Summer Projects

Summer in Idaho has been wonderful so far.  Idaho can get very hot during the summer.  I suppose those days are coming.  But for now, summer yard projects are a joy to indulge in.  Our two projects are the very ones I've been hoping for. At last Layne is on board with both.  He started our pergola/gazebo after spending days and nights planning it all out in his mind.  Chris and Jessica and kids came this past week for a couple of days and, with their help, the pergola posts went up and all the blocks in our yard hole got removed!  The kids found 6 snakes and 3 toads hidden in those blocks. Those discoveries kept them happily removing blocks, looking for further living treasures.  Family grunt work made quick work of it.  Both the blocks and the pergola posts were done by lunch.  We spent the rest of the day lounging and playing.

Here are our Gendreaus, plus grandson Vincent gathered for munchies.

It doesn't get completely dark here until after 10 PM.  I love that about summer.  The kids were playing frisbee until that time.  We enjoyed sitting outside, watching the sun set and the kids, running and jumping as if they hadn't spent the day lifting and carrying blocks.  Here they are, at 10 PM!

Here's the empty hole.  No more blocks.  Our plan is to fill it with dirt, make a berm and add some plants.  It should be pretty affordable and look nice too.  At least that's my plan.  Layne is good with it now too.  So there you go...a little idea suggested over time can take root!  The snakes and toads are now in the wood pile beyond.  I wonder how long they will stay there?!

The posts for the pergola are up.  Actually it is sort of a cross between a pergola and a gazebo.  Four posts--pergola; solid roof--gazebo.  I'm so excited for it to be finished!  Here you can see the posts for the pergola/gazebo to the left and a hot air balloon that landed in the field behind our house this morning.  

The Gendreau kids and Vincent are gone now, on their way to a Southern Utah vacation.  Things are back to normal.  Here's a shot of part of our summer yard with Layne in the background, mowing.  

Lately I have been feeling a little stressed over the many assignments and projects that loom before me.  I tend to put off the very things I think are most important to do.  It is easy to let the days slip by, with only routine things accomplished.  How do I discipline myself better, I wonder.  I've also been worried about family relationships.  I do my best to love family and serve them but I sometimes feel that I am failing at that.  This is a time of life when we are pretty much not necessary to the functioning of our family, yet my love and concern for them is as vital as ever.  It is a time of caring but no power.  I'm still trying to sort that all out, and adjust to it.

Fifty One Years Together

Layne and I have been married 51 years today!  Now that I am getting old, I have such a sense of time.  I see that time on earth really is rather short.  Or so it feels to me.  I can see the last 74 years of my life as clearly as if it all happened just a short time ago.  And so it is with my marriage.  I remember our first day and night together as if it just happened.  For me, marriage has become sweeter with the years.  I feel fortunate to have a good husband, who loves me and takes care of me.  It is good to be with a good man.

We gave our standby plane tickets to Audrey and Cliff this year.  Audrey has used them to visit us a couple of times, just as I'd hoped.  She came last weekend.  We had a lovely time with her, even though it was a busy time for us.  Audrey is crazy for zentangling.  She spends many of her free minutes at it.  It is quite a lovely art form that she has captured.  Here she is, "tangling" as we visited.

When we moved here, Audrey and Cliff talked us into taking their two cats.  Cherry and Tangie have been our yard buddies ever since.  They follow us around the yard, begging for pets and belly scratches.  Tangie is just a little overweight.  We call her "fatso" and "chub-ball" which she answers to as easily as "Tangie".  She is a long haired calico, who is troubled with matted hair.  Her back was full of mats while Audrey was here.  We decided to take her to a groomer to shave them off.  So, after Audrey left, I did.  The groomer not only took off the matts but shaved the whole kitty!  She looks so different!  More to the point, she looks quite a bit thinner.  Its interesting what a shave can do.  Take a look:

True to form, as soon as we got her home, she headed for the food dish.  But I must say that putting her through all of this has me feeling a bit more tender about her.  

Son Gerald has been talking about moving here from Taiwan for quite awhile.  It has been so long that we have almost given up hope that it would happen.  But during one of our recent phone conversations he asked us if Seth and Angelica could stay with us this coming school year and attend school here.  Wow.  Of course we agreed.  So the plans are moving along to confirm the move.  I visited their potential schools here and got some information about getting them registered.  So it looks like it is a pretty firm plan to have them stay.  That means that we will be in the parenting business once again.  That will be quite a change in lifestyle for us.  But I think it will be fun.  Granddaughter Allegra has agreed to stay with us during her time off from college, to help out.  So for the next few months we will have a household of family.  I think it will be fun to have family so near once again.  Each day I think about what I need to do to prepare.  By the end of July our adventure will begin.  Seth will begin 9th grade and Angelica will start 8th.

I have been bugging Layne for several years for a gazebo or pergola for our back yard.  He has been holding off because he doesn't think we would ever use it.  I'm thinking I would.  And so our little battle has gone on for several summers, with Layne holding out quite successfully.  But while Audrey was here, we visited Costco, where they had a gazebo/pergola structure on display for an affordable price that would just fit the flagstone area I had in mind.  Wow.  It was just too perfect.  It was as if it was meant to be in our yard.  That's just what I told Layne.  I took a picture of it and measured our flagstone deck and it was a perfect fit.  This time Layne went for it.  We bought it.  Of course we have to put it together.  Layne, my mechanical man, has hardly thought of anything other than how to assemble it.  He even dreams about it.  It seems I have created a monster project!  He's put it together in his mind many times.  So far that is as far as it has gone but I have every faith that he will figure it out and, together, we will get it assembled.  Then I've got to make sure that I spend plenty of time in it to justify all this mental and physical effort!  Here is the Costco picture I took to convince him of the many benefits.  I think we will love it!

Our yard is looking so lovely now.  It has been raining quite a bit so all the plants are exploding and showing off their best colors.  Layne has planted our vegetable garden.  A pheasant couple live right next to the garden, in the neighbor's tree.  The male comes out each day and prances about, likely evaluating the progress of the potential meals our garden could provide for him.  Here he is, sitting on the blocks in our yard that represent our other big yard project...filling in the big hole that was once a swimming pool.  

Layne, his brothers and dad used to hunt fellows like this.  His mouth still waters just a little bit when this guy wanders within view.