Out with the old, In with the new

I love spring... almost as much as I love autumn.
It seems like the entire world comes out of hibernation and begins to celebrate life again.

There is something incredibly joyful about the first pedicure of the season, the packing away of winter clothes and the deep spring cleaning that accompany this time of year.

It's a time for fresh starts, new beginnings.

I have been dying to try my hand at growing my own veggies for several years now, but just haven't gotten around to it.  Turns out, this is the year.

First of all, the old stuff had to go...

I know it doesn't look tough from this picture, but I had to dig out the roots of 3 dead shrubs from this area. 

They were some stubborn son-of-a-guns.

Luckily my sweet husband made me a little rest spot...

complete with shade, a drink and my cell phone.

Eventually all plants (and their roots) were cleared out.

While I was working and resting back here, R was busy building this...

an 8' x 4' frame for my little garden.

It took a little finagling but we finally got it in place

Pretty impressive, huh? 

The crepe (crape) myrtle had to sacrifice a few branches for it to fit.

 Another big change we made over the break was to replace our back door. 

In the interest of honesty and full disclosure, it needs to be noted that when I say "we" replaced the door I really mean that I helped pick it out, but R and a dear friend, MP, actually did the manual labor. 

Here is a picture of the old door that was incredibly drafty and as energy inefficient as possible.  Not to mention the fact that the door knob was broken... long story. 

Yes, the door did have moulding around it before the picture was taken.

Door's out and R is trying to salvage a 2 x 4 to make a new header...

or something like that. 

MP took this picture.

I was out grocery shopping at the point and missed all of the fun.

The guys did a great job installing the new door and avoided any major problems.

No drafts, a door knob that works and energy efficient glass!

Evidently this was a tough job...

R and SP needed a big nap afterwards! 

(Well, SP needed one.  R just wanted to pretend.)

The next day R installed the moulding around the door

and this time I did help with the actual labor part.

R still needs to do the caulking and I still need to do the touch-up paint on the wall around the door and actually paint the door and trim, but it's functional and allows us to enjoy our patio once again.  

Success is sweet.