Memorial Day...

The neighbors have been torturing us with the smell of grilled goodies when we get home from work, and we needed to put an end to our suffering. So, Stef and myself bought a gas barbecue. This weekend has been burgers, gyros with grilled pita and chicken, and filets with grilled portabellas, zuchinni and summer squash. MMMmmmmmm... I love the smell of grilled food. Oh, and the locally grown corn is soooo good/sweet.

We also went for a nice walk along a trail down by the Maumee river near our house.

I think I need to take up fishing. Looks relaxing, see pictures below.

Front Yard Work...

Flower Bed that Stef and myself recently deweeded. I tilled the following day. Also, new posts to replace the rusted rod-iron posts on the front porch. Still need to be painted.

Stef is plugging away at the edging. It's about 8:30pm in this photo. Behind Stef is a baby Alaskan Cedar, and planted in the bed is Sage and Lavender. Also, low voltage lighting.

Stef and myself laid the slate stepping stones. Very heavy.

Baby Japanese Maple to the left, and a dirt spot where we ground out an old tree trunk that I felled last Fall.

-Tom and Stef (TS)

Playing hooky...

Today Stefanie and myself decided to play hooky from work for the latter half of the day. We obtained permission of course, but it is nice to think we quasi-broke the rules a little. Not really breaking the rules... actually. But anyways. Whatever.

Our rebellion took us to the Toledo Botanical gardens were the local horticultural societies were showing their Spring time floral goods.

What we bought:
Carpinus Carolinia (Tree that has a dark trunk with green leaves during the spring/summer and red leaves during the fall; this will go in the backyard and will provide some needed shade)
Three Sage shrubs
Two lavendar shrubs
Two rosemary plants
Two different varieties of basil
One Chive
Three different types of hydrangea
And an assortment of native flowering plants

Rebels are we.

Backyard remodel progress...

Video tour of our backyard remodeling progress.

-Slate stepping stones and low voltage lighting for the pond.

-De-weeded backyard and roto-tilled dirt.

-Grass seeded with Stefanie watering.

-Lilac and cherry trees in bloom.

-Tala and Rusty hanging out in the yard.

-Tiny bunny eating greens.

Play ball...

Rusty and Tala in the yard...

One of the Best Weekends...

This weekend started like many weekends here in the blomquist fujii household of Ohio. We typically have great aspirations to get all sorts of projects done; fix this, paint that, pickup groceries, etcetera. For the most part, we usually only complete a third of proposed goals. This was one of those weekends destined for tangents. Earlier in the week, Tala was starting to show matting in her fur, and was demonstrating hygenic challenges on her rear side. I called to schedule her for this Saturday to get her groomed at her usual place. Early Saturday I dropped her off, then after a haircut, and grocery shopping we went to pick her back up and she had divided into two!

Tala (Swedish for girl bear; center), and her new counterpart Rusty (Left). Someone had given him up for adoption because they couldn't take care of him. We saw him at the adoptathon at the groomer/pet-store and decided he needed a good home. He is too sweet, and he and Tala love romping around the yard together (see picture above). He is already taking to Crate training for sleeping and as a safety place. He slept soundly through the first night without a peep, and is the most pleasant dog you could imagine. So far, no potty problems in the house.

Sunday, we got up early and I dropped Rusty off at the groomer for him to get cleaned up. The ladies there loved him, and said he is quite an affectionate doggy. We arrived back home, Stef started working on Easter Sunday lunch/dinner (see above) and I worked in the yard mowing the lawn. Rusty and Tala spent their time in the kitchen watching Stefanie cook. Their heads sometimes cock from side to side in unison. The facial expressions are too funny sometimes. After a good gorging, the dogs went outside to play, then layed down for a nap with me.

A very nice weekend.

A nicely groomed Rusty taking a nap.

Frog Flinging...

The weather in Northwest Ohio is warming up, and Stef and myself ran some errands today to get some ideas for Spring projects around the house. We're looking at replacing the sliding patio door, replacing the newel posts on the front porch and installing crown molding throughout the house, amongst other things. When we first moved into the house we had a lot of yard cleanup.

We attempted to do as much yard work as possible, but the pond was the most difficult. From three years of neglect, or possibly more, algae had set in, and no matter what we did we couldn't get it cleared. The pond, yard and waterfall gurue at our local home store suggested we let it be until early spring when the ice thaws, then hit it with the chemicals. This past week the weather warmed up enough and sure enough the water was crystal clear from the winter freeze. When it thawed and cleared I had not realized how many gold fish we had! ~25. At the bottom of the pond I noticed a bunch of leaves from the previous Fall. These needed to be removed.

So, today I took my handy-dandy rake and dredged the bottom of the pond flinging the leafy contents onto the yard. Mid-way into one of my flings, I noticed a sleeping frog being flung into the air. It looked asleep. I ran over to it in the yard, carefully scooped it up and put it back in the water. Stefanie of course witnessed this event and couldn't stop laughing.

We ended the day by shooting some hoops. A nice Saturday I must say. Interesting for sure.

-Tom