Little Changes- Big Difference

Here is a quick view at some minor (not necessarily cheap, though) changes that have made a big difference in the past few weeks...

I think enough has been said about the palm tree saga, but it does look great, doesn't it?

Our new carpets in the living and dining room made a huge difference in separating the rooms and also in the amount of dog hair found on a daily basis (funny...I thought we paid all that money for NON-shedding dogs...)

Below is just some of the progress that has been made in landscaping. Ian has been working really hard and has done a great job with making the yard really look good. Note that the picture to the left was only taken about a month ago when we first attained containment for the Portuguese. Dare I ask....who's nesting?

Goal: Yard of the Month; July. We'll keep you posted!

April Showers bring...falling trees?

Ah, yes, we had one of those extremely colorful Texas thunderstorms last weekend where you get about 9 inches of rain in about 15 minutes. As the wind blew and the thunder roared, Ian got up throughout the night to check on his new tree, only to find that all was well with the world. It wasn't till about 9am the next morning after a few more inches had accumulated that I looked out the window and gasped "Uuhh- the tree fell over!"

Well, putting it up the second time was almost as exciting as the first! In true engineering fashion, Ian designed a pulley system from the tree -to the house -to the car. Why not? One palm tree is worth risking the house and the new car, right?

Not to worry, though, we got that baby back up (not straight, but off the concrete) and it remained tied to the outermost pilings of the house and the truck for the remainder of the weekend. So posh.

A few days later, I am glad to say it is now straight and secured. Ian assures me that the tree won't fall again unless either the metal cables break or the house comes down...very comforting...