Never Trust the Weatherman

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well this picture sums up the words of every weather forecast for our area; rain, rain, rain, with a chance of scattered thunderstorms. Since the storms were supposed to start in the afternoon, Rachel started the day with the idea of heading out to the local nurseries to replace our decimated landscaping. She was so excited when she told me all of the great ideas she had received at Evergreens in Bristol, VA. Of course, that was after the first trip... I joined her late in the afternoon to check on all of her finds. After a quick detour for a late lunch and a trip to Decorator's Warehouse, (side note: who decided that outdoor furniture should cost at least $1500? It is literally made out of PVC and plastic faux wicker, as you probably can guess we did not buy anything.) we made our second trip to Evergreens. I was pretty impressed with her ideas, but naturally my Amadio side came out and I talked her into price comparing the plants at both Lowes and Home Depot. While running back and forth we also were able to set up three appointments with exterior painters and coordinate SW commissions, great multitasking. After being disappointed with the selection at both aforementioned places we headed back, for a third time, to Evergreens where we met "Bob". This is where our tip of the day comes in, buy from local nurseries!! They may be a little more expensive, but you cannot beat the extra steps they will take for you. We asked Bob about the choices we had made and he confirmed what we already knew, we know squat about landscaping. Fortunately for us that is where Bob comes in to save the day. He told us that if we would just go home, take pictures of the house, measure our landscape beds, and measure the height of the windows above the beds, he would design the entire front of our house. Then he said the most magical words in the English language, "we do this for FREE"!!!!!!! I love Bob. This naturally meant that Rachel wanted to go get the camera and tape measure immediately and get to work. After some quick measurements, a photo sessions, sketch of the front of the house, and small breaks to introduce ourselves to our new postman and next door neighbor, we were back at Evergreens. For anyone who lost track that was four trips to Evergreens in one day, whew.... Bob took all our data and he is starting to plan our completely Azalea and Rhododendron free front landscaping. All in all there is not much to show in ways of physical progress today, but by Saturday we will have a completely designed front yard and quotes from three different painters.

P.S. As I write this post it is 10:00 pm and it still has not rained a drop, stupid Doppler.