To Do, To Do, To Do, To-Do, To-Do, To-Do, To-Do (sung to the tune of Pink Panther

As the last official weekend before the big Hoop-La on Saturday, our To-Do list was quite large.  In fact it seemed a bit overwhelming, and to be completely honest, it still does.  Here is a small taste of how my weekend went down. 

This is my pitiful vegetable garden.  As of Friday night.  Got a few things in, but still so much to do.  This will be a test to see how well things grow here.  I don't think there is enough sunlight.  Deron does.  So, if we have produce, he wins.  If we don't, I win.  Simple Logic. 

For some reason, I can not upload my "after" pic of the garden.  But I will tell you that it now contains:
8 tomato plants
6 yellow peppers
6 red peppers
2 green peppers
2 Jalepeno peppers

1 habenero pepper

Radishes
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Zuchinni
and most importantly...pickles.
And a wonderfully clever little froggie ornament from my Gram.  I am hoping this will bring me luck. 

Garden - check

I even took a little extra time to prune the bushes and trees that are providing an awful lot of shade to my front garden.  Let's hope this helps.  If not, hey at least I can get under them with the mower now!  I wish I would have taken "before" photos of these trees, it is like night and day in the difference!!  2 full yard cart loads worth of dead, dangly, nasty branched removed.  I am sure these bushes feel like whole new women!!

Next item on the list - Finish Putting in fence posts for pasture:

Let me just tell you how much I am not a fan of the "Earth Auger".  Somehow I got roped into this task because "you have more weight to put into it"...ie, Your fat ass will hold the auger down better.  In case you are not familiar with an "Earth Auger", it is very similar to an Ice Auger.  Same concept.  One digs holes in the ice, the other in the earth.  This would seem to be a wonderful invention, especially in a case like ours where there are 85 fence post holes to be dug.  The bad thing about the EA is that it shakes, like a beast!  It shakes so hard that it actually took us 4 seperate occasions of going out to dig holes because the shaking is so hard on the rest of our body.  And, turns out, we have an abnormally large amount of clay in our yard.  Clay = hard to dig thru; therefore, Clay = severe shaking on the EA, Clay = Bad.

There are 2 boy horses waiting to come live at our house, and in order for that to happen, we need to finish up their living quarters.  So far, the fence posts are in.  Next up, a shelter, and of course the fencing between the posts.  But for now, this looks good to me!

In the above photo, you can also see the finished product of Item #3: finish up the lower driveway.  Deron decided that it needed to be widened and extended.  So, it was.  And it looks great!!

Item # 4 on the list  - well the photo was intended to show "Mow Lawn"; however, Simba snuck in as I was snapping the photo and added Item #5 - so this is a 2 for 1:

Items 4 & 5 - check and check.  Both will need to be repeated before the party of course, but at least for now, check and check.

Next up - Item #6 - Cats vs. Dyer Vent - this is an ongoing saga at my house.  The kittens have figured out how to get inside the house now, thru the dryer vent.  We thought we had outsmarted them...stick a cup in the vent, then they can only get in so far.  Ha ha ha, jokes on you...cup also does not allow dryer to properly vent.  Kittens score another point.  Until Now!!  Ha Ha Ha little stinkers!!  Try and get thru this one!!

There are 2 more jobs that are at half completion phase right now, awaiting professional assistance.

For 1, the pool.  Oh, the pool.  It came with the house.  "Won't it be great to have a pool" we said when we looked at the house.  Lazy summer afternoons floating in our backyard, kids parties, adult parties, all the good things that come with having a pool fill our heads and we are excited. 

This is what the pool looks like:

 

Yeah, doesn't so much look like a relaxing Sunday Afternoon, does it.  No, gross!!  Well, the good news is, we got the old nasty sludge / algae / frog / wasp / tadpole infested water out.  And the old liner out.  And the new liner in.  So it looks like a million bucks now.  This is the point where we will halt and await professional help to release the wrinkles.  Apparently this is the most important step in installing a new pool liner.  To remove all the wrinkles.  Wrinkles will create pockets and ridges that encourage algae to grow.  As you can see, we need no encouragement. 

Next item awaiting completion: Power wash the deck.  Not just wash, Power Wash.  Yes, there is a difference:  Look at this nasty...

You can see part of the finished product in the pool photo.  But the deck around the pool will need to be redone before the stain/ water protectant goes down as all the sludge and gross stuff from the pool was gently washed over the deck before making it to the ground below.  Still doesn't look as bad as it did before; however, waiting until the pool is done, and will hit it again.  This nasty pool will be filled, treated, and covered, before I finish up that deck. 

We even had some time Sunday afternoon for a graduation party.  Congrats to Deron's cousin Jeremy Jacobs!  Had a great time, ate food, listened to some pretty awesome musicians, and got to see some pretty wonderful folks. 

All in all, I would say a pretty productive weekend.  Now onto the rest of the list...