The new lights are up and running

We got the lights up today which is great.  The light over our workbenches now is so much better. The problem was it showed up how messy our benches were.  One was a bit more messy than the other I might add lol. I do tend to tidy up after myself better than JET does.

Anyway, we set about cleaning them up.  JET also cut me a piece of metal plate for my press.  It is for when I do stamping or patterning on the leather.

so much light now

The light fitting itself above the benches

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We are working on LED lights this week

In between hospital appointments and shopping trips we have been working on a LED light fixture for above our work benches in the workshop.  We needed a fixture above our benches (which are back to back).  I use my bench for my leather work and JET's bench gets used for every thing under the sun. We have good lighting in the shop but we just needed some extra lighting over our benches.

JET wanted to customise it so we bought the individual parts to make them.  The lights come in 16' strips, we bought 2 strips and you can cut them to whatever length you need.  We wanted a 7' fitting so we have 4 rows of 7' mounted in a metal channel. We have a couple of feet left over for something else. They work and are very bright. Just have to hang them now.

Having a quiet day today so will take pictures when they are hung above the benches.

Yesterday, after spending most of the day in the shop working on said lights, we went outside and sat and enjoyed the lovely weather.  Today we will not be doing the same, it turned wet and cold today but the rain is very much needed.  Maggie loves to be outside, she runs around and has so much fun. Her party trick is to go into the woodshed and bring up logs and sticks.  We throw them for her and she just loves running and bringing them back. This is her favourite tree and play area.  Boris just lies down and enjoys the sun on him and we have our chairs out there to sit,

Happy Easter!

Here they are!

Here is the shelf unit my husband made from cedar.  I can claim no credit for this, he did it all.  Isn't it gorgeous? He used offcuts from the workshop, he is an amazing man.

It's been a bit of a day or two!

Yesterday we drove to Springfield to pick up some grub killer as the armadillos are just ruining our land.  It says to kill off their food supply then they will move on.  Well 4 bags of the stuff cost $160! Plus we had to get some more lime and fertilizer and bug stuff to put all around the house in a bid to keep out the scorpions.  They are showing up again so time to put down the bug stuff.  The total bill came to $260 after VA discount.  It did include a treasure for me though and some metal drill bits for JET.

Here is my latest treasure.

Last year I started on a bit of a gnome patch.  I have four gnomes so far and this now makes it five. Not to mention that I wanted a bird bath so a double wammy.  It was only $39 (less 10%) which is quite reasonable for a bird bath.  Of course, it is the perfect height for Maggie to drink out of so it may have to be turned into a bed full of pansies.  Don't need her drinking all the mosquito eggs when they start breeding.

I also got some leather tools and thread from my two favourite leather stores while we were out yesterday.

By the time we had done all that we were pretty done in so came home.

Our neighbour came round and recanted his few bad days and while ours wasn't that bad up until then, we did have to spend more money than we wanted.

This morning though it just went downhill.  I got about 6 miles from home on my way to get shopping and I realised I had forgotten my cell phone.  It is important that I take it in case JET takes ill while I am gone.  I came back and got it and set off again.  By the time I was half way through the store I get a message from JET that our only working mower had quit while he was spreading the grub killer and he was a long way from the house.  He did manage to get back to the house slowly with the aid of a stick to help him walk but the $40 a bag grub killer was stuck out in the meadow in the spreader and it had started to rain.

He asked me to go to the John Deere dealership while I was in town to pick their brains and they printed up a parts list and diagram and indicated what might be the problem.  Of course, they didn't have the parts in stock and they had to order them. They won't be in until next Thursday.

We eventually managed to tow the mower back to the shop and got the grub stuff out of the rain. That was not without it's problems either.

Back in the house I started to put away my shopping and realised I hadn't arrived home with it all. AARRGGHH!!!!

The dog toy and treats were missing.  I called the store and thankfully they had them so that wasn't a total disaster and I will get them on our next trip in.

Time for bed now and I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

On a good note JET finished the shelves for under his desk.  He made them from cedar, some of it quite new wood and some older pieces we had so he decided to oil it to stop the older wood becoming too brittle.  So it is drying out in the workshop right now.  Pictures to follow.......

Loving the Spring weather

It is the perfect weather time for me right now.  I love the spring and fall and winter aren't too bad either.  The summer's are way too hot for me though and I tend to hide out indoors. (Bit of an oxymoron that!)  Mowing gets done at 7am before the heat of the day and even then it's hot during the summer.  I am bugaphobic so have to wear long sleeves, long pants and snake boots to mow in. Add a hat and sun glasses to that and there isn't really much of me visible.

The daffodils are up and blooming, the dogwood trees are in bloom and the irises are quite big.  No sign of the peonies yet but my rose bush in a tub survived and is sprouting leaves.  I have to prune it asap. Most things except the oaks and hickories have their leaves.  The forsythia have bloomed and already the leaves are coming out on them.  The grass seed we sewed in the fall is sprouting too so. We picked up some more lime, some fertilizer and grass seed last week ready to spread and sow.

We took Maggie to be spayed a week last Monday and she seems to be fully recovered from that. Took her to get the stitches removed yesterday and the vet said it had all healed nicely.  She hadn't really taken it easy at all, Maggie doesn't do 'in moderation' very well!

Off to the Polling place shortly, then to get gas for the mower(s).  JET's mower needs to go to the repair shop but we haven't got the winch fitted on the trailer yet.  Hit a snag on that.  We need to get some welding done and we don't have a welder.

Last Saturday it was the local St. Patrick's Day parade along the gravel road we live off of.  (We have a long driveway off of this road which actually has it's own road number but isn't a through road). It has been a tradition here for about 11 years.  We only started participating 4 years ago but it is always fun and the cook out afterwards and the chat with friends and neighbours is always good.  We put some feelers out with one of our neighbours about the welding.

That's me, I was with our neighbour and friend in his Jeep, JET was in a golf cart on the back of a trailer being pulled by us with another neighbour.  There were a few more vehicles and 4 wheelers but the weather was a bit dull and cold so not many people came out to watch.  Our neighbour's wife goes ahead and takes all the photos.

This past week JET has been working on making shelves from cedar to fit under the desk so he has space to put things and maybe give him more clear space on his desk.  They are nearly done. While he was doing that I was doing a little leather work. Will update about that on my other blog ilikeknittingandsewing.blogspot.com when it is finished.

So that has been out past week, will update with pictures of the shelves when they are finished.

A good leaf blowing session

Friday afternoon we got out and blew the leaves from around the shop away and mulched them. Doesn't sound much when you write it down but there were a lot of leaves.  Some we hadn't cleared for a few years as we didn't have a good leaf blower until last year.  Raking them all is just too tiring for us now.  It took us all afternoon but it was well worth the effort.  Wished I had taken the before photo but it is easy to be wise in hindsight. The lean-to on the side of the shop gets a ton of leaves blown in and they accumulate along the outside of it too.  For now it is looking pretty good.

The lean-to where we park the mowers and little trailer

The outside of the lean-to

This gives an idea of how the leaves pile up but this was just one year's buildup, the lean-to was much worse than this

Leaves after they are all mulched up....much better!

When in Columbia for the hospital last week we picked up a winch to attach to the big trailer so we can load things onto it easier. JET's mower needs taking to the repair shop and it is just too hard these days for us to push it up onto the trailer.  JET will work on that tomorrow while I take our puppy Maggie into the vets to be spayed. She is 31 weeks now so a good time to get it done. It will be better for her and for us as we live in the countryside and the dogs go outside whenever we are outside and we don't need to be fending off would be admirers.

Yesterday we went into town to pick up a few groceries and met up with some folks for pizza.  It was an enjoyable, informative and interesting evening.

Sunday is Nascar so we will sit and watch that this afternoon and I will work on my hand sewing projects or crochet.

Yeah! the desk is done

The desk top was finally shiny so we attached it to the frame yesterday afternoon and carried across from the shop.
It is now shiny and in situ!

Note to self to get in there and give that keyboard a clean.

Put a coat of gloss varnish on the desktop

Yesterday JET put a coat of the newly acquired gloss varnish on the desktop and the shelf.

Will go out later to check on it.  Fingers crossed it will be nice and shiny and we can proceed to the next step. If it is good we will still leave it another day or so to really set before we attach it to the frame.

Maybe by the weekend it will be in situ in his office.

The Tuesday trip to see the neurologist wasn't so good.  It seems the chemo drug they give him to fight his auto immune disease has been having some dire consequences and folks are dying of something called PML which destroys the brain.  The JC virus that is apparently in most of us gets reactivated because the immune system is suppressed.  This virus causes the PML.

He was a little disheartened after that as am I.