Holiday weekend
Jul. 7th, 2003 02:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jim_pThe long weekend was good for staying around the house and getting things done. One of these years I do want to get out some and see some fireworks and whatnot, but this year it was good to just stick close to home. Our house has suffered some neglect in recent years due to various family crises, so this is the year it gets some attention of its own...
Friday we had a friend come over and help us start laying out some patio block in the back yard. When it's all laid out we'll have an area for a chiminea (outdoor fireplace) and some plants, as well as another grassed-in area. We got about a third of it laid out before she lost steam and Tam had to take her home... then Tam came back and we went around and figured out what other things our back porch needed.
Saturday we did something we haven't done in years -- we went to our favorite pick-your-own farm and picked over twenty pounds of strawberries. We'll be back later in the year for blueberries too :) Right now the berries are in the freezer; eventually they'll turn into strawberry jam, which in turn will become holiday presents. It was hot and being out in the heat tired us out, so we napped and were lazy for most of the rest of the day.
Sunday was most productive. We made a run to Home Depot to pick up concrete mix and lumber and sand and incidentals so we could pour some footings and put up two additional posts that our rear deck desperately needed. Then, miracle of miracles, we actually mixed and poured the concrete the same day! Usually a shopping run takes it out of us, especially on a day like Sunday with the heat and the humidity and the extra idiocy of the folks who still didn't seem to be off of their holiday hangovers... it was a total madhouse in Home Depot and the employees were throwing merchandise this way and that just trying to keep up and it was loud and things were banging and clanging and we were both being sound-sensitive and and... the simplicity of mixing and pouring bags of concrete mix at home was almost zen-like by comparison :)
Friday we had a friend come over and help us start laying out some patio block in the back yard. When it's all laid out we'll have an area for a chiminea (outdoor fireplace) and some plants, as well as another grassed-in area. We got about a third of it laid out before she lost steam and Tam had to take her home... then Tam came back and we went around and figured out what other things our back porch needed.
Saturday we did something we haven't done in years -- we went to our favorite pick-your-own farm and picked over twenty pounds of strawberries. We'll be back later in the year for blueberries too :) Right now the berries are in the freezer; eventually they'll turn into strawberry jam, which in turn will become holiday presents. It was hot and being out in the heat tired us out, so we napped and were lazy for most of the rest of the day.
Sunday was most productive. We made a run to Home Depot to pick up concrete mix and lumber and sand and incidentals so we could pour some footings and put up two additional posts that our rear deck desperately needed. Then, miracle of miracles, we actually mixed and poured the concrete the same day! Usually a shopping run takes it out of us, especially on a day like Sunday with the heat and the humidity and the extra idiocy of the folks who still didn't seem to be off of their holiday hangovers... it was a total madhouse in Home Depot and the employees were throwing merchandise this way and that just trying to keep up and it was loud and things were banging and clanging and we were both being sound-sensitive and and... the simplicity of mixing and pouring bags of concrete mix at home was almost zen-like by comparison :)
