The Real Reason We Moved

Another string of sunny days, another opportunity to remind ourselves why we moved last winter. There is the lovely front yard, for instance...     ...where Michael likes to roll his cart up and down the trail, over the bridge, and through the woods. There is also the hilly nature of the place, suitable for rope swings where both Becky... ...and Michael like to spend a lot of time. And then there's the water, with one year-round pond and a seasonal one, and the two creeks (the east creek is apparently intermittent, having gone dry during the last break in the rains). Indeed, there is so much to do now that winter has passed we hardly have time for blogging.  So be it.

 

The Lay of the Land

Some of my [Michael's] meanderings around the yard are done with a clipboard rather than a rake.  I've been observing the shape of the ground and the flow of the creeks, looking at dips and marshes, and I sketched out a rough contour map to refer to when contemplating what to do with the property.  I also decided to make an electronic version of the map, the first draft of which is represented here.

The map is drawn on a one-foot contour.

At this stage, the map is more representational than accurate.  As time goes on and I gain familiarity with some of the more intricate details of our property I'll probably move some contours around and add a few more, but for folks who want to know the general lay of the land, this should serve as a pretty good reference. 

Getting Around

After a short time of hauling brush it became obvious that we needed pathways to get from the creekbeds up to the driveway.  Two things made the need apparent: the difficulty of trying to carry brush up the steep hillside, and realizing that the plants living on the hillsides didn't like the abrasion of feet and branches going over them.

The trail on the left was built on Mother's Day.  I [Michael] decided to build it after watching a short segment on television concerning building stone walls.  There is in fact a small rock wall under a short section of the trail.  The trail on the right went in last weekend and was a much more concerted effort, involving a lot of rock work to make the trail wide enough for the two-wheeled wheelbarrow.

The two new trails make it much easier to get up and down the hills, a point the kids are especially happy about.  The adults are also happy with the result.

Nope, these projects don't do anything for the house itself, but they do improve our enjoyment of the place.  They were a lot of fun too. 

Here It Is

Here is the big surprise.  The following appeared in this morning's (May 16) edition of The Juneau Empire, our local newspaper:

 

Happy Mother's Day

 

Two mothers.  Two children.  That makes four, right?  Okay then, four pictures for Mother's Day.  Here they are.  We love our moms, even on those days (like today) when eloquence fails us and we're left with very little to say, but the sentiment remains.  Happy Mother's Day to our moms!