How To Get Motivated

There is nothing like a trip out of town to get a guy motivated to finish up projects around the house.  I think it must be the thought of coming home to a bunch of work that does the trick.  Here's a pile of my finest aged compost that I added to a garden bed that will be turned into a strawberry patch.  Even though we won't be around much this year, they'll be well on their way to providing a nice crop next year if we plant them now.

I'm really up for any excuse to enjoy the view in our backyard though.  Mixing the compost in wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

Thanks to a tip from our local nursery I got some grass seed and hay to keep it in place thrown down where the rain runs off of the roof.  We were advised against putting gutters on as we get a lot of melting and freezing here.  Apparently the ice builds up on the gutters and can really do some damage to the roof.  Instead we have 2ft eaves that are supposed to keep the water far enough away from the foundation.  I made sure to slope the ground too, directing the water away from the house.

And finally, the shelves and coat hanger in the mudroom.  This is something I've wanted to put in for a long time so that we have a place to hang our coats on the way in from the garage.  This was a challenging project because the left wall holds the cavity for a sliding door.  All of the frame had to be attached with shallow drywall anchors.  Given my carpentry skills the knee brace was no joke either, but it came together surprisingly well.