could this be a sign?

Good morning.
This showed up on the Knights of Columbus sign. We drive past them every day to and from work.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone advertising a Cornish Hen dinner.
Cornish Hen is the name of the street of the house in Las Vegas we're hoping to buy.
Could this be a sign?  :-)
And no, we've not heard a thing since May 14th, when our Realtor e-mailed us that the bank had ordered an appraisal. From that point, she said it could take another 7 weeks. That's this week. So maybe soon. But then again, she originally told us a short sale takes around 45 - 60 days. Today is day 89, but then, who's counting.  :-)
Anyway, I spent the day Sunday, after cleaning the Salon, weeding and deadheading in the yard.
I have a woodchuck munching on my hosta's and sedum and deer eating my day lilies and phlox.
I'm picking up some carrots to live trap the woodchuck. Don't know what I'll do about the deer.
And that's all I've got for now.

yard pics

Good morning.
It's been a very busy week in the Salon, and I'm completely booked today also.
Craig and I did manage top finally get the yard mowed yesterday after work.
And here's some current pics.....

Now time to get to work.

short and sweet

Good morning.
Well, it rained pretty much all day the last 2 days since we returned home, so I didn't get a thing done outside. And the grass is really getting long. But with a long day at the Salon today and tomorrow, Friday afternoon will be the earliest chance.
Soooo, I spent the time indoors cleaning. I vacuumed, dusted and even pulled everything out of the fridge, wiped all the shelves and drawers and put it all back together.
Now time for another work week.

our 2nd trip

Good afternoon.

We've just returned from our second RV trip of the summer.
This one took us over to the shores of Lake Michigan, and Van Buren State Park.
For the most part it was a beautiful weekend. We had some heavy rain on Saturday afternoon, but we had already returned from our days outing, so we sat inside and watched as all the tenters scrambled to get to cover.   :-)
We left Lansing early Friday afternoon, after a busy morning in the Salon.
Arrived and set up our site.

We had a nice large corner lot.   :-)
Relaxed with cocktails as we watched other campers arrive, and had Turkey cheddar kielbasa's for dinner.
Saturday, we headed into South Haven for their annual Harbor Fest.
Music, arts, and crowds. Had lunch on a boat docked in the river downtown.
Headed back to the campground and took a walking tour, looking at the great variety of camping units from tiny tents, to large mo-ho's. Dinner was pork cutlets on the grill with grilled zucchini and a nice Greek pasta salad we picked up on the way back to the campground.
Sunday morning, after our coffee walk, we headed over to the Four Winds casino near Heartland, about 20 minutes from the campground. A small, but very nice casino, where we did okay. Down just a little when we left. Back at the campground, we headed over to the beach to people watch.

Sat near the top of the beach near the walkway and enjoyed the sun and sights. Lake Michigan is beautiful in the summer.
Back at the campsite, we had chicken thighs and asparagus on the grill with a cheddar macaroni salad.
Broke down camp in the early evening for an early morning departure.
Awoke to rain, but it was mainly sprinkling when it was time to load the car and dump the tanks. Headed back to Lansing in moderate rainfall, but it let up just enough to gas up and unload the car and back in the mo-ho.  I'm doing this post because it's raining again, and unable to do anything outside.
We've sure had enough rain this month.
But we got there safe, had a good time, and returned home safe.
It was a good trip.   :-)
Oh, and the beach pics look different from the others because I'm trying out my smart phone camera. It's got a pretty good one and I'm in the process of figuring it out.
Now the rain appears to be letting up, so I'm off to clean out the mo-ho.

a short weekend

Good morning.
It was a nice weekend. The rain actually held off until late last night. So far this morning, we've gotten 1/12 inches, and it looks like more to come. But that's fine as it's time to go back to work.  :-)
After my long late Saturday, Craig treated me to a late lunch/ early dinner at Reno's. The weather was sunny and warm. A beautiful afternoon to sit outside. 
Sunday, after cleaning the Salon and our walk, I cleaned and sealed the roof of the mo-ho with Craig's help. It was really dirty this year. But it's also the latest that I've cleaned it.
Monday was mowing and weeding. I'm really liking the downsized flower beds.  :-)
Tuesday, with rain threatening, we skipped our walk, and I made a batch of Kale chips.
And here's a few more pics....

The landscaped area along the front side of the house.

And a bigger pic of the east side of the back yard.

Now it's back to work. The weekends go so fast! And I have a 3 day weekend! I don't know how people do it on a 2 day weekend.  

one more day

Good morning.
It's been a busy week in the Salon, and I'm completely booked today also, but I had a few extra minutes this morning before I go in to do this quick post.
A couple more pics of the yard....

The Japanese maple at the corner of the house was the one where half of the tree was broken off. Fortunately from the deck it looks fine. It's the backside that's gone.

 

But as you can see, new shoots have sprouted, and it may balance out eventually. Like in 5 years?  :-\

But all in all, nature has a way of covering up the damage with time.

In other news......

Today is day 60.  :-(

What that means is our realtor in Las Vegas told us a short sale would take about 45 - 60 days. Today is exactly 60 days from when the owners of the house accepted our offer and it went to the bank.

But I guess it really doesn't matter, as we're in no hurry to move, and for every month we don't have the house, it's saving us money by not having to pay utilities, taxes, assoc. fees, and such.
Now I need to get to work.

a pretty yard

Good morning.
I spent a good part of yesterday, cutting out dead canes on the rugosa roses.  Still lot's of winter damage I have to deal with, but I'm slowly getting there.
And here's some more yard pics.....

The grassy area above was all flowers 3 years ago.

The flower beds look best between the end of may and early July before it starts to get to hot and dry.
You wouldn't know it by the pics, but I have at least 25% less flowers than a few years ago when I started downsizing the flower beds. But as you can see, I still have plenty, and they are much more manageable.   :-)
Now it's back to work.

our bonsai tree.

Good morning.It's been a beautiful couple of days.
We got out of work early enough on Saturday and headed downtown to walk on the river trail. We stopped at the farmers market for a drink and to people watch.
Sunday, after I cleaned the Salon, I worked in the yard.
Here's a couple of pics of the tree in the back yard that suffered the ice damage.

It's now sprouting lot's of new little branches. Kind of looks like a bonsai tree now.  :-)
I don't think it'll look too bad once it branches out a little more. We'll see.

Monday Craig and I mowed the yard.
Today, it's another walk and shopping.
That's it for now.

flowers galore

Good morning.
It's been a very busy week in the Salon, and I've got one more day to go before my weekend.
But I did manage to get a few more pics of the yard........

White Siberian Iris.

Yellow Swamp Iris.

Purple Siberian Iris

Sky Blue Siberian Iris.

Dianthus.

Now off to work.

it's flower time

Good morning.
I didn't do my usual Wed. morning post, as I had to be at the Salon at 7:30 am. Didn't leave until 6:45 pm. A very long day.
Today is better. I don't start until 9 this morning.
And with the warmer weather, the perennials are bursting forth..... 

Despite having nearly 1/3 less flower beds, I sure do still have a lot of flowers.
And it appears the stuff I put in the pond is working. All the plants that were growing on the bottom all over the pond, have been floating up to the top. I've scooped out 3, 5 gallon buckets of them and there's still more coming up. Looks like I'll have them all out by this next weekend.
Now time to get to work.

first RV trip.

Good morning.
We've just returned from our first RV trip of the season.   :-)
This took us to Indiana Dunes State Park. We left Lansing Friday afternoon.
The weather was sunny and warm with temps in the 80's.
As usual, when we camp here we took a day trip into Chicago which is only about 45 miles away.
Here's a couple of pics from the back side of Navy Pier.

Craig with part of the Chicago skyline behind him.

Me with the end of Navy Pier behind me.
On Sunday, we went into Michigan City and hit the casino in the morning, and the Lighthouse Outlet Mall in the afternoon, where we found ourselves a new set of dishes.

These will hopefully be for our hopefully new home in Vegas.

If not, it will replace our current piecemeal set.
They just happened to have all the open stock pieces 50% off. That saved us about 30% off there already low prices. And yes, they are Corelle. Looks just about as nice as stoneware, but lighter and much more durable. Since we bought a set many years ago for the mo-ho, we're hooked. The set in the mo-ho has a contemporary bamboo pattern around the edges with a cream colored background.
This set is called, Sincerely Yours.
Anyway, it was a good trip, no issues with the mo-ho, everything worked and we arrived back home safe Monday afternoon.
Now time to use up our last day off.