Hustle, Bustle

It's been quite the busy week.  Summer arrived on Thursday with temps in the 90s.  Then it abruptly left, being shoved out to sea by a fierce thunderstorm.  Upon the LLF, there was lots of hustle and bustle.  And most of it was not done by yours truly.

A male leg.  Not often (ever) seen
outside or inside this house...

The rest of the leg.

Yes, the skies cleared and the pergola-building commenced!  This  young man delivers firewood at 5:30A in the morning, then works for his father doing construction and landscaping, then works for my dairy farmer neighbor, then does odd jobs to support his young wife (and their soon-to-be-born son).  He had never built a pergola but was up to the challenge.  He showed up every night after his dairy farm job and worked until it was too dark to see.  He started Thursday night - and as we were talking, we glanced up and saw that the sky was black to the east and there were an increasing number of lightning flashes.  Between the two of us, we were able to hustle his tools under cover and he made it home in his little 4x4 before the storm hit us.  Meanwhile, I goose-stepped the dogs out but was unable to get my agitated ducks into their hut for the night.  At least they were behind a fence. 

The hops vine is itchin' to climb over
the new pergola.

I love it!

I had asked him to leave more space than is normal between the crosspieces on top.  I had two motivators - I didn't want it to be too shady and I am too frugal to spend that much money on lumber.  I opted for a rustic structure, so this is built in rough-hewn hemlock.  I'm still contemplating whether I will just polyurethane it and leave it in its natural state, or stain it a light oak and then polyurethane it.  If I need more shade, I can suspend fabric across the top and on the hottest side.  The possibilities are endless!


Sunday was D-Day on getting my garden in.  It was the only day I had to do it.  I walked out the front door at 8A with seeds, gloves and tools and didn't stop until 4P.  I usually wait until Memorial Day weekend to finalize my garden, but I figured it was only a matter of one week's difference.  Besides, next weekend there is rain forecast for Friday, Sunday and Monday.  That only leaves Saturday and it is going to HAVE to be Coop-Cleaning Day.  Joy.


At one point yesterday, I was in the garden, Billy was on the deck and -- the Lithuanian Lawn Guy showed up!

He never lets me photograph him, so I went into stealth-mode.  He mowed my lawn and weed-trimmed the entire garden.  Let me have half his energy at his age - 82.  The dogs were pooped, after trying to keep track of all the activity.  Bertie was asleep by the sliding door (he was totally smitten by Billy), Lovey was dozing on her elevated bed by the front window, chin on sill.  The Pepperoni was conked out on top of the sofa, with a good view out front and back.  I was too tired to take pictures of the garden last night, and this morning it was pouring.  I will try to immortalize my garden in its pristine 'newly planted' state, as this is the last time it will be relatively weed-free!