The Great Floor Project of 2013

I used to wax the old wood floors in our log house, and they looked pretty good for a while.  However, we decided when the kitchen was redone in 2009 that we should refinish all the floors so I quit waxing them.  We redid the floor under the breakfast nook the next year, and then put the rest of the project on the big "P" (procrastinate).  Other projects always took priority, and let's face it, it was a huge endeavor not to be taken on lightly.

We had asked a flooring guy to look at refinishing the floors for us and he suggested we tear up the old floor and install new.  That probably makes sense to anyone without deep sentimental attachment to this house in all its quirkiness.  So the work began with us doing it ourselves.  Our original plan was to do about 8' x 10' this year and another section next year and so on until it got done.

It's a tedious job - painting the caustic stripper on a small section, then scraping with razors, then scrubbing with steel wool, then sanding with a belt sander, and finally painting with a coat of Danish oil.  We decided to go for a matte look rather than a shiny one this time.

Of course, we had to move all the furniture around and around and around as we worked.

But gradually, foot by difficult foot, we moved all the way from one end of the room to the other.  

And after a full week of full days, the floors are done!

Just in time - the sun is out, Ron is well, and we are heading out on the motorcycle.

A Walk in the Woods

For the past week, I've been working every day stripping the old wax and varnish off our floors.  Ron has been sick, so I've been puttering.  However, I did find one more power tool that an obsessive compulsive person should never be allowed to own:  a belt sander. It's every bit as bad as a power washer, and I probably could have sanded every day for the rest of my life and not been satisfied if my body didn't complain so much.  With the gloomy cool rainy days, redoing the floors was a perfect project.  When they are finally finished (hopefully tomorrow) I'll post some pictures.  However, with the sanding done and a fresh coat of Danish oil on about half of the floor, the sun came out and I finally got outside.

I found several new iris are in bloom.  I love this fragrant blue,

and this fragrant lavender.

My friend, Karen, told me that stinging nettles make delicious greens, so I set out through the trails to look for nettles.

I found ripe salmon berries, 

Thimble berry bushes,

and blackberry bushes in bloom,

fiddlehead ferns ready to pick, and finally at the end of my walk,

nettles.  I found that they can sting through surgical gloves, but I picked them anyway.

Not sure how to cook them, I cut each leaf, washed them, and then added a little salt and poured boiling water over them.  I cooked them for about 5 minutes.

They turned a beautiful forest green.  I added a little butter and ate them all by myself.  Ron won't touch greens of any kind, so nettles would be an impossible sell.  They didn't have too much flavor - kind of nutty - not like any greens I have ever eaten.  Good though, and after two hours, no side effects, so I proclaim them edible. 

Flowers in Bloom

April showers bring May flowers, and we love May!

Years ago, the Rhododendron farm in Marysville went out of business and we took advantage of their sale.  Since the price was only a dollar per plant, we got kind of carried away and brought home truckloads of them.  They started their life with us at about 8" tall.

The early bloomers are gorgeous right now,

every color from white 

to pink,

to red,

to deep dark red are blooming now.  Some of the purples are barely budded, but will be out later.

Azaleas we salvaged as babies from a rental house are also pretty this year.

A lot of my flowers are starts from friends, or holdovers from plantings from 50 years ago.

The lilac survived an assault with the chainsaw by Ron, who doesn't know a flower from a weed and thought it was "spoiling the view"!!

Lilies coming soon!

Cinco De Mayo at Swartz Lake

These are the days we live for in the Pacific Northwest, but they usually come in July!

So we were very blessed to have an 80 degree day on a Sunday in early May.

It took a brave 6-year old to convince me it really was time to start swimming.  Sadie is definitely the bravest, but six of us finally went for a swim.

All girls, I might add.....

We all went up to the garden to plant some seedlings.

Kyrie and Joseph put the painted strawberry rocks into the strawberry patch to hopefully fool the birds.

The grandkids are working with me on a children's book I'm writing, "Grandma Rosie's Garden"

Everybody helped.  Even if it was only to watch or supervise.

Then they rushed back to the lake

and the hot tub.

A fun day for everyone - even Tillie, once she got out of her PJ's.

A trip to the "Other Side"

We made our last car ferrying trip this weekend.  Our son and his family in Eastern Washington babysit our truck in the winter to keep it running.  It is always fun to see a real farm family - living close to nature in a great place for a ranch.

Tony and Sara were just returning from a horseback ride up into the hills to check on their cattle.  They compete together several times during the summer at rodeos.

Tina has added even more raised beds to her garden.  It is looking really great!

One of Jesse's many work ventures is carving signs.

He also helped Tony build this huge new barn while we were gone this winter.

This is the view from the upper floor of the barn.

We had met my brother, David, in Pateros on our way and he gave us a wonderful box of Washington apples.  We followed his directions to the apple warehouse in Chelan, and stopped for more apples on our way home.

Braeburn

Gala

Red delicious

Golden delicious

Granny Smith

We mixed and matched

And loaded up three boxes to take home.