Backyard Update... 7/25/09

One of the things that attracted us to our house when we were in the market was the fact that we had endless possibilities witht he backyard. The house itself was in good shape but there was nothing out back but dirt and broken concrete. For the last month now, we've had one project after another in the yard. We started by redoing the patio concrete, then moved on to the patio covering, and are now working on the lawn area. We've mixed in some painting here and there and are coming along nicely. The best part is that it's been a family affair. Here are a few pics to show some of the progress:

We had a couple of huge truckloads of dirt delivered the other day and I've been out there shoveling some into a wheelbarrow and going back and forth. It's been quite the workout and Ally's been pitching in with her shovel as well.

We've had a great time doing this so far even though working outdoors is just not that fun. At least it's been breezy over the past couple days, that's made a big difference. Just this morning we had a crew of a few over that were helping shovel in some of that dirt. We started with about 10 yards on Thursday and I was able to do one by myself. But we must have knocked out about 8 cubic yards today with the crew we had. Now that was a workout. In fact, I'm so impressed with how hard we worked and what it's done for me physically that I just had to brag a bit. Hope you enjoy the following real-time pic of me as I can't guarantee that I will keep this up for too long. After the project is done with, I'm going to need a break.

Yes, that's really me, I promise!!!!!

Train Your Kids, Please!

I'm not sure if it's because Michael Jackson has dominated the news over the past couple weeks, but I've noticed a trend with my last couple of posts being about some pretty whacked out people. Here's the next in line...

It was around 90 degrees on Friday afternoon. What else are you supposed to do when you are in a home equipped with A.C.? Why, leave it turned off and go out to dinner, of course. This isn't a multiple choice exam so please keep up. We began deliberating on restaurant choices (i.e. scouring through our stack of coupons) and decided on Sweet Tomatoes. This is far and away Ally's favorite place to eat and it's a place loaded with salads and things that are kept cool. Logical choice on a hot day. Did I mentin they got all you can eat frozen yogurt? Yep, Ally's favorite place to eat. Everything was fine as we were sitting there enjoying dinner and conversation when the distraction came.

I stopped chewing the moment I looked up and saw a kid standing behind Becky. This kid must have been about 11 years old or so and was standing there licking himself. I noticed he had chocolate all over his face, his arms, hands and shirt. I wasn't sure if I should feel bad for him for whatever may have caused that mess or for the family that was sitting at the booth where he was standing. I thought of 2 ways to describe what he was doing: 1) Have you ever seen a cat licking the back of its paws and then proceed up the length of its arms? 2) It kind of looked like a sci-fi movie where a a deformed alien pops out of someone's stomach and is trying to pry its way out. OK, so maybe that sounded a bit gruesome but so was this kid. He was standing right next to this poor family licking himself clean and it was disgusting just standing there watching him. A few minutes later, he came back with his mom behind him. I can overhear her say to him, "Now do you see why I kept telling you to tie your shoes?"

OK, now that really set me off. I started piecing 2 and 2 together and thought of something that made this kid even more disgusting than he had already presented himself to be. He was carrying a bowl of ice cream when he tripped over his shoelaces. As he fell, I envision him putting his hands out and falling face first but using his hands to cusion his fall. Instinct would tell you to do that. Another thing your instinctswould tell you to do is to go to the nearest bathroom and clean yourself up. Nope! Dude came back still smothered in chocolate and licking off the same hands that had just landed flat on the floor. Like I said... DISGUSTING. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse...

Well, they might have but I couldn't look anymore. Once the kid returned with a bowl with his mom, he sat and began to eat it. I looked over once and saw him sitting with his elbow on the table. His arm was in an "L" shape with the portion from hand to elbow being vertical. This was the hand he was holding the bowl with. He was holding this bowl at an angle with ice cream about ready fall out. Every time he stuck his spoon in, he do so from the other side of the bowl which caused the ice cream to get ever closer to falling out. I chose to look away at this point because I didn't want to see him licking the table clean. That's why they hired busboys, dummy. I had to look away because I fully expected him to do just that.

I'm not sure that's what mom means when she tells everyone that she has a sweet little boy. What do you think?

Street Performer.... Literally

This is more of a blog for ourselves so that we don't forget perhaps the funniest thing we've seen... possibly ever. We were heading out for some Cold Stone on Wednesday night and were driving along Old San Francisco Road... aka Reed... aka Monroe. Why California streets change names every 2 blocks has never made sense to me. There can't be that many important people around to name a street after. Anyhow, we're driving and we see this guy riding a bike with a backpack on. Becky mentions that she noticed he had a microphone in his hand. I quickly peeked in the mirrors to catch a glimpse but couldn't tell. Who said the Lord doesn't have a sense of humor? Right then the light turned red and we had to stop long enough to let this biker catch up to us again. I turned my radio off and rolled down the window and I can already hear him while he was still a few feet back. Call this stereotyping, I don't care because I'm sure everyone would have thought the same thing. This guy had dreads longer than my arms and a mic in his hand and I'm expecting him to be rapping. Nope! He came riding by singing, or at least trying to sing. And let me tell you- he SUCKED! But I gotta hand it to him tho, he kept right on crooning. He too had to stop at the light and had to put his left foot down to balance. He happened to have the mic in his left hand as well so he'd sing a line, hold the mic in the air, and start rocking out. I'm not sure what he was thinking when he tried singing out loud but he couldn't hear himself with them big ol' headphones he had on. It's safe to wear a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and other safety equipment whlie riding a bike, I get that. What I don't get is why you would hold a mic in your hand with a wire. Wireless mic? Sure. But there was a freakin' wire attached to the bottom of this thing leading to his backpack. I haven't seen a show that entertaining since... since... since... well I guess since Grammy and her cousin Spencer performed their duet at Grampa Great's bday party. We considered a some possibilities of why he was doing what he was doing:

1. He was recording a demo.
2. He was rehearsing for his upcoming audition for American Idol.
3. He realized that summer television sucks with reruns and baseball as the only sport on TV and knew that we had to get our cheap entertainment some other way.

I'm shooting for #3. I've been eager to drive along Monr... Ree... Old San Francisco Road at 6:30 the past couple nights just to find out guy. The only thing he was missing was a tip jar but I'm not sure there was enough room in his backpack for the jar and his karaoke machine.