Photo from Pinterest.

If you are the creative type and love entertaining in the summer, this is a great little craft for outdoor parties.  Make your own drink holder from an old aluminum can, a few pieces of hardware and a little bit of creativity.  From Positively Splendid,

We have a big front yard that we are currently outfitting with new chairs, a fire pit, outdoor poofs and other fun items in order to make this space the go-to spot for the whole family. While I was strolling through a local market recently, I stumbled upon the neatest idea for outdoor drink holders and knew they were just the thing for our outdoor seating area! Instead of buying them, I decided to give them the good ol’ DIY try, and here’s how mine turned out!

I. Love. This. So. Much.

How often do you get up early in the morning and walk around your neighborhood, your yard, or the meadows, hills, or countryside near your home?  Perhaps this will inspire you to venture out early one morning during this holiday season.  From rlhassociates, Wintertime Fog – Crunch Crunch Crunch,

Tucked between the rows of the green guardians of the hillside
Coal bucket size puffs of snow fall from the evergreens
Keeping us alert to the directions of the winds and
The forest floor underneath our winterized boots
The woods are quiet except for the crunch crunch crunch

Beautiful.  It’s time for me to go for a long, quiet walk.

Photo by Pavel Rybin via flickr creative commons.

We’re having a heat wave here…. it’s supposed to get above 50 degrees this weekend!  To celebrate, here’s a video clip of someone blaming the heat and boredom to have some garage sale fun!

By the way, had it been me the actual “standing” up would’ve been funnier to see than the rolling around. Funny?  Or sad?

If you’re a believer in evolution (which I am), this pretty much shows the history of everything from being a microbe to the universe. That’s some backyard we have there!

I got to show a buyer a gorgeous home today that had something unique (in that I’ve never seen this before).  The 3rd floor bonus room was the entire floor and the back wall was a glass garage door.   It opened onto a wooden deck that has a gas outdoor fireplace.  Talk about a party yard/room!

Much of the country is experiencing massive snowfall, blizzard conditions, and the resulting pile-up of the white stuff and cold temperatures. But what would it be like to live so high up a mountain that winter could come at any time?   Workers at The Lodge at LeConte – right on the edge of the Smoky Mountains – experience the beauty of winter for a few months more each year.  Luckily the chef at The Lodge is writing all about it and even better … with PICTURES!

When the weather is bad like it is today I keep an eye out for hikers that are coming through for the day or hiking in to stay in the back country shelter.  When the temperatures are extremely cold it can be really hard on the best hikers.  Most hikers are well prepared and in good shape.  But every now and then I come across someone that needs to come in and warm up and dry out for a bit.

I am also available to the National Park Service to assist with any rescues or searches on Mt. LeConte.  I have helped with two searches this winter.

That’s amazing… to have a mountain top as your back yard.  Stay warm, guys. Stay safe.

It always amazes me to see people meticulously plan and create Christmas light shows on the outsides of their houses and yards.  I truly appreciate their hard work and dedication, but it just seems like such an overwhelming project to take on.  Maybe some year when my kids are all grown up and I don’t spend 80 percent of my time carting them around, I’ll give it a try.

If you’re ready to do it this year, here are directions from WikiHow,

Decide how big you want it. A channel is a unit of lights that can be controlled individually. For example, a single bush in your yard may be a channel. All the lights in a channel work as a unit (you can’t flash an individual light bulb). 32 to 64 channels is a good size to start with.

There are a lot more good tips if you click through!  Meanwhile, here’s an example of someone’s light show already done!

I have deer that sometimes run through my yard, but this would be pretty good too.  Watch the shuttle launch while sitting on your back deck from Dressage Daily,

I’m impressed!

Less kids are playing outside in their own yards nowadays. Yards are smaller, neighborhoods are more dangerous, and with the advent of the internet and video games, there’s less impetus for kids to want to go outside and play. Fortunately, there are still some great outdoor toys for kids to play with outside, here is a list:

1. The little red wagon. The classic of classics, kids will turn the wagon into a parade float, a sailing ship, and myriad other things.

2. The ubiquitous sprinkler. When it’s warm enough, of course, kids will play in the sprinkler for ridiculous amounts of time. The bonus to this is, of course, your grass gets watered at the same time.

3.  Bubbles. Bubbles rock! My kids like to blow bubbles whenever one of them is making a "special entrance", whenever it’s too hot to move, and any other time!

4. A nicely covered sandbox. I say covered, because otherwise the cats will decide your sandbox is the neighborhood’s largest kitty litter box. And we don’t want that, do we?

5. A clubhouse. Whether it’s one of those plastic dudes you can buy at Toys R Us for about a hundred bucks or a really fancy one you built yourself, kids love to have a place to call their own.

[photo credit: Special on Flickr]