Storm Watching

As a kid, I remember sitting out on our front (screened in) porch a lot during the summer. When we were younger, we would even sometimes spend the night out there (my brother and I and sometimes my Dad). One of my favorite things to do out on the porch though was watch and listen to the storms. I loved being out there when it was pouring down rain. It was always great to know that I was safe inside, yet still able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the thunder and rain storms.

As an adult, I would always drag Snickers and even sometimes Joe out to our front porch to watch the rain. We would eventually head inside, usually because the rain was starting to get to us (Snickers hates the rain). I’d always thought about maybe getting a screened in porch or something so I could watch the action from inside. I got my wish this summer when we decided to build a sunroom on top of our deck. We moved into our house in February 2010 and by the time summer came around, realized just how hot this west facing, dark brown deck gets. Our thermometer read a high temperature of 116 degrees this summer. So, any time after about 11 AM during the summer, the deck was practically useless. We decided we could make better use of this space by building a sunroom on it. That way, we can sit our here (maybe not on those extremely hot days) and still feel like we’re outside. It was also the perfect opportunity to be able to watch storms from the safety of the indoors (we confirmed that it’s safe to be out here during thunderstorms but we’ll still take heed as necessary). We signed the contract, but since the company was so booked, we didn’t get it built until the end of August. I’m sitting in the sunroom as I type this, one day after the carpet and furniture has been put into it and I’m looking forward to watching many storms here.

Gotta go – the sky is turning pink and I am starting to hear rain on the roof!

Happiness Is... watching and listening to a storm from our new sunroom

My Yard

As we approach fall and start to prep the yard for the coming months, I think back to this past spring, which was my first spring in this house. I so enjoyed being surprised by each and every blossoming plant. We moved into this house in February and the seller said how beautiful it is in spring. I had no idea that I would enjoy it as much as I have. From the lilacs, to the lilies, to the daisies and peony, each one was a wonderful and beautiful surprise. I'm not much of a gardener, so I didn't always know what was going to blossom on each plant, but I believe that made it more fun.

One of my more memorable surprises was sitting on my deck and suddenly smelling lilacs and then realizing that the bushes in front of my deck were lilac bushes! My all time favorite surprise, however, was, after seeing all of the beautiful lilies that had blossomed in front of the garage (yellow, red and pink), that the finale was saved for last. During the last week of June, my last lily, in front of my living room, blossomed. It was a star gazer lily - my favorite flower. I was so happy to have this particular flower in my yard, that I think I did a little dance. I know I could have planted it on my own, but the fact that it was already here made it even more amazing.

I now have a diagram of all of the plants in my yard, thanks to my Mom. She went around the yard, when they were visiting for Memorial Day, and wrote everything down for me (luckily the star gazer just said 'lily' so I didn't know what kind of lily it was going to be) :). I was actually offered this same thing from the sellers. They said they would mail it to me once they unpacked it. They never did, but I'm very glad they didn't, since I wouldn't have been able to experience the surprises during their blooming. I'm glad to now have a record of it though, for the coming years. Thanks Mom!

As we approach the seemingly never ending Rochester winter, I will look back at the pictures of my yard (I tried to take at least one of every flower) and look forward to another spring full of surprises. Thanks Mother Nature (and of course the prior owners for putting all of this beautiful landscaping in)!

Two Desserts

I created this blog today and had trouble coming up with a name. Joe said "how can you write a blog if you can't even think of a name for it?" Then I was thinking about what makes me happy and that inspired me. A few things happened today that helped me with ideas for my first post.

Happiness is... asking Snickers if she wants to go to PetSmart. The very mention of this store causes her to start prancing around and she'll begin to whine if we don't 'move it along and get going.' She is such a happy dog when she knows she's coming with us somewhere. We have to be careful when we use this store's name in normal conversation around her. If we catch ourselves, we'll say PetSm... and trail off with the last part of the name so she doesn't understand it.

After PetSmart, we took Snickers to the canal in the village of Pittsford since we had promised Snickers ice cream. I got a vanilla cone and Joe got a vanilla dish with caramel. Both are 'Doodle Friendly' so we can share them with her. I always try to hold my cone and ask her to 'lick it nicely' which usually means I have to pull it away before she devours the entire thing. Well, today, she got a huge bite - all of the ice cream that was left on the top of the cone and THE ENTIRE CONE! I wasn't too happy, but it was pretty funny. Shortly afterward, we walked around to the back, where there were more shops, and I saw a new cupcake bakery. I thought, I am going to get a dessert that's all mine. I went inside and ordered a single vanilla cupcake. I took it outside, and ate it in front of Snickers and didn't share any with her.

Happiness is... getting two desserts because your dog ate the first one.