FIRST THINGS FIRST - FENCE, FROGS & FRONT PORCH

Yes, after 9,502 miles, we are home and safely parked in our own driveway.

It was such an amazing trip and we saw so many things that it's just too hard to describe. I know I tried with the last 3 months worth of posts to reflect what we had done and saw and felt and enjoyed. 

But there is also that special feeling once you are back home. It's the familiarity, the casual strolling by and touching things that bring you joy. The sounds and noises of your community. Knowing which neighbor is leaving early in the morning for work, knowing which dog is being let out one last time before bed, knowing the sounds of the FedEx truck pulling up in front of your house with some of the things that we just ordered--- now that we are back!!

One of the first things we had to do was to put up the portable panels to make up the rest of the fence around Nick's "potty yard". 

We had taken them down to make it easier for the neighbor to mow with our zero turn rider. This way he didn't have to go along each edge of the fence nor come back with a weed whacker to clean up the edges. We had taken it down on our last day before leaving and stowed the panels away in the garage. 

So we hauled them back out, one by one and laid them on the ground. They are actually display rack panels from a grocery store that closed down. They are powder coated steel and really hold up well. We just wire tie them together and attach one end to the white privacy fence to the south. Then on the north end we leave one panel movable on an angle. We can open it up to get the big lawn mower in, and leave it closed the rest of the time tight to the house. It is way too heavy for Nick to ever push his way open.

Soon we had it all together and into place. It didn't take us long, but it really was a miserable hot day with very high humidity.  We were all pooped out just doing that one task.

Nick was so happy to get back out there and bounce his ball around. It really helps wear off his energy when he can race around back there. He drives the ball like a soccer ball and loves it if we bounce it in the air. He will get underneath it and pop it up in the air with his nose, just like a seal in the circus.

Incidentally, as soon as Nick got home he had to race around the house and total up all of his beloved toys. He needed to make sure they were all there and that not a single one disappeared. He nosed his way through both baskets, the one down in the She Shed, as well as the one up in the living room.  

Yep, all accounted for.

We had to run a few errands and go pick up our mail from our daughter's house. While we were gone, he was so sadly laying on the ottoman and looking out at his big back yard. We can watch him on the cameras. You could tell he really missed his yard and wanted to be out there playing within the safety of the fence again. He enjoys this freedom after being in a harness and leash for 90 days straight. 

All of our friendly little neighbors came by to say hello. The two fawns from last year are now almost full grown. They aren't very smart when it comes to hiding from danger. They are coming out in the middle of the day just to come and see what's going on in our yard.

Directly behind our home is a huge land preservation tract that is full of amazing animals who make their way into our yard. They are our friendly neighbors. Here was Mama and Daddy Turkey with a bunch of half grown babies coming to check out the apples underneath the tree. 

They are more cautious, and scurry back over into the woods if we go out in the yard. They are very protective of their little babies. Even though they are halfway grown up already.

One of the best little discoveries was right directly behind our house. Before we left, I had quickly planted four tomato plants. I was hoping maybe they might take off over the summer, and we would have some tomatoes by now. I saw that the plants were totally packed in with weeds and I started to pull them.

Buttttt... I saw movement and I saw fluffs of bunny fur. Yep, Mama Bunny had decided to have a litter of sweet little babies right alongside of our basement window, safely tucked in behind our tomatoes!! 

They are totally adorable, and they didn't seem to bother my tomato plants at all. I planned to not finish weeding until they were big enough to hop away on their own. Steve saw them one day all in a little line, he said he looked like they were getting ready to hop on a school bus! By the next day, they were all gone. Notice how great they are camouflaged?

The next day, we saw Mama Bunny over by the woods, and little lumps nearby making movements in the grass. So I think she moved them on to more secure surroundings, away from a barking dog, a noisy house, and a gardener who wanted to pull weeds around the tomatoes! 

Two "not-so-friendly" neighbors moved in while we were gone. They happened to be Mr. and Mrs. Tree Frog. And where did they move into? Right into the dual-chambered exhaust vent pipe for our on demand water heater of our home!!! 

The heater would not fire up and operate because something was blocking the vent pipe. It's a great preventative feature and the sensor would not allow the heater to ignite. Steve went to go look in the exhaust tube and found two little green tree frogs peering out at him!!

He tried to poke at them with a stick to get them to hop out. Nope. They retreated back further into the pipe. He tried poking in there with a longer wire with a hook on the end trying to coax their way out. Nope. They went further back in the pipe and around the corner of the tube down below into the wall of the basement. And it's a very very thick wall...  about a foot and a half thick. 

Well, we tried everything we could think of. I finally said let's get out the Shop-Vac and suck them out!!! We did just that. First we got one, heard it go thunk thunk thru yhe hose. We checked in the large barrel of the Shop-Vac and he was still alive. Steve carried him off into the grassy field next door. Then we went after the second one. This one was very clever and really hanging on tight down in there. We had to actually duct tape the wand of the Shop-Vac around the opening to create really good suction. But we got that second one out --- and it survived as well.

Sadly though, the water heater still would not fire up. So we kind of figured them froggies were living there for about 3 months. There's a lot of froggy doo-doo or whatever other excrement might be down there. So we had to bite the bullet and hire a plumbing technician familiar with on-demand tankless water heaters ($140 service call) to come over and see about dismantling the unit to get inside and clean it out. He did a great job, and we put a piece of hardware mesh now over the opening that won't inhibit the airflow. But it will prevent Mr. and Mrs. Tree Frog from crawlng back up there again.

We also had one more situation that we will be dealing with in the future. We knew there was a minor roof leak over the She Shed, only during very heavy rains. Well, it appears to have gotten worse. Steve had done a number of patch jobs on it but we are looking at now replacing a whole section of the roof. We are interviewing roofers now because our days of doing our own roof are long gone. We used to do our own roofs, and we had even done some repairs and maintenance on this one when we first moved here 6 years ago. But doing the entire half of the house is just going to be too much for us. We will see what we can manage to get done before the snow flies from three of the roofers we had contacted. So far only one has come back with an estimate. We will see.

I was so happy to get back to my She Shed. For you new blog readers who just joined us during our Alaska trip, you may not know that I am also a weaver of rugs, a spinner of wool, and a quilter with quite a bit of equipment for creating beautiful quilts and a long arm machine. 

We converted an attached garage into my She Shed. We have a separate four stall garage for all of the guy stuff for Steve.  This one single attached garage stall and mud room got to be mine, for all of my creative fiber stuff... 

Actually, we spend more time down here in the She-Shed than we do up in our regular living room.  We have a comfy couch that we curl up at night and watch TV. Or while I am sewing or weaving or whatever, Steve is sitting down here keeping me company. Of course, Nick is the central figure in the room. He takes his place wherever I am at, and he follows me around and doesn't let me out of his sight.

We were pretty excited to be back with the families. The grandkids came over to work on projects and give us a hand. One of the most happy places for all of us is to sit out on the front porch. They line up their little butts on the porch swing after they do a bunch of projects for us. 

They managed to finagle a night or two of sleeping over, they missed us so much while we were gone. We have to get in as much sleepover time, baking time, and cuddling time before school starts soon. These are the two youngest, and they are the most energetic!

We find a lot of jobs for them to help with and give them a little bit of folding money when they are done. It's more of being responsible and being cooperative and helpful than actually doing a job to be paid. Often they try to refuse the money, but we insist that they take a little something for their efforts. Teaching them some responsibility.

These two silly nuts were watering all the flowers. But they took the time to also run a couple watering cans full of water through the rain chain hanging on the front porch. Oldest granddaughter Chelsea helped me make that a couple years ago. It's just little metal party favor buckets from the dollar store and a plastic chain from landscaping department in a hardware store. We drilled out holes and used little S-hooks and put it all together. Later that afternoon, it was pouring rain outside and they got to actually see it in action!

We swung by the Garden Spot nursery at the edge of town. Most of their flowers were gone for the season. After all, this is the end of August! I managed to score three beautiful baskets that were limping and drooping. He sold them to me dirt cheap, literally. I brought them home and they perked right up after getting some liberal doses of water. (He said they would).

We hung two on the pergola by the She Shed, and Steve fixed the solar lights that are draped around the roof.

I decided the front porch had taken a beating this summer in the hot sun. A lot of the paint had started flaking that I put on 6 years ago. No fear, it's not lead-based. Two of the granddaughters helped me scrape and peel off anything that was loose. That way I could get some fresh paint on and get it looking spiffy before fall when it's too cold to paint.

They were really great help, and loved peeling off anything that was loose. Then we gave them the shop vac and let them suck the chips all up so it wasn't all over the sidewalk and in the flower beds. That was almost as fun as doing the scraping. 

As the girls were doing that, Clayton was busy driving the big lawn mower and helping Grandpa with the lawn. We do have two and a half acres on the edge of town, and it takes quite a while to get it all up to snuff. 

Our neighbor did a great job taking care of it over the whole summer while we were gone. But I bet he's relieved to not have to go over and do that big yard every weekend. Our area of Wisconsin never had any drought type weather this summer, so the grass just grew and grew and grew. Sometimes it needed cutting twice a week he said. 

Clayton loves driving the big zero turn rider, and he prides himself on making perfect lines back and forth. Years ago, when he first started, he left what he called "mohawks". Now he finishes the job with a flourish and helps clean up the machine when he is done.

We had also picked up a few scraggly little potted plants at the Garden Center. The girls helped put them in my window boxes that I set along the edge of the front porch. The girls said that our house looked so plain without any flowers this summer. I was so happy to still find some available at this time of year. I know they'll be dead by the middle of September from the frost. But it still is nice to have some color again. 

We ran up to Walmart to replenish our prescriptions. And we managed to look at the scraggly last few things hanging out in their garden center. I found a whole display of beautiful fresh green ferns! I love love love ferns, especially three of them hanging from the hooks on our front porch. 

These three were marked down on clearance at only $7 each and came home with me.

Things were looking more and more inviting, and more more back to normal. Being gone so long, things needed some attention when we got back. Coffee in the morning on the front porch is part of our routine.

I take out my spinning wheel for a little relaxation before the day begins. There wasn't any room to bring it along on our trip. It feels good to have the wool fleece in my fingers and the rhythmic treadling under my foot. Peaceful. 

But then it's time to get back to work... Leaving this home for 3 months means we have to get caught up on some tasks. 

We tackled the front flower beds around the front porch, and hung up the ferns. Everything is starting to feel like "home".

Oh. While traveling, I had picked up this beautiful slab of rock from a place called Whirlpool Canyon, just north of Liard River Hot Springs in British Columbia, Canada. I gave Clayton a hunk of cardboard and a can of clear acrylic spray. He gave the rock two coats on each side and we let it dry overnight. 

It is now setting in an honored place on our mantle in the living room. It's right next to a beautiful twisted hunk of wood I found while camping last fall. I love natural art. Mother Nature is quite talented.

Who needs expensive souvenirs? I'm pretty happy with a hunk of wood or a slab of rock.

It was great to wake up again in our own home, with the sun streaming in across the yard and through the windows.  Ahhhhhhhh

Stay tuned for my next blog posts, they will be detailing some of the repairs we are doing to the motorhome, as well as some upgrades and modifications that we decided to do after our trip was complete! 

Here's the YouTube video that goes along with today's blog: 

Thanks for following along... And rest assured, we will be doing some fall camping very soon, after the busy holiday weekend.