Brrr...it's cold again!
We're back to our winter jackets. The last few Mothers' Days we've been able to go out for walks. Not this year. Still, it was a nice and laid back weekend. At least Saturday wasn't cold!
Saturday was Gymkhana followed by an awesome brunch at Square Cafe and some time at the garden plot. I worked on the gate door frame. Earlier in the week, Mike, a co-worker dropped off some tools and even helped me with digging 2 post holes! I was really impressed, he had 2 2' holes dug up within 10 minutes total. I told him I didn't need his post hole digger anymore but would hold on to the post hole shovel and tamp.
I purchased as many as I could load into my Jeep, used 2"x4"s for the gate frame, the baseboards of the fence and probably some trellises (how the heck do you pluralize that?).
We stopped by a local hardware store for some hardware. Jana picked up a 5' lawn light reflector, which she mostly refers to as her "bug finder" she's also referred to it as her scepter or wand. We went up and down the nail and screws section as I mumbled about finding some nail staples, I remember my dad using these when he built an awesome rabbit cage for me (I was 5!). I refuse to buy a staple gun just to attached my fence netting to boards. Jana was able to preoccupy herself with attaching and taking apart 4" screws, washers and bolts.
As usual, Jana spent the first 1hr at the garden sitting in the Jeep snacking (she can be a light but continuous eater). That was fine by me, it took a bit for me to get the gate frame up and level. She was ready to come out as I was ready to attach some 1"x2" extenders to the frame. At that point, a random mom and her small son arrived on one of these..
An Xtracycle or SUV type bicycle.
I was intrigued and was certainly curious about the bike. They weren't plot owners, nor were they on the waiting list. They were just random public who decided to nose around. (One reason many plot owners build fences and add padlocks to their plots.)
Jana was excited to see another young child around (none showed up on Saturday!). The woman had offered to come by to watch Jana in the future so I can finish building stuff. I didn't respond, I wanted mull it over. And now, I'm sure that I don't want to come to the garden and let someone else watch Jana (I have some issues with this particular stranger that I'll hold off for now), but I prefer that Jana stay with me or play with her friends. Or rather, the other children I prefer to be her playmates. My dad had me around him when I was small and I remember very distinctly he'd bark at me for being fidgety or if I got into something that he had to undo, he'd holler, "Stop giving me more work." But I do remember little things like, nail staples, how to pick lumber, measuring and cutting, cleaning tools, a ton of stuff that I'm using today! The difference between then and today is that I let things take 2-3 times longer because I have Jana around. I let her run the power drill (as a screwdriver) to help me and give her the measuring tape to make random measurements. She's markered my steel tape measure, that's fine. No thank you, Mrs. Stranger, as long as Jana is involved with and is enjoying herself at our plot, she will not have a babysitter.
Come Sunday, the weather started to turn cold and rainy. We stayed in for the most part and I finally put up the first of 2 light-filtering blinds in Jana's room. Jana, once again got involved. As I was standing on a step-stool trying to figure out the hardware that came with the blinds and mark where to drill holes, I asked Jana to "hand me the instructions." And she did! I've never asked her that before nor did I ever explain what they are to her. How did she know what the instructions were? As it came time to put in the last screw, my arm actually got tired from handling the cordless drill so I had Michael finish it. Who happily did and then asked me why I wasn't using the corded and lighter one? Doh.
Lunch was at Yokoso for hibachi and sushi. We picked up tiramisu to-go from Omaha Steaks next door and then a mini shopping spree at Macy's.
Photos to be uploaded
Saturday was Gymkhana followed by an awesome brunch at Square Cafe and some time at the garden plot. I worked on the gate door frame. Earlier in the week, Mike, a co-worker dropped off some tools and even helped me with digging 2 post holes! I was really impressed, he had 2 2' holes dug up within 10 minutes total. I told him I didn't need his post hole digger anymore but would hold on to the post hole shovel and tamp.
I purchased as many as I could load into my Jeep, used 2"x4"s for the gate frame, the baseboards of the fence and probably some trellises (how the heck do you pluralize that?).
We stopped by a local hardware store for some hardware. Jana picked up a 5' lawn light reflector, which she mostly refers to as her "bug finder" she's also referred to it as her scepter or wand. We went up and down the nail and screws section as I mumbled about finding some nail staples, I remember my dad using these when he built an awesome rabbit cage for me (I was 5!). I refuse to buy a staple gun just to attached my fence netting to boards. Jana was able to preoccupy herself with attaching and taking apart 4" screws, washers and bolts.
As usual, Jana spent the first 1hr at the garden sitting in the Jeep snacking (she can be a light but continuous eater). That was fine by me, it took a bit for me to get the gate frame up and level. She was ready to come out as I was ready to attach some 1"x2" extenders to the frame. At that point, a random mom and her small son arrived on one of these..
An Xtracycle or SUV type bicycle.
I was intrigued and was certainly curious about the bike. They weren't plot owners, nor were they on the waiting list. They were just random public who decided to nose around. (One reason many plot owners build fences and add padlocks to their plots.)
Jana was excited to see another young child around (none showed up on Saturday!). The woman had offered to come by to watch Jana in the future so I can finish building stuff. I didn't respond, I wanted mull it over. And now, I'm sure that I don't want to come to the garden and let someone else watch Jana (I have some issues with this particular stranger that I'll hold off for now), but I prefer that Jana stay with me or play with her friends. Or rather, the other children I prefer to be her playmates. My dad had me around him when I was small and I remember very distinctly he'd bark at me for being fidgety or if I got into something that he had to undo, he'd holler, "Stop giving me more work." But I do remember little things like, nail staples, how to pick lumber, measuring and cutting, cleaning tools, a ton of stuff that I'm using today! The difference between then and today is that I let things take 2-3 times longer because I have Jana around. I let her run the power drill (as a screwdriver) to help me and give her the measuring tape to make random measurements. She's markered my steel tape measure, that's fine. No thank you, Mrs. Stranger, as long as Jana is involved with and is enjoying herself at our plot, she will not have a babysitter.
Come Sunday, the weather started to turn cold and rainy. We stayed in for the most part and I finally put up the first of 2 light-filtering blinds in Jana's room. Jana, once again got involved. As I was standing on a step-stool trying to figure out the hardware that came with the blinds and mark where to drill holes, I asked Jana to "hand me the instructions." And she did! I've never asked her that before nor did I ever explain what they are to her. How did she know what the instructions were? As it came time to put in the last screw, my arm actually got tired from handling the cordless drill so I had Michael finish it. Who happily did and then asked me why I wasn't using the corded and lighter one? Doh.
Lunch was at Yokoso for hibachi and sushi. We picked up tiramisu to-go from Omaha Steaks next door and then a mini shopping spree at Macy's.
Photos to be uploaded