Getting Ready

You'd think we were traveling to the middle of nowhere with this pile of food. There actually are grocery stores in Colorado, but I like to have some stuff that you can't find out there, like Trader Joe favorites, and yes, Utz pretzels!

Fence is done!

Well almost: the boards are just tacked into place, awaiting the stainless nails for the nail-gun. But, the gates are both done and they look awesome! We couldn't resist a little inspiration from Greene & Greene design for the gate, going with a subtle cloud lift design for the arch shape. (click on photo to see full size)

Good job, Bob!

New Fence

This project has been in the works for a few months. The idea is to move the fence up to the driveway edge to make more space in the yard. We dug the new post holes, and moved the old fence awhile ago, but we've finally gotten serious about the new fence. Here you can see the posts, frame and Bob cutting the western red cedar fence boards.


We decided to put Sikken's preservative on the cedar boards and ended up buying two colors and mixing them since the first choice was too dark. We still need a gate, post caps, and top boards, but are pleased with the fruits of labors:


We went ahead replaced the the fence on the other side of the house by the front door also. This was a good decision because the post closest to the house was completely rotten and infested with ants. We used the old gate on this side and painted it with the full-strength stain which you can see is quite dark. We plan to replace this gate eventually so that it matches better!

Gad-Zukes!

Neighbor Frank has rekindled his green thumb ( he grew up on a farm) and has been quite successful! This is the largest zucchini I've ever seen. Here is the daddy, mama and baby, on a full sized chair and with a pencil for some hint of scale:

Beach Trip

Our friends from CO -- Blaise & Elizabeth -- were in Virginia for a wedding, so decided to make a trip of it and go to Nags Head for a week, and they invited us to join them. We had a great time! The van is great for packing lots of toys!


The beach house was just a few blocks from the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. We managed to get an 11 mile ride in though, with all the roads in the park itself. The lighthouse was moved so that it didn't fall into the ocean, which is good thing, because the ocean was spitting distance to the old site.

Bob and Joe playing in the surf:

Our hosts Blaise & Elizabeth:

Anna being a goof:

The ferry on it's way to Ocracoke Island:

The yard

It's been a great season so far. We've had some stinking hot humid days, but many low humidity and not too hot days as well. The garden likes it! We planted nicotiana's in the front flower bed probably 15 years ago and they've come back every year, some better than others. This year we have ones I haven't seen in ages: light purple, dark purple, fuschia and white! They are most lovely at night.

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Bob saw an old bench out in someone's garbage while biking a few weekends ago, and decided it needed saving. So we went back in the van and brought the carcass home. Bob then purchased white oak, and carefully cut the pieces to bring this bench back to life. Notice how the wood grain curves along the top of the bench: