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How to Make a Safety Gate for your Porch

April 16, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

I wrote about this for the first time 3 years ago. Since that time, my readership has increased and I thought it was worth a second visit. I think it’s a neat idea. Like many of you, we have a porch and our dogs love to be out there. Sometimes, when I’m working in the garden or mowing, I put the dogs on the porch so they can be ‘with’ me. But we had a big archway/entrance onto the porch that needed to be secured. We needed some sort of gate.

A baby gate? No, although I thought about it briefly.

Here’s how we solved our problem. Our porch has white columns and a white, almost picket fence-like railing. So we took a trip to Lowe’s and found a piece of picket fence that was a bit damaged and asked if we could have it. I think we paid about 5 dollars for it. (We had already measured the opening and knew it would fit.)

So you see how the rails extend a bit beyond the actual pickets? I had an idea. I bought a couple of these metal pieces (don’t know the official name of them) and attached them to the columns that create the opening to our porch.

If you know the name of this thingamajig, let me know, please! Anyway, I figured I could just slip the ends of the rails right into these slots. And it worked.

The gate is secured, the dogs are safe, and the picket fence works beautifully with the style of our porch. This is a great idea for anyone with children or pets.

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Because of intermittent internet access at the hotel while they are upgrading the Wi-Fi and having to move to a new room twice in two days, I’m terribly behind in reading your posts and commenting. Hopefully, things will be better when I get back on Tuesday.

By the way, on the way home yesterday, I was asking Don my usual questions: Have the tulips bloomed? Have you seen any daffodils yet? Is there any grass growing?

Answers: Don’t know. Don’t know. Don’t know.

When I asked why, he said, ‘because I just don’t notice things like that.’

At least he’s honest.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: DIY, tutorial 14 Comments

Sew it’s Sunday

April 15, 2012 at 8:00 am by Claudia

I‘ve been meaning to share this with you for a while and I keep forgetting. This giant sculpture of a button and needle is in the Garment District in New York. Isn’t it cool? You can get a better view than this one and I would have if I had stopped sooner, but was in a hurry and didn’t get my iPhone out of my pocket in time.

I’m on my way home for 2 days. I have to be back for a Tuesday afternoon rehearsal. Poor Don has to drive all the way here (I’ll drive on the way home) and then go to work. We won’t have all that much time together, but I’ll get some quality time with my doggies.

One more shot of Spring’s Beauty…

Have a great Sunday.

Filed Under: new york, On The Road, spring 14 Comments

Blooming

April 14, 2012 at 8:00 am by Claudia

My first week of rehearsal is winding down. It’s been fun – the cast is a great group of talented (and nice) actors. I look forward to the next few weeks of this adventure. The hotel I’m staying in is in the process of upgrading their Wi-Fi, so I had no internet at all this morning. I ended up taking the laptop to the rehearsal studio. Now, I’m home and it’s back up and running.

Blooms are everywhere here in Hartford:

Spring has sprung! I want to explore all the different trees in Bushnell Park while I’m here. This one has such an interesting shape, doesn’t it?

The bottom of the trunk looks almost like toes or feet. It reminds me of those trees in The Wizard of Oz. I was so taken by its wonderful shape.

My knight in shining armor is coming to Hartford tomorrow morning to take me home for 2 days. I get to see my family and check on the garden. We’ve stopped watering the grass seed because its been so dry out east.  I watered so much before I left that I’m worried about our well. If the seed takes, great. If it doesn’t, we’ll reseed again in the fall.

This is one of the perks of my time here in Hartford. I can get home every 10 days or so! I need to give my doggies a smooch (and husband, too!)

Filed Under: On The Road, spring 18 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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