Bench Restoration

These are the benches my dad made for me out of recycled Iowa barn wood.
The wetness of the mulch along with the carelessness of the foundation crew took a toll on the bench.

This is a before shot of the Bench and Chair after 10 yrs of outdoor use.

So we went to Home Depot to pick out some wood, since Home Depot doesn't sell recycled barn board, Doug chose cedar.  He is shown here going through the stock pile.

 Checking for straight boards....we always have to go through quite a few before it is Doug worthy!

This is an after photo of the benches, comparing the old version with the new version.
He still needs to make the roof tops, but should have them completed in the near future.

Fabulous job honey! 

Concrete Flag Restoration

The foundation repair guys broke the concrete flag that Melvin & Lyla made us.

We think they must have stepped on it while they were working.

This is what the damaged concrete flag before Doug repaired it with gorilla glue.

This is the after photo, with the the newly updated paint job too.

Doug wrapped the paint job around the sides of the concrete landscaping edging,

as a piece got broken off and he figured it would be less noticeable.

Perfectly restored - no crack visible!

Saturday in the back yard

Saturday, April 14th.

We started the day early by adding an additional irrigation line from the sprinker
located at the corner of the fence to the flower bed by the little girl statue.

This sprinker will have a tiny soaker hose that runs in the flower bed
every time that sprinkler zone runs.

The two Little Gem Magnolia trees were planted.

The 4 juniper plants located at the area by the deep end of the pool were removed.
That job went way easier than we thought it would ~ saving us $588.21
(estimate from Complete Tree Service to plant 2 trees, remove the junipers and trim the pear tree)

This was followed by but putting down the 20 yr. weed barrier and adding 60 bags

of cypress mulch.  Shown are 40 bags of mulch, eventually we had to go back for 20

more to complete this project.  We always underestimate how much mulch is needed!

We finished the day doing the yard (mowing & edging)

Now to trim the rest of the plants!
That will have to wait another weekend.
We are supposed to get rain on Sunday so it will be a day of some much needed rest
to recover from all the aches and pains we are sure to be feeling tomorrow!

New A/C

We have been counting the days until we replaced our downstairs air conditioner unit. The air conditioner has had a slow leak, and was needing freon periodically to keep up with the Texas heat.  It typically went out around the 4th of July....so with the upcoming wedding, we didn't want to experience an air conditioner emergency, so we have been budgeting for a replacement unit.

The new air conditioner - Trane 4 ton - 13 Seer - R410A condenser & evaporator.

Richard McKay @ Climate Systems Service rocks!!

Both air conditioners should be working properly when everyone visits.
The smaller unit (upstairs) was replaced in June 2006.
The larger (downstairs) unit was replaced April 2012.

Cool air for everyone!!!

Easter Weekend

Saturday morning, we spent the morning discussing some upcoming projects and came up with a game plan to get it all done. Our first errand was to go to several nurseries and look for a couple of things we haven't been able to find (20 yr weed barrier, 2 decent magnolia trees and some compact rose bushes). First on our agenda was Strong's Nursery, then Sandy Lake Nursery, Calloways Nursery (Lewisville location), then Huggins Nursery in Flower Mound, Calloways Nursery (Flower Mound location) and then our final stop was Home Depot in The Colony.   

We were successful in finding two (2) Little Gem Southern Magnolia trees at Calloways in Flower Mound. These magnolia tress will replace our palm trees we lost last winter. The trees were delivered Monday morning around 10am.

We found the 20 yr weed barrier at Home Depot in The Colony.  No weeds grow through this stuff.  We had put some down behind the pool 13 yrs ago and it comes up fine. We did not have enough of it last time, so we resorted to some sort of plastic backed barrier which has disintegrated into a million pieces.

It was then home for some lunch and hydration, before heading outdoors for some sun and yardwork. We started by removing the pea rock from around the air conditioners. A new air conditioner will be installed on Monday morning so we needed to get the pea rock out from around the current air conditioners to make way for a new / larger concrete pad.  Below is a photo of the air conditioner we are replacing and the area of rock that was hauled out to make room for the new bigger concrete pad.

After that was finished, we headed to the back yard to start raking up what is left of the mulch in the area behind the pool. Then we pulled up all the weed barrier, leveled out the low spots and decided where we will plant our new trees.

Sunday morning, Easter morning church services. It started to rain at the end of church services so the Easter egg hunt was called off. So we picked up our Easter lily we purchased in memory of those we've loved and lost: Bob Kennedy and all of our grandparents. 

Then it was home to ham sandwiches and chips and since it was raining all day, we tackled those little projects in the house: EX. caulk the shower, fix the bread box, paint touch-up; but it also included some fun projects - making the inserts for the (wedding) table number frames.  My cricut sure has been getting a lot of use lately!!
The day was finished with some relaxation. A few phone calls from our children. Doug made a pork loin with plum chipotle sauce. Paired with a baked potato and wine. What a way to spend the final hours of our weekend!! Hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter with your family!

Tornados in Dallas area

Multiple tornadoes touched down near Dallas and Fort Worth on Apr. 3, crushing homes and sending thousands of residents running for cover, including me!  I cleaned out my crawl space, had all my meds, purse and phone ready to go in at a moments notice. Luckily the closest tornado to us was at Trinity Mills and the Dallas North Tollway (only about 7 miles away).  Close enough for me!

A "tornado emergency" has been declared in Texas after two twisters caused mayhem in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.   The United States National Weather Service confirmed that two separate "supercells" had formed on Tuesday afternoon.  The Dallas-Fort Worth international airport was closed as the storms swept into the region and all flights were grounded. The National Weather Service meteorologist Amber Elliott said there were "reports of wall clouds and funnel clouds all over the area. It's an extremely dangerous situation."
I asked Doug last night "So you are taking my truck to work tomorrow".  He smiled and said yes.  But he didn't and now he will regret that decision as he called from work to say his shiny red car received golf ball size hail.  So guess we'll be filing a car insurance claim in the near future. But Paintless Dent Repair has come along way and it will be back to being smooth and shiny again!

This is a link to a photo on WFAA of car damage at the Chase building located at Beltline & Hwy114 in Irving, not far from Doug's office at all.   Yikes, I hope his car does not come home looking like that!

Photos - coming soon!

Church Work Day

Saturday, March 31 - Doug and I worked at the church most of the day. It was a day to celebrate the life and memory of two members of our church that passed away, this time last year (Al Gober and Geneva Hearon). We were among about 24 people that used their God given talents to work around the church and get it polished and ready to celebrate Palm Sunday April 1 and then Easter, April 8th. We met up at the church at 9am and then broke into several work groups. Most of the work was done at Trinity but two groups of people also did some minor repairs at two homes in The Colony.  Doug trimmed trees and plants most of the day. I polished the hand bells, cleaned walls in the bathroom / kitchen area; then finished my day outside, helping to haul yard waste to the dumpster.

A hot dog lunch was served. Following lunch there was a short ceremony for the blessing of two trees planted in memory of both Al Gober and Geneva Hearon. At the end of the ceremony The Colony American Legion did a special flag ceremony for the Gober family to honor Al's service in the Air Force. Below are photos of Al & Lydia Gober and Nancy & Geneva Hearon.

 You may all remember Al & Lydia Gober, as they were the people that set up the food/drink for Jill's high school graduation.