Living Large With A Canopy OR A Gazebo and Lemonade for Fifty Cents!

Call it what you will..I'm sold!!

We fenced in the backyard for the dogs and..let's be honest..for US. I feel like I can now sit and stare at my foot OR read a page in a book without worrying about them running off, killing a bird (the puppy- a sad story that made me burst into tears and I'll save for another day.) or scaring a mother and small child or baby (older dog, the one who looks like a cow in this picture!)


I think this is a canopy, but I guess it's a gazebo. All I can say is Home Depot, I love it AND THANK YOU, Mr. Bradley W.!! He surprised me with it one morning and said "I just want you to be happy." Aww. It was touching. And necessary as this backyard has no shade save for the rocky area under our deck and sunroom. I was out there a few days and honestly felt heat stroke coming on with zero shade. So this friends..this is exciting!!

Next up: More plants for the corner shelving...an outdoor rug and for sure..some Ikea Lenda curtains for shade and some privacy. I'm also toying with the idea of getting a somewhat inexpensive patio conversion set. The kind with the couch, chairs and coffeetable. We haven't spent any money in years on outdoor living items, so I feel fine about it. Add to that fact that Minnesota has very poor, cold and long winters and I feel like I'm worth it. If I get four months of joy out of this, I'm all good. Plus the dogs like it.

Miss  Daisy: "I luhs it! I have shade! Maybe it even makes me less cranky..."

Curtis: "I've never met a patch of shade I did not like, Mom! I'm also sick of you taking photos of me and NO, I will not look your way."



In other yard news, found this bench that my nephew Emerson and I made together a few years back. It was the first time he used a drill (with my very close supervision and help!) and it looks PERFECT around our firepit. I love it when that happens!

The cute little boy across the street- Dawson- had his first (from my experience) lemonade stand today. All of a sudden I saw a cooler carted out to the end of his driveway. Suddenly there were two tiny chairs. Filled with two tiny kids. Lemonade at 50cents a cup! I can dig it! I was going to go over with  Brad (was waiting for him to wake up. he works nights so he sleeps days when he's working.) and give them $3 because I know how huge a deal that is at that age. We missed them by about 10 minutes. I saw him drinking the remains of his lemonade straight from the pitcher. Earlier I heard him yelling "Lemonade!!" to any car driving by or person. This was the only pic I got because A) I've met him once. They just moved in. I don't want to be the weird neighbor asking "Can I take a pic of you for my blog?" and B) Same reason as A!!   Pre Sale Photo below!

Little Curtis regularly falls asleep in the frontyard. This is generally after breakfast and a walk/potty break. He sits out here (on a leash as he's prone to running in the road and playing "chicken" with cars and trucks. i don't know how you cure a dog of this. Seems genetic.) and after yelling at passerby and many a bird, falls off into an exhausted sleep. I will leave him for maybe five minutes, but am not comfy having him out there sleeping. Brad has made me fearful that "someone will steal him" due to cuteness.

Finally...our citronella candles seem to DRAW mosquitoes TO the area! WTF?! They were in a frenzy all over the patio and this was a good 10 minutes after they began burning. Do we have GENIUS or modified skeeters here or is the citronella simply ineffective? Jigga Huh?

Have a splendid weekend, peeps!

HOLLA to the tenth power!

xoxo~

T