Landscaping & Big News

In between (numerous) weekend rain storms, we've been working on the landscaping in the back yard.

These photos are a little hard to see, but I took some of the especially insect-damaged timbers from the old back part of the house -- stuff too big and too damaged to do much else with -- and created a raised area for a swing in the back corner and a raised garden bed next to the new wall:

Big thanks to our houseguest Corrie Jo for her ideas! She is a genius. That is a fact.

We planted some dahlias in there, and some California poppies. And six snap peas. Because snap peas -- even just a handful -- are essential for summertime happiness.

Meanwhile, the radishes, lettuce, and carrots in the gutter are very happy:

And the sedum in the other gutter is also very happy:

Thank you to Momma Arave for the advice on transplanting the sedum into this gutter! Another genius!

While Corrie Jo was here, enjoying beautiful weather in the hammock and directing my efforts at landscaping, I also got started on a tiny tiny patio for our tiny tiny grill.

It's about 2 feet by 3 feet. Tiny.

And yes, made out of materials left over from other projects.

First I made a form and poured the rest of a bag of concrete into it:

Not quite enough to fill the form, but that's ok, because I had plenty of mortar left over from the kitchen floor to fill up the rest of the space. And, of course, plenty of left over terra cotta tiles:

That was a couple of weeks ago now. If it ever stops raining for more than two days in a row, I'll be able to finally grout this sucker and call it done.

Speaking of done, as you know, 2017 is The Year of Finishing Things. Here is something big I just finished: this morning, at 11:30am, I officially turned in the last assignment for my last MBA class (please click here). I am completely done and on my way to graduation!

Looking forward to a less break-neck pace to my week, and to having some time on the weekends to relax and have fun doing projects.

Onward & upward!