Lime Tree

This past spring we bought a new plant to replace an old one that wasn't so good anymore.  We wanted some sort of "tree" type plant and it didn't need to have flowers.  We settled on a dwarf Lime tree.  Not to long after we got it home it had 3 blooms on it and all three turned into very small Limes.  Two of them soon dropped off and the one continues to grow.  It should be ready for picking soon.  The pictures below show the plant and the Lime.

This is our new Lime tree.  It is growing and getting larger.  You can see the Lime at the bottom center.

This is our first "crop" from the new Lime tree.

Patrick

Slight Mishap

While moving a birdhouse that was being hit by our lawn sprinklers, I had a little mishap with the ladder.  The ladder was sitting on the loose rock, which we have around the bottom of our trees, and the legs decided to fold in and send me to the ground.  I hit mostly on my back and right side.  Had a couple small scratches and a sore back on the lower right side.  Used some Bio Freeze, Aleve and the heating pad last evening and I am back to 95% or better already today.  Should be all okay by tomorrow after another good nights sleep and rest.  The pictures below show the ladder all bent up and then after I cut off the bent pieces and rebuilt it.  It is now a 4 foot ladder, use to be a 6 foot ladder.

You can see that the legs folded into the middle.

 It was a mess and lucky I didn't really get hurt.

 Front view after the repair.

Side view after the repair.

Patrick

From Nice Tree To Freshly Seeded Spot

There was a very nice little tree just behind the house outside the living room.  It died back and then reemerged from the suckers that grew out of the old stump.  That was good for a couple years and then last winter's very cold winter took its toll.  I trimmed off the dead limbs and most of the trunk and a few days back Pat and I shoveled out all of the rock from around the stump.  Then I used the new Yukon XL to pull the stump out.  It surprisingly came out very easy.  This afternoon I put in 10 bags, 40 lbs. to the bag, of black dirt to fill up the hole and even it all out.  Then I seeded it and applied one more very thin layer of dirt.  It is getting wet down by the sprinkler system right now and will hopefully sprout new grass real soon.  The following pictures will cover all the steps.

This is a picture of the tree when it was the nicest.  This picture was taken during the spring of our first full year in the house.  The dirt in the background is where there was a basketball court that we had removed and then seeded it to grass.  The rock around the tree was 4 to 6 inches deep.

This is what it looked like after we removed the rock and I pulled out the stump.  That nice green grass in the upper background is where the basketball court was in the earlier picture.

This is a picture of what the spot looks like now.  It will soon be nice and green also we hope.

Patrick

Another Project Well Done

We have two light poles out near the street end of our driveway.  They were looking a little dull, so today Pat power washed the poles and hand washed the globes.  Then she painted the poles.  They look real good although the following pictures don't show the great improvement that you can see up close.  It is still a job well done.

This is the before picture of the north pole.

This is the before picture of the south pole

This is the after picture of the north pole

This is the after picture of the south pole.

This is the after picture of both poles at the same time.

The globes are really nice and white again.  Should be a lot more light given off now.

Patrick

Our Ducks

There is a Mallard hen that has nested under the bushes in front of the house for two years now.  She had two batches of little ones this year.  The second batch had 12 eggs and 5 of them made it so far.  The following pictures are of mother and little ones.  She brings them up to our bird feeder area a couple times a day and then they all walk back to the river.  Pat got these pictures this morning.

They have just arrived and are all busy eating.  The little ones are a little hard to see against the rocks.

This is my favorite picture.  They are all sitting down and resting after having their meal.

They are on the way back to the river here.  The little ones tip over a lot in the grass trying to keep up with mom.

Patrick

The New Big Red

Back on March 25th of this year, I made a deal for a new 2015 GMC Yukon XL and the dealer ordered it telling me it would only be 8 weeks or so until I got it.  This past Friday July 11th, I was finally able to go pick it up and that was only after the dealer was able to find a vehicle like I ordered that he could get from another dealer in Spearfish South Dakota.  GMC still hasn't started the production of the one the dealer ordered back in March.  There were many excuses by GMC, but it seems it is just a case of poor planning and preparation for the release of a new model year.  This new model has more "bells and whistles" than there is time to go into.  It will take us awhile to learn how to use and operate all of them.  I can say right now that it drives and rides like a dream.  The following pictures show the outside.  It is not as bright as when we got it because we went to the cities yesterday and had to drive through some small rain storms both going and coming home.

 

Drivers side

 

 

From the rear

 

 

 Front and passenger side

 

 

Passenger side

 

 

Patrick

Roses

Early last spring I got a notice from a nursery that I have done business with in the past that they had a special deal of 5 rose bushes for $20.00 with free shipping.  They were a yellow one, a red one, a white one, a pink one and a blue one.  I couldn't pass it up and figured if they didn't live no big loss.  They were planted and 4 of the 5 are making it.  The picture below is of the first three flowers I have harvested.  The red one will have a flower in a couple more days.  I am not sure yet which one didn't make it.

 

Yellow Roses

 

 

Patrick

Pontoon Ride

It has been some 6 weeks since we brought the pontoon home from winter storage and got it all set up on the lift.  Since then we have not had an opportunity to take it out for a ride.  The high water has been the main reason and before that was not so great weather for boat rides.  But, this evening after supper we went out for a nice ride around the lakes.  Pat spent a couple hours this afternoon getting the pontoon all cleaned up and while doing that discovered the water had gone down enough so that we could get the pontoon off the lift.  It was a nice ride and the pictures below are of a couple things we saw along the way.  We didn't take any pictures of all the docks we saw that were still under water and all the empty boat lifts or the ones with boats on them that couldn't be gotten off.  There will be more rides now, weather permitting.

 

This first one is of the Captain of the boat, me, ha, ha.

 

 

This one is of an airplane that we saw on the lakes last summer for the first time.  It is back again, but parked in a place where it is protected from the wind and high water.

 

 

Another picture of the airplane.

 

 

We see Pelicans on the lakes quite often.  This group was in a different place from where we normally see them.  The group has also grown in size from last summer. 

 

 

Another shot of the Pelican group.

 

 

Patrick

The Red Door

I have always liked the looks of a red door on a house when I have seen one.  Never had one before, but wanted one and now my wish has been granted.  Our old front door was pretty blah and after getting the new storm door and the new siding on the house, Pat suggested that a red door might be nice.  Needless to say, she didn't have to convince me.  The following pictures show the door before and after Pat did an excellent paint job to create our new red door.

 

This is the door before the paint job.

 

 

 

This is the new red door and it looks great if I do say so myself.

 

 

Patrick

Finished At Last

The new siding project is finished.  It has turned out real well and is a big improvement in the house.  The following pictures show the finished product including the new front storm door.  The old one was made of black rout iron and Pat said it looked like a prison door.  It is gone and the new door does brighten up the front.  Here are the pictures.

 

This is one view of the front of the house.  You can see the newly painted garage doors and how well they matched up to the new siding.  Pat did all the painting on them as well as the trim around the doors.

 

 

Another view of the front of the house

 

 

A side/back view of the back of the house and some of the gazebo.  You can also see the new sliding glass door going into the lower level of the house.

 

 

Another view of the back of the house and the gazebo.  The gazebo also got a new sliding glass door and 3 new windows so that all of the windows are side sliders with screens.

 

 

This is the old "prison" front storm door.

 

 

This is the new front storm door.  Nice flowers also.

 

 

Patrick