Wood

Wood. Warm. Ready for Winter. Here we have about 3.5 cords. This year we have all kinds...some maple, tamarack, red fir (not much), white pine, white fir, and birch.
Here is some cottonwood from our neighbor's tree across the street. Once seasoned, it will be interesting to see how well it burns.
This is October 18th. Our burning bush is just turning red.
Down the street though, is a full red burning bush. I don't know what the actual name is, just how I remember it from growing up.
Sunset from the crest of the 6th Street hill.

Fall 2008 has been good. Only one rainy day in September (I was camping) and the colors are exuberance once again. Here is my backyard, new fence, new neighbor's cars and three colors.
My new shed. Purchased from Ziggy's, built by my friend and me. Just got to put on the door and caulk the trim.
It's 10 x 16. Should be big enough for all our mammon. We don't have a garage so this will be a big help. We'll paint it in the Spring.
From the street, it looks the right size. One project down, two thousand to go.

Pepper the Dog

Here are some more pics of our dog Pepper. She is a pretty good dog for being only 6 months old. She knows how to sit, lay, roll over, and fetch. We have a good time with her this summer.
She likes to look out the window.
and sit on the back of the couch.
And sleep on the couch.

My wife is amazing. This is a piece of furniture she bought and refinished.
She resurfaced the floor, painted it white, installed new knobs, and added some colorful oil cloth.
She plans to use it as a baby changing table.
This fall, she has also been busy with a drama class she is teaching and keeping the home, baking pies, cobblers, goodies, etc. She has made numerous curtains for our windows as well as decorating the walls. And she has to put up with me. What a great wife!

Fenced In

This summer, my big project was building a fence. This pic was taken in May, it shows the terraced dirt in the corner of my backyard with no fence. Seeing as we wanted a dog, we needed a fence.
So here is an early stage pic after we put in the posts and rails. On the north side of the yard, one slat at a time.
Start to look good.
I made a retaining wall in the back corner and built the fence there as well. I realized that I needed to continue the fence that far because as soon as I completed the wall, our dog Pepper shot up the wall and chased after the world. Now she is fenced in. I have enjoyed working with bigger equipment this summer as well. I rented an augur for the holes, a Bobcat Loader for removing the dirt, and an Excavator to help my friend eliminate juniper bushes. I understand now why men love big equipment. Beats office work.

What have we been doing all summer?

There will be more posts soon. One thing we did, as we always do, is gather wood for the winter. Here is a pile of White Fir and White Pine before it was split and stacked.
Here is the first new addition to our family. Our dog Pepper. She is friendly and energetic, as most puppies are. She is a mix of Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, and Hound. She is bigger now, but this is when we first brought her to our home.

Its JUNE!

Yes, that's right.
It was snowing when I got up this morning. Sigh. The date? JUNE 10th.