Nothing but a key box but at least it is building something. We are keeper of the extra keys for these  houses who don't live here. The relations and friends who use these houses forget the doors stays locked and some drive a few hours to get here only to find the doors are locked, well duh. So we suggested to the owner to give us some keys and we would keep an eye on things. but they forgot to get the keys from the owners.. gonna be 28 hooks when I get through.

 

If I stayed here all the time in the summer I could make good money keeping these lawns mowed. But hey!!

 

  The last two weeks I spent removing wines and shrubs and trees along our lot. 300 foot of back breaking work for both of us. Hardest work we have done since we moved here..

  

 

  Now all that is left is what is in the water. Now every boater that comes by can see us and that might not be good...I like it with lots of growth between me and them but she won out. I said okay as long as you help remove the stuff. I forgot to check to see if the burn ban was on but by then we almost had it all in ashes... We have been here 20 years and some have never been touched.  I decided not to look up what poison ivy and poison oak looks like. Wore our gloves and hoped... I got 4 wasps stings but not in one day. Just about the time the swelling would be the worst another would try his luck. and wife one hornet decided to see what she felt like.....For now we quit... some stuff still needs to be removed but the temperature has won for now and the stings are driving me coco..

   We cornered a 5 foot long rattle snake about a month ago and that sure was on our little minds and some of this stuff was fairly solid for a depth of about 5 to 10 foot all along the hundred yards.

Those bolders in the pictures came from when I was digging ditches and the septic and lateral lines with the backhoe for the utilities and sewer when we first moved here and didn't have anywhere else to stack the bolders but along the water and lots of growth came along and covered them up as I had planned.  Just a perfect place for those creepy crawlers to hide... but I didn't go down there till the last two weeks....

 Life is a bitch sometimes.

 

Nice ornamentation on the box doors.

 

Your back yard looks inviting. You might need a hammock!

Retirement years aren't for working.  Relax a little!

 A few of those boulders around the fire pit and a few more of those chairs has the makings for a great evening.

Nice work on the cabinet.

 

Your cleanup is coming along nicely.  Can you pump water directly from the lake to irrigate with?

As for "keeper of the keys"... good on you.

My SIL seems to be "keeper of the dogs" for her neighborhood.  It seems that every week she is taking care of someone else's dog, not at her house - but going over to let the dogs out, going over to let the dogs in, going over to feed the dogs, going over to check on the dogs...

Cal

Lew the boat dock is always 10 degrees or so cooler than under the trees . If you can enlarge the boat dock you will see a hammock hanging on the far right side of the dock. I built that dock 240 miles from the lake and had a house mover move it to the lake. The first two things we bought for the dock was two hammocks....I decided I didn't want walls on the dock for the summers sitting on the lake are so much cooler than having walls to keep the heat in. And beside I don't eat fish, especially the ones I catch, they go back in the water.

   Cal I have a down hole submersible pump hanging off the side of the dock. The price of pumping out of the lake use to be 60 buck a year for the permit. Don't remember what it is now! If I run six sprinklers the pump never shuts off. Much better than running one or two sprinklers which makes the pump go off and on all day. The big storage tank has helped. I plan on making it look like a NASA moon rocket when it cools off...

   Everything I own has a story. The pump was bought at a garage sale some 50 years ago and was still in the carton it can in.  It came with 150 foot of new cable.. Two 20 dollar bills and it was mine. At the time I had three wells each set at 110 foot so this was just security for when ever. Seems like a 1 hp submergible pump was about 225 to 250 back then.  This pump lasted about 15 years.Had to replace it about 5 years ago. Way easier to swap pumps that is only 5 foot deep.

   This area of Tx. is too hot under a shade tree in the summer. Its either on the dock or in the shop. There is usually a dried grass trail going to the dock.  

Bet removing those "wines" was really difficult. Love the key box.When you began I thought it was going to be a lockbox for outside. Maybe you could do that with a combo lock.

You got me so tired with your hard work that I had to take a nap.  As Dan said retirement is meant to relax and enjoy.