Five on Friday

We’ve been working on making more distinct borders on a couple of our planters. This planter is on the backside of our deck and between our home and garage/shop.

This planter is in the front of our home and is ready for the weed cloth and bark that you see in the planter above. It was so much easier to mow with this nice border today.

We are just home from our last minute getaway to Yellowstone National Park. We stayed one night in the Old Faithful Inn. The structure is the largest log hotel in the world; possibly even the largest log building in the world. The lobby was a comfortable setting to people watch and enjoy a drink.

Now at home we are getting ready for our annual fourth of July celebration with a few of my red white and blue decorations going up.

Our Canadian neighbors are enjoying Canada Day and on Monday we will celebrate with family, friends, food and fireworks for the fourth! Five words starting with the letter F!

I am thankful to God for the results of our hard work, for our last minute getaway, for the safety we had on the road, for the beauty of God’s creation that we were afforded on our trip, for our country where can worship our God in safety (so far).

Happy Canada Day to our dear neighbors to the North!

Linking up to Five on Friday with Amy at Love Made My Home and Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Planters Defined…

Just a few weeks ago there was no visible border between the planter and the grass. We extended the planter and put this block border in.

After putting in the new border we had to dig out all the grass and weeds. We have a few more weeds to pull out and then we will add bark on top of the dirt. We also want to add some type of plants that are low profile at the curve in front of the hydrangea. Once this and another planter behind our deck are complete I’ll do a full before and after post showing similar angles.

Tonight Josh, Laura and I will be at the U.S.A. v Ecuador game at Century Link Field in Seattle for a quarterfinal game in the Copa America Centenario tournament. (Boy that was a long sentence) The photo above is from a U.S.A. friendly game against Panama a few years ago that Josh and I attended.

Since I’ll be enjoying soccer tonight my Friday post will be late and it might have some fresh photos from Copa America!

I have a couple recipes that are published on Mennonite Girls Can Cook this week. Get the recipe for Creamy Potato Gratin and Succotash Plus by clicking on either name.

Good Fences

I’m sharing the rest of the fences from our time at our son’s in Eastern Washington.

These are the gates and fences along the walking route my daughter in law and I enjoyed during our visit.

Spring is pretty in this part of Washington State. It is also a perfect environment for mosquitoes and wasps.

I’m linking up to Good Fences #113 with TexWisGirl from The Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

We’ve started a new project at this old house. We are replacing the front walkway up to our front door.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Wondering…

The name I chose for my blog waaaayyyy back in 2007 is The Happy Wonderer.

Wonder:

noun 1. a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

verb 1. desire or be curious to know something. 2. feel admiration and amazement; marvel.

Wonder is something I experience a lot in both the noun form and verb form. I’m happy to be a Wonderer.

Right now I’m wondering how everything will fit together for the upcoming wedding in just 11 day! We are waiting for the good times we’ll have with friends and family around this wonderful event.

Waiting for good meals and time together out on our deck after the wedding when company from hither and yon will linger on.

Soon this view is going to change as we are into another project at this old house to give us a little more privacy when we are on the deck. It won’t be until after the wedding that I’ll be able to share the photos of the latest do it yourself project!

Linking up with ABC Wednesday which was started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and the ABC team! Thank you.

W is for wonder, wonderer, wondering, wonderful, waiting, and the wedding. Oh I should have showed you the Western boots that will play a huge part in the wedding, too.

Before and After

This is what the front of our house looked like when we moved in way back in October of 1998. This photo is from March of 2000. This next photo was taken this week and shows the changes we’ve made. I’ll be posting the different sides of the house and how they looked before and what we’ve done over the last fifteen years to update this old house.

Same door, new windows, and new siding. The planter is filled with new plants, too. I’ll be showing the process of Dear working around the house little by little to make more improvements over the years.

This part of our front walk used to lead to a porch that we enclosed to make a family room instead.

This was what the front walk and porch looked like before we enclosed the area.

The other side of the porch before we enclosed it.

This is what it looks like today.

The process of enclosing the porch/deck.

When we first moved we had signed a one year lease to rent and a month after we moved in the owner said he had to put the home on the market to sell it. We were tired of moving (long story) so we made an offer to buy the property and the rest is history.

I’m beginning to feel the “squeeze” of things I need to organize in my brain for the upcoming wedding and hosting some out of town family here at this old house. Posting and visiting might be a little random. I will be participating less in weekly memes until Julyish!

We are cooling down today in the Seattle area. That makes it nicer to work outside. My relaxing time these days is sitting with my feet up watching Women’s World Cup Soccer games. Watching soccer is my “happy place”.

Walkway – Before & After

Since our yard project was completed for now I’m sharing the before and after views before I share our great overnight getaway.

We had an unusual string of dry mild days in February and the beginning of March that gave us lots of time to work on some projects in our yard.

Before

First Phase…

Phase two in process…

Walkway done and now onto the extension and step down from the deck.

Before…

Digging, digging, chipping away at large tree root, digging some more and hauling off the dirt and grass…

Defeated the tree roots and moved on…

We are now getting to the end of this part of our project.

Chose a new planter box and planted some plants in the cement blocks.

Another before shot…

We are pleased with the results from all our hard labor over several weekends and evenings.

We still have a few more ideas for tweaking some things but for now we enjoyed a weekend without any labor. During our overnight away we probably put back on the weight we dropped working on this project. Looking forward to this first full week of Spring. What’s on your agenda?

Taking Time…

…to get out and move has it’s benefits which are blessings!

This is part of the group of seniors that I walk the trail with on Tuesdays. I join a few of these same gals at an exercise class on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Most of this group are in their 70’s and 80’s. I’m the young chick among them.

When you get out you see God’s handiwork!

We’ve also been out working in the yard a lot this past week. My Bleeding Heart plants are coming up and blooming. Such a treat to see.

Our Forsythia bush is flaming!

Soon I’ll be able to show the before and after photos of phase two and three of our outdoor project. I’m glad we can still move after working outside shoveling and digging and tamping oh my!

My five favorites are walking, making new friends, seeing God’s handiwork, being able to work hard, enjoying the fruit of our labor! What are some of your favorites this week?

I’m joining in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: DIY Yard Project