Workin'

Lexi's most used phrase of late: "Daddy's workin'!" She sure hit the nail on the head with that one (no pun intended). Allen has had the forms set for the sidewalk leading from the house to the pasture done for a few weeks now. However, we've had rain everyday for the last month and that is not a great recipe for concrete. With monsoon season coming to a close, Allen has mapped out a new schedule for the lawn that gets us done by the last weekend in September.

Saturday morning I gave a lesson at 8 and ran to another at 9:30. I got home around 10:30 so Allen could get his part of the day started. He rented this 100 lb. whacker (yep, that is the official term and it looks like one of those carpet cleaners you rent from Safeway or Walmart) pounded the dirt inside the frames so that this Thursday, he can pour. Late afternoon, after he took the whacker back, we went for a long swim next door. That was a really nice reprieve. We were expecting hay to be delivered around 6:30 so we pitter-pattered around outside waiting for the delivery. We had already bathed Lexi, but as you'll see, that was a totally pointless endeavor. At 8:30 that night, the 20 bales of hay finally showed up so Allen helped unload that. Lexi and I stayed inside to eat some long overdue dinner while Allen helped unload.

The frames before the whacker.

Lexi tells us: I'm pullin' da weeds! Thanks, Lexi.

We also finally finished the bathroom. We painted and installed a new toilet. We would have been done last weekend, but as Allen was cutting the bolts to put the little plastic caps on the bottom (the absolute last step), the entire seal gave way underneath the toilet. So, he had to buy the parts, take the toilet off, put a new metal seal and wax ring on, and re-install the toilet. We finally got that all wrapped up. The finished product was worth the work!

This was moments before the big fallout on the first installation.

The new-and-improved method for cutting bolts (when you don't have a bolt cutter).

Lexi was helping Allen work all afternoon.

Ta Da!