Stalkers and Grubs and Graduation - Oh my!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged.  I have thought about it since March but am just now finding time to type something (I just finished typing that sentence and my Dad stopped by unexpectedly. That pretty much sums up my life since October.  It was a nice surprise though - my parents lives 45 minutes away so I don't see them as much as we'd like).  

I believe it's also Bloomin Tuesday and coming up is Fertilizer Friday; I'm joining the parties if I can remember how the hell to get there......   Here are the reasons for my blogging neglect (keep in mind that I handle the accounting for my company as well as our sister company)... this is a summary of my life since October:

1. Company bought out
2. Bank Acquisition Audit
3. Year End Prep Audit
4. Year End Audit (six weeks of torture)
5. Purchase of new sister company
6. Bank Acquisition Audit
7. Grubs destroyed 60 % of our front lawn; moles created their own race track around the entire lawn tunnelling for the grubs (ie: reseed entire front lawn project)  (The extent of my hatred for grubs cannot even begin to be expressed here with out the profanity police having to step in)
8. Built patio & finished under deck area (will do a separate post for this with Before & After pics.  I love Before & After pics! This was a huge project considering our yard is Boulderville New England.  I will have to post pics of the pile of rocks we dug out for this #$%#$5 project)
9. My daughter graduated from high school (ie big graduation party)
10. A stalker - yup, you read that right.  We are in our 40's and an ex of hubby's from 15 yrs ago went off her rocker and is contacting friends, employer, neighbors, random people trying to contact hubby, pretending to be the DEA and warning everyone that hubby is a dangerous drug addict.  WOW... Shouldn't we be past that crap by now?  Yeah, she's in the same category as the grubs. Still ongoing drama so stay tuned...

So my brain is a disaster but I am trying to remember how to blog.  I didn't even take pics of my yard in April, maybe a few in May.  Here are a few pics from this week, will try to keep the pics / rambling to a minimum. 

First is the side garden; my delphiniums bit the dust this winter but everything else is doing great so it isn't too noticeable.  I replaced them, but they won't bloom for a while:

Garden at back of pool fence.  The Knock Out Roses have gone nuts this year (figured out at the end of summer last year that fertilizing really does make a difference).  Also Sweet William bloomed this year - love it! 

Here is this year's project - the new walkway leading to pool gate - it used to be that fake green grass carpet crap.  I couldn't look at it any longer....  my next post will show before and after pics but here's a sneak peak, a picture taken from each end:

The patio area at the end of the walkway with gas fire pit, new wall, mulch and walk way:

Outside of pool fence:

To end this first-of-the-year blog entry, this is my view as I sit here blogging: