Sunday, March 29, 2015

Rain Barrels Have Arrived!

That was fast. I ordered the rain barrels last Sunday and the delivery truck backed into my driveway on Saturday afternoon.  I was really excited but then the cynical me thought "that was awfully fast, there just has to be something wrong."

The first thing that I did was inspect the boxes for damage.  All the boxes looked good.  Then I remembered that the rain barrel was offered in several colors so I needed to open the boxes to check the color.


It will be several months before we set these rain barrels up and use them so I want to leave them in the boxes.  I can open the boxes and look in to see the color once I cut the tape on the top flaps.

Hallelujah!!!!!  They are all grey.
R stored the 4 boxes in the garden shed and we went back to burning twigs and branches and raking leaves.  Not much else can be done when the weather barely gets to 40 degrees.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Paint Deals at Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware has two offers on paint that are a sweeeeeet deal if you need to buy paint in gallons or paint in pint size samples.
Through the end of the month (March 31st) you can get sample size paint in pint size for 99 cents!!! Up to 4 pints and all must be different colors.  This is right up my alley.  I am still going back and forth on different shades of green for my living room.  So for 4 bucks I can try 4 different colors.
The other paint deal starts tomorrow (Wednesday) through the 29th. It's a buy one gallon get one gallon free.  You can purchase up to 2 gallons per person which means you will walk out the door with 4 gallons. Chose from the Royal or Clark + Kensington brands and they can be either interior or exterior paint.

I'm not sure but you might need to be an Ace Rewards member BUT that's not a big deal.  Just sign up for a card at Ace (ask the cashier for a card) and then buy the paint.

Warm weather will be here soon so 4 gallons of exterior satin in the color 'Anonymous' couldn't come at a better time for us.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Killer Deals on Rain Barrels

This is just a quickie post to let everyone know about a great sale going on at Sears (no this is not a sponsored post).

Sears is having a sale online and anything over 59 bucks has free shipping in addition to the sale price.  I have been looking for rain barrels for the last two years.  What I have found are either ugly, expensive, or shipping made them cost prohibitive.  But lucky me I found the rain barrel of my dreams.
I wanted a rain barrel that is going to blend with my house.  So many of the barrels that I saw were terra cotta color and that just isn't going to blend with my dark grey house.  This barrel is made from recycled materials AND grey.  From what I can tell from the photo, it might just be the perfect shade of grey.  As you may already know..... there are 50 shades of grey..........yes, I went there....not to the movie but the reference.

The price is still kind of steep BUT there are savings to be had if you use this sale AND Ebates.  The original price of this barrel is $221.09 YIKES!!!! but it is on sale for $103.25 for a savings of $117.84.  It qualifies for free shipping, so you save yourself time AND money.  Plus, if you go to the Sears website directly from Ebates after signing up here, you will save an additional 6%.

Sears also has other rain barrels that you can purchase if this grey barrel isn't your cup of tea.  I know the price of barrels are not cheap but when you figure in the cost of water and the chance that your area may or may not have water restrictions, now might be the time to bite the bullet and spring for a rain barrel while they are on sale.

I'm buying 3 barrels to collect the water off of the barn roof and then 1 barrel for the back of the house.  I hope to collect enough rain water to be able to eliminate the need to use tap water for watering my plants.  We have well water so when we water our plants, we use electricity.  If you have city water then you are paying by the gallon to water your plants.  But if you use rain water it is FREE! plus rain water is FREE of added chemicals.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

The snow is finally melting

Today was finally above freezing.  I can't remember the last time I saw melting snow.  It's far too soon to call it 'done' when it comes to winter but there is that tiny flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.

Number one on our list to get done is move the beehive.  We need to do this before they get active. The hive is currently located right where the beekeeper put it to get the swarm to go into the hive.  He suggested that we let them be (LOL little play on words) until the bees got used to their new home.

The hive needs to go behind the barn where it will be protected from the west (driving rain) and from the north (cold winds in the winter).  We plan to add several more full size hives this summer plus we have the small hive (5 frame) that I purchased off of eBay.  That small hive will go in my flower bed on the north side of the yard.  It will be protected by the trees and my neighbor's house.

Number two on our list to to finish picking up all the branches and twigs from the tree that we cut down during the winter.  R has several tree stumps that he needs to cut down to the ground so we can use the stump grinder.

While he has the chain saw out he will cut some more off of the huge trunk that remains from one of the large dead ash trees that we had to cut down.  That remaining section is close to 40 inches in diameter and about 12 to 14 feet long.

Once things dry out we will start repairing the clapboards on the back of the barn.  Then scrape the paint, prime, and then paint it grey to match the house.  We also need to install a fascia board and add eave troughs and downspouts.

The project that I cannot wait to complete is the front door.  There is some filling and sanding to do before we prime.  I will probably prime twice just to make sure I get good coverage.  Then I will give it two coats of exterior semi gloss ultra white.  I know that white doesn't sound like much fun but with the wrought iron straps, door knocker, and door handle I want to make sure that I do not distract from those details.  I also purchased some cast iron house numbers that I want to install above the door.

But the project we talked about the most during this long winter is we need to clean out the barn. Holy moly where does all that stuff comes from anyways?  For some reason we have available space at the back of the barn but chose to pile everything in the front and now we can't get one more thing in the barn.

Of course we also need to throw out, scrap, or sell some stuff, too.  I mean we have three riding lawnmowers.  Also, too many weed whackers and a lot of race car parts that still need to go bye bye. The loft of the barn is filled with sheet metal from all of his race cars that he plans to use as wall art in the loft.  He also has a bunch of number plates from his race bikes.  Those don't take up too much space but he keeps finding one about every 6 months.  Several years ago a local business asked him if he would give them one of his number plates so they could hang it on the wall.  Flint Michigan was home to a lot of flat trackers and they have quite the collection.

So as you can see, spring cannot come too soon for us because my to do list is growing.