The Project, Part IV.

I again thought I was back in bid'ness, but my day laborer fell through at the last minute.  I was lucky enough to find a buddy from Hope who did this kind of work, and we made plans to work all day Wednesday.  I had already bought all the materials, and I laid the timbers out in the rough shape of the rectangle I wanted to build.  Paul had the idea to have the sand delivered right away, and it was just one of many great ideas he had through the project.

After that we spent the day framing the surround, which is not rocket science, but the trick was getting the bottom row as close to level and square as possible.  Let's just say that some corners were easier than others!  It was great weather though, perfect for working in the sun.

  

Our little helper!

The Project, Part III.

So another neighbor runs an excavating company (and I'm not making this up).  I had him out early the next week with a bulldozer.  Talk about the right tool for the job!  And in the end I think I needed both, as we really did want to save the trees and the Bobcat was good for that piece of it.  Either way, thank goodness for neighbors!

The Project, Part II.

Sure, it started simply enough.  I talked to lots of people and thought I had things pretty well figured out, but then everything fell through and I was sort of back at square one.  But a neighbor out here has a landscaping business, and he offered to come over with his Bobcat and move the trees and level the berm.

But it turns out that was not the right equipment to level the berm, although it did well enough to move the trees.  It turns out with heavy clay like we have, some bigger guns were needed!

The Project, Part I.

It started as just the germ of an idea... a seed, really.  My dad thought we should buy a play set, initially for Connor, but of course for Evie too.  (It's not like my dad does not know that Evie exists, he totally does!)  So I started looking into them, and what's involved, the different construction methods and heights, etc. and it turned into quite an education.  But I decided on a company called Backyard Adventures and found a local dealer.  Now we'll go back in time just a bit, to the spring of 2006 when we moved into our new home... when we did our landscaping Jodi thought it would be nice to have a berm in the corner, with trees on it.  Sounds simple enough, so that's what we did.  Well it turns out that was a good idea for about six weeks, which was when the weeds started taking over.  The rest of the history of the berm is a torturous story of  long days sweating in the sun, fighting for control of the area from nature, of lots of money spent on chemicals that had no real impact, etc. It was our own little nightmare.  So in what seemed like a very synergistic (how often do you get a chance to use that word in a sentence!) idea, we figured we'd move the trees, knock down the berm, and put the play set in the corner!

Well that was the opening of what I affectionately (at least I can call it that now) referred to as our very own Pandora's Box...

CB turns 38!

Oh, it's really just a number, isn't it?  It's still in the '3's, albeit by a little less every year.  Not to worry, since I've read in many places that 38 is the new 32!  So I've got that going for me, which is nice...

We did what I would call "the usual", which means dinner at The Chop House (discount, cha-ching!), then a couple of the newer night life establishments.  It was a lot of fun and I thank my wife for making it such a special weekend.  :-)

Evie Rocks!

Oh, it's not what you think... but I do enjoy keeping the reader on their toes with a clever play on words! HA!
This is the rocking horse that dates back to the 1950s on Long Island (more specifically, Queens).  It first appeared on these pages when Connor was a young buck, but now it's Evie's turn!  Not much has changed so the photos speak for themselves.

Sunsetter!

Perhaps you have seen these items advertised on television?  Up late... infomercials... etc.?  Well we couldn't be more excited to own one, Let Me Tell You!!!  Actually, our house faces due west, and since this land was a farm in its prior life, there is nary a tree to be found.  Point being, afternoons on the Meadow can get warm, with no shade and a lot of sun!  We like this thing so far, but another problem out on the Meadow is the wind:  It's can be ferocious and sometimes quite wicked.  The Sunsetter must (or should) be retracted in high winds.  Of course the sales folks happily remind you that hey, if it's too windy for the Sunsetter, maybe you don't want to spend all afternoon on the deck anyway.

New Camera!

I bought a new Sony W350 (it's in the Cybershot series) and I have to say it's pretty great. It's got some new features, like "panorama" shots, and probably the main thing I liked about it was that it takes HD video (720 lines instead of 360).

The first shot!

Shot #2 (it's Connor!)

Panorama (that's a lot of the Meadow)!

MB at 40!

My brother's 40th birthday was Thursday, March 11.  Part of the weekend was the aforementioned Thunder Nationals event, and Saturday night we had a party for him at Vitale's.  It was a great party, and we saw lots of old "blast from the past" faces!  Friends from as far back as junior high were in attendance, plus lots of family and new friends as well.  What a great night; what a great guy!

Thunder Nationals!

That's just a fancy way of saying "Monster Trucks", folks.  We went downtown to Van Andel Arena for the show, and it was "not quite what we expected" and "pretty much exactly what we expected", sort of all at the same time.

For starters, there were monster trucks, and they jumped over wrecked cars.  And it takes a certain kind of person to attend this event, ahem.  But it wasn't very crowded, and I think the main issue was the venue:  It's too small for this event.  There was no mud or dirt, and the trucks couldn't really turn around well or build up any momentum before they had to slam on the brakes to avoid a wall, or each other.

That said, it was a fun event for the kids, and no expense was spared!