Thursday, June 30, 2011

New Birdbath and Garden Ornament

Someone had a post in which she used small glass vases and other dishes to make garden ornaments.  I loved them, but I have none of that kind of stuff hanging around. BUT, the local Marshall's store has all kinds of inexpensive glass things that I've always loved looking at but had no reason to buy.  While wandering I found two small orange vases that turned into this:


Then I found an enormous red glass vase and and equally large platter that I thought would make a great birdbath.  The combination was a bit wobbly so I glued another piece to the bottom to make the base wider.


I hope the birds like this as much as I do.  I used E6000 sparingly and according to the directions after globbing on too much the first time.  I also put a thin clear silicone caulk line around the joints to keep moisture out.  ( Learn from my mistake.  If the pieces have any openings between them, moisture will get in and may show through.

As for the cost,  all these pieces were very inexpensive.  The three pieces of the birdbath in descending order were $7, $9, and $6.  The E6000 and silicone caulk were already here from other projects.

Update:  Check out even newer birdbaths and garden totems here, here, here, and here.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Hoo Are You? Questions for the Week from Night Owl

I have not done this before, but Night Owl apparently posts a set of questions each week.  I found out through A Creative Princess blog. You answer the questions in your blog and post a link at the link party.   I'm joining in the fun cuz it's nice to get to know other bloggers.  Here are the questions and my answers.

1. Do you decorate for the 4th of July?
    No!  I'm way too lazy.  Now that the kids are grown, I only decorate for Christmas and not too much of that.  I do, however, love looking at everyone else's decorations.

2. Do you you buy fireworks for the 4th of July?
    No, again.  It's illegal in New York.  If I wanted to risk getting my name in the papers for breaking laws, I'd probably in for something like growing weed.  If nothing else, I'm practical.  I'd have to be making money.  Of course, I'd claim it was medicinal.  (And, no, I don't smoke weed.  I am much too cowardly to risk getting caught.  They'd take my picture, and I just don't photograph well.  It always ends up looking exactly like me.)

3.How  do you celebrate the 4th of July?  
    It's never the same.  Sometimes, we go camping.   If I can get the family together at home, we have a cookout and make use of the pool.  If not, the hubster and I hike or bike somewhere.  We always go see fireworks at night wherever we are.  Darn, we are boring, aren't we!

4. Do you have a family member that is serving our country?
    Yes,  my nephew, Rusty,  is in the Marines.

5. Do you dress in red, white, or blue on the fourth?
    Only accidentally.  It would require planning at  which I suck..

So there you have it.  This year I have a little more respect for Independence Day since I just finished reading David McCullough's book, "John Adams" for my book club.  It was a powerful, moving reminder that by and large, ordinary people made this nation happen with a lot of hard work and personal sacrifice in those early years.  

Interesting July 4th Fact
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day--July 4th, the fiftieth anniversary of the big day.
What were the chances of THAT happening?


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Sewing Room Closet Door Decals

When  I decided to paint the closet doors in the sewing room white to match the trim, I wasn't prepared for the rather massive expanse of white I ended up with.  It looked a bit like a giant movie screen as you can see here.

Since I've been wanting to try vinyl wall decals, I thought I'd get some for the doors.  Here's the result.
I love it!

This was my first experience with wall decals.  I was a wreck when I unfurled the whole thing.  It looked daunting!  I feared that I was in over my head and would ruin it.  The actual process turned out to be easy.  The only downside was that all the leaves had to be put up individually.  Still,  I managed to finish it in four hours without any assistance.   I'm looking forward to trying a few more of these--without the individual leaves, though.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

How to Remove Moss and Algae from the Roof

I've not stopped blogging.  I've just been REALLY busy with outside and inside projects.  With nice weather, it's been mostly outside work such as fixing up the pool shed.  That job had to start with getting the moss and algae off the roof.  Half the roof looked like this:
After wetting,  scrapping, and rinsing with the garden hose for a few hours,  it looks like this:
It's a rainy day here!  How nice of nature to wash off any of the residue of the Brand X version of Clorox 2 that I used on it yesterday.  I tried just scraping it off--didn't work at all. Then I Googled and found that oxygenated bleach would help.   Actually I think just getting it wet helped.

Not being a fan of walking around on a roof let alone a wet one, I tried doing this by moving a tall ladder around and scraping with a long-handle brush.   The ladder worked but the brush didn't.  I finally took the brush off and just used the plastic piece on the end of the pole to gently loosen the moss and algae and the garden hose to wash the mess off.   Success!

This is a short-term solution, though.  According to the internet, I can get rid of the problem permanently by cutting down my neighbor's tree (no, he will not like that) or putting copper or zinc strips under the top rows of shingle.   Oh, wait a minute!   I could also spray Wet and Forget once a year.  What?  Yes, after all that work, I find rave reviews for this product on Amazon.  I could have sprayed the roof with Wet and Forget and not only would the moss and algae have washed off by itself in the rain, BUT it would have prevented further buildup for a year. The Wet and Forget 10587  is a moss, mold, and mildew remover while Wet and Forget 800003 is for moss, mold, mildew, and algae.You should see the reviews for these products! I can't get it locally, but I have placed an order on Amazon. No more hours of scrapping for me.

As soon as it stops raining, I get to start painting this in a lovely shade of gray.

Just in case you're wondering what happened with my sewing room, it's almost finished!  I'm waiting for a couple of things that are on order including some vinyl wall decals! I've never used them before.   Can't wait to brag  or rather blog about it.  It has been a LOT of work, but I'm lovin' the results.