Redoing The Deck

 
I started with an after picture.  Because it makes me so happy!  :-)  
I didn't take a good before photo of the deck.  It was last stained in a dark brown, more then half of which was peeling, and a good half the deck was green with mold and mildew - it's a fairly shaded area.
This is the "during" photo.  This is after spraying it with a deck wash, and then hours of power washing.  At this point I've just started spraying the railing
I didn't really choose the deck stain color.  We went to Lowes for me to choose it, and in the "oops" pile was a huge can of deck stain.  $30, for $150 worth of stain.  Yes, that color will work just fine..  :-)

Next is the furniture I got free along the side of the road.  
When I saw the price of replacement cushions, I knew why it was free.  You can buy new furniture cheaper then you can buy new cushions!  Thankfully, I can sew.  :-)
A close up of one of the chairs, before - 
First I stained all the wood - along with an adirondack love seat and a few tables that I'm using on the deck, using leftover stain from the last time we stained the deck.  Then I went to my favorite outdoor fabric store - Surplus City, and bought outdoor fabric - $30 for 5 yards.  5 yards was almost exactly what I needed - I used the last scrap to make a pillow for on the swing/hammock.. so there is literally not a one inch scrap of this fabric left.  Not bad for guessing how much I would need!
I'm so happy with the result.  Here's the same chair, after - 

I bought a flat of the flowers shown here, and added them to two old metal pans I had kept in the shed to use for something like this.  

On the other side of the deck I added a new hammock/swing, and to the far right  I am fixing my broken table (the glass shattered in one of our storms last year) and I got a pretty new umbrella..  I'll have more pics later.

Each morning I come out here with my coffee, open the canister of sunflower seeds I keep on a table, and sing to the peacock, peahen, and 5 peachicks.. who come running as soon as they hear me sing, knowing I'm going to toss them sunflower seeds.  It's the favorite part of my day!

The Frugal Girls

Geocoin Challenges


This site lists them all, by state - Awesome!

In PA we have - 
This is actually 11 challenges in one.  There is a coin for each county that you find 6 caches in, then an additional coin if you complete all 10 counties.

Allegheny River Wilderness Island Geocoin
Allegany River Wilderness Island
a 26 mile stretch of caches located in the water - would make a GREAT two day kayaking trip!

Geotrail Logo
Get your passport at one of 3 locations, find 25 caches

Butler Freeport Trail
I LOVE it when the passports can be printed ahead like this!
They request a $10 donation when completed, to receive the coin

Joseph Rothrock, Rachel Carson, Maurice K. Goddard, Gifford Pinchot
Legends of Conservations Geotrail
Collect all 30 cards.  Coin is not trackable, I've been unable to find a photo of what it looks like.  We do have a couple of the cards.  :-)
Mainline Canal Geotrail

Brand new - just started June 1st, in time for GWS11
If you want to earn a commemorative NCT 2011 Medallion, you will need to find 50 of the 100 caches and get the hidden code word written on the inside of the lid of each cache. There is a coder sheet you can download on the cache pages. Find the cache, get the code word, write it down on your coder sheet, and once you get 50 caches, you can submit it to the ANF Chapter communications director for verification. If the codes match, you will receive your Medallion. There are only 100 Medallions being offered, so first come first served."

South Mountain Geotrail
Get your passport at these locationas - http://smgeotrail.blogspot.com/p/rules-guidelines.html

Clearfield County Geotrail
The Clearfield County Geotrail is now open.  Log onto www.geocaching.com to get the official cache cordinates, register now its Free!   2011 theme is cemeteries of Clearfield County.  First you need to pick up an official Clearfield County GeoTrail Passport book, then you need to find 25 out of the 30 geocaches spread throughout the County.  At each geocache location there is a unique stamp to use inside your passport.  After collecting 25 stamps you can bring your passport book into our office or send it in for validation, then we give you a unique wooden coin for completing our geocaching trail.

Sheep Shearing today!



This should have been done a long time ago, but with our super wet spring..  we're running late.  The sheep look good, except for Delilah..  we knew she wasn't doing well, but it's shocking to see how tiny she was under all her wool.  We wormed her specifically for lung worms today, thinking maybe the broad spectrum wormers we rotate are missing something.
You can see all the pics on our farm blog - 
http://hickoryspringfarm.blogspot.com/2011/06/sheep-shearing-today.html

Sheep Shearing!


This should have been done a long time ago, but with our super wet spring..  we're running late.  The sheep look good, except for Delilah..  we knew she wasn't doing well, but it's shocking to see how tiny she was under all her wool.  We wormed her specifically for lung worms today, thinking maybe the broad spectrum wormers we rotate are missing something.
Before the shearing - Samson, Delilah, Lucy

Delilah being sheared.  I don't know when she was sheared last, if ever.  I'm thinking that may be, in part,  why she is not healthy 
Delilah, after.  look how tiny she is!  My poor girl!

Lucy being sheared. She's Delilah's baby, and not so tiny.  :-)

wool

Lucy, with her baby that was born this spring.  The baby didn't get sheared, she will next spring.

Samson

Samson after