The Happy Table

 

I was given this table by the neighbors as they said it would be too hard to fix it and refinish it. I knew it would become a future project some day so I stuck in in between two pine trees and used it as a shade plant base for begonias.

This year I pulled it out and noted that it was basically falling apart. I nailed pieces of wood to it from the underside to try and make it stable enough to use. 

It wouldn't become a house table. I don't have enough room. If the bottom of the legs were too rotten, I'd simply cut them off. 

I'm a terrible planner. I just started to pick colors that appealed to me and went for it. The legs had to be dressed up with bright colors. The mood is to be Happy. 

I found a butterfly sticker that looked neat and stuck it on one leg. I may do another one or not. The table is to be a discovery of sights, not something that is the same. 

I thought long and hard about the top. At first I thought of painting the top sections of wood in different wild colors. Then I took some mild green paint that is meant for porch floors and spread it on the top.

What about stickers?

I found some old neat stickers I hadn't used on other projects and laid them out.

The sticker idea was cool. But I didn't have enough of the silhouettes to achieve what I wanted.

How about tracing them? I started to trace the birds because I suck at drawing them. But then I went freehand for the branches. Why not have silhouettes of branches and birds all over the surface?

I could hand paint them black or whatever colors I choose and then run some whitewash over it to add texture and interest. 

Besides, I want this project to last a while. I am in no hurry to finish it.

Hubby says I am ruining the table. I retort that the table is falling apart and I've nailed it together making it completely worthless to anyone. 

I remind him of the Happy Chair I did for my mother years ago and how she absolutely loved it and used it to display her stuffed donkey dolls in her living room.

Below is a table and chairs I put together as a 'coffee' table for the porch. The chairs were excellent garage sale finds. I've left both of these chairs out on the porch and now they have a unique weathering to add character to my sitting area.

This chair now holds one of my newer Not Fairy Gardens I made with

and old pie tin I found in the shed. The spool

holds the little grill and the patchwork table top 

is still my most favorite piece of work.
I would love to find a little base for

it to sit on in the house.

I'm in the mood to pick up another chair and take the worn out ones and place them in gardens. I have a thing about chairs. 

I have two nice heavy stout ones in the house that are begging to be worked on. I discovered some neat old chairs in LaFarge  that I drive by on the way to KVR. Hmmm. It is a junk place that has some neat old beat up chairs that look stout. I may have to put one in the back of my Subaru one of these trips!

But first? 

More work on the Happy Table.

It makes me smile.

The table will also provide me with a nice place to do Still Life photography with flowers this summer.

Just give me colors and the freedom to paint wildly and my life brightens exponentially.

The Fixer

So. 
Basically the doc said I should be okay unless something more happens. In simple terms my older eye had stuff that is pulling on the retina. It caused the flashes of light and the weird things. 
Take it easy, don't be lifting a lot of weight. I'm not sure he understood that 15 to 50 lbs is not much weight to me, but for now I'm going with it. I will behave myself and put myself on 'light duty' for now.
I was told it is okay to hike but be reasonable. Pfft.

The Fixer. Well, that's me. 

Hubby couldn't get the skid steer started after he charged up the battery.

The man is a whiz with a skid steer and we've had a few of them over the years. This last one is his pride and joy. He came in the house frustrated and out of breath. He dropped on the couch and proclaimed that he was good for nothing.

I made a couple of phone calls. One to the guy who was fixing the mower. It will be delivered tonight or tomorrow night.
I called St. Joseph Equipment Company and they had a guy in the area.

I swear, if IT has an engine, I cannot fix it. Give me a dog, a horse, a mule, or even a donkey and I can get them to do most anything for me. Anything that uses gas? They are mysteries.

The electronics wouldn't work because the battery had died and the switches all shut off and needed resetting and a relay went bad. It took the tech guy about an hour to figure it all out and he was super nice [I'm sure the bill will be nice also].

I gave Rich the news and he beamed, he can't wait to get out and grade the driveway. I worked out a plan with Stan the Tech to get Rich out at least every two weeks to keep the 'steer' running. Stan also laughed and offered to take our machine to his house and bring it back when we needed it. He could keep it busy!

These machines like to work. 

And before Rich got ill, our skid steer was always busy. 
Like clearing brush and going into places to get stuck.....

Or digging out an Oak stump that we were told couldn't be dug out. Um, yeah, he stuck it good and we used a truck and a tractor to get it out of the hole, but by golly he did move the stump out!

Back in the day, Rich would often get a supervisor to ride along for easy work. Morris loved riding in the skid steer with Rich.

One year we used it to transport a Dexter Cow into the shed when she was injured.

And this is the machine that has always done the chores around the place, the heavy lifting and moving of large bales of hay, plowing snow, digging a grave for a beloved equine, or pushing downed trees out of the way so they could be cut up.

This machine is where Rich feels joy. 

He is chomping at the bit to get out tomorrow and do some 'skid steerin'. 

The Fixer put a smile back on his face.

It was a good day.

And yes, I am following the doctor's advice and have a follow up in 3 weeks.

This turned out to be a good day. The other half is still smiling.

Oh happy Day!

Yesterday while heading to CrossFit, I saw the Truck sitting outside the DeLap shop full of snow.
At least THAT headache was at the shop and not sitting in my driveway.

I think I am a worry wort...wart? I obsess when things are not going right. I like to have things tidy and in order. The truck upset that apple cart. As did the skid steer when it didn't start.

See? Machines and I don't like each other. But I am learning important things like how to maintain batteries over winter. How to keep the skid steer happy and working. How to keep the 4 wheeler properly running.
With the snowfall and sudden deep freeze, I worried about everything I cannot control.

I tried to get Rich to give me an answer as to whether or not he'd go back to Pulmonary Therapy. He keeps hmmming and hawing and issuing complaints that feel awful similar to a child not wanting to go to school. Meanwhile I have to monitor the new meds that were changed.
And I wonder if his reluctance to go is apathy or is he really having something else going on?


I decided missing CrossFit was not doing me any good so I went. I needed that. I needed to work out. I'd missed it for days while arranging for the truck to be towed and finding a shop I felt I could trust to do the work without ripping me off.

I set a trail cam up on our corner. I've done this before to monitor the traffic and watch animals that like to play on the road in front of our mailboxes. I set it up too for another reason. I'll get into that at another time.
I like trail cams and ordered a new one. My old one is over 5 yrs old and only takes black and white shots now. But still works well.

I like to 'see' what goes on around the farm when I am not looking!

So as the sun went down last night, I did chores. My stomach had given me a large revolt during the afternoon and I was sick as a 'dog'. I think it was my body's way of reacting to being a worry wort and then finally getting a release of that emotion by working out.
I'd slept most of the afternoon.

When I came in from chores, Rich announced that DeLap's had called and the truck was ready.
The little coiled line that went to the rear left brake had split, so it was replaced as well as the one on the right side. They'd checked out the brakes and they were all fine. Everything was good, and I should notice a huge difference now that it had brakes.
Hmmm.
The cost? $187

I'd gone to the one little shop in town where I could speak face to face with the owner. In the past I'd dealt with his father who I didn't care for, but this guy was kind and respectful and told me that no questions regarding a vehicle were stupid and not to feel bad if I didn't understand the workings of a vehicle.

The Truck Saga is over for now and it looks like I'm back in the business of being able to haul feed and...take stuff to the dump or scrap yard!
Doing the happy dance all the way to town this morning.