Tree Time!

This fall we finally got some new trees in the ground! (Thanks to a shopping trip to the nursery with Mom. Love it.)  With a Japanese Maple in the back yard along the corner of the garage and a little pink Dogwood and a red leaf Japanese Maple in the front yard, we are feeling good!  Now, we can't wait till spring when things start budding and blooming again. 

Also... check out that beautiful fence!  

"It's not done yet." -RS

Official backyard fence project progress report

Exceeds expectations in every way!!!!!

 Delivery Day.

Barking tiny dogs = insane.  Quick, dig out that chain link and effectively utilize baby helper.

Set a few posts with the help of your friends. Thanks Joel, Tshombe, Jason and Mikael!

Looking Good! 

Gator in the tub

Bath time just got a little more exciting...

Nothing like a little basement work

Sooo... when someone [Ryan] says, "I think I'm going to re-route the ducts in the basement" it actually means "I'm going to start a giant never ending project that will cause a lot of stress and need to get done before we have to turn the heat on this fall..."

Here is our lovely furnace which leads some ducts to a little storage area under our kitchen nook.  After ripping out the duct work to re-route it, Ryan realized that there was dry rot in the cabinet because it was built on...er, dirt. Ryan ripped out the smelly cabinet, leveled the dirt, poured concrete, framed out a wall and a new floor joist, and created a hardiebacker board storage area. Then, re-routed the ducts.

Old meets new.  Sheesh, connecting ducts above your head is @!#$#@ tricky. Next step, caulk and tape and cross your fingers the air flows freely.

Window treatment

With the new neighbors moving in we decided it was finally time to class up the joint and add some blinds to our bedroom windows. Since our windows are standard size via 1927, the new blinds barely fit.  So after retrofitting the window casings, viola, window treatments at last! 

Hmmm??

Sometimes your outdoor flowers get sneaky and start GROWING through the basement walls. 
What the heck nasturtium?!?!! 

Mowstrip

This summer we've been putting some work into our mowstrip... or 1 ft. of space between our sidewalk and street.  Progress has been SLOW. What happened to the days of quick house projects? 

She did.

Anyway, after taking out the old sod (read, weeds) and leveling the ground, Ryan started putting our new wheelbarrow to work.  We took the old compost pile dirt, sifted out the big chunks and began filling in sections of the strip for plantings.  With the help of some donated plants we designed a new no-mow landscape.  Next came the old chimney bricks and our new walkways were born. 
Love it!