another rat

this morning we went into the back yard and Sushi and Danger were playing with something - turns out it was a dead rat. thanks Rocco! a good sized one. Andrew tried to fling it over the back fence but instead it bounced off the fence and of course the dogs thought it was a game and chased after it.
this is a pic of Rocco and the rat he brought us back in Bellevue.

even more yard improvements

it was a beautiful Saturday and we decided to get ourselves a patio set and have a bbq. We could only fit 2 chairs in the car so I'm going back for 2 more later. Love the colors! Our patio is still stupidly huge though. mmmmm bbq
except that someone decided to eat our asparagus before we got a chance to cook it!!!!
in the front yard, we had some shrubs removed and sent to the Halifax's for their yard improvements (hint hint where are the pictures guys!!). it looked so much better without the clutter that we had the huge mass of heather removed too. I know many people out there like heather in their yards, but ours was looking nasty. it's gone now. yay!
this is Al and Norm (Andrew insists on calling him Gnorm - thanks Wanda and Kim!!)
Mom suggested I get this clematis for the gazebo,
this one I couldn't resist. so pretty! they have to go in the ground soon
the planter on the front porch and the tree without all the heather. I'm going to fill this up with day lilies. pretty!!
in the back yard here's the little garden path. it needs some pruning and maybe a few hostas.
George was eating the shrub
Sushi modeling beside the edging
I think this is a dogwood tree
the girls in the yard
Sushi, the little piglet, digging for truffles

yard improvements - finished!

after some mowing and edging, here's the results!!

Andrew's latest short

meet the sniper

this is why he's been working all those extra hours...

chickens

last week Sarah took me to Flower World. that place is incredible! not only do they have more plants than I've ever seen in once place, and pretty good prices, but there's an aviary of fancy chickens just hanging out, a pond with geese, and a little farm with egg-laying chickens, other funny birds, sheep and goats. fun fun fun!!!
this is a puffy headed chicken.
she's a pretty red banty hen who was taking a break on the lawn.
this was my favorite rooster. he's big and fluffy and I love his feet!
this rooster had really awesome tail feathers
here's how they get in and out of their aviary. they have a chicken door at the side. they all came out to see us when we arrived, but once they realized we weren't gonna feed them, some of the snobbier chickens went back inside.
when we left, some of them decided to follow us. the little banty rooster we named George. he kept running around crowing, as if to say 'look at me - I'm tough! I'm not small, I'm super!' - kinda like how George likes to be so tough all the time with his scuffy-feet.
this is in the big aviary where the egg-laying-chickens live. kinda feels like we're getting swarmed here.
yet another aviary, where some of the exotic birds are. this guy was trying desperately to catch they eye of the female - she had nothing to do with him. so cool when they shake their feathers!
this guy was so freaking huge. with gigantic spurs
here's the path you can walk down and hang out with the birds. these two are best buds.

yard improvements week 4

I'm behind posting these, more to come.
at this point the grass was filling in nicely. the newest grass was getting healthy enough to walk on.
all it needed was a good mow.
I believe in this picture the lawn is taller than George

I don't know what this shrub is but it's very pretty.

chocolate.....

I'm completely obsessed with dipping things into chocolate now.
so nothing could be better than the strawberries right?
I had to try it with blueberries.
mmmm chocolate
they look good
finished with white chocolate swirl. they were very tasty - now what fruit to try next????

daffodils continued

those lovely pink daffodils I ordered, that turned out to be yellow - I've sent in 2 customer service complaints about them. I'm happy to say they are sending me a refund in the mail (finally). I think I'll buy more daffodils with the $$

chickens, shoes and ???

Saturday we picked up Sarah for the Valve spouses event and I got to play with her chickens. they are pretty friendly and will eat corn out of your hand. one of them tried to eat my ring - mmmm sparklies.
they are loving their new aviary. they have a great view of the yard and they are safe from all the nasties who want to eat them. by nasties, I mean raccoons.

we went bowling fort he spouse event. was a lot of fun, with a nice small group of ladies at the swankiest bowling alley I've ever seen. yes, I wear size 2/3.
every few weeks we have flyball practice outside instead of at our regular practice facility. on my drive to the Velotta's is this guy. I'm not sure what he is...