MY BOYS OF SUMMER!

There has been considerable discussion at my house the last two years about the possibility of a treehouse. You are only eight years old once, so it was decided that this was the year to make it happen. When you combine an eight-year old dreamer (Wyatt) with a seventy-one-year old engineer (his papa), there is a lot of talk about possibilities versus structure/buildability/safety/etc.
And then the supplies had to be gathered - trips to yard sales for reclaimed lumber, to the lumber yard and to the Habitat for Humanity restore for bolts, etc., and to one of our own hidey-holes for necessary pieces!

Finally, they got started.

A left-handed hammer and a right-handed drill.

Learning a few skills along the way.

Safety first - a railing, gate, and a sturdy ladder so the old-folks can climb up there, too.

Every castle needs a shield and every pirate boat needs a flag.

You need a supply of rope because you might decide you want to surf under the treehouse. In arid Colorado, you have to pretend to surf on a rope and board.

Where will this happy boy's imagination take him next?

Hopefully, when he is seventy-one years old; he will remember the summer he and his papa built the treehouse.

I'm linking up to Mosaic Monday with Mary at
Little Red House

and

Outdoor Wednesday with Susan at
A Southern Daydreamer

Please stop by these two blogs as I'm sure you will enjoy your visit!

OUT AND ABOUT WITH THE GRANDKIDS

Get in the van, buckle up, Papa has the cash; let's head to the city for a day of fun. The weather is in the cool 70s and the humidity is non-existent. (It is dry Colorado, after all!)

First stop - the beautiful Pueblo Riverwalk area. Get those long legs revved up, Caitlin, for the paddle boats. You know that Wyatt will get distracted with all of that water.

Let's take another spin around the lake in a different boat.

After lunch, we had some time to kill before the Go-kart park opened.

This is always a number one request for a fun afternoon.

Hurry Wyatt, the clouds are building in the West.

Yes, it poured rain on us during the 45-minute ride back home. But, a great time was had by all.

I'm linking up with Susan at A Southern Daydreamer
for Outdoor Wednesday.

YES, I'M OUTDOORS

There isn't much that will entice me to go outdoors in the summer, but a good flea market will get me out there! This last weekend we were in the Denver area, so we stopped by the Paris Street Market held in suburban Littleton once a month during the summer.

It was hot with lots of people and lots of big dogs, and the parking was impossible; but we had a great time.

There was a nice selection of antiques and vintage stuff, plus several artisan booths. Most prices were reasonable as they were usually somewhere between thrift and antique store prices.

Loved this farm sale sign, but thought it was a bit pricey at $85.

Oh yes, I had to get my money out.

What did I buy? This brass number thingie came home with me. Ever since I was a child, I have considered '15' MY number.

Sorry, no dog pictures. I'm too afraid to invade their space!! Can anyone tell me, do dogs really enjoy going to FLEA markets?

I'm joining Susan at A Southern Daydreamer
for Outdoor Wednesday.

INDOORS LOOKING OUTDOORS WEDNESDAY

In the June 2010 issue of House Beautiful the focus is on "What You Can Do In A Day" to make your home more beautiful. It mentioned to clean, clean, clean. It seems that I spend a lot of time cleaning all year long; but in the Spring, it is necessary to do extra. Yesterday, the outside of the house and the windows received our attention.

It started from the top - cleaning out the gutters of all the accumulated winter gunk. Then the screens from all of the windows were removed, and the entire outside of the house, screens, and windows received a shower and scrubbing.

Inside, the windows and all of their little grooves were vacuumed.

We have interior shutters throughout our house, so they got a thorough dusting.
All windows inside and out were then hand washed and polished.

Finally, all grooves and hidden places received 'The Bleach Treatment' to ward off any threat of mold.

And here they are all shiny and clean!!

Back in the day when I was younger, I used to do this process all by myself in part of a day. I remember counting one time that it took 60 trips up and down the ladder. Now, it takes two of us all day to get the job done. I can tell you that here at the Salmagundi house, there were two very tired 71 year olds last night.

Go by and check out Susan at A Southern Daydreamer
for a list of other Outdoor Wednesday posts.

BLEEDING HEART

Spring in Colorado is a tenuous thing. We can have warm days and cold nights, then cool days and warm nights. The wind can blow; it can rain, snow, and hail. As a matter of fact, we had ALL of the above this past weekend.  On Monday morning, the sun was shining and it was snowing at the same time!

The roses don't leaf out much until May, and don't bloom until June. We can have apple blossoms and lilacs in April/May, but maybe not depending on if we get a really hard freeze in March.  We can plant our snap peas on St. Pat's day, but don't dare set out the tomatoes until after Mother's day

One thing that has always been dependable is our bleeding heart plant. Mine is in a sheltered, shady spot and it flourishes.

Is there anything more beautiful and a greater reminder of God's plan and creation?

I'm joining Susan at A Southern Daydreamer
for Outdoor Wednesday.

FARM AUCTION EXTRAORDINAIRE

This past weekend we attended a farm auction at my great-grandparent's homestead. The farm has been in my mother's family for 115 years, and has been designated as a Colorado Centennial Farm. It has been farmed all of these years; first, by my great grandfather, then by my grandmother's brothers and their descendants. The last cousin to farm it passed away a year ago, so it was time to sell the equipment and the household belongings. Ownership of the farm will be retained by the family, but the farm will be rented out.

Below is a picture of my Great Grandparents taken in 1941. Yes, she was really that much taller than Granddad and she ruled the roost!! The other picture is of a bunch of us cousins at the state fair when the farm received it's centennial designation.

So, the auction was a big deal and very sentimental to all of us. The day was cold and windy, but it didn't deter the crowds. There were pickups parked down the country road for as far as you could see.

The first day of the auction was mostly the sale of the farm equipment, tractors, pickups, stuff out of the sheds, etc. - you know - guy stuff!
The local chapter of the Future Farmers of America had the food concession. Bob and I each had one of the best hamburgers cooked on this huge homemade grill on both days.

The second day of the auction featured the household goods. All of the furniture was carried out to the lawn to be auctioned off; and trailers with boxes and boxes of stuff were pulled into the yard. My great-aunt was the last woman to live in the house moving to the nursing home 11 years ago. I don't think she had ever thrown anything away in the 72 years she lived on the farm. I was very patient as they sold things, because I had something in mind that I really wanted. I did buy Aunt Selma's rolling pin for $1 from a trailer to add to my collection of family rolling pins.

And what did I have my eye on? Well, in the shed they had placed all of the dishes and more stuff, stuff, stuff. Inside the show cases, they had placed what the auctioneers thought were the old dishes (1930s depression glass and 1940s Roseville pottery). Oh, the cousins were bidding fast and furious against each other for the show case dishes. But I was patient and waited until the very end of the second day when they finally got to this 1880s brown transferware wash bowl and pitcher that was just sitting among the old comic books and junk.

If you regularly read my blog, you know I love my brown transferware. I was so excited I could hardly stand it when I won the bid for $35. Earlier they were selling 1960s salt and pepper shakers for twice that amount.

Here is the pitcher and bowl all cleaned up and in my house. I was fortunate to inherit so many of my great grandmother's beautiful things when my grandmother died in 1988. This is just icing on the cake, as it dates from the time of the homestead.

The pitcher is 13 inches tall and the bowl is 14 1/2 inches in diameter.

I'm thrilled!!

I'm joining in on Susan's (A Southern Daydreamer) Outdoor Wednesday party. Be sure to check out her blog for a list of the participants.

THE BOTTLE BRUSH TREE EXPERIENCE

I'm in love with the IDEA of crafting, but I'm just not very good at it. Give me thread and fabric and I can create; but glitter, glue, and I have never learned how to play together very well. But, I was so intrigued with Manuela of The Pleasures of Homemaking
and her bottle-brush bleaching project that I just had to try it.

I didn't take any pictures of the bleaching process, because Manuela's tutorial is so good - you can click here
to follow her instructions. Basically you buy those little non-plastic bottle-brush trees that are made to accessorize villages. Then you put them in a combination of bleach and water until they turn white. Rinse them in water, and let them dry. From this point on, they can be dyed with Rit dye and/or decorated any way you want.

I chose to leave mine white and glitter them. The thing that I did different was to remove their little white plastic bases, and replace them with wooden blocks that I decoupaged with scrapbook paper. I then covered the blocks with two coats of Mod Podge to seal. We predrilled holes in the blocks and reinserted the wire stems in with a dab of Elmer's glue.

I am enjoying my finished trees, and have given some away as gifts.

I'm still not too fond of the glittering and gluing process, but had lots of fun choosing the scrapbook papers.

Since Susan of A Southern Daydreamer is allowing indoor decorations during the month of December, I'm linking to Outdoor Wednesday
for this week's party.
Be sure to check out Susan's blog for a list of the other participants.

MOTHER NATURE

Mother Nature paid us a visit Sunday night. When we went to bed, we knew it was snowing; but didn't think too much about it. But, at 2:30 am we were awaken with a bang! In the upper right picture below, that is our bedroom window hiding behind that fallen branch. Our shed also took a hit from another big branch.

The willow tree is always the last to lose its leaves. It couldn't support the weight as there were just too many leaves left in combination with the snow.

The entire tree will have to come down. It was our grandkid's climbing tree and the one that held their swing - they are devastated. We're thankful that the house and shed didn't sustain any damage.

Below was the tree in its kid-loving days. It served all of us well.

Please stop by Susan's at A Southern Daydreamer
for more views of Mother Nature's wonders.

OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY

On almost every Sunday afternoon we go for a little drive. It was such a beautiful, Fall day this past Sunday that we decided to do something a little different.

We took a helicopter ride over our town that sits at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

Here I am all strapped in with a headset taking in the gorgeous views.

This is our neighborhood on a bluff overlooking the river.

In the far background is the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.

The river!

Coming into the landing on the Abbey grounds.

What a fun excursion that was!!

Please go by Susan's blog, A Southern Daydreamer. There you will find our gracious hostess plus a list of the other participants.

OUT AND ABOUT IN COLORADO

Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer
is hosting Outdoor Wednesday for us to show off our outdoor pictures. Check her blog for a list of the participants this week.

We're on the road again with the grandkids in an effort to have some new experiences this summer. We headed into the mountains to view Bishop's Castle. What is more exciting for a 7-year old boy then to see a real castle? Since Caitlin is just a month & a half away from being a teenager; she was a little less enthusiastic, but ended up having a great time, also.

The castle is the vision of Jim Bishop who acquired the land in 1959 at the age of 15. The structure started as a family cabin, but grew into the castle constructed by Mr. Bishop's own hands of stone and concrete with wrought-iron bridges and walkways that cling to the towers.

The jutting dragon is made of recycled hospital trays; and the fireplace vents through the dragon's nose expelling smoke.

We climbed and climbed up through narrow turrets and outdoor walkways to reach as high as the dragon. We didn't go up any further, as it was getting a little scary without as many guard rails. Plus, Grammy & Papa's legs aren't as young as they formerly were!!!!

The large ballroom is decorated with beautiful stained glass and skylights.

There were also rocks to climb.

What a fun day we had enjoying the castle and having a picnic lunch in Colorado's glorious mountains.

The castle is open to the public at your own risk for free. Donations are accepted for the on-going construction.