where we've been:

June 19th, 2009 in Oakland, California.
Elli is no longer a bastard puppy-hund.

i have no photographic proof of any activity this weekend because lately our camera seems to mysteriously only take photos of puppies. i offer, instead, a brief list of what happened around the house, with photos to follow soon:

- planted the cantaloupe and peas, finally
- cleaned out the front yard and planted another small area. this job is HUGE and will be completed tiny bit by tiny bit. we're making progress...
- moved the huge pile of wood, AGAIN and turned the side yard into an outdoor elli play-pen.
- finished painting the carport
- replaced and restrung the old christmas lights on the carport
- strung outdoor "ball" lights along the back of the vegetable garden area

oh, and a friend told us last night that our backyard looks like how she imagined fairytale forests when she was a child (except that it's missing the fairies and elves). that made me a lot giddy...

lest we forget that there was a world before elli...remember that project i mentioned a week or so ago? here it is:an incredible potting bench designed and built by one talented german. it's made completely from recycled wood. the top pieces are redwood from our giant stack and the bottom pieces were salvaged from an old deck via craigslist. C sanded it all when he was done and then applied a thin coat of beeswax. he even added a few special details, pulled from a collected pile of old construction parts, to finish it off.i especially love the way the wax really brought out the different colors in the wood he used...while C was working on the table, I painted the funky carport. we figured it as long as it's still there (until we tear it down), we could at least spiffy it up a bit....and yes those are indeed overalls that i'm sportin'.

barring weekend-long thunderstorms, there are many more projects underway for this little area (and a special side project for elli!)...

Correction: after weighing her last night using C's grandmother's market scale (from a zillion years ago), Elli weighs approximately 8 kilos or roughly 16/17ish lbs.apparently, this is how you spend your evenings after you get a puppy: finding new and exciting things to put her in so that she looks even tinier and impossibly cuter.
she loved the bag.

we knew it would come one day...after all, a cabinhouse needs a cabin hund, nein?

Here she is: all of 12(ish) weeks old and weighing in at 14 lbs of pure puppy....Elli!

let's go on a little tour, shall we?

if you take the stairs from the concrete patio area and walk up past the cherry tree, along the nature trail, you'll notice the pretty ivy growing back near the hammock.
go up the wood steps and then down the funky concrete stepping stones and take a break in the sitting area. go ahead and leave your beer on that bench/retaining wall, that's what it's there for...from the sitting area, head up along the new (still in progress) path that leads to the second cherry tree. it's there, hidden in front of the massive overgrown acacia trees.
take a rest on the bench that's made from recycled redwood and an old acacia stump. one day when the cherry tree is huge you'll be able to lean against the trunk while you enjoy the view of the bay. for now just enjoy the sunset....

long holiday weekend = many projects

i was too wiped out yesterday to document all of what went on this weekend but will take some photos this week.

here's a list:
- drip irrigation system installed
- moved picnic table to new picnic area
- cleaned out trashy zone (moved stacks of pressure treated wood scored off of craigslist)
- cleaned and recaulked the wall
- C built me a bench under the cherry tree!
- C finessed our "upper sitting area" bench/side table (photos will help explain)
- C started a really cool project that needs more time 'fore i can reveal but here's a sneak-peek:

and somehow we still managed to fit in our first Oakland BBQ (that we didn't host), play a fun but freezing game of baseball with the gang and eat fish tacos with an old friend...i love holidays.