4 Seconds A Day: May 2016

Daddy's (Future) Little Helper

he was NO help

Who Likes Poo?

a huge find at Molly's farm for free compost

guess who likes to shovel shit/...

It's The Little Things

cleaned up the front patio that has no name besides the front patio... we're taking suggetsions

re-did and raised the fence (hard to tell but we think it looks MUCH better)

finally planted those Japanese maple from Tom

added a new leg to the uber-arbor

Early Bird Gets The Wood

I was outside at 5:30 this morning tearing apart that damn tool shed. I'd had enough. And now it is beautiful. Does it seem like I have to do this every year? Winter is unkind to our overstock.

But i went all out this time, even sorting out the boxes of random nails/screws I've accumulated for 5 years. Yuula helped. Kinda.

In the middle of the day Nohito insisted on showing me where she was hiding her kittens. Three. Identical. Cute of course. Let the bidding begin. 

Then as rain came out of nowhere as I was trying to work on the new grape arbor, we decided to unload stuff at the storage unit and on the way back we found 2 twelve foot 6x6 beams ditched in a heap. So what if we couldn't close the back hatch all the way home. That's almost $100 worth of wood.

You Heard We Do The Grapevine

Yeah, she got a tent now.

My favorite kind of day are the days where we actually work on a project that we've been talking about doing for a long time. We've got a long list of those types of projects, from seemingly simple to massive undertakings, but today we tackled one. The wretched grapevine transfer.

This thing is HUGE. I couldn't even get it all in one photo. But we got all the vine out of the tree and have twisted the root 180 degrees to run the vine in the opposite direction and built the beginning of a trellis for it to grow off of. Most of it is still on the ground, but plans for an arbor are underway. I just need to find the time.....

Pizza, In Like 3 Minutes!

This year I am tearing apart another rock patio, because half of it sunk over the winter. If the whole thing sunk I'd probably leave it, but there's steps where I didn't necessarily put steps, so at this point it's probably just best i tear it apart and start over fresh. It was the first one I did going back 4-5 years now, and it was definitely a poor-at-best attempt at rock patio-ing.

But then main focus of the new patio, which will change shape and size and purpose, is to incorporate this sweet cob oven into the mix. This puppy bakes up pizzas in like 3 minutes! And I want one.

I found this website that lays it all out for you, and it's fairly complicated, but I don't intend on doing it this summer. Just keeping it in mind while re-working the area. And it looks fairly cheap too, which is my kind of project. As long as when it's all said and done I can cook that pizza in like 3 minutes!

Maybe there's some cobbing classes in the area that I can take. Or maybe I meet a cobber? Is that a thing? Who knows, if I get good at this I may just cob myself a brand new house, with it's own guitar room. Where I can cook a pizza in like 3 minutes!

Swinging Back Into The Thing Of Spring

Another morning of yardwork ahead, but I need help stretching.

This year we have to new things to worry about, like Yuula scaling rocks.

Planting the first flower of the season

We had a little visitor in the middle of the day that broke things up, little Bella from dance class. They enjoyed putting dirt in each others hair and just being filthy in general. 

That is not the serving plate. That is Laura's plate.

and yes we got ice cream again. So what of it?

Out Of Outdoor Shape

Ahhhh, the snow be gone and the garden be calling. We have big plans this year, just like every year. The mystery is whether or not those plans will ever come to fruition. Or fruit.

Off to a lazy start

We had morning distractions of the adorable sort

You can see the mess we left last fall. The winter was no help.

After some lite cleanup we saw our first sign of life

Much cleaner, but it took most of the day

I was rebuilding the rock wall along the side of the property to rightfully reclaim what was ours

But rocks be heavy and I am old and fat

It was still a little chilly to be outside so this guy was bundled right

But it wasn't cold enough to keep us from Maryann's on their premiere weekend. We did eat in the car tho... Brr.

Pre-Apocalypsy

So, that was a week. Nothing apocalyptic. Nothing post-apocalyptic. I guess it was all pre-apocalyptic.

Highlights, let's see, we watched Argo on Sunday. Oooh and the Giants won. Look out playoffs, someone's 4-6.

Laura's been battling a nasty cough, but that's all. Yuula has it too, but only in the morning, then it just goes away. I have nothing, as per usual.

We got outside for a split second, to trim down some of the yard, but after about 4 hours and no noticeable difference, I quit.

Here's to a busy weekend and a holiday week.

Cold Rakes / Suddenly Humungous

I almost didn't notice all the leaves had finally fallen from the trees today, but now the ground is too frozen to rake them up. Am I the only one who cannot figure this out?

I actually had about 4 hours of peace and quiet today, while the girls went to the store and Laura's doctors appointment. Diagnosis: healthy as a horse. No dice in early leave. And Yuula got some new pajamas because she's suddenly humungous.

Front Versus Back

I am doing my damnedest to clean up this yard, being that the snow gods are holding off a few extra weeks this year. Every little bit makes the thaw that much easier.

Here's how I left the front yard. Not bad.

The back on the other hand...

Working The Autumn Yard

 Laura Carrotfingers

 Can you find me?

Grapes > Carrots

She in her sugar hat

We'll Make The Trip We Deserve

We busted out butts this weekend, inside and out. I never sleep as well as I do on a day spent circling the yard trying to check off a million and a half things on an ever-growing list. I know I'll never do them all, but it's nice to try.

We thought we deserved a little reward, and since we don't keep ice cream in the house these days, it was necessary to take the trip down the mountain to the nearest freezer section and choose our poison. I got B&J cookie dough, Laura Weis moose tracks, and Yuula got push pops.

Have I Been A Father That Long?

For Father's Day we worked in the yard, planting tomatoes and Japanese maples, mowing the lawn and adding a few pollinators around the yard. It was a quick but effective morning. And Laura got me a croquet set as a gift. Can't wait for some sticky wicket.

There was no need to hold on to this tree. She just wanted to stake a claim. 

Went down to Trenton for the dinner of dads. Yuula and Dylan engaged in dinner conversation, probably about American intervention in Syria, or something. It was darling.

And the two had a good old jump in the bounce house. 

Then this happened. She's already 16.