Shoppin'

So Farmall Man has completed several cleanup jobs where he has either cleaned abandoned property or torn down unwanted buildings and houses. Through these adventures he has came across quite a collection of junk stuff.

I've been a benefactor of these endeavors over the past 9 years. I have built several brick patios from bricks I've loaded while FM has torn down a building, have several wheelbarrows, wagons, and unique planters that came from trash ditches, and my gazebo and bicycle planter was rescued from the land of  unwanted.

Its so true about "one man's trash, is another man's treasure". I have re purposed lots of items that are trash to others.

Like I said, FM has quite the collection of junk stuff out back (behind the house - the front belongs to me!) From old cars and chicken feeders to cash registers, farm implements, lumber and recycled tin; there is lots to be found out back. Occasionally I get inspired by his stuff and get to go "shopping" among the "treasures"!

Recently I eyeballed this shopping cart among the stuff. When I first enquired about it, I was met with some reluctance. FM had picked it up on one of his jobs and had envisioned using it to haul tools around his shop and equipment yard. After a little persuasion, I was able to move it around to the front yard! I debated on whether to fill the buggy up with soil to plant in, but decided to place pots in the buggy, just as if you were strolling the garden center, picking out plants to take home.

It is now nestled in my flower bed and creates a focal point for this area. A rectangle pot of petunias sits in the child's seat, zebra grass, verbena, creeping jenny, assorted foliage, and a rope plant fill the three pots in the buggy.

So what do ya think? So have you ever taken one man (or woman's) trash and turned it into a cool garden treasure?

Update

Well I took Farmall Man to the orthopedic doctor yesterday and we got a good report!

For starters - NO surgery for his broken collar bone...hip hip hooray.

The doctor was very nice and talkative and said for him to keep wearing the figure eight brace he has been wearing this week. We go back in about two weeks for more x-rays to make sure everything is healing properly. He should be completely healed in about two months.

Hopefully he can get back to normal soon. It's killing him to not be able to do all the regular farm work and him and his dad are getting ready to start baling hay soon. Until then, Im trying to take care of all the chores and him too.

This year I didn't plant a vegetable garden and have had significantly less plants in the yard. I just didn't feel motivated to plant lots of stuff and didn't want to spend hours watering. Now that my yard time is going to limited, I am thankful I don't have a lot of extra plants to take care of.

Ooops!

This week I am very thankful that Farmall Man is alive.

You see it all started when his friend gave him an old motorcycle a few weeks ago. It *was* free, but not any more. The motorcycle needed some repairs and Farmall Man is great at fixings things, but unfortunately he broke his collar bone in a wreck Sunday morning.

A motorbike has been on Farmall Man's Santa Claus list since he was a wee little kid and Santa never delivered. Now I'm wishing his friend never decided to get rid of an old bike!

I had gone to memorial day services at the cemetery where my family is buried and spent the afternoon with family. Farmall Man had got some of the minor repairs done and had rode around the field on several occasions when he decided to take off down the road for the first time. He had some trouble on a hill / curve combination and unfortunately he made contact with the pavement.

He picked himself up, rode to the next intersection, turned around, rode home, nearly passed out, and drove himself to the ER ( in the truck ). Notice he did not call me! Truth be told, my phone was on silent during the church service and while we had dinner on the grounds.

When I got home and came inside and found hospital paperwork and prescription drugs on the table I panicked. Of course he wasn't even inside. I had to hunt him up outside,where he explained the whole ordeal.

He is in lots of pain this week and unable to do much of anything. That means I am having to step up and do lots of extra chores. We have lots of animals that get fed and taken care of twice daily. Tomorrow I take him to a follow up dr visit. We are hoping for a good report ( read - no surgery ) from the dr. This will be the first time in nine years that either one of us has been to a dr for anything. It is so hard to see him in so much pain.

Please bear with me as blogging time will be very limited. It's earlier to rise to feed before work, work, supper, chores again, household chores, yada yada yada.

Help me...please!

I saw an idea to make a wreath using a picture frame and I spun off that original idea and made this.

I made this for my grandmother in the nursing home. Her room is crowded and shelf space is very limited, so this is something that can be hung on the wall beside her bed.

The thing is, I don't feel like it has that "finished" touch. So help me please... What do you think it needs??? I want to give it to her this weekend for mother's day and the nearest craft store is 45 minutes away, so I won't be able to get there before Sunday. I have lots of basic craft supplies here at home. So any creative ideas? I have some blingy butterflies at work that might look good or thinking about making a bird nest to go in it. Whatcha think?

(sorry for the photo quality, it's an iPhone picture)

Spring Storms & My Vintage Yard.

As we all know by now, the south has been plagued by torrential storms over the past week. Fortunately we survived the storms in East Texas without any damage. We had strong storms Tuesday night and the local weatherman was on the air for over 5 hours straight as the storms passed through. Texas has been under severe drought and the rains have been a blessing. Saturday afternoon we heard the continuous rumbling and thunder rolling to the west of us for well over an hour. Three possible tornadoes passed west and north of us with this picture being part of the storms passing just north of us. We only got a few sprinkles at our house. 

 

Tonight (Sunday), another storm was brewing just to the south of us. We did get another good rain and the storms went to the east of our house. We are so very fortunate to receive the rain without the damage. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has been devastated by the storms this week.

Now...on to happier subjects! The rain has been wonderful for the yard and abundent blooms are bursting forth. I made a resolution to not buy new pots this year for my yard and to not have as many planters, instead focusing on more creative options and having a more vintage theme for the yard.

I planted this old wash tub, that was resqued from my uncles trash ditch with 4 seperate pots. This allows me to switch out plants during the seasons and minimized the amout of potting soil required to fill the tub. Mulch around the top of the plants hides the fact that 4 plastic, mismatched pots compose this selection.

 Farmall man was moving a storage building for someone a couple months ago and I stopped by to take him a cherry limeaid. This old chair was in the building and headed for the trash. It was in good shape, other than it was missing a seat and it was painted royal blue! I immediately said Yes I wanted it as I could see the potential! A coat of white spray paint, a piece of sand paper to give it a vintage feel and I plopped this pot of orangano right into it. The herb is cascading over the chair and within the next few weeks the plastic pot will be hidden under the greenery.

 Blue Salvia is blooming in front of my greenhouse.

My daylilies are starting to bloom beautifully!

 Roses are blooming on my arbor.

 Our catalpa trees are blooming, which can only mean its getting close to fishin' time! We had a few worms on the trees this week, but the elements seemed to have brought their demise.

 Larkspur is my favorite flower! I love its personality and how it rambles among the garden.

 This old bicycle adds more vintage flair to the  yard. A cocunut lined basket sits in place of the missing seat and holds purple petunias. I wired an old gym locker basket to the handle bars and a clay pot with a kaloncho plant rest in the basket.

 More larkspur...

 More daylilies...

 This persalane basket hanging on the entrance to our gazebo has been bright and pretty...

 The snapdragons have returned for their yearly visit...

and so has this little frog in the greenhouse! I've heard the frogs with their nightly chorus and finally today this little fella showed his face. Ever since I found a frog in my shirt at work, a collection of frog memorabilia has been showered upon me and I look foward to seeing my new found friends when I am working in the yard.

Well thats whats happening around here. Overtime was abundant at work last week due to many funerals and this coming week will be our second busiest week of the year at the flower shop because of Mothers Day (second to Valentine's week). My horoscope (not that I put faith in it though) said I should be looking to get overtime in the near future - looks like that won't be a problem for us this week, as we could work many 12 to 18 hour shifts.

We have had several tradgic deaths in our town over the past few weeks and I beg of you, IF YOU DRINK, PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE. Drinking and driving is one of the most selfish things you can do and affects more than just you. The heartache of the families dealing with the loss of a loved one who has been killed by alcohol is so hard to witness.