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Because Weber had been out of town all week on businees, he asked us
to arrive at around 10am, so we stopped at Bear Creek Park, which has
a network of trails around ponds and along a creek. We were only half
a mile from Weber's house. On this lovely and crisp Saturday morning,
there were a fair number of other hikers.
 
The trails were well-maintained. There were some thick stands of teasel
(Dipsacus sp.) along the trail, especially along the shorelines
of the ponds. It's native to Europe and northern Africa, and is considered
to be invasive in the Americas, but the seed heads are striking, especially
in the early morning sun.
We enjoyed our two-mile nature hike in this park and when it was close
to 10am, we drove the short distance to his house.
 
Weber had bought this great house a few months before. Here he is at
the front door and his cat, Ichabod, is behind the glass door in this
photo. On Saturday we picked out seven redcedars (Juniperus virginiana)
from a local nursery and planted them in a zig-zag pattern in the back
yard to eventually produce a sight and sound screen from the road on
the other side of the fence.
 
Planted and watered. They'll be ready to grow come spring. We also talked
about leaving this part of the yard unmowed and turning it into a prairie
area. I also planted a bunch of daffodils in the front bed.
The next day we hiked along some trails in that same area we had visited
on Saturday morning, but this time we walked from the house just a short
way to one of the trails leading into the park from Weber's neighborhood.
 
The project on this day was to install some shelves behind Weber's desk
in his office so that he'll have a more interesting background for his
Zoom meetings when he's working remotely and also so the room will be
more functional. It was tricky finding the studs so that there would
be something solid to screw into to attach the brackets.
Here's a view from the living room looking toward the office on the
left and the kitchen to the right.
And from the same spot in the living room looking more toward the kitchen.
Notice Ichabod's climbing tower looking out to the back yard and more
importantly to the bird feeder hanging at the edge of the covered patio.
Weber did all the cooking and treated us to various
Beyond Meat products including chicken nuggets, a burger that looked
and cooked like a meat burger, and then a delicious a sweet potato stew
that was simply veggies with no fake meat. We left early on Monday as
Weber was also heading out to the gym for an early morning workout before
work. A wonderful visit.
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