August 13-16, 2010

I was mowing the lawn today when I came across a piece of something in the front yard. I picked it up and realized it was a piece of a yellow shamrock from the yard. On the back it has his name and the date he made it (2008). I looked at his yard and sure, enough, the yellow shamrock to the left of the words is broken. After checking back in the photos I can see that this happened on August 13, just two days ago.

But here's the best part...I went inside, did some work, ate breakfast, took a shower. Then when I went to take the picture, the broken shamrock is GONE! I assume he's making a new one and it will be up by tomorrow.

8/16 - As predicted, the replacement yellow shamrock is now in place. You can tell it's new because it's a slightly different color (visible on the picture). He made quick work of that!

August 2-18, 2010

This is a new one. Last summer during August there were a couple weeks where there was no display. This year he's found a holiday: "Disability Children's Day" is coming. I've been unsuccessful in tracking down exactly when this holiday is. The sign seems like a grammatical error, so I've tried a bunch of different likely combinations with no success. I'll have to wait until it's actually the day, and then I'll have better clues.

August 1, 2010

Air Force Day! There are a couple notable things in this picture. First of all, the display has been improved since last week. Second, the word "father" appears again. This was definitely not present last year, which leads me to believe that a) his father served in the air force, and b) died within the past year.

The last thing worth mentioning is my water heater sitting on the side of the road. Thankfully we caught it before it flooded the basement, and it wasn't too much of a hardship to go without hot water for a day in August when it's up around 100 degrees outside. Definitely glad it wasn't January.

July 26, 2010

The Air Force Day display is up, but appears a little anemic compared to others. Then again, I wouldn't want to venture outdoors in this heat to do anything either.

July 25, 2010

It's Parents Day! Also, my new lawn has died. It makes me sad. I'll replant in September I guess.

July 5-24, 2010

This is a milestone for me. As of July 9, I've lived in this house for exactly one year, which means I'm going to start seeing familiar decorations.

The first is Parents Day. Did you know it existed? Third Sunday in July. I remember that was the decoration when I first moved in. Interestingly enough, the "Air Force Day coming" that is on the right side of the yard is different from last year. Oh, he put up decorations for Air Force Day last year, but not until after Parents Day. I wonder why?

Also, one afternoon I went to take the picture and there was a woman walking past the house with a little boy. He was having so much fun running through the decorations. He didn't hurt any, and she quickly got him off the lawn once he started touching them, but it was fun to watch. Here's the picture (July 14):

July 4, 2010

I have to admit I found this a little sad. For all of his grand displays, all there is for Independence Day is a posterboard sign that reads "happy fourth of July". Accurate, yes. Inspired, not so much. Don't know why.

My brand new lawn is dying in the heat + no rain.

June 22-July 3, 2010

Fourth of July is coming and the flags are all out. The doughboy is back atop the hedge as well, and the Uncle Sam on stilts.

An interesting side note...I went on vacation for several days during this timespan, fairly certain that I wasn't going to miss anything. Alas, I was wrong. A friend of mine who'd stopped by on June 28 called to tell me that there was a "Happy Birthday Jimmy" sign out front. So upset I missed it and don't have a picture, but now I know what to look for.

June 21, 2010

...and summer begins! Interesting to note that the "father" sign from Father's Day is still up, but I took this picture around 6:30am, so he probably just hasn't gotten to that yet.

June 20, 2010

It's Father's Day, and the words have changed accordingly. Summer is still coming...for now.

June 15-19, 2010

The flags are gone and Father's Day has taken over the yard. In somewhat of a departure from the usual pattern, the "Summer Coming" part of the yard is integrated with the main display. Usually they're completely compartmentalized. If you look closely you'll see two angels above the hedge. In between it says "father". Yet another indication that his father has passed away.

June 14, 2010

It's Flag Day. I know it looks the same, but a change is a change, and I shall post.

June 2-13, 2010

It's almost not worth a separate post, but on the far left, across the driveway, the shamrocks are back up. This time...Father's Day Coming!

June 1, 2010

It's so convenient when patriotic holidays follow each other. All he did was swap out the lettering, but we all now know that Flag Day is coming!

(as a side note, I really do look forward to Flag Day every year)