The Ramp is Gone!

It was my turn to work the shop in Cooperstown yesterday and when I left for work Jeff and Fanny were still planning their day.  When I got back home there was another raised bed-box almost finished and...glory be!...the ramp was gone.  Actually it had been reduced to piles of it's parts which will be re-used in other projects.  That ramp had been built for me in February 2009 when I had a cardiac episode (resulting in needing a new heart valve) and fell breaking my right leg in 2 places.  My cousin, Bill, built it during my stay at a rehab facility that March and when it was finished I planned and carried out an 'escape' (self-discharge w/o medical approval) and went home. The ramp was handy for me then, and when Mom broke her hip, Jeff extended it.  Over the years it has developed 'slime' which has to be power washed off or else it becomes a 'slip and slide' when it rained.  I can't begin to say how many times I landed flat on my back going down the ramp or on my knees going up it. (A indication it was time to get out the power washer!)  Since the doctors keep telling me I have osteopenia or low bone density I don't think I should keep taking chances about breaking something else

The Old Stairs that were under the ramp

on the ramp. Jeff used some of the long 2x4's for the frame of the raised bed-box and even found some metal L-braces that he used re-enforcing the utility trailer box.  Not to mention the bolts and nuts and assorted screws!  The planks will come in handy, too.  It's so nice to be able to drive right up to the steps and unload groceries, etc from the back of the car. Now I've got to give it a coat of Thompson's....

The shop looked good yesterday and the aroma of lavender wasn't as strong as the last time I worked. I was able to keep the door open all day and that helped, too.  Someone had raised the seat on the stool behind the desk to it's max and I couldn't figure out how to lower it so I felt like I was sitting on a mountain peak! I finally finished my Baby Girl Chic sweater set.  Jeff wanted to go fishing Monday so I worked on the hat while sitting along the Canal at Lock 18...a really beautiful spot. (We even found a vinyl gutter with 1 end cap and 2 braces along the curb... waiting for the garbage truck... on the way over and picked it up on the way home. Nothing wrong with it so it will become part of the gutter garden.)  The hat wasn't coming out right and I was running out of yarn so I ripped it out and tried again yesterday finally finishing it. The batteries in my camera chose that time to die so I wasn't     
able to take any photos of the sweater. I'll do it when I work in the shop again if it's still there...hopefully, not!  I also worked on another  crocheted pig.   Judy thinks the pig's eyes are too big and Jeff thinks the ears are too low but I think it's cute!  The one I worked on yesterday is purple with a polka-dot bow. I sewed the ears on a little higher and just got to do the eyes and it's finished.  And I started a hooded baby jacket in a Red Heart acrylic hombre called French Country...yellow, white, and 2 shades of blue.  Got the hood finished and this morning I'll start the body.  The shop was actually busy in the afternoon and I just knitted between customers.

Saturday Jeff and I went to some garage sales.  Kind of disappointing until the last one...at my friend Fred's house. (Fred's working in China and a cousin of his rents an apartment at the house.)  He got 2 Coleman camping

stoves...both with folding table legs, a Coleman lantern, 2 food choppers and I got the 2 metal seamstress rulers in the pig photo all for $10.10!  After a couple of hours of work, the stoves and lantern work like new. Good deals!!  We'll try a couple of more garage sales this weekend.

Oh, with the warm temperatures the windows are open and the sweet sound of chimes..inside and out...are delightful to fall asleep or wake up to!