The People Have Spoken

Well, the votes have been tallied, the sonogram has occurred and apparently our little one likes to go with the popular vote. It's a boy!

Everything went very well today. Both Helene and the baby are healthy. They checked all of the vital organs, counted 10 fingers and 10 toes, and the baby measured right where it should be for timing, 20 weeks, 3 days. We are extremely excited. His name is classified and under tight wraps until he is born. Enjoy the pictures below!

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 4 Complete

So the inevitable stage 4 has followed the completion of the patio. Rapidly after the patio actually. The grill is up and has been broken in with a cheeseburger dinner and a beer. Well, I had a beer, Helene had water. I enjoyed it for both of us. I am really happy with the picture of the beer on the grill that is here and I have posted that to my flickr account. I realized when I did that and was looking at pictures of Germany and Austria that I really need to get out shooting again. Hope to have some more photography up soon. Enjoy the pictures and if you come by the house, you can enjoy a cheeseburger yourself!

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 3 Complete

Hello there loyal readers. After some delays due to various schedule and rain issues, stage three has been completed in the backyard. We are getting closer to completion of the backyard and hope to be completely done by the end of next weekend. That will depend on if I can go with sod or not.

Stage 3 was the installation of the new patio. The back is now more patio than soil/clay/grass, but that is exactly what we were looking for. A little green and a lot of usable area that we don't have to mow :-) These guys did a great job and I can practically taste the burgers already.

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 2 Complete

Stage 2 of the work was completed today. Took almost all day, but we are very pleased with the results. When all of this is done the backyard will really be an extension of our living space when the weather is nice. It is also nice to be able to step out the door and not feel like you are just going to fall. Including a before picture as a reminder and a picture of the lovely Helene.

The Great Backyard Upgrade: Stage 1 Complete

So, the first stage was completed this morning. We have a brand new fence in now. Honestly, this is a project I could have done myself with some help, but it would have been a few days, at the least, probably a couple weekends in reality. However, as I have a number of other household jobs I am going to be doing in the coming months to prepare for Us v2.0, the backyard is being contracted out. Oh please note the lack of rope holding up any of the fence.

Enjoy the pictures of the new fence. New pictures should be up by tomorrow night with the new deck (more like a nice landing just off the door) and new steps going in tomorrow.

Oh, and if you missed it, check out the post below with the before pictures.

The Great Backyard Upgrade

Hi Everyone!

Our backyard is undergoing a major renovation. What follows will be a series of posts documenting the changes. Let us start with the baseline. The backyard as it currently exists. Well, as it existed at 8:00 this morning.

Please note the gate that has practically fallen off its hinges. Ok, I will be honest here, as I opened it for the last time yesterday, it actually did fall off its hinges. Also, you will notice that there is a section actually being held up with rope. Boy Scout skills to the rescue!


















Look for the next post (ok, posting it immediately after this one) with stage 1 completed, the new fence.