The deck & porch...

I've not posted in a while because we just got busy. We made a couple trips to see the girls, went camping, adopted a new cat and have generally been doing yardwork and the mundane every day tasks of living.



This is the front porch - note the wrought iron inserts. Our neighbor Becky's idea. We love it and think it looks wonderful and unique. The inserts were bought at Hobbty Lobby on sale for $10 each.



This is a photo of the entire house, mostly finished outside (we still have to install gutters, scheduled for two weeks from now, I think).

Next spring and summer we will begin the massive landscaping jobs. Right now, Richard is clearing the woods of brush to reduce risk of fire. That smoke you see is him burning brush at the fire ring to the left (not seen in photo). Once we've cleared space for a garden and some "walk-around" room, we'll begin the task of taking out carefully selected trees - the spindly, non-thriving ones. What's the use of a house in the woods if you get rid of the woods? We plan to keep as much forest around as we can, but we want room for both the animals in the Sanctuary and ourselves to keep a wide berth from each other.