New Back Yard

We put a new fence around the back yard in June. They were supposed to finish it in May before Amy and the kids came, but kept putting it off and putting it off. It's nice now that it is done. The yard seems bigger and Rumples doesn't bother barking at people going by on the sidewalk.



The squirrels have a favorite place near the sandbox where they like to tease Rumples. There was also a cat that was hanging around and walking on the garage roof next door:



The current landscaping project is going to be a (mostly) dry creek bed. I've had something of a trench dug back there in past years to drain off the spring floods. A lot more work is going into this version of it.



It's also nice that Rumples can run around and play without being on a chain.

Another Sign of Spring

We hung up this bird feeder on the last post left from the old garden.

It is finally getting a few customers. We found this pair of American Goldfinches chowing down Saturday afternoon.

I haven't seen any squirrels trying to get into the seed.... They must have quickly figured out that it has spring loaded doors that cover the feeding holes when an overweight animal climbs onto one of the perches.

The Truck's Been Demoted

Here's the new car, a Ford Focus. I went easy on the options: automatic transmission and floor mats.

I've driven it a few hundred miles and my fuel economy so far: 33.5 MPG.

Spring Has Sprung?

The bulbs are starting to come out, surviving the Winter and the squirrels.

Now we need to decide what to do next. Open up the rodent smorgasbord, or try to grow flowers through the mesh? Some people think that they can be repelled with black pepper, but they may like their bulbs spicy.

It Snowed

We got a little over a foot of snow Saturday morning. The forecasts were saying that we would get another "dump" of snow overnight, so we cancelled church meetings. When we got up this morning, there was only another inch or two and the sun is shining.


Rumples didn't want to leave the porch until I dug a trench for him to follow.


But then he got into it.

Melissa and Steve are Married

It was 9 degrees when we left Buffalo on Tuesday, but the weather when we finally got here was nice. The next day was a major storm and Grandma Oaks was stuck at the airport for something like 5 or 6 hours while Drew and I were trying to drive to the airport.

Steve and Melissa left their wedding license in their car at John's house, so I rushed back from the temple to get it. Sometimes there will be challenges along the way...

The temple ordinances and ceremony had a beautiful spirit and it was especially touching to look around and see family members there.

It was great to be here together this week. Having all of the grandchildren together was special. I wish Dave and Lisa could have been here.

New Years "Power" Tool

We went out to Pep Boys yesterday and bought an emergency power generator. It is a Power Pro 3500 and weighs about a hundred pounds. The optional wheel kit is definitely worth it.

They have had generators on sale in the last few Sunday ads in the newspaper. One week it was for a 5500, then a 9000. The store is out of the 9000's, but they had 5500's. The 5500 weighs at least 200 pounds. The 3500 ought to do us and run the refrigerator, freezer, sump pump and furnace. Not advertised (or even posted in the store), it was $50 off plus a $50 dollar rebate offer.

It is so shiny and new, I almost hate to have it associating with the snow thrower.

My Guitar Has Six Strings

My guitar now has six strings and sounds like new. Thank you Kay.

Rock Project "Day" Five

It's starting to look like something. I spent about four hours on a Saturday, cutting rocks for the second side, then another couple of hours finding some with specific shapes.

The "almond" color grout started out looking green when it first went in, but has lightened up overnight.

(Score so far: two sides have rock, using about one third of the total rocks available; one side has grout. Days left until Christmas: one.)

Are Some Visitors More Welcome Than Others?

Other than the obvious, we don't really know what happened... we found this destruction the third morning after the big snow storm.


The street had been clean for a couple of days, but somebody jumped the curb and went another ten feet before hitting our sign.


The car and driver disappeared, except for part of a bumper left behind.

Call it a Bad Left Turn.

Rock Project "Day" Three

Drew's saw blades work wonders. We finally have enough rocks ready for one side to be glued down.

Rock Project Day Two

Test of adhesive... New tube of Liquid Nails: never set up, the test rock fell off. Old tube of Nail Pro (next two rocks): held on pretty well, but still soft, can't find in the store. Polyurethane Premium from Lowes: looks like a solid winner.

We rented a grinder and used a masonary cutter to try cutting the rocks. Three hours (and $20) later, one corner piece is done:

It looks nice, but clearly, we need better technology if this is ever going to get done.

Tired Boys

Rock Project Day One

We brought a load of rocks back with us from Utah. (In an unrelated news item, we've replaced the transmission in the Caravan since coming back.)

Here is our rock cleaning station.

Seems like enough, doesn't it?

Here is one of two unsuspecting endtables that we bought at Big Lots.

Take the top off and turn it around. The front is the back and the back is the front.

The old back gets a new front. (Hey, Dave, there's your blood donation card.)

A little chicken wire, and we are ready to rock.

The New Garden

We took some time off from the construction projects on Saturday afternoon to plant bulbs in the new garden and transplant perennials.


We have high hopes that the chicken-wire cage will keep the squirrels from digging up all of the bulbs over the winter.


It has:

• A row of Drew's Irises
  
• Two rows of Grandma Oaks' Irises (Not sure if they are going to grow because they have been out in the garage for a year or two.)
  
• Unifolium Allium
• Golden Bells Narcissus
• Uva-Vulpis Fritillaria
• Tulip Angelique
• White Lady Narcissus

You can't see them yet, but these are Italicum Arum.





I also got a new electric stapler out of the deal.

How Old Do You Think It Was?

I don't know, but if you look closely at the service label, you can see that they only needed six-digit phone numbers in those days.

Out With the Old

Here goes the old furnace...



I'm sure glad that I don't have to go into the crawl space...

A Few Photos From The Trip

I think that I have finaly recovered from the trip. Here are a few photos from the drive back.



Deer Valley, between Heber City and Park City:



A dry creek landscape outside The Lodge at Stillwater:



Elk Mountain, Wyoming:



Platte River:



One of the many rest stops somewhere:

I'm Good At Taking Tests

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English 15% Dixie 15% Yankee 10% Upper Midwestern 5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

October Storm Cleanup

Have almost cleaned up from last year's surprise October storm. This is what the garden looks like now. The new "grass" is ready for its first cutting as soon as the rain dries up.

This is the closest I could find to a photo of the old garden. (Rumples on the left, old garden on the right.)

Another view featuring a rotting garage.