Weekend Update

Do you ever just feel like you hit the ground running in the morning? I sure do! Summer is a busy time around here and this weekend was just that. The deck project is moving. On Sunday Sean and Rich had finished up the holes for the footings, the sonotubes had been placed in the holes and they were ready for concrete. I took the truck into the rental place and they mixed up a yard and a quarter of cement, dumped it into a cart and I towed it home. Well, I attempted to tow it home. My poor little truck was was out of its league pulling a load of that size. I did get it home but couldn't get it up the (tiny) hill in the back yard so we had to unhitch it and replace it with Rich's truck. We figured it up and a yard and a quarter of cement plus the cart was around 5000 pounds. Way out of bounds for my trucks towing capacity. I took it easy and don't think I did any damage (here's hoping). Lesson learned though! You think we would have towed it home with the 1 ton van in the driveway. Doh.

Anyways, the boys got to work with a wheel borrow and got all 18 footings poured, leveled and the j-bolt inserted. They look great! Renting the cement cart is definitely the way to go for future cement jobs. We'll let them cure and start the framing on the deck soon. Thank you Rich for all of your hard work, we sure appreciate it!

The garden has given me my very first produce yesterday. All that work is finally starting to pay off! The squash is starting to produce in huge quantities. I think in about a week I'll be swimming in zucchini. I planted a few interesting varieties that have been fun to watch grow including the Golden Egg yellow squash (you can see it in the top left pic), they look like a little yellow egg. Also the Eight Ball zucchini is producing (bottom right), they are little round green balls about 3 inches in diameter. They are supposed to make great stuffed squash recipes. Yesterday I sliced up a few of each, seasoned them well and sauteed them in some butter then topped with a little feta cheese. Oh so good! The cucumbers are growing, the strawberries are ripening every day (and eaten every day by Greta), there are baby tomatoes everywhere and I can already taste the sweet corn (please don't be ready while we are on vacation!). I love gardening.

My parents went on a train trip this weekend with my sister and we got to watch their hounds. I thought three dogs kept me on my toes, five were crazy! We had fun and anyone that sat down was guaranteed a lap warmer. I had all three on me one day and thought it warranted a picture.

Hope you had a great weekend!