Summer Fun
We went straight from cool and rainy to hot, muggy, and sunny. Although, there have been a few days in between of perfect: low 70's and sunny. I'm finding that if I leave the front door closed from mid morning to late afternoon, and close off the back two bedrooms all afternoon, the house stays cooler. So far, the high inside the house without the air conditioner on has been 80, and that was just the other day when it was 90 degrees outside. That's not too bad, at least in my mind. I know others cringe when they hear I live in a house that I allow to get up to 80 degrees. The nice thing about this? It's my house. I can do what I want.
Funny Delightful Son came for a visit last week. We had a great week together, and I surprised myself -- when he pulled out to go back to his place, the tears came. I'm so proud of him and what he has accomplished. He finished up his four-year degree in May, and now he's planning to enter into the Master's program in the fall, though he is taking a grad course over the summer to get started now. For the first few hours after he left, I just sort of wandered around the house.
To take my mind off the quiet, I went outside and started tearing down the wooden playset that was nestled under the big maple tree in the back yard. I said from the get-go that it had to go, so the time seemed right to make it happen. Lovely Beautiful Daughter lobbied hard for me to keep it. She has the idea a grandchild would enjoy it one day, which might be true, but the grandchild isn't coming along for several years from what I've been told. So down with the playset.
I collected my tools and set to work, only to find I didn't have the right tool to remove all the hex nuts keeping the darn thing up. Seriously. How many hex nuts does it take to build a playset? A LOT! So I put my order in at the local ag store, drove over to pick up my order, then spent the rest of the afternoon dismantling this monster. Several friends had suggested I put a flyer up around town, offering the playset to anyone who would come and haul it away. Surely a family here would like to have it for their kids. I considered this, but as I was taking it apart, it became very apparent just how rotted some of it was. It really wasn't safe any longer.
After a day and a half of removing hex nuts, screws, and nails, then hauling the pieces to the curb for tomorrow's town clean-up day, I ended up with this. So much better! And when the two swings are switched out for adult swings, it'll be a fun spot to hang out.
With that project completed, I turned my attention to tilling the little garden space behind the garage. There had been some grape vines growing, but I decided they, too, needed to go. I have no desire to grow grapes anymore. Tried it and found the grapes were mostly just food for the birds and raccoons. So I cut the vines out, tilled up the ground, then leveled it out. For my efforts? This:
Now I need to decide what plants to put in this space. I'm kind of leaning towards making it a perennial garden, but I'm also thinking a small veggie garden would be nice. It's a struggle!
Both of the garage windows will be fixed sooner or later. I don't quite understand why the previous owner didn't fix the windows. It doesn't seem like a tough job. I'm figuring a sheet of plexiglass for both will do the job, but I'll check it out thoroughly before making any purchase.
In between the house projects, I've managed to get some cycling in. Today I did 28 miles, enjoying every bit of the new territory I get to explore. My mileage is usually between 25 and 30 miles, so I'm pretty happy with that. My goal is to work my way to 100 miles by the end of the summer. I'd really like to get a century ride in. We'll see.
Funny Delightful Son came for a visit last week. We had a great week together, and I surprised myself -- when he pulled out to go back to his place, the tears came. I'm so proud of him and what he has accomplished. He finished up his four-year degree in May, and now he's planning to enter into the Master's program in the fall, though he is taking a grad course over the summer to get started now. For the first few hours after he left, I just sort of wandered around the house.
To take my mind off the quiet, I went outside and started tearing down the wooden playset that was nestled under the big maple tree in the back yard. I said from the get-go that it had to go, so the time seemed right to make it happen. Lovely Beautiful Daughter lobbied hard for me to keep it. She has the idea a grandchild would enjoy it one day, which might be true, but the grandchild isn't coming along for several years from what I've been told. So down with the playset.I collected my tools and set to work, only to find I didn't have the right tool to remove all the hex nuts keeping the darn thing up. Seriously. How many hex nuts does it take to build a playset? A LOT! So I put my order in at the local ag store, drove over to pick up my order, then spent the rest of the afternoon dismantling this monster. Several friends had suggested I put a flyer up around town, offering the playset to anyone who would come and haul it away. Surely a family here would like to have it for their kids. I considered this, but as I was taking it apart, it became very apparent just how rotted some of it was. It really wasn't safe any longer.
After a day and a half of removing hex nuts, screws, and nails, then hauling the pieces to the curb for tomorrow's town clean-up day, I ended up with this. So much better! And when the two swings are switched out for adult swings, it'll be a fun spot to hang out.
With that project completed, I turned my attention to tilling the little garden space behind the garage. There had been some grape vines growing, but I decided they, too, needed to go. I have no desire to grow grapes anymore. Tried it and found the grapes were mostly just food for the birds and raccoons. So I cut the vines out, tilled up the ground, then leveled it out. For my efforts? This:
Now I need to decide what plants to put in this space. I'm kind of leaning towards making it a perennial garden, but I'm also thinking a small veggie garden would be nice. It's a struggle!
Both of the garage windows will be fixed sooner or later. I don't quite understand why the previous owner didn't fix the windows. It doesn't seem like a tough job. I'm figuring a sheet of plexiglass for both will do the job, but I'll check it out thoroughly before making any purchase.
In between the house projects, I've managed to get some cycling in. Today I did 28 miles, enjoying every bit of the new territory I get to explore. My mileage is usually between 25 and 30 miles, so I'm pretty happy with that. My goal is to work my way to 100 miles by the end of the summer. I'd really like to get a century ride in. We'll see.
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