Happenings in these parts...

Well, there's been a lot going on.

N has his summer class and some handyman work that's been keeping him busy so far.  He's also spent a lot of time up on campus prepping for his new job (which starts in the fall).  But he's found a wee bit of time to clean up the backyard (the tree is down and the giant pile of dirt is gone).  He planted some grass and now we're tearing down the dilapidated shed.

That's N there in the background (far right) and Bella (bottom left).  And all that green is our baby grass!  I'm not sure it'll make it though.  We've just had sooooo much rain!

In addition to yard work, the kids started swim lesson which are one hour a day, four days a week for the next three weeks.  And we're participating in the library's summer reading program.  So busy, busy!  Oh and I'm waddling along just trying to keep up!

Autumn

Autumn is truly here!

Pecans!

Our yard is full of them!  I was afraid we wouldn't get any because the squirrels have been "snacking" on them for weeks, but our giant tree is prolific! 

Looks worse before it gets better...

Right?

It better, because we're wearing Daddy out!

Laurels and the shovel

I forgot to mention that right before the 4th we planted a couple laurels.  They were a bit stressed, but seem to be doing well in their new homes.  We can't wait for them to grow up and be visual blockers (we are tired of looking at our plastic burning neighbors).

And while we've been doing all this planting and digging, N got very frustrated with our shovel.  It was a bit bent, so he decided to fix it in his normal "overkill" way. 

These wrench handles were sitting around, leftovers from his metal sculpture class.  I love it when he repurposes stuff!

Letters from the City

So we get back from our 4th festivities (which were awesome by-the-way) to find a letter from the city.  We are to address our alley frontage in 10 days or we will be charged an exorbitant amount to clear it out. 

Well, it was on our to-do list.  Now it's been bumped to the top.  *Sigh*

Here's the first few stages.  Walnut trees trimmed and scrub shrubs removed.  There was a few neat surprises hiding back there and I hope to post pictures once we're done...

These are the piles (in the back driveway) of only some of what we ripped/trimmed out.

Pink boots courtesy of S. 

Grass

N is very excited about the grass he's growing.  You don't know how much you miss something until it comes back.

Too bad it's only 1/3 of the yard.  :)

Blue pill bug

Under the woodpile (which has gone the way of the burn barrel) was the strangest thing.  It was a blue pill bug (sometimes called roly poly). 

This one really was the oddest color.

There were many fun creatures at the bottom of the woodpile.  This snail was pretty sweet.

Yard update

In this post I told you about our yard.  Well with the water coming into our basement, we've had to move even more dirt around.  Here's a view of the "compost" pile and stick piles. 

Mud

Mud is good.

 

These photos were taken last Sunday (nearly a whole week ago) and as I type this it's 36 degrees outside.  My what a strange Spring we are having!

Daddy vs. the yard...

There may be many posts about this, but Daddy is in full-on war-mode with our overgrown yard. 

The "forest" has been weeded down to three small trees.  The new wood is piling up next to the "old" (termite-riddled) wood.  That chainsaw is getting a real workout!