hasta la vista grass

Sod cutting was a success! now it's time to level that dry, dusty mess. gracie immediately found the hot, dry dirt to lie in.

good doggie. maybe I can get her to rake it nice and even!

Garden projects

We finished building the beds last weekend. Now we have to dig out the grass, level the spot, dig the corners into the yard, level the beds and get soil. then we can plant!

But behold. step 1 is done. See how enthused the dogs are?

The first weekend we only got one bed made b/c the lame ass home depot rental saw was so dull it burned all the edges of our boards. After nearly smoking out the neighborhood, we stopped using the rental saw, and borrowed one from our neighbors. We returned the home depot saw, got our money back, and used the neighbor's saw to cut the rest of the wood. Built one bed and called it good. During the week, our car died for a second time, and Dan pulled his back pushing the car out of the street. so we had to wait a few days for the back to heal, but this past weekend, we were able to finish up and now have 5 great beds for planting!

Constitutional Quiz

The 10th annual constitutional quiz on July 4th was quite the success. See for yourself.

Thursday night at the Red Hot

dogs were okay, not fab. and no dill relish-which is criminal in my book. but we did manage to enjoy ourselves.

IDAHO

We're off to Idaho for a few days of hot sunshine, R&R, and wedding celebrations. The first 2 weeks back at work after a month off has been brutal. Things should get back to normal with more posts next week.

Westward Ho

We've made it to Wyoming rather quickly, as we really want to get home. We should hopefully be home in a couple more days. In the meantime, we'll watch the final primary results and eat cowboy steak in Sheridan. We were a day late to Mitchell-Obama spoke there Sunday night. And we missed Hillary in SD too. Just one step behind them!

Here's some pics from the trip so far

Chicago skyline from Sunday morning on an empty Dan Ryan Expwy. We've never gotten through the city so quickly. I guess everyone was sleeping early Sunday morning.

Dan stocking up on supplies at our old neighborhood fave, Holy Land. After a night in Minneapolis with our dear friends Chank and Heidi, we hit the road well stocked from Holy Land

Scenic Southwestern MN

Obama Headquarters in Mitchell, SD, Monday night before the primary

Corn Palace--my fave

the last DC hurrah

Congratumalations graduate!

here's to my last night in Oly!

I'm packing up my stuff. It's my last night in Olympia before I go back east to DC on Sunday. I'll miss the 10-minute commute home and the nice dog that's kept me company at my strange rental, but that's about it. It's been difficult living apart from Dan and the dogs for 4 1/2 months, and not seeing each other much at all. We are both looking forward to resuming our life together, just a few more days!

Fence be gone

Day 1 of homeownership - Giles and I got most of the fence down today.

Uncle Giles hard at work


After the fence is down, the front lawn is free. My neighbor even offered to weed whack the yard!


Pile O'fence