April Fooled me....

BECAUSE it got here so fast!!

Not very exciting to most but to me extremely exciting is the toilet seat is on! I got a nice wooden one with chrome hinges...I think I'll ebay the plastic one that came with the toilet? Maybe get a few bucks back.
Flickr ate my photos

I painted the cabinet frames over after letting go of the look I was trying to achieve with doing a stain,but it just missed the mark somehow.... it was  too dark.  I think this gives it a clean look, I did leave the display one in the stain.  I plan to put a diffused opaque panel over the window so it doesn't look right onto the porch..but I don't want to diminish the natural light I get thru this window. 

this old kitchen had an awkward layout but I just have to deal with that I am not raising a family or a social butterfly entertaining with dinner parties so it will suit my needs perfectly Im sure...I do have a good work triangle.  I put the toaster oven on that Detached Unit and the Mircrowave is on top of the dishwasher which is on the other side of the fridge. 

(some of my older photos were deleted by Flickr, so the original shot that went here was a little different)

On other fronts we had this wonderful flock of Cedar Waxwings pay us a visit for a few days...it was such fun watching them...one of our front yard cedars is full of berries this spring.   They were on the ground and in the tree flushing in and out with great gusto!!

After a rainy Easter Sunday we had a gorgeous Monday and decided to visit another small town...actually we went to two!  Lone Star, and Ft Motte are considered ghost towns!  

The connection these two towns have is they both are situated along the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad where freight was shipped in and out of the farming areas.  When Interstate highways were built and trucks began to haul freight the train no longer stopped and the towns began to decline and now they barely exist.  

Lone Star, SC


10 miles east of Lone Star is Ft Motte...there is Revolutionary War history in this old town but what's left now is the old post office...

And the jail...

 

 two very horrid and small cells are in the back end of this jail....

nearby is another town, Elloree, there is a training center there for Thoroughbred horses, and we saw some out to pasture...surrounded by lots of Brown Headed Cowbirds

One of the pastures has a seasonal pond...and we saw some Greater Yellow Legs poking around in it...

I stopped to get some wildflower shots...

And this guy got all puffed up about my presence!

It is an Eastern Hog-nosed snake...they hiss too and make a big show of just how bad they can be, they are completely harmless altho any snake will strike and bite!  And down a dirt track we found another field of brood mares and more wildflowers...

here's one of the abandoned homes in Ft Motte.....the roof still looks pretty good on this one!

We have had a beautiful spring!! My Garden has lettuce on the way and onions, potatoes, purple cabbage, and snow peas,  I have planted green bush beans, and I have some hot pepper and basal plants in my little seed starting greenhouse!  

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Townies...Orangeburg

Mom Stops to smell the flowers....;o)

But first.....

 Just need to put the Toilet lid on and the bathroom is officially done! Oh and I have a wee gap on my cabinet door an inside latch should solve that problem...Hung the hand towel and its all good!!

I also am not too proud to admit when I make a mistake so I repainted the yellow wall to match the color of the rest of that open space...I did not chose the yellow but hated to know that money and time was wasted but better to admit defeat than go forward with something that I was not happy with LOVE the same color all over so much better and Another Bad idea is the dark cabinets so did those over ...

only a little time is all since I had the paint already...I did like the dark wood but it gave an overall darkness to the kitchen and since it has little natural light I had to lighten it up...

I am keeping the open cabinet in the dark wood tho I really like it...

the Bathroom & the Living Space is done!  Just little projects to do. 

All work and no play is not the way so I asked Mom if she would enjoy a day out she said yes so we drove to a nearby town that we had never bothered to visit, Orangeburg, SC. Roadside scenery was awesome some wildflowers in the fields.....

We passed through the town called  St Matthews this old house is the first thing you see...

then this bridge over the RR Track that goes right down main street!!  Half the town is one side of this track and half on the other side!  

IN Orangeburg they have kept their downtown in the mid century modern style! It had that old feel would be a great set for a movie say in the 60's for any Hollywood producers reading this...lol..

On Golden Pond Showing at the Blue Bird

One reason we chose this town is  Edisto Gardens! There are rose gardens not blooming yet but the Azaleas were open..it was a beautiful day to be out and Mom enjoyed a walk...

Lots of cedar wax wings around that day and I spotted one Yellow throated warbler, he didnt allow a photo, but it was nice to see him and we heard black n whites too...

The Edisto river runs right at the back of the garden really nice. A slow flow this river passes thru Colleton State Park Miles  the south  of here...and there is a nice canoe trail there.

and some butterflies were out...

The Eastern Swallowtail Male...

And a couple of white throated sparrows were up in the budding cherry trees..

We have decided to do more of these town visit trips, towns we have never bothered to stop and smell the roses at! So stay tuned for more! Meanwhile its back to the Painting and fixing up!!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Spring into it!

Spring is happening so fast this year for us, so far *knock on good wood* no late frost to kill the buds! 

So we have had some good flowers up to now... I have been working on the projects as usual just because I don't mention it doesn't mean it's not happening...I have been slow on progress tho..

I have changed my Mifi service so now I'm u against a lower data allowance and that means less photos uploaded so on my trips to Lowes I take my laptop and upload photos while Im there using their free guest Wifi however it is slow...it takes twice as long as my Verizon Wifi..but FREE is fast enough!

I am hoping to get in at least ONE spring trip am cooking up some possible locations without so much driving involved as for some reason gas has hopped back up around here, and less driving means more birding, hiking, and sightseeing! 

So one more finished project is the bench I made from wood on my scrap pile, its just a simple wooden bench to sit down and put on or take off shoes...and some coat hooks.  The end legs are made up of some of the cabinet doors I got off the free pile 2 yrs ago at the habitat store! I've used almost every single one of them I got like 16 doors of various sizes. Most of them went to build a cover for the water heater it has not been painted yet so when I get it painted Ill show you the finished project on that...

The top of the bench is made up of some really heavy duty 2 x 8's previously used in the house for shelving!

I have been for a few weeks, building this vanity for the bathroom,,,,also made up of scrap and free stuff...I finally got it into the bathroom and yesterday I put the top on  it.  

I put 3 coasts of Marine Varnish on the top so I hope it will be water proof enough...

This is the sink I Picked up at Habitat Store...and I purchased the faucet on sale at Lowes...there again its el'cheapo....hope it will last at least a couple years! 

 and installed the sink!! 

I finished off the backsplash with the left over tile from the tub surround tile, I would rather have left it without a backsplash but in the long run I think I'll be happy I did put the tile on as it will prevent water damage to the wall....and that's why I'm at Lowes today to get some Grout Caulk...I have only a few seams of grout to do SO not mixing up a batch just for that.  

DONE

Hung the same Mirror back up what was in here before....I have to grout that tile, put the handle on the cabinet door, put on the toilet seat and I think Ill paint over the electric outlet same as wall color I put in a almond ones they look awful so Ill paint it and the wall switch...now all I need is water and LET"S keep our FINGERS crossed my plumbing work doesn't leak!!

The vanity is a 36 x 22 x 34 tall....I'm pretty happy with it ---- its a one of a kind!!

done

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.