HIGH BUTTON SHOE
the farm update
High Button ShoeMarch 26, 2007.. I am slumped over the computer keys, hoping my wolfed down banana will give me some energy. Spring is always a reminder to me that I have indulged perhaps 4 bags too many of red licorice or chocolate, so I have suspended those two pick me ups in favor of bananas. I prefer bananas fairly green/yellow as opposed to yellow/brown. When they get kind of soft, I don't like them as well. Ronnie on the other hand likes them that way, so we do manage to eat bananas up pretty good. Yesterday on one of those drated trips to the grocery store (razzle-frazzle, bad word...as you know how much I hate grocery shopping, and worse yet coming home to have to put them away, which generally also means a good cleaning of the refrigerator... more razzle/frazzle...), we got some nice green/yellow bananas for $.50 (!!!!!) a pound, so they better do the trick and give me some energy. While spring is admittedly my favor season of the year, the fresh air about kills me. Or maybe it is the yard work, or perhaps the above mentioned bags of red licorice. Whatever, I find I need several breaks during the outside day. I have been raking up the leaves and winter debris off the many flower and herb beds and around the farm house, and then ventured down by the chicken coop and proceeded to rake up piles of leaves there. While this house did get the leaf detail last fall, the farm house didn't. Not good. So I have piles of leaves, BIG piles of cedar mess and piles of yard art that is past its prime even for me (and I like old rusty yard art pretty good!), so that is in a pile for the dumpster. So my planned day was to start picking up the piles. No rain today. But I hadn't counted on the strong winds. After getting all my paraphernalia out and deciding to use tarps to pull the piles to the garden with rather than dig out the wheelbarrow (I can get more on the tarps, even though I sometimes feel like I am pulling a cow across the yard), I unfold the tarp only to have the wind catch it and about drag me across the road. Pondering fast on that, I decided to let the piles linger there for another day. Probably until the grass underneath them is dead.What I have been doing to wear myself to a frazzle is working in the basement of the farmhouse. These are old farmhouse basement steps, made from cement and not particularly well spaced. I am always careful on these steps. Makes you wonder why I want to move to the farmhouse, doesn't it? Anyway, as we ran sales all last summer, and still didn't get rid of all the shop stuff, and I have given away a good deal of it, I am now packing it in boxes for Beulah's church's sale in a couple weeks. Normally I would wait until 2 days before I had to pack it up, as procrastination is a sad part of my makeup, however my aspiration and non-resolution for this year is to break that habit and delve right into things. Now, if these bananas only work!I regressed. I am taking shop things I plan to keep TO the basement and trying to find room for them, and bringing things I am giving away up the steps. I expect to the slathered in Ben-Gay by suppertime. Beu's sale is going to get a truck load or more of some great stuff.Oh, I plum forgot to tell you!!!!!!!!!!! We got the countertops in the kitchen on Saturday. I cannot tell you how great they look. I spent the afternoon on a ladder cleaning out the top cupboards that don't have doors, so I can begin painting the skeleton frames of them white and peel them too. While I did that, Ronnie got another old door on and reframed the opening. This is the opening that will have the two doors on it. One on the dining room side, and one on the bedroom side. Both old, one original to the house, the other one we bought somewhere that looks like it is straight from the 1800's. I know several of you must be cringing with the thoughts of these old doors, but for anybody who wants a truly primitive old farmhouse, these are perfect. I can already picture my uncle Dick when he comes to visit. Used to telling me exactly what he thinks, I am sure I will hear about this old junk I am incorporating into the old house.And as the countertop looks so wonderful on the white peeled kitchen cupboards I find myself still frustrated with the bathroom cupboard that I loved so much UNTIL we put the countertop on that I had ordered prior to changing my mind on the off white bathroom paint and decided to go with the pumpkin/sage paint. I continue to look at it and have decided now to incorporate some of the lighter, very pale sage green paint of the old bathroom door trim that we kept as well as that door, into the cupboard paint. I bought a paint sponge. I have never used one of those before so will have to practice some, I 'spect, on my board I painted over to check out the black wash. This will be about the 8-9th coat of paint. I better start liking this better soon before the cupboard gets too heavy and falls thru the floor! It really is too bad because I loved the pumpkin/sage, just NOT that countertop with it. I dragged an old nasty open cupboard up from the barn that I bought last summer, and it has this same sage green color in it. At one time it WAS that color, now it is many colors from years of wear. This will hold towels in the bathroom. As the farmhouse has no linen closet, in deed only that one bedroom closet that Ron has already claimed for himself...I am finding myself figuring which of my old cupboards I can use for what. We still have the dilemma of where to put a broom. We are finding many questions of where to put ________ and _____? Ah, old houses...The frogs are back. Technically I suppose they never left. But this warm weather (68 today) brought them to their singing stage 3 days ago. You almost don't hear them, especially with the wind, and we were sitting in the old porch swing having evening coffee when Ronnie mentioned the frogs. They are in the back swamp, not the closest one, so more difficult to hear. I may have to traipse back later to listen to them. I am forbidden to drive back there, as Ronnie clearly remembers when I buried the truck back there a few springs back and he had to pull me out with the tractor. He tends to focus on those faux paux's of mine about this time of year. The pussy willows are just beginning to sprout out too. Yesterday I got a mild reminder of where NOT to go to get pussy willows until it drys up some. Well, they grow in swamps you know!!And their pussy willow state is a brief one of only a few days, before they become a full fledged leaf. So I must keep track of that.Beulah put some new things up on the tilda collections over the weekend. They are in tilda collection 4 or 5.www.highbuttonshoe.net/tilda5.htm For me, the gloves don't show up but are merely a box with a description, no pictures, but I wrote Beu to tell her so I expect pictures probably tonight. For those of you who own shops, the gloves are a great deal for resale. For those of you who do craft/art, these would be great to make hand makedo's out of. GREAT pricing on them.Also, I found another bunch of old baby t-shirts, we have 11 of them.The big old feather stuf'd pillow in old ticking is wonderful! It is OLD, not newly made with old materials. Also I will be sending her photographs this week of more collection items. An old odd green wood knife holder box, and old white knife holder, a small yarn winder and a few more things. Also, I got three more dolls finished and am trying to photograph them, but can't get a picture I like, so will keep trying. My photography skills, you will remember! NOT.And we took off the snow pages, and replaced them with past pictures of one of my gardens. www.highbuttonshoe.net/springing.htm Absolutely NOT planting pumpkins or gourds this year, I did check the gourds out where I threw them for the winter, in the enclosed fence so the critters couldn't get to them. I can't tell yet how many survived. Obviously some did not. They need some sun drying time. All that work of last summer and fall was only for the deer who had not touched them all those months to devour 1/2 of them in one evening, when I thought they were safe. Drated deer!The turkey herds are spending their days roaming around the farm fields and of course, here in our yard. The toms are already strutting around in full display trying to show off their studness/beauty to the females, who are by large, ignoring them. Soon they will be breeding and the females will bring in their babies. The sun shines off their feathers and in movement, their feathers range in color from browns to deep peach to golds. They truly are beautiful birds, when you get past how ugly they are...Well, my banana has worn off, so I will put on some coffee and get myself back to the farmhouse for more organizing. Each step we take is one more transformation back to a house, but older looking that I have ever seen it. Boxing up the last of the shop folk art, and emptying it more allows what furniture is there to become more prominent. Ron will be pleased with my work today, which is obvious did not include a hairdo.Check out the new tilda collection items. And keep checking in the next few days as we add more. Sold items are being taken off. New farmhouse pictures will soon be up under "the farm" icon. Thank you to all of you who write me checking our progress with the house. Challenging to say the least, it is rewarding to see this great old house reappear. My heart smiles.Thanks for asking to be a part of our farm!Should you decide not to, let me know and I will remove you.In fond regard, Tilda,not a decent fingernail to my name,or a hairdo,or a bag of red licorice to be found (probably a good thing).