A Bit of This and That

So after seven months of not seeing my painter, I gave him a call.  He started another job and is not coming back.  So I am left with a house that is half dirty white and half chocolate brown.  Not pretty.

Luckily, my contractor's brother is selling his house in York, PA, and moving down and is a painter!  I am first on his list.  Hopefully his house sells soon.

In the meantime, I have started painting  the inside of the wood shed.  We need to have this done so our tree that fell in the pasture can be split and stacked in the shed by fall.  

On the inside, after nine months of trying to find a plumber, jackpot!  Our new Moen fixtures have been put on each bathroom sink and the pipes to the sink and tub have been replaced.  No more backup and things can finally be clean.

I love the new fixtures, so easy on the hands, and bigger and square.  The old fixtures were rusty and never stopped dripping.

Square to match the shape of the sink.

The magnolias are in bloom.  I cut one and brought it in to put in a vase, and I never knew what a wonderful fragrance it had.  Lemony!

 I think the bees love that fragrance, too!

Garden snapshots.

A lady from the Tryon Garden Club told me about a man with a shade plant nursery at his home called Plants A Plenty.  Saturday we went for a drive (first stop, a coffee milkshake at Rogers courtesy of Linda)  and learned a few things about ferns and azaleas. 

Love volunteer plants!

The boathouse is rented for the month of July and  rented two weeks in June.  With the earnings, we bought something I never knew existed, a weed eater on wheels!  This machine is nasty, but awesome! Until you go over a yellow jacket nest as I did today.  I escaped with only 3 stings, but wow do they hurt even hours later.

Gardenias the size of my palm.  All the weeks of rain have been very good for the garden.  The past few nights have been in the 50s with days in the low 80s and zero humidity and I could live with this weather forever!

On the tag sale front, look what I found for $8!!  Yes, this is a broadfork that I have dreamed of, but this one is metal and very heavy, so let's see how often it gets used!

Also found a set of these drink glasses with an Airstream on it, and they sold instantly on Ebay.

Also, 44 terracota tiles, hand painted from Arizona!

Came across this guy and I think he is a senior!

The baby cardinals in the nest outside my bathroom window have flown.

Camera shy!

Speaking of seniors, Bamboo on the left is 17 1/2 years old!  Panda is a mere 8 years old.

And as I write, Bob is making his way home from Georgia after being at a seminar and is bringing three four-month old flat coat retrievers home.  Amy of The Sebastian Foundation in Lancaster, PA, has adopters for all three, so I couldn't say no.  More photos to come of the pups (and I'm sure lots of poo and pee to clean up the next three days before they leave.  Not looking forward to that!)