Operation Peppermint Patch (and Power Wash!)

Phase I of our backyard "renovation" was ripping out the playground and getting rid of the sand box. After scooping out 19 yard waste bags worth of mulch from the area between our back gate and the retaining wall over the last week and a half, we finally successfully completed Operation Peppermint Patch over the weekend. If you look back a few posts, you'll see some big green plants under the playground .... that's peppermint and it was growing ALL OVER a section of our yard.

Roger got a tiller on Friday and while turning over the dirt, ripped out the remaining peppermint roots. On Saturday, I did probablly the closest thing to farming I"ll ever do, sowing grass seeds, covering them with straw and watering.

Sunday was supposed to be a day to stain and seal part of our fence that we'd power washed earlier, but it was supposed to rain on Monday and Tuesday (didn't on either, of course). So I moved from Operation PP to Operation PowerWash and got about 1/2 of our fence done in 3 1/2 hours.

But the weekend wasn't all manual labor, we hung out at the Irish festival on the riverfront with Dream's rescue group. One of the guys tried to do the caber toss and actually broke the women's pole when it fell backwards. It was pretty funny!!

Think it's been a while since this fence has been cleaned? I don't think our neighbor's dog was too impressed with my work ....