Hi, everyone!
After I helped Uncle Steven level the support posts for the tree house frame, it was time to anchor them in the ground! Uncle Steven showed me how to tell when concrete has been mixed properly. Guess what? That’s the same way Grandma tells when risotto has absorbed enough liquid to be ready to eat! When the concrete for each post had been mixed, Uncle Steven put a base of concrete in the post hole. Then he carefully set the post back in the hole and shoveled concrete all around the anchor and the bottom of the post. The cross piece kept the post from sinking too far down into the concrete. I made sure the concrete had really filled in everything it was supposed to cover! Uncle Steven made sure the posts were really straight up and down! The concrete had to set for at least five days before the posts could take the weight of the deck frame.
Every day, more and more of my daffodil friends started blooming! The day after Uncle Steven set the support posts, we had a little rain. I was glad he already had his outside work done! The day after that, Saturday, we had mid-summer temperatures! At the bay, the primrose started showing more color and I found my first purple trillium friend!
Uncle Steven’s family came out to the bay for the first time this year. Thomas liked the new marble chips by the kitchen door. Because the water level has been so low, he could walk along the shore, looking for rocks. He learned how to skip them into the water. One of his rocks skipped six times! He decided some of the rocks he found needed to be kept as treasures! Thomas and James spent time swinging. Aunt Kara gave them a push, but they didn’t really need help!
James played Settlers of Catan with his parents and Grandma, then he played Monopoly with Grandpa and me! Uncle Steven took a pre-lunch nap. Thomas decided it was time to label the loft with hanging signs!
Our summer-like Saturday was Green Day! All the leaves came out on the trees at the same time. Then we had two days of rain! Because more rain was predicted for later in the week, Grandma took me back to Highland Park on Tuesday. She was afraid the next rains would knock all the blossoms off the trees. When we got there, it was cloudy, but then the sun came out! The cherry trees were in full bloom!
More of the magnolias were starting to bloom, too! I saw a groundhog friend and a blooming azalea in the Poet’s Garden. The very earliest lilacs were starting to bloom and the gardeners were planting the pansy bed! There’s always something pretty and new to see at Highland Park!
On Wednesday, Grandma invited Thomas over to make goat cheese biscuits. They are his favorite snack! Grandma taught him all her baking secrets for measuring and mixing and shaping the dough. He shaped the trimmed dough edges into a goat cheese cat!
Thomas said he wanted to take his goat cheese biscuits home and eat them on the tree house deck. That’s exactly what he did! He even shared some with James and Uncle Steven! The joists have been hung and the post holes filled back in with dirt. Uncle Steven laid one piece of the plywood decking on the joists to make a temporary floor. Thomas practiced nailing on a sawed-off piece of support post.
The next part of the tree house project, after Uncle Steven fastened down the decking, was attaching the posts for the railings to the deck frame. Uncle Steven came over to use Grandpa’s drill press to make the holes for the attachment bolts. Then I helped him attach the first two posts to the frame! Uncle Steven had to use a very long drill to make a bolt hole all the way through the post and frame! Thomas stopped by to inspect! We were all happy that the first two posts were level with each other!
In Fairport, the daffodils in the back planting are really blooming now! The apple trees have leafed out and are starting to show blossom buds. One of the apple trees died over the winter. It doesn’t have any leaves at all! Grandma says it didn’t get enough sun to stay healthy because of the maple tree shading it.
Last Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa took me back out to the bay. I helped Grandma spread three more bags of marble chips by the kitchen door. The primrose was blooming and so were the maple trees.
Grandma and Grandpa decided it would be safe to take down the deer cage around the rhododendron. I helped by keeping track of the tie-wraps Grandpa cut off the fencing. Then I helped Grandma use some of those tie-wraps to weave into the fencing rolls to hold them together. I hope the deer have enough new growth to eat in the woods so they leave our rhododendron flower buds alone!
Uncle Steven decided to put some cross-bracing on the tree house deck frame before he starts building the tree house walls. This time, he could only use a smaller drill to make the holes! The frame is really sturdy now!
Yesterday, Grandma got some cedar mulch to spread where the tulips are growing. It took five bags to cover the whole area! When the spring bulbs go dormant, Grandma is going to plant impatiens again! I’m glad we had nice weather for that project. Tonight it’s supposed to start snowing again!
Love,
Lion-san
I love all the spring flowers and spring pictures. Spring is my favorite time of year. We took a drive in the countryside today and saw many gorgeous magnolias, exuberant and abundant forsythia, loads of daffodils, tulips, flowering pear trees, quince, weeping cherries, and soft green growth of leaves on loads of trees. As we looked toward the mountains, we could see soft green trees at lower elevation and bare trees higher up. Spring will creep upward. Happy spring to all of us.
There is an old saying make hay while the sun shines Since there is no hay this time of year helping Uncle Steve with the treehouse project is a good substitute and it is coming along nicely. But it is great to take some time to look at the pretty flowers this time of year. Our daffodils are all bent over from being snowed on last night.