Outdoor projects at the cabin

We've been busy at the log cabin doing outdoor projects and entertaining friends. This past weekend I was elected recording secretary of our lake association. I keep joking to Greg that I'm one step away from being mayor of this one-horse town!


Greg has been driving his ATV and picking up all these free rocks for our slope. He also put in a mulch pathway that I think turned out pretty nice.






Greg's flower boxes are doing well!






The butterflies seem to like these purple flowers. (I don't know what they are called, I'm just happy I haven't killed them! Ha!)






My new bird bath - don't think I've shown it to you yet. I found this in an antique shop for $20 - isn't it wonderful?





We've been invaded by baby Grosbeaks! I counted 7 of them the other day on our deck crying for their parents to feed them. They're noisy and I love them. Look at this plump little girl - she's certainly well fed! I don't know what my excuse is......I need to tell PF Changs and Pepsi Cola to quit feeding me....

My Dream Patio

The hubby and I have been doing some serious planning for our walk out patio to the lake. We've been playing around with this cool landscape drawing program called Smart Draw - they let you use it for free for 7 days. The main thing we envision is having a bonfire / entertainment area.

We hit Barnes & Nobles yesterday, pouring through magazines. And Greg poured his coffee accidentally on a few of them! Ha, that's what he gets for making me eat that raspberry chocolate cheesecake. I dislike that combo and wanted something else, but he insisted and said just try it. I did....YUCK!

Anyways, I digress. We've decided we are going to do compacted stone for our patio and will have a paver walkway to it from the doorwall of our walk-out basement. Here's my inspiration...






Who wants to sit with me in these chairs and talk about solving the BP oil gusher?





Something about this crazy frog appeals to me!





A solar water fountain feature....how eco friendly can I get?!




A girl can never have too many bird houses!




Oh...must not forget the margarita machine! Ha!

Log Cabin Projects

We've had our log cabin for almost 3 years now and there's still many projects to complete. But here's a few things we completed recently......(after I promised Greg I'd make his favorite dinner and have a cold beer waiting for him!)

Greg painted our plain ole door a nice hunter green. Now I want to dress up the side and front deck with adirondack chairs, a bench with pillows and a margarita machine.







We have a sloping lot so we wanted to make it simpler to get to the lake side. Greg is installing some stairs. Scout said it doesn't matter to her, she'll still pole vault them and land a perfect 10 on the ground!







Oh, and did I mention that our resident chipmunk is doing some landscaping of his own?!

For the love of flowers...

Greg had a dream this summer. That dream was to attract butterflies and hummingbirds to our log home. He built flower boxes, researched magazines & the internet, and then planted (without my help! Crazy huh?) the flowers himself.

Well the wildflowers popped up only recently. Before then, you should've seen the hubby's face and heard his words as he checked them every week we headed up to the cabin (What is up with those !@#$ wildflowers?!)

I wanted to share his handiwork with you. (Darla, perhaps you can name some of these flowers for us?? We have no clue!!)

Here is one of two flower boxes that Greg built. (I was responsible for the patio plants!)






What are those red flowers Darla? I like em!








Close up of a purple flower.... (all my flowers are known by colors since I don't know what the heck their names are!)






Another mystery....







Doesn't this yellow flower remind you of a ray of sunshine?





I know what these are! Marigolds! Well that's because I planted them in Greg's box (he was a little perturbed - I was suppose to stick to the patio plants) - but I thought they would look nice there.


We've only had a few hummingbirds and butterflies this summer. It hasn't been the best weather wise this year - hopefully next year we get more of our winged visitors!