I heart Pickles

There isn't a better distraction from life than a new pet in the home. While I was travelling, hubby needed a fill-in partner-in-crime, so we went on a hunt for a new roommate. When I found 'Pickles' on the PAWS website, I immediately knew she'd fit in at our house. She's an 8-year old lady that loves lying in the sun and general lallygagging. She has a keen eye for rubber bands and doors open to the outside. She's a very curious thing and talks a lot. Sometimes I think she sounds like a Gremlin.

Hubby and I have grown pretty attached, even though this sassy lady has a habit of waking us from sound sleep at 1am or 2am or 3am. I think that he mostly loves the daily distraction from studying for his architecture exams. As you can see, she really isn't helping much!

Dirt Dump

This is a first attempt at posting video - and I'm not sure how it'll turn out.

A big truck brought us a giant load of dirt from Pacific Topsoil. We only needed 3 yards but we ended up with 6. We'll use it all....eventually.

The best part of the video is hubby giggling about the dump. Evidently he tried to plan where the dirt was supposed to fall. Putting down boards to guide the delivery folks. The lesson of this story: 6 yards of dirt, dumped all at once, doesn't stay confined in the place you hope it will.

Not Your Granny's Garden Boxes

My friend Sara thinks that raised beds look like they belong in your Grandma's yard.

She might be right. But I'd like to think that my garden beds are cool. Cool, like I'm an urban farmer and this is how we get our locally grown, sustainable veggies. In reality though, this is the first time I've ever tried to grow anything in a garden. That is, if you don't count the failed attempt at cucumbers last year (and all the herbs I've killed on my condo balcony). But Seriously, what's the use of a huge yard and great summer weather, if you don't at least try to grow stuff. Besides, everyone else is doing it, right?!

The best part of this entire experiment is that hubby got to put his building and design skills to good use. He came up with the plan and placement for the boxes and had them completed by the time I came home from a business trip.

A lot of tools were purchased for this project. I'm starting to see a pattern here. Every time a project gets close to completion, hubby says, "Um, I think I'm going to need a stop at the hardware store for a tool to finish this project."

He's pretty clever that hubby of mine!

Meeting of the Minds

He called it a meeting of the minds.

Here's what hubby emailed the family:

Chips and salsa. Check

Margaritas. Check

A patio in the sun. Check

Figuring out the list of projects, cost, and timeline. Check

Enjoying every second of it with my wife....priceless!

It felt great to be home in the Seattle sun planning a garden and all the ways we're gonna make our yard rock this summer!