Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Thursday, October 16, 2014

What is THIS and WHY is it in our Yard????????

New fenced item in our yard,  next to the deck!
Hello Friends,  We have something NEW in our yard....  You know that we call our car, Mrs. P..  Well--our new 'friend' is named Mr. PT.......Do you have any idea what is behind that fence???????



George built this fence with materials from Lowe's.
NO---it's not a new home for our resident birds --nor squirrels ---nor chipmunks -- nor for our nightly visitors,  the raccoons....

My hint is that it is something which our Community Club says (in their rules) that MUST be hidden --so as not to take away from the beauty in our community!!!!!  (That's why George built the fence!!!!)  SO---it must be quite ugly!!!!!!  Hmmmmmmm.



Meet Mr.  PT  (our new Propane Tank)
Okay---I'll tell you what it is. Please meet our new Propane Tank  (Mr. PT)... I think he's kinda cute,  don't you?  Don't know why we had to fence him in!  Maybe someone thinks that  Mr. PT will try to escape..... Ya think?



Mr. PT (from the deck)
This is what Mr. PT  looks like when I'm standing on the deck--looking down on that 100 gallon tank. Now ---do you have any idea why we bought Mr. PT???????  We are an all-electric house ---so we have never used propane gas for anything....


Remember what we used to have here??????
This picture is Clue Number 2......  We used to have a huge WOODPILE here.  Remember??????



Wagon Full of WOOD --getting ready to leave us!
But---we gave all of our left-over wood away to a friend.... See that doggie?  That's SWEETIE... Sweetie's Daddy came with his trailer. 



Sweetie's Daddy GLADLY took our left-over Wood!!!
This is Larry  (Big Dude),  blog friend whose blog is HERE.  When we visited Larry and family/friends in their home not long ago,  I mentioned that we had some left-over wood we needed to get rid of.  Larry and a friend along with Sweetie took me up on my offer --and came to get the wood not long ago.



Bye Bye,  Larry---and our WOOD
After loading up all of the wood,  I offered the guys (George, Larry, and his friend) a cold drink (I even gave Sweetie some water)--before they got back on the road heading home.  They were glad to have that wood --and we were glad to find someone who could use it!



George makes sure they can make it out of the yard!
WELL----now we don't have anymore wood to burn in our fireplace.... Hmmmm---wonder what happens next?????



The side yard looks different without the woodpiles.
By now all of you must know what we did!!!!!!  BUT FIRST---I must tell you a personal story here.  I must admit that life and priorities change as we get OLD... I am one person who said that she'd NEVER have a 'fake' Christmas tree in her house... BUT---now I do (and love it)...  AND--I also said that I'd never go to Gas Logs in my fireplace.  BUT--after last winter's horribly cold winter, we decided to make that change.  I still love a wood-burning fireplace --but it was just not practical for us any longer.   Some of the reasons we changed:
1. Hubby has a bad back --and last winter,  all of his work chopping wood,  going back and forth from the woodpile and the garage trying to keep the wood dry was just too much--  since it was SO bitterly cold and since,  even after all of that work,  we had a hard time staying WARM.
2. Gas Logs look much nicer now --and look like the real thing. (I had gas logs once years ago --and hated them since they looked 'fake'.  Today,  they look REAL.)
3. Gas Logs will keep our home cleaner --with less smoke and wood-droppings being carried in and out.
4. Gas Logs are warmer than wood-burning fireplaces ---since all of the heat comes into the room rather than going up the chimney!



Our new GAS LOGS
So---we made the BIG change....  Here's a picture of the logs.   It's not a great picture ---but they really do look REAL.



The new Gas Logs in USE on a cold day
Unfortunately,  we haven't had much cold weather here yet --so we haven't been able to use the fireplace much.  BUT--so far,  we LOVE it...

The neatest thing to me is that it has a REMOTE ---and that's how we turn it off and on.  The remote can be set to maintain a certain temperature---and will go off and on as needed in order to keep the temperature in the house where we want it.

We can also program the remote to come on early in the morning in order to warm things up by the time we get up!!!!!!   I feel very spoiled by this feature---but George will love not getting up early to make me a fire,  or even to get up during the night and stoke the fire to keep it going... We are POSITIVE that we have made the right decision, especially George I'm sure!!!!  Keeping the wood burning fireplace was a HUGE job ---which we truly didn't need to continue doing.


Beautiful look,  don't you think?
Finally,  here's one more picture of our new fireplace while lit.  (The reflections are from the glass doors.)   You can see that there are 'embers' glowing at the bottom.  Isn't it neat??????  I don't know if you are a gas-log-fireplace lover  OR a 'fake' Christmas tree lover ---but this old woman knew that it was time to learn to "love" BOTH.....

NOTE (added after blog post was written):  We got to use our new fireplace yesterday --since it finally got COOL outside..  AND--we've had so much rain now that I cannot complain for a long time about being dry here.  We have had over 8 inches in the past 10 days... Hopefully it will be over soon (today I hope) ---and we will get some sunshine!!!!!  Yeah... Have a great weekend.

Hugs,