Scattered Thoughts . . .

Ellie and Whitney came over to visit with Gee this Mother's Day to wish her a happy Mother's Day.  They had a really nice time together and the visit made Gee very happy, as always! They spent some time in the house while Ellie played with blocks, a basketball and a soccer ball.  The ball usage got a bit rough for playing in the house so we moved outside.   While outside, the ladies spent some time in the playhouse.   I managed to clean the gutters and set up the downspout to fill our rainbarrels while we were outside.  The downspouts were set up to divert water away from the house for the winter.  Now we have all the water collecting in our rainbarrels so we can water our gardens. Afterward, Gee and I made some nachos grande for dinner.  That was pretty good too!  

M ost of our 50 tulips have bloomed in our playhouse gardens.  We have two new gardens flanking each side of the steps leading up to the playhouse.  Kenzie and Gee did a good job at planting last fall.  Thanks to Will and Sue's gift of tulip bulbs and Gee and Kenzie's work, we now have two very colorful tulip gardens in front of the playhouse! A few days ago, we started to worry about whether this tulip garden idea would work in this location.  The few tulips that had bloomed weren't looking all that healthy.  They were wilting a bit and the long leaves were sort of curling over.  Actually, even those that hadn't bloomed yet weren't looking too healthy either.  So, we were a bit worried. We weren't sure if maybe there is too little sun (which is true since these gardens are under a big tree) or if these young tulips were already somehow diseased in some way.  I determined that the soil may have been a bit too wet especially for two gardens that are mostly in sha

T he first of our 50 tulips has bloomed today!  Kenzie, our playhouse gardener, will be happy to see it in person.  For now, this photo will have to do.  Gee showed this first tulip to Kenzie this afternoon during their daily video chat but seeing it in person will be much, much nicer though.   It will be interesting to see how many different colors we get.  So far, we are seeing only yellow and what appears to be red.  It looks like that red one next to this yellow one will be the next to bloom...  probably tomorrow...

B ack in October, I built two flower gardens flanking the steps to the playhouse.  After I finished the rock border and filling these two gardens with soil, Kenzie and Gee planted 50 tulip bulbs which were gifted to us by Sheila's parents, Nan and Pop.   After the bulbs were planted, I covered both gardens with chicken wire to keep animals from digging them up through the long winter.  I then added a bit more soil on top of the chicken wire.   This spring, we've been patiently waiting for these two tulip gardens to bloom.  We weren't sure these flowers would bloom in this location because they don't get much sun here but things are looking very good so far.  Tulips have been sprouting up over the past two weeks and now both gardens are filled with healthy green tulip plants.   The new news is that these young plants are now showing buds that are getting ready to bloom.  I know that these buds will bloom suddenly and then we'll have all sorts of color in these garden

Will and Sue gave us a big bag of tulip bulbs a few months ago.  Sheila and I had been trying to find a home for them in one of our flowerbeds and finally decided to plant them around the playhouse.  This meant I had to find enough rocks to use as a border for two new flowerbeds.  I quickly found the necessary rocks and dug two new flowerbeds, one on each side of the path to the playhouse. Kenzie came over and helped Gee plant all the bulbs about a month ago... After Kenzie and Gee planted the bulbs, I went out there with chicken wire to cover the flowerbeds to keep our local rodents from stealing the bulbs.  I then covered the chicken wire with a mix of more potting soil and top soil.  We've had bulbs stolen by rodents before so hopefully this chicken wire will deter them this time. We'll see how these tulips do in the spring.  They should look very nice flanking each side of the steps to the playhouse.  

Although I spent a solid two weeks renovating the playhouse this June, this project really started at the end of last summer.  Last summer, we added an outdoor kitchen to the back of this little playhouse.  I tied the roof of the playhouse in with the roof for the kitchen.  That was a project in itself.  The old roof on the playhouse was partially collapsed, leaking and in generally poor condition so it was time to replace the roof anyway.  So, last summer, I installed a new roof on the playhouse to include adding a homemade skylight and replacing more than half of the roof framing.  I built a dormer roof off of the playhouse roof that would extend out to posts to cover the outdoor kitchen area.   I never did finish the outdoor kitchen last summer before the snow arrived so even that project wasn't finished.  The grill in the kitchen was usable through the winter and I had a nice U-shaped kitchen countertop but the cabinets were not finished nor was the sink plumbed.  I would f