Us vs. Weeds

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to Steamboat with our friends Mollie and Rob. Steamboat is one of my favorite mountain towns, and has amazing mountain biking, so I was pretty excited. But, in a rare act of responsibility, Chris and I decided to stay in town instead so we could work on the yard! We have several busy weekends coming up, and were out of town last weekend, so it actually has been really nice to be around today.

Last night, our friends Jeramy and Christine stopped by for "happy hour" on our back patio. Their 2-year old son, Carson, was a big help and watered the lawn for us. He is a cutie! Check out this picture, he is kind of sticking out his tongue from the effort - that watering bucket is pretty heavy for him.

Today, I spent 4 hours (and Chris spend 5-1/2!) battling the weeds in the back yard. I decided to take before and after pictures, so I could prove to myself that I've been productive. We got a lot done today, and will probably work for a few more hours tomorrow too.

Along the side of the house, the grass had gotten REALLY tall. It was a struggle to pull some of it up, I might have fallen over a few times - and I might have really sore hamstrings tomorrow!













Last summer we planted wildflowers along the side of the yard, but since then the weeds have helped themselves to this area (along w/ a family of snakes who lived under the plastic last summer, which is why I haven't moved it yet!). We've reclaimed it - for now.

Chris really had his work cut out for him in the garden, but now it looks much better than before, and some of the veggies are doing really well. We have a lot of lettuce to eat over the next few days - yay for salads!

woohoo!

I have lots to do, including a discussion of two papers that I'm leading at 12:30 (it's 10), but I just cant focus on work. I am pretty happy about how the election went yesterday, and am feeling cautiously optimistic about the future. But, politics, blah, so I'm going to write about the wonderful weekend I had.

Chris and I are ALMOST 100% done with our landscaping. We've killed weeds, planted new shrubbery (probably at least half are low-water), put down landscaping fabric and mulch, outlined the backyard area with some edging and made a stone/rock walkway from our back gate. All that is left is to get some timbers to edge the front yard part and to buy some drip-line dripper-thingies for the front yard.

Also, we finally picked up our house from the mouse fiasco a few weeks ago. I have been feeling awful about our house the last couple of weeks. After being at an interview for 14 hours Thursday, I actually dreaded coming home b/c it was such a mess. It was really stressing me out, I am not usually a neat freak but I do have my limits! So I am feeling very good about both our house and our yard right now.

Oh, yes, my interview was for a co-teaching position at Colorado College in Co. Springs next March/April. I found out yesterday I got the position (there were 3 positions and 3 applicants, so it wasn't a huge surprise). I think it will be very challenging b/c they are on the block schedule. Classes go from 9-12, with labs usually from 1-4 and maybe office hours after that. So it is a crazy day! But the whole course (climate) is crammed into 3.5 weeks. So I think it will be hard but a great experience and a good way to get my hands wet in the world of teaching. I don't get paid, but I get free housing and food on the CC campus, which is nice. I'm kind of looking forward to exploring the Springs, and I hope Chris can come down for one or two weekends to explore with me.

One more thing is that I decided last weekend to go see Obama with Nick, Michelle, and Rachel. Nick and Michelle got in line at 6 AM (I showed up at 9:30), and so we got a spot 20 ft. from the podium. It was pretty incredible. Even if you don't agree with his politics, you have to agree that he is an excellent public speaker (the exact opposite of a certain President I can think of). I feel even more fortunate about seeing him now that he is President-elect. Big thanks to Nick and Michelle for being hard core and getting in line so early!

So ... yes, I am excited about life right now, which feels great to be able to say! (maybe there is a correlation between that statement and the fact that I am on my second cup of coffee) :) Thanks for stopping by.

I'll post some pictures that Michelle and Nick took last Sunday.

He was so close!


It was estimated that 45,000-50,000 people showed up, I believe it. There was a huge crowd and the line to get in stretched a couple of miles!