I am totally realizing now why I am so freaking lazy all Winter - because Summer bring so many projects!   Sheesh (yeah still no excuse for the lazy).  I'll try and catch you all up here in some kind of orderly fashion but no guarantees.   Oh and the photo quality is what it is - the week was the week of the iphone and no editing.

The long weekend was super busy, then super rainy and wasn't as accomplished as I'd hoped.  No worries, I've been catching up all week!   Work was really heads down this week which honestly was a blessing.  I could focus on the single items at hand and once off work, take on the assorted, not so organized projects at home!

Tuesday I was minding my business at my desk and low and behold the tree people arrived to take down the tree on the west end of my house.  A bit 80' double ponderosa pine that while it gave some shade really was more problematic than helpful.   My gutters were always full of pine needles, they were rotting my shingles and that end of the yard was a nightmare.   It also was causing some issues even with the growth of my tree out front because of the space it was taking up.   Oh did I mention the fire hazard too close to the house?   This team was great and within 3 hours had it down, things chipped and cut up for firewood and the area on both sides of the fence are now cleaner than they have ever been!

Now I need to restring the clothes line (yes we left the trunk at about 10' high) and I am going to overhead bird net that end of the yard now so we can utilize it as it should be for the dogs.    I think this coming Sunday will likely be a PVC and hardware run to get the posts done for that project (which I'm kinda excited about and will use as an excuse not to paint -haha).    Looks so different but so happy I can clean gutters once and they'll stay clean longer.    Still have about 3 trees that my brother and I will need to take down this summer but they are small and then of course need to move the log pile and split those for firewood.

On the Iago front, progress is still happening.   Her food switch is going well, I finally got my office organized so she can come in here and be on the perch while I work (and the dogs are locked out).   Takes a little dog managing to make that happen but we make it work.   I have 3 that can't be out when I'm moving her around as I don't want any accidents or for them to freak her out!    We had great progress Friday on getting her to step up more on my hand than on my arm.  The arm just isn't secure enough but I've never really forced the "hand" issue so I can put my thumb down on her feet to keep her steady.   Friday she was in the office on the floor and I just didn't offer her my forearm.   She did great!    I also reassembled (a feat in and of itself) her other cage outside in the back yard to use as an outdoor space for her.   I mentioned I was considering an aviary but right now she just doesn't move around that much (never really has and at this age likely won't) so would rather repurpose.    It is now in location #2 and she loves being out there although not as much if no one is out there with her.   As the dogs spend more time in the back this summer and as I also spend more time out there on the back patio she'll be happy.   Besides....new scenery.

I'll try to get pictures of our back yard situation for next post!    Meanwhile we had sun just a few hours every couple days and Louie loves being able to go out front and just hang out without all the other crazies (Thing 1 and Thing 2).    The two youngsters got 2 rides down to the mailboxes on the bike this week and I am still taking the poodles on "forced marches" down the road and back most days.   The old man really tires out on these especially with the warm weather but he needs it and Epic just loves being able to go even though he can't be "Epic crazy" anymore.   Both poodles got adjusted this week which I think makes them feel better and of course the new summer haircuts are a bonus.

Lawn mowing was in high gear as well this week, second for the back but first for the front.  The front was so long I got double my steps in going to empty the mower bag.   Looks nice now though and the new baby pine tree out front survived the winter and is putting on new growth.   I also happily got my first picking of rhubarb now in the freezer as well.   YUM.   My iris out back are blooming like mad this year (amazing what a little fertilizer will do) and I see buds on my iris out front now.   The daffies are done and I see new daylily growth on the one that some sneaky deer chomped while I was on vacation!   

Oh and I did manage to get some of my trailer things done this week as well.  The doors under the bed now don't fall off - yay and I got my Lagun table mount put up although I still need to find a different table top for it which I'll do when I go look for the top and bottom for Iago's new camping cage (another DIY project I've not started yet).

Meanwhile Friday night and Saturday are booked with music workshops - even though I've not had time to even touch any of my instruments.   I signed up for these a few months ago and lost my mind and am taking some classes across 4 different music instruments.   What was I thinking?   It'll be fun, wanted some starter stuff on the Autoharp, need some inspiration on my Hammered Dulcimer, some chord work for my Mountain Dulcimer I just started back on (the drone style I was playing doesn't involve fingering chords) and just for fun a class on Irish Bones (go look it up - wink).  Fun stuff and looks like I may just take the laptop out on the back patio or front deck and go for it!    See my head explode??  LOL