Independence Day

Wow, did I really fail to make a post the entire month of June?  Shame on me.  I think that's the first month I've missed since the blog started.  I'll have to make up for it with some serious posting in July and August.

I wish I could say I had a lot to report...but I don't.  June was fairly benign.  We had my birthday (41...yuck), Ashley and I worked a bunch, and Bode spent his days at camp.  He says camp is "fun" but "not great."  We asked him why.  He said, "Because I don't get to stay home with you guys."  Very sweet of him.  I explained to him that we aren't home while he's at camp.  We tried to convince him coming to work with us would not be near as fun as camp.  We think we were successful, but who really knows.

I did start work on the backyard garden.  Here is a "before" picture.

I cleared a large area, and the wood marks an expected location for some boxes.  Note the Afghanistan-like soil.  There is nothing organic in our existing dirt, so I've been bring in bags of sheep and peat-moss and have also been scavenging grass clippings from anyone in the neighborhood.  We have planted three trees (an apple, cherry, and plum).  The picture was taken before the trees went in.  They are to the right of the back-right corner of the picture.  They went in the ground a couple weeks ago, and they are still alive which is amazing considering the horrible soil conditions.  The plan is to put in a fence to keep the dogs out, and we have a lot of little ideas I won't go into.  The garden looks amazing...in my head.  We'll see if the end result matches my imagined blueprint.

Speaking of the dogs, they are hot and cold.  One minute, they are tearing around the yard, play-fighting and chasing each other; the next, they are a lazy bitch and bastard.

We spent the 4th of July with Uncle Dave.  We went to an old friend's house (Josh and Shannon, and their two kids, Henry and Cora).  Josh had the foresight to buy fireworks.  Ashley and I didn't get any because all fireworks are illegal in Colorado Springs.  Fortunately Josh and Shannon live in Highlands Ranch.  The first firework, and probably the funniest, was the one shown below.

When lit, the way the materials burns makes it look like the dog is taking a dump.  Words simply cannot describe it; thankfully, I have a movie.

The kids (and the adults) all loved the dog.  Great fun.  The next best firework was this rooster, that, for some reason, laid an egg when lit.  As before, I'll let the movie to all the talking.

Here is a good action photo of Dave and Teddy lighting a tiny one with Bode and Charlie supervising.

Kids love to watch things burn, and they don't yet understand the dangers of fire, as this next picture will attest.  Fortunately, no one was injured the entire night.

Our most dangerous and loudest firecracker was pretty cool.  Lots of sparks and noise.

When it got dark, we lit off some ones that sparkle, but pictures don't really do those justice.  I did get the below photo of Bode with a sparkler.

We had a lovely evening in Denver.  We spent the night at Uncle Dave's.  This morning, we slept in, had some food, and spent an hour at the pool.  We came home in the mid-afternoon.  I did some work on the garden project.  Hopefully it will be done by fall :-)  Pleasant weekend to all.