Little Projects

I haven't done a real projects update in a couple of months. The main reason is that I haven't made a lot of progress on anything big and with all the rain we've been having it really feels like I haven't done anything. However, when I think about it, there are many one day projects I've done that are still fairly significant. So this post is going to be a quick catchup and then I'm going to try to be better about posting even the little things as they happen. In addition to the things below, I've done some work on the headboard but I'm going to save that post for another day because E just got home from work .

Sidewalk - I mentioned some work I needed to do on the sidewalks in front. I got some quick setting concrete designed for patching that came in its own little bucket so all I had to do was add some water. It was actually pretty easy and despite the bicycle marks turned out pretty well I think.

Garage - Another rainy day project was organizing the garage. Since I started woodworking, I've been amassing more and more tools and wood so every now and then I have to take a step back and reorganize. This time, I mainly focused on wood storage. I reorganized my small scraps into various nooks like between studs and I used the legs from an old table to make a rack for long boards. I just moved the existing bolts from the leg corners to the sides and ran them through the studs.

I also took the opportunity to find a display shelf for some old tools I got from my grandfather. They were his dad's or maybe even his grandfather's. I just wanted to put them out because they are pretty cool. The picture shows the display with an old toolbox, miter jig, hand drill, and hand plane.

Yard Work - A couple weekends ago, we had a dry day that I spent cleaning up the trees around the house. Our oak tree got its yearly trim and I spent a significant amount of time cleaning out the trees that overhang our fence behind the garage from my neighbors' yard. I mainly did this because it just looked bad but there were also some limbs toughing the roof of the garage and there were vines that had taken over and were not only growing in the trees but also the roots are invading my yard. I'm hoping that pulling up some of the roots and providing more sunlight will help the grass grow back there. The pictures below give you a taste of how much I cut out. It was not my favorite task and I actually took a couple more days cutting it up to take down to the street.

Yard Work

Okay, so yard work is not particularly exciting but since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I would let you know I haven't been completely idle. E and I spent about half the day today doing yard work in the front. She weeded the flower bed and cut the plants back and I pruned crepe myrtles, bushes, and trees. It was a long day and we filled up 2 trash cans and 4 very large trash bags. Tomorrow, we need to do more of the same in the back yard and then actually mow.

If you've been to our house recently, you know that our plants in the front were all starting to merge into some kind of mutant, house eating, multicolored (shades of green) beast. Today, we tamed that beast!!! You'll definitely see the difference when you come to see us! Speaking of mutants, E found a frog buried under some plants. It had taken on the color of the dirt and she swears that it has always lived in that one spot and just eaten bugs that come by. She said that it seemed to have really weak legs and couldn't even jump. Crazy! (I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I'm referring to the frog or Elizabeth.)