Swinging and Sliding

As you can see from Una's excited little face, she enjoys swinging.  This is actually the first time she's swung on a "big girl" swing.  

Sally and I went to Home Depot on Saturday to get some materials for creating a raised bed in our backyard.  While looking around, assessing how much it would cost, Sally wandered over to the do-it-yourself swing set area.  After a bit of review she said, "I'd really rather spend the money on something Una would enjoy."  

SOLD

Load up the kit, add a slide, and off to get the required 4x4s.  Load up the car, and...well, we have a new project.  

There was no time to start it on Saturday as we were off to Nana  and Gramps for a little grilling, but when we got home on Sunday it was time to get to work.  The "one hour" project turned into about four, when I finally gave up the ghost.  We finished up the set after work on Monday and Una officially broke in both the slide and the swings.  

Here are a couple of more pics. I'll add some video soon.

[Edit:  Click on the pics to really see how happy she is (and beautiful, too.)]

 

What a storm

Wow!!! Tuesday I'm working in Warwick, RI and hear an occasional rumble of thunder most of the afternoon. Then about 4:30ish I get an email from Sally saying, "Holy Cow!" and describing the scene at our house. Seems we got pelted with hail.

I got home about 5:45 (a full two hours after the storm passed) and took the picture to the left showing the size of the hail. Yeah, yeah, it's not softball sized hail like they might have in the Midwest, but this is New England. We don't get hail like that.


I took a few more shots as another "wave" of thunderstorms was approaching. You can see from the picture on the left the eerie colors. Definite thunderstorm approaching (including more hail).





This next picture is just an example of the damage the hail did to most of our plants. The hostas in particular did not fair well.










The picture to the right show the damage done to our neighbor's kale. She lost almost all of her lettuce and kale. Needless to say, she was quite disappointed.

We'll have to wait to see how our veggies make out. They look pretty beat up.

Such is life "Living in Dabucket".

Clean Under Your Fingernails

More about the subject in a bit.

We had a really nice weekend kicked off with dinner at Siena on The Hill. It was a thank you dinner from my boss Tom to Sally and I, and Robin and Marvin, for the work we did in opening a new office late last year. Tom's wife Teresa joined us. It was great to get out for an adult night with friends.

Saturday we waited for the rain that was due any minute. You've probably guessed by that comment, that it never arrived. I did manage to get the lawn cut first thing in the morning. We also visited a day care as we're looking to get Una in on a part-time basis for the social interaction. She seemed to like the facilities we checked out, as well as the care-takers. We'll follow-up on that idea this week.

Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day. Since Una made sure we were up early I decided it was time we built that raised garden I've talked about for 3 years. We also were motivated by the plants we'd purchased a couple of weeks ago at the Southside Community Land Trust. Since I had purchased the landscape timbers it should just be a matter of measure, cut, and assemble. Sally was kind enough to remind me, "Measure twice, cut once."

So, out comes the nice 10" compound miter saw (chop saw) that my in-laws had purchased for me for my birthday or Father's Day a couple of years ago. I'm happy to report, and I know Sally's thrilled, I still have all ten of my fingers. The cutting was as simple as I had expected it. Once assembled we had a nice 10' x 3' raised bed. It was time to head to HD for some top soil and some spikes to hold those timbers together. While we were there Sally picked out some nice plants for some planter boxes we had picked up previously.

As you can see from the picture to the left, Sally did a fantastic job with the planters.


Sally also did her fair share of the hauling of the top soil and the planting. (did I mention it took two HD trips and 24 bags of topsoil to fill in that raised bed?) Speaking of the planting, thanks to our neighbor Mrs. G. we now have an extra tomato plant, some lettuce, parsley, kale, and pumpkin. I can't wait to see all the plants and veggies grow throughout the Summer.

The afternoon was a visit to Westport to dine with Nana and Gramps. We had thought about taking a walk or SeaDog out for a cruise, but both Sally and I just wanted to veg. (Hauling topsoil is hard work, you know.) So, that's what we did. A relaxing afternoon / evening on the deck at Candlewood, including a great BBQ and too much desert (Nana's fault). Una enjoyed her time in the swing we'd gotten her a few weeks ago. It dangling from a strong tree branch in the back yard. She loves being outdoors and running around. She always sleeps well on Sunday nights. :-)


Oh, about that subject. It's just something I remember my Mom always saying to me after playing in the dirt. As I cleaned up after the planting session, it struck me and I immediately knew I had my blog subject.

Until next week (or perhaps sooner). Jeff, Jen and Emmett arrive Saturday and we are really looking forward to their visit. Something tells me Nana and Gramps are, too.

Spring has sprung?

Well, we finally had a nice weekend where we could get outside and do some work in the yard. Oh, did I mention we got a nice fence to keep our little Bucketeer safe? Yep. A nice stockade fence in the back for a little privacy and a nice picket from the garage to the house. Una now enjoys running freely around the backyard.

Saturday the Three Bucketeers hit HD for a few necessities; shrubs to go against the new stockade fence, a new screendoor for the back door, and a very cool pedestal sink for a later project. Oh, and landscape timbers as I want to build a raised bed in the garden. Believe it or not the rest of Saturday was spent on installing that damn screendoor. It could not have been more difficult -- Geez!!! While I slaved away at the door, Sally took care of scraping and repainting the two Andirondack chairs. They look great. The screendoor was completed close to 6pm, but I must say, it looks great. It adds alot to the rear entrance to the house.

Sunday was also a nice day so we spent about an hour or so Sunday morning painting the stockade fence. Chatham Fog is the color. We think it looks pretty good. After cleanup it was off to Westport to enjoy the afternoon with Nana and "Gamps". It was so nice that we were able to grill and eat on the deck. Fun time. Oh, and Una just loved her new BigBird. Thanks, Nana.

All in all a good weekend. If feels good to do something with your hands. Very rewarding. More work to be done in the yard, and I'm already looking forward to next weekend (or a little evening work).

That's it for now...John