Backyard 09 - FINISHED!!!

Friends, we are finally finished with the big landscaping projects. We left you last summer with a completed front yard and a pool in the back yard. Now we have a 10' by 37' deck, all hand/home made by Scott himself. We are happy to finally finish chronicling the outdoor projects. We would love for you to have a look. Facebook friends, you all have access to the entire process.


Let me hit some highlights. We started with an unacceptable amount of backyard on a steep grade.




Scott had a vision. He labored and toiled.








Now we have super deck! It is so much better. We broke it in last weekend with friends and (patient) neighbors. So, CHEERS to many patio parties to come. Soooooo worth it.

A Thousand Words

Progress report: 10-16-08
Toil and sweat my friends . . . we have about half of the payoff, and a place to cool off after the heat wrecks us. We are letting our bankers rest awhile, so the back landscaping isn't finished.

Facts:
The garden wall blocks are 35 lbs apiece.
The patio wall blocks range from 15 - 80 lbs. apiece.
The drip system was SUPER easy to install.















Obviously, more later. We have lots more dirt to push around. Don't forget the creepy stuff for Halloween. See banner below...and as you scroll, you can see from whence we came, so to speak.

Vote, y'all!

Summer VACAY

Those of you innocently sending me catch-up emails have gotten your replies as, "We are in the middle of re-landscaping..." I just wanted to show y'all the scale of our project. Plus, this will serve as the "before" of our before-and-after posting.



Of course, we are doing as much of this ourselves as we can. Scott is a pro. Most of the sweating and irrigation is him.



I can schlep concrete blocks and fetch water. Raking dirt...that seems within my skill set. Glamorous!




Our neighbors were delighted when, after we razed our front yard to dust, we left for a two-week vacation to PACNORWEST: Whidbey Is. to Bend, OR to Morgan Hill, CA to home. We stopped at Crater Lake on our way out of OR. I was freezing. So we warmed our hides for a spell!

The pool we are leaving to the experts. Scott is jealous of their bulldozers and bobcats and so on. We started on it after coming back from our travels. Today they are trenching for all the gas, water, and electric lines that have to go all around he house. We had a harrowing Monday starting with a middle-of-the-night MRI on Scott's toe (because if you want an MRI in the daytime you have to wait 3 mos.).

Then he worked all day, and came home to re-build the fence we took down to get the bulldozers into the back yard, and then he cleaned out the garage for the workers running said lines to the back yard by way of our garage attic. Basically, he had a work day that ranged from 12:00am to 11pm.

No worries about the toe--we think a break calcified over the years into a weird mass. Apparently copious amounts of yard work aggaravates these kinds of things.

Well, this must be one of the more mundane postings, but I will defer to the WOW factor of the after pix. Shock 'n Awe....that's my blog style y'all!!!





And remember, every day that's not 118 degrees is a good day!
Out.

Log: Runabout Acutal

There will be an interesting "reality" series aired on PBS about the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). It follows the lives of Nimitz sailors on a 6-month deployment. Locally, it starts Sunday, April 27, 9:00 p.m. Information for your particular locale can be checked by clicking the badge above.

I don't think we'll see Scott, but you are sure to get a sense of the extremes: from adrenaline coursing thrills to utter ennui. Wouldn't it be just like Scott to be on TV and not tell anyone? I'm not even sure if it was filmed during his last deployment, or a deployment that occured before he was attached to the Nimitz. Personally, I am holding my wee waiting for the Battlestar Galactica season 4 premier next Friday (4 April). I am comfortable with my geekness.

On the homefront Kale and I are weathering the deployment with no big drama. HS Graduation is 6 June 08--paper announcements are on order.

I am job hunting and puttering in the garden--big landscaping plans are afoot when Scott returns. Big labor, with little cash expenditure is the goal (I KNOW y'all know what I mean).

Stay fantastic people!
Actual Out.

When I Audition for "Nashville Star" I'm Singing This...

-+-music player removed to avoid chagrin-+-
For many years, AC/DC's contribution to the music world has been sadly limited to one genre--hard rock. I think we can now accept them as the crossover genre busters that they truly are. "That's all I have to say about that." quoth Gump. Do you ever wish that you had Brett Favre's email address? Not until today did I really really wish I did.

Stay tuned--song #2 is another fave

Acknowledement--Thanks James Myers for your continuous search of the offbeat, weird, and generally brain bending offerings of entertainments and diversions.

Eloise

Little Eloise was born on January 30th, and is my second niece; first blood-niece. I want to be a Deedee, not auntie. My cousins called me that when we were little.

Okok you can tell I'm pretty excited--imagine Francis McDormand in her "Raising Arizona" role: "*GASP* Oh my GOD. She is an angel straight from HEAVEN!!!"


All are compelled to look and coo like idiots. I would do it for y'all.....

Go (sigh) Giants.

Fabulous!

We FINALLY finished our bathroom remodel; we had to wait for our mirrors to come in, and then get shipped down from LA. It was the last little bit (besides the little fabulous finishing touches).


What a process.





I mean.

We did it all ourselves from demo to dusting. And by ourselves, I mean Scott's self, and his dad when he was here during the great evacuation standby from the Harris Fire ('07).





I did the cleaning up. Weirdest thing -- I think my favorite result of the whole remodel is the little $14 can light over the toidy. There used to be a vent fan (that didn't work at all because the baffle was stuck shut) and no light. The only light was over the mirrors. We moved the vent fan to the bath/shower alcove, bought one with a beefy yet quiet fan and a light, and voila! More brightness and less excess moisture. There is one last detail to work out. We are going to put glass block in those narrow side-light windows. Nothing in that room is square, and those are no different--their widths are about 1/2" narrower at the top than the bottom.

I recommend a remodel project to everyone. Chaos and mess is good for the soul.

Not to mention new towels.....