My neighbor has been perfecting a backyard auditorium for the last couple of weeks, and he’s got it working pretty well. He stretched a viewing screen across the back of his garage and ran power and sound through two ports in the wall (he’s an electrician), so all he has to do is drop his projector on a picnic table, hook up the cords, and it’s showtime! Friday night was a screening of Monsters University with friends, which was better the second time accompanied by a cold beer and some Junior Mints.

We have a lot of unfinished projects at the Lockardugan compound. On Friday I parked the catalytically-challenged CR-V next to the pile of brush I’d cleared two weeks ago, and resolved to make it disappear. I started stuffing it into the Scout on Saturday morning and cleared out about 2/3 of it in two trips, which helped make the driveway look a little less ghetto. That job was cut short in the early afternoon by social obligations: the local co-op was holding a beer tasting a few blocks over, and we had some friends meeting up with us to check it out. The event itself was fun; there were about 15 homebrews lined up around the backyard with some snacks and a live guitarist playing under a canopy. While Finn played with some neighborhood kids, I chatted up a number of the brewers and was invited to check out a couple of the local clubs, which sounds like it could be fun.

After the event we followed our friends to their place for drinks and dinner. We’ve not visited with them before but easily felt at home, and Finn fit right in with their kids. Several beers, Moscow Mules, and hours of conversation later we ordered some dinner and stayed out late on the back porch amongst the crickets and the stars, which was a lovely way to end the day.

I started Sunday by fixing a leaky water feed to the fridge, which had sprung a leak after being moved a few weeks ago. Repair meant replacement, so I picked up some new hose and ran it down to the basement. Then I moved outside, where the cherry laurels we bought months ago have been waiting patiently to be planted in the front bed. After a good rain on Saturday night, the ground was soft and pliable, so the first hole was easy to dig. I mixed some conditioner in with the soil and moved on to the second, which required the removal of a clay downspout and a stand of peonies. Hopefully a couple days of watering will help the cherry laurels settle in well, and we can keep a bunch of the plants we moved to make room for them.

Dinner was a feast of local produce and a thick grilled steak; we doubled up on our CSA to make up for being gone last week, so Jen spent the better part of the afternoon stuffing the fridge full of fruits and vegetables. We have a lot of food to get through before next weekend, but luckily Jen is a pro at making menus out of anything.