Canning and such

Its been a pretty busy summer for me.  First recovering from left knee replacement surgery. Then finding out that I have osteoporis and rhematoid arthritis. Well I am recovering nicely and the knee pain before the surgery is gone.  I have a Dr appt on August 9th and I think he will release me then. 

Our garden didn't do to well this year.  We had 105 degree temps in June and part of July.  Then alot of rain.  The garden has become very overgrown.  Alot of the seeds Chuck planted didn't come up this year. But thanks to the neighbors we were given lotz of tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers and mississippi peas to put up.  I got myself a canner pressure cookie which makes my life easier.  I would like to get another one, only bigger.  The one I have is only a 10qt and holds 4 qts or 7 pints.  I have done with hubbys help, peaches, tomatoes, spagetti sauce, marinara sauce, pickles, green tomatoe relish, potatoes and salsa.  I am planning on canning chilli, soupos and beef stew next.  I am getting quite good at this and more knowledgable. 

We had company here the end of June thru July 4th our old navy friends we have known for many years and were stationed with a couple of times.  They live in Dallas, TX but would love to move to TN specifically our neighborhood.  Bob's wife wants to retire in a couple of years.  Bob is already retired.  They visited us 2 years ago and fell in love with this area.  We hope to visit them in TX mid October.  They figure the weather will be much cooler by then.  Hopefully they will come back for another visit soon.

Kristy and the girls usually come up for 3 weeks in the summer but because of Jynna getting a summer job at McDonald's they couldn't come.  I am still hoping that Kristy will come up with the 2 younger girls before they head back to school August 22nd.

We went out on the boat Sunday for about 4 hours.  We thought that the lake would be very crowded with boaters but since we didn't get out till 3 pm most boaters had headed home.  We haven't been able to get out during the week.  Hopefully will get out more before summer is over.  I drove the boat while Chuck navagated and we almost made it to the dam.  It was getting late and we wanted to get back to our mariner before dark.  Next time we will do some fishing.

Cathy's surgery & Bath renovation

Well we had been planning on renovating the bathroom anyway but Cathy's knee replacement surgery was completed on 11 May so I had to hustle along on the reno.  I had to cut the fiberglass tub/shower combo out in prep for a low step shower install. 

 Next came Advantech floor sheeting to help level and strengthen the floor.  Then I used cement board for the inner walls to help hold the wall tile in place.

 I've laid tile floors before but never a wall.  It's a little more difficult.  I had some trouble keeping the tile level across the surface and maintaining the gaps between tile. 

But the hardest part was drilling the holes to mount the handicap bars.  It took 4 minutes to drill each hole in the porcelain tile and I had to drill 12 holes.  The tile was hard and drilling them in place there was alway the risk that the tile would break.  But success and Cathy's happy.



Caty's doing super great on her therapy.  In just a week, she's graduated from the walker to a cane and everyday sees more improvement.  She has the right attitude and, although her pain threshbold is low, she pushes through it.  I'm proud of her progress and I know she's happier having had the surgery.  

Well - Today was our first day out on Dale Hollow Lake.  It ws a little chilly, only 75 and a little breezy, but we enjoyed it anyway.  We spent a little time cruisin', a little time snoozin' and a little time fishin' and had a great time.  Gonna have to dedicate some time to cleaning up the boat after the winter over.  Lots of pollen and tree debris and some mold from being covered.

Chuck made a case for some of his flint arrowheads and blades.  Last summer he helped our neighbor rebuild his barn doors.  So - in return, Joe gave him the weathered barn wood from the old doors.  The wood is really aged, perhaps 30-40 years worth, and on the outside it's black and the side that was inside of the barn is grey.  Chuck as also made some picture frames from the same wood.

I just found out that I'm going to have to have knee replacement surgery in May.  Seems that the arthritis has really deteriorated my left knee joint and it has to be repaired.  Not looking forward to it but am hoping it will get rid of the pain I've been having for awhile.  I'm sure, in time, I'll wind up having the same thing done to the right knee also.  Anyway, in preparation for this, we're getting rid of the bath/shower combination in our master bathroom and replacing it will a full, tiled shower.  We intend to redo the entire bathroom but this will be the start.  We purchased all the material and Ken, Chucks friend, is going to help get it started by laying in the shower pan.  Hopefully it will only take a few days and my bathroom will be back in operation.                                                                       



Winter's not over yet

Well - It's snowing again.  Within 2 hours we had over an inch of snow on the ground.  Right now there's about 3-4" and it's still coming down.  Supposed to get up to 5" before it's over.  It's a real heavy, wet snow too.  So we'll probably see trees and limbs down before it's all said and done.  I can see some of the limbs on the Hickory trees bowing under the weight.  Many of the smaller evergreens are gonna take it tough too.  Hopefully it won't be snowing much longer. 

New Livingroom Set

Well Hooray for us - Finally after bunches of years of paying in - we finally filed our income tax and lo and behold we got a tax refund.  Stupendous.  We been paying in for so many years that we thought we'd never see the end of it.  Figured that once we started drawing SS that our paying in was over but nnnooooooooo!!!  They still tax 50% of my SS.  But not this year.  So - we splurged and bought ourselves a new living room couch and love seat.  The old set we bought in 1992 just after hurricane Andrew came through our living room in Homestead, Fl.  Ok - I know - no biggie.   But for us it is.  We been hauling that 20 y/o set around for years.  Happy Valentines Day!!!  
I was talking with Joe, my neighbor, the other day and he was telling me about this guy, our age, that worked for the VA that had recently had to have a leg removed because of diabetes.  Anyway, he apparently has a wheel chair but no handicap ramp to get out of his house. Actually he does have a ramp, it at his back door and is so steep it's hard to control the wheel chair and nearly impossible to get back up into the house.  So - Joe and I went down and surveyed the problem and are planning on building him a OSHA approved wheel chair ramp for access to his house.  He and his wife are pretty much on a fixed income like most of the rest of us so Joe and I are donating most of the lumber and labor for the job.  Really gives ya a good feeling when you can do something to help someone else out of a fix.  Like Joe says - we got more time than money so why not.  Til next time - Ta Ta

 Of course ya'll know who this is.  Why it's Cathy and her loving hands are crocheting an afghan for some lucky someone.

 Don't know how she does this so fast but she's really quick and watches TV at the same time.  I can't even walk and chew bubblegum at the same time.  She started crocheting just before Christmas and is now working on number six (6).

 She's making this one from a lot of yarn that she had left over but it looks good altogether and these things are really warm.  She's made baby receiving blankets and the kids are still dragging them around when their older.

We always keep a couple draped over the couch and loveseat and we have another at the foot of our bed.  Believe me they sure come in handy.  I had made a couple of other pictures for the blog but Cathy wouldn't let me put them on.  She was crocheting at the kitchen table and was wearing her housecoat, plus, I got her when she stuck her toung out at me.  Totally in character for her but HEY - it's her blog.  ENJOY!!

TWO 'N ONE

Simply amazing what you can do when you're bored.  Anyway - thought I'd post pics of Cathy's purse and wallet while I was at it then I'm gonna go catch her at work and photograph what I can and put it on here too. 

This is the picture that I used for Cathy's purse and wallet.

 This is the design I put on one flap of her purse.

 This is a pattern that I had from a previous project that she always liked.  They're Maple leaves - so I put them on the other flap.