Weekend Work and Cards

Daniel's grandparents came to visit us this weekend! We accomplished more in three days with them here than we would have in 5 weekends without them! We were able to check quite a few items off the "to-do" list including much needed work on the shed, making apple butter, and weeding along the entire back fence. They also mounted speakers outside, so we can hear the radio out there.

My first time making and canning apple butter. It turned out great!

Removing this old clothesline in the shade took some muscle

Making new concrete pavers

Removing broken lamp from front yard

Soon after arriving on Thursday evening Daniel and Grandpap were hard at work on the shed. They dug a trench from the shed to the house to run wires for electricity!

 I love what they did to the inside, hanging tools on the wall- enabling us to walk right in without having to haul out the lawnmower and bikes, but the best part is being able to turn the lights on inside.

Clean, lighted shed

They replaced some rotting boards and re-enforced some loose ones with new nails. We do have to paint the shed soon, to prevent more rapid deterioration. It only had one coat of paint on it anyway. I've been busy trying to decide on a color.
The weather couldn't have been more perfect on Sunday afternoon than the sunny, 60 degrees that it was. Mari played outside on her blanket while Grandma and I weeded and Daniel and Grandpap cleared away debris from behind the shed.

Side of shed - all cleared out!

The back of our yard was overgrown with vines

They poisoned the poison ivy and raked all the leaves and uncovered a ton of concrete blocks back there. The blocks got stacked under the perimeter of the shed. Among the blocks was an old fireplace grate and milk crates of glass insulators. Who throws thrash behind their shed??!! The glass insulators are kind of cool. I am not sure what to do with them, but they are cool. We also got some huge rocks for the hydrangea garden in front of the AC.
My favorite part of the weekend was playing cards in the evening. We usually play 500, but tried pinochle. The first night Grandma and I beat the guys about three times in a row. Something happened after that and for the next few nights we lost every time. Very productive weekend.