Progress Report

I started this post a couple of weeks ago, but after my GD camera crapped out on me for good, I had no pictures to illustrate my hard work. So, really, what was the point of telling you about all of my hard work without showing you pictures of all my hard work so you could then tell me how hard I worked and how lovely it looks? BUT after doing some research and finding out that there are several class action suits pending against Kodak regarding this very same GD camera, and that said GD camera is beyond fixable, we bit the bullet and got a new camera - a bigger, better, badder mutha that nearly slept on my pillow last night I love it so much. So, from now on, expect to see great feats of photographic genius! Or just regular old snapshots, but with two more MP. Whatever.

All this to say, when last we left my backyard, some five months ago, it looked something like this. Due to spots of "cooler" weather here and there lately, I've once again been up to my elbows in Dillo Dirt and other varieties of shit. Behold, the fruits of my labor:

A few things have already come and gone, and any holes you see are from my ripping out or cutting back a few other things that were just about to take over the place. I just stuck that Esperanza (yellow bells) in there (even though it will soon die a slow death, IF we ever have a real winter), because I love it, and I couldn't stare at that-bigga-hole for all of the next six months. What prompted my mania in particular was the carpet of weeds that had grown under The Bench. With some eager child laborers helping me, we pulled that shit out, tossed out some pea pebbles, and voila. Next up - antique roses for the trellis in November.

In other outdoorsy news, the GGMS fall family campout was a great success. I could hardly keep Peach and Olive out of the new big ass tent, which was one of about 50 set up for the weekend - our own little GGMS tent city. We headed out to the park at halftime of the Big Game and got there just in time to start setting up for the potluck dinner, the offerings for which were almost exclusively vegetarian, which was nice. I spaced and forgot to bring the freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches, but we did have the makings for s'mores, so that was a big hit. At sundown, which was beautiful, by the way, the sing-along began, and we threw in the towel about an hour later. Sleeping in the big ass tent was wonderful, what with the nearly full moon holding steady right above our mosquito mesh panels and plenty of air mattress space for everyone, but I wasn't anticipating how nippy it got in the wee hours of the night. The Shorties had flannel sleeping bags attached to their air mattresses, and, at one point, I tried to squeeze my big ass in with Olive, but I couldn't get the damn sleeping bag zipped. Finally, poor T-Bone had to trek a little ways to the car to grab a throwdown quilt I keep in there, but we were all much happier after that. We heard kids screaming until about 10pm, and some chuckleheads by the fire having a deep philosophical debate until about midnight (and they weren't even drunk), but then it was peaceful until sunrise. I love camping out, and with all the bad ass equipment we have now, I hope we get to do it more often. Just with more blankies next time.