James stayed over last week, which meant that Peter only had to deal with two kids while Bonnie was away for training.
He was a big help, washed the floors one day, cleaned the windows, and helped me clear the South corner of the lot.
Work on the new deck was sporadic, partly because of the weather and partly because the carpenter had other jobs.
Same deal with spreading the remaining 20 yards of loam.
My next door neighbor, who has a landscaping company, said I could put my yard refuse in her dumpster. This was huge, a tremendous help, since it was way too much to fit into my truck, and I was getting nervous about animals taking over the piles of branches, roots and even a whole bush for habitats. Not to mention termites.
So, I spent a good part of the last two days cleaning up and hauling.
I thought I was done until I remembered the big pile of brush at the West corner, where the bobcat guy had plowed everything from a holly bush to gigantic knots of oak roots that must have weighed 50 pounds or more.
He thought I was stupid enough to believe that this would all decompose – Cape Cod-ese for “I’m too lazy to finish the job properly.” Then again, he was half the price of most everyone else, and I don’t mind doing the work, it’s been great exercise. Now that it’s almost cleared, I’m seeing that it has potential for a feature of some kind.
There is still a big pile of old lumber which I can’t do anything about for now, but I’m told it’ll be cleared eventually.
Meanwhile, James and I used the deck, even though it doesn’t have a full set of railings yet.
I finally got a replacement for the propane tank and grilled my dinner for the first time in weeks.
We’ve been visiting the indoor pool at Sea Mist a lot.
Yesterday was the annual 4th of July party at Cromessett, and we all had a good time, visiting with people we don’t see that often and watching fireworks launched from a number of different venues, including a big display at Onset Beach across the way.
Right now, the air and the light are perfect, it’s absolutely gorgeous, a nice end to the holiday weekend.