I’m still waiting to hear what method of torture my mail carrier will endure for destroying the plants she was paid to deliver safely last week. I’m guessing that even though our new phone number was listed on the formal complaint that the Postmaster hasn’t been able to call because he still has the old number. Yeah, that’s what I’m going with. Verizon conveniently forgot to add the recording with the new number when they mechanically tell you that the number you have dialed has been disconnected. So I suppose I’ll call and follow up, but I want them to stew just a little longer.
Mother Nature threatened us with thunderstorms this weekend, so we got out early on Saturday and got all the yard work done. I ran the tractor in the Back 40 beboppin’ to my tunes on my ZEN. Yeah, I know, it’s not an iPod, but it’s pretty cool and does the job. As long as I make sure I synch it with Rhapsody before I go out to run the tractor…otherwise, all the songs I’ve downloaded show a synch error and I’m listening to silence. While silence is a precious commodity around our house, being able to zone out to my favorite music without interruption is even better. I even go around in circles for a while after the grass is completely mowed…you know, to make sure I didn’t miss any spots so I can finish listening to a favorite song or three. And stretch out that uninterrupted time alone in the sun. Heaven.
We did get one bout of thunder storms late Saturday, lots of lightning and rolling thunder, but no rain, so the heat Mother Nature decided to hit us with remained. Luckily we did get around to putting in the air conditioning units in the bedrooms so we could actually sleep comfortably. We looked into getting central air installed, but with 3 stories to cool down, the quotes came in just shy of $30,000. Um yeah, I think we’ll pass, the window units work just fine and central air will just be another thing added to our ‘wish list’ for our next house.
Since the ‘cooling’ thunderstorms never arrived (until this morning), we were able to spend even more time outside in the heat. Poor Princess Nagger kept wandering around yesterday outfitted in her bathing suit and inflatable Looney Tunes swim vest waiting for the neighbor’s pool to empty of raucous drunk people so she could go for a swim. They generously offered up to her the opportunity to swim in their pool ‘anytime’, which is great except one of us has to be with her because she can’t be in that huge pool by herself – or with raucous drunk people, either. I nominated hubby for that task because no way am I donning a bathing suit this early in the season…not before a few more rounds of abuse from Maya, anyway.
Princess Nagger is in a growth spurt. Every 10 minutes or so yesterday she kept saying she was hungry, then she’d help herself to ham and cheese or cheetos or frozen pops. 5 minutes after I fed her lunch she was hungry again. Oh to have that kind of metabolism again. I went in to check on her about 10 minutes later and caught her making herself a jelly sandwich. Not one, but two. Of course she told me she was making one for me, too. And of course I had to eat it, you know, because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. 🙂
Hubby has been wanting to put in some sort of stream in connection to our pond…we have plans to add a rock garden in the section of sparse grass that represents the yard between the shed and the Summer House, and had thought about adding a smaller pond in that area and connecting the two ponds with a stream. But he got a penchant for putting in a stream sooner than that, especially when he discovered a section of pond liner stored in our barn…so he dug a trench from the flower bed at the base of the apple tree to the pond and has started this summer’s project early.
He ran some black tubing up from the pond that generates the water out of the pond up to the top of the ‘stream’ which then runs back into the pond. Here’s how it looked when he got done with that part:
It’s raining this morning, so some leaves have fallen into the stream already, and the locust tree that is more of an annoyance than anything has deposited a lot of debris into the pond, but you can see that hubby added some pebbles in the bottom of the stream:
Next steps will be to plant some sort of plants on either side, create a little water bog at the bottom of the stream at the entrance of the pond, remove the timbers, and cover the rest of the pond liner with white rock. Stay tuned, it should turn into some major coolness. It’s already cool being able to hear the babble of the stream. Plus it will give the dogs the perfect water source during the hot summer days since the invisible fence prohibits them from rolling in the plants around the pond or standing on the shelf just inside the edge of the pond doggy fishing.
I suppose I should wrap this up since my computer decided to reboot itself in the middle of my randomness…guess it’s a sign that I need to shut up. 😉
Feeling Random? Well, you’re not alone. You can find all the cool Random People congregating over at Keely’s place. And don’t forget to stop by her co-host, Kelly the Neurotic Mom over at Baby Boogers, she’s Keely’s cohort in crime for Random Tuesday Thoughts! Head on over to both places and spread some Random love. You’ll thank me later. 😉
That stream looks pretty cool. Sounds like you had a busy weekend.
That stream looks awesome! It would probably make me want to pee all the time though…
The stream is awesome!
Funny that your daughter makes jelly sandwiches. Sometimes my daughter asks for “just jelly” sandwiches. 🙂
well that pond is super cool!
Hey there! Dropping in from RTT. I think it’s awesome when boys make stuff, be it a stream or a sandwich!
Abut the AC- I’m more concerned about having to keep three stories clean than keeping them cool! Woman! That’s a whole lotta space for kids to make a mess! Wall units work just fine though. I them in my house and it really saves on the fights over some people liking it cold and others liking it warm.
Happy RTT!
Nice hubby honeydoo project.Looks great!
Poor baby with no central a/c. I’m feeling for ya.
Your daughter has learned generosity well and even how to entertain. Some of us don’t learn those skills even into our 30+’s. Great example of parenting going right. I love the stream very nicely done!
How lovely to have a stream right in your yard!
I’ve always wanted to ride a tractor! I imagine it’s awesome!:D
Oh, so that’s what it’s called a growth spurt, and I thought my daughter had worms or something, so I de-wormed her but she still gets hungry every after 5 minutes or so…
The stream looks awesome! 🙂
Happy Tuesday! 🙂
Hey girlfriend, how have you been? I haven’t been around for a while but I’m back a little more randomly.
Love the pond though. Looks really cool.
I love the stream. That’s all sorts of awesome. It’s been raining here for days, downpours and thunder. It isn’t pretty and my grass is growing out of control, with the weather and his school work, the husband can’t get a leg up on our lawn…okay that sounds weird, like he’s one of the dogs trying to take a whiz. Alright, my random comment ends on that note…
Your backyard is simply lovely. Tell me, when am I coming over to hang out?
Oh, and the description of Princess Nagger and her sandwich making really made me smile. She’s too darling…concentrating hard on the task at hand while wearing her life vest. 🙂
-Francesca
I need to come live at your house LOL! Pools and ponds and streams, sounds like paradise to me!
$30,000 for central air? Holy mother of pearl. But you know, Beloved and I are talking about adding a Florida room (something I had no idea existed until I moved north) off of the living room of our house. When I asked him how much that would cost, he quoted me a figure not to far off of yours for the central air.
I recovered eventually.
Baked Doritos are so so soooooo delicious. I had forgotten about them–so thanks for the reminder. Too bad about those pesky drunk people!
PN looks so cute in her swim vest making sammiches!
We had a 40% chance of rain here for our BBQ and it drizzled for about five minutes and then was the perfect day. Yay!
Your stream is pretty cool, maybe you can send him our way to hook us up with something similar?
Your stream/pond is so pretty! I have to get my butt out and work in my yard tomorrow — the weeds are taking over!
The stream is pretty! Sounds like you had a busy weekend. Love the pictures of your little girl making her a sandwich in her little swim gear. To cute! We have central air — but our electricity bill is our of this world because this house is to big — we use window units and it has cut our bill in half thank God and your right it does it the job. My 3 year old must be having a growth spurt too because all he wants to do is eat 24/7. I love to cut grass and listen to music but ours is a push — oh well I’m getting my exercise for the day. LOL
Thanks for sharing you weekend.
That’s a super cool stream! My husband won’t leave the house (BAD allergies, to grass of all things) so our yard is lame.
Wait. What state do you live in that you don’t have central air? Eeks! What about the kitchen?
PN looks so cute making a sandwich with her blow-up vest on.
I love the stream and would love to see pics of your whole property. It sounds huge!
Justine 😮 )
Oh how I love thunderstorms. Looking forward to a whole summer of them.
the Princess is so sweet thinking to make a sandwich for you, too. I love it when kids remember mom 🙂
Wow, loving the pond pictures!
Wow, loving the pond pictures!
That stream is really cool. Your hubby is talented. 🙂
wonderful random post 🙂 the stream is too cute, is that why the princess is making sandwiches in a life vest? “Daddy made a new slip n slide!” 🙂
You and your hubby are always busy doing fun things in your yard! Love the new stream! =)