Home Improvement

I've been terrible about keeping up with this site lately. Not that my daughters aren't doing the most wonderful and marvelous things - quite the opposite. They are fantastic and they both amaze me daily. It's just that our house has been under siege - that Murphy's Law thing - 'anything that can go wrong...'

It started with the landscaping. Last summer, we had Eric, Max & Walt - 3 incredibly wonderful and handsome college kids - clear the yard of fallen trees, etc. They worked throught the July & August heat, killing snakes and catching poison ivy along the way. I felt good knowing that we paid them enough to ensure they didn't have to work for a semester when they returned to school. Eric is going to law school, so he won't be doing the landscaping this year. Max is going to graduate school and Walt is off to (I think) Medical school. Eric was kind enough to send along his younger brother this year, to see if we needed more done. Of course we did! Last year we concentrated on the lawn, this year it was the flower beds.

So we had Jeremy (Eric's brother) and Brian do the beds for us. I spent a better part of two weeks searching local nurseries for just the right plants. We have shade gardens in our heavily wooded yard, full sun in the front - so it required a bit of research to find what plants would be appropriate for each. I found out that Josie does not like to walk on rocks, so I had to carry her through most of places we visited - that or put her in a cart which bounced so severely I was worried about 'shaken baby syndrome'!


While we had the boys on hand, we decided, along with our neighbors, Brett and Nora, to have the area between our two backyards cleared of decades of kudzu, thorny vines, rotting stumps and undergrowth. It turned out fantastic ! Our plan now is to bring in some top soil and seed the area so that both families can enjoy the larger lawn. I envision lots of baseball and soccer being played - which makes me very happy. So, enough about the landscaping.

The weather turned hot & muggy so we switched over to the A.C. - or at least we tried to... James noticed that it wasn't cooling the upstairs all that well. So, a call went in to our heating and cooling contractor. Turns out we were a pound short of freon in the unit for the upstairs. Easy fix. Not a fortune. Great.

We then noticed a water spot on the kitchen roof above the refrigerator - and below Josie's tub. I thought it was caused by bad caulking around the tub. When Josie splashes in the tub, sometimes I don't get the water up quick enough - I thought it was dripping down through the floor to the roof of the kitchen. Okay, so a call goes out to the plumber. Turns out I was wrong. We had a pin sized hole in a copper pipe - as soon as the plumber sawed into the dry wall, a bunch of water came dripping out. Oh Oh. This was not going to be quite as cheap as the AC fix. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the plumber (who was a wonderful man who whispered the whole time he was in the house to keep from waking the napping Josie) cut a not-so-big hole, pulled out his torch, and had the whole thing fixed within 40 minutes.

That was yesterday. Today, Josie and I are taking it easy. She has been my constant helper - filling up her bucket with birdseed and helping me fill the bird feeders, helping roll the trash can in from the curb, digging holes and watering the new plants with me. She is a darling child. I truly love having her with me during the day. She is exhausting but completely lovable. I need to update all of you on Josie's amazing achievements, but I'll save that for another time.

Maddie is headed out to the movies with her friends this evening. I'll be at a scrapbooking event nearby, so when the movie is over, I'll pick her up. Dad gets to stay at home with Josie while Maddie & I have fun!