Making It Ours

Yard work has taken over our lives it seems.  The dump sells compost for $30 a square yard which is all that the back of the truck can handle.  One raised bed holds one truck load.  One bed is done, done to go. We're trying to pace ourselves and only do one hour of yard work a day.  We really don't have the energy or stamina to do more.

If you know what this tree is, I would really like to know.  It's filled with honey bees so I assume it's some sort of fruit tree.  Everything was dormant when we moved in so we still don't have leaves to help us identify our plants.

I've been struggling to blog as the Blogsy app for iPad is gone - kaput.  They said the last IOS didn't support their program.  It's taken me forever to figure out how to get my pictures from my iPhone onto my Microsoft computer.  Apple, Google and Microsoft hate each other and make it hard for us lay people caught in the middle. I didn't figure it out.  Ian did - phew.

We had the kids over Sunday for a late Easter dinner.  It's the first time we've been able to enjoy our deck and we enjoyed it very much.  The boys played catch, Evan with his LaCross stick and Logan with his baseball mitt and Sammy loved every minute of it .  Me too!

Over the winter Josh saved some of his garden potatoes in buckets in a dark garage closet.  He's getting ready to plant too and when he opened the closet, he was greeted by these creepy long pink tentacles.  This bucket is for us and will be the first thing we plant.  Pretty wild.

I've noticed that there is very little shade in the yard but now that the weather is warmer, it's becoming an issue.  I looked around for a spot to put my chair and noticed that this pine tree was casting shade.  I dragged my chair over expecting to sit in dirt.  I often did that in Red Rock - dirt was all we had.

I was surprised to see that the flagstone continues all the way from the deck to the shady spot.  It's hard to see because of the overgrown juniper bushes.

I showed this area to the kids and they got really excited.  They've only ever seen the yard from the inside of the house - too cold - so they wanted a complete tour.  The entire area is flagstone covered by some sort of creeper.  Josh says it's a weed, Ian thinks it's not.  Either way it needs to come out so we can use this area in the afternoons.  The junipers have grown over about 2 feet more of the flagstone. This is going to be a very nice area for us, cleaned up in one hour increments.  It's really too early to plant much of anything anyway.

This is how the back of the truck looked this morning after our one-hour stint, and next time we need to use sunscreen!

I still haven't received my order from Webs so just kept working on this project, mostly for the practice, and to my surprise it is turning out to be quite attractive.  This might be my Owen's blanket after all.  Boy am I going to have a of 3/2 cotton.  Maybe it's time to make baby blankets for sale.  Of course, I've never worked with 3/2 cotton so I am talking out of the top of my hat.

We've received some unpleasant news this past week.  We're both establishing ourselves and our medical history with new doctors.  I was six months overdue for my mammogram since it was supposed to be last October, the month we moved.  We've been nothing but impressed by the high quality of care we are receiving here including the technology in use.

My recent mammogram (done as a tomogram) revealed a suspicious area  The thing is that Reno Diagnostics doesn't even have the equipment to do tomography.  I asked them because my Reno GYN recommended it. My scan required further images and a biopsy.  As a result I have been diagnosed with ductal cell carcinoma in situ or DCIS.  My surgeon informed me that one in nine women will receive this diagnosis in their lifetime.  This is an early diagnosis and the cancer is still noninvasive.  I've been given two options:  mastectomy or lumpectomy followed by radiation which is what I've elected.  It will be done as an outpatient surgery on the 29th - a blip and then we'll back on track.  I know, I know - you're thinking that I would do anything to get out of yard work.  We'll get past this and move on.  Yard work awaits.