Old house on the hill...

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Originally uploaded by brian and kate

Growing up I always wondering about the old house on the hill at the end of town. I'm not exactly sure how old I was when I learned that it was the house my mom grew up in but I do remember how much I wanted to go into that house when I was in sixth grade. There was just something it which made me want to go into it.

Until recently I had no idea that my cousin owned the place and conveniently the most recent renters had just moved out after tearing up the place. So needless to say it was not in tip top condition. Despite it's condition I finally was able to walk through the childhood home of my mom. Which it seems all my siblings have some memory of visiting. In a strangely sad and confusing way it seems as though I discover more about my mom each year. It's interesting the depth of individuals we never fully comprehend until we take a start looking.

Laying Sod

After we took out the buckthorn last year there remained a few open areas where we could do 'something'.

Being crazy I decided we should clean up the area and lay some sod. So we borrowed Brian's grandpa's tiller. Which is an amazing machine. It however whooped me. I've really only tilled areas that have PREVIOUSLY been tilled. So they've been pretty nice, easy tills. This however was full of roots, rocks and obstacles. So to put it frankly it was not fun.

Then to make matters even more interesting it started to rain. Determined to finish the entire project that day I still connect our trailer to our littler corolla (rolla) and headed off to get sod. I picked up 40 square feet of sod hauled it back - carried one by one down the hill and laid it out. After laying the first 40 I went back for another 20 - despite having an overwhelming feeling to do it another day. But I got the sod and got it all laid. Here are the before and after pictures:

Lathe

Brian has a new hobby! No longer is he just a 'gamer' he now can spin :) And by spin I mean turn.

In late winter Brian found a lathe on Craigslist which we bought for him. It sat in our basement until Spring came at which point he set it up and started turning wood. These are a sampling of the first 3 pends which he made.

The top is a pencil made for me. The middle a cherry pen for his grandpa. The third an acrylic with coffee beans for his mom.