A Week at the Beach Part One

A week at the beach, part one.

Yeap, that's about it, when looking out over the great expanse, the final frontier, the big blue sea, well you get the point. It just keeps on keeping on, wave after wave. All I did was step in.
Do you think the hat is a bit much? It is either that or sunburn on the ole noggin. It was very windy the day we walked on the beach and had much to be concerned with like loosing my hat, and what hair I have left..However, Katelyn, figure out an intresting was to keep from being blown away..
Lucky for her, she had friends and family about, to make sure any wayward dogs, did not find their way to her spot on the beach.

There was one person in our group that was not effected by the blustering wind, because he moved a bit faster than the malstrom..

Tornado Tyler, Joe and Amy's son and Savannah's younger brother. Here is a better picture to see what happens when Tyler is confinded indoors.
What Tyler lacked in staying in one place, he made up in just being so darn cute.

Laying Flagstone or How to Drop Flat Rocks

Previously on.....Extremely Slow Yard Makeover.
Phase One: Digging the dirt, aka clay aka red mushing stuff when it is wet or red cumbly stuff when it is dry.
Phase Two: Covering the area with a base of gravel, and leveling it as much as possible which is more not as possible as it is possible since the area has a slight slope. You think that is confusing, try leveling on a slope.
Phase Three: Spreading a layer of sand, or creating a tempting bathroom for the local feline residents


Now we are into Phase Four: The laying of the flagstone.


There are many way to express oneself, the written word or painting on a canvas. I've always looked for way to express myself through art and for me writing is bout right, however there are other means that I have explored. I have found out that placing flagstone as a means of artistic expression is not the way to go. It is not as complex as other venues, just carry and drop.


This is the best help anywhere, My Dad, who I think is part mule due to how hard he works, not to mention his near-mule like stubbornness.
Picture by Mom

I am glad my Mom was there, so she could hang out with us while we worked, she read and took a few pictures.
Picture by Susan


This is Buddy, he just watched.

He did not take any pictures, but was a bit upset due to what we did to his outdoor "sandbox"


Here are the results of some hard work and patience. The hard work was done by Dad and myself, and the patience part was Susan, who was the "artist" of this project.


She is the one that is solving the "jigsaw" puzzle, cause only she has the picture.

So basically here is how it was done.

Chose a flagstone:
Which consisted of picking up the closest one, look at it, then look where it can fit, which is almost anywhere, however, there are some decisons to be made, see Susan above.

Then carry the flagstone to that location and drop. This by far is the easiest aspect of the project, but one must be alert as to where one's toes are during the dropping. Then all you have to do is...............

Dust off and repeat....

Over and over and over again......

This is mid stage of Phase Four. There will be more flagstone to lay, and then shift them around until they "fit". Then onto Phase Five, getting this thing finished.

Parking Area Update.

The easy part was digging the hole, now I have to go back and fill the thing up, somehow the logic of that escapes me, but I guess the ends justifies the means..or at least the process.

This is not the final stage of Phase Three. It is the middle of the process, however I had some help. Which was very helpful and without a doubt the best help out there.

Wait a minute, that is not the helper I am talking about, that's me.

Here's the guy that really made a difference in the project.

My Dad...best help...anywhere!

The rest of this phase will be leveling and tamping down the sand as much as possible, then start laying the flagstone.

Extremely Slow Yard Makeover

Welcome to Extremely Slow Yard Makeover. Today the project is filling in the hole we dug Friday. What makes this show different than the one we did three years ago. Where we had some trees removed, was that the family went to Disney World for the week. This year the family is doing most of the work.



As you can see the gravel has been spread, however it seems that we may need more. The task was not as difficult as expected, the gravel was a mix of rocks, and dirt, making it easier to shovel. It is going as planned.

The next phase is to tamp this down, which will consist of the use of a tool we purchased a long time ago for this project, it has been used only once before on a similar yet smaller project we did a few years back. Had this tool been on trial for not having been used in the past six months, it would have been convicted and sentenced to a yard sale.

On a side note, this is a good analogy of my life, I spent lots of time planning, than actually doing anything. So when it is time to do anything, I am at least ready, as far as applying the "six-month" rule, with me. I would be sitting at a yard sale with a price tag hanging around my neck.

Well I am done for today, blogging that is. I am planning on tamping the dirt during the week and if needed, will call in some more gravel.

On the next episode of Extremly Slow Yard Makeover or in Phase Three, we will be laying the flagstone and we may have some suprise guest to help.

How to Remove Dandelions

It seems that spring has sprung as well as the dandelion population, a colony of them have decided to plant themselves in our side yard. There are various ways to get rid of them, some will pick them, others will spray with chemicals, however I have found a way to get to the root of the problem and make a statement to any other freeloading dandelions that just happen to be in the neighborhood.



Okay, now that I think about it, I may have overreacted.


Digging up the dandelions was more of a fringe benefit of what is actually going on. Normally I would park my car in that area. We have been working on ways to reduce the amount of grass. So we are going to put in a flagstone parking area as well as widen the driveway with flagstones on either side.

Currently this is Phase One, which is somewhat complete, I am in the process of getting all the loose mud out of the hole, for the beginning of Phase Two, which is spreading out a layer of rocks, which I have had practice doing before, and one thing I learned is that rocks don't like being moved..and can become very stubborn about leaving their spot.

Phase Two starts tommorow, so I need to rest a bit.

Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning is two words, one I love, the other ...well... I do my best to avoid at all cost. Both inspire rebirth. Rebirth may not be the best word to use in this comparison, if one considers what may have not been cleaned during the other three seasons, something that has been sitting there alone in the dark, pondering it's existence, "Am I something someone wants or at least has an unwarranted or unexplainable desire to keep around, or am I something that can not be explained and attracts proclaimations such as "Oh my stars, What is that?" and the most feared, "I am not touching that, call a professional."

Let's turn to Spring. It's the best time of year, flowers bloom, pollen flies, nose get stuffy, but there is no more damp, dark and dismal days. The days get longer, the nights getting brighter...On Broadway, okay so that's not the exact lyric, but the sentiment is there.

Spring is the time of excitement, maybe not on the level of a Broadway production, at least the temperature rises and the landscape gets brighter, however, the ticket prices are more reasonable.

What about the dust, the reason for cleaning, to understand cleaning, we must first understand dust, it has to make it's home in this world, however, cleaning sets in, there are some that will clean before the dust has a fighting, almost suicidal chance to settle, to find a comfortable place to rest, but there is cleaning happening and the dust realizes that it must go elsewhere, to a place where the vigilante unrelenting mission of cleaning is not as "restrictive"

So the destitute dust shows up at my house, finding a place that is somewhat more "user friendly". It is quiet, silent and realizes that if it just lands on the places that have the least restrictive cleaning regimen, it would be..to use a word..happy.

This is the reason that cleaning is a difficult thing for me, the idea of putting many dust particles in a state of homelessness, is something that don't sit well with me. Well.. until my wife states the obvious, dust is bad..it must go!


Sorry dust, but I do love the Spring...

This is a lousy day, I am tired and have a sore throat

Life is good, in general. The day is just lousy.

Here is the question, Are the days themselves lousy or just the stuff that happens on those days? It is not like salted in the shell peanuts, every now and then, you open a shelled peanut and find a dried up and ugly peanut, therefore, a lousy peanut, I am thinking that it is not the day, just the stuff that happens on that particular day.

Something in the back of my mind is concerned about the above analogy, but I like peanuts so it will stay.

So I guess all my days are great, since they are there, and only come once a....uh...day. It would be best to be glad of that and any day.

So we come to the conclusion that lousy stuff, happens. The day is not responsible. So I guess the phrase "I am having a lousy day", is not directed at that day, be it Monday, Thursday or any of the other seven.

So to keep on topic of the title of this blog. Today is a lousy day, not because of the day, but because I am in this day and I am tired and have a sore throat.

And I had to work on this day, and it seems that the word "work" is always preceeded with the words "had to". Go ahead and test it. Most of the time that the use of the word "work" or similar word is used, it always follows "had to".

So for me at this time, a lousy day consist of, work, being tired and a sore throat. But what about this blogging moment, I like doing this, so is the day still lousy, my throat would agree, as well as other worn out body parts.

But for me this day is turning out just fine, cause I like writting this blog.

I am at home, my wife is watching a movie, the cats are not running amok in the house, I am still tired and have to work tomorrow. Is the day still lousy? not really, just parts of it..it is those lousy "hours" that mess up the day, but that is for another blog.