Angie's List is checking in....

We haven't been doing anything photogenic to the house lately. The last of the brown on the outside of the house is officially gone, though. Between bouts of swearing, dripping enamel paint all over everything, and surprise rainstorms, Ellen managed to paint the awning on the side door to match the house. We also painted the garage door and touched up the rest of the garage. Our house is now yellow, green, and white. Yay!

This summer, we had a local nursery with a landscaping division draw up a landscaping plan for our yard. It's great to have someone else do the designing and thinking for me. It has, however, had a domino effect. All of a sudden, we're gathering bids for patios, sodding, grading, privacy fences, and gutter repair. Angie's List e-mails me almost daily to "check up," wondering how I'm coming with all the contractors I've been researching.

Tentatively, we think we'll have the back yard regraded and sodded next year (they'll also install the beds for our planned plantings) and add a privacy fence. Our problem gutter should get fixed this fall. The grading and gutter repair will hopefully eliminate the trickles of water we get in the basement from time to time. With our plans for finishing off the basement, this would be a Very Good Thing.

So here's a bit of what we've been doing besides making expensive and grandiose plans for the house.

Vegetables! Between my little garden and our community agriculture box, we've been overrun with tomatoes. The last few Friday evenings have found me in the kitchen, glass of wine in hand, making large quantities of fresh heirloom tomato sauce.



Humiliating the dog! Every year, a group of Twin Cities Westie owners has an entry in the James J. Hill Days Parade in Wayzata. The dogs all dress alike, and walk the parade route. This year, the Westies wore tartan sashes and Glengarry hats. Phoebe shook her hat off after about 90 seconds, but she looked cute anyway. The Westies even made the evening news. You can see a clip in the upper right hand corner of this page: http://wcco.com/pets. The Westies are the middle choice under the video "screen."







Phoebe was a model in a fashion show after the parade. The show was sponsored by the very fancy Lulu & Luigi pet store. Her cute little fur-trimmed tartan jacket cost $90. Yikes.