Daniel’s Pilgrimage

We did crazy amounts of fence work this weekend. My parents came down to help and did insane amounts of work(thanks guys!). The project is not quite done, but all the holes are dug, all but two posts are in(stupid stump and root) and six panels are up already. As long as I don’t get crazy sore(very possible) and we can find sometime this week when it’s not raining(we’ll see) we’ll be putting up some more panels and getting the gates working this week. Next weekend, with the help of my brother and brother-in-law, we’ll be attempting to deal with the stump and root and get things finished up. It’s already a pretty amazing transformation of our backyard. I’m really looking forward to it being done and us getting to enjoy it.

We have been some crazy yardwork people lately. The plan for this whole project is a nice privacy fence for the backyard. Along the way we’ve had someone come in and cut down a big tree(and trim the front one as well), we rented a tiller and evened the backyard out a little bit, cut down a smaller tree ourselves with the help of a friend(Thanks Joe!), cleaned up a whole lot of weed growth along one of our property lines, and have done some other weeding and cleanup in the yard. It’s been a lot of work and looks like it will pay off nicely. The fence pieces were delivered this morning and are waiting for our attention. My parents are coming down for the weekend to help out. We decided on a wood fence after conversations with friends(thanks John and Ross) and are really excited about getting it up. Alicia has all kinds of plans for our backyard after this is up. There has definitely been mention of fruit trees, outdoor fireplaces and a hottub. I wouldn’t count on any of that this year($$), but they have been talked about.

I should mention that if you live in Richmond and need tree work done you should definitely call McClatchie Tree and Lawn Service at 804-358-7915. They gave a speedy estimate, their prices are very affordable, and they did a great job and were very professional. And no, they aren’t paying me commission, we just were very pleased with them.

I’d like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family. This is Piper:

Audrey does not yet know what to make of him but he is making himself at home here. I put together a video of him playing, enjoy:

Our normal routine around here has been for Alicia to get up sometime between 4:30 and 5 and be at work at either 6 or 6:30… and me waking up at 7 or 8 and being ready for work by 9. Well, this morning I got up with Alicia. Yep, 4:55. And I know it’s just a little after 10, but so far I’m loving it. I had time to eat breakfast with Alicia, drink some tea, read the bible, enjoy some morning sun from the back porch, shower and shave all before I normally wake up. It has made for a much more relaxing, enjoyable morning so far. I think I’m gonna try to make it a habit.

Sorry things have been quiet here, I’m a slacker. This past week was fairly uneventful. The thing that stands out the most is how much walking Alicia and I did. We have walked down to the grocery store(like 3 times), the pharmacy and the farmer’s market all on seperate occations. Not to mention a pleasure walk or two. It’s really nice to live so close to things, and to get some exercise too.

This weekend I spent a lot of time on a little web project. I wrote an aggregator for our main site to replace the blogs page. It not only pulls in blog posts but flickr photos and vimeo videos as well. It’s available here if you want to see my handywork. It could use a little more tweaking before I’ll switch the link on the main site.

And finally, I thought I would pass along a site that I have really been enjoying lately. It’s called Inward/Outward and is a fairly new blog by the Church of the Saviour communities in DC. They share a lot of quotes and poems and short writings. As a sample, check out their recent post which is a short article from Franciscan Father Richard Rohr about AA. Enjoy