Spring Rhodes, May 2011

Sunday May 15, 2011 - When Ted got back from church he walked into my office with Izzibell on his shoulder and said "She doesn't need much attention or anything". Guess she couldn't wait to welcome him home.

Took a picture of new rhodes on 5-12 when the sun came out for a brief moment. The lace leaf maple is getting it's new leaves too. Below is a picture of our new custom shower curtain for the guest bathroom. Took us awhile to get one made.

Took this picture of our three flowering plum trees on April 15th. The coral bark maple at the corner of the driveway is pretty too.

Ted took picture below of our 'first to bloom' rhodes on April 5th. Pretty pink color. It's been so unusually cold this spring we can't get outside to work in the yard. Lots of weeding to do!

Surgery Time, March-April 2011

Tuesday, 3-29-11 - I had the best "room with a view" in the Port Angeles Hospital, though I wasn't in very good condition to appreciate it. Ted had fun taking pictures of all the boat traffic in the harbor.

3-29-11 - Had major abdominal explatory surgery at 9:00 a.m. Surgeon discovered an ovarian cyst had hemoraged and ruptured and 'stuck' a bunch of my internal organs together. He removed ovaries, fallopian tubes, appendix, and many adhesions. Very rough night brought about the nose tube (which helped immensely), and put me on the road to recovery.

Felt much better a couple of days later! April sent flowers along with the Teddy Bear, which served as my "belly bear" when I had to try and cough. It became my constant companion.

Beautiful flowers from Ted, April, and Diane & Jerry. Diane brought me home on Sunday, 4-3-11 at 1:30 p.m. Ted was in Seattle that day.

I'm posting this to the blog on Sunday, May 15, 2011. The incision is almost healed up all the way . Just a couple of spots are still very tender; the surgeon told me it had something to do with the dissolving stiches. Ted and I both came down with a really bad cold a couple of weeks ago, which had delayed recovery, but I'm looking forward to getting outside and working in the yard as soon as it stops raining (in beautiful sunny Sequim)! Ha, Ha.

CHRISTMAS WITH KARN 2010

12-29-10 - Picture below was taken on Ted's birthday. Very somber holiday season this year. Picture above is of my lost & recently found crystal collection. The little white fuzzy owl was Karn's Christmas present to me. It's the perfect addition to my owl collection, and I will always treasure it.

12-24-10 - Christmas Eve Dinner with Ted's family & relatives in Tacoma, WA. We all knew this would be Karn's last Christmas. She passed on January 30, 2011.

12-25-10 - Christmas Morning with the Ockfen/Johnson family.

12-17-10 - Luther came for a visit the week before Christmas. Ted's diagnosis of bladder cancer in November added another very serious note to the holidays.

Thanksgiving Snow and New Kittens

10-23-10 & 11-9-10 - Took these two pictures of the lace leaf maple changing to it's bright red fall colors.

Tuesday, 11-23-10 - The picture below was taken the morning after the BIG snow storm on Monday. It snowed all day and all night - very unusual for Sequim. Really pretty, but not a lot of fun if you have to drive in it.

11-11-10 - The new kittens were delivered to the house this afternoon. They are 6 weeks old today. It's taken a couple of weeks to name them, but I think we've settled on Izzi (Izzibell) for the little female (the runt of the litter) and TJ (Teej) for the little male. They are so much fun, and so funny.

Ted has never had kittens around the house before and is really enjoying watching their antics. Like all babies, they are into everything. The house is filled with the pitter patter of little feet and lots of laughter!

Landscaping Plants 9-25-10

Saturday, 9-25-10 - What an incredibly beautiful day! I took these pictures around 10:00 a.m. Our landscaper Debbie Reylolds has been working on the yard for two weeks and she will finish up on Wednesday 9-29.

These pictures will give you an idea of what things look like.

We are really pleased with the end results. It will be fun adding plants to the landscape in the months ahead to fill in the gaps. There are so many beautiful plants to choose from.

Mowing & Landscape Boulders, July 2010

July 7, 2010 - The annual mowing was done today. This equipment was really too small to do a good job on the very tall/thick grass. The tires just flatened it out before the blades could cut it, so the tall grass just stood back up after he was finished. Also he couldn't see the various drainage/sewer vent pipes and ran over them with the mower. I'll make sure they are clearly marked next year.

July 30, 2010 - Finally got the big landscaping rocks placed around the house today. Took 4 hours with the backhoe. They did a good job. Now all we need are the trees and plants. I thought I had a landscaper scheduled to start the last week in August, but I haven't heard back from her so I'll have to start looking for someone else next week.

July 27, 2010 - I found this unique area rug and thought it would look nice on the wall. The picture doesn't do it justice. The brown background with the orange, red and tan "sun bursts" complement the colors of the slate in the hallway and kitchen, and comes close to matching the bench cushions (which I'm getting recovered).

Wed. September 8, 2010 - I went for a hike down on the Dungeness Spit this morning with a couple of lady friends I met at line dancing class. (Ted was playing golf.) It was such a beautiful day-perfect for a 1+ hour walk on the beach.

Property Fence & Irrigation Trench 6-14-10

Monday, June 14, 2010 - Took these pictures of the fence marking the property corners today. Owl's Nest Road is just up the hill behind the trees in the picture above. In picture below I'm standing by the street looking down the property line. If you enlarge the picture you can see the other corner fence waaay down the hill.

I walked down the hill and snapped this shot of the fence.

It was completed Friday, May 21, 2010.

The trenching for the irrigation system was completed today. Steve Moak from Nature Scapes by Debra, Inc. is installing the drip irrigation system, which should be done by the end of this week. Next is getting the BIG landscaping rocks placed around the yard. Then we start the planting of the big trees and shrubs. I'm really looking forward to that.

RED SUNSET MAPLE

Hope to see one of these in the yard someday! :)