Hodgepodge

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'm back at the lake today and it's an overcast, rainy day.  But I'm going to enjoy it anyway.  I'll sit inside and sip tea and hot chocolate and either knit or cross-stitch.  More on that later.  I have a few pictures to share with you.  My week has been rather slow and a bit lazy so I'll share in pictures.

This was a view from our backyard on Tuesday evening.  A few clouds to the north at sunset with the most beautiful tint of pink in them.

Hubby sitting under the deck relaxing after some yard work.  All of our good patio furniture is now at the lake so we just have our chairs and a little table.

I was laying in the yard, playing with Chloe when Hubby called out to me.  I turned around to look at him and he took this picture.  I usually detest pictures of me, but I like this one with Chloe. 

Here's my best friend Jenny, with the runner I made for her.  Look at how long that thing is!  It goes over the top of the cabinet and down the other side for a foot or so.  I'm really glad she likes it.

She insisted on  picture of me too.  Not sure I like this one at all.  My chins are all showing!  :-)

Teresa, (over there on my sidebar) took a picture and posted a pattern on her blog of some rocks she crocheted covers for.  Several other blogging friends have been doing the same thing with rocks.  I've been using this rock as a door stop in the trailer for three years now and procrastinated on covering it for some reason.  I've been wanting too.  I've been meaning too.  Other things just come up and I never got it done.  Well, I took the rock home Tuesday and in way less than an hour I had this.  I also crocheted the bottom of the rock too so the floor doesn't get scratched when I scoot it around.

This is my view out the back window this morning .  There are raindrops on the window.  I love days like this.  Just listening to the rain on the roof.

Here is the cross stitch I've started.  I haven't done any cross stitch in years and years, but I've joined Vicki, (over on the sidebar as Stitchy McFloss), in a Stitch A Long, or SAL.  I've never joined in one before but I thought this would be fun.  Vicki has all the details on her blog.  There are 25 animals, with a new one released every month.  There have been four so far.  They are supposed to be made into an advent calendar but I'm thinking of making Christmas ornaments as gifts from mine.  What do you think this little guy is?  I'll show you the completed pattern in my next blog.

I just had a knock on the door and it's Stella, a nine year old that is vacationing two campers down the road.  She's been asking to learn to knit since spring and finally came over yesterday.  Goodness she's learning fast.  Last night I had Hubby stop at the house and bring out some bamboo number 8's for her to use.  They are much easier for her than the metal needles I had here at the camper.  I showed her the long tail cast-on and she was doing it like a pro within 15 minutes.  Now she's knitting a blanket for her Barbie.  :-)  I'll close this and give her some help.  It looks like stitch or two was dropped while she knitted by herself this morning.

Have a lovely weekend my friends.  Mandy & Piper are coming on Sunday so I don't know how much I'll be online.  I plan on having some Grandma snuggle time and playing.  Much more important than computers any day!  :-)

Blessings always,

Betsy

Busy At The Lake

We have been busy bees at the lake the past week or so.  Lori and I talked our respective husbands into the fact that we needed grass to keep the sand and gravel out of our campers. (That's Lori & Paul's trailer on the left, ours on the right.)  Do you see my big window in the back that looks over the lake?  Love that window!  :-)  Anyway, a week ago on Saturday my Hubby picked up a pallet of sod and Lori and I supervised his laying it down.  That was after I had spread a bulldozer bucketful of compost where the sod was going.  Do you remember that?  Hubby is a wonderful direction-taker from two women and this was the result.  I love it!!!!

Of course we couldn't stop there so Lori planted flowers all along the edge while I was home last Thursday.  Beautiful daylillies and a purple flower that I don't know the name of.  Do you see the line of rocks at the top of the picture?  Those are stairs that Lori built to the lower level.  We're probably going to put some wooden ones in there that will be safer and easier for Nita to use.  She's had a hip replacement and we don't want her falling.

Well now we were on a roll!  On Monday Lori and I framed up the gazebo and firepit area with 2 x 4's that we buried in the granite.  I could barely move on Tuesday morning after hammering nails into that hard gravel/granite sand and digging the trenches.  Larry and Nita brought out 700 lbs. of river rock on Thursday and I borrowed Hubby's pick-up again and brought another 1000 lbs. on Friday.  We put it here by the firepit.....

....and here.  Around three sides of the gazebo.  (That's Larry and Nita's motorhome you can see there on the right.)

Were we done?  Of course not.  Next was getting Hubby and Larry to FINALLY level the table under the gazebo.  The people on one side were always about 6 inches lower than the other side.  That doesn't sound like much but it made for uncomfortable eating and game/card playing for the people on the lower side.

Here they are busy about their work...but still with smiles for me and my camera.  That's my handsome Hubby on the left and Larry on the right.

Studying their progress.  Obviously Larry thinks a bit more dirt needs to be added to the side.

Well now, Paul has shown up to check how level the guys had it when the job was done.  (Paul had been out of town for work during all of the projects.  How lucky can a guy get?)  We like to call the three of our guys the "Three Stooges".  Anybody remember them?  Oh, that's my little CRV there on the left in the background.  I've had it four years and I love that car.

One more job and they were done for the weekend.  We stopped at Larry & Nita's after church yesterday and brought out their swing for the lower level.  Oh yes, Lori has great plans for this part of our "property" too.  I don't know how much will actually get done down here though.  Here are the guys enjoying the swing after putting it all together.

Here is Hubby and me.  Sorry about the shadows for faces.  That darn sun.  It just shined and shined all weekend.  :-)

The completed space.  Our trailer.  A living room and a dining room.

Another view, that's Hubby's truck there in the background.  His pride and joy and he even lets me drive it sometimes.  Do you see our little water fountain there in the lower left corner?  Brad gave that to us last year and it fits perfectly here.  There's my bag of knitting on the loveseat.

Looking toward Paul and Lori's place.

My handsome Hubby last night after our walk on the beach.  There were lots of swimmers this weekend but the water is still a little cold for me.  I am truly blessed to be married to this man.  He does everything he can to make me a happy camper in every way.

Canadian geese on the lake during our walk.

And I made a baby sweater this weekend too!  I started it Saturday around the campfire and finished it yesterday.  I plan to spend this week reading and trying to think of what craft I want to make next.  Ideas anyone?

Mandy and Piper are coming for a week beginning next Sunday.  Yippee!  Brad starts his new job next Monday and the house will be on the market and hopefully being shown a lot.  They have such a nice house I'm sure it will sell quickly but it makes me sad too.  Lots of great memories there in just a few years.  We're going to have lots of fun next week though.

I hope you've enjoyed your tour of our camping place.  We do have a good time here and have a nice little area for the three of us couples.  It's nice to be with friends.

Have a lovely day my friends.

Many blessings,

Betsy

Finished!

Happy Friday to you all! 

 It's been a busy week here in Spokane.  I have some pictures to show you in my next post of some gardening things Lori and I have done at the lake but today it's all about the runner.  Yes!  It's finally finished.  All 60 squares and three days of crocheting nothing but border stitches.  Now, it doesn't look very attractive here since it's still blocking and my blocking mat wasn't nearly large enough for this behemoth.   I was back to the old fashioned way of towels and sticking pins into the carpet!  I had to scoot it over close to the bed so that I could have room to maneuver my not so small body along the runner to pin it.

I do like how it turned out though.  I think a little tweaking with the iron and starch when it's dry and it will be just fine.  What do you all think?  It's just over 9 feet long and 18 1/2 inches wide.

A little closer.

I have some not so happy news from this Grandma too.  Brad, Mandy and Piper have put their home in Portland up for sale and are moving to Washington D.C.  Brad has a new job there and Mandy's plan is to be able to stay home with Piper instead of her being in daycare.  This Grandma is heartbroken. Portland is about a six hour drive from here, but I drove it happily to see them as often as I could.  D.C. is clear across this huge country and I won't be able to visit there very much at all.  Hubby's not about to let me drive that far by myself.  Thank goodness for Facetime.  Mandy calls at least once everyday on Facetime so we can talk to Piper and she can see us.  I am just so sad about all of this. Every one of my kids so far, far away.  Brad starts work on the 30th and Mandy & Piper are coming to stay with us for a week so the realtor can show the house at anytime without disturbing anyone.  So...we get at least a week and probably more if the house sells quickly and they need somewhere to stay while house hunting for a new home in D.C.  I need to count my blessings in that fact.

Now a happier picture.

This is Chloe with her friend Mattie laying on her blanket at the lake.  Mattie is Lori & Paul's dog and is "almost" as sweet as my Chloe.  They're best friends.  When I called Chloe to the car yesterday to come home, she ran back and laid down by Mattie as if to say she would rather stay right there.  I understand that feeling.

Have a lovely weekend my friends.

Blessings,
Betsy

Potholder!

Pammy Sue at her blog named "Scotty's Place" over on my sidebar, (I don't know how to do that fancy linking thingy,) asked me to do a test crochet on her rose potholder pattern.  She is planning to post the pattern on her blog tomorrow.  Hurry over to get a copy.  Pammy Sue is a great pattern writer.  It was wellwritten and   easy, peasy to follow.  Here's the finished product.  I did a few extra rounds with red instead of white on the back because I ran out of white here at the lake.

The front

The back.  The pattern called for white all the way up to the green but I did the aforementioned red instead.  You can make this beautiful pattern any color combo you like. 

Thanks Pammy Sue for trusting me with your pattern.  It was lots of fun.  And now, after that brief intermission, it's  back to the runner.

Blessings,

Betsy

Storm Aftermath

Hello my friends, on this sunshiny Tuesday evening.  I have to admit, this is my absolute favorite time of year.  It's still light out until after 9:00 p.m. and the sun is up around 4:30 in the morning.  The days will  keep getting longer for over a week before the trend reverses.  Of course we pay for this delightful light we have now in the winter, when the days only have about 7 hours of light.  The nights are cool, (in the 40's and daytime temps in the 70's.  Beautiful!!!

The peony bush has a broken limb from the storm last Tuesday.  I didn't have the heart to take pictures of my flowers I just planted.  They were stripped of all the blooms and leaves, but they're still alive so I'm trying to nurse them back to health with miracle grow.

We had some severe washouts that I spent Friday shoveling crushed granite into, to try to fill them in.  This was the smallest one.

We have been kicking around the idea of putting sod in this area to try to hold the hill up from washouts.  Our neighbor put a sprinkler system and sod in last weekend and gave us his sod leftovers.  I'm planning to pick up more sod on Friday on my way to the lake.  We're hoping the roots will keep the hill from washing out during rainstorms.

Friday night's campfire.  Marshmallows were toasted and s'mores were consumed. 

Fishermen all alone on the lake early Monday morning.  This was about 6:00 a.m., when I took an early morning walk.

Well. I guess they did have this duck sharing the water with them.  :-)

Crocheting and relaxing in my zero gravity chair yesterday.  See my toes?

Sun tea brewing in a half gallon mason jar in the sunlight.  Pretty and yummy.

Dusk.

We're having our patio at the house resealed at the early hour of 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, so I came home today and cleaned house.  I also washed the bedding on all three beds, remade the beds, washed clothes, vacuumed, ironed, trimmed bushes, cut rhubarb, washed the patio, went to Shopko, and Walmart, got gas in the truck, cleaned the baptistry at church.  Then Hubby took me to Arby's for dinner.  I'm tired but by getting everything done today I can go back to the lake until Thursday after they're done with the patio in the morning.

Here are a few pictures of my one rosebush.  Aren't they beautiful?

I only have the one bush so I try to enjoy the flowers it produces.

I'm still plugging away on the runner and have a little over four rows to go.  That equals about 13 squares then the border.  Meanwhile, Pammy Sue has asked me to test crochet a pattern for her so I'm going to take a break from the runner for a couple of days and make her pattern.  Pictures to come.

I hope you're all having a wonderful spring and specifically a wonderful week.  I am so grateful for each one of you taking the time to read my blog.  You all mean so much to me and I hope you know it!  :-)

Blessings my friends,

Betsy

My life....

As I type this I just got an email that there is a very bad storm happening at the lake.  I just left about an hour and a half ago and the skies were blue as can be but weather can change quickly in the mountains.  Apparently the hail was so big that it broke their skylight and there is torrential rain.  Hopefully our place is okay, but we may be driving back up after Hubby gets off work to check things out.

Here he was on Saturday with Paul, our neighbor to the north.  Paul and Lori have been friends for over 20 years and they brought their trailer out last summer to join us.  Nita and Larry are in the motorhome to the south and they came to the lake the same time as us.  All of us have been friends since we moved to Spokane in 1993.  We're sandwiched in the middle and like it that way!  :-)  This is our new toy.  We've been watching Craigslist for a good used golf cart to use to go to the beach and the garden but didn't want to spend the $$ everyone seemed to want.  Paul found this one for only $850 and it was a steal!  All of us chipped in and happy, happy we are.  I've used it a few times already to go work in the garden.  Paul and Lori use it to go to their boat and Nita and Larry just tootle around in it.  We call it the limousine!  Such fun!

This is a view from the back of our site toward the lake.  Larry & Nita's motor home on the left.  Our trailer on the right.

Wild roses behind the trailer.  I think they're beautiful.

A close up.  Isn't that pink beautiful?

One of the pots of flowers we planted by the gazebo. 

Another view.  We brought our patio furniture out this weekend since it didn't get any use at home.

Here we are again.  This is our trailer on the left.  I love this place!

I came home today because I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning at 7:00 and didn't want to drive in that early.  I chipped a tooth while in Omaha and that has to be fixed along with an old filling that is cracked.  After that, assuming I'm not a drooling fool, I'm heading back to the lake for the night and will come home Thursday for Bible study.  Friday will be back out there for the weekend.  Ah.  I love summertime.


I took the runner to Jenny's office on my way home to see how much longer it needs to be.  I think 20 more squares and then the border should do it.  I stopped an bought another ball of thread.  Hopefully that will be enough to finish it.


The last picture is a view of the lake this morning from by the beach.  Would you believe people have been swimming already?  The lake water temperature yesterday was 62 F.  Not nearly warm enough for me.  Skiers and jet skis have all been out and zipping around too.






I hoed and weeded the garden before leaving this morning.  I'm hoping the hail didn't ruin everything that sprouted this past week.  It was looking pretty good and I think most everything was up at least an inch or so.


I hope you're all having a most wonderful week, whatever you may be doing.


Blessings always my friends,

Betsy