So about a month ago . . .
Memorial Day weekend is always our stuck in Ashland weekend, for it is Northland's graduation. Nick is very busy on Friday night and Saturday, with the senior toast, the baccalaureate ceremony, graduation, and then socializing with graduates and their families. This weekend is starting to become a come and visit us weekend instead. The first year we lived here, Nick's parents came up to help us paint the white picket fence around our backyard. The white picket fence that took NINE gallons of paint to fix. It is in need of touching up again, but this time we are going to convince poor college students to come and spend a weekend painting it instead (of course we will pay them!).
This Memorial Day weekend was exceptionally different for Nick was nominated by the student body to give the Last Lecture, which I mentioned in a previous post. My mom watched the girls Friday afternoon so I could watch Nick give his talk. Lilły was able to watch a movie from start to finish for the first time. The movie skipped quite a bit, so it was still probably just a bit over an hour, but a special treat for sure. She watched Tangled, which added Rapunzel to her persona repertoire. She informed my mom that she was Rapunzel, her mom was Mommy Queen, her Dad Daddy King. My mom asked who she was, to which Lilly said, nobody. Slightly offended, my mom asked if she could at least be a townsperson, which Lilly was fine with.
Memorial Day weekend is always our stuck in Ashland weekend, for it is Northland's graduation. Nick is very busy on Friday night and Saturday, with the senior toast, the baccalaureate ceremony, graduation, and then socializing with graduates and their families. This weekend is starting to become a come and visit us weekend instead. The first year we lived here, Nick's parents came up to help us paint the white picket fence around our backyard. The white picket fence that took NINE gallons of paint to fix. It is in need of touching up again, but this time we are going to convince poor college students to come and spend a weekend painting it instead (of course we will pay them!).
This Memorial Day weekend was exceptionally different for Nick was nominated by the student body to give the Last Lecture, which I mentioned in a previous post. My mom watched the girls Friday afternoon so I could watch Nick give his talk. Lilły was able to watch a movie from start to finish for the first time. The movie skipped quite a bit, so it was still probably just a bit over an hour, but a special treat for sure. She watched Tangled, which added Rapunzel to her persona repertoire. She informed my mom that she was Rapunzel, her mom was Mommy Queen, her Dad Daddy King. My mom asked who she was, to which Lilly said, nobody. Slightly offended, my mom asked if she could at least be a townsperson, which Lilly was fine with.
That evening my dad drove up so he could help us put in the garden. On Saturday, My mom and I tagged teamed with Lilly and with Greta, one of us was either with one of the girls or doing something around the house/yard. My dad was amazing and spent the entire weekend tackling our garden for us.
Before he started this is what our garden looked like:
We look like we are growing dandelions professionally to sell. Our plan was to just till them all under the ground and fight them all season long. Not my dad's plan. My dad's plan was to dig them all up - and dig them all up he did.
This job took him all of Saturday to accomplish. (Side note - we knew Lilly needed lunch and a nap when she cried because the compost bin was tipped over).
That evening the tiller was brought out, only it refused to work. Nick and my dad tried many different times and no luck. The neighbor brought over some engine cleaner or something or other to try overnight. So they tried that, the next morning, no luck. After closer inspection, they discovered the throttle valve was broken. The two used their creative minds and put together a MacGuyver-esque solution and my dad was able to till the garden.
Sunday morning Nick, Lilly (wearing a dress up dress), and I went to the hardware store to buy weed block and a few plants. Lilly wanted to take the zooming horse, our Corolla. Since she is usually a princess, our garage is the stable and our cars our horses. My dad was parked on that side of the driveway, so I told Lilly we couldn't take that horse because Grandpa's horse was in the way. Lilły replied, "He's a townsperson, he doesn't have a horse."
Before he started this is what our garden looked like:
We look like we are growing dandelions professionally to sell. Our plan was to just till them all under the ground and fight them all season long. Not my dad's plan. My dad's plan was to dig them all up - and dig them all up he did.
This job took him all of Saturday to accomplish. (Side note - we knew Lilly needed lunch and a nap when she cried because the compost bin was tipped over).
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| Greta fighting the swaddled arms per usual |
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| She's got the gloves, the boots . . . and the dress |
That evening the tiller was brought out, only it refused to work. Nick and my dad tried many different times and no luck. The neighbor brought over some engine cleaner or something or other to try overnight. So they tried that, the next morning, no luck. After closer inspection, they discovered the throttle valve was broken. The two used their creative minds and put together a MacGuyver-esque solution and my dad was able to till the garden.
Sunday morning Nick, Lilly (wearing a dress up dress), and I went to the hardware store to buy weed block and a few plants. Lilly wanted to take the zooming horse, our Corolla. Since she is usually a princess, our garage is the stable and our cars our horses. My dad was parked on that side of the driveway, so I told Lilly we couldn't take that horse because Grandpa's horse was in the way. Lilły replied, "He's a townsperson, he doesn't have a horse."
We usually get our plants from the high school FFA (they have their own greenhouse) but they don't have all the plants we are looking for. So we got some broccoli, cauliflower, a pumpkin called "Big Max", cucumbers, basil, and a few more tomato plants. Lilly picked out some flowers, which she planted with my mom.
I was able to help my dad some by putting plants into the ground. Lilly helped some too, but had more fun running across the weed block paper we bought. Before he left we had 14 tomato plants in the ground, some broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, peppers, basil, strawberries, and cucumbers. Later that day Lilly and I planted corn, leeks, and sunflowers.
I was able to help my dad some by putting plants into the ground. Lilly helped some too, but had more fun running across the weed block paper we bought. Before he left we had 14 tomato plants in the ground, some broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, peppers, basil, strawberries, and cucumbers. Later that day Lilly and I planted corn, leeks, and sunflowers.
We joined a local CSA this year thinking our garden was going to be a put a few plants in the ground and hope for the best situation, but with all the work my dad put in, we will probably have to learn how to freeze many of the veggies!
This concludes my 200th post!
This concludes my 200th post!
Congrats on post 200! A fun milestone. :)
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