Hi everyone,
Joy has been sharing her deck story for a few weeks and I’m hoping they are reaching the end soon. They were repairing and rebuilding and raking leaves away from it and scraping and finally painting. Well, I have a story today about what we did but ours only took 2 days… 2 LONG days. We both were so sore we could hardly move last night. I can’t imagine how sore Joy was.
First of all let me show you the scenery yesterday and today. It was beautiful blue skies, 60’s to 70’s, a little bit breezy and not a cloud in the sky. We even saw an eagle fly overhead. He was just soaring in the wind, never flapping his wings; just flying in the wind. We watched him for about 10 minutes until he vanished behind some trees. I LOVE watching them fly!
My hubby just mulched the leaves day before yesterday… and now… look at all of them again!
The last time we painted my hubby’s shed was in 2021, so it’s been 4 years… almost 5. His shed was in pretty sad shape and since the weather forecast said it’s supposed to get really cold this weekend, we decided yesterday and today were the days. (The weather report said, “this coming weekend will be like January temps!”) EEK!
My hubby said, “Unless you want to do this with our coats on, we better get it done while we can.” Okkkkaaaayyy…
You can see the difference a paint job makes… I’m sure you can tell which side got painted first. We got the east side and most of the front done before we stopped before it got too dark. I painted the grooves with a brush and he used a roller to go over the boards. I used a low stool to sit on so my foot didn’t hurt as much. Then I stood up and painted as high as I could reach. Up and down and up and down. That’s why I was so sore. Using muscles that haven’t been used for a while, since my foot has kept me from my walking. Ugh!
Then this morning we started again on the rest of the front, the west side and the back.
The young hens seem to like the new paint job. They were watching us most of the day…
While I was outside, I took a few more pictures of things that are changing… my Morning Glories didn’t ever bloom like they did last year. I think they might be done for the year. I was so disappointed.
The Ginko tree is starting to change colors… just 2 days ago it was still green.
A few days ago, (we guess) a hawk got one of our young hens. It happened sometime during the day and my hubby found a dead hen in the pen. He said it was just like a half of a chicken you get from the grocery store. He doesn’t know why it left the one half, but it did. Two other hens were missing, but later that day he found them in the pen with the older hens. I guess they got scared and flew the coop. (Literally!)
Kristoffer said Rural King (a farm store near us) had those owls that have the turning/bobble heads and maybe we should get one to put out by the hens… We got one and mounted him on the fence. His head spins in the wind… and it’s kind of fun to watch…
I did take a stick and tap his head to show you how it spins. Sometimes we look out the living room window and he seems to be staring right at us! I think he’s cute!
Well, that’s it for me… It’s 8:07 and I’m actually going to bed. My body is saying, “Go…Go…Go,” so I am…
I’ll see you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a difference a coat of paint can make! The shed looks so much better now. I’m sure it was a challenge for you to paint while still babying that foot, Jeanne.
I’m happy to report my laptop was not dead after all. Today I remembered this happened once before, and when I took it to the Geek Squad, all he did was hold the power button down a few seconds, and it came back, so I decided to try it. It worked!
My foot is very bruised, not just at the base of the toes but along the outside, too. I go to the foot doctor in the afternoon, and will see about another x-ray, because the urgent care might have only x-rayed the toe area and not further down. Earlier today, every step felt like I was walking on bruises (which I guess I really am); however in the last couple of hours, it is more comfortable for me to walk, and I am grateful for that!
Joy, I have made coats for a few of my dolls, or friends’ dolls. For smaller dolls, like Ruby Reds, Little Darlings, etc., it’s good to try to match the scale of the fabric with the scale of the doll. For instance, use feather-weight corduroy rather than even fine wale corduroy, as the latter tends to be stiffer, and doesn’t drape as nicely. It’s fine on our big human bodies, but not on small dollies! I found it to be even a bit stiff on the American Girl dolls (I made Molly a coat and matching skirt). Also, if you want to make a fleece coat for your doll, see if you can find microfleece, as it is, as its name implies, thinner and less bulky. As to the patterns themselves, I think it’s a matter of trial and error. You get a pattern, make it up in an appropriate fabric, and try it on the doll to see how it works. It can be especially challenging if you are trying to get the coat to work over clothes. I remember in the early days of American Girl dolls, they had a snowsuit for Bitty Baby, and it was really cute, but it only worked if BB didn’t wear anything underneath!! When I was a child, I would not have liked that! I wanted it to be as realistic as possible!
I meant to tell you about my “grail” doll. When I was a child, I wanted an 8″ Betsy McCall doll SO much!! But, I was “too old”–I think 12 or 13 when she came out. So I never got one. Years later I attended a doll show and found one! However, she was missing a lower leg. Her hair was very nice, though, and she was wearing a long formal, so I bought her. I still have her, and some of Robert Tonner’s Betsy dolls, as well. I love Betsy McCall! Played with the paper dolls as a child, too.
Thanks Charlotte for the coat tips. I’ve made many over the years, but finding “the right” pattern I like has been challenging. I think that I’ve found one that will work. I’m looking for a simple 30’s look. And today Pixie Faire has a great pattern for an AG. Free if you buy something else. 🙂
I still have my original tiny Betsy McCall from the 50’s. 🙂 Glad that you found one too.
I just downloaded the pattern Joy. I think it is lovely
I mentioned before I buy a lot of fabric from a site that specializes in small scale fabric for dolls. Their fabric covers the gamut of fancy to sporty and in between. I buy their featherweight corduroy and love to sew with it. They have it in so many wonderful colors too.
I didn’t even know about the Betsy McCall dolls when I was growing up only the paper dolls in the McCall’s magazine that my grandmother got. When I went to visit her in the summer she had the magazines ready for me to cut out the paper dolls. Today I have every one of the paper dolls from the magazine. You can find them online. I don’t cut them out just keep them to remind me of spending weeks in the summer with my Nanna. Wonderful memories. Today I have both an 8″ and 14″ Betsy McCall.
Dear Charlotte, I hope your foot will feel better soon.
As for Betsy McCall, I wanted to let you and the Sofa Sister know that UFDC is doing a program about the doll on Thursday, November 13 at 8 pm ET. I will paste the link to the UFDC calendar page below. If anyone is interested, she will need to send an email to the National Doll Club (that’s on the page) and request the program’s the Zoom link.
https://www.ufdc.org/calendar/events/zoom-betsy-mccall-11-13-25
National Doll Club meets via Zoom. It is the first club started by Mary Lewis who founded, what is now, the United Federation of Doll Clubs.
Oh that shed/ henhouse is just darling, Jeanne! And how nice it looks now! Yes, Ol’ Man Winter is supposed to make an appearance this weekend, and that’s why we hope to get the other half of the backyard raked TODAY! Of course, this will only be for a short while, because the trees still have a lot of leaves on them, but you have to keep up with it. We rake and use the blower together and push all the leaves underneath our big cedar tree at the end of our yard. We have mountains of leaves there, but by the time spring comes, they are gone! That tree is really a tall one now, and I can’t help but think it is because of the leaves that turn to mulch under it.
Your yard with all the leaves, looks pretty much like ours does, but we only have one tree in the back. However our neighbors trees seem to like their leaves in our yard for some reason!🤣
That owl is darling and I hope he “works”! Even if he doesn’t, he is a cute addition to your yard! When I was growing up, we had chickens and I would be the one to go and get eggs in the morning. One day I went to get the eggs, (I was a teen) and got to one nest, but the hen was there with no head! We found that it was an opossum that killed her , but that memory has stuck with me all this time! Why didn’t the opossum take all of her?
Oh, I hope both you and Charlotte get some relief with your feet! That is no fun nursing a sore foot!
I don’t think I ever mentioned my “holy grail” doll, and I really don’t remember what kind of doll she was, but she was the one I wanted Santa to bring me when I was about 8 or 9. She was in a department store behind glass doors, and had braids, a pleated skirt, and a whole wardrobe full of pretty clothes. My mother told me much later that she was very expensive, so that’s why I never got her, but I will always remember that doll. Many years later when I was buying dolls for my granddaughters, I found Molly, an American Girl doll, and bought her for me! In a way, I did get my holy grail doll and Molly has always been my “ mini me” and the most favored doll that I own.
As far as doll coats, why doesn’t anybody make a nice “dressy” coat for dolls anymore? All I see are casual jackets to wear with slacks. I do have some nice coats for the AG dolls that AG has made, but when it comes to RR or Wellies, I can’t find a nice coat that isn’t a jacket type of casual thing. As a child, I always had a full length coat for church and dressy wear, and my daughter did too. I will for sure be aging myself now, but my coats would always have matching leggings and hat to go with them!
Sorry about the gruesome find in the chicken coop. Nightmare actually.
As to the dressy coats, while looking for patterns, I did find some of those for both RR and AG’s. Maybe this should be a project? Ha ha, Not that you need one with all of those leaves. We have three sycamore trees across the front of the house as well as a red maple that are all dropping leaves right now. The neighbors probably hate us. But, everyone appreciates the shade in the summertime.
Bonjour. Ici,aussi,dans mon jardin,je ramasse des feuilles et il faut recommencer chaque jour !Notre jardin n’est pas très grand,mais il y a beaucoup d’arbres ,la vigne vierge sur le mur et deux kiwis ;dont il faut broyer les feuilles et ramasser les fruits . Quand j’étais enfant,je rêvais d’une poupée,vêtue de laine angora ,que possédait ma petite voisine . Poupée beaucoup trop chère,pour le budjet de mes parents..!Mais,il y a 2ou 3 ans,elle est arrivée sur Ebay et elle est arrivée chez moi! Il faut y croire… Belle journée à vous toutes.
Hello. Here too, in my garden, I gather leaves and have to start over every day! Our garden is not very big, but there are many trees, the Virginia creeper on the wall, and two kiwi plants; whose leaves need to be crushed and fruits gathered. When I was a child, I dreamed of a doll, dressed in angora wool, that my little neighbor owned. A doll far too expensive for my parents’ budget..! But, two or three years ago, it appeared on eBay and it arrived at my home! You have to believe it… Have a beautiful day, everyone.
Congrats on finding your childhood dream doll. Amazing. 🙂 I’d love to see a picture of her.
Chère Georgina, je suis ravie d’apprendre que tu as enfin eu la poupée de tes rêves. Moi aussi, j’adorais les poupées quand j’étais petite, et avec deux grandes sœurs et un frère, je ne pouvais pas tout avoir !
Ramasser les feuilles mortes, c’est un bon exercice, c’est la seule façon raisonnable que je trouve pour moi.
❤️
What a great story about finding your childhood grail doll. My parents had a limited budget too so that is why I didn’t know about a lot of dolls. It didn’t pay to even look. But I did have a beautiful ballerina doll that I would love to replace. I keep looking on eBay but I don’t know who made her so searching “ballerina dolls” can get pretty tedious. But I’m not giving up.
I’m thinking you’re remembering the Madame Alexander dolls. Try looking for vintage composition ballerina’s. Remember the before plastic dolls? There are Nina Ballerina, Elise, Margot face,Cissette ballerinas and I’m sure others.
A little time. A little paint. Big difference. George’s shed aka the barn looks great. Such an improvement. So sorry to hear about the chicken. At least the hawk didn’t get those fast movers. We see hawks all of the time here. The crows let us know when they are around. But, the latest is that one of our neighbors had a silver fox in his backyard. Only one sighting, but lots of photos. It was a big guy too. Other person caught sight of it heading up our front steps, but it quickly disappeared. Our neighbor has two chickens, so that is why he was around I guess.
Now, we have a playhouse in the backyard that I redid completely some years ago. Made into kind of a she shed. But since then, time has taken it’s toll. Water has gotten in under the door and lifted a lot of the tile I spent so much time putting in. And the outside needs repainting too. The place was a wreck when I started back then and it took 27 tubes of caulking to fill holes/cracks. So, come spring, I guess I’ll be back to work on that once again. Thanks Jeanne for sharing your latest project. So much work. I might add, that to keep out the varmints here, everyone has a wire covering across the top of their chicken runs. Only way to keep out the hawks, foxes, skunks, and racoons. Hope that owl works.
Wow, was that a lot of work painting your chicken shed. It looks great though. You both have always taken such good care of your home and property. I can only imagine how sore you are, especially when using muscles that are not used like that very often.
The pictures you sent of your yard and trees are always beautiful.
Sorry to hear about one of the chickens. I hope the owl does his job- did you and George give him a name?
I enjoy hearing about the “grail” dolls! Great stories. The various dolls I had as a youngster, were ok but I really didn’t like them that much. A baby doll with painted hair, a bride doll that I didn’t like her hair and a few others…until the Barbie’s came out. Then there were great choices. My mother always made such beautiful clothes for all my dolls, it’s just I didn’t care for the dolls. I never told my mom that.
Then, as an adult, I chose the dolls I loved- Madame Alexander’s, and I always loved the Betsy McCall dolls and her paper dolls. But when the American Girls came out, those I have to say are my most favorite. Little girls today are so lucky to be able grow up with one and AMG gives us so many choices. Choices for little girls and collectors.
And to Charlotte, I hope each day you see improvement with your foot. It certainly sounds painful. Hope it heals quickly.
Jeanne, your property looks so beautiful! Yes, it is a lot of work but work is good and keeping up the conditions is important. Well done to both of you.
The raking is never ending here at our old property. The maple trees and the oak trees hold on to their leaves until you are done with raking, and then they let go during the first snow storm.
Hubbs has been doing all of the raking.
I have been sewing. I finished the blocks for the Maple tree sew along and now I am just squaring up the blocks I might have missed and then going to check over my placement, and get this sewn together.
This afternoon after I have lunch I will go to the old house and clean up the place so if my daughter and kiddos/hubbs come up, they can stay there.
we will leave the guest beds and the large couch.
I hope all of you have a good week-end.
Charlotte, I hope the appointment goes well, and perhaps they can get a better walking boot possibly? You have been a good patient so far really. I am very happy you managed to make it this far. (not to be a pest, but never tighten a boot too tight. I know two friends that had a clot formation from that- I know YOU are a smartie so this thought is just for all of you to know, with love)
If you can connect https://substack.com/chat/3289560 my contribution is under the name Rosemary B.
Well, I wrote this morning before we left of the YMCA, I saw it go to the blog and left. We are home and my message is not there. Strange! So I will try again.
Charlotte, I am glad your laptop is well and hoping you get some good news from the foot doc.
Jeanne, I love the red paint job, it is lovely and reminds me of the one my sons painted years ago. My first hubbs and I bought some property from an old couple who were living in a very small house on 10 acres of mostly woods. After the our house was finished I got my sons to paint the little house red. It was used a lot, for parties, fun making things with my girl friends, later my sons parties and my younger son ended up moving his water bed there and decided
it was his for a couple of years. While he was “living” there a wren got in through a small break in one of the windows. She made her nest on a shelf over his bed. One morning the baby wrens were old enough to fly down on the bed and then the floor. He came running to the house and asked me what to do with them. I said, “Leave the door open! ” So the flew away.
Your tree photos are so lovely, even all the leaves on the ground were lovely. I am so sorry about your chicken, I had a coon get one I had a long time ago.
Our Concert by Sean of the South last night was fabulous! The place was packed. I will send some photos to Jeanne and tell Y’all about it.
Great job on the barn/shed. It always amazes me how just some paint can change the looks of a building so much. I would love to repaint my living room but the thought of moving all that furniture around these days does not work for me. We’ll probably repaint if and when we sell the house down the road. Sounds like a good job for Sean. He does all the painting around here (addition, storage building, etc.) and he does an amazing job.
So sorry to hear about the chicken tragedy. Sean used to raise chickens and our problem was dogs. His hen house had a door he could close and bolt which he did at night after they were roosting. In the daytime they had the run of the chicken yard, but nothing seemed to bother them then just at night. Sean was no longer at home so we decided to give the chickens that were left away. But before we could do that some dogs managed to get the door open and decimated the chickens. It was so aggravating because they didn’t do it for food. It was a game. There were dead chickens lying all over the place. I was glad Sean wasn’t here to see that.
Charlotte, hope all goes well at your podiatrist appointment. It sounds like there might be something else going on beside your toe. Hope it’s nothing much.
Winter weather so soon! We will be getting a front through Saturday night but our high for Sunday will still be 76. Then a few days of cool weather and back up again. Even in PA we didn’t have freezing temps this soon. Brrr!
Dear Jeanne, the shed looks great! I can see an HGTV show ahead for you and George (smile). I am convinced that you two talented folks can repair, rewire, refurbish, and build anything.
Jeanne and any of my Sofa Sisters interested in this, I was just checking out my favorite site for small scale fabrics (French Fashions) and saw where she has a supplier for “stuffs” from the Civil War Era. In her words: Found a supplier that only produces reproduction fabrics from the Civil War Era. “Stuffs” is a very light weight wool that was used for woman’s dresses and men’s shirts during that time period. Her site is on eBay.
Thanks to all who commented/sent well wishes my way, about my foot! I had my appointment today and they did x-rays again, from 3 angles. It is only my toe that is broken (yay! I was afraid something else, too), and that is staying aligned. Just that my foot is badly bruised from my fall. My podiatrist is a very nice young gal; I really liked her. Anyway, she said to keep doing what I’m doing except to double my Vitamin D for a while, and she’ll see me in a month.
I think my surgical shoe is the best option. When I first got it (about 4 years ago, maybe, or it could have been longer ago), I had first tried one of the “boots”, and declined it immediately. It made me feel SO unbalanced! I told them, I’ll be flat on my face before I get out of the door in this one. And when I told the doctor about that, she decided not to give me a boot (they had two different styles set out in my size), and said I should keep using the surgical shoe as needed.
My computer is still holding up–yay!
Dear Charlotte, this is good news about your foot.
Here is a Charlotte Noelle story that might cheer you a little.
I told Charlotte Noelle that your toe was doing better and that you were following the doctor’s orders. She said that you should try ice cream. I said you certainly could not put ice cream on your toe.
She looked at me like I had lost my marbles. She said with that I know all things look, “Not on her toe, Mama. She should eat it.”
I asked, “How can eating ice cream help Auntie Charlotte’s toe?”
She replied, “It’s cold.”
I don’t know why, I didn’t just change the subject then but anyhow, I said, “yes but the cold would not be on her toe, it would be in her mouth.”
Again, I got the poor Mama doesn’t know anything look, as she countered, “Mama, the cold will travel down to her foot. It’s all connected, you know.”
I knew I didn’t have a reply for that. I stepped away just as she was saying, Mama can I have some…” I turned back, “No. Did you make up your bed?”
As she hug her head, defeated temporarily, and moved away, I headed for the kitchen to put on the tea kettle. Honestly, that girl.
Charlotte, I hope this story made you smile. Your namesake is really a little imp, but a cute one.
Oh, Dorothy, I loved your story about Charlotte Noelle! Tell her I do like ice cream, but I don’t have any just now. I will put it on my list for next time, though, as ice cream has never made anything feel Worse, in my opinion! In the meantime, I will put an ice gel pack on my foot to help it feel better. Give her a hug from me!
Dear Charlotte, I am glad the story made you smile.
I will pass along the hug. I am reluctant to share that you will be buying ice cream, however. Charlotte Noelle will take that as a “sign” that ice cream can be used for medicinal purposes and suddenly acquire an “ailment” that requires immediate attention (laugh).
Hope you feel better in the coming week.
Jeanne,
The shed looks great! Bravo to him (having recently had surgery) and to you with your foot problem to do that!!
I generally check my weather app when I take my walk. My son lives in Mokena, so I generally check the weather there at the same time. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that it was in the 20s yesterday!! And with the wind chill, it was 12 degrees!! AND he said it was snowing!!! OMG!!