July 29, 2009:  Welcome to the hottest day ever!  For the first time since weather recording began back in 1891 the temperature in Seattle made it above 100 degrees today, 103 degrees was recorded just after 3:30pm.  Here is the Google weather for our house, oh yeah, we don't (nor do most people) have air conditioning! 



It's been very hot and we haven't done much but go to a local river to swim and go to work, even sleeping has been a challenge with the heat and it normally cools off at night around here.  Stella has taken to laying in front of the fan, I've added some pictures to her page, check them out when you can.  I'm out for now, it's too hot to hold the computer on my lap. 

July 16, 2009:  Good afternoon everyone, hope everyone is doing well.  Things are good here, the weather has been perfect and we've been able to knock out a few of our normal Spring/Summer chores in the last week.  During the week I finally got to mowing and fertilizing the front yard, way overdue for sure.  Friday after work I tackled the last bit of sprinkler work I had to do and screwed it up so bad that I needed to get more parts the next day.  I had picked up some samples of the next color choice for the fence and after testing them we decided that we had found the right color and were going to pick up the stain and get the whole thing done this weekend, or try at least.  The weather looked good and they had what we needed in stock so we figured nothing could stop us.  We ran back out, picked up six gallons and gave it hell.  We started at about 1:30pm and I was just finishing some of the back side frame at about 9pm that night.  The next morning I just had to roll some of the back and we were done, hopefully for a long time because that was a lot of work.  I'll be adding more pictures later this weekend.  After I finished Sunday morning we went to a nursery and picked up what we like to call a "sad bastard tree" to plant in the front yard.  We never expected to find a 10 foot tall one for the price but it looked very healthy and fits perfectly in the spot we picked for it.  You can see that Stella is already jealous of it, she had her head under the fence and was whining the entire time we were planting it.  It seems to be doing well, I've been watering it plenty and hopefully it roots in well and grows to be the 20' that they claim it can.  Earlier this week I pruned all the shrubs, bushes and trees in the front yard and even edged the lawn and all the planting beds to get ready for the cubic yard of bark mulch that I have to pick up and spread tomorrow after work.  What's left of last years mulch is all mixed up with rocks, concrete, sand and whever else was left over from digging the post holes for the fence.  A fresh layer will help keep the moisture on the ground for the trees and plants and will really clean up the look of the front yard.  Spreading that out will conlcude our landscaping work for the season, just mowing from here out, no other projects that I'm aware of.  We haven't been able to ride much with work, Stella being in season, and all the projects we're trying to wrap up but we're planning a big ride for this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes.  I went on a 20 mile ride with John after work yesterday as a warm up and it became very clear that taking a couple weeks off really kills you.  I still need to swing by the bike shop to get some advice on my fit, it still doesn't feel quite right, hopefully they can help.  Our new white/silver helmets came in yesterday so we're very excited to try them out, I'll be happy to just use the flat black one for my mountain rides, on the road it makes my head feel like it's inside a bbq grill.  I'm off to Chicago next week for work but will be back before the weekend, hopefully the work goes better than the trip to Dallas a couple months ago, we don't have time for that kind of nonsense this time.  Have a great week and keep watch for more pictures of the fence and yard. 

July 6, 2009:  Hey again, hope you all had a great holiday weekend, we sure did.  The weather has been totally perfect out here and we have been spending as much time outside enjoying it as physically possible.  Tad and Danielle came in on Wednesday and I snuck out of work early to join them for some downtown Seattle tourist stuff.  We did the standard run through Pike Place Market and other stuff in that general area.  We even picked up a nice three pound chunk of salmon and some vegetables to put on the grill for dinner.  I had already taken Thursday off so I went out early and picked up the parts I had ordered for my road bike, installed then quickly, and joined Danielle for a killer 30 mile ride that Lisa had planned out for us the night before.  It was super hot and the route included a total of a few feet less than 2000 of climbing, it near killed me.  After recovering for a few hours and waiting for Lisa to get home from work we went out for dinner and turned in pretty early.  Lisa went in to work at 3pm on Friday so she got in a quick ride with Danielle in the morning before they left and I went out to get the stain to do the fence.  We decided to use the color Sierra from Penofin and after going to two different locations I was able to round up the six gallons they proclaim I needed and doing a few test boards on the back of the fence it was clear that we hated it.  Instead of a very dark red/brown we really got more of a pizza grease color, like what a paper towel looks like after you blot up the extra grease on top of a pepperoni pizza.  So I drove back around to return the 5 gallons that I hadn't opened and gather up the next color we chose but of course they didn't have it in stock.  So I returned what I had and have to go back this week to have them get the proper color from their local supplier, which will be open this week but wasn't on Friday of course.  So the stain project for the weekend was a bust, hopefully the supplier has the color we want and the weather is ok for this upcomming weekend so we can give it another try.  Saturday morning I went for a 20 mile ride and cleaned up the house before Lisa got home from work and we packed up some goodies to take to little party we were attending in out in Fall City.  As always it was a great time and Eric and I even ran out last minute to get a bunch of fireworks to set off, I think a good time was had by all.  Sunday while Lisa was at work I spent some time adding a couple of small heads to the sprinkler system in the front yard to water the plants and grasses around the water feature, something I've been meaning to do for a while now.  Stella has been just hanging out all weekend, mostly because she is in season again and really doesn't seem motivated to do anything more than that.  While I was working in the yard she decided to fall asleep on my stuff, not a big surprise but it makes for a funny picture.  So today it's back to work and it's the same mess it was last week just a new week for new messes to add to the pile.  Hope you all have a great week, we'll chat again soon.