Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I saw this huge spider web this morning. There was some rain overnight and fog this morning and it was glistening in the sunlight. Amazing.

We woke up early and Don pointed out the waning crescent moon that was in a line with Venus. So beautiful in the dark early morning sky. We see a lot of stars and planets out here in the country.

I texted for Biden yesterday and I’m going to do it again today. Don is going to do some phone banking. We’re doing everything we can to help ensure his win.

Yesterday afternoon, I looked outside and what did I see?

This young buck munching on the burning bush, right in the middle of the big garden bed. I motioned Don over to the window and I eventually took a short video of him – it’s on Instagram. I let him eat for a while and then decided it was time for him to move on. I opened the front door and peeked out at him, talking gently. He just stood there staring at me. But as I moved onto the steps, he took off through the corral area, scaring our resident groundhog, Shifty. Shifty had apparently been dining in the corral. All is well. Our little buck got some food. And Shifty eventually returned to the corral for more food. Soon, Shifty will be hibernating for the winter. We’ll miss him, as we’ve grown fond of him.

Today we’re headed over to our storage facility, which has been hiking the price of their units every six months. We’re sick of it. So we’re going to take an inventory of what we have there, reorganize it with the stuff we’re going to toss on one side and the stuff we want to save on the other. Eventually, we want to rent a dumpster and toss all the crap currently in the shed – and there’s a lot of it – clean it out and put everything from the storage unit in there. Nothing will go in there that isn’t mouse proof, however, because field mice are a fact of life around here. We have to find some pallets, as well, because we’ve learned the hard way that items need to be up and off the floor.

Exciting, right?

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Thank you so much for all the lovely messages yesterday!

I was so tired yesterday that I took it easy, but thankfully, I fell asleep for about an hour in the afternoon and that took the edge off. Don made a special anniversary dinner and, boy, was it yummy! He found a quiche recipe that he adapted using vegetarian ingredients he purchased that morning. Oh my goodness! And the best thing is that he ended up with extra filling, so he made two pies. We’ll have the other one tomorrow.

Another strange night last night – this time I fell asleep right away and then woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep for a few hours. Thankfully, I finally succumbed and I’m feeling much better this morning.

I finished the wood floor in the dollhouse the other day.

Tricky towards the end. The base is slightly warped – remember this is a rescued-from-the-dump dollhouse. I was trying to make it as level as possible. By the time I neared the edge on the right, I realized that I would have to do some tinkering because the craft sticks that I use were going to be a bit too wide. Cutting some of the wood to make the last planks fit was a pain in the tush, resulting in a lot of cursing from yours truly. But it’s done.

As usual, I had to place some furniture in the room to see how it looked on the finished floor.

I plan on adding at least two more chairs and maybe a coffee table. I’d like some sort of narrow table to the left of the doorway – a place to drop keys, etc. Maybe an umbrella holder filled with umbrellas and walking sticks? A big old potted plant in the corner. Maybe a tiny round table and two chairs in front of the kitchen island – but that might be pushing it. Maybe the residents eat on trays like we do.

Don came upstairs the other day and sat in my desk chair to see how it looked. He loves it. And of course, he said he wants to live there. I know he loves what I do with rescued dollhouses; I couldn’t have a more supportive partner. But this time, he really took in all my tools, and the drawers full of supplies, and the desk filled with paints and brushes and he really got it.

To recap:

This is what it looked like the day I found it at the dump. Trim missing, shutters missing, the porch completely gone. (In my mind, the trim was too much, too big and over-the-top, more fitting for a child.)

This was the interior:

I removed all the excess trim, the shutters, and the stairs, which took up valuable real estate – plus they didn’t look good. When you looked through the front door all you saw was stairs. I decided not to add a porch. And then, I took a deep breath and removed the wall between the living room and the kitchen. That’s why I now have beams supporting the ceiling. After cleaning up the interior, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with the exterior, which led to lots of painting and cutting and glueing, finally arriving at this:

Every once in a while, I go back and update the dollhouse categories in the navigation bar. I did that yesterday, and I was reminded what this house once was and what I hope it will be.

It’s an awful lot of fun, this little hobby of mine. And it’s much cheaper than renovating a real house!

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.