New Playground!

Today, Dean surprised us and only worked a half day! He got home at lunchtime, and afterward we worked (and sweated!) and hauled some more mulch back to the small side yard. There are a couple of 6-foot-tall (I keep whacking my head on them!) t-bars (to hold laundry lines). We put a log next to each bar and set it so it could roll slightly from side to side and serve as a balance board. Then we put the other three logs end-to-end to be a balance beam from one t-bar to the other. In a circle around the logs we put stumps of varying heights to hop around. This made multiple paths to take along the paths. There's a little bar swing they can grab from one of the logs and dangle from the t-bar, and the kids (a while ago) fashioned a rope swing that hangs between one t-bar and a tree branch. SO... they are thrilled about their new little (FREE!) playground. And as soon as we find the camera we'll take a picture!

We also started digging out a 6-foot swath along the front of the house (6 inches below sidewalk level). We'll fill that in with mulch (free from the chipped tree branches) and have a landing pad for our tilapia tanks when we get those in (next year?). Then we want to sledgehammer the old driveway cement and build our herb spiral and the beds on either side. Best exercise in the world! We talked about meaningful and meaningless exercise today, and it's so much nicer to have exercise that is a means to an end rather than for its own sake.

We also picked another 15+ pounds from the loquat tree. So far that's 40 pounds for us, 40 for the birds. The loquat jam I made for pesach is all gone, so time to make some more! It was so good on meat. Maybe I'll make some chutney with them. We have plums growing too, and we're hoping they're good for jam too. They should be ripe in 2-3 weeks. Our tiny urban homestead! :)

Good night, again!