Those following the blog will know that last Oct/Nov we broke ground for the construction of a new shed. Over 1/2 years later, this weekend, we finally completed the construction! The initial rationale for building the shed was to house Jason's motorcycle... said motorcycle has now been sold, but I'm sure there'll be another some day. Regardless, the shed supplies some much needed storage, & hopefully our house will start looking less cluttered (the 2 bicycles in the dining room now have a more fitting home). We think it looks pretty good, and we owe a lot of thanks to those who helped out... We never would have finished the project without Mom & Dad C who devoted many weekends help with the hardest parts of construction, Lisa & Butch for digging the foundation,Dave & Scott for helping to take down our big tree mid-build, and Dad & Mom O for letting us borrow various tools, advice, & moral support. THANKS TO EVERYONE (especially Jim & Joan)!!
We've also been working on a vegetable garden, which is doing well with squash and tomatoes.
Last week Jason & I rented a house at Deep Creek Lake, MD for a last minute getaway, & various friends were able to drop by during the week. First was Mom & Dad Carneal. We had a good time fishing & cooking together.
Next were David and Ashley from Blacksburg, who we went on a white-water rafting trip in a man-made closed-loop course at the top of Wisp Ski place. I was a skeptic at first (I was afraid it would be like raft rides at amusement parks), but was really pretty awesome & simulated class IV rapids - had to have a guide & everything. David, Jason, & I ended up in the water several times (don't think Ashley ever did tumble over, she was tenacious in her hold on the raft), but it was a lot of fun. Below is a sequence of us rafting, one of us "surfing" in some rapids, and another action sequence of David & Jason tumbling over.
Finally, Butch & Lisa were able to join for a couple of days. We rented a boat & went water skiing (can you believe they let people with no experience take these $17k toys out with no training or real instructions?), & hiking at Swallow Falls State Park which was very pretty (easy relaxing hike with many opportunities to get in the rapids). Take that, Dougie!!
Other thing we've been up to during the weekends:
Jason went on his first back-woods hiking trip ever, in Shenandoah National Park with his friends Dave & Chris... not sure he'll do it again, but they did get some great scenery.
My good friend Jennifer Powell got married to Blake Leedy this month. She was a beautiful bride & I'm sorry I have no pictures of the actual wedding or reception to post. However, there were several celebratory occasions leading up to the nuptials, including a bachelorette party & a pig roast hosted by my parents in the bride & grooms honor. This is truly the last Pig Roast my parents will have, & they're in the middle of divying up all the tables/tents/chairs/pig cooker/etc. I believe that makes almost 20 years of Pig Roasts, a non-trivial entertainment feat by any standard & which were legendary in their day, & will be missed by everyone (except maybe our neighbors!).
Finally, some a couple other notable & exciting things going on:
- 3 siblings bought houses in the last few month: Butch & Lisa in Silver Spring, Robert & Cate in DC, & Jamie & Margaret in Blacksburg (suckers... I mean, congrats :)
- Dad O went to Alabama to a Vietnam Veterans ceremony for his Army Division - thanks for your service Dad!
That's it for this MEGAPOST - hopefully we'll be better about regular Blog updates in the future.
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