Thursday, June 4, 2009

We're still alive...

Just barely. It's been nothing short of ridiculous around here. Busy! But full of progress. We are no longer jumping three feet down from the back door. Our hanging baskets no longer depress us and our neighbors. We actually have plants in the ground. All good things. 

So, our weekend began on Friday afternoon, when my parents arrived from Michigan. Their trip down was very adventurous. They hit a deer going about 50 on the highway. Thankfully dad was able to slow down, and the deer bounced off the car instead of into the car. The irony is that they had just had the front grill of the car replaced last week. These things happen, I suppose. 

We began work on the deck on Saturday morning. Last week, Eric had successfully sunk the posts and started on the main floor support for the deck. I am convinced that this is the most solidly constructed feature of our house. A tornado comes through and destroy the house? The deck will remain. The puppies helped supervise the work. Pixie is quite the taskmaster.

Dad and Eric doing something with the floor joyce. 

This was one of approximately 3 minutes of the day where Eric was in a good mood. 

Sunday, they started with the actual floor. Made tremendous progress.

Dad was still able to fit in some quality time with his girl, Madison. That dog is in love with my dad. And he with her. They are quite a pair. 

While Dad and Eric were busy with the deck, Mom and I occupied ourselves by prettying things. First order of business was replacing the pansies in the hanging baskets which all simultaneously decided to die. I don't know what happened. Anyway, we found some beautiful begonias and some little creeping white flowers. I'm pleased. They look so nice against the house. Now, if only I could get Eric to get the drywall off the front porch...


About 5 weeks ago, I planted a little rose bush--one of those that you buy for $6 at Home Depot that's basically just a root bulb and some stems. Well, one of the bushes has done nothing, but the other has just thrived. We got our first roses early this week! Now, I would like to uproot the entire front yard and just make a wild rose garden. Eric says no. 


For the backyard, we got some rhododendron bushes, Sweet William, and some peonies, donated to the effort by our neighbors who don't get enough sun for them to grow. So far, the peonies are struggling a bit--they're traumatized by the move--but the others are doing great, and we even have some blooms on the Sweet William. 


Finally, we got a tomato plant starter. Mom will appreciate this. When we planted this on Sunday afternoon, it went halfway up to the first ring of the tomato cage. In 5 days, it has doubled in size. I expect many delicious tomatoes this summer. You can all come over for a nice Caprese salad in August. 

2 comments:

Andrea said...

Looks great!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well, I know who I'm calling when it's time for my deck to be built! It looks awesome! Love that it's been a family project (including critters), too!