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Luck of the Draw

August 6, 2008

As you may have heard by now, we were one of the lucky winners in the Houseblogs.net “Look What I Did” sweepstakes sponsored by True Value. Before you look at our entry and think, “What?! They won for THAT??“, this was not a contest based on aesthetics or project difficulty or anything else, other than [...]

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Paint, Presumptions and Pathetic Prairies

August 21, 2007
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We did a lot this weekend, even though it doesn’t seem like it. I was hoping to paint the kitchen, but it took a good part of Saturday just to get my painting supplies organized (and I have to be organized before I start on a project, otherwise forget it!). The paint cans, rollers, trays, [...]

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Selling our Previous Home, Final Chapter

August 3, 2007
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With the minor renovation complete and our house listed as a 3-bedroom, we could only hope for the best. Since we had to move furniture out anyway, we took this opportunity to pare down even more than we already had. Out went all the bookcases, the living room sofa (which was very difficult to move [...]

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Moving Northward

July 24, 2007

It’s done——we’ve made the long 90-foot move north to the bungalow. The movers showed up on time Saturday morning and they were done by noon. Because we had already carried a lot of boxes into the bungalow last week they really only had to move the furniture. We took care of the kitchen and bathroom, [...]

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Gratuitous Prairie Photos

July 20, 2007
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Our backyard prairie is in full bloom. In the foreground you see the leaves of Prairie Dock. They are literally 14″ wide by 20″ tall, while their flower is about the size of the palm of your hand. The flower stalk grows 8-9 feet tall. Here you see Purple coneflower, Sand coreopsis, Wild bergamot and [...]

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

June 24, 2007
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Ours keeps going and going! The prairie will be in full bloom very soon. Right now the Sand coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) is in bloom and the Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is starting to open. It’s very fragrant right now in our backyard, but not overpowering. Here you see Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) in the foreground. [...]

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Stage Right

June 23, 2007
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As I’ve mentioned, over the past 6-9 months we’’ve slowly been doing a number of things to get ready for the sale of the ranch. I had been saying every year for about the past 12 or so years that we must replace the porch and deck —— the wood had been splitting and it [...]

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It’s the Little Things

June 20, 2007
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I wish I had taken the time long ago just to do some of those little things that you look at every day and think you should do something about “one day”. In the kitchen of our current house we have cabinets that used to house a double oven (way before my time). Pete converted [...]

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Seeing Red

June 16, 2007
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Continuing with the staging of our current house, I knew I had to at least paint the ceiling in the living room. Why? Well, I had painted it red. Not cherry or fire engine red. It was a warm red, kind of brick-ish. The walls were red too. Yes, all FOUR walls plus the ceiling. [...]

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Covering a Multitude of Sins

June 14, 2007
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Another staging project for the sale of our current house was the living room. In the dining room, which opened into the living room, Pete had stained the floor a cherry stain, like the woodwork, and it had a glossy finish to it. When I moved in, the living room was covered in white wall-to-wall [...]

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