Just finished spiffing up the backyard.  I'd planned to mow Saturday or Sunday morning, but with Lisa and her friends coming tonight (and hanging out poolside tomorrow) it seemed like the thing to do.  The yard looks happy, the horses are happy, and so (by default) I'm happy.  At one point I had to pick a batch of mushrooms that had popped up (no, Marilyn, I am not going to eat them; they went right into the trash barrel) so that I wouldn't poison the horses when I dumped the goodies from the mower bag into the pasture.

Also hosed off the back patio and deck (and 'accidentally' got myself all wet in the process.)  It really looks nice out there (which I suppose means we're in for a big dust storm tonight) and the water isn't wasted; the run-off waters the grass by the edge of the deck where irrigation doesn't reach.  

We don't have an octopus or crab in our pool (that I know of!) although one summer we did have a turtle (that Alex caught at the river) hang out there for a week before Alex returned it to the river the following weekend.  While the pool chemicals didn't seem to bother it too much (though how could we really tell?) I have no doubt it was hungry without anything to eat, and no doubt REALLY happy to end up back in the river for a multitude of reasons.

I did discover where the chunks of cement are coming from; the deck by the diving board had several pieces that had broken loose (but luckily not yet ended up in the pool for Creepy to swallow.)  Looks like Tom may have to add 'fix pool deck' to his Honey Do list.  He's always thrilled when I find something else for him to do...