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Among today’s projects (I’m fearful this blog has turned into a house repair blog!), I put together (after sweeping out the garage) the grill !

This grill was, if I recall, a birthday present for my 26th birthday, received literally as we were moving to NJ. I tried to use just the kettle part out on the fire escape at the apartment, but decided against it. The grill makes the garage look small! Of course the ironic part is the garage came with a similar but older grill. It could use a serious cleaning, but I may try to find a good home for it.

I imagine the grill will be housed in the garage for the winter months, though I do have the very nice matching cover for it as well. I’m no Francophile, but the french translation on the box cracked me up (as well as the thought that French people use Weber grills):

Hot dogs and brats next weekend, anyone? I’ll provide, but you gotta rake a bag of leaves first…

…so the pumpkins we (hurriedly) carved yesterday morning were dark for the 20 or 25 trick or treaters we had last night.

The good news: there’s leftover candy!

It’s hot, we’re trying to pack, blah blah blah, and Dudley’s showing Sylvester who’s boss.

Celli always likes to help read the newspaper.

Dinner was salmon burgers, done on the cast iron stove-top since we’re out of charcoal:

Along with the packing come new empty places for kitties to explore.

A Sunday drive took us back out to the ‘burbs to check on the results of our garlic-juice mosquito spray. Let’s just say we’re not quite convinced yet. But there are many variable to control for, so who knows. We’ll keep the hope alive.

We now have a trash can full of weeds, and we’ve just barely touched the surface. That area where Adrienne’s standing is actually a driveway! And the green over the the right should be grass, but isn’t.

Despite the mosquitoes, we remain hopeful we’ll be moving in in the next two weeks, but time will tell.

Everything seems to be showing, though the rosemary in the lower right-hand corner seems a little week. Spinach in the upper-left is gangbusters! I wonder at what point I need to thin it down?

I’ve been called many things; I don’t know an optimist is one of them. But there’s a lot of hope in these three little boxes!

Here’s what’s planned:

Italian Parsley, chives, green beans, spinach, rosemary and basil

What’s in your garden?

Hope you all found your baskets!

It’s not every day you have someone playing bagpipes at the end of your block. It’s St. Patty’s Day!

Another pic (both video and pic taken by Adrienne!) after the jump. (more…)

There’s not much ‘natural beauty’ in our small corner of the world, but Mother Nature blew through a few days ago, leaving several inches of snow all around. I noticed this completely undisturbed creation while taking the trash out.

The snow was completely smooth, the pattern created by the airflow through slots in the table. Then, I noticed it was smiling at me!

Before:

After:

Pretty good! I would vote for more carrot and less celery (never been my favorite).

Yeah, it didn’t always feel like vacation, what with all the stupid travel issues. But it was still nice to get away and see everyone. Hope your holidays were equally thrilling!

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