FEELS LIKE AUTUMN

Nothing is as nice as a good outdoor fire on a rainy day.

I actually got a sinus cold that put me in bed for 2 days from this rain.

I was soaked from working outside and didn't have the sense to go in and warm up.

                                                                           Success.

Ruth and I planted 5 Dwarf Ambrosia apple trees 2 years ago .

This is our first successful harvest.

We only had one apple last year and some bugger climbed our fence

 and ate it the day before I was going to pick it for myself.

Only 2 of the trees gave a lot of apples.

The other 3 were not as full.

They are delicious.

I just made my first apple pie using my home grown fruit

I can't wit for it to cool. Yumm.

We've had a bear come into the yard so our bee guy put up an electric fence.

It's interesting how he hangs sardine cans from the wires.

This way the bear will lick them and get zapped. 

In theory this will send him away.

I saw mark working on the hives so I wandered down to say hi.

He was concentrating so much on his hives that he didn't 

even notice me sitting on his tailgate drinking coffee and taking pictures.

I drank 3/4 of a coffee before he saw me.

The bees are pretty laid back this time of year.

He doesn't bother with his protective clothing anymore.

Not like in the spring.

He's checking the hives first before inverting pails of sugar water on top

of the hives. This fattens them up for winter.

Before closing them up he pours a watering can of probiotics into the hive.

There is a disease they get over the winter if he doesn't do this.

I understand that being locked in a dark box for 5 months 

and not being able to crap can cause problems.

I bought this lawn tractor from a friend last week.

I thought it would be good for doing our back 40.

Unfortunately it needed new blades.

I don't know how in the world he did this.

New blades on and it runs like a champ.

After my first zip around the yard I decided I don't want it.

Our back 40 is too bumpy , full of hills and there are too many rocks.

I'll just have to fix the blades on out field mower that hooks up to my tractor.

Ruth picked up this teapot last week at the thrift store she works at.

They were going to throw it away. 

I polished the lid to show her how pretty it could be.

She asked me to do the whole thing so I did.

I love how silver looks.

WE NEEDED A NEW BED FOR THE GUEST ROOM

I made a frame out of MDF and put access holes on each side 

for these nice wicker baskets that Ruth has.

Sized a top for the mattress. This is a queen bed.

Once I got it all screwed together Ruth painted it with a satin black Shark Skin paint.

I asked her to paint the outside 6 inches of the platform.

I was wondering what to make a headboard out of.

On Wednesday I was up at the mill cleaning up and found this chunk of wood in the burn pile.

I thought it might make a cool headboard so I took it home.

I flattened the back side so I could attach a 2x8 onto it.

This gave me a level platform allowing me to run it thru my plainer.

It took quite a few runs thru to become level but I am pleased with the results.

Turns out I rescued a piece of black walnut from the burn pile.

A bit of sanding and 6 coats of varnish left me with a gorgeous chunk of wood.

I disassembled the bed in my shop and moved it up into our guest room.

Secured the platform onto the frame.

I'm glad this job is almost done.

I have a whole lot of other projects I want to get into.

I'm quite pleased with my headboard.

Ruth and I wish it stood out a little more from the log walls.

Oh Well. It still looks good.

I spent the last couple of hours watching TV in the back of the house,

Ruth was busy redecorating the guest room while I relaxed.

She made this room look wonderful.

INTO SEPTEMBER

We bought a new fridge and stove last week and it was delivered on Thursday.

It was too big to fit thru any of the doors so I had to take out the patio doors.

This took me over an hour. I hate these doors. 

The new stove fit perfectly.

Not so lucky with the fridge.

1/4 inch too big.

So at the end of an eight hour day of taking delivery , taking cabinets off the wall , moving

counter and reattaching everything I felt like I had accomplished a lot.

It's a big fridge and it looks great in our kitchen.

Ruth and I went raspberry picking in her secret patch.

It's quite a year for her patch.

So now I have a new favourite treat.

I've figured out how to make pastry the French way.

Yummmm !!!!!

One of the things I wanted with the new house was a good workshop 

that has good storage for all my tools .

The quote I got for these cabinets was over two thousand dollars.

Too much for this scotsman.I built them myself.

I painted the inside of the doors before I installed the hinges.

I was quite pleased with how they went together.

Finished with nice shiny handles.

Now I just have to load in my stuff.

One of the best things I did was to build these saw horses.

I've gotten so tired of working down on the floor.

I can't believe it took me this long to do this.

Today's project. We need a bed for the spare room.

Ruth was hoping to have this built before Sharon and her family come for Thanksgiving.

Once I put the cross members in I cut and installed the platform.

Tomorrow it gets painted and moved into the house.

My bee hives looked a little strange from the distance so I wandered 

down to the back 40 and checked them out.

It was in the mid 90's on this particular day .

When that happens and the inside of the hive gets hot they move outside

 until the evening . Bees are smart.

This made me laugh.

I quit drinking any alcohol on my birthday for a little over 3 months.

I had to have a few beers on my fishing trip but I'm back on the wagon.

This would be an incentive to never drink again.

Luckily this wasn't me. Haha