Landscaping and Football

We're still working on it, but the patio is a little closer to complete! We spent Saturday through Monday in the yard hauling bricks, digging, and leveling to complete the retaining wall. The remainder has been partially complete for over two years.

Above: checking the leveling of the bricks?
The next step will be to finish the patio bricks next to the retaining wall, and then we'll worry about building stairs down to patio level.

Next weekend, we're off to Mississippi State for the Auburn game, and the weekend after that, we'll be headed to Auburn for LSU! War Eagle!

I think I promised some photos from Grace's 80th Birthday Party, so here are a few:


Above: Shirley, Grace, Lamar, & Gloria, Below: me, Melanie, Shirley, Grace, Lamar, Gloria, Stacey, Angela (an attempt to get all the cousins in, but we were missing several in the end)




Below: Orville, Grace, Doris, Jackie, Catherine

Above: Emily and Jessica, Below: the men's table

Above: Goofing off.





We attempted to go to the condo for Labor day weekend and relax, but Hurricane Gustav cut us short. Sunday morning, the storm had gotten too close for comfort, so TK decided he needed to go back to Fowl River to secure the Bobbin' Along (the big boat) and anything else in the yard. At that point, all of Mobile Bay was projected to surge 6-9 feet. The house is built about 18 ft above sea level if I remember correctly, and we decided to drive back to the river and help out. We ended up staying Sunday night (and I worried about traffic Monday morning. What if the storm took an unexpected swing northward?) But Sunday was relatively relaxing, considering the circumstances. We flew a kite, in an unorthodox way (TK showed us a "new" trick). Nick helped out with the yard. And several of the neighbors ended up coming over around 7pm to visit. Strange, but it was nice to have company.

Monday morning turned out to be a breeze for the parent's area on Fowl River. The surge turned out to be less than 4 ft, I believe. I took some before and "after" photos of the dock. The wind gusts weren't that bad either, so Nick and I packed up and left by 10am that morning.

Above: Water level before the storm
Above: Surge level as of 10am Monday. Water level was at the same height as the planks on the deck. Notice a few trees are submerged at the base of the trunk.

The trip home on I-65 was eerie. I've never, ever, seen I-65 that empty on a weekend. It made for a peaceful trip!