"Courage is fire and bullying is smoke." - Benjamin Disraeli

Our local feed store - a true example of rural life - is having a Mother's Day sale. In addition to grain and hay they sell clothing, hats (NOT caps), western jewelry...and this week only: "concealed handgun purses at %15 off."

Last night driving to small group we had a conversation about the words cobble and hobble. They're both odd words. It started because I hobbled together (or is it cobbled together?) that broody box for the hen that insists she's going to hatch eggs. (See last night's post.) Pam looked it up while I drove and we learned that it's cobbled together - to assemble various odd pieces to make something of use. But a cobbler is someone who fixes shoes or a dessert made with apples or rhubarb (my preferences). To hobble a horse is to connect his (typically) front legs with a rope so he can't move easily. It allows him to graze but not easily wander far away. So it seems like it should be hobbled together.

Today's first project, after feeding goats and chickens, was to finish up the raised beds. We have 176 square feet of raised beds some of which are already planted. The white frames are made of PVC and covered with black netting that doesn't show up in the pic. It keeps the deer from eating all our veggies. After that.....

There's a fine line between confidence and foolishness and I suspect I've crossed it many times. God's grace and his concern lest dear Pam suffer the consequences of my bravado has undoubtedly saved my bacon many times. Most recently (today) I took out the leaky and failing jalousie (crank-out awning) window in our bathroom and replaced it with a single-hung vinyl window I got from a place in Auburn WA that sells parts for MoHo's.
Note: that black box in the upper right corner is the outside half of the new bathroom fan I installed last week.

Step One: take off the faux shutters (I hate faux anything) to expose the fasteners that held the old window in place. Anybody else notice a problem? MoHo got painted at some point in the last 40 years from an ugly pinkish hue to an equally ugly pale green. The shutters were not removed during that process. And because they are plastic they've long since cracked, discolored, and failed beyond re-installing. Well that's a lovely look! (Sorry this pic is fuzzy. I didn't realize that until it was too late.)

Next it's time to take out the window. It was held in place by (IMO) an inadequate number of fasteners and a thin bead of now-crusty caulk. The good news: as a result it came out easily enough.
It's at this point I start to get really nervous. The color issues will be the least of my worries if the new window doesn't fit.
And in fact I had to do a little work on the opening. Some of the aluminum siding had to be trimmed about 1/8" to get the new window to fit into the opening. Tin snips.

Lots and lots and lots of caulk and a good bump with the heel of my hand got the new window into place. I attached it with deck screws, applied more caulk, and we now have a new vinyl single-hung window that actually works! Praise the Lord! (And I don't say that casually. I did lots of praying through this process. "Lord, save me from myself.")
I still have to trim out the inside but that's simple enough. I'll have to cut the wood to make my own casing because the size is not at all standard, but painter's caulk and a coat or three of white paint and it will look almost official.

Eventually we'll either give MoHo a fresh coat of paint or, more probably, pull off the aluminum siding, install plywood sheeting, and then put vinyl siding over that. Either way the appearance will improve and at this point we're concerned with function. Between a bathroom fan and a functional window we shouldn't have the mold problem on the walls because of shower steam.

T'ank you, Fadder.

Pam leaves for AZ at noon tomorrow so we're doing pizza tonight. After a day of chores here and a tough workout at the gym it's time for some easy comfort food. Plus, I'll have leftover pizza for when she's gone.
(I'm jealous.)