Kerry'd Away

A Shed Project

Posted on August 21, 2016 by civilwarrose5

Home ownership brings a lot of rewards, but it also brings a lot of headaches. We all want to change things to either upgrade them or make them suit our style and tastes.

This is our back yard. This is how it looked for the first three years that we lived here.

Last year we shared the cost of removing the giant maple that dropped a whole big mess of stuff in our yard every year. I’m allergic to them, so it didn’t hurt my feelings to see it go. We really enjoyed the back yard except for one thing…

The shed. An engineer built this shed. At first glance you might think that it’s quite a great building and how could we ever dislike it? Do you see the gaps in the wall planks? Those were about 1 1/2″ wide and didn’t do much to keep the weather out. Also, please take note of the metal roofing. The ridges are supposed to run UP and DOWN in order to help shed water. This was placed on the roof sideways so it did an excellent job of catching all of the rain and bringing it in. Also, this was the biggest waste of space. There was a loft area that was not usable because the previous owners had stashed all kinds of wood and such up there. We looked forward to replacing this structure.

This summer we decided to replace it. First, though, we had to get another tree cut down. Actually, there were two trees in this spot. Technically they were on our neighbor’s property, but after the branch fell on The Monstrosity this winter we offered to split the cost of taking them down. After all, if we were going to invest in a new shed we didn’t want it being wiped out by a tree branch.

These trees had power lines running through the branches and I worried about Jay and the neighbor kid trying to take it down themselves. They actually managed to get most of them down when we called in the Tree Guy. The one tree was so rotted that when the trunk fell to the ground it actually burst apart on impact. The Tree Guy said that if we hadn’t taken it down now it would have definitely come down this winter. Yikes!

Our shed was 12′ x 16′. We looked around, compared prices, and Jay decided that he wanted to buy a kit that he could assemble himself. When it arrived we weren’t quite ready to put it up because we wanted to get a concrete pad poured to set it on. The other shed had a dirt floor and critters were constantly burrowing their way into it.

While we were waiting for the concrete guy to get freed up Jay decided to start building parts of the shed. The kit was divided into two piles; one on the deck and one beside the house. To build the trusses Jay decided to screw the pieces of wood to the deck that acted as a jig. This way all of the trusses would be the same.

At night after work Jay would spend a few hours building the trusses and then the wall panels. These pieces of wood were screwed onto our deck for a few weeks. Luckily I never tripped over them!

We finally had a firm day for the concrete guy to show up so the shed came down! We had borrowed my parents’ enclosed trailer to house all of the stuff that went into the shed until we got the new one up.

We had help bringing the old shed down. Then we rented a dumpster to get rid of the debris. By carefully stacking and arranging the wood we were able to fit the entire thing in the dumpster. The only stuff that didn’t go in there was a handful of boards for one of Jay’s coworker (to be turned into a turkey coop) and then the metal roofing was scrapped by a friend of the concrete guy.

That really opened up the back yard! I guess that I never realized how much privacy The Monstrosity gave us. Since I have no plans of sunbathing in the nude, though, the newly opened space will not bother me at all.

After the concrete was poured we only had to give it 24 hours before we were allowed to start building on it. How impressive is that?!

We have two double doors on the end and a man door on the side. Let me tell you what… the full 16′ side was HEAVY! I almost couldn’t help move it.

Originally when we discussed the shed we thought that we might actually downsize in order to give me more vegetable-growing room in the yard. That’s when Jay decided to make room in the basement for trains and I suddenly had jets spread all over the place.

That’s when I suggested that we put up a shed with the same footprint as The Monstrosity and use part of it as airplane storage. After all, once Jay gets the Spad completely finished and it comes out of the basement there is no way that he’s going to be able to get it back down there. It will have to reside in the shed.

Last weekend my parents came down to help us with the final assembly. Friday night Jay and I managed to get the walls up and fastened together. On Saturday my dad, sister, and the neighbor kid helped me and Jay to put up the trusses, plywood and shingles.

We’d had no rain for several weeks, but the day that we were going to be outside doing this it rained on us twice.

Sunday Jay put the doors on and then I painted it yesterday. I still have to paint the trim white. I figured I would make it match the house.

We have begun to fill it, and boy is it filling up quickly! We actually need to start organizing it, too. I need to get the hardware to hang my gardening tools on the walls.

Jay needs to start figuring out how he’s going to store his planes in there.

The other thing that I want to do is put gutters on it and get a rain barrel. Not for any kind of environmental reason, but because I don’t want to pay the city to water my gardens. I’m cheap like that.

What a difference!

I have some landscaping work that I need to do. I’ll wait until next spring before fixing the fire pit area that was torn up when the concrete guy was positioning his equipment in the yard. Overall, though, we are happy. Jay really enjoyed putting this kit together. Everything was cut perfectly and went together so easily. There was once that Jay had to call the company to ask a question and the customer service was quite impressive. We highly recommend Best Barns if you want to build a shed/garage/play house from a kit.

Posted in Garden, My House | Tagged Garden, My House, Outside, Shed | 3 Comments

Zucchini Relish

Posted on August 15, 2016 by civilwarrose5

One year when I was a LOT younger my parents had been given a TON of zucchini. What were we supposed to do with all of it? My mom was given a recipe for Zucchini Relish so we gave it a try and it was DELICIOUS! I can’t recall how much my parents made that year, but it seems like we had enough to last us an entire year. We did not go easy on it, either. Also, I think that I remember my parents using a 5 gallon bucket to shred the zucchini into before cooking it down.

This is a sweet relish that goes perfect with hot dogs, hamburgers, or almost anything else.

RECIPE (makes 7 pints):

6 Med or 4 Lg Zucchini

2 Green Bell Peppers

4 Med Onions

2 Green Tomatoes

2 Tbsp salt

Grind ingredients to desired size.

I use my food processor with the shredding blade. Make sure to wash all of your vegetables first and then cut them into pieces that will easily fit into the food processor.

You might need to empty your bowl a few times before everything is shredded.

Put salt over vegetables, mix and let stand for 2 hours.

I use a large stockpot for this. You will need the stockpot later to cook your relish down so this is the easiest way to avoid dirtying too many dishes. While your mash is ‘standing’ you can use this time to clean your oven, get your canning stuff together and make sure that your jars are clean.

Drain, rinse once and drain well.

I bought a larger strainer recently and placed some cheesecloth in it to keep the zucchini from falling out of the slightly larger holes. This worked really well and I was able to put all of my mash into the one strainer instead of using two like I did in this picture.

Seasonings:

3 cups cider vinegar

5 cups sugar

1/2 Tbsp pepper

2 Tbsp celery seed

1 Tbsp mustard seed

1 Tbsp tumeric

1/2 Tbsp nutmeg

3/4 Tbsp ginger

The first batch of Zucchini Relish that I made I used a different brand of stevia. I believe it was the Zing baking blend. It still has cane sugar in it, but it tastes just as good as using full strength sugar. In this way I can call this ‘reduced sugar’ relish. You can experiment and use whatever makes you happy at whatever strength you prefer.

Right before I start to get the seasoning ingredients together is when I like to start heating my jars and lids. It works out for me that by the time the mash is ready to be placed in the jars that the jars are heated and ready to be filled.

Heat seasoning ingredients.

I like to heat the juice until I can tell that it is just about on the edge of simmering.

Add vegetables and boil for 10 minutes.

When you first add the vegetables it might seem like there’s not enough juice, but don’t panic! Just stir it frequently to make sure it all gets heated evenly. There’s a lot of mash in this pot and you don’t want it to burn. As it cooks it will create more juice so it will be just fine.

After the mash has boiled for 10 minutes remove from heat and add 1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with a little water to thicken.

Seal in jars and process for 15 minutes.

Taa-daa! You now have beautiful pints of zucchini relish to enjoy! Typically I like to let it sit and marinate some more for a few weeks before breaking into the jars, but technically you can start using it right away.

Enjoy!

Posted in Garden, gluten free | Tagged Canning, relish, zucchini | Leave a comment

Dresses for Missions – 8-6-16

Posted on August 9, 2016 by civilwarrose5

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything for my Dresses for Missions project. A lot of that is because I’ve been busy working on other projects. That didn’t stop me from buying more fabric, though.

I’ve discovered an enabler, too. The woman who works days in the fabric area of Hobby Lobby recognizes me now (Yikes!) and lets me know when she has new material marked down in the clearance bin. Last week I went in there just to walk around and look… until she mentioned the clearance bin and I found some great material for $2/yd. *sigh*

Dress #31

When I was done with this dress I was in love. It’s a good thing that it wasn’t close to fitting me because I might have kept it! The colors are so pretty and feminine, don’t you think? I’ll show you what my favorite part is, though…

All of the sparkle! This picture really doesn’t do the dress justice. This pink cotton had a bit of a sheen to it due to the pattern that runs all over the material. Then I used a sparkly white mini ric-rac along the hem of the ruffle. Around the seam of the ruffle I used a teal ribbon that has a nice flat spot in the middle perfect for sparkly ribbon! I used the same teal and white ribbons at the neckline, too.

Dress #32

Using the same fabric (I bought all that was on the bolt: 2 5/8 yds), I made another dress. For this one I used the same fabric for the ruffle and purple as the accent color. The pink accents of the ruffle and edging pull the pink out in the previous dress whereas the purple gets pulled out in this one.

And of course, more sparkly ribbon! Just for the fun of it I decided to use sparkly pink ric-rac on the hem. I then used a wide dark purple ribbon and laid the white sparkly ribbon on top. This combination was used at the neckline, too.

It was so nice to sew dresses again. I love seeing just how girly I can make them!

Back in May I also finished edging another fleece blanket. This time I did a pattern of bobbles along the edges. I think that they turned out rather cute.

I turned these in on Sunday so hopefully before too long they will be putting a giant grin on somebody’s face!

Posted in Blankets, Charity, Crafting, Crochet, Faith, Sewing | Tagged Blankets, Charity, Crafting, Crochet, Dresses for Missions, Sewing | Leave a comment

Almost A Craft Show

Posted on August 6, 2016 by civilwarrose5

Last weekend was the annual craft show in the town where my friend Sarah lives. My mom and I set our stuff up on her lawn last year, which is directly across from the park where the craft show is held. This is good for us because it saves us the $450 booth fee that the craft show charges. We were going to set our stuff up again this year, but my mom had a bad headache so we ended up not doing it. Which is okay because it was a sad turn-out. The park was only half-full of vendors and the people were looking, but not buying. I had made a few things for it, though, so I thought I would show you what I had been furiously working on for the show.

First up are a few of the aprons that I made. This one was actually for Sarah as a thank you for giving us a space on her lawn.

Whenever I bake or cook I am constantly picking up the kitchen towel and setting it down… looking for it… picking it up again… setting it down somewhere else…

My idea with these aprons was to put a loop on them where I can hang my towel and always have it right at hand.

This particular apron was actually made out of a ladies’ jumper.

This next apron I had to make a waistband for it and edge the sides.

I made this one using a man’s button-up shirt. I used one of the cuffs as the loop for the towel.

This is another apron made from a man’s shirt. It’s not very fancy, but it’s utilitarian.

Please excuse my model. This was her first job and she’s not very good. I told her not to quit her day job.

Another idea that I had was this wooden cross. Jay cut them out with his CNC router and then I finished them. I placed a mustard seed in the middle and covered them with glass globes. Then I printed out a little card with the verse from Matthew that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed then nothing will be impossible.

The idea for these purses hit me when I was at my church’s summer festival and I watched little girls carrying money around in their hands because they didn’t have any pockets. I thought that I would make some little purses that I would have loved to carry around when I was younger.

I used Velcro as the closure on this pink rose purse.

This pink swirly purse has handles instead of a long strap. Also, I used the pink roses fabric to line the inside. I sewed the button on the ribbon and used Velcro as a closure.

This one reminds me of a book bag that I had in third and fourth grades. The blue ribbon is sparkly and the little heart buttons glitter at you, too.

This was my failed attempt at making a recessed zipper. The most impressive thing on this purse is that I put the ribbon on the front and back before sewing it together and I managed to match the ribbon up at the seams!

Plus, sequins make everything better.

This was actually my first purse attempt. Not only was it my first purse attempt, but it was also the first time that I’ve ever used interfacing. That was a learning curve for me!

It’s cute, though, so I hope it catches a little girl’s eye.

I did end up visiting with Sarah for a few hours even though I wasn’t selling any of my stuff. Her church was having a yard sale on her lawn so I hung out and helped with that. Sarah pointed out a box of sewing stuff to me. After one glance I yanked it off the table and gave them the $5 that they were asking for it. This was the deal of the day! Would you like to see what my $5 bought?

Nine cones of black thread… two cones of white thread… two cones of nylon thread… four other colors of cone thread… over 30 packages of bias binding… an almost full skein of Red Heart yarn… wooden beads… misc beads… some ribbon on spools… a sewing kit… some steel rings… a deck of cards… and a handmade hair barrette. It was a steal!

Posted in Crafting, Sewing | Tagged Crafting, Sewing | Leave a comment

3D Printing Structures for N Scale Railroads

Posted on August 4, 2016 by civilwarrose5

While trying to plan out the town and surrounding area involved in our model train layout I have discovered that I’m not very happy with my choices for structures. Call me silly, but I really don’t want my plastic structures to look like plastic. It’s why I’ve been spending so much time trying to get the finishing techniques just right for our buildings.

My biggest issue has been the church. In my head I know exactly what I want. The problem is that I can only find it in plastic, and not very good plastic at that…

Jay decided that he would try to make a church for me. He drew up the first iteration and it was very close! To help iron out some of the details we pulled up images of country churches online and I showed him what I was picturing in my head.

Due to the wonderful world of technology, and Jay’s ability to translate my thoughts into actual projects, we were able to come up with….

My 3D printed church! This looks a little rough right now, but we have some cleaning up to do and then the finishing.

For instance, I’m going to go online and find pictures of stained glass windows. I will print them out on either thin velum or the overhead projector sheets, cut them out, and place them on the inside of the church windows. Won’t that be pretty?

Also, please note that my church has a steeple! If you were to open the doors I’m sure you would see all of the people!

Here is the side of the church (please note that the roof has not been installed… if you’ve ever worked with general contractors you know that it takes them FOREVER to show up and get the work done!). What really sells this building, I think, is the lapped siding. Poor Jay had to draw every single line for the siding in the program that he uses. It was very time consuming, but definitely worth it.

He has also been drawing up different houses to assemble for the layout. After all, the congregation has to have somewhere to live. We can’t have the town full of roaming homeless people!

One of the other structure projects that Jay has been working on are these lighting units. Each building will have one installed so that we can light up the interior at ‘night’. Can you imagine how awesome the stained glass windows will look on the church when all lit up?!

They don’t look very big, but these are LEDs so they put out a lot of light! Jay has used the warm white so that it won’t be so harsh and he will be able to control the intensity when it’s all wired up to the controller.

I see even more detail work to be done in my future!

Posted in 3D Printing, model trains, N Scale Train, Trains | Tagged 3D Printing, model trains, N Scale Structures | 11 Comments

Sewing Machine Ads on Craigslist

Posted on July 31, 2016 by civilwarrose5

Last fall during National Sewing Month I did a blog post with entertaining ads that I had found on Craigslist for sewing machines. I enjoy visiting the Craigslist postings for various cities around the country to see what people are selling in relation to ‘sewing’. Most of them are average and run-of-the-mill, but I have run across some pictures or postings that make me pause. Here’s another series of these ads that I’ve found recently…

Brother Sewing Machine – $20

Works, but needs some tension adjustment. Could be done by someone who actually knows how to use a sewing machine. Me, not so much.

At least they are honest!

Kenmore Sewing Machine – Model 5186 – $200

Sears-Kenmore Sewing Machine – Model 5186 with cabinet. Working condition and ready to use. $200 OBO.

First off, you’re going to be hard-pressed to get an offer of $200 for this machine. It’s not a Singer Featherweight or 301A. My favorite part of this picture is the sock under the pressure foot. It makes me laugh. “We’ll put something in the machine to make it look like it’s ready to go and can sew. What do I have? Hmmm… Here’s a sock. That will work!”

Sewing Machine

sewing machine and carrier. works great. accessories included

This ad didn’t have a picture. Not only do we not know what brand of machine this is, but we have no idea exactly what accessories are included. Even if we were intrigued and interested there’s not even a price posted. Something makes me think that this person may not hear a whole lot regarding their ad!

Brother sewing machine – like new – $80

I got this sewing machine as a gift, I have only used it once and I am moving and need to get rid of it ASAP.

This person received this machine as a gift? Did they ask for it? Or did somebody just randomly give it to them? They might have used it once, but apparently they aren’t well versed in machines to know that you should at least include a picture of the FRONT of the machine. The back of it usually doesn’t tell us much, nor does the fact that you included the pedal in the picture. One other thing that pops into my head is they have to get rid of this ASAP because they are moving. There is NO WAY that they can possibly fit it anywhere on the moving truck. It is in the way and if they don’t get rid of it ASAP then the whole move will be ruined!

Needing Some Sewing Done

Hello, I have a friend that is I need of someone to sew or can make contest swimsuits, or stripper clothes. Or Skimpy model kind of contest outfits. Thanks so much.

My eyebrows shot way off of my forehead when I first read this. When you start to read it you think that maybe somebody participating in a pageant is looking for somebody to make them unique outfits to help them win. My assumption quickly changed when the ‘stripper clothes’ came into the picture. Then, just to make sure that we are clear as to what kinds of outfits are needed further clarification was added, “Or Skimpy model kind of contest outfits.” Yikes! I guess that you have to like sewing fabrics with a lot of stretch like spandex and lycra. I give this person credit because they were very polite and it’s so nice that they are trying to help their ‘friend’.

Husqvarna Opal 640 Sewing Machine – $55

Excellent Condition! Used only once! Recent break up. Need money!

I am actually surprised by how many machines I see on Craigslist that mention they were only used once. What? Once? And you gave up? In this case, though, apparently the recent break up has caused the seller to give up on any hopes of doing more sewing. Instead, this person is so desperate for money that they are willing to give it up for $55. They are definitely low-balling themselves. This is the perfect time to play on the sympathy of others and ask for $150. I would be more willing to give $150 for this machine than $200 for the Kenmore up above. Not that I would actually pay $150 for this machine, but you get the idea.

Singer Sewing Machine with bobbins BRAND NEW – $180

The Singer Sewing Machine has never been used. We were gifted another one so we don’t need this one. INcludes the case and bobbins. Asking $180 OBO.

To be fair there were other pictures posted on this ad that actually showed the machine, but this picture cracked me up. In my head I can hear my mother picking out all of the junk that you can see in the background. If you’re going to post a picture to sell a machine don’t you think you would want the machine to be the focus of the picture? They couldn’t have found a less cluttered place to take a picture? When I look at it my eyes automatically go to the box fan, then the dishes on the counter, and then the bag of snack-sized bags of chips. Also, did you notice that this person was gifted another machine so they don’t need this one? Who is gifting all of these unneeded machines?

Sewing machine – $40

Sewing machine for sale don’t use it because I don’t know how to lol..

I like the fact that this person is completely honest and tells you that they don’t know how to use a sewing machine. Which is obvious because the only picture included in the ad showed the back of the machine as it sat on a driveway. Also, it was taken from a distance away. I cropped out most of the driveway below it.

Singer Sewing Machine

Singer Sewing machine – needs minor repair. If you are familiar with sewing machines at all I’m sure this is an easy fix. We don’t use it and won’t take the time to fix it. You pick up, its yours.

I hate to disagree, but this machine is going to need some pretty major repairs. I can tell just by looking at the picture. First thing you’ll have to do is change it from a Kenmore to a Singer. I did look and I didn’t see another post by this person with a Singer pictured and ‘Kenmore’ listed in the headline. If it needs minor repair, why don’t you state what the minor repair is that will be needed? “If you are familiar with sewing machines at all I’m sure this is an easy fix.” You can’t even state the correct brand of machine yet I’m supposed to believe that you have determined that the minor repair will be an easy fix? It’s like saying that if you are familiar with cars at all that I’m sure this is an easy fix and the vehicle ends up needing the engine and carburetor rebuilt. At least they appear to be just giving it away instead of feeling that it’s worth at least $100 because it’s ‘vintage’.

I hope that you enjoyed these ads! These types of ads keep me looking for more… 🙂

Posted in Humor, Sewing | Tagged Humor, Sewing, sewing machine | 1 Comment

Summer Cross Update – 7-9-16

Posted on July 27, 2016 by civilwarrose5

Again, I know that this is WAY past July 9th, but that’s when my last updated picture was taken. So please chill.

Here is the Summer Cross as of July 1st. I was working on the words that form the background of the picture. I had completed the entire right side of the background.

And here it is on July 9th with all of the background words in place.

I am currently outlining the rest of the cross so I will post an update when the entire thing is DONE. I’m hoping that will be in another week. Then I get to go pick out the mats for it!!

I’m not fond of the framing process because it’s a lot of fiddly work, but it always turns out so gorgeous when it’s done.

As a reminder, this is the Winter Cross all framed. I love it, but I can’t wait to take it down for a few months while the Summer Cross hangs in its spot. Until December 21st… then the Winter Cross will go back up.

Posted in cross stitch, Faith | Tagged Cross, cross stitch, Faith | Leave a comment

Atlanta Trip – Animal Park Part 2

Posted on July 24, 2016 by civilwarrose5

Hopefully you haven’t wandered off of the trail since leaving Part 1.

We had just wandered through the farm animal section of the park.

Although, I am curious as to what happens if you DO leave the trail at some time?

Walking around a corner we saw these guys. You have to feel bad for them. Not only were they wearing heavy fur coats in the Atlanta heat, but they have one of the worst NFL teams named after them!

“No, we’re BEEFalo! Absolutely no relation to those Buffalo guys…”

At this point in the park there was a lot of just walking through the trees, which was nice. However, it can make one’s mind tend to wander. That is never a good thing for me.

By the way, this is the Atlanta Cardinal who is not related to the Arizona Cardinals. I think that his cousin is one of the Gettysburg Robins, though.

Next we came to this…

A covered bridge…

Which made me laugh. Actually, I enjoyed this bridge quite a bit. Why?

It bridged absolutely nothing. Except for maybe the trail, but that’s not the point of a covered bridge, is it?

Despite the fact that we were surrounded by trees perhaps it was put up as a nice shady spot to rest…

Nope, that can’t be it either since most of the roof is missing. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather have the park spend money on the animals than on maintaining this structure, but they could at least change the sign to read, “Partially Covered Pathway.”

We continued along the way with Sarah feeding the squirrels. At one point she was trying to get a squirrel to come closer to where she had tossed a peanut and I glanced over to see this….

“DUCK STAMPEDE!!” I yelled

I couldn’t get my camera out quickly enough to get a good picture, but it was great. There were about 20 ducklings running just as fast as they could right towards us… with the parents trying to keep up. There is nothing cuter than a stampeding herd of ducklings!

Before they got to where we were standing, though, they suddenly veered to their left. Nothing was chasing them…

I can’t recall what pen we were next to, but it wasn’t anything that the ducks should be excited to see.

What was their hurry?

Apparently they were playing the last-one-to-the-watering-hole-is-a-rotten-egg game!

They were cute, though. And I can still see all of those ducklings running straight at us! There wasn’t any noise being made, but they were running for all that they were worth!

We left the ducks to their water and continued along the path. Suddenly I stopped.

Was I really seeing this??

We were in Atlanta, right?

I was staring right at a stand of BAMBOO! I never would have thought that anybody in the States was growing bamboo! Silly me always pictured it over in China with a panda bear happily munching away.

I’ve seen those little bamboo shoots that people grow in the little planters, but this was something else. I would have liked to have touched it, just to see how stout the pole was. It was roped off so I left it alone.

It was really neat, though.

Is it weird that the bamboo was my favorite part of an animal park??

As we were rounding the corner I spotted this guy…

“Take a look at this! Watch.. I will bat all of my blue eyes at you. Ladies, you know you want this…”

I was spotted, though, so he suddenly became shy and didn’t want to show off his dance moves anymore.

“I had something in my feathers… It’s all cool.. no big deal… I’m just going over.. um… here… now…”

The hen sitting on the trailer didn’t even take a second glance at him.

“He thinks that he’s such a stud. Whatever! I’ve seen him shaking his tail feathers at other hens and I’m not going to deal with that. I don’t need somebody who is going to run around and shake his feathers for any ol’ hen in the park!”

Our last stop was at General Lee’s headquarters. This absolutely disgusts me. They named an overgrown rodent after my beloved General Robert E. Lee. I know that they were just trying to honor him, but seriously? If they ever get a rescue panther then they can name it after Robert E. Lee, but not a rodent!

This is the special little tablet that they had displayed for it and everything.

A stinkin’ rodent! *shakes head in disgust*

Heading back to the main building to end our visit we ran into one of Sarah’s old friends. Apparently every time she’s at this park she sees a snake in the road. I think that it must be the same snake. He’s just so Exs-s-s-s-s-s-sited to see her!

It’s a good thing my dad wasn’t there. If he had seen this I don’t think that I could have gotten him to walk past that spot without a machete. Or a flame thrower. My dad isn’t very fond of snakes….

Well, this concludes our visit to the animal park. Please remember to take all trash and children with you as you leave. We hope you enjoyed your visit. Please be sure to tell your friends about us! Thanks and have a great day!

Posted in Travel | Tagged animals, Atlanta, Travel | Leave a comment

Atlanta Trip – Animal Park Part 1

Posted on July 20, 2016 by civilwarrose5

It’s been almost two months, but I’ve still got a few Atlanta posts left in me!

One of the places that we visited was an animal park. Now, I’m not much for zoos, but Sarah loves this place so we took a little ride.

The whole place is surrounded by a fence so that the animals can’t escape. To get in you walk into the front building where you pay your admission and purchase any food that you want to feed to the animals. Then you walk out the back door to start on your way around the compound.

We were greeted by this dapper fellow.

I’m not much for birds, but I’m a sucker for the coloring on a peacock. What a gorgeous animal!

These colors match most of my wardrobe: blues, greens and browns.

It looks so lush… I just want to rub my cheek on it.

As we walked along the path through the woods there were various signs posted.

Okay… I’ll stay on the trail…

A broken limb is for…. WHAT?! What is a broken limb for??

Are we talking about an arm or a leg? Or a tree limb??

Either way I think that it’s always good to not break any limbs.

Our first stop was with these fellows. Black bears. They sat there just waiting for you to throw food at them.

This is where I started to get uncomfortable.

These are beautiful creatures and here they were sitting there, begging to be fed. Not because they were hungry, but because they knew that if they did that they would get a treat.

Around the corner at the other side of the pen was this black bear who had parked its butt right in front of the PVC pipe that allowed visitors to drop food right onto the tray placed below.

I was getting rather sad and depressed about this whole thing. Again, I’m not fond of zoos and how naturally wild animals are kept caged for our viewing pleasure.

This sign was posted nearby and it made me feel somewhat better. If these animals weren’t here then they could be killed or starve to death. That’s not how I like animals to live, or not live, either.

*sigh* Okay, so let’s pretend that the caretakers here talk to all of the animals every day and spoil them rotten.

Which, to be fair, if I had a PVC pipe that dropped wet cat food onto a tray these two would be right there sitting in front of it, too.

It’s all about perspective I guess.

After we left the bears we came to these guys.

I much prefer to see them here than running in front of my car!

They had a nice big area to run around so they seemed to be in a good place.

Not everything was in pens. There were quite a few ducks walking around and I even saw some guinea hens.

This guy cracked me up. As Sarah was giving him pieces of cracker his little tail was wagging back and forth so fast that I couldn’t get a picture of it. He reminded me of my Chester when she’s happy.

This is as close as I wanted to get to the coyote. I’m not fond of them at all. That kind of happens when you dream that you’re attacked by one as you’re trying to cross your driveway to get to the house.

As we headed down towards the farm animal area of the park I could see these two little guys running around.

Sinkin’ kids! Where’s your nanny??

They were not shy, either! In fact, one came up to me and put his front hooves on my leg as if to say, “Hey Lady! Where’s the grub?”

I pointed to Sarah and told him to talk to her.

The alpaca wanted in on the action, too. I can’t seem to find pictures, but they also had a ton more goats, sheep and some donkeys.

All of them knew what it meant when a strange person came walking by… feeding time!

This skinny little guy didn’t seem to care that we were there. He barely looked up as Sarah tossed a cracker his way.

This pen made me hungry for Thanksgiving dinner. And omelets. And Chicken Salad. And deviled eggs.

Mmmm… hasenpfeffer…. (the ‘p’ is silent)

As I watched Sarah feeding the animals I had to marvel a little bit. Who would pay money to feed animals?? Then I had a conversation in my head that went something like this: “Kerry, you’re a farm girl. You grew up with these kinds of animals in every day life. Not everybody can be so lucky. What about my kids? They won’t grow up on a farm so they might actually enjoy a park like this, too. You can’t think that it’s goofy because it’s not every day that they can experience this up close.” “But self, of course they think it’s cute when they get to walk through here and feed a little bit of cracker or apple to these animals. I bet they won’t think they are as cute when they are mucking out the barn where they sleep or having to stack hay bales for these guys to eat. And what about the general maintenance of the area? Somebody had to build these pens and make sure that they stay together so that the goats aren’t wandering into the coyote’s pen!” “Kerry, you are too logical and practical for your own good sometimes. Just stand back and enjoy!”

I guess that having to listen to a conversation in my head is enough for you guys for today! I’ll post the second part of our Animal Park trip later.

Posted in Cats, Travel | Tagged animals, Atlanta, Travel | 1 Comment

Train Show Excursion – 7-16-16

Posted on July 18, 2016 by civilwarrose5

When Jay and I met five years ago he was a smoker. On July 14, 2013 he gave up smoking because he was too lazy to turn right to go buy a pack of cigarettes before heading to work. He has not had a cigarette since then thanks to the use of eCigarettes. He was able to step down his intake of nicotine with their help. I know how hard it is to give up an addiction. I’ve fought the battle of weight gain all of my life. Every year I try to give Jay something special to celebrate his anniversary of no smoking. Okay, maybe it’s not so much a celebration as it is a bribe. 😉

I discovered that there was a train show happening this past weekend within driving distance. The description led me to believe that it would be better than it was, but it was a fun little trip and it’s nice to do something like that once in a while. I gave Jay a handful of cash and told him that he could get whatever he wanted.

I had hoped that some of the manufacturers would have booths, but it turned out that this was more of a swap meet, or flea market for those of you who have never been to a swap meet. There was a LOT of old dusty stuff that these guys had dragged out of storage.

My hope was that I could find some more structures or kits for the layout. I was also hoping for some deals on the scenic finishing stuff.

I was very disappointed to find out that 90% of the stuff there was HO scale. This one vendor had a TON of Walthers structures for sale, but all of them were HO.

What’s the difference?

The engine on top is N Scale. The bottom is HO. It appears that HO is the most popular scale for guys to use. If you don’t have a lot of room then you go with N scale because you can do a decent layout at that size. However, it limits you a bit as to what you can find. We may end up scratch building a lot of stuff.

There were some displays so I studied them to see how they were finished and what I felt looked good versus what I didn’t want on our layout. My biggest complaint is that most of these structures look plastic, since that’s what they are. They definitely need more finishing touches.

Here is an HO scale church on one display.

And here is an N scale church from another display.

These churches are both similar in style to what I want for our layout, but you can tell that they are both plastic! Will I be able to get our structures to not look so plastic-like? I sure hope so. I guess that will be my goal to work towards.

On these displays it’s the detail that makes or breaks it. Take a look at this dilapidated Drive-In theater that was part of one display. Not only did he do a great job of making it look old, but the little details really add to the realism. There is trash scattered about in the Drive-In grounds, but take a look at the road. There are skid marks and cracks that have been filled in with ‘tar’. Also, isn’t the cattle truck cute?

This was my favorite display at the show because of the detail that went into it. It was a big rectangle with the city and Drive-In on one side, a train station and road on the other side, industry on on end…

And a rural scene on the other end that included a farm (it had John Deere tractors so I didn’t take a picture) and a junk yard. Again, it’s the details that really get me. I wouldn’t have thought of putting the ‘tar’ repair lines on the roads. Take a moment to look at the junk yard, too. At least there’s a beer distributor!

Back to the city area of the display. There was even a construction crew! I did have a slight problem with this little scene. If you noticed there are way too many guys ‘working’ and not nearly enough standing around. Come on! You were doing so good with all of the realism!

One more shot of the city scene on the display. Hey! Does that apartment building look familiar?

Yep, it’s the same model that we are using on our layout. I kept my eyes open because I like to see what other people did with the same buildings that we are using. Everybody has a different interpretation. Mine will be similar to the one above.

Then I found another one of these buildings in a different display. This person went with a much darker brick, which still looks really good.

I believe that this layout is still in progress because there wasn’t a lot of scenery detail.

It shows you, though, how something like this has the potential to turn into a display much like the one up above.

Here was another display that used many of the same building models that we are using. This one is more of a city-on-a-hill scene. This is the display that had the N scale church that I showed you up above.

This is what gives me anxiety when I think about having to do the scenery when we get closer to that point. Look at how many layers are on this forest scene. How do you know when you’ve added enough? How do you know if you need more? Am I going to be able to step back and add these touches in moderation?

Or am I going to get to this point and know that it needs more, but not be able to figure out what ‘more’ means. *sigh* It’s a good thing that I’ve got some time to figure it all out!

I did find some N scale items.

I didn’t buy it, but I thought that this semi truck was absolutely darling! I just didn’t think that it was $21 darling!

How can something so little cost so much??

And look at these little people! At $14 for the entire set you are paying more for the material in the packaging than you are for the people. N scale people always remind me of those grains of rice that have been carved or painted.

And if you’re modeling a city scene you definitely need a few of these!

Again, can you tell how small they are? Barely bigger than a postage stamp!

In the end we came home with a few things. Jay bought two more engines to pull his ever-growing collection of cars.

Including the newest set of intermodal cars that he bought that day.

I was looking for more vehicles and found these. We are going to need more semi trucks and trailers considering the amount of industry that we have going next to our tracks. But I’m not spending $21 a piece for them!

I also found this Warthog! I’m not completely convinced that it’s actually N scale as the booth where I found them had other toy cars that they were trying to pass off as N, but I couldn’t leave it behind. I figure that I’ll set it up as a static display at the ultra light air strip. After all, if you had the room for it wouldn’t you want a Warthog on static display in your yard??

Finally, I managed to find some cows. It’s criminal that you pay almost $1 a piece for them, but until I find the N scale cattle auction I guess that I’ll have to take what I can find. Luckily my beef farmer isn’t one of those who only buys a certain breed. We will have a diverse herd of cattle where all breeds are welcome because in the end they all taste the same with a little steak sauce!

Posted in model trains, N Scale Train, Trains, Travel | Tagged A-10 Warthog, Model Train Displays, model trains, N Scale Structures, N Scale Trains, Train Show | Leave a comment