What I did on my summer vacation. by Slug-a-bed

On our summer vacation my boys and I built a fort in our backyard.

It has a climbing wall, a swing and a rope ladder the boys can throw over the fence to let friends climb up from outside our yard. There is also a fireman's pole that we are not quite done installing. We have plans to add a door to the open end and we want to put two bunks that fold down inside so the boys can have friends over and sleep out there.

We had a cool zip line from the fort to the other side of the yard, but I had to take that out because it wasn't safe unless I was there to supervise and some of the neighbor boys were using it without permission. There was also the matter of a small head injury to one of my brother Johns girls, lacerations to one of my brother Don's girls and a possible fractured bone to Johns littlest girl. The bone injury actually happened on the trampoline. I gave the tramp to our backyard neighbors and gave the zip line to brother John.

I removed the tired plants in front of our house and put in new beds and plants, but the best summer/fall project is the new pond and waterfalls I have been building. The project is not 100% complete, but I wanted to show what I have done so far. It looked pretty with the fresh snow blanket this morning. This is the view from our den.

I plan to add a third smaller waterfall to the left of these falls.

I want to add some ornamental grasses too. I am trying to keep it natural looking.

I purchased my latest 'one true love' today. It is the most perfect weeping white pine.

Isn't it incredible? My sister Cheryl said I was crazy to buy such a crooked tree. I just fell in love with the character of this tree. It is still in it's pot because I am not sure where I should place it. Any suggestions? Also what should I do with that open area between the water falls, just below the top of the pine? Plant something? It can't be a tree because the tree roots could cause problems later.

I think the new water feature looks best at night.

That is what I did on my summer vacation. The end.