A Summer of Work and Play

This year has been so crazy that I just haven't had time to sit down and update my blog often enough.  So, today we are walking back in time and I'm going to share some highlights of our summer--focusing on Ma'Man.  Although he has been out of work since April, he has not been sitting idle.  In between searching for a job, filling out applications, and waiting for SOMEONE in the cosmos to hire him, he has been doing more manual labor than he has done since leaving the Air Force....with very nice side effects in the area of the biceps and chest...mmm!

We will start with the most recent and go back to the spring...  On his birthday, I decided to THROW A PARTY!  As anyone who knows me will attest, I love any reason for a party.  So we had a little family gathering and feasted on a few of his favorite foods.  He got phone calls from the kids as well as a couple of his sisters and a nice visit with his mom so I think it was a good birthday.

Although we built on to our house, it seems the dining area is still too small so all the women and one supervising man took the tables and the men hovered in a corner of the other room.  We had breaded shrimp, shrimp scampi, potato salad, green salad, with a very chocolate cake from Costco.

It was fun having Logan and the girls there.  Kids make parties funner.  Wendy and Richard went to Duane's favorite store (IFA) and bought him all sorts of things a man of the land would need--tiny dehydrated animals, a tiny dehydrated tractor, and a few treats to keep his energy up for all the work.  Logan thought that was pretty cool.  Chrystal gave him a gift certificate and Josh and Mindy spoiled him with HOT curry (can't find that just anywhere!), German Curry Ketchup, and MORE curry!  Duane was a happy, happy boy.

Duane has always wanted a monkey and although I have tried through the years to convince him that I was his monkey, he still wanted a "real" one.  So, I found a flying monkey in hopes that he would finally have the desire of owning a monkey would be satisfied.

And, what would a birthday for a chicken farmer be without a cook flying-crowing rooster!  I wasn't the only one to think of giving him chickens for a gift either!  Wanda and CR found some hand-carved Navajo jivin' chickens to give him as well.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of them--but they are COOL!

Jeff showed up in full mohawk to provide a little entertainment but things didn't really get off the ground until CR tried to use it as a launching pad for Duane's new monkey.

One of Duane's favorite things to do is to head to the hills with his buddy in crime, CR.  They're always looking at rocks!

This is on a trip to Butt Crack Creek, one of the places that CR and Duane found where the tall sandstone rocks look like "Butt Cracks" of which a photo is not included because that would not be appropriate.  So, here is a picture of CR with his grandson Teigan.  Teigan is the next great explorer just like his dad and grandfather.

As you all know (because we talk about it a lot...) Duane got chickens in the spring.  They have been a source of great entertainment for both of us.  He has eight.  The two black ones are Hocus and Pocus, the spotted ones are Pongo and Purdy, the grey ones are Helga and Brutus/Bertha (we weren't sure if she was a he or a she there for a while) and the red ones are Ruby Rose and Rosco.  Rosco thinks he is "all 'dat" and is constantly challenging Duane when he gets around the ladies.  Above is Brutis/Bertha.  She and her sister love to be held and petted.

Here is one very proud Duane with his first two eggs.

The eggs are so tiny compared to the jumbo size that I get from the grocery store.  It would take two of the new eggs to equal one of the store bought.

At the beginning of summer, Duane began landscaping the weedy and dirt area left from our construction.  We spent weeks going up Dry Fork to gather the rocks and we ended up with this beautiful raised garden walkway.

Another project that Duane worked on was the shed out back.  He enclosed both sides and made a gardening shed on the left side for me and a "Lab" on the right side for him.  He also spent hours and hours cleaning up stuff that had been cluttering the yard and driving us both crazy.

The south side of the house.

The Arbor with the benches.  (The climbing rose lattice is not attached to the house in this pic so that is why it is a little skewampus.) 

A few years ago, Duane began building this arbor.  One of his dreams was to raise some grapes and have them grow over the arbor.  One of his finished projects for the summer now includes the arbor and the benches inside where you can sit and enjoy the sunshine.

This is the entry into the garden from the south side.  I put it together using the diamond shaped stones that mom has had for years.  She was happy to have them placed in a permanent place like this.

View looking toward the south side of the house.

Here is the east side of the house.  We haven't got the path filled in yet because we are not sure what we are going to use to fill it in with yet...

Another mess left from the construction, as well as the leak from under the house in June, was eliminated by Duane building this patio!  It is amazing and I love it.  He did it all except for the little wall of stone that I built.  No more mud on the deck!   

Another view of the patio.

DISCLAIMER:  If the photos are out of order, that is BLOGGERS fault!  No matter how I tried to get things in order, BLOGGER would mess it up.  So, now you just get the highlights instead of the insider details that were here at one time but BLOGGER lost.   Arrrrrgh!