Project Patio

We have a project underway at our house. We’ve reached the point of no return, so I thought it would be fun to blog about our progress.

When we bought this house 4 years ago, it had a wood deck in the back yard. The deck wasn’t in great shape, and we knew it would need some work in the near future.

Well, the future is here. And instead of “repairing” the deck, we decided to remove it and start over from scratch.

Our plan is to give a more landscaped, yet still natural, look to the back of our house.

So after much sweat and hard work on the part of the boys in our house, the deck is gone.

And anytime you remove something from a house, especially one as old as its owners, you never know what’s waiting for you behind or underneath.

What did we find? Well, besides a little rot on the house, we found a concrete slab. About 4’ x 3’ and about 4” thick. I suggested we pay the “trash takers” who will come haul away our wood to demolish the slab and take it away. But Dave was determined to keep this project as low cost as possible.

So now we're ready for the trash-takers.

And we have our patio stones for the re-design.

But first we need a few trees removed. And we can’t do that on our own. Our trees are so tall you can’t see the tops of some of them. Like 80 – 90 feet tall.

So that’s the next step. Stay tuned for our progress....

Writer's Traffic Jam

I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been having a bit of writer’s traffic jam.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to say. In fact, I have started several drafts with updates of what’s going on in hour house, thoughts on parenting and letting go, and so on. But the thoughts, along with the activities in our house, have been overwhelming. There has been much reflection over the last few weeks and much melancholy. And there have been many activities and a house full of guests. I simply haven’t had the space to collect my thoughts into written word.

But I do want to acknowledge that we have graduated our eldest.



We celebrated all weekend with grandparents in town.

And I must add the classic quote she spoke to the principal as she received her diploma.

“I love the red scarf, Mr. T….” I don’t know what sort of one-liners he got from the 350+ grads that day, but that has to be a classic.

Later that night as we feasted in celebration, Dave gave a little speech of how proud we are of our little girl.


She has taught us so much about parenting, loving and life in general. We are humbled to be her parents and honored that our title remains no matter how old or independent she becomes.

Now it is summer. No normal schedule. Maybe I’ll find time to write. But today the pool is our priority…