Moyer Gould Woods

HUGE oak tree!

On one of the routes we frequently travel, there is the Moyer Gould Woods.  It is managed/owned by the Niches Land Trust and is approximately 70 some acres.  As it was a beautiful Saturday... sunny, upper 60's and breezy, I pulled in and we went for a hike.

Probably one of the most outstanding trees is a huge white oak.  This picture does not do it justice.  The next trip will involve a real camera and not a cell phone camera!






We saw evidence of the old house.   An old sidewalk... Old concrete porch with the stubs of a long gone yew.  Some vinca groundcover was still apparent and I am curious as to whether any old perennials... bleeding hearts, etc. may appear next May.

The old carriage trail turns into a nice little trail down the side of a hill/bluff overlooking the Tippecanoe river.  Initially it looks as if it's old pasture that is returning to woods, but once you get past the old fence line you see some nice shagbark hickory, oak and I saw a couple of beech.  The path run along the river and then cuts back and forth up the side of the side of the hill with some moss covered conglomerate bedrock outcroppings.  At the top is a nice bench that the kids enjoyed.  

I believe next spring we will have to make a point of revisiting it.  The leaves were thick, but I could see evidence of wild ginger and hepaticas as well.  The site is also reported to have dutchmans breeches, blue phlox, jack in the pulpit, red trillium, hepatica, mayapples, and fire pink.

Making a triangle loom

A few weeks back... actually August, we were on vacation.  On the way out to Missouri we stopped at Rockhome Gardens.  There was a vender inside that had a triangle loom in action and she had some completed projects as well.  Being a crafty person, I was intrigued.  I started some research and my engineering husband started calculating.

After we got home, progress lagged or really never even started.  That's when I take matters into my own hands!!!  Hubby was gone on business so I headed out to the garage to see what I could see.  Hubby has been building some cabinets, so there was some nice "scraps".  OK...maybe 2 eight foot pieces of red oak 3/4" by 2" is a bit more than a scrap, but after I grabbed and cut, well...

I took one of the 8' pieces and cut it in half.  I then cut a lap joint - by hand - so the 90 degree joint would be stable.  I clamped those and then laid the other 8' piece across the top to make my hypotenuse.  I marked the overlaps with pencil and again made lap joints by hand.  Now if you check out the web, standard sizes seem to be 6' and 8'.  Mine is not exactly standard, but I wanted to build the biggest I could with what I had!

I started marking the nails and then messed up and the kids demanded food, so I had to stop.
Once the hubby returned the next day, progress resumed.  I erased my bad markings and started all over.  This time I got it right.  I spaced the pins on the hypotenuse 1/2" apart.  I used a square to mark the pins along the side.  If you do a bunch of web searches, it's a little confusing, but the pins/nails along the side are closer together than on the hypotenuse.  When you're done, you should have the same number of pins on all three sides.

Then hubby helped set up the drill press and I drilled holes.  A LOT off holes I must add!


















After nice neat uniform depth holes, hubby put a socket extension in the drill press upside down.  It then worked to uniformly press each nail in to the exact same depth.












I will admit hubby assisted but anyone, with a little persistence, may commandeer the work shop and build their own as well!

After the loom was glued, screwed and dried I rummaged in my stash and found a couple of homespuns.   Talk about dumb luck, I was just barely able to finish.  No fringe, but I have ideas...

I have since invested in one of the few triangle loom manuals out there and found a few things I did wrong.  We also purchased some nice maple to make a full 8' triangle loom.  As I've had the maple for at least a week or two, I guess I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands again!

I would suggest a book available on Lulu.com by Barbara Herdman called Tri Loom Weaving.  It shows the basics of weaving and has a real nice chart on how much yarn to plan on for the size of the loom.

The Eagle has landed!

I vowed that I would contribute, but the summer has come and went....  I have seen many fun things at our lake cottage...  but I have not posted.... NOW I must!!!

Today, as we left the cottage, I looked over into the woods of the Boy Scout camp and about had heart failure!  There on the forest floor, just kind of hanging out, was a HUGE EAGLE!  It was only 15-20 feet off the side of the gravel lane and fiercely watched us as we gawked out our windows.  I even rolled down my window and it didn't seem to bother it one bit.  It finally walked/strutted and kind of hopped a short way, almost disdainfully, but didn't fly.  We watched and watched and then we began to wonder if something was wrong.  Maybe it couldn't fly!  I cautiously and slowly got out of the truck and casually and slowly walked toward him.

Obviously, if he couldn't fly, we would have been calling the DNR.  I know better and would never consider attempting to help a hurt and endangered animal.  However, never fear, fly it did!  It was magnificent to see such a huge bird lift into the air.  It flew a short ways in the woods and then back up the road to land in a huge oak on the corner of our property.

Our neighbor was out with his mower and leaf vac and when that eagle flew right in front of him, it definitely got his attention.  We walked back up the road and watched it in the tree.  After awhile, it must have been tired of being stared and gaped at, he flew off above the trees and over the river.

We chatted a few minutes with the neighbor and as we were heading back to our truck, two bald eagles flew over.  I don't know if one was the eagle we had been watching, but I'm guessing it was and this was it's mate.  It made for quite the afternoon.  I have never seen an eagle, out of captivity, that close.  WOW!

Now for the irony.  My cheap carry everywhere digital, at home.  My expensive digital Canon, at home.  My take everywhere smartphone, at home.  No pictures!  Can you believe it???? 

Eat your heart out Gymboree!!

My kids go to a local Christian school.  This year they changed the dress code so that dresses must be below the knee.  WOW!  Now that is a challenge.  We've shopped and shopped and the options are limited.  Now she only has to wear a dress on chapel days, but as she is only 5, she loves pretty dresses.

This fall I purchased some Gymboree items from their "Smart but Sweet" collection.  As usual, the skirts are all too short.  They had a fun navy pleated skirt with embroidered daisies, so I revolted and made my own. 

I used Butterick 4593 and cut the yoke 1 " longer.  I cut a size 7, but used the size 8 for length plus added 2 inches.  Out came the embroidery machine and I matched the daisies on the leggings and made a nice yoke for the dress. 

Then I needed the "bling"!  A web search pulled up the following tutorial:  

Click on the picture for the tutorial

I made my own pattern, although you can do it freehand.  I covered the back with a circle of felt that helped secure a pin on the flower.  This way I can take it off for laundry or replace with a new one if there is a mishap in art or on the playground.

Here is a couple of pictures of the dress and the accent flower.  

The flower was super easy and could be addictive!  I saw several others online that would be fun to try as well.  Meanwhile, although it may not be The Gymboree skirt, my daughter loves it and the flower!
Pattern:

Stone Cairns in the Garden

Nothing is better than expanding your thoughts.  A rock cairn.

Hikers use these to mark trails.  They are used as memorials, landmarks or places of meditation.  Probably the meditation in some cases is, "How did they do THAT?".

Wikipedia goes into great detail regarding cairns and their backgrounds in a variety of countries.

For inspiration visit http://www.teamsandtastic.com/RockStacking/

Professional Rock Stacking and Balancing by Team Sandtastic

 According to their website, they only use rocks to complete their sculptures.  No glues, epoxy, etc.  Their work is truly awesome, but I still think for safety's sake and my sanity, anything I build will have to have some sort of fixative.

Now if you are the ornery type and like to amaze some and frustrate others, check out this blog:  http://rocksculptures.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-make-rock-sculptures.html
Personally, I love the idea of building rock cairns in public areas, just for fun!  If it annoys some, then I suppose we can at least grin at the idea that we "rocked" their world!

While thinking of these rock cairns, I remembered driving through Illinois in December and seeing signs for Rockhome Gardens.   As we were driving, I remembered pulling information up on my smartphone with several interesting pictures of rock sculptures.  If your are interested in more ornate rock sculptures, you might like to visit their gardens, complete with an Amish restaurant.  (The restaurant might help appease the spouse and family if you must bring them in tow!)

Gardening rocks!

Late winter.  Too early to really plant or transplant.  Good time for some pruning, as long as it's not spring blooming.  So what in the world do you do?

Well last fall I cleaned out a bed beside my pond.  I transplanted everything and so it was just barren dirt with a steep slope.  Today I went to the big rock pile, courtesy of a local farmer, and hauled boulders and hernia rocks over to the flower bed to terrace the slope.  The ground was relatively easy to work other than a little crust on the top.  It is now ready for spring planting.  I'm envisioning a small evergreen in one area, but I want it to stay small.  It can have some height, but I don't want it much more than 3-4 feet tall and 18-24 wide.  Probably a dwarf Chamaecyparis will work the best, but I'll have to see what I can scare up next spring.

The squirrels and birds came to the feeders today, but there was definitely a decrease in the activity.  It's amazing what a little warm weather (40+ degrees today) does to the feeding activity.

I'll be watching my seeds too.  Planted some paw-paws (Asimina triloba) that we collected last fall and kept in moist peat in a ziploc in the fridge.  We'll see if we get some germination.

Stone Cairn

NEW PROJECT IDEA:  I just did a Google search for rock pile.  Found several photos of "rock piles".  Not exactly what I was thinking about.  However, some great ideas to add to a small area of the garden that I'm wanting to turn into a Japanese style area.  Now....  How do they do that?  Some masonry glue?  Epoxy?  If I just stack, I can guarantee my two kids or the surrounding neighbor kids will feel the necessity to unstack!


    

Unloading the kiln....

Yes, I finally fired the kiln!  Prior to child number 2, I fired the kiln at least 2-3 times a month or more.  After child number 2, I think I've only fired it a handful of times.  Anyway, I did a glaze firing with some interesting results.  I tried a new glaze or two and used a bunch of Mayco's reptilian green on some bisque frogs I had.  The reptilian green turned out very cool.

If I hadn't played so hard out in the garden today, I would be toting a 50# bag of fresh clay down in the basement.  I haven't had fresh clay to play with for a while, so throwing hasn't been possible.  Now, that I'm really thinking about it, I may just throw tired aches aside and go throw a chunk of clay.  I wonder if I can even remember how?!