Phew!! What a spring!  We have been extremely busy around the house and at work.  The first project Logan completed was our mailbox post.  Now, most would not be all that excited about a mailbox post, but this post has a story.  It started back in December.  We received a notice that our mailbox was too far back from the road and too low.  So, Logan adjusted the post.  However, this made the post a bit unstable when the ground was wet.  We continued to receive notices from our mail carrier throughout January, February, and March even when we had snow on the ground.  We tried everything to please our mail carrier.  We had even tried putting some concrete down, but the weather and the constant pull from opening the door of the mailbox broke up the concrete.  In April, we received a notice that our mail delivery had been suspended.  Logan called our local post office.  The people at the post office did not even know that the person that he was requesting was not in the building.  In fact, at that very moment, Amy notices a man is outside measuring our mailbox.  The very man Logan was trying to reach on the phone at the post office.  Logan goes out to greet the man.  This gentleman explains to Logan that the post office was partly at fault for all of the frustration, but was only trying to get our mailbox within regulations.  The Post Office was just now enforcing those regulations.  (It seemed that everything was fine until a particular mail carrier started delivering our mail back in November.)  Apparently, the route we are on had several major problems with mailboxes.  Ours had its problems, but was not as severe as others.  So, Logan agreed to try AGAIN to fix the post.

We wanted a post that could be adjusted in the future fairly easily.  So, Logan came up with the idea of using PVC pipe for a post.  We went to Lowe's the at 8:45 p.m. not knowing that the store was going to close at 9 p.m.  We finally found the parts for the post with some help from a clerk.  They kept the store open an extra 10 minutes for us to check out. 

Logan was out the next afternoon, digging a hole for the post.  The lower piece of PVC pipe is 5 feet long by 4 inches in diameter.  He was finally able to break through all of the road bed gravel and placed the pipe two feet into the ground.  He then placed a 4in to 3in coupler on top of the pipe and placed a 2 foot long pipe that had been cut to final height into the coupler.   We purchased a new mailbox mount and used that as a template to drill holes into the PVC.  We learned that the outside diameter of 3 inch diameter pipe would fit into the slot for a 4x4 wooden post.  He drilled two holes for two screws  to fasten the mount to the pipe and then he placed the mailbox on the mount and screwed the box down.  The following night, Logan, placed some new numbers on the pipe.  Now you really can see our mailbox at night. 

So, you say why did not we just bite the bullet and get a ready made mailbox post.  Two reasons...first was expense, $45 was just too expensive.  We spent less than $25.  Second, most posts we found were not long enough for the height that we needed.

So, here is a picture of the final product:

Amy has been out working the flower bed in front of the house as well as her new garden in the back of the house.  Things have turned out pretty well in the front.  The peony started out really pretty, but did not last very long.

You can see the peony to the left that was pictured just above.  We have a second peony as you can see just to the right of the other peony, but it has not bloomed yet.

Our other projects included taking the Reidland United Methodist Church Handbells on tour.  The last Sunday of April and the first Sunday of May we had run out performances and lunch with our ringers.  Every year our elementary age (1st - 3rd grades) ringers always learn something new.  This year was the year that one of our ringers learned to put a top on her fountain drink otherwise it can make your Subway sub very soggy. 

Amy's students from her Studio also had a performance at Gaither Suites of West Park, a local assisted living faculity.  We have pictures at the Studio website!