andrewandtracy.com

Brought to you by:

Geddy Lee of Rush, and…

multiple, delicious, frosty 12 oz. cans of Bud Light.

We’ve got a stretch of visitors swinging by over the next few weeks, so we’re under the gun to get some chores done around the joint. Since Tracy’s folks are already booked for visits on all of those weekends, we found ourselves on our own for once. And of course…

This weekend was Oregon’s first real heat wave of 2008. Record-breaking temps and awful humidity made the work just a tad more interesting.

Saturday took me to a Shriners’ event while Tracy slaved away on her project for the weekend: the garden.

Tracy cleared out an unfinished area of the back yard (previous owners kept their kids’ swing set on the wood-chipped area). Raking away wood chips led to a weed barrier cloth, which could be described as faulty at best).

A few bricks, some fresh soil and a few colorful flowers later…

add some bark on the top and VOILA!

While she was in gardening mode, Tracy restocked the wine barrels with some fresh ingredients. Here are a few more weekend accomplishments:

The front tree just off the driveway. (Ignore the neighbor’s boat in the background. He informed us today that it was only temporary. It’s already been more than a month, so we’ll just see.)

Front bush near the driveway and deck.

Smaller front tree just off the deck.

Another angle of the smaller front tree.

Larger front tree to the right of the front yard.

The result of Tracy’s hard work in the sun. I’m jealous because she will be golden brown in about 24 hours, whereas my Irish pasty skin would simply burst into flames if this happened to me.

While Tracy gardened away and Obama spoke to 75,000-strong at Portland’s downtown Waterfront Park:

I (once again) painted more trim. I feel it’s all I do anymore. There’s still more left, but the pile of unpainted trim is definitely reducing in size. Once this is done, if I ever paint more trim after that, it’ll be too soon. Now we have six days of extremely long (avg. 16 feet) pieces of baseboard and crown moulding sitting in the entry way, blocking the hallway. (I just stubbed my toe on it as I took a break writing this, which I probably deserved after warning Tracy the klutz not to run into it this week. Serves me right.)

My indoor painting station, out of the heat and sunlight until around 5:30 PM. (Check out the new height- and width-expandable sawhorses! No more sore backs!)

The outdoor drying station. The lone advantage of a hot day like today.

Wondering what the Geddy Lee reference was all about? While I work in the garage, I listen to Buzzsaw, Sirius Channel 19, which is heavier classic rock. Today I heard four songs by Rush introduced by awful classic rock DJ’s. When they weren’t playing Rush, the signal decided to cut out for extended amounts of time. To think I could have listened to six songs by Rush today is too much to handle.

After a couple Bud Lights, I’m reminded that it’s time to take the recycling back.

Our new toy, and we picked the right time to get it.

One last thing. Tracy wanted to show off what she believes is to be the largest dandelion in the neighborhood. This came with the house, and we are almost afraid to cut it down out of fear that it might eat us.

Coming soon: more trim in the living room, wainscoting in the bathroom, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at 21:38 and is filed under Home Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.