Stumps, rocks and fudgy pops

My co-workers asked me what I was doing for the 4th of July.

Co-workers: "What are you doing for the 4th of July?"

Me: "Digging rocks out of my backyard."

Co-workers: "Really? For five days?"

Me: "Yes"

When we bought our charming little bungalow, the backyard was shrouded by a blanket of white. When the snow melted, we were greeted by stumps, fountains (seriously), underground hoses (they're for irrigation, duh), and lots and lots of rocks. In the middle of the yard

Lots of rocks.

So two solid months of rock digging led up to this very special weekend, when the last of the rocks were finally cleared out of the middle of the yard (there are still plenty along the perimeter), and, in it's place, SOD!

As a part of this transformation, we were also forced to finally address the 5-ish maple stumps in the way. Like this doozy, for example:

Now those of you who have spent any time with Nancy or me lately know that stumps have been on our minds. So this was a pretty big weekend for us.

Here's the result of our weekend outside in 90+ degrees, digging rocks and stumps:

And I can think of nothing better after that than a homemade fudgy pop.

Homemade Fudgy Pops

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. sugar
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 2 TB cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 C. milk
• 1 TB butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, cocoa and milk
2. Heat on medium, stirring constantly, until boiling and thick
3. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla
4. Pour into popsicle mold and freeze until firm

* Tip: to get them out of the mold, Nancy told me to pour hot water over the mold to let the plastic expand and release the fudgy goodness. I learned this the hard way.