Termite Doomsday

Thursday, June 11 — It had been on the calendar for months... the week when everything would be perfect and we could tent the house. My folks took the kids for a long weekend (which included a trip to Alexander Springs); the animals were boarded; the medicines, food, and toiletries stowed in gas proof bags; and finally, Jimmy and I moved in with my grandparents.

It was hard to take poor Laika to be boarded, just days after she lost her brother and litter-mate, whom she had never been apart from for more than a few hours.

Saturday a.m. they called and told us we could come back in, so I had a day all to myself, to clean and clear my kitchen... special thanks to Graham Parsons and Paul Westerburg for some excellent tunes to clean by. I threw out a canister of 19-year-old cocoa!!! Whoa!!! Also threw out about a million expired vitamins and medicines....

Trimming the Pecan

A crew came out and trimmed the Pecan tree yesterday. They have been all through the neighborhood this month, trimming everything.

Some little pecans are starting to be seen....

The Pecan Tree in Spring

February

Early March

Late March

New Blue, Goodbye Beige

Today we started painting the house. Got a little rain, which slowed the process.

Jimmy raked and tore out the overgrown. Julian helped mulch the front planter, nearly unloading the truck single-handedly!

The Amaryllis Show

Photo by Julian.

Yard Work

Also hired a guy named Gil to do some trimming on the pine tree. It looks better but man is it dropping the sap! Don't stand still or you'll be combing it out of your hair!

He also helped us hang the staghorn which had been on the ground and had gotten the worst of the January freezes. Here's a little friend we found in there.

Thinning the Palms

I know I've said that Ricehouse runs on Starbucks, but sometimes Ricehouse gets a lot done by channelling the power of PMS! I tore the crap out of the palm trees, ferns, etc. the other day, revealing a green wall in desperate need of pressure washin'!

The Pecan Tree

September October

November
December

Merry Christmas 2008!

work stoppage issues

Things have slowed down here. We are all taking a breather while Joe is on vacation. Time to paint, clean, organize and de-dust (like Amelia Bedelia, I really don't agree that the verb meaning "to get rid of dust" should actually BE "dust").

Our beautiful orchid bloomed. This is the first time!

Friday Miscellany

The dumpster went bye-bye! Things are looking a little tidy-er.

Phase 2: Big Slices of Sky

The ruins of the bandroom.