Monday, December 31, 2018

Keeping Busy as Usual

Having Fun At The Park
Pami and the kids were on the way to Tahoe, so we had lunch together and found a cool park and played around for a while. IMG_9057IMG_9058IMG_9072IMG_9073IMG_9075Hillside Park, Rancho CordovaIMG_9077IMG_9080

Mini Maker Fair

Although this fair is really geared towards kids, adults enjoy it to.  The Mini Maker Fair at Sierra College in Rocklin is a family-friendly showcase of invention and creativity and totally hands on for kids.  These talented “makers” show hobbies, experiments, projects and answer all kinds of questions to curious minds.  Hank & I attend every year and love to see the creative things people make.
IMG_9089IMG_9088IMG_9090IMG_9091IMG_9095IMG_9097IMG_9098


Cute Puppy!!

Our friends got a new Cavalier King Charles puppy and they named him Bentley.  He’s really cute and fun to play with and he’s super fast too!!  They are in the “puppy training” mode right now (been there, done that) so we’re glad we can visit and play with him and go home!  We only live 4 houses down from our friends, so we can babysit him when they need it.
IMG_9163IMG_9164IMG_9167IMG_9169IMG_9174IMG_9175IMG_9203IMG_9206IMG_9333
When the kids were over for Christmas, they were so excited to meet Bentley, so we walked down to see and play with him.  Needless to say, they loved him!
IMG_0217IMG_0197IMG_0202IMG_0213

Howl-O-Ween Party

In October, we attended the first annual “Howl-O-Ween” dog party in downtown Lincoln.  A place to bring your dressed up dogs to compete for the best dressed furry friend.  It was a fun and cute event and hopefully it will grow as each year goes by. 
IMG_9186IMG_9190IMG_9191IMG_9192IMG_9193IMG_9194
This guy did not like me!!  He lunged at me while trying to take a picture of him…. bad lion!!!!  He was a bit on the scary side!
IMG_9196

Trimming & Cutting Down 3 Diseased Trees

This is a beautiful elm tree we have in our backyard.  It was getting bigger than what we wanted, so we called in several arborists for quotes.  We ended up hiring an awesome company so here’s a shout out to “Treescapes” in Roseville.  If you live locally in the Sacramento area and are in need of tree trimming and arborist care, call them!  They were so knowledgable and they also had the least expensive quote.
Here are the before, during, & after photos. IMG_9226a1aBEFOREIMG_9229
They cut off branches that were rubbing on each other, hanging over the fence, thinned it out and trimmed it in a little.  We love the results. IMG_9226a2 AFTER
This tree in our back yard was loosing branches, had a fungus growing in the trunk, and the trunk was sun scorched and loosing it’s bark.  Every single company we brought in for a quote told us the same thing about all 3 trees and that it would only get worse until the trees died… sadly, it was time to take them down.
IMG_9228IMG_9231
It was the owner and his employee and between the 2 of them they had trimmed the elm and had cut down all 3 trees in a few hours.  They did a great job and cleaned everything up.
IMG_9238IMG_9239IMG_9240IMG_9237
After completing the back trees, they moved on to the front to remove another 2 diseased trees.
This is what the trees looked like in 2011 when we purchased the house. 
IMG_3003
IMG_9243IMG_9245IMG_9248IMG_9249IMG_9260IMG_9261IMG_9262IMG_9264IMG_9266IMG_9269IMG_9270
BEFORE
IMG_3003
AFTER
Our plan is to balance out the sides by planting another Purple Pony (a fruitless miniture plum tree) on the right side.  We already have one on the left that’s not very noticable in this photo because it doesn’t have any leaves right now.  We also have 2 Purple Pony’s in the foyer area.  So with the 4 colorful plum trees in bloom it should look really good from spring to winter.
IMG_0361

Boys Will Be Boys

This is a long awaited project from Jim & Jessica… to install a spa in their backyard.  They did a lot of prep work to transform their small yard to incorporate the spa.  Papa helped Jimbo with some of the electrical and moving of dirt and rocks.  The boys were all over the dirt and rocks, considering they are boys!!!!
IMG_9273IMG_9275IMG_9278IMG_9276IMG_9277
Dash & Cooper are “helping”
IMG_9281IMG_9282 
The finished product… they boys LOVE it!!
IMG_0362