Our House: Happy Spring!

My last post seems like ages ago. So much has been going on, I've struggled to find time to post and update. Since then, spring has arrived in Missouri. Redbuds are in bloom and mayapples are coming up in the woods. We enjoyed a couple meals of morels last week. Great to be here for mushroom hunting.

We moved in on April 1st. It was a long day for us and the movers. There were supposed to be 3 guys, but one couldn't make it. It was 10pm before they finished, but they did an excellent job.  The next 2 days brought strong storms, lightning, thunder and 6 inches of rain. We were fortunate to be warm and dry in the house. The mud room lived up to its name.

The first few days felt like we were on vacation staying in someone else's house. But it feels like home now.  We finally have everything out of the rental house and turned the keys back to the owner. Nissa and Tally are adapting to their new place and love being able to play and sniff in the woods and fields. They've flushed out a few turkeys and mice - thankfully nothing bigger.

It took awhile to find everything and get the computer set back up. We have pretty decent phone and internet service and DirectTV. The day after we got 6 inches of rain on our "rough grade" yard, the poor installer was up to his eyeballs in mud.   He got everything hooked up just before another thunderstorm came through.

Some hightlights since the last post: railing for the deck arrived and was installed. It was fabricated from steel re-bar, sandblasted and powdercoated. Each section weighed about 300 pounds. Chris, Steve and Greg were on hand to help Adam and Tyler put the sections in place. Looks great with the siding and stone. We spend alot of evenings there.

Concrete was poured in front of the house, giving us a better place to park the cars. It also cuts down on the amount of dirt coming into the house. The patio area for the basement walk-out is also done. The area around the house has been re-graded, seeded and fertilized. A few days after the seeding was done, a thunderstorm came through. The wind picked up the straw in what looked like a scene from Wizard of Oz. We ended up with piles of straw about 2-feet deep in some places with none in others. But the grass is starting to fill in. It will be wonderful to have grass around the house instead of bare dirt.

This week we recycled the styrofoam we collected from packaging during construction. We filled the back and cab of Chris's truck.

We have a garden - potatoes, tomatoes, basil, onions, peppers and beans (green and lima), so far. The family has shared asparagus, lettuce and spinach with us.