Progress

Where to start?  We have had terrific weather in Northern Virginia and thus have had lots of time outdoors.

Chris fixed the hydraulics on the tractor and we used it to haul some dirt, but it tears up the yard too much, so we have been using old fashion shovels. 

The garden is looking like a garden!  We discovered the previous owners' compost pile and have some awesome dirt to fill the raised beds.  How many people get that excited about dirt!  So, the beds have dirt and the fence is up.  This week we planted grapes and broccoli.  We got some horse manuer from a friend and the composting has begun.  (again, dirt.  WooHoo!)

We made some nice discoveries as well.  We have a big lilac bush that has white flowers.  We have a nice looking fruit tree(type of fruit unknown).  There are some things coming up which I think are several bunches of peonies and some that I think are Iris.  Can't wait to see what colors come.  We have a beautiful old dogwood.  While walking along the driveway my friend Cheryl and I found.....asparagus!!!  Dinner!  It was delicious.  The first photo below is our attempt at recycling.  An old chair holds a dutch full of chili perfectly for cooking.  The second photo is the blooming dogwood. 

We have been working on dis-assembling the hoop barn for a friend to use,  it is nice to have that thing cleaned out.  We found a little hibachi grille, lots of canning jars, a card catalog, a box of bed springs, seats for a minivan and tons of snake skins. I hope to never see the hoop barn on our property again!

At the end of the afternoon on Sunday along with our friends Chris and Cheryl, we decided to take a few things from the house to the dumpster.  Lo and behold, we made it into the house.  What we found was most certainly as bad as we ever thought it could be.  Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, stuff.  The house is a framed only, 3Br 2 bath ranch style.  There is plumbing, electrical outlets and lights, a shower, a nice fireplace and hearth.  The amount of stuff is a bit overwhelming, but we have nothing but time to clean it out.  Now our thoughts are shifting that we should build a small guest house or a garage to live in while we clean up and renovate the home that is already there.  I am sure our ideas and plans will change daily.   Two things we do know for certain is that we still love the property and we have a lot of work to do.

Happy Easter

Thanks for all the sunshine this week!   It was a beautiful weekend at Watermark Woods and we all have the tan to prove it.  Well, some of us have a sunburn to prove it.  The daffodils were blooming,  we have so many!  And many other flowers popping up that haven't bloomed yet.  Notice the decrepit house and dumpster in the background.  :)

We got all the garden posts up and the garden gate.  12 raised beds and the strawberry pyramid is in and planted.  Chris was going to fill the raised beds with dirt but the tractor blew a hydrolic hose.  We couldn't figure out how he got the tractor all wet,  aparently it was hydrolic fluid.  Oh Well,  just another things to fix.  Hopefully we can still buy hoses for a 20-year old tractor.

This weekend heard the turkeys. We did see an owl, our first tick of the season, a few deer and a huge snake! We will just let him be.