grab your coffee...

there are so many wonderful things happening in the yard this week...

the peonies are opening...

and flowers are blooming...

the sun has been shining...

and the birds have their mulberries to eat...

we have been forced to make some changes...

but they are fun ones...

new ideas with the old things we have...

green beans are in the pots...

and tomatoes will go in the old fire pit...

the train keeps rolling by...

with some pretty colors...

the water has gone down so much, but there is still quite a bit out there...

and now what we are left with...

will be a work in progress...

this is going to have to be tilled up, I am sure and re-sewn again...

there isn't much grass left and the weeds are multiplying....

but not until they tile that field and drain it...

its so nice to have this area dry again...

and mowed...

everything else on this side we could leave...

it survived...

and so it will sit like this...

it is what it is...

and later...

opening new doors for new ideas...

and it will be better than before...

in time...

have good days...

and leave me some ideas on what to do over here...

:)

pardon the mess...

a tweak in progress...

one of the things we did over the weekend...

moved the potting bench...

I originally wanted to only go tree wide on the blocks, but DH said 4 would be better...

we need to get more...

the rest will be in a brown rubber mulch for kneeling while working the flower bed...

there were 5 kids camping in our yard over the weekend...

and not one time did I pull out the camera while they were here!

I got sick Sunday morning trying to leave town to do the shopping...

so DH brought me back home and went on his own...

pick up the tomato plants...

the peonies are blooming now...

excuse the mess and weeds! 

work in progress!

everything else is doing fine...

and Craig had gotten me this clock for Christmas for the deck and hung it up for me last evening...

DH manned the trash pump and when it got low, he would shut it down, let the water fill back up and pump again...

he finally got the side yard drained by 1 on Saturday...

the pump did not run at all yesterday...

then last evening, we got about a 5 minute rain out of nowhere...

but there is still no standing water...

we have more rain coming on Thursday, Friday and Saturday...

ugh...

the tiling company met on the "lake" on Friday...

probed for the tile...

marked them with green flags...

they want to come across our north lot and another's land on the other street to tie into the city's storm drain system...

we agreed...

I have no idea when this will start...

I don't know if the field will have to be drying...

just have no answers, but will find out this week...

they will repair any damage that they do...

;)

I am so over all of this and just want it done...

lol...

I hate sweating every time it clouds up...

or the wind blows...

catching up here...

we got just over 2 inches of rain the end of last week...

but it was enough to flood things again...

and the lake was replenished...

not as bad as before...

the reflections on the water are beautiful...

so while we are pumping...

we are still planning ahead and re-doing things...

we have started the rose garden...

which was already started on the other side in the water...

but we have been moving plants to here...

we may still lose a couple of them...

and the weeding still needs done...

the south side of the yard that is under water is such a small part of our yard...

DH and I spent Sunday outside...

both guys worked all day on Saturday...

I even started cutting iris stalks...

they are spent...

it was a pretty day and warm, but not too hot...

Craig had Monday off...

so he got the rest of the bedding plants planted in pots...

he had enough to do 3 of them...

so we placed them on each end of the rose garden...

DH and I took the sod off of this are on Sunday...

we will take more, but are waiting to get the landscape timbers...

once they are in place, we will know how much more we need to get out of there...

the plants I got in early are looking good, too...

even when the water goes down, we are going to have a lot of work to do here to get it level and in grass again...

these old fence sections have at least saved us from an even bigger mess...

no corn stalks in the side yard!

they are across the back, but not in here...

when we get the water down again...

we are going to dig a hole right in the middle of the water here toward the back...

and put the pump in there...

to keep it dryer until the farmer and his tiler can figure out where the clog is in the field tile....

they won't be able to do much until the field dries out...

that could take awhile...

so until then, we man the pump...

enjoy the ducks and the reflections...

swat the bugs and keep going...

its all we can do...

it is what it is...

at least our homes are safe now...

:)

more rain today?

not much, I hope...

have a good week!

gearing up the weekend here...

hoping the guys are both off for it...

prayers for DH...

he is so tired...

rainy night and day...

its just poured at times...

and even though we personally could do without it...

the area cannot...

its so dry here that on Wednesday, we had dust storms with zero visibility...

and there were wrecks with one fatality...

the farmers are pretty close to being finished on the planting...

DH and I picked up these blinds at the City Wide Yard Sales a couple weekends ago...

keeps the sun out of our eyes in the evenings...

$5 for all of them...

we are going to concentrate on this side of the yard for awhile...

its muddy and slickery on the other side...

water is standing in the very back but not enough to run down the mini ditch there...

hoping it dries out enough over there to get in there and clean some of this up...

but I am not holding my breath for that to be any time soon...

we could put a lap pool in over there...

complete with croakin' bullfrogs!

Have good days...

we are doing alright...

sunrise...

day 7 of pumping water out...

but it was done by noon...

until it starts raining tonight...

Craig got his tooth pulled in one try...

and they gave him more antibiotics...

there's still infection in there...

but he is doing good...

DH is back on overtime...

and will be working Saturday, too...

my vacuum bit the dust...

LOL

and I ordered a new one...

will be here Saturday...

it never fails...

just when you need to vacuum the most...

poof!...

I sent a text to DH at work letting him know he just bought a new vacuum...

LOL

before Craig could get it all wrapped up and out the door...

I was online shopping...

we've been married long enough for DH to know that we do not go without one...

no waiting on sales...

:)

so, today...

I am not looking at the floors...

I think we are all fighting some kind of cold virus or something...

we all have this cough thingy going on...

and at times, you just feel miserable...

we all have a lack of energy here and there, too...

hoping we can kick this to the curb soon...

today was the last day of school here...

summer vacation is upon us...

the pool will open next weekend...

hard to imagine...

but we are ready to put the winter clothes up once and for all...

need to purge again when I get going full speed...

too much going on right now...

have good days!

it is what it is...

our resident ducky...

still have the "lake"...

day 6 now of pumping...

this side yard is a total mess...

won't be doing anything over there soon...

concentrating on the other side now...

the beginnings of a new rose garden...

and enjoying the bloomers...

we have all been working together now...

got a great guy who is head of the water and street department...

and he is working with the farmer...

I had an idea of dropping a basin in this spot...

and he thinks it will work...

so stepping forward...

it would save the whole neighborhood from ever flooding again...

for around $2,000 or less...

that would be big savings for the city...

The farmer has been in contact with the company that tiled his field...

figuring out where its blocked and what to do about it...

I feel a little bad...

ducky just got a girlie friend...

I love my new spinner!

we are pretty sure this is all going to take some time...

and that things will be upheaved for the summer...

so...

we have adapted a new saying...

it is what it is...

no more, no less...

and you just have to roll with it...

:)

seems we will be spending our summer on the lake...

:)

Craig goes to the dentist this afternoon to get that tooth pulled...

I don't think enough infection is out of it yet to get it numbed up...

it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't have to do another round of antibiotics...

but he is feeling much better and there is no pain...

getting his energy back, too...

so have a great day and hope you have fun plans for the weekend...

we could be rainy here...

will give DH a chance to rest up some and for me to get caught up inside...

I am pretty sure we are all coming down with a head and chest cold...

need to have some home cooked meals and plenty of liquids...

and beat this thing off...

:)