This could take a while.....

WARNING!!!

I'm going to take a page out of Katie's book and start out with a warning.... This may take a while, so if you don't have some serious time to devote to this blog, you may want to put it off until you do. I can go on for hours when I have nothing to say, but I have PLENTY to talk about tonight, so go get a nice beverage of your choice, a comfortable chair, and kick back, because here I go.....

I never reported on our Easter "festivities" and I'd like to chime in with that. A couple of months ago April called to see if she and Chris could come to our house for Easter. Of course the answer was a resounding YES!!! But, in the ensuing weeks, Chris wasn't able to get off from work and April had something important come up with her family, so they had to cancel. That was OK, we learned a long time ago to roll with life. But, in the meantime I had talked with my friend, Malinda, and told her Chris and April would be here for Easter and if she'd like to come up and spend the day with us she was more than welcome. Well, once Chris and April's plans fell through, I forgot all about poor Malinda. On Good Friday she called and asked if she was still invited. I told her that everything had changed but she was still more than welcome to come and spend the day with us. Her children weren't able to come home from school for the Holiday and she was going to be all alone anyway. I did, however warn her that I wasn't planning a big, festive, Holiday Dinner, since I thought it would just be Steve and me. As a matter of fact, on Friday I had absolutely NO IDEA what we were going to have for our Easter Dinner. Long story short, we wound up with the traditional "Easter Hamburgers" on the grill. All in all it was a very laid back afternoon with good food and good friends. Isn't that really what the holiday is all about???

Then, on Monday of last week I was out in the front yard with Dixie when I noticed that she had gone into the edge of the woods. This was unusual because we have an electric fence that should prevent her from making it to the woods. I went around to the back of the house to the control box and found that the fence was completely dead. I checked the circuit breaker box and couldn't find one that was tripped, so I had done as much as I knew and had to turn it over to the "expert", Steve. When he got home from work that night he checked the circuit breaker box as well and declared that the outdoor outlet should be connected to a GFI outlet in the house. We went all through the house and checked all the GFI outlets and couldn't find one that was tripped. The next day I went through all these steps again and still found NOTHING. When Steve got home on Tuesday, he ran an extension cord out the window to make the fence work again and then I could at least let the dog out by herself. We decided that the outside outlet must be defective and Steve would have to replace it on Saturday.

THEN IT HAPPENED......

On Thursday I went out to the freezer in the garage to choose something for dinner. I opened the door and water gushed out all over my feet. I realized the light was not on (and it should have been) and I had to take the final step and poke some meat. Sure enough, it was thawed and warm!!! I had checked the GFI outlet in the garage previously and it wasn't tripped. Now i was really stumped. What I didn't know was that there are TWO GFI outlets in the garage.....the one I checked next to the freezer and one directly BEHIND the freezer. Sure enough, the one behind the freezer had tripped and we lost EVERYTHING in our freezer: Steaks, Pork Chops, Chicken, Vegetables, Frozen Bread Dough.....EVERYTHING WAS GONE!!!!

Oh well, at least we solved the problem with the outlet and the dog fence without Steve making unnecessary repairs!! On the down side we lost about $300 worth of food!!!!!

Now on to the BIG NEWS:

According to "Mine Cap-i-tan" (aka Steve), our new deck is OFFICIALLY COMPLETED!!!! There are still a few minor cosmetic items left to be done, but overall, the deck is finished. This is EVERYONE's official invitation to come and spend some time relaxing with us on our newest outdoor space. We spent most of Saturday finishing up the last few items, namely the handrails on the stairs, and placing all the furniture strategically in our new space. Then we had to go out and get a small table and chairs for our smaller deck. We planned on having some folks from Steve's office over for a BBQ last night, but there was a miscommunication on date and time, so we just had a nice dry run by ourselves. I used the small candle holders we bought for Katie's wedding to give us some light and atmosphere. I put some small landscaping pebbles into them and then used tea light candles. I think they turned out pretty nice! We are looking forward to many many happy hours on our new deck. Here are some pictures........

The new stairway by candle light:

Candles all around the deck:

Lovely fire in the fire pit:

My newly repurposed candle holders:

Steve on the phone reporting to Bill that "The Deck Is Done!!!"......

This afternoon we did a little landscaping next to the deck. We put in about 20 blue rug juniper plants on the hillside by the deck. We planted these low-growing plants around our mailbox in Nashville and were pleased with how well they filled in the area. I expect it will take a couple of years before these little plants completely fill in the area, but at least it's a start!

Here's our little landscaping project:



And last but not least..........

Our new Bistro Table set:




Ok, now it's time to stand up and get your circulation going again. I'm sorry I took so long. I promise to blog again soon so I'm not so windy next time.....maybe ;)

OFFICIAL INVITATION TO ONE AND ALL:

THE DECK IS OPEN

AND WE'RE WAITING FOR VISITORS!!!!!

Love to all.....

Ready for a chuckle?

I finally have something entertaining to blog about. I hope everyone has as much fun with this story as I have...

On Saturday Steve went for a motorcycle ride with some guys he's met here. That left me to find my own fun for the day. I decided to work in the yard for a while. When I was putting the tools away I found a box I had forgotten about. Steve's parents gave us a beautiful statue for our garden at Christmas. I decided to wait until nicer weather to put it outside. Saturday seemed like just the right time to install my new statue. She's a beautiful angel with a bird in her hand. Here are a couple of pictures...

Anyway, I finished up and went inside to clean up. Steve came home and we went out to dinner and had a nice evening. When we got home from dinner I showed him the angel in the front yard. Luckily he approved of my placement. ;)

It had gotten dark outside by the time we got home from dinner. When we went inside, Dixie needed to be let out since she'd been in her kennel for a while. I was being a bit lazy and just let her out the back door instead of walking to the front door as I usually do.

Dixie was outside doing whatever it is she does, when I heard her barking almost hysterically. I was afraid someone was trying to come to the front door or she had found some wild creature in our yard. I ran to the front door and turned on the flood lights, only to find Dixie in a "Mexican Standoff" with our new garden angel!!! She was barking her head off and growling at the statue!!! Obviously I forgot to get Dixie's approval on the placement of the new addition to the front yard!!! I think it startled her in the dark!

Anyway, they have since become friends....or at least Dixie has learned to tolerate the new arrival!!

*Editorial Note: I was probably horribly Politically Incorrect in my above terminology, but some how "Hispanic-American Stand-off" just doesn't roll off the tongue in the same manner......

Thanks for understanding!!

Love to all.....