As is so typical of our weekends, we got about half the stuff I dreamed of doing done. This isn’t due to laziness but due to my unrealistic expectations. I had a lot of yard work to do, we wanted to stain the new fence and I had hoped to power wash the deck. The deck will wait.

Jean and Bob took mercy on us and took Aidan Friday night. That means we started Saturday with a good night’s sleep. Bright and early I mowed the lawn for the first time this year and started a little raking before we headed off to the Borg (home depot) to stand in outrageous lines for two quarts of stain.

The fence is white cedar and while its nice, it’s also really bright. We wanted to make it a little less high visibility by staining it a bit darker. A few hours, a second trip to the Borg for more stain, and lots of mineral spirit cleanup later, we were done with the fence!

By then we were also done with Saturday. Sunday was a total yard workday. I dethatched the lawns with a spring rake, which will be the primary cause of the upcoming, violent, muscle spasms in my arms. If you’ve not done this before, and I like you, don’t try it. It was brutal. But, it was necessary to help the lawn. In the back it was important because I reseeded the whole thing after dumping and spreading 400lbs of topsoil onto the bare patches. My hope now is that the forecast for this week will come true. Normally I wouldn’t wish for rain everyday but if it keeps me from having to lug the hose out…

Finally I managed to put a stop to Julie’s Steve McQueen impression. She had been probing the yard’s perimeter for weaknesses in the defense. She keyed in on a gap under the gate and had been slowly, almost imperceptibly digging under it. She was slyly just trying to poke her head under, slowly removing dirt with each attempt. I dug out a little trench and placed some pavers in as a threshold to end that little scheme. Now she’s back to bouncing a baseball against a concrete wall.

Its Wednesday, a hump day, which means my week is halfway done and I’m planning my weekend. This is how we operate. You spend two days reminiscing about last weekend and talking about Vito Spatafore in a Village People outfit french kissing a shirtless guy on a leash then the next three planning what you’re going to do next weekend.

No joy for me this weekend though. The past few weekends have been great and full of me doing things I like. This weekend though, I have to tend to the lawn. Yard work is about the last thing I want to tend to right now but my lawn feels otherwise.

When they installed the septic system last year (before we bought the house) they tore up the back yard and replaced the lawn with one of those spray on jobs. It came it pretty well, though a little patchy, but deteriorated over the summer. By the end of the summer is was pretty lame. The front yard is fine though. So, I’m faced with a dilemma. The front yard needs the Scotts step one with crabgrass control. The backyard needs seeding and so can’t have the crabgrass control (it can kill grass seed). So I have more than the typical 15 minutes of spreader work to do.

I also need to fill some holes in the backyard. Apparently, the ground near the deck steps wasn’t compacted really well so we’ve got some sink holes. I’ll need to fill them up. My hope is that I can get some fill, level out the holes, and get some grass seed down this Saturday so I can keep my Sunday for shop stuff and baby time. We’ll see.

There are projects galore on tap for this weekend. The folks are all visiting at some point this weekend so even though Jaime is working the boy will be cared for. That means I can get some stuff done!

My first order of business is actually to sand and polyurethane the mirror I built. In between bouts of sanding and poly I plan to built a small fence and gate off the back deck. We want a way to keep the dogs in check and once Aidan is mobile we’ll need a way to make sure he doesn’t cruise down the steps. Part of this task will be adding some lattice to the bottom of the deck to keep the dogs from going under there. We have someone coming out to give us a quote on putting up a fence in the backyard so we can let the dogs run back there but without the lattice, they could escape under the deck!

Sunday is supposed to be the nicer of the two days so that’s when I go out on our roof to fix a leak. The roof over the back room is leaking when it rains so I need to go up and check it out. I’ve also promised to finish building the next radiator cover. It only needs a door and paint so it shouldn’t be too much of an ordeal. Plus, it will make Jaime very happy!

Whether or not all this gets done is another story. Its another ambitious weekend. I really think the fence and gate will be a one day project but anything can happen. I’ll be buying the lumber and hardware at lunch. With only three weekends between now and the Christening to do work on the house, I’m felling the pinch but I think I can get the place where I want it by then!