg sac to the front because she felt threatened and better able to protect it there.  Once this hatches, the tiny spiders will cling to her back for about a week before dispersing.  I really hope I can see this in action soon!

From my ground vantage point, I could also see the many pollinators on the flowers, like this sweat bee...

Just seeing the flowers themselves was nice.

Some much-needed work happened around here this week - we finally had the back fields mown!

The barnyard, which was such a horrible mess when we moved in (abandoned tractors, huge piles of wire, 5 years' worth of weeds) is finally coming together.

Before:

It's a winter pic, but you can still see the weeds, the junk surrounding the barn, and the decrepit chicken coop.  So much better now!

I love having better access to the back pond.

Being outside is really rough right now, but at least when we go out, we've got beautiful views.

Have a great week!