This week I got some more independence. We got an electric scooter. It's a 3-wheeler with big tires so it will go over rough ground, grass, dirt, pretty much where ever I want to go. Doug took this picture after I had picked some flowers that had been broken by the heavy rains. (I love the basket in front). I can lean way over to weed too. If my arms were only 1" longer I'd have it made. The scooter also disassembles so we can take it with us in the motorhome for me to use at campgrounds, it may even fit in the car so I can take it shopping!! Whoo hooo!!!

You may notice the green grass behind me. This is the first grass he planted between the garages. It looks great here but is very sporadic up close, it will be a bit longer before it fills in enough to mow but in the meantime it looks a whole lot better then dirt.

June 11

So a few days later, when we got another break in the rain we hired a gal to do the planting. Man could she work! She dug up some of my existing plants that we had saved and planted the entire 60" of garden in front of the house in one afternoon. A lot of green right now but there will be more color soon and in the meantime I'll plant some annuals for immediate color - if it ever stops raining

Once that was done Doug was finally able to start seeding the front now that the planting is done. He has put so much work into rototilling, raking, fertilizing and then seeding and raking again.

Front landscaping

Ok, I'm back again, this was June 5, we had one morning without rain and 3 guys came and planted this "island" in our front lawn. (I mean what will become our front lawn.) Doug thinks it's stupid but I like it. I always wanted a crabapple (on the left) a fir in the middle (a christmas tree) and an amur maple on the right. I really like the shape of this one. It should look nice as it grows. The shrubs will flower eventually.

Next step was the front walk way. We chose a cement walk that is stamped and colored to look like stone. First he had to add a colored powder on it and here are the stamps being laid out. The final steps included a seal that also makes it non skid. So hopefully no accidents.

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We think it came out great. The first time I tried it I felt like on a carnival ride. It was bumpy but also banked a little to the right then to the left and I gathered speed at the end. We'll have to make sure there are no cars parked at the end of the walk. You can see in the middle picture that the cement goes right up to the deck so I have a straight shot out the door.

All Doug wants to do is get the lawn planted. This is between the 2 garages. It is a hugh area and I kept saying you will never be able to keep it watered enough for the seed to sprout. Well luckily, I guess, it has been raining for 3 days so it will probably be enough to germinate. Unfortunately the water wanted to wash out all his work so he spent one rainy morning digging a ditch to divert the rain. So far it's working. He keeps telling me not to plant so many flowers but I can't seem to stop him from planting grass!

The garage looks nice now that it is the same color. If it ever stops raining I still want to take some pictures from the front.


BTW if anyone knows how I can move my typing to the top of the page, I'd love to know!

We have had painters working on painting the old garage to match the house so it's going from blue to green. They've been painting all the house trim too. The garage is almost done now; looks great!

Next step is landscaping the front yard. We are planting some flowering trees and shrubs in the front yard. Larry just shook his head when the landscaper asked him to 'plant' a couple of boulders. Unfortunately everyone decided - much to my dismay- that the hemlock I made them save is dying so it has to go now rather then later. Wouldn't do to make a mess after we seed the lawn. It was such a beautiful shade tree and the only one we had left near to the house.

Well now that spring is here we can get geared up for the yard work. Today we had the driveway paved by Twin State Paving. They did a great job and it's going to be wonderful for me to get outside now. Before I was stuck because there was such a drop from the garage floor that I didn't dare go out by myself and even if I did it was soft dirt to get stuck in. It will be much easier to take care of in the winter too - if we're even here to take care of anything! No more broken ankles. Oh, maybe you didn't know that Doug slipped on the ice in the back yard the end of March and broke his right ankle. Yes the driving foot of course. Luckily we had the hand controls on my car so he could still drive. He's healing well but still is "supposed" to be wearing the walking cast for 2 more weeks. We also had a pad paved where we can park the motorhome when it arrives hopefully by end of June. It's off to the right side of the house (when looking at it). When I can get out I will take some pictures of the front

Sunroom

Well, now that we've moved in, there isn't so much going on here. I did want to show you the inside of the sun room. We used it over Christmas and put the tree out there, with the heater we were able to leave the doors wide open and really utilize the extra room. I am so going to love it when it warms up. We aren't bothering to heat it in this zero degree weather, the heater runs constantly to keep up but on sunny days, it's almost warm enough.

Finally, a pic of the back of the house! Now that the sunroom is finished it looks different. The deck & stairs are from the old house and the ramp from the front. This is all just temporary, as an emergency exit if necessary. Next summer I hope to have a deck across both rooms with a nice garden to look out on.

The big white thing on the left is the tub they took out of my bathroom. It was too small so we had the tiled shower installed instead. I already showed pics of that. The 4 season sunroom isn't getting much use in this 20degree weather. We just had the inside finished with knotty pine. We'll have to wait till spring to seal it. Once that's cleaned up we can install the gas heater and hopefully get some use of it on sunny days this winter.

Well, I think you can see that Olive has settled in quite well. She's in the guest bedroom. This room is beautiful with so much sunshine. I want to sun myself too! That is our camper you can see through the window. We still need to sell it.









On Monday Nov10 the mobile home was sold and moved out. This is how it looked going out of the driveway. I don't know how those drivers maneuver the way they do. That's 70' of the last 25 years going down the road. If it stops raining, I'll get pics of what the yard looks like now. The contractors have already laid the footings for the garage foundation.