Gumby green to tomato red

Some of you will remember the screen door I had someone make for our semi-Victorian house in NJ. In its first lifetime, it was Gumby green. Somewhere along the way it was repainted turquoise, not quite as bold as the Gumby green. I needed something funky to break up the overall dark cedar color of the house.

When we decided to move up here, I did not want my funky custom-made screen door to go to waste on someone who might not appreciate it, so I brought it here to use on the screen porch in the back. The turquoise did not work with a blue-gray house, so I painted it "Tuscan Red" to match what I had chosen for the front door. A nice enough red, just not outstanding.

I am not sure why I had such a hard time choosing colors for this house, inside and out. I think part of it was the time constraints—fast decisions and so many to choose!

The exterior color choices were limited to what was available in Hardie Plank, the cement-based siding we wanted on the house. Because we went with vinyl windows instead of wood, trim was pretty much limited to white. I still like the "Evening Blue" siding that we chose, but have been unable to find secondary colors that look good with it. I just found out when the painter redid the back porch ceilings in the sky blue I did in the front (also on the porch in NJ) that The Husband does not like it at all... (Sorry Hub!)

So, on a whim, I found a new paint color "Red Parrot" for the screen door, that is just a shade darker than the orange Adirondack chair we received as a gift. I like it so much on the screen door (the test run) that I am going to repaint the front door as well. It is the color of a ripe New Jersey tomato, a perfect funk to add to the greyish siding color. I think the little scroll ornaments in the corners have been purple since Gumby days, so I might just leave them that color.

Now where will I work in some other colors? Hmmmm...

And, for this color-saturated post—how about these fresh eggs we had for breakfast this morning! Even the lightest one is a whole lot more vibrant than what we used to get in the grocery store. Can't do yellow eggs anymore. Give me all pretty, and very healthy, orange eggs!

Portraits of pooches on porches and such

Nice are the mornings where the pooches are napping and I can get things done on the computer. Or I get nothing done other than drinking tea and watching week-old episodes of Good Morning America on Hulu. Those are good days too.

Woody normally spends his mornings out in the comfy chair in the sun, or when it is really hot, he digs a hole in the dirt and sprawls out there. But on a cloudy day like today, with rain on the way, he will sit on the porch in the other comfy chair and keep a watchful eye on us in the living room.

If anything looks even mildly interesting, he will just have to come back in.

Cyrus does all of his napping indoors. There is way too much going on outside for him to close his eyes for even a second. In fact, the curtains in the living room windows are working. I get more sleep at night, and Cyrus can actually snooze a bit in the morning.

In case you haven't noticed, I am a big fan of sleep—theirs and mine!

Patriotic pigs

Red, white and black? Well the piggies were not "born on the 4th of July" but they came to Lester's Flat today.

The husband is tired of the cute names and wants to go with something simple. For today at least, they are John and Mary. Mary is the redhead, John the big black spotted boy. I think we are going with only 2 this year.

I am happy to have hungry mouths for all of the whey from my cheesemaking efforts. The freezer is full—half with whey, and half with the pork from last year which is buried at the bottom. And the freezer in the old fridge (now in the basement as well) is chock full of whey too. We have been dumping it in the garden (supposedly good for the plants) and feeding it to the dogs.

Also pawning off the goat cheese on anyone who will have it. I still haven't mastered the art of making hard cheese, but am hell-bent on winning that battle.

Nice to have the pigs to suck up all that whey from my efforts.

Welcome John and Mary!