Stop and Smell the Flowers

Scooby is an inspiration: he's not stressed out by life's everyday challenges.

He always takes time to stop, enjoy the moment, smell the flowers and then eat them.

365 Days Later

It's hard to believe but it's been a full year since we bought the farm (so to speak), and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to show off the backyard comparison. First is a pic I took yesterday with some blooms that are growing by the harrow in the back area of the yard. It's so different from the second picture which we took almost 18 months ago when we first saw this place. There were hawthorns growing all over the yard ... hundreds of them. The TV antenna was an eyesore above the garage, the air conditioner was filling the second storey window and the power lines were still attached to the back of the house. With a long to-do list glaring at us from the bulletin board, pictures like these help to keep us inspired to keep on working. We have done so many renovations (and by "we" I really mean "P") to make this house a home and every morning when I take Scooby out for a morning pee I look around and admire the fresh air and trees and birdsong, I feel absolutely at home. What will the next year bring?

Water Water Everywhere

We have running water in the upstairs bathroom! We've been enjoying the shower for a few weeks now and LOVING it, and now we have sinks to match. Check out the knobs on the vanity. We lived with strategically folded masking tape for months and the knobs work so much better. And they look great, too! We're trying to figure out what sort of mirrors would look best above the sinks: two matching? rectangular? oval? or one big one with a walnut frame stained to match the wood vanity? Given the remaining budget, a piece of Reynolds aluminum foil scotch-taped to the wall might be the ticket.

Growing Things

As you know (because I complain about it incessantly) there are lots and lots of things that still need to be done around the house. It's livable, there's no doubt, but half of the main floor flooring is old plywood, and we still don't have any trim around the windows and doors or a countertop in the kitchen.

In spite of the long "honey-do" list, we manage to find time to wander around our property to see everything there is to see. Having Scooby helps! The last few weeks of warm sunny weather have encouraged some growing things ... some pretty and some prickly. It tickles me to find delicate little blooms in a pile of long dried grass by the creek.

Post Riding Clean Up

It was a gorgeous sunny day in the late afternoon and the gang came home muddy and exhausted and needing to clean up their equipment. Scooby had never seen the hose before and was really intrigued by it ... it was hilarious to watch him play with the running water.

Scooby on Sunday

This is the first official ride day of the season so P and the boys loaded up their bikes and hit the road at the crack of dawn. Scooby and I have been enjoying the somewhat improved weather, pulling weeds, hanging laundry and planting stones. Look at how energetic he is ...

April Showers ...

... of snow?!?!?

Yesterday we were graced with the most bizarre weather ever! It was cool and overcast with quick blasts of sunshine followed by great gusts of wind ... and hail!

I don't think these pictures show how nasty it was, but I snapped them fast before I froze on the front porch. For those of you reading this blog from the comfort of the sunny south, enjoy it! And keep your fingers crossed that the next few weeks bring something better.

What a productive weekend! Not surprisingly, I can't take credit for any of it as I was away all day Saturday, but P and his friend A (and the kids, too) were busy at work, first replacing the fridge cabinet with the right-sized one and then putting up drywall on the hall side of the upstairs bathroom. I almost fell off my chair when I got home! Fantastic stuff! And while A was doing all this work, P got his MX engine purring like a kitten ... well, almost. It's still in pieces. Funny how productive weekend guests can be! Who's coming next? I hope you can handle a chainsaw and do mitre joints. I'll provide the merlot.

On a different note, wee Scooby had a special operation last weekend, one that will hopefully curb his enthusiastic friendliness (nudge nudge wink wink) and might result in barking of a higher pitch. He slept lots on Sunday and seems to be recovering smoothly.

I'm not too sure if I've thoroughly expressed my appreciation of our new shower. Just to clarify, I LOVE IT! LOVE IT! I look forward to getting out of bed now just so I can luxuriate in it ... it's better than I dreamed it could be (and believe me, I've dreamed of it with obsessive frequency every moment since last May!)

HURRAY! YIPPEE! YEE HAW!!!

I HAD A SHOWER IN OUR NEW BATHROOM!

It is simply too much for me to process. My head is reeling with the fabulousness of it: the light streaming in the window, the feel of the river stones beneath my toes, the steady spray of hot steamy water washing over me. Whew. The English language doesn't have adjectives worthy of this event. Amazing, fantastic, tremendous, spectacular ... maybe if you combined these together and multiplied by, like, a million, that'd be close to how awesome it was.

We didn't take pictures for 2 reasons: one, I was enjoying the shower too much to think of the camera; and two, the shower is all glass and the picture would have been x-rated.

You may wonder if we'll miss showering in the basement.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!

Thinning It Out

Most of Hawthorn Creek Farm is overgrown brush, with lots of cedars and hawthorns, and one of the on-going jobs is tidying up the brush, thinning out the bushes and generally making it look less like an abandoned property. All that's missing are three or four cars on blocks in the front yard.


As you can see from the "before" and "after" pics, it looks heaps better after the scrubby brush has been cleared out. We'll haul it to the fire pit and reduce it to ashes.

I couldn't resist posting the adorable photo of Scooby looking well rested after watching work all afternoon.

Powerful Washing

Spring cleaning reared its enthusiastic head with warm temps encouraging us, and the kids got the power washer (a loan) out to spray off the bikes and the ATV which were coated in many layers of mud and muck and dirt. Look at 'em go!