Red door, green door and more!

So, we've been busy with little jobs - getting the finishing touches on the outdoor work before it turns cold (okay, cool for all of you who live in Wisconsin, Idaho and Vermont) and the rains begin.  We have had a beautiful Autumn - lots of afternoon sun and the leaves are turning orange and yellow and red!  Oh yeah, red! We painted the front door red and it pulls the place together!  Whew!  The "walk in" door to the garage is now the same as the base color and I think our neighbors are thrilled that it is no longer bright white......

Well, for the time being the front door is red and the walk-in door to the
garage is 'Rockvalle' - whatever that is.  There is great discussion as to whether
it is brown or green.......

My sister, Pat, asked me to include a different view of the porch off the dining
nook and den. So, here it is.  It's a nice area and we hope to fix it up some
more next summer.

We planted our first trees and ground cover  - 2 hinoki cypress, a smoke bush and
some dogwood. The grass is starting to come up in the back.  The guy who sold
me the seed convinced me just to spread it by hand and NOT buy a "spreader."
Now I wishI had - it is pretty spotty, but, hey, it's grass, it will fill in.

Ah, to have the help of two 20-year olds who worked landscaping all summer
and have stamina!  Thank you, Madison, for spreading all the soil and bark,
and thank you, Patrick, for removing the sod.   We weren't planning on doing
anything with the front planting areas until next year, but we had to do
something with the piles (yes, 2) of extra bark we had in the
driveway and out back.

The planting beds along the edge of the property and to the north of the house
look better with the new bark also.....    Now to get some plants in place....

Minnie and Sam keeping an eye on us as we work... They are great
supervisors!

They are also great at taking us on two walks a day.  Ahhhhh, the colors
are starting to change.  Fall has arrived!

Yahooo!!!!  Okay, now I know most of you will look at this picture and go
"What the*#$&?", but you  have to understand this shows that one of the two
humungous piles of bark that we were left with when our regrading took place,
is GONE!  Yahoo!  The one out back is even larger!  Who knew what the
guy was thinking?!?!?

Today's work included sorting out stuff in the garage and getting ready for a
garage sale on Saturday and finishing the upstairs deck!  Well, almost,
the weather turned and we have a little more to do, but at least the beams
and big corner post got stained and one of the railings coated.
It looks much better than before.

Here's another exciting photo!  We are making lasagne in the upper garden!
Okay, we are trying to build up the soil and beat the weeds by covering
it with cardboard and then compost/bark.  We are going to cover the other 1/2
with a "winter crop" and then compare the two.....  Hopefully, we'll have some
veggies in there next year - if we can beat the deer to harvest!