Pretty Dragonfly♥

DRAGONFLIES♥

Common Whitetail Dragonfly!

So today I was outside in the yard and I was doing some well needed Yard Work

Watering the plants, mowing the yard, picking up falling branches and was just getting ready to go sweep out the garage when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something White... at first I didn't know what it was but then the little fella got curious and came back and landed right in front of me....

He or She Not sure how you can tell LOL! circled me quite often I think it might of been checking me out...

It hung around for some time...and every time I moved it moved with me...

Was it stalking Me????

So I thought to myself if you are going to be this Brave I'm going to try to take a picture of you...

I just happened to have my camera outside cause I had just finished taking some pictures of my flower garden so I grabbed my camera and walked up to it very slowly...

At first it flew away but then came back real quick..I started clicking away but it was still too far away and I wanted to get a better picture of him/her... I zoomed in a couple of time but the pictures still weren't that clear...

After about 40 or so pics that didn't turn out real good I started to give up and then the perfect shot came in range.. I think it was taunting me LOL!.. After 66 clicks of my Camera I think we finally bonded and he/she became very photogenic I'm pretty sure it was actually posing for the picture..:)

I ended up getting so close to it that the camera lense was almost touching it..

Here are the shots I got

Not So sure of me????

 Getting more comfortable with me

and a little more :)

 I think it's warming up to me...

 We are starting to bond

 I think we finally bonded♥

Dragonflies are beautiful aren't they♥

A Chicken Coop Cabinet Restored...

This one was a challenge for me and if you know me I have a hard time saying NO to any project anyone puts in front of me... So here we go.....

I got a phone call from one of my wonderful neighbours who lives 2 doors across the street  from me wanting to know if I wanted to refinish a cabinet for a 90 Year Old Lady...

Well of course even before she gave me all the details I said yes.

BIG MISTAKE( I'll Explain )...

Never say yes until you actually set eye on whatever you are supposed to be restoring...

Anyway..

I decided to take on the challenge and this is what I did.

HERE IS THE CABINET THAT THEY WANTED ME TO REFINISH!

It had been at rest for over 50 years they told me in a chicken coop...
The weather and Chickens had really done a number on this beauty. :'(

Something had been eating away at the top

Maybe it was those Chickens LOL!

The wood trim holding the old rippled glass in was almost all rotted away

The inside shelves were stained real bad.. 

The bottom shelf looks like it had some kind of can on it that leaked on the shelf and left a big nasty stain

The hardware was so rusted I had to scrape out the debri in the screw slots just so I could get my screwdriver in to take them out..

Most of them were so bad The just pulled right out of the wood

and it was so rusted the hardware wasn't working at this point.

Ahhhh! and then you have the back...

Not sure if that is Chicken Poop or Mud dobbers???

Not to worry! Back is coming off and going in the burn pile,

NO salvaging that part...

Not sure how it made it but the Original glass was still in tact

What a relief. =)

SO NOW FOR THE TRANSFORMATION!


First I sanded
Wearing my trusty Ventilated mask of course, cause you just don't know what particles will be flying around in the air...SAFETY FIRST!.=)

All the hardware and Screws went into a Jar of Lime A-Way

This has always worked well for me in the past on those nasty rusted objects

I let them sit for about 2 days and then with Rubber gloves removed them and used a very fine grit steel wool to remove any left over rust deposits left behind.

I had to stop sanding in some areas because of these little marks appearing in the wood 

someone said they are worm holes

I called the person I was re doing this for and they said to leave it it adds character to the piece

Which I agree so I left it and clear coated over it
Mind you the wood was so dry that the clear coat just sucked itself into the wood as soon as I applied it so I had to re coat a few times.

The Top was also very messed up but once again they didn't want me to fix this either..

It had a lot of water damage and looks like the worms were having a BIG feast.

Look at the different colors in the wood on the shelves

I just love this.=)

I replaced all the trim work to hold the glass in place cause there was really nothing left of the old 

and I needed something to hold the old glass in place

From this angle you can almost see the ripples in the glass 

How beautiful!

I then added the back

I used 1/4" Luan

Put the hardware back on

Look how much cleaner they look

I added a little 3-in-One Household Oil which

(lubricates,cleans,polishes and prevents rust and tarnish)

to the hinges and door locks.

And they work perfectly now =)

I just love the scrolled pattern at the bottom of these doors 

SO PRETTY!

That Glass is just amazing ♥

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!

That nasty chicken coop cabinet restored and ready to be hung once again hopefully for another 100 years or so..;)

The Old Lady absolutely Loves her new cabinet
Which makes me feel great...
But I have to say this was one of my biggest challenges yet and I don't think I will be doing another one of these any time soon...
Well You just never know wink! wink! ...
I'm such a glutton for punishment LOL!
Cheers♥
Thanks for stopping by and

Feel free to comment I read all of them..=)