Catching Up: Thought These Were Worth Sharing Before I Delete Them

From time to time, I’ll take photos of things that I think you would enjoy seeing, but they don’t always fit into a post. Last night I was going through photos and came across quite a few pictures that I thought I’d share before I delete them. So here’s a somewhat random collection of fun and interesting things that I hope you’ll enjoy!

This past summer, while walking around in my front yard, I looked up and saw this massive spider web! Do you see it there—stretching from the magnolia to a tree on the other side of my driveway? Have you heard of Joro spiders? They started appearing in my yard around 5 years ago, always a few weeks before Halloween. The last two years, they have started arriving much earlier in mid-summer. Per my pest control guy, they are spreading across the U.S. like crazy.

 

Here’s a closer view of the web. These spiders are extremely prolific, building all over my yard. When outside, I have to constantly be on the lookout to avoid their webs. One of their favorite spots to build is on my front porch, stretching across the entrance from column to column. They also like to build across the entrance to my walkway, stretching from the lantern to the magnolia tree. If I knock down a web, it usually back within a day or two. They are all in my neighbor’s yards, too.

One thing that’s especially disturbing is they build community-style webs, so each web will contain anywhere from 3-5 Joro spiders, and did I mention, they are HUGE! So that makes it especially disturbing if you accidentally walk into one because you never know how many spiders you may have on you. Yikes! I wouldn’t mind them if they built their webs in the woods behind my house, but since their webs are so large, I worry about hummingbirds getting caught in them. Do you have Joro spiders in your area, too? If so, how are you dealing with them?

 

Waynesville, Ohio: Last summer, shortly after moving into the Dollhouse, I was having issues with the front storm door. The door is original to the home, so it dates back to 1938. I love the door—it’s all wood, heavy, and beautifully made. The issue I was having was that it wasn’t staying latched and kept swinging outward in the wind. The door closure thingy was missing, so I ended up installing a new one at the bottom of the door where you don’t even notice it. I really should do a post about the closure mechanism I purchased and installed because I LOVE how it works! It closes slowly and smoothly, so it doesn’t make the door slam against your foot. I’ll share more about it later, but in the meantime, this is the one I purchased and really like: Smooth Door Closer.

 

Before I installed the door closer, I hired a locksmith who tried to solve the issue with the antique door handle not holding the door closed. He determined a part wasn’t working right and suggested I visit a shop that carried parts for antique door knobs. Following the suggestion of the locksmith, taking my 1938 doorknob with me I drove to the town of Waynesville, Ohio to look for the shop.

 

I found the antique shop but unfortunately, the antique dealer/locksmith didn’t have the part needed for the knob. While there, I decided to walk about the cute town, exploring some of the quaint antique stores.

 

I was there during the month of July so the town was still decorated for Independence Day. Waynesville is a small town so it doesn’t have a lot of shops, but what it does have is Fairies!

 

How magical is this! The wings of the fairy on the right opened and closed as she walked. Sooo cute!

 

This should be a thing—seeing beautiful, magical fairies whenever we go shopping. Do you agree? 🙂

 

I need to do another walking/driving post this spring, sharing the homes in my Oakwood, Ohio neighborhood. Here’s a view of how the streets look during the summertime. This photo was taken from my car while stopped at a stop sign. The streets are all tree-lined as you see here. If a tree dies, the city replaces it. I love that! It’s such a beautiful community!

 

Oakwood is also known for being the home of the Wright Brothers. This was their home, Hawthorn Hill. Wikipedia states:

Hawthorn Hill is the house that served as the post-1914 home of Orville, Milton and Katharine Wright. Located in Oakwood, Ohio, Wilbur and Orville Wright intended for it to be their joint home, but Wilbur died in 1912, before the home’s 1914 completion. The brothers hired the prominent Dayton architectural firm of Schenck and Williams to realize their plans. Orville and his father Milton and sister Katharine occupied the home in 1914.

 

The home is named after the 150 Hawthorn trees found on the property. Orville Wright actually designed many of the mechanical features of the house, including the central vacuum system. Wikipedia states, “For 34 years this house was the gathering place for the greats and near-greats in the history of American aviation.”

 

This post is probably going to give you whiplash as I jump from topic to topic. Remember the wonderful window seat in my bedroom as shown in this photo from a previous real estate listing for the house?

 

You may remember that I discovered it held a secret, a wonderful surprise!Window Seat with Built-in Cedar Chest Storage

 

It’s actually a large cedar chest, measuring 49 inches wide, 28 inches from front to back, and 26 inches deep.Cedar Lined Storage in Window Seat

 

I brought up all my sweaters, and here’s how it looks in action. I love this hidden chest!

 

I have a lot of sweaters so wasn’t sure they would all fit, but they did with room to spare. They sure did put a lot of thought into storage for this home when it was built. So thankful for that!

 

One last photo to share that I don’t think I’ve shared before…a bamboo salt container that I keep on the counter in my kitchen at the Dollhouse.  It easily slides open for access and a small magnet holds the lid in place when it’s closed. Love how it works—I need to buy one for the Georgia house, too! (Salt container is available here: Salt Container.)

 

I hope you enjoyed this random collection of photos/topics that I’ve been hoping to share. It’s kinda fun to do a catchup post like this every once in a while. Hope you are staying warm and seeing sunshine today! We have lots of sunshine here today, time to get outside and enjoy it! Happy weekend!

*If a post is sponsored or a product was provided at no charge, it will be stated in post. Some links may be affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. *



 Never miss a Between Naps on the Porch post! 

*Subscribe to have updates delivered to your Inbox. 



Comments

  1. Franceil Parde says

    FUN (except…imo, spiders) ❤️
    franki

  2. love the photos, just what we need on a cold day… I carry a yard stick when walking in the woods, to attack spider webs, keeping them out of my face and not to mention my hair.

    • That is so smart! I think I’ll start carrying a walking stick or something. I don’t like walking into a web and not knowing if I now have a spider traveling with me!

  3. I love it when you take us along for the ride. I love all the cabinets, nooks and crannies in the dollhouse like the cedar chest-and that pantry.
    What do they do to get rid of the spiders ? Do they spray them ? Take a broom and wipe them out ? I had a different thick spider web that spread off another bush and killed my tea olive last year. Trees, scrubs and plants are so expensive now and tea olives/osmanthus are hard to find. The ones in Charleston must be hundreds of years old as they are slow growers.
    Stay warm.

    • They knock down the webs while they are here and spray something to keep them away from the house itself, but it doesn’t stop them from rebuilding webs in other places around the house.
      I wonder if it was tent worms. I’m not sure if they harm the tree they build their nest/web in.

  4. Sweet fairies! Boulder has a foot traffic only downtown mall that is planted seasonally. In the spring we have a tulip festival filled with numerous fairies and activities. So fun and pretty. I have considered dressing up for that, maybe this year.
    Love the beautiful tree lined streets. That is something I miss from my midwest childhood.

    • That sounds like so much fun, Jillian! I love the trees, too. We have so many here in Georgia and I take them for granted until I see other areas that don’t have that. The whole time I was traveling across Ireland a few years back, I kept thinking how much it reminded me of Georgia…so lush and green.

  5. Oh Susan – We don’t let the Joro spiders live. We have them in The Valley where I live and my husband kills hundreds of them every year. The webs of this invasive spider are stronger than our native spiders and they are VERY prolific! My husband helps out my widowed neighbor and in one trip to her home he found about 75 spiders and webs all on her house. We try to make sure we destroy the egg cases, too. I host about 50 hummingbirds every August to October and these little guys are not strong enough to escape their webs. I’m a proactive protective host (LOL)

    • Yeah, they are really becoming a big issue! I would be devastated if I found a hummingbird trapped or dead in one. I need to make sure that big web across the driveway is gone before spring gets here. I need to start knocking them down when I see them in my yard instead of waiting for my pest control guy to come out. He only comes out quarterly—I may ask him to start coming by more often just to get rid of the spiders.

  6. It’s been several years now since I made the drive (maybe 45 minutes from me) to Waynesville, Ohio. It really is a cute town, known for the Sauerkraut Festival each fall. If you aren’t a big fan of Sauerkraut, it’s still worth the trip, as there are vendors who set up booths lining the main thoroughfare as far as you can see, offering all types of goods. One of my favorite sauerkraut dishes is the ‘sundae’, which is a baked potato with sauerkraut, sour cream, bacon bits and a big olive. Mmmmm!

  7. EEEK ! That is one big web! Thanks for sharing the photos…and love that cedar chest. What a great hidden gem. Have a great week !

  8. You have Kevin McAllister’s hat from Home Alone!! Haha. I recognized it immediately. Such a cute hat.

    • Amazing that you noticed that! lol A little over a year ago, I found a person online who knits them by hand. The name of her company is Patti-Lynn Creations. Here’s her website: https://pattilynncreations.com/shop/ols/products/home-alone

      I purchased 5 hats from her just a few weeks before Christmas as gifts for my son, DIL, and grandsons, and amazingly she got them all ready in time for Christmas. She makes them in both adult and kid sizes.
      Funny story, Nancy walks the boys to school every day, and the first time she wore her hat (after Christmas) she said a guy she passed walking back home from the school recognized it immediately and commented on it as they passed. He loved it! It’s amazing how many people know that hat! lol

  9. Love the charming town full of quaint antiques and darling faeries! Also, that wreath is gorgeous!

I'd love to hear from you! Please leave a comment!

*

Send this to a friend