Weekend BBQ Bonanza Recap

Great 4th of July weekend. It started out with an all-night evening of kicking code in the teeth on Thursday. The code slinging didn't stop until I was bleary-eyed and ready to do some Asa crazy talking around 6:30am on Friday morning. After 90 minutes of sleep, I got up, made some coffee, and knocked out some early afternoon meetings and some more code that afternoon. Around 3pm, I stowed the web work for the weekend and grabbed another 90 minute nap to recharge. We decided it would be movie night and headed out to do something I haven't done in over 6 years -- rent a movie. Since it was family movie night, we needed a kids movie to watch. The ones we have (and we have plenty) are pretty worn out. When we went to check out a video, the phone number they had listed for my account was so old I didn't even recognize it.

Saturday we spent the early part of the day outside enjoying the sunny weather. After a year of sitting next to the backyard fence, mocking me, I took the pickaxe and shovel to 24 bastard tree stumps. They are the only reminder of the wall of arborvitae which used to live on the East side of the yard. I don't know why it was the right day to remove them, but it felt good to get a really physical project like that going.

Getting the freeloading stumps off my property

I pulled 8 of them out on Saturday and the rest came out on Sunday. I had to hang up the tools to get on over to the Becker's new place in Portland for some amazing barbecue goodness. We got a glipse of the truck-load of fireworks Douglas purchased to shoot off on the 4th. I was speechless.

On Sunday morning we took on another project on the list. Bust the front deck in the jaw and give it a facelift. Sawing, prying, and painting, we began on the front deck project. Finishing the project will have to wait for another day, since during the removal of some of the retaining boards, I found some evil dryrot which requires a trip to the lumber yard for replacing. Sucky.


Sunday evening we headed over to the Bell's house to take in some more barbecue and socializing. Excellent food and The Kyle ala parasol.


We finished the night by heading home early and watching some fireworks over at the neighbor's house, since they have an incredible view of the valley in our area.

Monday was spent in the yard soaking up more sun and relaxing outside, trying not to do too much. When the evening rolled around, we headed back to the neighbor's backyard to watch the big fireworks show all thru the valley and fairgrounds. Mia handled most of the fireworks as long as they were being set off far enough away. The ones set off close by were still a bit scary though.

Awesome weekend and well worth the 3-day break from everything. I'll get to the slug beer results very soon. Stop asking.