Daylilies

The daylilies around the yard are blossoming. They are one of my favorite summer time blooms.

Wednesday

The allure of discounted plants made for another trip to the garden center on my lunch hour. This time I picked up a bunch of annuals at 65 cents a piece. I put a few in our window box.
Zachary is busy rebuilding a small antique sleigh for my Dad. He is replacing the old wood pieces with new wood.

Herbs for Cheap

On my lunch break from work today, I went to Fleet Farm to pick up a couple extra tomato cages for the garden. A bright yellow sign caught my attention. All plants on this rack: 50 cents each. I picked up Cinnamon Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Balm, Cilantro, Dill, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, and Rosemary. I love a good deal, especially ones that are tasty and flavorful.

Sunday: Lights

The Clematis is in it's prime.
Irises.
Zachary wired up 3 outdoor lights for our house. Grilling will be so much easier without holding a flashlight at night.
Work was also done on the inside today. I installed insulation to the outer walls in the dining room, as Zachary added 4 recessed lights in the ceiling. It sure brightens up the room. Hopefully this week we will get the drywall hung in the dining room. Then we will be having a drywall guy come in soon to finish hanging the drywall in the high kitchen ceiling, and then mud and texturize the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. We remodeled the bathroom 2 winters ago and we never were happy with how the drywall finish turned out. We did a flat smooth finish, and even after painting, the seams are still visible. Adding mud and texture to drywall is annoying and we both loathe the job. Sometimes is pays to have someone else do it.

Saturday: At the Lakes

Saturday we worked on another arbor, this one to display at the lakes. In the morning we finished assembling it and then we stained it with a semi-transparent stain. On this one, Zachary decided to put a little curve on the upper cross pieces.
After the paint was mostly dry, we brought up the arbor to the lake at my parents' house and relaxed the rest of the evening there. The Cloverleaf Lakes Association were putting on Fireworks that night. Some of our family were there as well to enjoy the beautiful evening.
Zachary did some fishing, and had a little luck with a top water lure, despite the heavy boat traffic and lake noise.
Zachary, Jordan, Andy and I played a couple rounds of shuffleboard in the garage. Andy landed an awesome shot where the puck seemed to be hanging off the edge by more than 50%. I had to photograph it, although the camera obscured the image of the impossible feat. It didn't last long, Jordan's next shot knocked it off. Jordan ended up being champion last night, going 6-0.
The annual Cloverleaf Lakes tradition: the pontoon parade. The "floats" are usually pretty tattered and tired by the time they pass our spot, as we are towards the end of the route. There is a theme every year, but I am not sure what was the theme this year. The one above had a Sponge Bob theme, but we couldn't figure out the pattern. Zachary asked me if I knew what the theme was, and I said it was Beer. Most of the floats have loud alcohol-fueled adults acting ridiculous on them. I believe beer is the unofficial theme every year.
Darkness falls and the fireworks shine.

On the Side

Since we stopped dairy farming this spring, we have been trying to find our footing in our new journey. One opportunity that has come for us is Zachary being able to spend more time as a woodworker. A hobby that we both enjoy. Zachary has been working on some projects for my parents, and has built a few garden pieces to display for sale. After advertising some of his work on Craigslist, today we sold a custom built arbor. We assembled the arbor today, with Zachary cutting and fitting, and myself on sanding duty. We delivered the arbor and installed and leveled it for our customer. She was very happy with it. It is nice to earn a little extra money doing something that you enjoy.
Zachary is in the middle of making a water wheel for my parents. We'll be putting up pictures of that soon, as it is quite a contraption.

Demolition Man (and Woman)

Zachary and I recently demoed the dining room. Since the kitchen project borders the dining room and offered no good clean break, we decided to add it on in the project.
The walls and ceiling were covered in plaster and lathe. A dusty, dirty job.