A Picture I like

Who's who? Can you tell? :)

For all you Pet Lovers

An interesting post by my friend Zack. Check it out.



Let me know your thoughts, if you have any :)

House Update #3

Well, not much has happened around the Lowther Lodge lately. Projects have basically been put on hold due to a hectic ultimate schedule. Every other weekend tournaments really takes a lot out of the home improvement project time line! Though, as I write this I'm overwhelmed by pictures I've neglected to share with you. Like the mulch spreading, the cut down trees, and the completed closet project! So, without further ado, the pictures...

Here are a couple of shots of the mulch we finally were able to spread. Notice how far the pile has dwindled?! Yay. We have a couple more ideas about what to do with what's left.

Here are some before and after pictures of the work we did spreading mulch. We had to take up all the old pinestraw and pull weeds like crazy.

Before:


After:

More Mulch Pictures

On the right of this picture is a plant we recently planted. I can't remember what kind it is but it has fuzzy leaves and should grow up to 6' tall and 6' wide. Great hedge plants that should help screen the view of our neighbors' motorcycle backyard. We discovered 3 hollies and a couple of hostas peeking up among the weeds. Now that they have a prominent place in the bed, hopefully they'll grow up to be nice strong plants!

Brian and I hope to replace that dead plant over in the left hand corner with a Japanese maple one day. Also, we want to put in larger foundation plants because these suckers do an awesome horrible job disguising our foundation.

GROSS OUT ALERT!--If you are easily squeamish please do not look below! Except I have nongross out pictures after it...so scroll through quickly if you can't handle it :-D






Here's a little guy that came out to visit while I was clearing out the hosta bed along the righthand side of the house (see photo above). I seriously squealed with delight out of fear when he came slithering out RIGHT NEXT TO MY HAND! Brian calmly scooped him into the recycling bin and deposited him in the easement behind our home. We were curious if any of you might know what kind it is (click picture to enlarge)? We figured it was a harmless garden snake, but as you can see from the picture below he was coiled ready to strike. I guess that doesn't mean he's not a garden snake....anyone?....anyone?....Bueller?

And if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see just how ginormous our little visitor really was! But seriously...when it's right there next to your hand, I don't care how big or small the thing is, eeeeeek! Our neighbor assured us he had never seen a snake in his yard. But he quickly observed our backyard is nearly a jungle compared to his perfectly manicured lawn. Just the way we like it :)

And now, here's the finished product of our closet venture...Should have seen the mess it was before. Thanks Brian and David for your hard work putting together a spectacular new closet!

Brian and David measuring to make it perfect. Perfection is hard to come by when your walls are not exactly straight :-/. But who can tell?!


Yep, appears to be level[headed]. har-har. Excuse me while I push my glasses back up my nose. *snort*


*The Handymen*
and...

TaDa! Hurray for no longer having your clothes in a pile on the floor. Notice the stained rods? I did that *clap, clap, clap*!

That's all for now, and if you're still reading, thanks! I hope you enjoyed another House Update!

Until next time,

Travels Galore

Ok, maybe not galore. As I told you recently, Brian headed to Seattle last week and got back this past Tuesday. Before he went there we took a mini vacation with Sion and Emily to Hilton Head. Here are a couple of pics. I was horrible with the camera so there aren't many!

Can you believe the size of that squash and zucchini?! Homegrown from the Stone's garden :)

On the trip back Brian's odometer rolled over to 150,000!












Here are some pictures of Brian's trip to Seattle! He did a great job and some are very artistic. I wouldn't be surprised to find several of the bridge pictures printed and framed on some lucky wall in our house sometime.



Here's a video of the famous flying sockeye!

Flourishing Fauna

Here are some photos of how my edgeworthia is progressing!

I love seeing how abundant my plant is becoming. I'm so thankful it seems to be growing well. Every time I take a look at it I notice new leaf buds sprouting out the top!

And something hilarious. Spellchecker didn't like the word edgeworthia so it suggested the following:

• Noteworthiness
  
• Blameworthiness
  
• Praiseworthiness
  
• Seaworthiness

Tehee :)

And a picture of my fern...bouncing back to life! I can't wait until this guy is jumbo and fills in that corner of the plant bed.
Anyone know what that pretty bush behind the fern is? I love the star shaped leaves but have no idea what it is!

Cheers!

Conviction

This post spoke directly to me. I can totally relate to this blogger...not sure who s/he is but man, I completely understand.

I had such an incident even today. Not walking through Central Park, but sitting at my desk. I even prayed on my way to work this morning that the Holy Spirit would fill me and help me control my tongue/thoughts. I even paraphrased 2 Cor 10:5 in order to prepare myself. I failed. But I know God's grace abounds.

Just wanted to share.

Busy Bees

Bzzzzz

So what have we been up to lately?

Well, Brian did an awesome job spreading this monster pile of mulch we got a couple weeks ago. We still have some left but he made a nice mulch path along the right side of our house leading to the backyard. It used to be a mucky, marshy mess (alliteration anyone?!) and now it's a pretty, mulch-y trail. He even repositioned the stepping stones and I couldn't be more pleased with his efforts. Great job sweetie!

My edgeworthia chrysantha is doing quite well. I'm actually very happy that it's surviving the heat. My fern seems to be bouncing back too! I was beginning to feel like a black thumb rather than a green thumb when I realized I scorched my fern! A Fern! One of the easiest plants to grow...they're very hardy, and forgiving--which is why I guess it's doing ok right now. ***With this current heat wave I better go check on it this afternoon!

I got the painting in the upstairs hallway finished this weekend! *Score* Just 2 more rooms to go and some baseboard painting before we get new carpet ! It will be awesome to get all that done and then get the rest of our furniture moved upstairs and have it actually look like we're trying to live in the upstairs of our house!

Brian and I got to go to Hilton Head with another couple last week (Aug 5-7). It was a great time and relaxing. All four of us got stung by a jelly fish--not bad though. We enjoyed playing bocce ball and reading and swimming in the pool. It was nice to just not be thinking about work and get to recharge for a few days. Thanks Emily & Sion for a fun time!

Brian heads off to Seattle, WA this Wednesday for the Emerald City Classic tournament. Go Ring! He'll be gone Wednesday-Monday arriving early Tuesday on the red-eye. I hope he and his teammates play well--I'll update you all once we know the results! They play the top 3 teams in the nation, right off the bat--shewy, what a lineup. I'm off to Winston-Salem this weekend for the Glazed Days Tournament. Looking forward to some Krispy Kreme doughnuts and fun ultimate!

I think that's all for now. It's been a busy past couple of weeks. August is nonstop for us with tournaments and planned activities! I hope to post some pictures to correspond with some of these posts. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying life and loving Christ!