The Summer So Far...

I told myself at the beginning of the summer that I was going to make this one more productive that last year's. I haven't managed to make that the case professionally or academically (yet). But around the house? There, I'm way ahead:

Using the lumber left over from our disassembled jungle gym (taken down and left on our patio since last year, when we'd decided it was becoming too much of a potential death trap), I've built a new and improved death trap clubhouse for the girls. It's not finished yet, but as you can see, they've already marked it as their own. Next up will be building a bench, maybe making use of an old tabletop from a broken play table, and perhaps finding place for an slide...

On the opposite side of the back yard, making use of a bunch of rocks from the creek/run-off across the street from us (and nearly destroying our wheelbarrow in the process; I had to go and buy it a new industrial strength tire), I built a retaining wall around our garden space. Admittedly, I did this in two stages, the first one back in the spring when we first started getting our garden space ready after a year of letting it lay fallow. But that time we were able to use rocks that we had on our property; this time I had to haul them myself. (In case you're wondering, no, it doesn't seem to do much to stop the rabbits, but it does slow the grab grass down.)

Finally,our garden itself. The zucchini has come in like gangbusters, and after originally fearing we'd lost our cucumbers and melons in some early summer storms and hail, everything seems to be coming along nicely. It's even looking like we may break our losing streak and actually get some corn this year. The beans are developing nicely, and while the tomatoes look a little undersized, I'm hopeful. All in all, I'm surprised to say that our garden seems to be doing better than the Friend's University community one. I suppose there might be a lesson there about the superiority of private ownership to collective responsibility, but I'll do my best not to learn it for as long as possible.