Bear vs. Nerf - Bear wins...

Summer Jobs

I’ve been doing quite a bit around the house lately since my last post. One of the major additions was removing the old door that led into the back patio with a slider. The old door swung open and hit the kitchen table, not to mention there was a storm door on the other side. Opening 2 doors was a pain in the butt to get outside. It wasn't very convenient at all. The new slider is perfect. It is much larger which lets in more light and you can leave it open without fear of the wind whacking the door into your table. Installation was not as hard as I thought... Now I need to do a few windows...

The other major project was fencing in my back patio. There was a decorative fence around the patio (as you can see by the weathered grey cedar) that had 3 openings. It looked nice, but we like to let the dog out on the patio and not worry about him running off. I had placed chicken wire at the side attached to posts and narrowed the middle opening to accept a baby gate. Again, not very convenient… With much appreciated help from my father-in-law and 2 days of nice weather over Memorial Day, we were able to install the missing fence sections around the patio complete with a latching gate. It was an adventure digging post holes around the roots of a cherry tree and through Pennsylvania clay (concrete)...

Beautiful Weekend...

It was another gorgeous weekend here in PA. Kate, Bear and I got to spend a majority of it outside. We played Bear's favorite game with the Frisbee. I got to listen to my birthday presents out on the patio. Kate grew up next to the ocean so a fountain was the best I could do for her in PA. And finally our cherry tree has blossomed and while it is pretty, it will soon lose all its flowers and cover my patio and furniture with a blanket of petals. Not fun to clean...

Spring has Sprung...

Kate and I spent our lovely Sunday planting Arborvitaes and mulching around our entire house. As you can see we need some sort of border to block our neighbors swing set.   We planted 8 trees which we hope will grow into a mighty natural fence.  In all honesty we could have planted another 8 since we have more spaces to block, but if that happened today we would have had to dug a 17th hole to bury me in... I am beat!  I can go to the gym for 3 hours, work out and run on the treadmill for 3 miles and not be as tired as I am right now.  I guess it is an entirely different set of muscles when you are doing manual labor.  But as you can see, Spring is definitely upon us. From here until October I'll be spending my weekends mowing and keeping up with the few hundred of SE Pennsylvania’s invasive weeds...