Two Princesses, Aunt Amy's parlor.

So the farm came with numerous "bonus features" not unlike those extra tracks one gets on Disney DVDs, like ballroom dance lessons on Cinderella's hit classic.

Only our bonus features included a lovely 1960s trailer! And a camper! And the entire contents of the trailer! Which I won't get into here....




And now, where the trailer used to be....I give you......NOTHING BUT TREES!!!!!

Yes, that's our new culvert. Which will only make your heart swell with pride if you could see the old culvert. Which, by virtue of the fact that it was old, ugly and not functioning, I neglected to photograph. I CAN tell you that every time you drove over the old culvert, you'd experience a wee surge of adrenaline, because you were never really sure if you would be crossing the creek, or sliding directly into it.
Sweet.

The new improved entrance from the driveway to the road. Now that we have located it a few yards south of the old entrance, visibility is vastly improved, and the likelihood of being run over by a speeding pickup truck is at least slightly reduced.

So, here are the latest shots of our new, improved driveway. Of course, it was snowing while I was there and was incredibly cold, so all the pics look grey and grim and, well, chilly, for a reason!!
The shots start at the entrance and work their way toward the house.
For the next entry, I will include a few "close-ups".

A Birthday Day.
Three. Our girls are now three years old.
The morning hours were almost Christmas-like, as they got up early and full of excitement and wanted to immediately open the gifts that had been accumulating from family. There were squeals of delight and the shredding of wrapping paper and the modeling of dresses for the camera. Big C. was a good sport about most of it - helped tremendously by the fact that a few of the presents also happened to be for him.







Later in the afternoon we were joined by friends for lunch and cupcakes and, as demonstrated here, a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday to You", led by the crazy lady in the bright shirt. Ahem.

While it looks from this photo as though the meal consisted solely of M&Ms, cupcakes and chocolate, we actually DID manage to eat a few healthy things, too...like, uh, marshmallow salad and, um, ham....



Can't believe they are THREE already. Happy Birthday Cutie Pies! You are absolutely wonderful!!!

News of the Arcane.
We've been inundated with machinery of late. Excavators and bulldozers and dump trucks and, as the mother of a toddler-boy, I can tell you the difference between a backhoe, a front-end loader and an excavator without batting an eye. It's this kind of arcane knowledge that keeps my wits sharp, I'm sure.
Oh? And please don't ask me to explain the Nemo outfit. It was chilly out so little Q. decided this would be a more logical choice of apparel than, say, a cardigan.


The local pond is being dredged, which has provided us with a series of late afternoons of entertainment. The smell, not so good, but the sights are, apparently, riveting.
Also, this gives the brood the opportunity to collect stones. For their stone-and-stick collection which is slowly building up in our suburban front yard. A vision I'm sure the neighbors appreciate. Aherm.

This looks like trouble, doesn't it?



Because it IS, my friends, believe me it IS....

Moderne Art
So, Big C. calls me into his room and shows me this:


"The big one is you, Muma, and the little one is me. Do you like it?"

Yes, sweetie, it's lovely.

Baby, It's Cold Outside....

Have you been paying attention? Because here is the last picture of last week's beginning of the beginning of the work on the farm...Ha. And if you actually followed that, I'm Very Impressed.



This is the installation of the drainfield. Meaning, we will be able to do crazy things like flush a toilet, wash clothes and even - gasp - bathe, and all our crappy water (umm, literally) will now have somewhere legally and environmentally friendly to go. Oh, and if you were wondering what our dear deceased previous owner did to, um, treat his erm, "waste water"? There's a trench covered with plywood over by the trailer. I kid you not.
Maybe we should plant roses over there.....

So, imagine you are standing roughly where the old grey house USED TO stand, and you are facing in the direction of the brick house, with your back to the main road.
Imagine a driveway, approximately, um, here. Where we've cleverly cut down the trees.

That's as far as we got last week....the bulldozer was to rampage on, for most of this week, over the stream that lies just down at the bottom of this hill (yeah yeah, there's culvert going in and it's all very environmentally responsible) in front of you, and then up up up the other slope, in a Very Gentle switchback, and then make a left towards the actual house. Which you can't see in this photo because it's too far away. And somewhere over to the left. In the bushes.

So, do you like what we've done with the place?

This is what happened to the old grey house and most of the trees.Yes, that's smoke, not "mist" rising up from that pile to the left of the excavator.
Wienie roast, anyone?

This is the "before" picture. As in, before winter and before we had even bought the place. And before we realized how much it costs to put in a new driveway when the driveway is more than half-a-mile-long. Also? Before we figured out what to do with the lovely grey clapboard house, which came! Free! With the property! Right smack in the middle of it!!



This would be the "slightly after" picture. As in, slightly after the bulldozers came for a visit last week. Note that we figure out what to do with the grey clapboard free! house. Also, all the dead trees surrounding it. And I promise to all the tree-huggers and forest gods that I will replant many healthy trees to replace the sad old buggers that were felled.

Yes, that's our daughter in the lower right corner, and you know what she's saying? She's saying "dude, you have GOT to be kidding me. We're supposed to LIVE in this dump?"

Erm, yes, sweetie. But I promise we'll get some plumbing, first.