The Deck is DONE!!!

We finished the deck this weekend!!! Isn't it beautiful!?! As you can see there is PLENTY of room for our table and chairs and BBQ which is GREAT!!!

Thank you to Brian and Charlie for giving Earl and I, an entire Friday - our lunch, dinner and dessert just isn't enough to repay you for your time and energy to help us get this deck finished.

We were able to get the top of the deck finished Friday, and the top step which is even with the top of the deck on Saturday, and on Sunday (today) we were able to get the lower step finished. This coming up weekend we will be putting on the final stain over deck and then it will be VERY finished!

Yard Progress - Back

This weekend we have been able to really get moving on our NEW much LARGER DECK! We are really excited! We have been sanding and staining our deck boards and we were able to get the joists set in place yesterday.

Earl cutting spacer blocks

Porter thinking it was a fine idea to sit under the chop saw while wood is being cut...you can see all of the saw-dust on his body...He wouldn't move!

The joists are in! The new deck is really beginning to look like a deck! Still a bunch to do...there will be a step all the way around the deck - between the top set which will be level with the deck surface and the lower step the deck will extend out to the grass...

Here is a panorama view of our backyard with all of our progress...the veggie garden to the left, the deck and our staining project and then on over to the shed...We've been busy and we only hope the weather holds so we can finish sanding and staining the rest of the deck boards!

Yard Progress - Fruits and Veggies

I had this whole series planned...anyway the blog wasn't uploading photos like I would like so the series begins again today...

A few of our larger pumpkins...I think we have 6 or so pumpkins, all sizes I am hoping for more...There are three in this picture and a possible four with a flower still attached.

Crazy orange colored "cherry-sized" tomatoes...There are a million! Okay maybe not a million but there are a lot! We have given a bunch away so far this Summer.

A cute zucchini...they are a stripped variety. We have given a bunch away already this Summer as well.

Banana Peppers! I love it! We are getting peppers on our Jalapenos plants! We'll be making salsa in no time!

Grandma Bernie's apples are looking good! We only have a few apples this year between both of our trees...thanks to Porter for tearing branches off of the trees and thanks to Dawn for trimming the flowering areas of the branch off to clean up the limbs a bit...Oops!

We had our first onion this weekend for Philly Cheese-steak Sandwiches - YUMMY sweet onion!

Yard Progress - Front

Just a few pictures from the font yard...

Periwinkle Cosmo...

Daisy family flower that I don't remember the name of...

These are all volunteer Wave Petunias...They have taken over the rocks in this flower bed...I am not complaining but I cannot get Waves to grow so nice usually but apparently when you just let them go and show up wherever they want to, it is just perfect! Oh there is a toad or frog (not sure which) that lives in cover of the Waves, I have only seen it once...maybe tomorrow..?

Happy Birthday Porter!

Yesterday was Porter's First Birthday! He was a good boy and played hard. We went to PetSmart to pick out a new toy - he chose the Duck and took it up to the counter for us. Porter also got a wooden stake for his birthday from Earl. As you can see, he loves them both!

The night prior to his birthday Porter was an ornery boy...he just about didn't make it to his first birthday - He pulled out the weed preventer cloth under the gravel in the back yard, pulled out the wooden stake (the one he was given for his birthday), chewed up the BBQ cover, chewed up part of the hose, dug a hole through the gravel and weed preventer cloth, chewed the handle off of the spray nozzle (luckily we didn't like that one), and he clawed at the blinds (again)!

Flowers and New Camera...

As I said before...Photos of a few flowers that we planted this Summer...Oh and we had to get a new camera because the lens of our other decided to stop working so the camera would just freak out so that is the new camera part...

I think this is a Cosmo...I can't remember but they are tall and super cute and we have a few different colors...

Oooh I think these are super cute flowers as well but I do not remember the name of them for the life of me...I have a few different colors of these ones as well.

These are our window boxes...Wave Petunias and Ivy Geraniums

Oh and this last one is just the panorama function of the new camera...Earl is flying our RC plane, the camera caught the plane in motion...looked really neat!

I need to get a few posts of our veggie garden's yummy treats! We have plenty of zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes right now! The onions are ready but we're going to wait a bit longer to see if they get any larger and I think the potatoes are just about ready (I think) we just haven't seen them flower yet.