ice, ice...maybe?

We're in the deepest part of an Indiana winter, but it hasn't been very...deep.  Last week's bit of snow, and this week, a one-day ice drizzle.  Todd and I cast mocking eyes on the frozen branches and reminisced about the powerful and much-superior ice storms of our childhoods, but we were careful to watch our steps as we traversed the path to the barn.

I have to admit, even wimpy and short ice storms leave beauty behind.

The birds were happy for the filled feeders!

I stayed in and organized my office/craft room area.  I'm pleased with how it has evolved since we bought this house.  The IKEA cubbies keep fabric and craft supplies organized...

...and other organizational odds and ends work for the other side.  The space is definitely maximized.

In my office, the built-in cabinet nicely stores my overabundance of puzzles...

...and I've got a nice computer space, when the cats allow.  Bosewichte sleeps on my desk...

...and Tabitha controls the area to the left from her ottoman perch.

It's undergone quite a transformation!  Old carpet ripped out, new flooring and paint, and a whole lot of additions.

I'm happy to be completely unpacked and relatively settled!

Have a great week!

Political Animals

I was walking around the side of the house in the dark last night (a cat messily eating a mouse on your doorstep is a great incentive to find an alternative entrance) and I froze in place.  Something was moving stealthily through the dead leaves.  It was big...it was mean...and it sounded very, very hungry.  I whirled around, and, oh!  It was just a horse.

We've got horse farms across from us, catty-corner, and a few houses down, and they're frequently up by the fence line and therefore quite close.  It seems like they've been feeding more heavily in the fields lately, even through the night, so the fierce creature I heard was just pawing through the leaves to get to grass.  Phew!

Speaking of nighttime visitors, we still have Trey Snouty visiting quite frequently.  It's easy to see that he's been in some kind of tangle...besides the dragging leg and the shortened tail, his ears are chewed to ribbons.

We have another possum that's started coming around, too.  He's bolder, more robust, and Todd gave him a great misnomer: Snoot Gingrich.  Ha!

Besides trying to keep up with the growing crowd on the front porch, we've been frantically unloading storage units and hauling boxes around.  The barn looked full enough before...

...but is even more full now!

Thirty boxes of books and craft supplies were hauled upstairs to my office and I spent 3 full days in pajamas, digging and sorting and piling (with frequent trips to the barn for my regular work). What a job!  But it's finally done and everything (except for my paper cutters and rubber stamps, location TBD) is put away.

Fabric, stickers, felt, ink, glitter, adhesives, buttons, quilt supplies, yarn, ongoing projects, embroidery supplies, watercolors, colored pencils and paper, construction paper, embellishments, card stock...all tidily sorted, labeled, and put away. 

More work needs to be done in my office...a cabinet built for puzzles, a scary-looking gas wall heater removed, another bookcase added (opposite wall is just bookshelves!) but it feels SO much more peaceful and home-like up here. 

We also brought about 30 boxes of household goods in...baking supplies, pottery, wall art, odds and ends...so you can imagine how messy the downstairs is right now.  But it feels so good to see our things again, even though it's still incomplete (fireplace to be built, trim in dining room, curtains).

Progress!

Looking forward to getting this finished up over the next few days so that we can take a cue from Bosewichte and...

hollows for swallows

The daily rain stopped and the sun finally came out.

The heat has been pretty unrelenting and has sapped my energy, but I have to keep moving.  Big changes here!  The back of our house (dining room and two covered porches) has been completely torn off. 

Everything that was in the dining room is now cluttering the kitchen and living room, and I'm forever wiping drywall dust from countertops and floors.  It's a cacophony of hammering, drilling, and banging doors all day long.  And it's not limited to the house...Todd and I spent hours pulling the tack room down in the barn this week.

We probably have another month of construction between the two spaces...phew!  At least we had some company in the barn.  A pair of nesting barn swallows watched us work.  Since the entire barn will be cleaned, insulated, and enclosed, I am sincerely hoping those babies have already hatched.  The nest would be nearly impossible to relocate. 

A black snake, too, has taken up residence.  They're great at keeping down the rodent population, but poor Todd!

Watching the birds at the feeders is a nice pleasure...

...and I still get a good scolding if I venture down to the pond.

It's worth it, though, to see what's going on there!

I'm very slowly getting my office put together.  At least my desk is up.  I get about 1/3 of the space...the cats seem to get the rest.

I keep a pair of binoculars next to my computer so I can see into the barnyard.  Just in the past week I've seen deer, wild rabbits, a woodchuck, and even a pair of turkeys!

The rain has been great for tracking wildlife in mud outside, too.

Mostly, though, I try to follow the cats' example and rest when I can.

Have a great week!