My dad is working on the garden. He's been growing multiple plants for a few months and now he's finally able to put them into planters or the ground. I know we have tomatoes on the side of the house, and behind the shed he has lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, and--most exciting--two raspberry bushes. They're basically just two sticks in the ground at ( Read more... )

We've had this guy, an acquaintance of my boss, who has come in and borrowed a room recently to get some work done. He's not a resident of this area--he's had sort of an itinerant work schedule, you could say--but his mom is here, and elderly, and has had some health issues, so he came here to help out with her and her needs. He was in using a room ( Read more... )

Life lately seems like a fever dream. Where did the month of April go? That's why it's hard to believe I actually took a day off of work and just got to do whatever ( Read more... )

I've been waiting for the right combination of things--weather, time, and sprouting of plants--to head over to the arboretum. I've wanted to do this for five years, get over there while the wildflowers are in bloom. I figured I'd try it on a Monday since I have a little bit of time to kill before band. I hadn't been able to go during winter/before ( Read more... )

One of the reasons I love spring is how everything comes alive. There are things you can only see now for a few weeks before they disappear until the following year. Tulips, lilacs, flowering trees, all are ephemeral and lovely and make things cheerier. I pass several versions of them on my commute, but my schedule and the weather haven't ( Read more... )

In today's episode of This Old House, I finished taping off what I could of the kitchen cabinets. Dad did have me tape the sides of the kitchen window, as best I could, to try not to get the base wall color onto the woodwork if possible. He knew the top of the window, with minimal clearance (under a centimeter), wasn't worth taping aside from the ( Read more... )

A few things happened at home last week ( Read more... )

It's been a few weeks since we bought flowers. Only the front flowerbed really got planted, and that was two weeks ago; with my parents gone last week, nothing happened then. Today, despite the threat of storms, dad and I decided to get out there. He lasted maybe two hours, but I stuck around for a third, only stopping once I started hearing ( Read more... )

Dad and I had gone last week to pick up flowers, but we never got them planted. We thought about doing yard work yesterday but ended up…not. (I think he spent a fair amount of yesterday on the couch.) Today, I had inside-the-house things to do in the morning, but in the afternoon, I felt like digging some dirt ( Read more... )

It's been a few weeks since I really worked in the yard. Fourth of July weekend was one to decompress, and last weekend was spent doing inside chores. This weekend, it's supposed to rain tomorrow, but today was lovely, so what the heck. I got out there maybe 10:30, 10:45, but wasn't out there long before the phone rang. It was grandma, so we ( Read more... )