Oranges

We have three oranges growing on our little orange tree, the flowers that came at the start were little white with a yellow dot in the middle.  This tree was not suppose to flower for two years, so it is a year early.  I will find the photos later and post them.
I got to visist with my cousin Patty this week, it was so great to see her again.  She has a VERY busy life these days with kids, parents, grandkids and school.  I hope she can find time to drop me an email once in a while. 
The government is really doing STUPID things these days!!!  I think it stinks that their ideas do not include having the million and billionaires paying more than the working poor or middle class.
I have been have some nice visits and visits with my sisters, we were even able to get my brother in law comfortable so he could sleep.  Anybody know how to trim an orange tree?  Next time we will get a lemon tree.   Can you Doug it?

Birds

We've been trying to get some pictures of the visitors to one of the birdbaths here as well as at the feeders but haven't had much luck. Still it's nice out in the garden and we've been watching birds pop in and out of the wren house hanging on the arbor as well.

Old Faithful

Our old Faithful sump pump died yesterday, the motor works but the propellers inside do not, so it was running but not pumping.  I pulled it out and took it outside to disassemble it but the screws on the bottom were rusted so bad that it was not possible to get them out.  I really don't think we could have waited for parts anyway as the water runs into the basin like to kitchen faucets turned on.  Our water table is only 12 feet below the floor, something I did not know when we bought this place.  The new pump is submersible, so quieter, just hope it doesn't leak and short out.  Got it on sale as well, bought another check valve so now it has two, on at the motor and one part way up.  canyoudougit

Planned obsolescence.

Old rusted screws on the bottom.

Pop Can Bird Feeder

Old pop can, wire cutters, the left over end of a wire clothes hanger, and some mesh left over from a sifter we made last year.

Here is my version made with the bottom of two pop cans, the clothes hanger end and a piece of the hanger.

Another view of the feeder with feed in it.

This was an interest project, caused a few scrached, but was surprised by how thin the cans were.  I just cut the bottoms off a couple of cans, cut the hanger and roled the screen to fit between the two ends.  I think this worked out okay.

Recycled siding into a planter

Pocket Jigging the sides together.

All four sides jigged together, makes it really strong.

The finished planter looks pretty good

Time to install the corners of the siding.

Brad nailing the top trim, which is also jigged together, onto the box. 

Getting the materials all together to get started.

Spent the day building this twenty inch tall by three feet long planter with the last of the left over siding from the studio.  We pocket drilled the top into one piece and the sides together so it good and strong.  The lumber is cedar so we did not have to line the inside. Used my Black and Decker drill, the Black and Decker workmate that my brother in law gave us, and my Black and Decker air compressor brad nailer.  It sure is nice to have these nice tools to speed up the job and make it easier.
Of  course I had my Beautiful assistant to help me. canyoudougit ??

$39.00 Planter

Using a pocket jig to make the ends from scrap lumber left over from a previous job.

This is what the ends look like after all the holes are drilled, the glue is applied, and the screws are driven to the bottom.  As you can see the Black and Decker is ever present. 

This is fastening the boards together, we work in the shade in front of the studio as you can see.

Fastening the ends together in the pocket jig, I wish I had put the holes on the outside.  They would have been covered by the siding and it would have been a lot easier.

To make sure that water will not get into the holes Julia covered them with  water proof tape, they will also be under the siding under that we will be putting on the inside, you can see it in the photo.  The inside siding is free off a web side, I got it to do the second building but did not get enough.

How is this for a way to protect the inside of the planter?  The j channel fits perfectly over the top and bottom of the planter so it is like putting the planter in a giant plastic bag.

I hate smacking my fingers with a hammer so I use my van door handle (needle nose pliers) to hold  the nails.

 End siding in place, inside siding in place, support lumber to brace the sides, now for this front piece, which I think is going to look good. I'm glad we spent the money on the cedar for the top trim, finished it off nicely.  After this shot we leveled it off so it would look better.
Be sure to check Julia's site   http://paintersgarden.blogspot.com 

Busy and Concerned

I have been busy lately trying to do things for http://www.zazzle.com/doug_photo  and concerned for my family who is going through a lot of medical stuff right now.
I did get out the old video camera and start looking at the old videos and prepared to convert them to digital.  I have trying to get it to work with skype but it shuts off if it isn't recording, so we work on that as I really do not want to buy another webcam.  Converted some TV shows and movies to a mobile format and bluetoothed them to my phone.  I was able to edit, convert and download Julia's time on TNN cable TV then bluetooth it to her phone and mine.
Anybody want to see these?  Let me know I can email or I can post them here or youtube.
Julia post on her blog a LOT   http://paintersgarden.blogspot.com  
Be sure to check out our sale sites.