Family Work Day

We got a lot accomplished today at the property. We built up the begininnings of another garden bed using locust posts. We filled in a different garden bed with topsoil. We spread grass seed and planted flox flowers at key points along the driveway. Oh, and I learned how to drive the Kubota!

Shoveling dirt is hard work. Good thing Harding was there to help us! Filthy happy boy playing in the dirt. Wildflowers like this bloodroot are popping up everywhere. Nice view from "MoMo's Rock" near the top of the property:

Matt mixes grass seed while Barbara tries in vain to get Shelby Frances to take a nap. Shelby won again!

Catching up on spring

Ashlee toting rock, Barbara working on her Queen elizabeth wave, Matt doing the dirt work, and me just pruning the grapes.  Spring is on the way.

third garden tier is filling with dirt

brave bloodroot wondering where the forest went

I don't even want to know what I am doing in this pic

Ashlee showing her guns

queen of her domain

planting daiseys

Matt doing the least fun thing imaginable.  Moving dirt from down below to the next veggie bed

at least the view is pretty good at the work site

Barb's Queen E. Wave

Matt and Ashlee: Pictures taken Feb 13, 2011. Today we cleaned and organized the shed, and worked on the wall around the shed.

Snow solutions

The snow has been rediculous.  I am determined not to be marooned by it so here is yet another attempt to keep the roads open.  This snow is 15 inches deep.  The blower can clear it off to within about an inch of the ground.  I would go lower but it begins to throw gravel if you plow too deeply

It takes about four passes to clear a lane wide enough to drive on.  Next step is to spill a barrel of gasoline on the snow and light it.

SNOW!!!

Snow everywhere!!! Are we really going to live here?

So Now What?

The shed is more or less done.  What next?  As you can see, fall had arrived.  We have had the land for nearly a year.  The road is in, the shed is built, and not we are thinking of building a house or two near the ridge.  Matt and Ashlee have been clearing the down wood off the land and carting it away in our Kabota.

This is not nearly as much fun as building a shed.  Its slow work, but M and A seem pretty excited about building and that helps motivate.

Nice day for sawing wood and clearing the land.

On the road we have evidence of grass finally coming up through the straw mat on the sides.  It's about time

Cutest grandson in the world visits the dinosaur "puppet" show.

True enough, this is not on topic, but I couldn't resist posting these pictures of Harding, the worlds cutest grandson.  Barbara and I took him to the "museum" of animated metallic dinosaur puppets.  Here he is at the controls of that pair of raptors in the background.  Its pretty shocking what he can make them do.

Transcendental concentration.

This was one of his favorites

Initially the whole thing was pretty scary.  We had to tour once around the gallery like this just to be certain.