While the part of the country west and north of us is suffering through rain, flooding, and tornadoes, our little part of the world has been hot and dry. We took advantage of the weather here and had the house and fence painted, the driveway and sidewalk cleaned, and the shrubs trimmed. The morning after it was all done, I took this picture.

Having said all that, Nancy doesn't like the color of the shutters, and I kind of agree with her. It turns out that the paint mixer in Lowe's did a pretty poor job of matching the color sample I gave her. It was supposed to be a dark teal. So we're not done. I'll be heading back to Lowe's for a second try at the right color.

Two things of note. The forest behind the house does look like it's about to take over the backyard and eventually the house, but it's not as close as it appears in this photo. Secondly, if you look at the far right of this picture you can catch a glimpse of our crepe myrtle just rising above the roof and Nancy's hydrangea just peaking around the corner of the house. We've posted many pictures of that hydrangea in the past. Both the crepe myrtle and the hydrangea will be very colorful in just a few more days.