The Garage

I know you all can just feel my pain every time I look at this; me being the anal organized half of the pair. Tom finally agreed something has to be done with his garage, so out he goes to tackle it. There he stays, with this vacant look in his eyes, the poor guy is just lost, organization is definitely not his strong suit.
So I took pity on him & offered to help..."it all starts with a single step" I tell him, in my infinite wisdom.
We cleared off the landing where the door from the house leads to, OK, I'm done, he's on his own now (there is just way too much stuff in here).

I did give him with a few suggestions for the next few steps though. He & Mandy ran with it!
They insulated & wired up the wall that backs up to the house, ran the plumbing for the slop sink & then hug the drywall. Hey, it's a start.....I'll keep you posted.

And the stoning goes on & on & on

Well, they've made it around the front door, we're on the last leg!
Like that "we're" business???
Tom & Mandy do the work and I get to play photographer.

Looking good......

The Boat Hoist is Finished!

Believe it or not..... the wiring for the boat hoist is finally finished, the boat actually goes up & down with the push of a button. We'll just need to get it all checked out since it's been sitting there since Oct '05 & of course there will be the little issue of cleaning 3 yrs of accumulated dirt.
Any volunteers???? We'll take you for a boat ride......
But other than that, realistically I would say there is an extremely good chance that the boat still won't come down off it's high hoist and make it into the water until next summer.

Our Great Niece

Meet our Great Niece..... Samantha Marie, born May 12. She came to visit Aunt Martha & Uncle Tom. Her Mom & Dad came to, but all the pics are of Samantha!

Will We EVER Have A/C???

So it's Tuesday and Mandy & Tom are up on the roof doing the final prep to hook up the A/C. There's a big push now to get this done since his sister is coming for the w/e.
Apparently he's tuned me out, my b&%@# about another hot spell, has had little impact......(in the 90's mind you....not a good thing for a pre-menopausal woman. Oh-you've heard that line before?? Well the hormones & heat make you forgetful you know!) Thank Goodness his sister is coming. This will get done now!
The A/C guy is a friend of Tom's who does this on the side, so of course we're at his mercy. He doesn't show up Tues...uh-oh. Tom's sweating come Wed & it has nothing to do with the heat wave, just the heat he's taking from me.

All Right-everybody get it out of your system now so we can move on.....all together now... "Poor Tom" ! Good, thank you.

Now, as I was saying; it's Wed. Dickie shows up & he & Tom work until 10:30pm. Couple of glitches-no big deal-he'll be back tomorrow. (In case you forgot-company's coming Fri) It's Thurs-Dickie arrives after work-(Thank you!) he & Tom are right back at it. They work steadily until 10:30, we're ready to fire up the system!!!
Tom goes around & opens all the vents, yells to Dickie "OK let it go!"
Low & behold the air starts moving thru the vents!!!!

SO DOES THREE YEARS OF SAWDUST, DRYWALL DUST AND JUST PLAIN DUST!!!!!
Holy Crap I just cleaned the house, we have company coming this weekend!
Guess I'm wiping down a few things tomorrow.......

Holy Double Crap...We Have Air Conditioning!!!!!

Close up of Landscape stone

OK, OK, I know I'm driving you a little nuts with this whole stone thing, but just click on the photo to enlarge it & you'll see what I mean. Doesn't it just look awesome?!?

Pink Stone Delivery

Yippee...here comes the Dixie Pink stone! Bob & Judy were gracious enough to let the delivery truck use their driveway so we didn't have to haul the stone far. The only caveat was, it had to be done before their company comes for the w/e. No problem........
It was supposed to be delivered between 9-12 noon & was actually delivered on time! I had Eva for the day & it was all falling into place, she'd go down for her nap & we'd spread stone while she naps. We shoveled & after multiple wheelbarrow loads, filled in the sidewalk stone. It looks beautiful , just what I had envisioned! But there was just a small problem,
(nooo, really? Not on this project.....) the pile of stone wasn't much smaller than when we started. Either they delivered more than we ordered or there was an inaccurate calculation.
We have quite a bit of this pretty pink stone (that was of course, the pricier of the stones-as my husband keeps telling me, I have good taste) the pic in the upper L is what was delivered, the lower R is what was left. Hellooo....if he thinks we're moving this one wheelbarrow at a time to the other side of the house we may be stoning him!
Thank goodness Tom quickly explained that he had access to a bucket loader, it took multiple trips, (NOT by me or Mandy) but they had the bulk of the stone moved to the other side of our house & the rest we cleaned up with the wheelbarrow. Neighbors driveway looks good as new, & we now have plenty of stone to create a walkway on the other side of the house going from the shade garden to the garage-not the original plan, but hey, I'm flexible!

Privacy is Beautiful

The privacy fence is finished & the view of the neighbors boat which is named the Redneck Yacht Klub (I kid you not!)is now obstructed. I have to say I kind of miss it....well not enough to take the fence down mind you....

The Stoning Continues.....

Tom & Mandy have worked their way around the front of the house, hard to believe this started a month ago & after all this time I once again foolishly fell for the "it won't take long" line from both of them!!! It is coming along great though & they're doing an exceptional job! I'm looking at all the little nooks & crannies in Thomas' stone work & thinking...spider condos! There will definitely be some spidey spray coming out of these gardening gloves in the spring!

Tom's Garden

Well Tom finally has space for a small garden, he planted a little last summer,

but this year he's much more into it.

Just a couple of quick shots of Tom's garden and his monster radishes.

We have cukes, tomatoes (lots & lots), green and purple peppers, banana peppers, radishes, garlic, lots of herbs and brussel sprouts (yuck!).
He's loving it & sharing with the neighbors....they're loving it too!