Pallet chess set

A friend had an old square wood coffee table that was very weathered. So my husband painted it to look like a giant checker/ chess board. He then used his table saw and made a custom wooden chess set out of some old pallet pieces, the rest of the pallet is a new mini deck and vertical veggie garden. He stained the pieces and now he just need to teach me how to play. I took some smooth stones and painted 1/2 red & 1/2 yellow, then used acrylic paints to make checkers pieces. Works great and cost us ZERO :-) Actually every thing you see in this picture was free, including the chair :-)

Indoor recycled seed starter

I needed a design for a small greenhouse to start my summer seeds indoors. So I mulched up some paper and added my seeds. I then cut a soda bottle in 1/2, cut an egg carton into 4 little spare pieces, put the paper seed packs in the egg carton and cover with the top of the bottle. The egg carton and paper hold the water nicely for the seeds and once big enough they can go directly into our garden. A great way to recycle and the bottle can be used for years and store easily. My household does not drink much soda so our bottle pickings are slim :-)

Vacation in watercolor

Our version of vacation 2013 in watercolor. The top one is my own creation and the bottom 2 are my husbands. I still like oil paints better LOL but will not give up trying other mediums :-)

Anemone Love

How could I not share this picture. This is another one of our random pictures we took while on vacation. It is a nice feeling coming home from vacation, going through the pics you took and seeing that an anemone is sending out some love :-)

DIY Paralyzed Wiener dog drag bag

It is now April of 2016 ad Slinky is still going strong. He now lives with a husky. wolf mix and that still has not slowed Slinky down. He is  now 11 and will have been paralyzed 6 years this October. NOTHING slows him down, even in his size 4 diapers. I volunteer at a thrift store once a week and they set aside ripped or stained clothing for Slinky bags now. We live on 10 acres now and I think Slinky and Luna, the white dog, have explored every corner of the property.

With summer times coming and Slinky being outside alot I wanted to make sure his legs and butt had a thick covering. So before I sewed the tube I sewed a piece of leather. Now his nails will not cut through the fabric and the leather will keep sticks, weeds etc from getting stuck to his butt as he thumps along. When we wash the bags the leather gets a little wrinkly but so what LOL it does not have to be pretty to protect :-)

About 2-1/2 years ago while my family and I were on vacation we received a call that, Slinky, our dare devil wiener dog jumped off a bed and due to a vet's bad emergency care he became paralyzed in his hind end. He has never been able to walk on them again. We tell people do not feel sorry for our dog. He does not know or care that his hind legs and tail no longer function. He wears a regular baby diaper, but put on sideways, it only needs to hold his wiener in. He has a wheelchair that my husband built out of PVC pipe. It also has changeable wheel for the different terrains. When he is in the house or our small yard he prefers his drag bags. I looked them up online and the cost was crazy. So after many trial and errors I finally came up with the perfect bag. It holds his legs in nicely and is easy to put on and off. I am now working on a bag for him that will sweep our wood floors as he plays and runs around. I am thinking of a kind of fish tail for this LOL I the winter time I make the bad out of sweater shirts or fleece for warmth. He does not know when his back end is cold so we always keep his back end warm.

Sometimes you just need a turtle neck sweater on those cold fall mornings :-)

As I have said many times, Slinky has NO idea he cannot use his back legs. He hangs with the rest  :-)

A very happy starfish, Natures humor

My husband and I went on vacation to Cape Kiwanda. OR and afterwards, while going thru some of the random pictures we took, we came upon this. We have not altered the picture and had no idea at the time that it had a face and was smiling. Never know what you will find in tide pool :-) Nature has the best sense of humor!!!