Projects

Today I finally finished this project for Nick. I've been working on it for over a month, and it's finally up on the wall! Of course, the bigger accomplishment is what's represented inside this box. As a rule, I hate "brag blogging," but I think you'll all appreciate knowing what the items in this shadow box are and what they mean. Okay, starting with the top row: the bronze items with straps are spurs. Nick was given the right to wear them as an honor from the cavalry unit with whom he worked in Afghanistan. Especially since he's not in the Army this is a huge tip of the hat to him. In the middle of the top row is Nick's biggest Afghanistan honor: his Bronze Star. This is the military's third-highest honor for meritorious acts or service, ranking just beneath a silver star. It is a very distinguished honor for Nicholas, and one that was very hard-earned. Directly beneath it is his Combat Action Badge. This means what it sounds like - he actually saw combat action, i.e. took fire/was attacked by enemy forces. Thank goodness for body armor! On the left of the middle row is the Army Achievement Medal. This is from the Army - since Nick was working with and for them, they decided to give him this award because of the amazing job he did on the deployment. The next medal to the right is the NATO-ISAF medal which signifies that he was in Afghanistan as a part of the ISAF mission. The far right medal is the Afghanistan Campaign medal, which is self-explanatory. At the bottom are the badges from the cavalry unit, the army brigade (4 ID), and ISAF that Nick wore on his uniform every day. I'm so happy to have this up in our house so that all of Nick's achievements are proudly displayed for our visitors. I also can't wait to someday use it to explain to Baby H what a war hero her daddy is! He certainly worked hard enough to earn them; he deserves a pat on the back every now and then too!
Today Nick completed another household project - much less exciting, but so much more necessary!

Recently the city of Clovis opted to discontinue the polycart trashcan program that it had been trying out for several months. Apparently, many of the area's citizens found it too difficult to get their carts to the curb on trash days, and other residents were frustrated that the carts would sometimes blow away in high winds. Personally, my message to these people would be to suck it up and deal with it because now that the polycarts have been confiscated by the city, all residents must take all their trash to dumpsters located about every 200 feet in alleyways behind our houses. I ask you, which is easier, placing trash in a trash can, taking it to the curb for pick up, and then bringing the trash can back in or hauling bags full or trash and other household waste to a dumpster located several houses down from yours?!
My objections to the discontinuation of the polycart program aside, we are now relegated to dumpster use, which brings with it an entirely different set of issues. You see, although the area between our fence and the alleyway is not technically a part of our property, the city will not maintain it, i.e. get rid of the tree-sized weeds that grow up along all of the backs of fences in the alley. Since people haven't had to utilize these alleys for months, most of us have let the weeds get out of control, as you can see from this view of my street's alleyway. Now, though, Nick and I need to get out of our back fence and into the alley to get to the dumpster, and these ridiculous weeds have made the task almost impossible. Here's what ours looked like today.

My brilliant and hardworking husband had a plan, though, for dealing with these ferocious weeds, and he executed it today, even after working all night last night. He cleared away the trees, whoops, I mean weeds, with a machete, a weed wacker, and a shovel. Then he put down weed killer, then sand, then these concrete blocks. Now we have a permanently clear passage to the alleyway, and hence to the dumpster. Look at what a great job he did!

While I'm still not happy about this dumpster situation, I am very very grateful to Nicholas for making it much easier and more pleasant to get to the dumpster. Great job, honey!