Hiking at Limekiln

We hiked the "Old Damn" trail at Limekiln State Park.

 

I think the trail is a 1.5 mile loop. Yes, we remembered to sign out.

 

The creek was very dry. That's what happens when we have a summer with no rain.

 

The three Piel kids.

Can you spot the nest high in the tree?

Saw two fawns at the trail head.

I love hiking in the woods. 

Tenting at Limekiln State Park

This past weekend I went tenting with the Piel family.

We had site 117.  We were not on the water but very secluded from other sites.

Camping is a lot of work. Most of the work happens at home, packing and figuring out everything you need to bring and then all the clean-up and drying out after the trip is over.

We spent hours and hours sitting and staring at the fire pit.

Toast for breakfast along with my tea water on the boil.

No dishwasher while camping.

Our group as we set out for a hike.

Thankfully, no rain for me this weekend!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Today is Amie's Birthday !

Wordless Wednesday

Basketball Shrine

I bought the orange mini carnations on March 1st from the grocery store. The photo was taken on March 3rd. The vase still sits on the counter. Although, the flowers are faded now. The wine  is was Oswegatchie Orange. The wine was used to celebrate the team making it to the Sweet 16.

The display actually turned into an SU Basketball Shrine. : )

Following the team is a wonderful winter pastime I'm sorry to see our season end.

Terrarium

For Christmas I received a terrarium, it was purchased from Pottery Barn. I've never had good luck with terrarium's. "Good luck" as in keeping the plants alive. It sat for two months until one day while watching a Candice Olson episode on HGTV and saw where she put a bird into the exact terrarium.

I changed her idea up a bit by adding an old book and a nest.

The nest was given to me by the mother of one of my friends. The nest is made with the softest material a bird could find. The nest even has hair in it. If any nest belongs under glass this is the one.

Bathroom Remodel

The sinks came with a pattern that Mick used to cut into the beautiful African Mahogany counter top.

The tricky part was figuring the placement of each sink. I had no trouble where I wanted them from the side walls. The hard part was determining how far away from the back wall.

I have the philosophy measure four, five or six times then cut.

I actually left the house and ran an errand when Mick cut into the counter top, just in case something didn't go well.  : )

By the time I arrived home each sink had been set into their new home.

Let the plumbing begin!

Bathroom Remodel

Our two new sinks arrived and it wasn't easy. An online order from Lowe's, scheduled to take five days, took four weeks. I finally had to spend 45 minutes on the phone being transferred, transferred and transferred to figure out why they hadn't arrived. 

How can two sinks make such a mess?

I really like the sinks. They are porcelain and the best part seven inches deep.

They are all that I hoped they would be and only $213 each.

Wordless Wednesday

First Day Spring

Yesterday, the last day of winter, at our house it was 75 degrees at 4:00pm.  Now for my relatives that live in Georgia, South Carolina or Texas that is no big deal. But at my house!!

We broke the previous record from 1983 of 65 degrees.

Bring on spring. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Let's Go Orange

The SU basketball team plays it's first NCAA tournament game today at 3:15. Thankfully, I get out of work at 3:00 so I won't miss much of the game. The "BAD" spot on the organe represents Fab Melo. Darn him and darn his tutor's/school handler's. Gosh even Geneseo had "jock jail" to keep student athletes up with school work, assuming that the real reason for his suspension is related to academics.  

We I have an on-going tradition at my office that I wear orange when a SU basketball or SU football team plays.  

 I think it brings the team good luck. : )
Their second game is on Saturday and I can wear my SU sweatshirt. Although, it brought terrible luck for the Big East tournament. Maybe me wearing orange has nothing to do with how the teams play?  

It's National Potato Chip Day!

I haven't eaten any potato chips in a long time but I do love them. In fact, I could sit down and eat an entire bag of the kettle-cooked chips in one sitting.

I've heard from several of my loyal blog readers that you are sick of my heart shaped chip. So sorry, from your very bad blog author.

Valentine's Day

Think I could have sold this heart photo chip on EBay?

May you have a lovely Valentine's Day.

Wordless Wednesday

Bathroom Remodel

My hope is that by the end of the month the bathroom remodel will be completed. With Mick traveling for work it's hard to get projects done. The below photo is the most accurate photo I've taken showing the wall color. I have a new way of taking inside photos!!!!

I decided to go with purple for the shower curtain. I wanted to choose a color that we did not already have in the house. Oh, and I LOVE paisley. Other than gray and white it will be the only color in the bathroom.

I narrowed my search to three Kohler sinks and thanks to Amie she diagrammed what each would look like "space wise." Of course the second sink was my first choice and once I saw what it would have looked like I eliminated it right away. 

As much as I liked he look of the first I went with the third sink, I wanted more counter space. They've been ordered and scheduled to arrive today. Thanks so much Amie for offering to do this. You saved me from getting sinks I would not have been happy with.

The trials and tribulations of do-it-yourself home remodels, something I so enjoy. Except the paying part.

Interior Doors

Painting interior doors colors other than white is all the trend. I was ahead of the times when I had Mick paint the door to the porch black. I can remember like it was yesterday, it was six years ago, when I was trying to image what the door would look like painted black.

Now looking at the front door I'm considering painting that.

I' thinking green? Maybe pink?

Redwood Forest ??

During our hike at Lampson Falls we came across the root system of a fallen tree. I'd never seen anything like this before. It's the size I imagine of a tree in a Redwood forest.

 The sections where the soil washed away made it all the more interesting.

 Both photos were taken by Bonnie. The top photo with her camera and the bottom photo with mine. 

Tip Thursday

After my spoon in the bottle tip that turned out to be false, I was going to give up Tip Thursday. After a week of feeling terrible for giving out bad advice I got over it.

Prior to burning a candle trim the wick. The candle will burn slower and last much longer.

Trim the wick prior to each time you light a candle. It works. I promise!!

Wordless Wednesday

Lampson Falls

This is the kind of January hike I'm used to. It was a 50 mile round trip drive but so worth it.

This hike was an "official" hike. We had to sign in, a first for Bonnie & I.

We followed the trail by markers on the trees.

I finally got the hang of the self-timer on my new camera. Notice the camera on Bonnie. She got a camera for Christmas. So nice to get her interested in taking pictures. I think she'll have a SLR before long.

This bridge looks much different than the bridge last Sunday in SC.

The photo with the sun shinning on the ice on the side of the falls does not do justice to how pretty it looked.

I hiked up a hill to this pine forest and the pine smell was wonderful.

We want to go back in the spring.