August 2022

 Monday 8/1

On Saturday we bought some new Patio chairs

Big sale at Fred Meyer's. These 6 chairs were 60% off.... we saved a bundle! We decided to wait until today to assemble them - Anniversary FUN!

We began at around noon and finished 3 hours later.

First off.... Read instructions & check the parts list.

Next.... Begin!

teamwork

It  took an hour to get the first chair all put together.

(we got better with each chair)

somewhere along the way ....

we moved our work space from the hot concrete patio to the cooler, in-the-shade, grass 

The old chairs . . . .

(we'll try to sell them... maybe end up giving them away)

1/2 of the new chairs - We like the comfortable C-Spring design

They look good on our patio with our old side tables. We are trying out some different pads. We will watch for some good, end-of-the-season, deals and see what we can find. 

Now we have the 6 new chairs, 3 old side tables and 4 old small chairs to put around the table. So glad we have this nice size patio!

We received a surprise envelope in the mail today

Once a Duck fan... always a Duck fan!

We didn't have a clue why we got these until, in an happy anniversary text, Linda's brother asked... "Did you get the Duck stickers?" Mystery solved. Thanks Jim!

Wednesday 8/3

We love all the flowers in our yard during the summer. This year, with it's sustained high temperatures, has been hard on the vegetation, but we are still enjoying all the beautiful colors. We don't have anything special, but these everyday flowers brighten our days! 

Petunias

Bright Pansies

more subdued Pansies

Our Hostas plants are in full bloom

as is our knockout rose plant

Even the marigolds add a bright spot of color and . . . .

Our new (just planted last summer) Hibiscus tree is covered with beautiful blossoms and has lots of buds.

We are grateful for large trees (Maple, Gum & Flowering Pear) that shade most of our backyard during the hot afternoons

Even though we got rid of our garden spot, we still have,

Fall-bearing Raspberries

They are loaded this year as 

the bees are keeping busy doing their "thing" 

(we are getting a handful of berries every day now-they are delicious)

We also have our tomato plants and they too are doing well.

Tuesday 8/9

This month our neighbor is "remodeling" his front & back yards. As part of that process, he is replacing our "common" fence. Our neighbor has a construction business and he has every piece of equipment know to man and is putting a lot of them to good use!

He began this morning by First cutting the fence panels apart

and removing them

Next he unscrewed the 2 x 10's from the posts

then came the task of pulling all the posts out.

He drilled a hole in each post and 

put an iron rod through the hole. Steve slipped a strap (with metal rings on each end) to each end of the rod and then hooked the strap on the teeth of the tractor bucket

from there it was easy to pull the posts out

Some of the posts pulled out of the cement base, leaving the cement ball in the ground which ended up having to be dug out by hand (and was HARD work)

and some of them came out in one chunk...

cement and all!

With the fence gone, this is now the view from our back patio.

The fence removal process and digging out the post holes took all day so we had to wait until the next morning to set the new posts.  

We rolled out the plumb line

marking the property line

Cement mixing equipment and materials were assembled and then they began

The cement mixer began "mixing"

Posts started being "posted" being sure they were level

Steve became the "designated Post Holder"

Our neighbor has a piece of equipment that you stick down in the cement, it vibrates causing the cement to kind of liquify so it can flow and fill in every space.

By early afternoon all the posts were set... You've heard the saying "as exciting as watching paint dry?", well watching cement dry is just about as exciting!

This evening Steve and Chris (neighbor) were able to get the brackets attached to the posts

Chris made this jig to mark where the brackets would go

Then Steve screwed them on. It got dark before they could get the stringers on so they will do that in the morning.

It's now Thursday the 11th and we hope to finish the fence by the end of the day. 

The stringers went in early this morning

and Chris put a few pieces of Cedar Fencing up before we went to the temple and Chris went to his work. When we returned home, late afternoon, Chris too had returned and was just getting back to working on the fence.

He nailed the fencing on with ring shank nails. He centered the full 1 X 6 pieces between the posts then ripped the two end pieces to size.

It looks so nice and the cedar smell is wonderful.

He finished the stem wall and . . . .

as an added bonus . . . .

rebuilt our gate

They worked until after dark and finished up by attaching the gate hardware.

It was a quick, 3-day process. They worked hard to get it all done.

We are grateful for the expertise of our neighbor, Chris. He did an amazing job!

Friday 8-12

It is "the Morning After"

The gate looked good last night in the dark but it looks even better in the daylight

This morning, Steve attached a chain and hook 

Now the gate will stay open (and not swing shut) when he's working between the front and back yards.

Love these beautiful clouds and blue sky

Saturday 8/13

Every year Boise hosts a Hot Air Balloon event. This year it begins on the 31st and we are beginning to see more and more balloons. There were three of them out this morning over Star. They were close enough to hear their burners going off and on, but still pretty far off.

This was the 2nd one we spotted

The first one had already passed by, but these two were staying a little closer together.

The work continues at our neighbor's house

disposing of all the old fence panels

They make a pretty good size pile!

Here are a couple of pictures we received this week via text messages

Our youngest grandchild, Shea, had a birthday on Thursday, the 18th. We always send the kids some money so they can go shopping for a special gift then they send us a picture.

This was Shea's treasured gift from Grandma and Grandpa Waite

and this was her birthday cake... bet it took a while to burn those candles all the way down, hahaha

Happy Birthday Shea

Connor, Crew, Shea & Sydney

Debbi was in Peru last week and sent us this picture of her adventures

She wanted to visit the 15th century citadel, Machu Picchu . . .  looks like she made it!

Debbi said she fell in love with this adorable alpaca named Panchita

 Rainbow Mountain - 17,000 feet - harder to breathe!

Saturday 8/20

Tonight was our Ward's Annual 

CORN FEED

It is always well attended

We enjoyed the company of good friends

Linda, Steve, Benji & Clayton Sibbett

Lots and lots of good food, including baked beans, pasta/potato salads, rolls AND . . . .

delicious Corn on the Cob. 

And, of course, plenty of desserts to go around.

Before, during and after the corn feed the kids had fun running through the sprinklers, playing on a splash pad and playing water balloon volley ball. 

They also had fun playing a new game to us called . . . .

GaGa Ball 

it is played similar to dodge ball in one of these

GaGa pits. 

We didn't know the rules of the game, but all the kids seemed to know and were having a lot of fun!

Last of all there was a Frozen T-shirt contest.

Previous to tonight's activity 3 T-shirts were soaked in water, folded up and put in a freezer. 

The object of the contest was to unfold the T-shirt and put it on . . . . Sounds simple enough, but it was NOT. These three kids spent quite a while just trying to get the shirts unfolded. They tried throwing them down on the pavement and soaking them in the sprinklers, but it turned out to be more of a challenge than anyone expected.

Once this one T-shirt finally opened up

Teig McClure managed to get it over his head, but the sleeves were still frozen shut. After working at it for a while

he finally managed to push his arms through and was declared the winner and yes, his mom got it all on video!  The other two contestants were still working at getting their shirts unfolded.

As usual, the whole evening was a big success. Everyone had a good time. Most of the kids went home soaking wet and most of the adults went home miserable from eating too much!

On our way home we spied this wild Tom Turkey

 out for an evening stroll with his harem of hens 

Thursday 8/25

As nice as our new fence looks "au-naturel",

It was time to put the paint brush to it!

We bought 2 gallons... hopefully it will be enough.

Little by little and  . . . .

Day by day.... 

it is getting done!

Steve got up early this morning (Thursday 9/1) so he could finish the fence painting project before it gets too hot. 

painting the "wing" fence

Down to the last little bit

AND DONE !!!

Saturday 8/27

Connor had his first  BIG mountain bike race today. 

He rides in the Junior division and did really well! He is the one in the middle and out in front!

And just like that August is gone and we are wondering what September 2022 will bring. The kids are all back in school and though it is still hot during the day, fall is in the air as our overnight lows are dropping and some of the trees are beginning to show signs of fall colors. We are looking forward to a beautiful Indian Summer this year . . . . hopefully!