Sunday, May 18, 2008

Outdoor happenings...

Outdoor happenings

The weather seems unstable these days, although for the most part it has warmed up and the sun shines much of the time, that is, in between the rain visiting several times each day. When the weather holds however, we are just itching to get outdoors.

  • The lawn mowing duties are in full swing. At least once each week, the lawn tractor gets revved up and roars up and down the property, creating row by row of groomed green grass fit for any golfing range.

  • One son has become manager and detail man for brushing a fresh coat of paint on the wooden fencing, taking his time to give it a good detailing when the weather cooperates.
  • Fresh pots of flowers decorate the grounds, and buds are bursting all over the property.
  • New baby birds are in attendance daily at the bird feeding garden, a shopping list is compiled for the sudden increase in bird feed consumption for the near future. We’ve been checking the feeders daily early in the morning for the crazy squirrel that climbs the iron post of one particular feeder, consuming almost half the feeder full day by day. He must really like the feed in that one and really now, come on, it’s such a dead giveaway when noting how much the pole begins to lean while he slowly descends back to the ground upon his departure. Each day we walk out, lift it all up again, refill the feeder, but perhaps we’ll see if he won’t be so pesky when we change to the new feed as planned soon.
  • Soccer begins this week, and all the children are pumped and ready for another season with all their homeschooling friends. Several hundred children gather and are segregated into age groupings, learning skills and drills and playing a game each evening once a week. The parents remain to watch the fun and everyone has such a great time. The box with the soccer shoes and chin pads will have to be placed on the garage sport shelf for the duration of the season ahead.
  • Friday night ball hockey is still alive and well on our property as a dozen or more young men descend to challenge one another on our sports court. It’s serious folks. We have playoffs next week, a small break, and then the summer session begins anew with new teams and another challenge for the homemade plaques they make and present to each player. There’s even weekly videotaping with play by play action, and once compiled, it becomes the entertainment highlight on the final evening. Next week’s final playoff evening not only ends with the video showing in the house, but also birthday cake for the birthday boys involved.
  • This past week, we had the patio furniture all set up, projects ready to complete on the table. With several color selections, a few clay pots, and brushes of varying thicknesses, the children set off to pursue a few moments of artistic endeavors.

Great care went into these embellished clay pots, and the end results are doing quite well already. As the paint dried on the pots, a visit to the local nursery again provided an occasion to choose a few plants for inside the pots.

The icing on the cake of course was unveiling their newest creative and crafty results to their daddy.

Naturally the children went all gooey on me when they saw the fine sight around a section near the back corner, two nature houses for the garden stood staring back at them, and the whole purpose for the visit to this venue was lost.


Could I blame them for being so distracted? Be sure to click onto these to enlarge them for viewing the detailing involved. Aren’t they just adorable? See the little swings, and the wee furniture inside? So sweet.

  • Across the street, the thick white mist seeping upwards from the ground was visible this week, quite a creepy site really, something reminding me of a scene from a movie, only it was here before my eyes instead. I remember when this happened last year, although imagine the scene here a hundred times more misty!


And all this is happening here "in the east."