Hurricane John
A storm of productive elimination rocked through the Skelton compound on Labor Day. The first year of home ownership has been mostly about removal. The overarching design philosophy is that you have to tear things down before you build them back up. Something I’ve learned from our great presidenté over the last six years.

Unbeknownst to us when we bought the Ranch, it had been rented out by the previous owners for some time. Apparently, the renters didn’t care much for yard work and the landlord was decidedly absentee. Thus things on the Ranch got a wee bit overgrown and fantasy-jungle-like during that period. All of which adds up to long weekends of yanking, cutting, pulling, slashing, trimming, digging and so forth. Had I known this when we moved in I would have immediately purchased a wood-chipper.

This past weekend saw one of the more Herculean efforts put forth towards opening up the canopy in the front yard. What was once a total doom & gloom shade garden (aka dirt) has been liberated and sun now tickles the flora with light. Next season I plan to take full advantage of this reawakening. Hell, I might actually get around to planting something.

Speaking of planting something…oh that’s awful…please forgive me: 20-week ultrasound photos (everything looks healthy and normal!).