Summer Day

After putting together the new berm, we drove around town looking for deals on shrubs & plants. Shopko came thru with 50% off everything. We picked up two spirea, a weigela, and some really cool purple/yellow day lillies. All we need now is some mulch and the first berm will be done.

Last nite the neighbors had a family movie nite in their back yard. There was a huge storm 200 miles away in Kansas that kept threatening. We had sprinkles on and off and crazy lighning from horizon to horizon and everyone was OK with that, but when the wind kicked up and blew everything over, we abandoned ship and called it a night.

Although the sky was dark with stormclouds, the sun was able to poke under as it set. It lit up the clouds underneath and made the neighborhood glow yellow.

Busy Morning

For our anniversary, JP got us eight more yards of black dirt. It was dropped off this morning at 9:00 and with the help of both boys, we were done by 11:00.

While we were all digging, the topic of father's day gifts came up. GP said that he wants to get me a sense of humor.

JP is ready to go tree shopping again. . .

New Tree

Yesterday JP got her new white pine for the new berm. We put it in and it looks great! On either side are dwarf burning bushes. Can't wait for it to grow and start blocking our view.

We have four pots of gerber daisies on the front porch. We've had trouble with the petals staying on the flowers; every day each flower loses some of its petals. One day JP noticed a beautiful little orange and black bird on the front porch. How beautiful, she thought. Until it hopped up and started to deflower her flowers. Now that cute little bird is public enemy #1.

UNL Quarter-scale Tractor

The UNL Quarter-Scale tractor team stopped by work the other day with their machine. We help them out by laser-cutting and powder-coating parts for them. They did the entire design and all the fabrication work. This year, they went two-wheel drive with four engines and a CVT. They tweaked the CVT and it pulls like crazy and will go 20+ mph.

They took 1st in the pulling category, but due to being late for an inspection, took 6th overall. Hard lesson to learn about the importance of being on time...

Busy Summer Days

This weekend, I took Friday off - half a day vacation and half a day from working extra hours earlier in the week. I worked on getting the sound working on pole position, went to the pool with the family and watched the boys go off the high boards, and then played 9 holes @ Wilderness Ridge in the 94° humid sunshine.

JRO secured a 100 lb roasting pig, which was much more difficult than either of us expected, and I built a spit, and his friend had a pig roast Saturday. I only got to taste some of the skin, and it was fantastic. We had to leave early to do the Saltdog nite with work.

When we got to the pig roast, the boys complained endlessly about everything. Then one of them found a frog, and then they got to move straw bales around, and by the time we had to leave, they wanted to stay.

We had dinner with the guys & their families from work at Buzzard Billy's - the boys actually tried (and liked) some gator. After dinner, we watched the Saltdogs pummel the Shreveport Captians. Highlight of the game was seeing the boys on the big TV screen for 10 seconds.

Arcade!

With the return of non-winter, arcade season has returned to the garages of the neighborhood. SD is taking his time and restoring his 1978 Asteroids cabinet to better-than-new condition. Can't wait to play it!

I brought Pole Position back from work and moved Tempest up from the basement. We now have a real arcade straight out of 1982!! There's nothing better than having all the neighbors over playing at the same time - it actually sounds like a real arcade.

Memorial Day

After we all recovered from moving the dirt pile from front to back, we spent a perfect day outside playing cornhole in the backyard. All the neighbors came over and decided that the new berm needed more than a single burning bush, so they planted a beer garden for me.

Despite watering and miricle grow, nothing took off. We need GT's magic Budweiser touch.

Dirt Pile

While JP was in OK City, we had 8 yards of pulverized black dirt delivered. It made for a rather large pile on the driveway. I had planned to wheelborrow it to the backyard over the three day weekend. I wasn't in any hurry, and knew it would take a while. The neighbors all took pity on me and chipped in, and after 90 minutes, the entire pile had moved from front to back!

The boys were quick to build a reenactment of most of the famous WW-II battles. Somehow we also had Germans vs. British vs. Japanese vs. Russians. Not sure what battle that was, but it was a doozy!