2010 Cookout at the Tollhouse

Hello Everyone,

Well I had another cookout (sans Open House) this year at the ol' Tollhouse. The attendees were mainly coworkers and a couple of friends as well. A new feature at the Tollhouse was a firepit made this past April. I went back and forth from the creek and various other spots in the yard to gather just the right shape rocks to make the pit. Below are some pictures from the cookout:

Generally this is what the cookout looked like. My contractor let me use his canopy. As it just so happened, he had bought the canopy brand new to keep his equipment dry during the tollhouse restoration in 2008.

My friend and former landlady Sally, with my best friend at work, Glenn. She brought the tunes and he brought some of his birding knowledge.
Oh, and congrats to the new

Grandpa Glenn!

Laura and her husband. A great couple and I was very glad that they could make it. They brought the s'mores and we had a great time with that!

Me and my favorite team leader. Sabrina came with her husband, accompanied by their son and his girlfriend.

Speaking of whom, here is the happy couple :)

And there was more than one happy couple: Josh and his wife Paula.... thanks for coming! I think s'mores was her favorite part!

My friend Patrick (getting s'mores with Sally). My cookout just happened to coincide with his DC vacation week, so he stayed with me all week, since my tenant, Gino, was moving out.

Thus ended another good cookout and hopefully I can have next years' cookout in May to avoid some of the chronic hot June weather we've had. Thanks to all who came, and SPECIAL thanks to the ladies who helped with getting the sides and fixin's prepared for all to enjoy!

2009/2010 activity at the Tollhouse

Hello Everyone,
I apologize I have not blogged in about 13+ months, but I simply didn't think there was anything necessarily blogworthy (thanks Fern!). That may or may not be actually true but that's my story and I'm sticking to it :)
Let's see, activity since the last post in May 2009... I have loved and lost in that time. Her name was Debbie. I shall not go into detail as it would be unfair to her. However, we were together about 5 months and she left the relationship last Fall. Around that time, I acquired a new tenant whose rent would help me to cover mortgage and expenses until now. He just moved out after losing his job, so if you hear of anyone in the DC area who would like to rent a room for 450 including utilities please let me know.
Had a couple of huge snowstorms last winter, one of which dumped almost 2 feet of snow and that happened hear back in 2003, so I knew what to expect: LOTS OF SHOVELING. Also, a large tree limb cracked under the weight of the snow and the end fell onto the propane tank. Just the smaller branches actually touched, plus with so much surrounding, it wasn't much of an impact thank goodness.