Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Housewarming!

Although it was terribly confusing to the Massey children, we finally had our housewarming after having been in the house for about four months... Lots of food, lots of great people. Check it out!
Old University of Montana School of Forestry Logo

Go Blue!

Early arrivers sample the wares

The professor couch!

Libby talks to JB (Jill Belsky, director of the Bolle Center)

Kids up to no good...

Patio getting a workout!

Libby, Floyd and Mark hanging on the fence

Dr. Goodburn taps a bottle


Dr. Steve Seibert and Floyd discuss....whether the guac was better than the bean dip?

Wylie with the best gift of the night! The gift that keeps on giving!

No, no, I totally believe you...

Long boarding in the alley

Casey and Jennifer - can I get you anything?

Wheelbarrow of booze!

Ortons and Chase pre-fire burn spot


Ophelia and Noah checking out the dirt piles

Drs. Elizabeth, Ron, and Jill!

Libby and Mo!

Mark, John, and Wylie!

Seth and John!

Melissa, Taz, Matt, and Richard hanging in the Jeep

Claude, Kaden, and Tony

Allie and Mom

John and Elizabeth

Laura and Jen

Chase, Sara, Casey, and what's left of the chicken!

The kids hang out on the new couch in the office - success!

Dora and Moana

Now the party's starting

FIRE!

New art for the wall - Mt. Sentinal

And Jumbo
I feel like the house-warming technically lasts at least a year, so if you missed it, feel free to drop by and we'll warm away with a toast!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Patio!

It's been a while since we posted. It's been a long semester and longer "spring." And by "spring" I mean winter. But the sun has finally won out, the temps have reached the 70s, and it's yard work time!

First we had to take care of the unsightly space between our fence and the alley way. Solution: garden! Complete with some native plants and chips from the old tree from the front lot:

Alley fence garden, complete!
Finished garden - "before" picture of patio
Next up: patio. The above picture doesn't do it justice, but the lawn in front of the kitchen slider was a mess - collecting water/mud, totally uneven from the box elder roots, and generally ugly. Totally unsuitable for the grand yard-sitting time we have planned for the warm months.

Step one: Sod must go!




Why so sod, lawn??
The pictures don't do the work justice. Sod's freakin' heavy, man.
Done with step 1.

Pile o' sod
 Step 2: Level 'at &%^$. 10 wheelbarrow loads of rock and dirt later...
Bunch a dirt had to go!
Step 3: Now that it sloped gently away from the house... Time to form it up.
With a little help from my friends. Well, one friend. Thanks, Richard!

Finished form, ready for some mud.
Step 4: Pour it.
Now it involved friendS! Thanks Richard and Kadin!
Step 5: Knock them forms off.
Takin' shape!
Step 6: Reslope and relay sod. And there isn't a picture, but we laid all the extra sod on the far side or our side fence so we've got a little extra lawn over there now.
Sod relaid
Step 7 will be a mixture of planting a garden along the fence and building some sort of raised beds/storage/bench/spice garden thingamabob along the garage wall.

Step 8 will involve beers and sun and may come before Step 7....

Come hang out on our new patio!!