How to Make a Patriotic Table Top

I have always found that sitting in the backyard is relaxing & enjoyable, but I never had a table for our drinks. I needed to change that! I pulled out my sheet of pressed wood yesterday and went to work.

I used my flower container as my guide and traced my circle onto the wood. Of course, I needed the table top to be larger in size than the top of the flower container, so I measured the circle to find the direct center of the circle and hammered a nail in the center. Then I held my measuring tape & Sharpie marker a few inches past my original circle and just basically drew another larger circle around the first one, then cut it out with my Evolv Jigsaw. (you can see my original circle in the photo above)  The table top is 22″ in width, in case you were wondering.

 

Next, I gave it a good sanding. After all of my wood projects, I always run a vacuum over the piece of wood to remove all the dust particles.

Next, I spray painted my table top red, and gave it a few coats.

After the red paint dried, I brought it inside to stencil on the stars. I used one of my metal star cookie cutters and a Sharpie marker and just traced the stars all around the table top.

I then hand painted the white stars, one by one.

I finished off the table top with a few coats of Polyurathane to seal it from the elements. Now, the table top just gets placed on top of one of my unused flower containers and has been made into a table.

I have now solved my problem of where do I place my drink when we are relaxing in the backyard. So, what do you think? Where do you place your drinks?

Happy Fourth of July

For those of you who have dogs, you know what the Fourth of July brings.  Fireworks. Dogs go crazy and bark at each and every boom, some dogs are frightened and need comforting, but nonetheless, our dogs are affected in some way by them.  My heart goes out to those who get scared of the booms, as Nikita used to be frightened by them, but now she just gets all  twitter-pated and huffs and puffs as she runs through the house.  Bella could care less, but barks, just because Nikita is.  Silly dogs.

Have a safe & happy 4th and make sure you take time to relax & enjoy the day with family, friends, some great grilling & fire pits!

Here are some of my favorite fireworks photographs… Enjoy!

 

Did You Survive The Fourth?

Now that the Fourth of July is a day behind us, did you survive?  If you have not already blown off any pendages or limbs and are currently in the hospital recovering, then you did great!  You are one step ahead of those who might be missing a favorite finger and now have to do all of their typing with the two-finger approach. 

We had a great day with an abundance of food to dine on, but the humidity was quite unbearable, but we dealt with it as we filled up our wine glasses (again). LOL   Daddy did an awesome job as usual tending to the grill (the grill master), while Mommy decorated our dining area & yard with lots of patriotic pride.  Mommy also made for dessert her delicious chocolate dipped patriotic strawberries for everyone and they did not last long around here!   As you can see from the photographs below, she also made some white chocolate stars too!  Yummy!

After our cookout the weather started to turn ugly (again) as this has been the third day in a row for severe storms.  Mommy has been trying so hard to get a photograph of a lighting bolt in the sky, and finally got one picture last night of a small bolt streaking through the sky!  Yeah for Mommy!   I sat with Daddy and Mommy on the front porch last night watching the neighbors light off fireworks, and I did pretty good until the big booms started, then I got really anxious.  Mommy put me back into the house so I could feel a little more at ease, but I could still hear them.  I could not wait until we headed off to bed, so I could snuggle between them for comfort, and we did just that and I felt better instantly.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE TO SEE LIGHTNING

Daddy and Mommy left me indoors yesterday during their cookout, and I am glad that they did because I could have had a heat stroke.  They are very responsible parents and are always looking out for me.  I do well in the house being left alone, as I listened to the radio and caught some of my favorite tunes which kept me company, while I was nibbling on my ice cubes.  No one lit off any fireworks at our house, so we can still count to ten on our fingers, and our dry lawn did not go up in a blaze.  Phew! 

Hope all of you had a great Fourth! 

SIDE NOTE:  Mommy’s brother-n-law is currently in the burn unit recovering from third degree burns from a freak accident where a gas can blew up and burned both his legs and feet.  He is having skin graft surgery today, so please add him to your thoughts & prayers today and for a speedy recovery. 

The Storm on the Eve of the Fourth

Last night we had another huge storm whip through here with high winds, lots of rain, thunder & lightning.  I have been trying for a long time now to capture in a photograph a lightning bolt, but have been unsuccessful to date.  I sat by the front window last night trying to do just that and did not get any lightning bolts, but got some great storm photo’s. 

 

While sitting in the dark at the kitchen table watching the storm, my eye caught some interesting shadows on the ceiling from the kitchen light.  For me, being a photographer for many years, I notice things like this, as these things make very interesting subjects.  So I decided to take our little battery operated LED light and place it on the floor to see what Nikita would do.  She approached it, sniffed, and started to dance around it.  She then started batting it with her paws all around the floor as the glow from the LED lit up her face.  (sillydog)  That was the only fun that she had last night, as the loud thunder and lightning had her glued to us the rest of the time. 

Happy Fourth of July!  Have a safe holiday and remember that if you do set off any fireworks, you may be start a fire on all of the dry lawns in the neighborhood, so think twice about it.

We were starting to think that we might perhaps be rained out for our Fourth of July cookout, but woke up to sun and a high humidity index.  Great!  Now we will be sweating to death over a hot grill, but that’s ok because nothing beats a grilled hot dog with slightly burned edges.

What Was In Your Picnic Basket?

WOW!  We have been busy over here and we were glad that Daddy got a day off and had the chance to relax on the 4th of July with us.   I had so much fun because the family came over for a cookout and I was so excited to see them.  Mommy took some good photographs of me and I wanted to share them with you.  All I know is that on Tuesday, all I did was sleep…. all day because I was one tired puppy, and I bet it was hard for Daddy to get up for work too after being off for 4 days.  That’s gotta be rough and he probably beat up his alarm clock when it started to ring.  lol

Crispy Oil Burner!

Anyhow, our 4th started off with a BANG, or some fireworks, no wait…..it started off with a fire!  A fire right on the kitchen table!  Yep, that’s right!  Mommy’s little glass oil burner that was lit on the kitchen table caught fire!  Mommy and Grandma were in the kitchen busy getting all the food ready for the grill and when they turned around, the oil burner was flaming on the table.  They yelled for Daddy who was outside getting the grill ready and he came in and helped get the burner fire put out.  Man, that was scary!  We never knew that those little burners could be that flammable, but they are, and we found out the hard way.  There was no damage to anything, just the oil burner, but what a way to start off our holiday party!  Geez! 

Having FUN with Mommy & Daddy

I just love holidays because everyone gets together for some laughs, great food and good times.  Spending time with family means so much to me.  There’s nothing better than feeling all the love that fills the air when your family is around.  They are always your rock, your sounding board, they don’t judge you – they just love you, and they are who provides you with unconditional love no matter what.  That is why family members are the best and most precious.  For me, I rely on Daddy and Mommy to do everything for me, and without them, I would not have the good home that I have now, nor would I have all the love that they provide me, the good care that they give to me, and if it wasn’t for everything that Daddy does for both Mommy and me, we would be lost.  Daddy provides so much for the both of us and we are so appreciative for all that he does for us.    

 

Here’s a photograph of me and Mommy enjoying the Fourth, but since we did not set off any fireworks this year (Daddy & Mommy weren’t sure if I would be scared or not), Mommy just added them to the photo for a great effect.  (I love this photo) 

 

I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July and I hope all of your oil burners did not catch on fire like ours did! (lol)