Pergolas, threes, decks and floors

It has been a busy week here at 10702 Norman.  Alan, magic Alan the construction guy (who did the hardwood floors and painted the walls inside the house), has started on the deck area.

He built us a beautiful pergola (below) on which we have already hung the windchimes (one on the right  is a Frank Lloyd Wright model given  us by our friend Susan Brown and the one on the left was made by Frank's Dad many years ago.  The picture on the right is of Frank as Pergola Man hanging the windchimes.

 

The whole neighborhood is awash in flowering trees and the azaleas are about to burst into bloom.  The orange-pink azaleas in the back of the back yard are already blooming, underneath the weeping cherry tree.  The front yard's white dogwoods are all in full bloom.  In the back, next to the deck, is a beautiful Japanese maple that overspreads what is left of the grape hyacinths.

Every morning, I spread peanuts in their shells along the deck's brick walls for the squirrels, bluejays and other small mammals.  By the time I leave for work, the peanuts are gone!  The small mammals don't waste any time getting their share.

Not to shortchange the large mammals, Frank and I visited Home Depot on Saturday where I purchased a double smoker grill (one side gas, the other side charcoal).  It took us all afternoon to assemble but we only lost a no. 5 nut in the process. To prove it worked, we did hamburgers and hotdogs on the gas side for supper last night and invited Alan and Marcello to join us (they are busy reflooring the basement family room to cover the old 1950s era asbestos tiles).  The grill performed marvelously as did the grillmeister (Frank).  And so another weekend of tasks has been accomplished.