Less Practical.... More Fun

'I'm painting the house'.... 'I'm building in our grill'.... 'I'm tearing out a wall'..... 'I'm adding another flower bed'.... sometimes I tell him my plans, but mostly..... I don't.  I can't say that working in stealth mode always falls in my favor... there was that one time.... oh boy.... that was awful.... really I was just trying to save him from a weekend project.... I guess I missed the mark.  Monte works long and hard, and there's even a few months of the year that the kids and I barely see him during waking hours, so I wish he would just see my work as a gift or a favor.

Maybe he'd like my finished projects more if they were a bit more practical.  More practical, like finishing the electrical in the garage, or fixing the old plumbing in the house.... but those projects sound so boring, and I'm pretty sure they'd need my full attention, so letting the kids help out probably wouldn't be a good idea?  Besides I think crooked little fences and stacked concrete planters are functional and practical.... right?  I can swing a hammer and use a drill, I even bought my own chop saw at a yard sale for $12.  So I'll take my obvious lack of patience, and go to work. 

This last project had the potential to totally backfire on me.  I'll admit I was nervous when I heard his truck pull in the driveway... but there was no going back.... I'd already cut out the section of the fence.... deep breath.....cross fingers (and toes)..... and hope for the best.  Was he mad that I had asked my brother to come up and help me with the bobcat, that I'd rented to move the pile of dirt from in front of the pond to the back fence, to make a ramp into the back field, and a view of the pond from the kitchen window ????...... Maybeee.......aaaaaaaaa......liiiittlllle?

It was a little sneaky.... but I had told him I was going to be doing some work in the back field, a remodel of the old castle I'd built for Jo a couple of years ago.  I'd even told him I was dreaming up ways to create an old mining town out back..... I guess I'd left out the part about the bobcat and ramp.  But even though there was some tense moments, followed by some awkward moments, in the end Monte couldn't deny that the pond looked pretty good from the kitchen window.

After a bit of a clean up I think phase one of this project will be complete.  Now what about phase two, three, and four (or five, six, and seven)?  I think the view will look even better with a chunky arbor to frame it out.   And if I'm going to build an arbor, I'll need a gate on it... totally functionally of course.  And the ramp will need some work.... obviously.... oh yeah.... and I can't forget about my little mining town.... it'll need a wooden walkway and a water tower..... (more to come!)