Outdoor Tour

 I've posted pictures here and there of our house and yard.  But now that summer is fully here, and since I took these pictures for my father-in-law and mother-in-law, I thought I'd give you the thorough tour.  Outside, that is.  I plan to do a complete tour of the inside at some point too.  Just as I waited for the outside to fully "bloom," I'm waiting for the inside to be at least mostly arranged and settled before taking any official pictures.  It's a gradual process, trying to obtain the needed items to get it "fixed up."  I'm not talking anything fancy.  Just curtains that match and furniture that actually fits the space it needs to be in.  It takes time.  We're getting closer.

Back to the tour...above you see the top of our driveway.  Very exciting.  :)  I'm basically standing on the road to take the picture.  It's actually a pretty busy country road, but I was careful not to get run over.  If you look carefully, you can see the top of the roof of the house at the far left in about the middle of the picture.

Heading down the driveway.

The shed.

The parking area.

The path to the back of the house.

 We've begun to redo the landscaping along the front of the house.  To the right side of the porch is done and to the left and in front of the porch is not.

 The pond.  Also re-done, but not done.  Someone gave us a new liner and the boys cleaned it out, replaced the torn liner and refilled it.  It's coming along.  They have caught some minnows and some bluegill that they relocated to our pond.  They seem to be keeping the water pretty clean. 

Many a frog has found a comfortable home here.

A dragonfly nymph from the pond. 

"Fishing" in the pond.

Roses.

Back deck.

We have one flat, un-treed area behind the house.  You can see to the left where the old firepit was and then where we are building a new one.  Also, at the far end you can see where we've been working at putting in a vegetable garden.  I'm not sure how successful a garden will be here, as there is still so much shade, but we're trying it out. 

Pears!  We discovered one pear tree near the house.  They're getting bigger. 

And of course, Jones kids.  They're part of the "yard," for sure.