Crochet and Keeping Busy

Hello my dear friends. Once again, sorry for the absence. I remain very busy. I figured I'd better make an appearance or all of you will be wondering what is going on. I have had time to crochet a bit. This is my current WIP. Again I am making a scrappy 3 round granny and using the join-as-you-go method. I am tucking tails with each block. There is no written pattern, just any old granny will do. I could kick myself for making it so long. Now I will have to make it wide enough to make it balanced. As usual I am trying to bust the yarn stash. I am crocheting right now because it isn't demanding and I can relax and watch a bit of tv and the end of my busy days. I would like to finish this project in the next few weeks and then dust off my sewing machine.

During the scrappy granny I got bored. I needed a couple fast, easy and small things to do to break the monotony. I dug around in my baby yarn stash and came up with another simple ripple pattern. The photo looks as though the rows are wider in some places....nope, the wind was blowing and made it look distorted.

I had plenty of that yarn and did this pattern again. It is the same one I used for my mom's blanket. Once again, windy day photo.
 

My tiny garden. I started out with 6 tomato plants and lost 2 during a frost. I had them covered too, but for some reason they took it hard and never recovered. I am pretty pleased with the 4 plants that did make it. My favorite thing out of the garden is tomatoes. Hard to believe that a few years ago we had around 83 plants. I got down on my knees and did some weeding. I still need to get the hoe and get the weeds that were hard to reach.

The biggest tomato. I have been watching it patiently. I have several more scattered about on the plants. I have been catching rain water and using that to water them. I have a new rain barrel but have yet to find the time to get that all set up.

More of my lovely produce. I love the smell of the tomato plant. It is a shame that here in Ohio we only have a short time to harvest them. Hot house tomatoes just don't cut it with me. They are tasteless in comparison.

Okay, it has been awhile since I filled this one bird feeder my hubby made. He used an old license plate for part of it. I go to fill it with bird seed and low and behold it is just about filled with small sticks. I am thinking a small wren has done this and how on earth am I gonna get all that stuff out of there! I don't see any eggs or baby birds. The nest builder had to fly up under the over hang of the roof to get in there with the twigs.

On Saturday a friend came and we set the brush pile on fire. It was pretty good sized and I wanted another person around to help keep an eye on it. Last thing I needed was to catch the meadow behind my property on fire or the row of pines next to the property line. I had the hose handy. I sure didn't want to catch either of my buildings ablaze either. We babysat it together for about 3 hours. I raked up the cones that had fallen under the pine trees and burned them too. My friend left after 3 hours and I puttered around the yard with the weed eater.

Can you see where we filled in the places where my brother removed the ash tree stumps? Boy, was that a job! I am so glad to be done with that. I did plant grass seed on the soil but maybe I should have waited till this fall. I am just so wanting to be done with this for once and for all. It has taken over a year to remove the trees, then grind the stumps, fill over the ground up wood chips cause grass will not grow in that stuff. I took a garden rake and worked the seed in the ground and it has rained a couple of times but still no sprouts. Grrrrr!!!

My cone flowers are in bloom. They are a little worse for wear since I am kinda late in catching them in picture perfect condition. No one would ever guess I love flowers and how years ago I dreamed of having something similar to an English flower garden. My small pittance is sad to look at. At times I think it just a frivolous dream. I have not been able to plant pots on my deck in a couple of years. This year my brother has trapped for me 2 ground hogs, 3 raccoons, and one stray sickly cat. The raccoons climb the fence and tear up my flower pots. I guess I have mentioned that in past posts. 

I happened to be out in the old garden area (where I now have the brush pile) and when I looked down this is what I saw. I think we could all use a little luck. What do you think? ♥