Haven't blogged much lately; I think it is because I am not sure what to blog about. Not much too horribly interesting happening as of late. My latest project is trying to figure out what to do with all the extra mulch I have. I ordered seven cubic yards of mulch which is actually only one extra yard than I ordered last year but for some reason it was entirely too much.

This is what seven cubic yards looks like:

I spread about 5 yards in the usual places like in the large beds in the front yard and around the tree in the tree-lawn or devil strip (that's for you Bev). I still had about 2 yards or so left. What to do what to do...............

I wasn't prepared to start a major landscaping project in the back yard just yet; although it is coming soon. I decided to dress up the area of trees that I have in the back yard. The end of our property line is designated as a utility easement and also intended by the neighborhood developer as an environmental buffer between properties. The houses on our street, actually our side of the street, are the only ones that don't back up to a lake. I think the natural buffer and the larger lots were the developer's way of making up for the lack of water frontage.

Anyway, this is what the area looked like before:





























And this is what the space looks like now:

Unfortunately, I still have a bunch of mulch left. Looks like I am going to have to get creative.

Last fall, the developers put in all the utilities and paved the road for the lots directly behind our house. When the lots were being leveled, additional trees were planted on the new lots. The wind whips through this area so strong that most of the newly planted evergreens were leaning heavily away from the prevailing wind. So the large clump of trees seen in the backround of the previous picture is the beginning of the landscaper's fix. I haven't the slightest clue why but the landscaping company dug up all the trees and planted them in the clump that you see in the picture. They are now one by one re-planting them in their original spots. Hopefully they decide to stake the trees this time.

Man my back hurts!!

Here's something pretty cool...these are all the states that I have visited even if it was just to pass through in route to somewhere else.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

As some of you know, Lisa had a scare about a month or so again where she lost eye sight three times in a span of about 20 minutes. At the time she was running a pretty high fever and she wanted to ignore the issue chalking it up to the flu. After a little coaxing from her boss and me, she went to the doctor and then had an MRI. The MRI report was less than difinitive so off to the neurologist. Of course Lisa and I were prepared for the worse case which everyone including our GP was leaning toward....M.S. Neurologist's diagnosis....Migraine headaches!!! Total relief; not that Migraines are any walk in the park but much more controllable compared to MS.

Well the neurologist wanted to absolutely make sure that there isn't any other issue and wants to completely rule out MS. Today Lisa goes in for three tests to measure brain reactions to different stimulus. She starts today with a BAER (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response) then she has a VER (Visual Evoked Response) and then finally an EEG (Electroencephalogram). These tests should completely rule out MS, Epilepsy and other nasty problems. I don't know if she will get immediate feedback or we will have to wait to get results. We will keep you posted.

I went out and bought 7 cubic yards of mulch to be delivered on Saturday afternoon (guess what I am going to be doing this weekend?). If any of you want to come over an help, the mulch should be delivered around 3pm.

The drywall contractors that worked on our house are back fixing about a dozen nail pops and a large crack that has formed in the ceiling of Shawn's playroom where two pieces of the drywall meet. When they walked in the door, our usually very calm Dauber went into attack mode and was very protective of Lisa. Wow, wonder what got into him? Once Lisa said it was okay and the guys made nice, everything was back to normal. I guess that I didn't need to spend the money to install the extras on the alarm system.

Happy Easter!

We had a great spring day for the annual bunny visit at work. After the bunny, Lisa and I stopped by Wendy's for a late lunch before starting our typical Saturday work around the house. Wendy's now has four deli sandwiches that are served on the bread that everyone seems to have now. The bread was pretty good coming from a fast food joint but they really missed the boat as far as the rest of the sandwich. Here is this big piece of bread with two slices of lunchmeat, one slice of cheese, a tomato, onion and mayo. At over $3.50 a pop, there ought to be a little more meat and cheese....not overly impressed.

Once home, Lisa started cleaning the house and I cut the grass, weedwacked around the house and reshaped our flower beds. Around the house in the flower beds, the builders decided to terminate our downspouts three feet from the house and then directly into the beds. Not sure why they had their heads in their rear ends but they did. Everytime we get a rain, all the mulch is washed away from the area that is around the downspouts. Extensions on the downspouts are going to look ridiculous since a couple of them will need to be nearly 10 feet long so it looks like next weekend's project will be to fix the problem for good. I will connect the down pipes to 4" flexible plastic tubing and bury it. I will get the water discharge further away from the foundation and it will clean up the look of the house a bit. Hopefully this solution will help me keep the mulch where it belongs and not in the grass.

Went to BW3 last night for dinner and had wings in their new Habenero Mango sauce (may not be that new but new to me). I typically stay away from any sauce that has mango in the title because mango typically imply somewhat sweet. The sauce was suprisingly good. A little sweet at first but then finished with a decent kick (highly recommended).

Mudhens-7 Red Barons-0

Finally feels like spring. It's very had to concentrate on anything but being outside right now. We're going to our first Mudhens game of the season tonight; I sure hope that the rain hold off till at least 10pm.

I can't believe that we have been back in Toledo for almost a year now. Since we've been in our house for almost a year as well, I created a punch list of items that we want our builders to fix. Seems as though every new home has a one year HBA warranty and the jig was about to run out. I really couldn't find a whole lot to put on the punch list except for a few cosmetic items (nail pops, ceiling seam, etc) and some "pie in the sky" type items that I knew there was absolutely no way they would covered. This morning I had the walk through with the builders; no surprises there, all the cosmetic items are going to be fixed and the others aren't. I had to give it a shot!

Since we are going to the Mudhens game tonight and Lisa is such an American Idol nut, I made a stop on the way to work to the cable company to trade in our cable box for a box that has DVR included. The DVR will record up to 60 hours of shows and will allow you to pause and rewind live television as well. All the programming is done through our remote using the interactive TV guide. You basically highlight the program you want to record on the guide and bingo. The other fun feature with the DVR is that you can watch one program and record another or you can record two shows at the same time. You can even schedule to record a program when you are away from home via the internet. How fun is this going to be?

Called the morons at the refuse company today to see if they will pick up my old grill and they will.....for a twenty spot. Not sure why I pay for unlimited garbage pick up when they charge me for all the extras. What exactly does "unlimited" mean?

Only 5 more sleeps till the Easter Bunny comes to Town!!!!

It finally feels like spring! Today I did my first yard work of the year. Fueled up the tractor and the mower and cut the grass. There's nothing like the smell of the first lawn mowing of the year. I also went out to get the grill ready and it wasn't a pretty site. The grate, burner, defusers and regulator needed replaced so I decided it was time to buy a new grill. I opted for a Char-broil brand commercial series. Pretty cool huh!