Archive for the ‘Our Home’ Category

About two weeks ago I really pushed John to get started on the back deck rebuild.
We both knew it had to be done and we had been procrastinating for some months but it was time. Not only was it ugly looking, but the boards were warping, splitting and falling apart and truthfully I wasn’t sure how safe it was anymore. With company coming to visit we thought that this was the perfect reason to get started. Little did we know that just a few days after John started the first of two major heat waves would hit here in Virginia. I am talking +100 days with humidity. The hottest days Virginia has seen in the month of June in years.  Many years

John is doing this himself, I am no help after all and he has only been able to work about 3 hours a day on it, first thing in the morning, as those temperatures by 11:00 am have hit 95 or higher and then hold steady till sunset. He is a total perfectionist about these things as well and is getting more and more frustrated that he can’t start and work all day. We did get a break in the weather this past weekend. It only got up to 92+ on Friday and Saturday but that did allowed him to get out there and work a bit longer each day. Our goal now.. get it done before we leave on vacation in three weeks. I think we can do it. At least I hope we can.

He was so busy working on the deck I am not even sure he realized I was out there taking these.

I hope it is cooling off for you guys wherever you are this week. I understand we are in for record breaking temps this entire week but then we may get back to normal temperatures. Some rain would really help as well.   Enjoy your week and take care.

I am trying to remember to always carry my camera with me. I am currently doing this about 75% of the time but really want to get to where I have it 90-95% of the time.  The photo below is an example of one reason why you want the camera handy (even if just outside your house).

It had just stopped raining as I was heading out of the house the other morning for work and because I had parked backwards in the driveway I had parked right next to the Daylily plants.  I just happened to glance down and though what a great picture they (the day lilies) would make with the raindrops on them when I remembered that I had my camera in my purse. Since I was heading out the door to work, if I had not had the camera in my bag I know 100% positively that I would not have gone back into the house to get it and would have missed out.

Straight out of  camera with slight crop to center.

I didn’t purposely angle this next one to be partially of the screen.  What happened was I was in a hurry and couldn’t get wet or muddy (heading to work remember) so kneeling down was not an option. I basically held the camera down and NOT looking through the view finder just clicked and moved it around a bit then clicked some more. When I opened it up I loved the result so I just cropped a bit from the top left and left it as is.

Before I go I do want to thank everyone again for the comments.  I enjoy waking up in the morning, or coming home from work and reading them.  Thanks for looking at today’s photos, have a great day and don’t forget to grab your camera when you leave the house.

I love to watch birds in the backyard and have several bird feeders all the way on the far side of the yard, fun to watch but not easy to photograph.

About two weeks ago I saw a post on another blog with some great bird pictures.  The writer talked of how she takes the photos through her guestroom window. I thought maybe I could do the same thing since our guestroom is on the ground level as well.  So last weekend I moved a few of the feeders and even bought a new Shepherd hook and a few more feeders and placed them just outside the window.  Next I cleaned the windows “Windex Clean” LOL and waited a few days to see of the birds would find them and boy have they found them.

Besides the everyday sparrows I have seen cardinals, robins, some little black and white cuties and a baby woodpecker..  The cats have taken to laying on the bed all day and just watch..  Last night and tonight I grabbed the camera and sat on the bed as well, here are a few that were hanging out:

My Backyard Friends Gallery has many more, please feel free to take a look and leave a comment as well..

Have a wonderful Easter weekend.  It is suppose to be sunny and in the 80′s here