Tickles, Turtles, and Dishwasher Traumas

Bad weather, lots of distractions, and just plain not feeling like doing much all have somewhat turned us into sloths.  We need to shake out of this feeling.

We have started that this week by watching Owen for two mornings while Chris and Lindsay were at work.  What a wonderful imagination a four-year-old has to share with the world!  We built forts with blankets in the living room, cut down low-hanging branches in the back yard (which Owen hauled up the hill to the curb), shot off rockets in the park, had tickle-festivals, colored many pictures and created a few original art works, studied a HUGE turtle from a safe distance, supervised Grandpa while he installed a dishwasher, and snuggled for a little quiet time after lunch.  We had lots of giggles and fun, and everyone slept well at night!

This turtle crawled up the side yard and crossed the street.
It was at least 10 inches across and over a foot long from head to tail.

The big event on Wednesday was the new dishwasher.  The people who lived in the house before Lindsay were elderly and cheap, so no one was surprised that the dishwasher started to give them trouble.  They knew a new one was in order, so they bought one a couple of weeks ago, and it was delivered on Wednesday.  We had gone over to their house on Tuesday to remove the old one (which, thankfully, the delivery men hauled away), so we were ready to go on Wednesday.

A job always goes more smoothly with a good supervisor.

The new machine came mid-morning, and complications with wires, plumbing, and the fact that the dishwasher is NOT located next to the drains by the sink all resulted in a "one hour" installation turning into an all-day affair.  Frustration!  When we finally left on Wednesday, the plumbing was all in place, but a "sassy screw" (according to Owen) refused to let Rick access the electrical box.

We returned on Thursday morning, and while Owen supervised, Rick finally was able to open the electrical box and to wire in the dishwasher.  Success!  (Owen's supervision must have been the key.)

The other success we had this week was installing new sun shades on the south side of the back porch.  The shades give us relief from the sun and a little privacy from our neighbors now that the large trees between the houses are gone.  We don't want to keep the shades down all of the time, but when we are eating or relaxing on the porch while they also are outside, the privacy is great to have again.

The new sun shades give us a bit of privacy from the neighbors.

A little landscaping has our backyard trees trimmed so they do not mug us while we are mowing the lawn, and my lilac bush, once again, is shaped the way I want it to look.

Next week we will tackle taking down two pine trees in Lindsay's back yard.  The weather is supposed to be cooler, and as long as we don't get a lot of rain, the task should not be too daunting.