I got ambitious yesterday and decided to remove asphalt in the back yard. I assume that the previous owners thought it would be a good idea to pave an area to park, but then they didn't maintain it, and so it eventually was covered in dirt. I got a little sun burnt, and I am really sore now, but now I have all this area I can work with and do whatever I want with. well, at least once we haul away the broken up asphalt.

Ethan and I have both been spending a lot of time painting. My painting is coming along. For me painting is made up of a lot of problem solving. I spend a lot of time figuring out what color is best, where to put it, what is wrong or right with the composition, color, value, etc. I bought some new paint, and found some really good colors that are working brilliantly, and I hope this painting will come out pretty good in the end. It is definately a work in progress.

Newly planted flower beds.

I spent the day gardening, and so I'm very worn out. I had to remove a lot of sod to re-define the flower beds. Once I finally got that done I started putting in my plants. I still plan on buying some more plants, such as some clamatis to climb the porch railings. Some of the plants I planted today are new, and some have been in pots for several years. Unfortunately I discovered that my white asiatic lilly, which appeared to be doing quite well and even multiplying in the pot was actually not draining well. I'm not sure they are going to make it, since most of the roots seemed to be rotted. One nice thing about this was that I was able to easily seperate the bulbs so I could plant them im multiple locations. As for the peonies. Two of the plants are looking droopy, and I'm hoping that with watering and sun they will perk up...Then, the lilly of the valley, which had also multiplied in the pots, did not want to be seperated from each other for planting. The smart thing to do, I guess, would be to plant it as it was straight from the pot. But I didn't want to do that, I want to spread it out. So, it might not make it either, but that is my fault for wanting to do things the hard way. And sadly, I'm very concerned about my dogwood tree, it does not appear to be doing well, and I dont' know what I can do about it- the leaves are dying, and it seems to be wanting to go into "fall" mode and change colors for fall. It would seem I was great at gardening until the day I got a yard, and then I lost any luck or whatever I had before. I love gardening, so I will keep at it, I just hope it all starts growing and doesn't die on me.

Painting and progress on the yard.

Today I felt like painting, so I started working again on my current painting. Ethan found me and decided he wanted to help me paint, on my painting, and could not understand why I wouldn't let him. I decided to set my other easle up along with some poster paints and acrylics and give him a couple old paintbrushes and let him paint on one of my ugliest (it was hideous) college paintings. He loved painting, except he doesn't like getting paint on himself or on the floor (which is nice, but slightly inevitable). He ended up with paint all over himself even with the plastic bag on, but that is part of the fun of painting. He liked when I showed him he could mix the colors and get new colors, although he didn't want the colors to mix (he had 4 seperate brushes going by the end of it). I also thought it was cute that he sang while he painted.

The mess that is our yard. Ryan's dad came up and helped him move part of the fence back. It looks so much better now, it's much more open feeling. Ryan rotatilled a small part of the new area for me to have a garden, and I started getting it ready to plant stuff and discovered that there were definately more rocks than dirt. So, I'm thinking I might bring in some dirt and make a raised bed veggie garden. I've started digging up the front flower beds, and expanding them also. That fern planted in the front was over growing it's area so I had to dig out a bunch of it. We also planted our dogwood tree in the front yard (sorry, no picture yet), and i'm hoping it survives... We also are moving that swing some where (it won't fit on the porch, so we might get rid of it), the previous owners left it there.

our lovely backyard. makes for a lot of mud right now.

This is the fence after they moved it back, originally it was almost flush with the hot tub.

this corner is where I am putting my veggie garden. This picture was before I had the large pile of rocks going.

We arent' sure what we are planning with the hot tub. the previous owners let their dog chew up the cover, and those covers are expensive. It also leaks, and Ryan is trying to figure out if it's cost efficient to patch it up, and if it will even work then....we will see.