Wine bottle repurpose

My bottle tree is full unless I add some more big nails. The problem is that I am continuing to have empty wine bottles that I hate to throw away. Hmm.

How about wine bottle plant/row labels in the garden.

I like to use Citrus Magic to remove the labels. It is actually an air freshener, but it does the job beautifully while smelling good! Then I use a paint pen to write on the wine bottle. Hmm, Now I need more empty wine bottles.

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Enjoying Sunshine!

The sunshine the last few days has been MUCH appreciated. I love sunlight on glass. This is my insulator tree backlit by the sun.

We have been adding to the bottle tree.

The girls appreciate the nice weather too! They think it highlights their feathers and brings out the rosiness of their combs!

They have stayed busy leaving me an average of 6 eggs each day. (8 chickens) Sometimes I find a mega-egg that barely fits in an egg carton! ( I keep a crumpled plastic bag in the bottom of my bucket to cushion the eggs because I can be clumsy.)

Y'all come back!

Lorilee

Sunshine Shortage!

Well, not a real shortage of sunshine, just a shortage of it in the evenings by the time I get home! It is hard to take photos for blogging in the dark! These Marigolds definitely have the attitude of sunshine! This is a current photo. Yes, it is still warm enough for them in South Texas.

Sunlight is in its glory through the colored glass of my bottle tree!

The blue bottles are especially delightful in the sunlight.

I think St. Francis agrees that the sunlight through colored glass helps brighten the winter garden!

AAGGGGH to AAHHHH!

I made a special stop at our HEB Plus last Friday to get some International Coffee Pumpkin Spice Creamer! BUT THEY WERE SOLD OUT! AAGGGHH! I was so looking forward to having it in my coffee on Saturday morning. Alas, the day was saved, they had my favorite Pumpkin Walnut scones AND there was wine to taste. Of course, I found a bottle to bring home!

NO I didn't drink all of these, the lady gave me some empty colored bottles for my bottle tree! AAHHHH a good day after all!

Ya'll come back!

Lorilee

Word is spreading!

The other day, I looked out my back window to see one squirrel in my bird feeder and another on my bottle tree. Word is spreading, I usually have only one squirrel filching sunflower seeds!

The squirrel on the feeder left, so the second squirrel decided to take his turn!

Almost there!
Yummy!
MMM mmmm good. My two fierce hunting dogs have now seen the squirrel. They are about to knock down the back door in their excitement to get that squirrel.
Aww, they just missed him! He escaped up into the branches of the tree. I walked out to try and get a photo of him chattering at the dogs. He scared the daylights out of me when he jumped out of the tree, hitting the ground with a loud thump about 10 feet from where I was standing and running to the fence.
With my attention span about the same as Lexi's, (The dog not pictured because she lost interest so quickly) I soon noticed something new of photographic interest. Awesome, lichen on a water hose! I'd say I'm easily entertained!

Ya'll Come Back!

Lorilee

Branches and Bottles

When I arrived home from school today, I decided to do some trimming in our live oak tree. I wanted to eliminate a few low-hanging branches and thin out some of the interior branches. Earlier, I was in the tree where my13-year-old is now perched! I was probably terrifying to any birds that approached.

GASP, Then I saw this! One of my bottles was broken. It definitely did NOT fall and break since part of it was still on one of the branches.

My 13-year-old swears up and down that he knows nothing about it! I am not completely convinced of his innocence. ( He is, at this moment, defrosting bacon with a hair dryer!) I did find several airsoft "BB's" in my garden area. Hmm, I wonder?

Ya'll Come Back!

Lorilee

Rings on her fingers and bells up her nose?

My sweety usually has Mondays off from work. Today, he made a base for my bottle tree. We had some pieces of oak salvaged from a wooden pallet lying around, so that is the wood he used. Now all it needs is more bottles, and I am working on that. I have a White Merlot chilling!
While sweety was at home, I was at school. My Teaching assistant had to work in another classroom today since we were very shorthanded. So I had the pleasure of this experience alone! A cute little girl in my afternoon class arrived wearing a skirt with jinglebells on it. It was over her regular clothes and looked like part of a costume. Shortly upon arrival in the classroom, another little girl was wearing it! Since it wasn't causing a problem, I let it go and made a mental note to be sure the skirt went home on the correct child! Later, the students were on the carpet and I was reading a story, when I noticed the little girl playing with a couple of the jinglebells that had fallen off. Actually, they had probably been assisted off by little fingers. I told her to put them in the skirt owners "mailbox" which is our name for their cubbies. She obediently got up, went to the mailboxes and returned. A moment later, I looked at her, and she had a red jingle bell in one nostril and a green jinglebell in the other! I pretty much shrieked, " (little girl's name), get those jinglebells out of your nose!" She calmly took a breath through her mouth and blew them out. This time I told her to put them in the trash and put the skirt in the owners mailbox. Later, I explained the dangers of putting items up your nose. Then, when the students were leaving for the day, I called to her, " Remember, it's supposed to be rings on your fingers and bells on your toes, not up your nose!" She giggled and replied, "You made a rhyme!" Oh, those four-year-olds!
Oh, and I apologize for not having photos to accompany this story! haha!
Ya'll Come Back!
Lorilee

Need Winter color? Make a Bottle Tree!

Tina at In the Garden, http://tinaramsey.blogspot.com/ , left a comment telling me about photos of bottle trees at Felder Rushing's website www.felderrushing.net . I was so inspired that I got right to work. Someone's Christmas tree had mysteriously made it into my backyard from the curb earlier this month. It was likely the work of my 13-year-old and his friends. I think they planned to use it for firewood. Since it is super dry here, and there is a burn ban in effect, I thought I might use it for a bottle tree, instead. After seeing all the wonderful bottle trees on Felder Rushing's site, I couldn't wait! I started trimming the branches!

It didn't take long, and it was a pleasantly scented job! The worst thing to happen was getting some sap on my hands. The sticky is gone, but I continue to smell of Christmas tree as I type. Not a bad thing!

All done. Now to test fit some of my empty bottles. I did decide that I like them without the labels. So, back into the kitchen to scrape them off with a razor blade. Citrus spray took care of any sticky residue. Next came a bath in soapy water to remove the oily residue! For now, it is held up against the Purple Martin house pole with plastic tie wraps. This will be OK until it is time to put up the birdhouse in February. Then I will have to decide on a base! I thought I had more bottles saved! I guess this will be a good excuse to drink more wine!

Ya'll Come Back!

Lorilee