Happy belated Memorial Day!  I did (a bit) of my civic duty this year - I helped put up flags on Hilltop Drive with the Scouts.  They were a little short on scouts, so I went in at 6:30 and, for the most part, pushed the cart carrying the flags.  The scouts had fun searching for the holes to plant the flags, removing the covers, and planting the flags.  I did put quite a few flags together for the younger (i.e. shorter) scouts.  It was really great to see the scouts enjoy putting up the flags, and we got a lot of community support from those driving by (though between it being 6:30 a.m., limited businesses open due to COVID, and a holiday morning, not too many people were out and about yet!)

I updated my patio umbrella by the fountain - one of my favorite places!

And Alex (with help from me) managed to get all of the ceiling fans up this weekend!

One down, three to go!  Alex and I successfully took down two ceiling fans yesterday, and put one of them back up.  I had one 'old' fan in the dining room that still works with a remote, and we installed that in my bedroom.  I have three new ones (sans remote) to put up today in the kitchen, living room and dining room.  The last time we replaced the fans, we got ones that only operate via remote.  Of the 5 we put in, the remote only works on two now.  Very frustrating!  So this batch is all mechanical with pull chains - not as pretty, but functional!  

Yesterday should be the hardest, since neither of us had ever put a fan up before, and we had no instructions, since it was the 'old' one that we put up.  We rewarded ourselves with a dip in the new pool!  (Well, Alex took a dip - I just dipped my toes....)  Since our weather is forecast to be over 100 next week, the water will warm up pretty quickly now.

Chewie came to check in on me.....

Warmer weather yesterday - but not hot yet!  (Next week we are forecast for 102)  I took the dogs for a walk at lunch, and took a video of the wind through the grass out in the field.  

And I have butterflies on my flowers!

This weekend is a catch-up weekend.  I've neglected so many things lately with the hours I was putting in at work, that I need to spend some serious time cleaning house, on yard work, and home improvements.  Alex and I are installing ceiling fans this weekend - I have 3 that don't work, and I went through last summer without them, but not this year.  It is just too hot to not have fans.  It actually feels good to be able to work on some things.  I turned off my computer last night (at 5:00!!) and did not have to rush to feed Alli, cook dinner for the rest of us, and all the other evening chores.  I felt so lazy I went to In-and-Out for burgers for dinner!!

The blackberries are blooming!  

The recent rain has brought the wildflowers back out in the field - we get an extended Spring this year!  (Which is nice - I missed the first one...)

We did it!  We got all of the PPP loans on the books - and even a couple of days ahead of the deadline!  There were over 600 loans that we prepared loan documents for and booked in less than a month - talk about exhausting!  I've been at the computer from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day except the weekends lately.  Weekends have been better - only 6 - 8 a day then, instead of 12.  But - we are done with the heavy lifting!  I still have a lot of things to sort our, balance, correct, etc., but....we are as back to normal as we can be!  Whew!  

I even took time out for a walk at lunch yesterday (instead of eating at my desk.....) and surprised the resident ducks on the creek.

Finished!  I finished another Mondo bag - this one going to Margene.  I'm thinking of this as my COVID project - all of the fabric was bought on-line, with pickup in store after we went on quarantine.

Since I was sending her the bag, I also made a cute little mask for her.

And we have water!  The pool is open!  (sort of...)  It will be a few days before we can really use the pool, but it's beautiful!!!

We're adding water!!!  They finished yesterday - cleaning everything up, acid washing and polishing the new surface, and turned the water on.  Woohoo!!  Now the work for us begins - we have to start scrubbing and cleaning the sides and bottom 2 or 3 times a day for the next couple of weeks.

My fountain/pond is looking better - the snails are working overtime cleaning up the algae.  I even have a new bloom on my water lily.

What a difference a day makes!  The crewcame yesterday (and what a crew!!!!  It was a very large number of people....) and put the pebblesheen in the pool.  The next steps are acid washing it,  then polishing it, and the final step - adding water! (and then special maintenance for two weeks before we can use it.)  It's almost done! 

It looks like most of my baby plants survived the rain storm.  I have one tomato plant that was sideways afterwards - but it should pull through.  Since my options for plants were pretty limited, I have lots of peppers (nacho, ancho, bell, and jalapeno)....

Cucumber and zucchini from Ronna - with green bean seeds planted in the back.

And 7 tomato plants - Mr. Stripey, Sweet 100, Heat Rush (supposed to like the heat - Redding will give it a good test, I think) and a few others I don't remember - not ones I usually plant, but they were all I could find.  This was NOT a good year for my greenhouse to fail me.  

They are supposed to come spray in the new pool coating today.  Crossing my fingers that I'll like how it turns out!

More wildflowers - I don't think they will be there a lot longer - Spring goes quickly here.  

We startled the ducks on our walk - but they settled back in the creek for a photo op...

I finally got my garden in, but I'm afraid to go check it.  We had a huge storm blow through, with rain hard enough to knock out Dish.  I'm afraid to see what it did to my baby plants!  Due to COVID, my options for seedlings was pretty dismal this year.  The only Jubliee plant I could find was about 2 inches tall at Wyntour.  I just could bring myself to pay $4.99 for it.  I did manage to find some tomato plants, but no Early Girl, yellow pear, or yellow cherry tomatoes.  I finally found some sweet peppers and jalapeno pepper plants at WalMart.  Ronna sent over some zucchini and cucumber plants she had started, so I filled my beds - and then the storm......  We did have a double rainbow afterwards

The pool is almost finished!  The guys were in working yesterday to prep for the pebblesheen coating - this was from Thursday night... 

A couple of new faces in the community.....