For the Curious and Mostly the Family :)

Home Sweet Home

"The Island" where Ellie was attacked by yellow jackets. Not many adventures happened in there after that. It's getting some more attention now that it's cold and everything is covered with snow. Anybody know how to get rid of a huge yellow jacket nest for free and without chemicals?

The sports field to the right and the shed and maples to the left, divided by a plethora of foliage and animal homes/nests. More of the grilling deck, it's got bench seating around two sides.

Standing at the front door looking out.

Standing at the front door looking out, different angle. The grilling deck with butterfly garden behind.

The bubble window :) The orchard is past the large evergreen tree on the right side and the garden is to the left of the smaller tree past the house.

The unfinished screened in something. It isn't actually screened. We call it the shed. It houses the children's outside toys and things. It also doubles as a store, playhouse, fort, and so on. Zack climbs on top and hangs out. When the ladder is outside Ellie and Jake join him and they have picnics and all sorts of fun on that roof. Funny thing when you give a kid 8 acres and they sit on a roof, about 128 sq ft, for hours. They chat, they laugh, and have a gay old time just sitting out on that old roof. No broken bones yet, I'll keep you posted.

the cornfield that surrounds us on three sides. From about June until harvest (late October/early November), we have to tell people to turn at the corn field across from our mailbox and just trust they will see a house at the bottom of the driveway. It's pretty fun being surrounded by our corn force field.

The orchard is to the left and the garden is to the right. The 'fort' is directly behind. The window is the living room window, or as Sam calls it, the morning window, as it faces east and we have an amazing sunrise to witness each morning.

The master bedroom and laundry space windows on the bottom and the boys room windows on the top. The garage is the part jutting out in front.

The sports field. It's directly out the bubble window past the two huge sugar maples and shed. Yes indeed, we plan to tap those and their siblings, yum! The grilling deck is to the right.

Coming down the driveway

The burn barrel. We are out in the country, with no trash pick up. Burn barrels and trips to the dump are where it's at for us right now.

The orchard (a portion of the trees anyway), the garden (a partial view before we cleaned it up and planted), the fort is to the left and the tree hanging down over the outhouse is a beechnut. The outhouse is actually the old school bus stop for the children that once lived here. Apparently they moved it down by the garden once it had served it's purpose. Now it is home to a might nest of wasps, and some random gardening equipment. We are leaving the wasps their home, for now.

The view up to the road after the two parts of the driveway meet back together. Our landlord's home and large scale landscaping business are to the right with a large ditch separating the properties. Wild animal habitat might be a better name, many a thing jumps, hobbles, waddles, or walks, in and out of there when surprised by our usage of the driveway.

The house, silo, and both barns. YOu can't see the front door from this view. the door between the garage and house is the entrance to the breezeway which I turned into a make shift mud room to give us more space. A couple of shoe cubbies and coat rack and voila! Instant space and mess containment. I love it. It's not insulated at all though, as it was never intended to be a part of the house. Zack and I learned the hard way about how coats that are soaked and left in the freezing temperatures of the mud room end up frozen solid. That was fun :)

Standing in the garden looking towards the 'wild woods', past the barn below the house. All the evergreens you see in the distance are part of the woods. This is where Sam put the ribbons in the trees with prizes for the children to claim and where many, many adventures happen. There is a hawk that lives around here and the boys frequently see it in the big tree just outside the woods.

The infamous wooly mammoth lilac bush. There are others but this is where you will find the best Kleenex ever!