Don's Birthday

Don aged up last month. We kept it pretty low key. Rebekah decorated the cake and since the garage was a big ticket item I went small with the gift. But what follows is the celebration.

Yes, sometimes I have to force things. Sigh.  

Rebekah explaining her decorating choices.

The gift:

Another forced picture:

Ironically, this one he posed for:

Backyard Views

I spend much time in the back yard - as weather permits of course. Sometimes it's too cold, sometimes it's too hot. But spring and fall the weather is nice enough to get a plethora of pictures. Truly, the amount is unneeded, and yet, here was are. 

I've also been playing around with the camera trying to figure out how to get a better picture. Not sure I notice much difference. But what follows are the pictures from this month. 

Front Yard Upgrades

I'm so far behind in my blog efforts that some pictures get put together. I believe most of this was April though. 

We bought a tree. It was a fruitless Snow White Crabapple tree. However, when it came, half the tree was missing. I was somewhat horrified and pulled Don out of his office. 

 

The decision was made not to plant the tree. And so it remained bare. 

We eventually went back to the nursery and checked out what trees they had on hand. I didn't like any of them, mostly based on the quality of said trees. We were about to look elsewhere when Don pointed out this one and I like it. We asked an employee about the tree and she took us to them. 

They have fruit but the info says they don't drop but rather attract birds. I like birds. And we get green leaves which turn to maroon in the summer and then change again in the fall. All good things. And white flowers. Good as well. However, it does cost more. Ah well. 

I walked around the tree so I could see it at every angle to make sure the entire tree was present. 

We planted on Earth Day. Very fitting. 

Other things. We purchased some Bee solar lights. They didn't work where I originally imagined them, so for right now they are swarming the bottom of our tree. 

I decided to give extra time, love, and water to our Japanese ground cover. They seem to be responding well. 

And finally, since I'm not gardening this year I decided to make use of some of the garden things we bought in Columbus. From bottom to top its flowers, lavender, strawberries, flowers, strawberries, and basil with flowers on the side. 

Garage Upgrade

The decision was made to tackle all things garage this year. The dry wall was to be prepped for paint and the floor was to be sealed. 

I took before pictures of the walls, mainly to remember where everything was and what we liked and did not like. 

 

The dry wall took a few days, but it looks great, although to be honest it's somewhat difficult to make that assumption from the pictures. 

The next project was the garage floor. When we purchased the house the garage floor had some cracks. The builders chose to fix the cracks by applying an inch thick covering, however that started cracking a few years in. Eventually the heavy electric car increase the cracks to chips and the decision was made to do it correctly. 

The first step, pre-sealed. 

The final product. 

We have been slowly putting things back into the garage, however we haven't put anything on the walls yet. I think Don still hopes we can paint, although by we I believe he means someone else.... 

Conference and Easter

April was quite a month for me. I wasn't sure if I was going to be up to making the traditional conference sweet rolls, but I had some help from the roomies and behold: 

It does bring them to the table. 

Easter gifts were another one I needed help with. Don did most of the shopping; I was able to purchase the markers Rebekah wanted online. 

Rebekah loved the bunny. 

The Week of Rain

So the glen has been very low. They actually drilled another well to raise the level. It's been on for months. Very slow. Then God got involved. 

It went from low, to medium, to full in less than a week. 

Far out view.

A little more rain.... 

This was the - before the rain started and after the last rain storm of the week - comparison picture. 

Full view. 

Pretty amazing for less than a week.