More organizing around here; there are still boxes in the garage from the move. But I have made some progress the past week.

Lowe’s was kind enough to let me buy some more garage cabinets. They are the basic formica-covered pressboard types, nothing fancy, but are easy to put together. They are 24 inches wide and 72 inches tall, with two adjustable and one fixed shelf, and a door. Nice hardware, pre-drilled holes for those lock-down screw connectors, and well-made. I got four more to help store all the garage stuff. I got them put together in a couple of hours, and emptied another dozen boxes of garage junk.

I also picked up a 4 foot by 4 inch by 1 inch pine board, sprayed it with some off-white spray paint (found in one of the boxes I unloaded), and stuck six basic coat hooks on the board. Mounted that on the garage wall between the two garage doors. It’s use will be for winter coats and gloves that will be used when there is some winter snow to clean off the driveway and walkways. (That will be a new experience for this California boy.) I plan on getting a large and thick floor mat for that area to place snowy boots on during the winter. Maybe a small oil drip pan to catch snow melt. I’m guessing here; I suspect one of my two readers from the snow states might have some advice. Pam is insisting that I get a snow blower, as she doesn’t want me to overtax my heart with any snow shoveling duties.

Today was lawn mowing day. I just have the front yard to mow at the moment, and only got half a bag full of clippings. The lawn has never been fertilized while the house was empty, although I did spread a bit of fertilizer last week to strengthen up the lawn. I still need to do a bit of edging with the string trimmer, but that task is on tomorrow’s schedule.

I did get a bunch of cardboard boxes taken to the local recycling bin, so that helped get a bit of the garage a bit cleaner. I still have some big empty boxes, but the grandkids have been using those to play in when they visit, so those are still around. I have been saving all usable moving boxes; most are the letter/legal size (the ones you get at the office supply store). Those are available to anyone in the neighborhood that is moving, along with some bubble wrap – at least the bubble wrap that the grandkids haven’t popped.

The big ‘quit your job and we’ll give you a going-away bonus’ check came this week, so we’re going to get the landscaper to start on changing the back yard from a weed patch to lawn. It’s not going to be really fancy. There will be a garden are for some vegetables (no squash for me; tomatos and cucumbers and whatever else grows around here). The beds will be raised ones, I think. Probably won’t be able to get anything planted this year, though, due to the lateness of the growing season here in Utah.

Pam also wants a ‘meditation area’ with some flowers/bushes/trees and a garden bench perhaps with a small overhead covering. Some pavers for the bench area, I think. It will be a “Jason’s Retreat” area in honor of our late son (see www.jasonhellewell.com ). Since his gravesite is in California, this will be an area to remember him.

We don’t plan on any fencing in the back yard. Although we are in a subdivision, we are surrounded by empty/unsold lots. We plan on some concrete edging, with an planting area around the edges of the lot (and as a buffer area for the weed-strewn empty lots). Sprinkler system will be connected to the irrigation water supply. (In this area, there are separate water systems for house/potable water and irrigation/lawn/garden water. There is still a lot of farming around here (corn, alfalfa, hay mostly) that uses irrigation water. But you only get irrigation water from mid-April to mid-October (I think), and then it gets shut off during the cold-weather season.)

So, have been keeping somewhat busy, although I do have lots of spare time. We spend some of it with the grandkids, and have taken a couple of short half-day road trips to explore the area. And staying indoors in the basement during the hot parts of the day.