I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot
George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Monday, June 15, 2020

Small Yard Transformation and a Graduation!!



Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Happy Flag Day!!!

A day late......

I did put out a few flags in the front of our townhouse to celebrate and honor Flag of this Country.....
You can see that my flowers are starting to fill in nicely in all my pots......
We have had crazy weather here.......
High's in the 90's in the beginning of last week......
And then low's in the 40 over the weekend and this morning!!
I'll take the cooler weather any day!!!!

Today, I will be sharing some pictures of our Great Niece Cortney who graduated from High School last week along with something I wanted to share last year but never got a chance to.....

My former neighbor Lynn's amazing back yard transformation.....

A few Personal Notes.....

I have been waging a war against squirrels coming into my yard to bury the peanuts that my neighbor throws out in his yard by the bag full!!!

Joe saw these 2 Owls in sales circulars and thought we should give them a try.....

This Owl he bought in Ocean State Job Lot  for $7.99
 The motion sensor on it turns on bright LED lit eyes and you can also set it to make a "Hooting" noise which is supposed to keep Squirrels, ground hogs, etc away as they are supposedly afraid of Owls!!!

This one Joe bought in Ollies for a mere $5.99 and this one is advertised to keep these critters out of your yard too....
The  motion sensor turns on it's eyes which flash red for 20 times and it emits a high pitched frequency sound that keeps the critters away but humans can not hear it!!!!
Well, Lo and Behold.....NO SQUIRRELS for 4 days now!!!

I only turn on the "Hooting" owl when I see my neighbor's yard ( he is 2 doors down from our townhouse) full of peanuts which he only puts out in the mornings...

So I have no idea which owl is working or is the combination of the 2 but so far, they are working.....

They are not keeping the birds away as this guy is one of the many birds who frequent our Cottage Garden daily.....
 I bought this wheel barrow last year at the end of the Season from the Amish Farmer that sets up several stands of produce and other things from the Amish Community each Friday at the Convenience Store down the street from us.....
Our Great Niece Cortney, who is a talented wood worker, was kind enough to stain it for me with a heavy duty outdoor stain......
 I bought my Niece Renae one for her birthday this year.....
 I will show you what I did with it later in this post.....

Cortney graduated last week and because of everything going on right now, the Graduation Ceremony was not able to be held in the Mohegan Sun Arena which is right by our house as previously planned.....

They did the Graduation at the high school with the graduates driving in to pick up their diplomas and only immediate family allowed to be in the cars...

So since we would not be able to attend the Graduation, we visited with our nieces the day before Graduation.......

Cortney put on her cap and gown for us so we could take a few pictures......

This is their stunning deck......
Carson, one of their 3 dogs likes photo bombing!!!
Yes, Joe needs a hair cut badly but will NOT let me touch his hair......
I have been cutting my own so I am good......
Caitlin, Cortney, Carly and Renae.......
Carson, again, photo bombing.....
The dress Cortney wore underneath her graduation gown was the one her Mom, Renae, wore under hers.....
Cort will be attending King's College here in Wilkes Barre and received multiple Scholarships....

She is accepted into the Nursing program......
See how she decorated her cap and wrote Journey with the RN between the ribbon for Colon Cancer which claimed her Dad last year.....

The red cardinals on the bottom, signify the red cardinals that have appeared on their deck and in their yard since her Dad passed away last year....

All the awards and medals she received, both scholastically and as the Goalie of the Girl's Soccer Team......
Attached to the medal she received as a District 2 Soccer Champion in her freshman year is a Soccer Ball pin which was her Dad's......
Of course, we came bearing balloons, flowers, a gift and her Graduation Card!!!
 Along with an order of chicken fingers from Wegman's and banana nut bread and zucchini bread....
 Joe was able to get a balloon with her high school on it from Wegman's!!
 This is Carly holding their puppy, yes puppy, Chewie!!!
 He is a gentle Giant!!
 I don't think Carly will be able to pick him up too much longer as he is supposed to get as big as a Saint Bernard!!!
His sweet face reminds me of our Savanna......

Renae has a massive back yard and front yard for that matter.....

This is just the area off the deck and to the side of it.......
 They own beyond this out to the road and that is where they have vegetables planted......
 This is the pool area which has a leak and they are draining it and getting a new liner put in this week......
 Carson LOVES the water......

This is Chewie and Carson in the pool before the leak......
 These 2 are inseparable.......

 Beyond that fence is the other half of their yard which is all grass......
 On the deck is a Disney inspired Fairy Garden Tub......
Minnie, Mickey, the Seven Dwarfs and other Disney characters......
I just missed getting a picture of the Mama bird feeding her babies in this nest in the rafters of the deck......
 We had a wonderful visit and were so happy to see Cortney before her Graduation.....

We were able to watch it both on one of the local TV stations and on face book......

This is the parade of cars to the stadium for the ceremony.........
 And the new Grad!!
We are all so PROUD of Cortney and even though her graduation was bittersweet without her Dad, it was a Celebration of 13 years of hard work and she stayed strong and did not falter even after the last 2 years.....

Joe and I are so BLESSED to have these 4 girls in our lives......
 Renae gave us Cort's Graduation picture and also a picture of all 3 of our Great Nieces......

Of course, those pictures were placed on my Family Wall of Fame!!!
 This is the narrow hall way between the Living Room and the Kitchen.......
 I replaced 2 pictures with these.......
 Cort's Graduation picture........
 And one taken of Cort, Cait and Carly, which I lOVE!!!!
 Over the weekend, I did some transplanting of perennials, planted more seeds and planted a few more annuals that Joe picked up.......

We had temps. in the low 70's so it was a beautiful weekend as far as I am concerned......

Last year, my former neighbor Lynn and her son transformed her back yard.....

This is what the back yards in our townhouse development look like if nothing has been done to them......
Ironically, this is the yard of the neighbor who keeps throwing out peanuts for the squirrels......
Nothing to destroy in his yard as all he did was plant the arborvitaes.......

 Now you all know how I transformed our yard over many years.......
 The patio off the back of the house......
Pavers that I laid to extend the patio.......
 I removed all the grass and planted perennials.......
 And laid brick walk ways.......
 Here is my wheel barrow with 2 pots inside of it planted with Gerber Daisies.......
 I already had these pots planted.....
 My neighbor Lynn liked how my back yard looked so she decided that she would transform her back yard too......

Her and her son, Ben, dug out the grass.......
She did not have a fence in the back as the previous owner did not put one in and the side fences belong to the neighbors on those sides
 They started to lay the pavers after putting down weed black fabric and stone to level the pavers.............
When money ran out, Lynn got creative......
 She used stone.....
What to do with the french drain??????
Grass carpeting........
One side done.......
The area for the grill had been done in years past....
She attached privacy lattice to the fence like I did.......
Now they started work on the other side.......
Again, only having so much money, she improvised with mulch and rubber pavers......
This area had already been done before this project......
This shows what you really can do with a tiny back yard!!!!!
Lynn accepted a transfer within the VA Hospital System and moved in March down to Florida......

She sold her home without any problem and I am sure this back yard aided in the sale!!

I do miss her!!!

If you want to see a video of what Lynn's yard, which Lynn entitled "Bed of Weeds", looked like before she ad her son Ben started this transformation, please click HERE

I hope you enjoyed seeing this Small Yard Transformation!!!

 And I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


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15 comments:

  1. Miss MerryJune 15, 2020 at 12:16 PM

    Gosh, Lynn worked wonders with that yard. The stones and pavers looked very high end!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Creations By CindyJune 15, 2020 at 1:29 PM

    Everything looks so good with the yard girl! Congratulations to the graduate! Love all of the pictures sweet lady. Have a great week. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Louca por porcelanaJune 15, 2020 at 5:43 PM

    Beautiful decoration!Congratulations to your niece!Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alexandra EyeLoveKnotsJune 15, 2020 at 6:47 PM

    That stone work is perfect! I have a little area in my backyard that I have bought some small bricks to use to create a space I can set a table up on, but haven't been motivated to lay it down because I haven't been able to decide if I want to pour concrete or whatnot, but I love the idea of setting it, and filling with stone. Thank you for the inspiration! Congrats to your grand-niece too :)

    Alexandra
    EyeLoveKnots.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. mamasmercantileJune 16, 2020 at 3:37 AM

    Congratulations to your niece, lots of beautiful photos and of course memories. It was wonderful to read that the owls are doing their work and there has been no more sightings of squirrels.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Carol @Comfort Spring StationJune 16, 2020 at 9:58 AM

    Congratulations to Courtney - loving you yard and flag filled porch - Happy Tuesday!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Liz@ HomeandGardeningWithLizJune 16, 2020 at 5:25 PM

    Congratulations to Cortney! What a shame how this years graduation events turned out. I’m glad they found a way to improvise though! Your gardens look good, nice to have something to look at isn’t it! I hope the owls do their job. I just had a squirrel trying to eat the buds on my sunflower so I sprayed them and hope that’ll do it. So frustrating to have the critters do damage! Ranae does have a big yard and very pretty! I hope the pool liner can easily to fixed/replaced! Lynn did a great job with her back yard, too bad to she to move! Looks like you are off to a great start to summer!

    ReplyDelete
  8. ConniecrafterJune 16, 2020 at 11:07 PM

    A big Congrats to Courtney, sounds like she has a good future ahead of her, so sad you couldn't be at the graduation, the virus has caused a lot of things to be canceled. I have never heard of those owls that light up and make noise that the animals can here, we could use them in our yard, hopefully you won't be intruded by the squirrels anymore. Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kim June 17, 2020 at 11:34 AM

    Congrats to your beautiful graduate! It's been a crazy year for these 2020 kids. I wish her all the best!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. the 4 M'sJune 17, 2020 at 11:49 AM

    We are looking to put in a pergola in our back yard over our cement patio: it will give shade and will create some curb appeal.
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Joanne June 19, 2020 at 6:40 AM

    Oh my goodness so much good stuff going on here! I am glad you've found a solution to the squirrel problem. And I just love that your graduate was wearing her mom's graduation dress under her gown; that's so neat! Best of wishes to her in her furture studies.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My thrift store addictionJune 20, 2020 at 1:07 PM

    What a special celebration! Congratulations to Cortney and how special that she could wear her mother's dress! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

    ReplyDelete
  13. TeediddlydeeJune 22, 2020 at 6:17 PM

    What a special day and I love that Cortney wore her mom's dress! I love your neighbor's new patio too! What a compliment that she wanted to do many of the things you did in your own yard. It turned out beautiful! Stay safe!

    Hugs,

    Tee

    ReplyDelete
  14. Amber Lyon FergusonJune 25, 2020 at 12:07 AM

    Congrats to the graduate and the patio looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  15. JunkchiccottageJune 28, 2020 at 5:00 PM

    Congrats to your great niece Cortney. Sweet she is wearing her mom's dress. Love all the sweet pics of her with you. Love your Red White and Blue. The dogs in the pool have it right!!!! Happy New week.
    Hugs,
    Kris

    ReplyDelete

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