B-rad is going stir crazy... (which is working out quite nicely for me...)

Since its been raining for 40 days & 40 nights...B-rad's normal routine of going non-stop this time of year has been interrrupted. And B-rad's not the kinda guy who likes to sit around...for too long. Don't get me wrong, there's been many a night he come home from work & just sat & watched what I wanted on the tv. But its finally gotten to him. And he had to do something...

It began with him going to Home Depot one night after work & spending $200(!) on light stuff. (See why I don't like him to go shopping alone?!) He bought me these little light thingies for my desk.

They really give me a ton more light when I'm working in there!

Score #1 for Jaime Mac!Next lighting project was outside. Our landscaping out front realllly had a bad year last year. I was going like a house fire with official jewelry business & usually I am the one who mulches & pulls weeds & all that crappy stuff. (B-rad's always busy farming, remember?) Well since I didn't do it...it didn't get done. The landscape lights were in bad shape too. Some were out, the spotlights were broken (I say B-rad hit them with the mower, but he says the faithful & loyal steeds did it. Hmph.).

On his $200 shopping spree he bought new spotlights...
and this cool little thing right here. See the black cord & little black thingie on the porch rail? That's a dusk to dawn sensor. The lights come on when it gets dark enough & turn off when its light enough. (Don't let him fool you. This was totally for him! We had a timer before but it was manual. I was constantly telling him, 'You need to go out & change the time for the lights!') Now it's all automatic.

Here's the house lit up a night. I promise it doesn't really look as bright as the White House like it does in this pic. My fancy schmancy camera does a nice job in the dark, huh?!

Score #2 for Jaime Mac...

Since B-rad was all about home improvement projects, I decided to harness his energy for more powers of good. (And something that would totally help me out...just sayin'....) I said, "Hey, why don't you help me put down mulch this weekend?" Crickets... He replied, "Ok I will." (UHM it's never that easy...) "Unless we're spraying." (Told ya...)

He stopped on his way home from work on Friday to get a load of mulch in his truck. I was doing official jewelry business Friday night & wasn't home. But when I got home...he had almost finished spreading all that mulch. Oh, happy day! Sadly, he didn't have enough to finish so I was going to have to go back Saturday & get more to spread. Boo for me...

B-rad went to the barn for a bit Saturday morning but Brian wasn't there so he came home. He said, "C'mon, I'll go with you to get mulch." (I know it's just because he didn't want me to drive his truck.)

Eh, who cares? Score #3 for Jaime Mac!

After the sprinkles of rain cleared out Saturday afternoon we were outside ready to spread mulch.

My job was to dig new holes & plant new bushes to replace some dead plants B-rad had pulled out . I did a great job digging my hole. I walked away...to do something important...(not to take pictures or anything...) and THIS happened:

Sparky. Peeing in the hole I dug. Apparently for him to use. Oh, I haven't told you about the newest animal drama! We've had this beagle hanging around. Of course, I feed her. I can't not feed her. She was covered with ticks so I stopped & got Frontline for her. And the cats (I didn't want the ticks on her to get on them too!).

10 minutes & $100 later I was outta the pet store. Sigh... Brian brought the semi over to start spraying & Cole was with him. You have to be kidding me if you think I didn't put him to work. Psssh! Just for all you Cole-admirers! (There's more to come of little Cole...)

Brady pulled up to the semi a little bit later. He came over too. (Not because I yelled, "BRADY!" & started motioning him towards the house. Not.at.all.)

Cole really liked the dog. He kept asking me what her name was. I haven't really given her a name. You know how it is. You name the dog. You get attached. Blah, blah, blah.

But Cole insisted on a name so I said, 'Lily'. (I'm such a sap.) Then, later Cole asked me if I could change her name to something else? Punk...

No one gets a free ride when there's mulch to be put down.

Right after that pic above, Cole dumped the wheel barrel over. Brady stepped in & Cole got mad & went away pouting.

Nope, we're not attached to the dog.

She's a really sweet dog. Very timid. We don't know if she got dumped or has just been visiting from a neighbors. She's probably using me for the Kibble n bits...& $48 package of Frontline...

I had a small male-McAfee workforce going.
Score #4 for Jaime Mac!

They were doing fine without me...I would just be in the way...

When Cole was done pouting, I gave him clipper thingies to cut the little suckling off the trees. No worries, he eventually got bored with that...

Like I said, Brian was in the field spraying. When he would come within site of the dog, she'd run to the field & bark at him. I didn't even train her to do that. It must be fate. I have to keep her.

If you make the pic big, you can see her nose sticking out of the deck rails. (Look under the deck, you can also see the semi on the hill...) She was keeping a watchful eye on Brian... Before:

After: (Oh yeah, B-rad even put my fountain out. I didn't even have to ASK!) Before:

After:

Before: After: It's amazing to me how much a fresh layer of mulch really spruces the place up!After:

This time B-rad went with cedar mulch instead of what we had used before. You may remember the other mulch making me sick as dog because of all the mold in it? Now when you walk outside it smells like a hope chest. Ahhhh...

Score #5 for Jaime Mac! And just in case you doubt I was out there working...(who do you THINK took all the pictures?) I have proof. A bruise...A painful bruise...that I got when I was loading the wheel barrel with mulch from the back of the truck to roll over to B-rad. Uhm, manually labor is not really my thang...