Yard work aka shared misery...

So last weekend my baby had a swim meet she was working, and I had too much coffee. So I put the dogs in their kennel and let the kids out of theirs. By that I mean I made them come out of their rooms! I was met in the back yard by suspicious looks and glares, as you would expect from teenagers, and informed them of the plan to work on the back yard today. The enthusiasm level was less than I had imagined, and I imagined none. Despite the start everyone was active and, dare I say, more than a bit happy with the results. We picked up dog poo as a group so everyone was miserable together. We paired up to rake and shovel. The boys restacked the rock wall and leveled out the holes (horrible creatures dogs from Crete) and did a nice job with it! The youngest picked up sticks and I raked the yard, then we swapped out. Then A and I took the piles of leaves were put in the back 40 to try and level it out a bit back there, composting takes a while but it works! Then the oldest and youngest broke and gathered the old tree limbs I had cut from the trellis for the hothouse and stacked them for chipping later. Then the spare kennel pipes were stored by the shed. The boys also stacked the pallets we are using for the gardens beds by the hothouse in preparations for that project. Over all it looks pretty good back there now, considering we have dogs of course who love to tear up rock walls and dig when they get bored. The best part of all this was that when we were done all the kids were sitting in the same room, talking, laughing, and having a good time. It is amazing how shared "misery" can be such a bonding event!