Yard, Projects, and Whatsits, sort of

We have a couple of big projects going forward this week, plus I have some studying to do, so by the time everything gets done I have been in no mood to blog. Either the stars were in alignment today (Did you know that when I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers during my college summers, they spelled "alignment" as "alinement"?) or I arranged my time a little better. Here it is, barely 10 p.m,. and I have some time to catch up on the week. So far.

Monday was yard and garden day. We still don't have any vegetables in the ground. Other things keep getting in the way. But things are happening. The claret cup cactus we planted last year is blooming:

The apples

and peaches

are growing.

We even have a volunteer flower!

I guess one of last year's annuals went to seed.

There are also problem plants. This plant outside Future Vet's bedroom seems to be taking over:

It certainly makes a lot of noise rubbing against the gutters. For a while, I thought there was some kind of distressed animal in the yard. Also, foxtail grass is everywhere, which is not so good for the dogs. I'll have to get the slave labor out to work on that as soon as they finish their current projects.

What are their current projects (Tuesday's topic), you may ask. One is demolishing the two-story playhouse that we found in the yard when we moved in seven years ago. Our offspring were a little big to use it when we moved, but varous and assorted small children have climbed up and down on it over the years we have lived here.

They started demolition on Monday:

Windows, doors, and the upper walls were removed. Tuesday's big task was to take the roof off:

That's the roof lying on the ground behind the playhouse. They ended up kind of just shoving it off after they had loosened most of the nails.

Today (Wednesday), the plan was to remove the rest of the upper level and all its odds and ends (like the safety railing). And they did!

Sports Nut worked by himself for a while and even started getting the upper level floor off:

They expect to be done tomorrow. And tomorrow, I plan to list the boards, roof, doors, windows, and various other bits and pieces on Freecycle so that other people will haul things away for me.

There's another project going on, but it's a surprise, so I won't share it just yet. Instead, here's a picture of Hershey at his favorite activity: