Surveying the Land

The Butcher and I have a ritual of sorts.  On nice evenings (or mildly nice because you've got to take what you can get), we grab a glass of wine and mosey through the yard checking to see what's new, making mental lists of things to do, and dreaming of what the yard could be...some day... with more money, more time, more motivation...

With each home we've owned we have done this.  It started with the first house we owned where the backyard was just a patch of dirt and we had unlimited weekends (and more money and no kids) to work away the day, or part of the day, and then stop when we felt like it for a beer.. or a nap.  And we've kept up the ritual with each house we've owned... sometimes it took 5 minutes (our downtown SJ house), sometimes it took a half hour (our Woodland house... so.much.to.do)...and now, with this house, it's also become a treasure hunt of sorts.

And so, let's survey the land...because the SUN came out on Monday.  And it was GLORIOUS... truly...

Our new casa - let's start in the front

A deserted nest in a sickly rhodie...

LOVE these moss covered stairs. 

The Butcher is NOT allowed to take the power washer to these.

They lead down to one of the old out-buildings that is made of what looks like railroad ties.  There's a horse trough in the corner of the small building. The kids have plans to take the building over this summer.

Nature is taking over.

The house has been vacant for nearly two years.  A neighbor told us the previous owner had put a lot of money into the backyard.  It slopes down pretty dramatically and there are two tiers of retaining wall.  I found this on the first tier... it's one part of the base of a bench.

Then, on the next tier down, I found this:

The top of the bench.

This was covered in mud and old grass.  I wasn't sure what I'd found until I dug it out.



Last Sunday, on a survey of the land, The Butcher and I found something we thought we'd keep to ourselves for awhile (or indefinitely)...

A ladder...on the side of a tree...

on the side of a tree that matches the height of THIS tree...

We thought we'd keep it from the kids... okay, mostly from Ella.  A ladder on the side of a tree?!  Are you kidding me?  She'd be up that ladder in no time... and then promptly falling OFF that ladder about a half a second later. 

So when I looked outside the other day to see what she was up to, it was no surprise to me to find myself yelling out the door, "Not any higher, Ella!"  (sigh)

Then I ventured to the "back 40" - okay, the bottom of the hill on our property.  It's overgrown and full of grass clumps and junk bushes and trees.  But I found this, which was so pretty...

And then I heard buzzing... and anyone who knows the story of the lawnmower and the bees (trust me - twasn't pretty) knows I will not stick around to find out what the buzzing is about... so I ran up the hill.  Yes, truly, ran... and then panted as I roamed around the front yard for a bit so the kids wouldn't know that running up a hill made their mother winded...(so out of shape).

And one more... because it's so pretty and makes me so happy and won't stay like this for much longer...