chicken feathers

making progress

Pictures from last weekend...Saturday morning and Saturday evening.

Between accompanying me to a yoga class and turning my graph papered landscaping dreams into reality, Russell is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!  

Saturday is supposed to be 77 and sunny...perfect for finishing a rock wall, says the man who knows.

 

in the running...again

For those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile, you may recall our running in our last house for the weirdest neighbor award.  There have been numerous opportunities for nominations: worms eating our garbage, getting bags of leaves from people, dumping them in our yard and mowing them, chickens as pets...the list can go on but we don't need to go there.

We have instead moved on to a new neighborhood and we are trying to secure our rightful throne of the neighborhood nut-jobs.  At the moment we have a bag of foul smelling fertilizer on our front step.  "We could smell that coming up the road!" quoted one neighbor.  We also have a pile of cow poop at the sidewalk. "I had to walk through a load of manure to deliver a package," said our UPS man.  I dumped out multiple bags of leaves I had been saving as a top layer of mulch (over piles of messy straw, no less) for our new garden...a huge gust of wind scattered them within 30 seconds and the rest have been steadily blowing away for the last three days.  No comments from the neighbors - those are likely reserved for conversations through clenched teeth.  Yes, we are merrily on our way to the eccentrics of 17th Street.  It feels good to be Queen!

he still makes my heart skip a beat

Especially when he is being the local lumberjack.  Be still my beating heart!!  Thankfully my beloved made it down with no harm or injury.  The tree, however, is no longer with us.  It gave it's life to be future firewood and make way for next year's orchard. 

- - -

On an unrelated note, Rhett has a new saying.  The other day I sent him to his room for one thing or another (there are generally a few options these days) and when he came out he said, "Mama a BAD MAN!"  Classic.

 

 

could it be...done?

After a few months of work, we are finally done with our first outdoor improvement project that IMPROVES the the look of the house!  Our standard projects up until now make the house look worse.  Real nice. 

The front flower bed was choked with weeds this summer and when we bushwhacked our way in we realized it was futile - there was no where to step and it was hard to make any headway without crushing the peonies or the lupine or the __you name it__ .

After many trips to the design board (the kitchen table and some graph paper), I came up with a layout for a flagstone path that would open up the garden, be comfortable to walk, have the bare minimum of path square footage, and look nice (!!shock!!).

Then we (I) started digging.

Once all dug we added a base of sand, levelled it and then started laying the stone (thank you, Russell's Dad for the rock!)

I love puzzles and am a closet member of the geometry fan club so this was a really fun step!

Ta dah!!

After the final stone was placed I went back and stabilized each one with sand, if needed.  So, structurally, the path is pretty much done!  This spring I will fill the cracks with potting soil and woolly thyme or something similar.  The garden itself will change from flower (the flowers were transplanted to the backyard) to vegetable.  Maybe herbs in the center?  I'd love to hear your ideas. 

I can't wait to see it in full bloom this summer!  And I really can't believe it's (mostly) done!  A Christmas miracle.

 

 

 

is this for real?

I'm still pinching myself...

We bought our very own home!  After years and years of dreaming, we have a little spot that's ours!  We signed the papers on Thursday but it still hasn't sunk in that we actually have our very own place that we won't move from for a long, long time...unreal!  We feel so blessed and so grateful. 

Let me show you around!

These pictures were all (mostly all) taken today.  I'm trying something new - blogging about recent events.  Sheesh.

 

Home sweet home!  Just a few blocks down the hill from our current house.  It's on a quiet side street.  We are friends with two of our new neighbors - they have kids the same general age as ours.

 

The view from the front porch.  You can't see it in the picture but we have a little glimpse of Mt. Adams.  Personally, I'm partial to the Klickitats - the hills in the background.

 

Stepping inside, this is part of the living room, dining room and kitchen.  I love that it is one big room.  I spend so much time in the kitchen - I want to be a part of the action, not holed up.  The big metal x to the left is a makeshift railing until we get a banister put up (that's Monday's project).

 

The UPSTAIRS bathroom.  UPSTAIRS as in we have a bathroom DOWNSTAIRS!  As in we have two, count them, TWO bathrooms!  There is no picture of the other lav - it's too small to fit myself and a camera.  It's one or the other.  It does have all the necessary elements though.  And it's bright blue.

 

Hello!

The downstairs.  So much work (like the rest of the house) but so much potential (also like the rest of the house).  I love the door to the backyard.  Probably my favorite feature.

The back deck.  Once we get a table out here it will be the perfect breakfast location.  Please join us!!!  We're up early and Russell makes amazing pancakes.

The backyard.  I can't wait to watch where the sun hits during the day and throughout the year and then start planning what to plant!  Gaaaaah!  I'm so excited!

The first project.  Refinishing the floors.  It seemed like a good project to do BEFORE we move in.   It's a lot of work and is of course taking longer than we thought (I can't believe we thought we'd get it done in a day!), but so far it's looking wonderful!  Once the floors are done we'll move on to the railing and then painting...lots and lots of painting.  Our move in date is July 29th...the race is on!

We hope that you'll come visit - we can't wait to start sharing this great space with the people we love!