You's pays your money . . .

then you pile back into the car and head for Strongsville where Dad has plywood to paint. We have to practice the walk through, even though it'll be perfect the first time. Finally we get a bite to eat at an up-and-coming west side restaurant.
Back to the plywood. You might be asking yourself what am I doing painting plywood the evening before Katie gets married? Well. I'll tell you. It's been raining every day since the first of the year, or so it seems. We have 70 folding chairs to put in the yard and while I think it would be funny to see everyone sink, I don't think Pat or Katie would share in my sense of humor. Thus, the plywood to put on the grass. It'll be just like camp, but more crowded.
I'll fill you in with everyone's names in my next entry. The guy with Katie is Sean.

Ya know the story about a 1000 at-a-boys

Pat and I had finished with the last load of river rock when we heard the tunder. We congratulated ourselves for getting done just in time. we looked around with satisfaction. Our garden back yard had never looked better.
We were sitting in the sun room watching the rain when it started to hail. For an instant it looked kind of cool, but just for an instant. The hail was as big as quarters. Twigs, small branches, and leaves started to land everywhere. It was hailing so hard, I didn't want to go outside. I looked around and saw the hail cutting through the hosta like a 10 guage through a goose. The hail tore the snot out of our back yard, and it only lasted for 20 minutes. We were lucky it didn't last any longer.

Lights and #57 river rock

Our friends Bill and Sarah Gann helped Pat and I string lights up in the back yard. I hesitate to call them christmas lights because it's June for crying out loud. I know, I know , we have all seen those shows on HGTV about people who start hanging their christmas lights in June, but I'm not one of them. I think I got a brother-in-law who starts in June , but that's getting off the point of this blog. Katie wanted lights, so Katie got lights. Sarah Groble, if you ever want lights, they'll be in the garage.
I can't thank Bill and Sarah Gann enough for helping. Pat and I still have a bazillion things to do before this Saturday. I can't remember what they all are, but I'm sure Pat will remind me.
Jimmy came over to help us with the 5 tons of #57 river rock that was blocking the driveway. We needed it to freshen up our paths in the back yard. The pile didn't look too big sitting on the driveway. I'll tell you, if you ever try this at home, do not start with the math. Don't try to claculate how many wheel barrow loads it'll take to get the job done. Jimmy said it best when he told me that it didn't hurt after the 10th load. Many thanks to Jimmy. We could not have done it without you.

Flowers

Once again we have flowers to show. We even have flowers we will never see because the deer ate them down to the stems. Well, we have your orange ones, red ones, yellow ones. We even have your red and yellow ones.

Hosta

This is our best year yet for our backyard garden. The hosta, brunnera and ligularia all are bigger than they have ever been. All we use is sweat peet.