Heavy rain!

Who... like 36 hours of nonstop rain. That was intense. Some minor water seepage into the attic which I will have to explore later :/ But here's a video to show what the seasonal creek looked like during the storm. And our sump was going on every 23 seconds or so during the heart of it. wow.

After a year inside, I would like to return outside

So I have been slowly chopping away at the blackberry in the back yard. The hope is to restore this habitat with a healthier balance of plants that grow here, hold the soil, and that nourish the birds and other mammal visitors through the yard.

Finishing touches on the interior!

We got there... por fin!
Tile--- check
Trim--- check
Electrical--- check

Alls that's left for the inside is to
1) caulk the trim edges (M did most of that today)
2) paint the trm
3) make and install a bench
4) any other hooks and interior functioning things we want

Today, we painted and stained the outside banister pieces too. When those dry and we finish the other sides, they'll be ready to get installed

And lastly, our door handle and lockset :) Jeez... there are a lot of little pieces that go into the building world.

So close!!!!

Before the pruning

During the pruning

SOOOOO thankful for Matia and Kevin who helped us prune the trees over the weekend. Handsaws, chainsaws, deliberation, umbrella-forming, style choices, picking up branches and logs... we have such great friends!

After the pruning

Here are the apple trees after the pruning work

Off with her head!

Huge winds came through the other night. Shook the house in a way I hadn't felt before. Stronger than the gusts tha came through last month... and those were clocked nearby at 81 mph! So I bet there were a couple of fast winds that hit us during the night. Woke up in the morning to see that the top of our spruce tree had come down. Turns out it was partly rotten and some previous tree work had led to multiple (unstable) leads. So, it is down... and Kevin helped to bring it all the way down so that it was no longer a hazard. I still have to borrow his chainsaw and do the work to turn it into more manageable firewood.