The Bridge ... and the water under it

The real rug.  Will be interesting to see if I like it as well down the road.  It does pick up all the colors in the room, and I can certainly recommend Rugs USA - good price - very thick yet soft luxurious pile.

Lots of water under the proverbial bridge since the last posting.  Early yard photos:

The cherry trees got a double haircut.  The first for free via the church who in exchange for cleaning up their side of the fence, asked to whack off a lot of what hung over.

 Then my guy, for a price, shortly thereafter lowered the canopy to dormant oil spray (hose) level.

I like the outcome/current photo:

Early summer pictures:

My favorite of all (and Mom's too if I remember correctly):  the Peace rose.

Spent Monday through Saturday in June at Jewel's while she was one of the leaders for their ward's girls camp.  A member let the leaders use a cabin (no electricity) near Zion's (girls in tents) and a few of them made it to:

One of the days they did a service project in St. George and took in Mary Poppins on stage at the

On the way to the airport Saturday, we stopped at Lucille's, a New Orleans restaurant.

Johnny had to work but Jewel brought back his his favorite menu item.

Jewel decided she wanted to spend her 30th birthday in the Salt Lake Temple, and yes, it takes most of the day for that drive and longer live session.  The day before was Lucy's birthday but I haven't seen pictures of the well-celebrated event yet.

Afterward we walked over to The Roof hoping to catch a nice more importantly quick lunch before rescuing the babysitter, but the service was slow so we picked The Nauvoo Cafe on the main floor, and celebrated her birthday with Lion House Pantry desserts (sold in the cafe).

The next day we went to the zoo and Jewel bought Despicable Me 2 tickets.  

Then she picked up Johnny at the airport so we could all celebrate the 4th together.

Johnny said PG's fireworks more than rivaled those in Vegas.

Though his visit was short, he was kind enough to take care of

a few minor fix-it issues that are hard for me and easy for him.

Friday morning we celebrated Raygen's birthday, for me,

and then Saturday, back in Vegas, all the Scarboroughs celebrated.

Jewel said Raygen's favorite gift (Saturday) was 

a Tummy Stuffer (unicorn).

Hired a guy to do some fix-it stuff for me (each year I try to make some improvements to This Very Old House).  Not cheap, but I was impressed with the outcome:

Cut the old awning post pipes flush so no more worries about kids tripping over them.

Took out the flower bed box around the tree because

 it will be felled the next time my tree guy makes the rounds.

Take that, rust!

Added a lean-to on the back of the shed to put my woodpile under, keeping it relatively weather-proof yet less buggy/unsightly.  I asked for something sturdy (because kids walk down that wall and there's not much hope they wouldn't be interested in paying it a visit), but also movable.  (Should that day come, however, I'd have to hire him back to move it!)

 Nevertheless, he did a great job.

Lastly, he re-caulked my tub.  Wish I had a before picture.  The fire repair people used the wrong stuff and so I did it over, which was even worse.  So I'm done for the year barring any problem repairs arising.

The garden.  Lots of peas, spinach, radishes, zucchini, orange cherry tomatoes, and half a dozen spaghetti squash to come as well as Big Beefy tomatoes and carrots.  It's entirely compost, and I leave the drip hose on 24/7.  I'm entitled to 5,000 gallons of water per month, and have never (re the garden) had to pay for more.  I used to worry it didn't get enough light - the shed was taller than I anticipated in imagination - but the harvest couldn't be better since I discovered how much difference the constant water made.