At It Again

 While Rick has been not-so-patiently waiting for his foot to heal after Achilles surgery, we have been able to take a short break.  I have tried to keep the lawn mowed, and I have transplanted a few flowers and trimmed the back bush.  Other than that, tending the new trees and watching the grass grow have been the extent of our work. However, now we are back at our yard work again.

Last week, we took a trip to our neighborhood nursery and learned the they had received a fairly respectable shipment of new sod.  Since we badly needed sod to fill in the dirt "dump site" on the south end of our property, we took a deep breath and purchased 28 rolls of sod.  Rick had already raised the flower garden to its proper height, so we had the room to fit in sod above black dirt that we had trucked in a couple of weeks ago.

The new sod fills quite a bit of space.  
Rick "tucked in" the edges the next day.

We spent most of that day laying out the sod, only to find that we still were about three rolls short.  Rick returned the next day -- now that he can drive again -- and purchased the necessary sod to finish the job.  The yard looks so much better now that we do not have a dirt patch next to the flower garden.

Earlier this week, we drove to Appleton to Lowes to purchase a fence post that we needed to complete the gates on our fence.  We knew that we would not be able to complete the fence until August, and suddenly, August is here!  With the new post in hand, we thought we were ready to begin the gates.

The north side of the house will require less work (we thought), so we decided to start with that side.  Rick started to dig the hole for the post only to discover, after going down about a foot, that the ground wire and rod to the entire electrical system of our house is buried right were we wanted to put in the post.  Moving the post either forward or backward from that point would have made for an off-balance, angled gate.  That would not be good.

After three alternatives were contemplated, we decided that the only way we were going to successfully put a gate on that side was to install two posts so that we can move the entire gate structure back from the original end of the fence.  While that is not an ideal choice, it will look the best and work the best for our needs.  The only problem?  We need yet another fence post!

The layout of the posts for the fence panel and
gate are tricky as the house is not parallel to the
yard layout or fence. Both holes are dug, awaiting
dry weather and cement.

We both were up at 5:00 a.m. today.  I had an early morning blood test appointment, and Rick just could not sleep.  By the time I got back from my appointment, Rick had already dug the first hole on the south side of the house for our south gate.  I do not feel well at all today, so I am afraid that I was not much help. 

Rick promised me that he would only dig one hole a day, and would go no further.  Of course, while the weather is still nice today, he wanted to dig a second hole and to cement in both posts.  Since he does not have the posts filled with the wooden structures needed to support the gate hardware, and since he had already done more with his still-healing foot than he should have, I refused to even consider hauling out all of the tools and machinery needed to pour concrete.  Rain is predicted for the next three days, so the posts and their concrete will just have to wait.

Fresh, free produce, anyone?

The good news about our other "yard work" is that our patio garden is starting to give us results.  We have picked (and eaten) one green pepper.  Two more are growing on the vine.  We also have harvested so many salad tomatoes (three different kinds from four plants), that we both are tired of eating so many.  Maybe the latest bowl will have to go to Lindsay or to the neighbors. Good thing our zucchini plant did not grow this year!