Saturday, January 31, 2009

Re-doing the mound

The mound in front of mom and pops house has been beautiful over the years but the plants have gotten overgrown and old. They built their house in 1968 so the plants are about 40 years old. (40 is pretty old isn't it Jamie?) Anyway Mom and I decided to make a much needed change. (With Dave and Pops help of course)
This has been a fun place to watch the birds and squirrels and we didn't want to change that!
Dave and Pops hooked on to the old Junipers with the hitch of the little truck and pulled them out. They came out quite easily.
We kept all the rhododendron and azaleas but pruned them then added a few other plants. Mom had a good friend Barbara who died this past year whose husband gave mom their water fountains. Her husband said he knew Barbara would be so glad to have Mom have them. We love them and were excited to put them in.
The birds love it too! The picture doesn't do it justice. It will be even prettier when we can have our summer flowers added to it. It has been a fun project. It is still a work in progress but it is making this quite a showplace. We will add more pictures later as it gets better.
Well....What do you think?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dave's rock wall

This property is a gravel pit so these rocks were all over the property. Where we pulled out stumps we pulled out all these rocks too. The cement pieces were in a pile back in the corner of the property.

Looks good doesn't it?
I have mentioned Dave's rock wall several times on this blog so I finally have some pictures and a video of it. He has worked on it for quite a while collecting rocks, building the road and finally building the wall. Doesn't it look great? We will be planting grass on the road and all around in the yard.

Random pictures

Mom and I were going through the pictures that Dave took and decided to add a few fun pictures. Mom really enjoyed all the little kids during the work party.
I mentioned that Janice took charge of the young rock pickers. She hauled them around on grandpas lawnmower then they would fill it with rocks for Uncle Dave's rock wall.
We ate lunch after the work was done down on the patio. It was the only day we have had in weeks that we could eat outdoors. By the next day it was cold again.
See... I told you we had lots of help. About 30 of us and the food was terrific!

This is one of grandpa's apple trees before Randy and his gang started.
And this is the finished results! Quite a change isn't it?
Remember the snow storm? Moms snowman is the buried hump on the right...
This is at the church. You can see why we couldn't even drive into the parking lot for over a week. WE STILL can't believe how much snow we had.

Monday, January 26, 2009

The guest room is ready!

Okay no excuses! We finally finished our guest room and bathroom and need someone to try them out! Jack says they are coming in March but otherwise our calender is pretty bare.
Mom and I have had a lot of fun with this! The pictures don't look too great but we like it.

Work Party for grandma and grandpa

Last Monday there was no school so all of the locals of Lynn and Sharons family including Robin and her family came over and spent the day working in Grandma and Grandpas yard. It is unbelievable what they accomplished in such a short time!All good work parties require lots of fun food. This bunch sure know how to make that happen! I was impressed at how easy they put together a whole banquet. I have a lot to learn from my nieces. Sherilyn and Lisa aren't in the picture but together it was wonderful!
Grandmas favorite part was enjoying the great grandbabies. There were so many kids everywhere but they were so good and so helpful. Most of them were outside working their hearts out.
Randy (in picture) owns a tree service business with another teacher in Coupeville and it suppliments their income by about double. They are very professional. His partner even came and helped free of charge because he does the fruit trees. What a team!
The two trees in the background are apple that have been cut way WAY back! They were covered with ugly suckers and needed it so bad.
They had an assembly line getting the limbs in the chipper! Even the younger kids really worked. There were about 30 people (workers and watchers) who spent the day. Janice even put the little kids to work hauling rocks for Dave's rock wall. (You will see this in a later blog.)
They cut down this cherry tree by the side of the carport. Pops has wanted it cut for a long time.
Oops, this picture is out of order. Randy is up in the Cherry tree preparing it for cutting down.
Dorrel and the boys pulled the rope to keep it from landing on the carport while Randy sawed it down.
The old men stand around and are amazed at how fast and effortlessly the young men and kids get everything done. Pops says there is quite a change in the "old Dickson place!" Mom says the whole family is so good to us. The guys are so happy to have it all done!
Dave sleeping after a hard day watching. Uncle Leo's hand was killing him with arthritis but he loves being here and enjoying everyone.
Now! Work is done, food is eaten, lets play games! This is my kind of family!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Cut off from life as we know it!

They closed the road to town about 3 AM. They were told the river would crest by 4AM but at 8AM when I was taking the pictures they said it wouldn't crest until at least 10 AM!
They say all the businesses at Island crossing are flooded but I can't take pictures because we are stuck here at home.... so I think I'll go work on my newest project, the basement bathroom! Dave and I are supposed to start our new service mission tonight in Mt Vernon...perhaps we can go through Granite Falls or.... we will try another route Pops mentioned.... or perhaps?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Oh no, we are flooding!

All that snow turns into all that water! It has been raining and raining so the snow is melting so fast. This is across the highway from the church looking toward town.
This is on the church side of the highway. See the top of the fence?
Someone called and told us the highway will be closed tonight so we will be cut off from town. Sherilyn said they just crossed it and she thinks it might be getting a little better so I guess we just wait and see.