Spring DIY

Spring DIY is all about yard work. We've been remodeling our landscaping since the summer of 2010 and we're taking a year off of massive earthmoving. No spring would be complete without shoveling a few rocks, though, and this year was no exception.

After taking out a massive spruce tree that was threatening to take over our house we had a naked spot on the corner of our house. It's a southwest corner, so the shade from the tree was nice in the summer but made it very dark in the winter. "Plant something deciduous!" said FFM, so we did.

Planting our new magnolia took a little rock and earth moving, less than an afternoon. It looks a little ragged in the final photo, we had some good precipitation last night and everything is soggy this morning.

One of our goals for this summer was to have room for more tomato plants. We had tomatoes in our garden plot last year, but everyone's favorites were the ones that we had in pots right of the edge of our deck. The kids and Travis would grab a handful and munch every time they walked past. Travis got busy and built a large planter specifically for tomatoes so we could have all our plants within easy reach of the deck this year.

We also started a lot of seeds this year. We have in years past, but have been hampered in our effort by various circumstances like travel, surgery, and not enough lights. This year we were home and healthy and all our seedlings thrived. So much that they started taking over our basement and had to be moved outside where they could get enough light (they got too tall for our grow lights). Being Colorado it's still chilly at night, which tomato and pepper plants really don't like. I had a quiet day at work one day and drew up some plans for a quick and easy greenhouse. On the way home I swung by Home Depot and by the time Travis came home mid afternoon I'd built the whole thing less the plastic covering.

The plants are very happy and I can lift up the trap doors on the top to let in full strength sunlight when it's warm enough. It's chilly this morning so I've covered up the vent gap in the middle with a towel until it warms up.

We started radishes, lettuce, and carrots in our garden plot, but recent reports are that there is a hole in the fence and rabbits have munched all our sprouts. If the weather cooperates we'll replant again this weekend, patch the holes, and hope for better luck.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Two completely unrelated, amazing things disappeared recently.

1. The Lunch Battle
Since my surgery F's been eating school lunches on the days he's at school for a full day.  While our school lunch program is decent, with a fairly "healthy" offering pretty much every day, they also offer a total kid meal every day.  There isn't one day a week when you can't get chicken nuggets, pizza, or a hot dog. It's hard for chef's salad, pasta, or teriyaki chicken bowl to compete with pizza.  While I was down for the count I think F ate pizza for about four meals in a row. When I bounced back I suggested that he think about which thing was the best for his body and pick that.

Today, for the first time since spring break, I managed to move fast enough in the morning to pack him a lunch.  I literally squealed with glee when it came home looking like this:

not a speck left!

Guess Mom's lunches are edible after all.  Perhaps this is the beginning of a long, healthy relationship with the lunch box.

2.  We took out the spruce tree that was taking over the front of our house.  Now, we LOVE our trees. They are all about 30 years old, huge, mature, beautiful but SO SO big. As soon as we moved in I had the 6 dead and dying Aspen trees cut down.  When the wind blew they'd knock the eaves and roof.  It was freaky.  A previous owner planted the two spruce in the front and they are stunning trees,  BUT HUGE.  We trim the one closest to the house twice a year. You can't tell from this angle, but when you'd look out our front window all you'd see was tree from 2/3 of the window.  It constantly bumps against the house and windows ( we've been trying to keep it hacked back).

The crew arrived just as F and I were headed out the door for school drop off.  We made sure they were working on the right tree and I dashed off to school.  When I came back 30 minutes later (must have time to chat with the other moms!) The tree was GONE. 

The guys hopped in their bucket and shaped the remaining blue spruce, it's a nice cone shape now and the twin tips at the top are gone.  Poor F missed the whole thing.  Luckily the stump remover came later in the day and F got to watch him grind the stump to nothing.

We see a lot more of the side of our neighbor's house now, our 3 year plan includes some large shrubs and a new smaller tree for the space.  We'll also put in a walkway from our back yard to the front.

On the surgery front I'm still pretty swollen (it's really hard to elevate your hip) and I'm barely limping. I still can't put all my weight on my right leg going up/down stairs.  It's getting stronger every day, but PT says it'll take a while to get it back.  I told her she's got until the start of ski season to get me up and kicking at 110%.

February Fun

I'm always glad February is only 28 days long. It's not usually a banner month for me so having fewer days is fine and dandy. This year I've barely noticed it's February with all the good times we've had lately.

A few weeks ago FFM skied his first legitimate black run. For those locals, he skied Cataract on the east side of the Rose Bowl. It's a tricky run, but he was game. After a few nerves he got the hang of the steep stuff, which wasn't very bumpy due to a nice big dump of snow. He fell a few times and learned it's easier to get up on a steep slope than down on the flats. I can't wait to get my hip fixed, I'm going to need to be in top form to keep up in no time at all!

"Yeah, take my picture Dad. I rocked that run."

 FFM knows all about GNO, or girls' night out, and has been hankering for his own guys night out. It ended up being an afternoon, but he and Travis had their guys day out at MONSTER TRUCK JAM! I wanted to go, too, but thought they could go do their guy thing.

Ready for the show to start!

 Prior to the event I talked with FFM about what to expect. It was going to be loud, it might be "smoky" (exhaust), and he might want to take a break now and then from the noise and/or smell. This was of great concern to our young man who took it to heart and was planning how often he'd need to have a break. He really thought the show should pause periodically so he could take his breaks and not miss anything.

Little boy heaven

 Last week we made some Valentines to hand out at school. It's so much fun to choose a crafty idea together and have FFM execute almost all of it on his own.

 His Valentines = "I only have eyes for YOU Valentine!" complete with googly eye rings. We used up all the leftover eyes from his 100s day project and a couple more bags besides.

My end of February-March fun arrived in the mail this week. The Moores have signed up for a plot in our Community Garden this year and we're going to grow all kinds of yummy stuff. Purple carrots, yellow tomatoes, lime green cucumbers. I hope they all work! The plot ended up being about twice as large as I remembered, so we've got quite the assortment. We'll have some prep and planting to get done starting in a few weeks. Travis built a lovely, lovely seed starting station and soon our basement will bathe in the glow of grow lights.

In the meantime the mountains keep getting more snow and while my hip aches the boys are itching to get some time on the slopes. I'll take it easy the rest of the season and end a little early with hip surgery scheduled for March 29. I'm hoping it's as successful as my other surgeries and that I'll improve my mobility and get back into activities like biking and yoga.