Spring Flowers

The flowering bushes in our yard are in bloom finally. The top one is a bush we have behind our garage. You can't see it from the house but as you round the backside of the garage is this beautiful bush with dark red leaves and white flowers. Could not resist taking a picture while it looked so beautiful!

This picture is the lilac bushes lining the north side of our driveway. Our original plan for planting them there was to block the side entrance of our neighbors house. The house is very close to our driveway (you can see the gray siding) and used to be a duplex with renters going in and out the side door. That was about 20 years ago. They now make a nice border though the house is no longer used as a duplex and that door is rarely used. They do make a beautiful statement, both visually and by scent, when they are in bloom.

Spring us sprung!

Spring has finally sprung in my small town. I will post some pictures this weekend of the flowering trees and shrubs. It's been a long time coming!

Enough already!!

Okay, so I haven't posted for a while. Last time I was saying how pretty the snow was but that was early December. Now it is mid-February and we just got another foot of the fluffy stuff. We now have about 3 feet of snow on the ground, and that includes the snow we lost when we had a January thaw. The first picture was taken last Saturday prior to the 10 inches we received on Sunday and the 3 more today.

This second one is tonight. Not as good a picture as I was not here in the daylight (as I has a long commute since we got 3 MORE INCHES OF SNOW!!) If anyone has an "in"with Mother Nature, please let her know that pretty much everyone here in North Central Wisconsin has had enough of her white stuff. We are very much longing for the look and feel of green grass right now.

Winter Wonderland

Mother Nature has made an early visit to our area this year. On the 1st of December, we received about 8 inches of snow and have received about 2 more inches since then. This is actually early for us; the past couple of years we have made it through Christmas with little more than a dusting with most of the snow coming in January and February. Thought I would show you have the place looks reflected in the white snow. As Tom say, "now the yellow is reallllllly bright!". Here is another view:

I like the look of it, fresh and clean instead of the old peeling and stained paint. I still come around the corner from town and look at the house and think "Oh, that's right, the house is yellow now and doesn't it look great!". Here is the night time view with the lights on; not the best picutre but still gives the effect.

Merry Christmas to everyone!! We look forward to celebrating with all the family on the 29th.

Pictures are coming...

With the snow on the ground and the Christmas lights up, the house is looking really sharp. I have not had a chance to get pictures yet but will this weekend. I will post them as soon as I can.

Till then....

Sidewalks are finished

The sidewalks are poured and dried and we spent the (back-breaking) afternoon hauling top soil around the edges and the pit that was left when we removed the old walkway. As you can see, we decided not the replace the walk that connects the side door to the front. It was an unsed walkway that was difficult to keep clear in the winter. Next spring/summer we will be finishing off the landscaping around 3 sides of the house (the back was done when we completed the porch). We may put a stone path through the old walkway area but not exactly sure yet.

Now that we are very close to finishing (we are still missing the front door), I thought you might like to see some before and after pictures.

Front before:

Front After (different angle):

Back Before:

Back After:

North Side Before:

North Side After:

South Side Before:

South Side After:

The siding is finished

As you can see, the front steps finally arrived and the last of the siding was installed. I am happy with the results though it seems odd to have yellow on the front of the house after looking at the insulation for so long. In the next picutre, you can see where the old sidewalk has been dug up.

As a last minute addition, we are re-laying the front walk from the sidewalk and removing the continuation around to the back door. We are planning on landscaping the front yard next summer and this will make the house and walks more balanced. On the interior, all the windows have been stained and varnished, and the inside of the porch has received a fresh coat of paint. We will be turning that into more of a sunroom than a storage room. We are not quite finished with the painting yet but should be soon. I will get some shots when we are done. Till then.....