Frankenlawn

The lawn had a gradual slope to it, down towards the fence. There was also a low spot where the palm tree had been. Enter sod cutter.


We cut back the lawn about half-way across, rolled up the strips and back-filled with good soil to level it. Our friends were planning on removing part of their lawn so we shared the cutter and recycled their sod. A wee bit from the nursery and one more piece from the Depot and we have Frankenlawn.


Let summer begin.


Difficult to see in the picture but I'm reading the third Percy Jackson, Lorelai is reading Richard Scary and Spence in reading The Very Lonely Firefly. Not quite as relaxing as solo reading, but nice none the less.

The Tree

I know you've been quivering in suspense since I mentioned that the tree would have a fate... Here's a before shot to refresh your memory:


This was taken last summer so the tree had gotten even bigger. The neighbor didn't like the tree and had her landscape crew shear it off at the fence line giving it an odd triangle-shape. It was planted too close to the house (what did we know?) and required constant trimming to keep it off the roof and out of the gutters. There was a perpetual rain of leaves and seed pods that made the side patio a mess. We realized that it was only going to get more unruly and would become more of a chore to remove as it grew. Enter chain saw:


Steve rented a trailer and we loaded it up to take to the dump. Spencer was a bit upset when the cutting started but was a super helper when it came to loading the trailer.


Unfortunately he thought we were just taking the tree for a ride. When we started unloading it he began sobbing hysterically that he didn't want to leave the tree at the dump.

We went to the Depot and picked out new foliage which made him feel a little better.


Two queen palms at different sizes and the side yard looks huge now!

Monopoly

Lorelai has rewritten the rules to Monopoly:

1. Since the dice have gone missing (don't they always?) she has written numbers on little scraps of paper with arrows depicting which direction to move. For example, 12 spaces forwards, 4 spaces back. My favorite is 70 spaces forwards because you get to pass go twice, finishing $400 richer.

2.You collect $200 for passing go, in either direction.

3. You can build a house on any property you own, regardless of how many of that color set you have.

4. If you don't have a particular denomination of bill, you can "borrow" one from the bank, to hold its place so you don't forget which bill goes there.

And my favorite rule:

5. You get a jelly bean every time you pass free parking. In either direction.