Greening Our House

DG posted about our new front yard with before and after pictures on flickr. It is amazing what a little bit of grass will do. It is also suprisingly easy to sit inside and watch the magic happen. First a dump truck delivered manure and dumped it on the lawn. Then a man we hired on Craigslist came and tilled the entire yard and then tilled in the manure. On Saturday morning the sod truck showed up and thanks to Shaun's help, we had a new lawn by 1pm. I was in charge of setting the sprinkler system. Yes I think that's enough exercise for me.


On Sunday, we went to our local garden center and purchased trees at 50% off. We got a white ash for the front yard, and a Redbud and Serviceberry for the back yard. The ash will get to be about 50' tall in about 15 years, but the flowering trees for the back will only be about 20' tall and gorgeous.

Shuttlecock me

Walking into a sporting goods store last week, a sale immediately caught my eye and brought me back to childhood all in one minute. It was a 2-in-1 set of badminton and volley ball. After day dreaming about playing every summer with my parents, I ran next door to Ace Hardware to ask DG if we could please, pretty please, ::eyelash flutter:: get the set. I didn't want his permission so much as his acquiescence to erect the net. There was resistance at first due to our self imposed spending freeze, but he was getting a saw and wash bucket, so I thought a badminton set would make us even. Um yeah.

By Saturday evening, the games began with threats of ass kicking and total domination. I'm going to make a great parent. I did not let my legacy down in the match. Don't worry about DG though, he'll have the upper hand soon as my reflexes and ability to dive for the shuttlecock slow down.

The problem now is that all I want to do is play badminton. I want to roll out of bed and play. I could play all night and have been working on DG to install flood lights so we can play after the sun goes down.

The Line Judge - who got paid off in tennis balls and bull penises.

Backyard Mascot

Previously, Gene Simons was the backyard Mascot. Moveover Gene, there's a new mascot in town. My brother sent 2 garden statues as a wedding gift last year. Unfortunately, they were completely shattered on the journey from South Korean. Very sad. They were a boy and girl carrying buckets you could plant flowers in. They were missing heads, feet, etc. Total carnage. The piece seen here is the biggest part that was salvagable. The little boy sits on the Berm in the back yard. I hate the word Berm and I'm not fond of our Berm, but it's there, for now, decorated.


Notice the sunny area to the right of the Berm. That will be the garden!