Arbor Day

Got the arbor install on the side of the house as the entrance to the backyard (where the gate used to be). There's still some work to do that I need to work through, as the side pieces (fence pieces) need to be attached. It's just that the anchors that came with them won't quite work to put right next to the arbor. The flair of the spikes prevent then from going in abutted to the arbor and in straight -- which I learned trying to put in the first one. I'll mess with that another day, later in the week.

We also got the yard all groomed again - Ryan mowed (and dug holes where the arbor went in), I trimmed the edges and stuff swept up. Kalen weeeded all the flower beds, and Ellen's been getting the mulch in the beds refreshed. This was all pretty easy today since the weather is just perfect.

The weather was similarly perfect for the trip to St. Louis yesterday. We left plenty early in the morning, dropped Kalen off at her apartment in Normal, then drove to St.Louis and got to the part about 12:45, about 20 minutes before the gates opened. We then explored the stadium a bit (and it's very nicely set up - nice job St.Louis), and got to our seats -- the second to the last row in the upper deck - straight back behind home plate. And we enjoyed the game much more than the Cardinals fans around us did, since the Cubs jumped out to at a 6-1 lead in the 4th and finished with the score 8-5.

We got back to Normal about 8:30, picked up Kalen and Kathy so we could all have dinner at Olive Garden, and got back to Aurora well before midnight. All in all and nice little trip.