Dandelions and Thunderstorms - Mother Nature's Incredible Talents

We had a somewhat relaxing Sunday, working on our characters in Lord of the Rings Online, and spending some time in the backyard cleaning the castle steps, doing general tidying of the patio area. We watched the final round of the PGA golf tournament since we had a day without hockey, and with beautiful weather, we enjoyed a kicked-back Sunday. 

It's not often I see perfect dandelion puff 
balls. They're so easily disturbed or blown 
away. Do you remember plucking them and 
blowing the seeds away for good luck when 
you were a kid? It's an early memory of 
mine, and maybe kids don't do that any more. 

When I went out to get the newspaper in the morning (yes, we still get a paper copy of the newspaper. DH enjoys reading it and doing the crosswords. I get the e-edition in my in-box, which makes me happier than having so much paper to recycle, but to each their own. He's the one who pays for it, after all.) Anyway, to return to my thoughts - on my way out to the driveway, I saw some absolutely perfect dandelion fluff balls. So pretty. So after I brought the paper in, I grabbed my phone and took a few photos. It's not often I see these perfect balls. 

They are such a miracle of construction. 
Every little bit of fluff, barely holding onto 
the center, and playing with it's companions 
in a stellar ball of white. I wish I had the 
talent to transform something like this 
into a metal composite. But Mother Nature 
has me beat, by far. 

My next door neighbor must have been out of town (or too busy with the kids) to mow his lawn. DH had already mowed ours twice, but Chris hadn't touched his. The dandelions and weeds were tall and it was looking like crap. Fortunately, he finally broke down and mowed on Sunday. DH said he was tempted to mow it for Chris, thinking maybe he was out of town or something. I had been seeing him in the early mornings, though. So think it was just time getting away from him. 

After cleaning and putting down new gravel 
on the castle steps, DH pulled down some paving 
bricks to see how it might look if we paved the 
steps instead. We both agreed, however, it 
would be a lot of cutting and we really don't have 
the appropriate tools for that. We'll think 
about it, but we'll probably leave them as is. 

DH started cleaning off the castle steps when we went outdoors in the early afternoon. He swept, then started hosing them down and adding new gravel where needed. We've talked about maybe putting paving bricks down instead of the gravel, but that would be a lot of cutting and the steps aren't uniformly sized. It would be quite the chore. We also discussed just putting concrete along with the gravel, but that would be too permanent. We'll live with the gravel for now, and keep reassessing. 

One of my Facebook friends posted this incredible 
photo of a thunderstorm-cell forming over 
the Texas landscape. I had to share it with all 
of you. It's such an incredible view, I thought 
it might make your day. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I hope all of you have a glorious Monday and as always, please be kind to others and stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow. 

The Woodshed Progresses

Apparently I was mistaken, and the frame isn't for my strawberry patch, but is rather a part of the woodshed. That's fine, though. Both projects need to be done, and the woodshed is by far the higher priority - something that's been in the planning stages for several years. 

DH got eight of these concrete blocks. I guess they're really
heavy because he was complaining about how much they
weighed and how difficult it was getting them out of the
truck bed and down to the lower yard. 

The fancy concrete blocks arrived, DH picked them up, and yesterday he was busy digging holes, filling them with Class 5 gravel, setting the blocks at the appropriate levels, and making sure everything will fit together properly. It will be a large shed when it is finally completed, and to "relax" yesterday between physical bouts of pure strain, he researched solar pond pumps. I'm not really sure why, but he said the roof of the woodshed will have the appropriate direction and angle for solar panels. Sweet! Nice to know - LOL. 

Here, he's got the framework around one section of the woodshed, and
is extending eastward into the second section. A third section will still
be added to the left. Yes, it's a big structure, but I think it will be quite
pretty once it's done. The first hole went really well. The second one
was filled with tree roots from a tree we had pulled down, so he had
to cut all of those roots out before he could fill the hole with Class 5
and continue filling and leveling the block for that corner. I'm happy
he's back to building - he gets antzy without an active project. 

Chickie was amazed at the size that DH is making when I showed her the picture above yesterday afternoon. She forgot how many trees we've taken down over the years, and we do actually have two fireplaces, although only the downstairs one has ever been used. We're hoping to be able to use the fireplace again one of these days, and also clear the stacks of logs and wood away from the back of the patio so that we can plant more green plants and flowers. We've been recapturing the lower yard for six years now, and it's getting better and better every year. 

When I'm seated at the patio table, I'm looking East. Behind me, on
top of the "castle" walls he built a few years ago, is at least three feet
of stacked wood, extending from fence to our steps to the upper
yard. It's a lot of wood, and we still have more trees we probably
should cut down, so we can add more wood to the shed after it is
built if we still have room. The woodshed will be to the right,
between our tool shed and the castle walls. 

I'm sure we'll be spending some serious working time on the shed on Sunday. He needs a second person for some of the work, before it can go back to a one-man show. I think I will have earned my rum on the rocks or margarita by the time we're done on Sunday - LOL. Have an excellent weekend, be safe, be kind, and wear your masks. I'll be back on Monday. 

Cross-Post Problems, X-rays and Shoes

I'm not trusting Dreamwidth to cross-post correctly, it hasn't worked properly for most of the past week. So, Since I cut and paste from my personal blog to repost anyway, I guess I'll be doing it twice to get Dreamwidth and Live Journal posted properly. A pain, but a minor one all things considered.

This was my view as I sat on my patio yesterday. The umbrella in the
upper right corner kept me out of the sun, the trees were all singing
in the breeze, and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day and I
never get tired of the view. 

DH and I had a relaxing Sunday - the kind of day I often with for but rarely get. With dinner in the crock pot for most of the day, we sat outside on the patio, enjoying a beautiful summer day with just enough wind to make the trees surrounding us sing and talk together.

My x-ray from Friday's doctor appointment showed excellent
healing in all of the various breaks. The ones he had been most
worried about, the ankle and the fibula, were both healing
strongly, and the metatarsal breaks and one bone I pretty much
powdered, were also filling in nicely. I'm relieved! 

I've been wearing the small ankle support instead of the large walking boot for most of the past 48 hours now. I'm quite happy with the shorter and lighter look, and I'm getting quite used to walking on a level surface once again. When I had that walking cast on, it raised my injured foot above the ground by more than an inch, so I was off-angled all the time. It took a few hours to get used to being on level ground once again, as well as not having the larger ankle support, but I'm quite happy with the new stage in my healing now.

I ended up ordering two pairs of Keds from Zappos. This pair has
already shipped, the other will be shipped today. I chose the
pairs I did because of the elastic at the uppers. If necessary,
I'll clip the elastic or remove it to allow a better fit while I'm
still healing. If I absolutely hate them, I'll just send them
back (before alterations, of course) at no charge. 

My new shoes are on their way and I should have at least one of the two pairs by the end of the week. That's a good thing because I'm totally breaking the back end of my current shoes - they're just a bit too tight and I can't comfortably get my injured foot totally into the shoes. I do have one more pair I could try - my hand-made Renaissance Faire shoes from Beaver Tracks Shoes. I've had these for years but they're in fabulous condition and Bob makes amazing and sturdy shoes that he guarantees for life. I've never regretted buying those shoes. I might try to see how comfortable they are with my new brace. If they don't work right now, they will in another week or two when the swelling has decreased some more.

The Keds Double Decker was the second shoe I chose. The elastic
is in a different location on these, and it may be better (or not). Hard
to say, but I think both pairs will have a good shot at fitting well, and
my current shoes from Target have just about hit the
dust, they're so old. 

Since I had a weekend of non-event, I have a blog that's moving slowly like the Mississippi through the reed marshes below St Paul. I hope all of you have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow.