Another Lotus Shot

Got a great shot shot of a lotus and its visitor, and had to share. I have uploaded it to WeatherUnderground so feel free to pop over there and rate it! (Link)

Weekend Re-cap

A quick recap from the weekend. Saturday was spent over at Kim's Mom's house for the 4th. We took the big inflatable slide and placed it at the side of the pool for the kids. They a great time swimming, eating, and driving go-karts. A few shots from the weekend are attached. Mammaw sat down with the great-grand kids to eat, and made a great photo op.

Another Flower

Work will continue this weekend under the Pergola. I have resurfaced the concrete on the patio and now I am going back with decking. I plan to plant more flowers around it, as well as come up with something that the vines can hold on to while they go up the side.

Back at the pond the spider lily has bloomed. I caught it on the first night it bloomed, and now we have about 6 or so blooms.

We will go with family over to Kim's Mother's house on the fourth for swimming and food. At some point we need to pick up some pryo, but I am holding off as long as I can keep the kids back. The economy is hurting the firework stands and I expect they will have deep discounts as we get closer so they do not get stuck with stock.

Also on tap for this weekend is the second Ice Age movie, I promised the kids we would go and see it.

Summer Storms

Yesterday afternoon a strong thunderstorm rolled through and tested my new roof. Strong straight line winds blew a lot of branches down in our yard, but blew trees over just up the street. One even landed on a moving car on Sardis, but thankfully she was not hurt. This same tree ended up pulling the power lines down with it, so we were without power till about 9:30 or so last night.

Day of swimming..

With temperatures Saturday at 98, and the heat index in the upper 100's. We spent the day at Kim's parent's house outside in the pool. It turned into a small get-together as others showed up. Attached are a few of the pictures we took of the kids. The little one jumping off the diving board is Elliot who is the little boy of April, Kim's cousin.

Pond Flowers

The flowers about the pond are in bloom. Attached you will find a few pictures of the lotus flowers and one of the wild Irises that we have around the pond. The water Irises have buds and should be bloomed out in the next week or so. I also took a shot of a visitor who was on his way away from the pond.

An Angel

For those of us guys who grew up in the 70's... we lost an angel today. Farrah Fawcett died today at the age of 62 after her battle with cancer. Farrah will be remembered for many things: her trademark blond hair, her swimsuite poster that graced the back door of many teen boys and got her the role in the TV series Charlie's Angels, and showing that 48 year old can still be sexy by posing in Playboy she will be remembered by many of us who grew up in the 70's.

The Roof is Done!

Yea! The roof is done, and it looks great! They did a great job on the roof. It was complete on Friday, but they came back out on Saturday for some flashing work and floated the patch on our bedroom ceiling. I spend the rest of Saturday sanding the entire ceiling and painting it. You can see the finished picture of it here, however the paint was still a bit wet. They will be back on Monday to clean up a bit.

Roof Day 1

Roofers started this morning at about 7:30, and had the entire back of the house shingles removed as well as the decking ripped off by noon. They are doing a great job so far. In the early afternoon, a knock at the door from one of the roofers gave us the news. We have a temporary sky light in our bed room. No one was hurt, and the roofer said they will take care of it all.

Pergola Day 10+11

Kim was down with a bad migraine today so with major help from Josh and Meagan, we were able to finish the pergola this weekend. Even added several extras that we had not planned on. As you will in the pictures, I ended up adding a cloth covering on the top for some added shade, as well as a long thin bar on one side. We got the dog house moved, and the wisteria vine started into it. Monday morning I will start cutting off some of the ends of the bolts that are sticking out.