THE LAST OF THE HOME TOUR PICTURES ---

I promise this is the last of the home tour pictures.  We were honored to be asked by the Fremont County Community Concert Association to be on their annual Holiday Home Tour for 2015.  It was so much fun -- we loved working on our house in preparation, then sharing with over 200 tour guests on the day of the tour.  Throughout the 57 years of our marriage, we have accumulated a lot of stuff!!!   Everyone seemed to enjoy the stories connected to our family memorabilia, the history behind some of our more unusual antiques, and our Christmas traditions.

If you are interested, previous posts about the tour are here, here, here, and here.

So, now the wrap up ----

The kitchen and dining room ----

Special memories from grand daughter's preschool years ----

The hall ----

The porch ----

And now it is time to take a blog break for the important things --- celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and spending time with family.

May you have a very joyous Christmas week.

COZYING UP THE PORCH

When Fall is here and the weather turns chilly, we usually clean the porch cushions and pack them away for the Winter.

But this year since our home will be on a local charity home tour in December, I decided to cozy up the porch a little for this Winter.

I made some new pillow covers out of a beige, black, and red plaid flannel.  Thought they would look good with a rustic Santa and a wonky tree we have planned to place on the porch table.

I kept them simple. The flannel from Jo-Ann's is a nice quality, washed well and was on sale for $5 a yard (plus I had a 20% off entire purchase coupon).  Not bad for two pillows and a cushion cover for under $10.00.

I'm also using the plaid to recover the cushion (not shown) on the big wicker chair.  It's not done, yet, as I had to go out of town (100 miles round trip) to get a 28" zipper.

That's all right as it gave us an excuse to have lunch at The Olive Garden ($)
and for me to go to the quilt stores ($$$).  

We won't count the expense of the trip to buy a $2.50 zipper into the cost of cozying up the porch!

Edited to add:
Finished the cushion cover!

I'm joining with:

Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday
Ivy and Elephants for What's It Wednesday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday

FINISHING UP THE PORCH

We've been working on the porch a little this spring and summer - spiffing it up and finishing some projects.  This week we painted our resin wicker furniture.  Over the years, it had become sun-faded and was starting to look pretty tacky.

You can see in the picture below how faded it was getting.

We chose Krylon Fusion spray paint in Black Satin.  We're pleased with the look - time will tell how well it holds up.

As I mentioned in a previous post here that the porch has become the depository for all of the industrial and farming stuff that we have accumulated over the years.  Here's some farm trivia -- do you know what this triangle apparatus is?

It is an acreage measuring device.  From tip to tip it is 6.6 feet. If you pivot from point to point l00 times that is 660'; and 660' by 660' is equal to 10 acres.  This particular one was manufactured by a small company in the Colorado farming community that we grew up in; and we found it in my Dad's workshop.

The circular window on the left was in the house that Bob grew up in, and the etched glass window was in the house where my Dad was born in 1913.  Below is a chimmey cupboard for storing the cushions, my mother's wooden ironing board from 1937 (which we use when we set up a drink station on the porch), and my Dad's workshop tractor seat.

This is the first year that we have grown sunflowers, and they are putting on quite a show for us, as we can see them from the porch!

Some of you have inquired if we are in the path of the Colorado Springs wildfire.  We live about 20 miles southwest from Pikes Peak (as the crow flies).  So far we have had only one little fire a week ago which was quickly extinguished.  Because of the current wind patterns, we are not even experiencing any smoke problems.  You can see in the above sunflower pictures how blue our skies were this morning.    BUT, in Colorado Springs this is a horrific fire of epic proportions -- at least 32,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.  Our local TV comes from Colorado Springs, and it was just terrible watching the houses burn last night.  The weather is not cooperating at all - it is dry, hot and windy.  They are saying it will take a long time to contain this fire.  These people will be in danger for awhile - please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.


I'm linking with the following:
No Minimalist Here for Thursday Open House Party
The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday 
Please check these blogs out, and tell them thank you for hosting.

MORE ON THE PORCH

It seems that our screened-in porch has become the depository of all things ranch/farm/industrial that we have accumulated over the years.  In an effort to corral some of the stuff into a sense of order, Bob put up a shelf in one corner last week.  The brackets are some sort of hardware store thingies that were in my Dad's farm workshop.

 The round window came out of Bob's childhood home.  I, also, have the window that was in the farm house where my Dad was born.  As soon as we get the frame spruced up, I'm going to hang it in this corner, too.

 The red barn lantern belonged to my great-grandfather; the blue-tipped thing is a sheep brand in the shape of an H for my family name; plus a cow bell; my Dad's spurs; and more brands.

There is still more stuff to organize and display.  

In the meantime, this is the view from the porch -- our shrub roses have been beautiful this year!

PORCH UPDATE

I've shown my porch to you before, but this is the first time I've joined in on Rhondi's porch party. Be sure to check Rhondi's blog - Rose Colored Glasses for a list of all of the other participants with their great porches.

Finally, our screened-in porch is ready for the summer. We've had such a late and wet spring in Colorado that it seemed like we would never have a usable porch.

A few minor changes were made this year. The old rug was well past it's prime, and has been replaced with a new rectangular braided rug. It was a great bargain online - the shipping was even free.

We moved some of the furniture around to make it more conversational friendly. I love our old hand-made twig table. It reminds me of the furniture in the mountain cabins of my youth - the kind that you can put your feet up on.

I made some new pillows from Sunbrella fabric - no more fading hopefully!

Now, we just need some time to enjoy the porch.

Thanks for stopping by our porch - hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Sally

MEMORIES FROM "THE GOOD OLD DAYS"

It is almost time to close up our screened porch before the snow flies, but thought I would take you on a tour first.

Both sides of my family were farmers and ranchers after homesteading on the prairies of Colorado. When we cleaned out my father's shop, I just couldn't get rid of some of the things that remind me of those days long ago. Somehow, they have accumulated on our back porch.

The candle holder is a part from an old piece of farm equipment, and the toy truck belonged to my husband as a child.

This stool is made from an old tractor seat and was at my Dad's workbench for years. The blanket is from the Chimayo Trading Post in New Mexico, and was purchased a long time ago on a sheep buying trip by my Grandfather.

A sheep crook that was salvaged from an old sheep herder's wagon.

A branding iron for cattle.

This little table is where our grandchildren play and eat. The little tractor and wagon were mine as a child. We call the little silver man driving "Granddad Man"! He occasionally gets lost, but we have always managed to find him. In the background is my Mother's wooden ironing board from 1937.

A chicken coop and a stoneware chicken water jug.

This old rake holder holds my Dad's spurs and several wooden and metal brands for sheep.

Old stoneware jugs -- for "moonshine", I guess.

An old red tool box with tools from my family, plus others that Bob has collected over the years.

This is a lantern that belonged to my Great Grandfather.

In the background is a Dutch oven used in a sheep camp. Bob made the rustic stool, and there's an old copper wash boiler where we store the kid's balls.

Hope you enjoyed the tour into yesteryear. There are a lot of memories here!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sally