Living Room

I dug up some "before" pictures for you, just so you can get an idea of the sad little way it used to be in our house. I'll try to make these before and after pictures make sense...so bear with me.

Before, the living room was minuscule. Seriously, it was this big:


There was a wall, right down there, dividing the minuscule living room from the minuscule kitchen. See it?

For some reason I don't have a before picture of the front door, but I was standing right in front of it when I took this picture.

Now, here is our front door. It's red!


And continuing left, you can see our new living room! (for continuity, notice the Christmas card clothesline above the window in pictures above and below) Our new entertainment center was a gift we love love love. On the wall opposite that, which you can't see, we currently have our old dining room table, and that is where our fish and lizards are residing. It's not that pretty right now. We are going to build some custom shelving to fit those cages/tanks and hold our books too. In time.


Now, in the picture below, you can see where the old wall came out (parallel lines in ceiling and floor), and that door leads into the garage. To the right of the door was our old pantry, about the size of a small coat closet.


And here is that space now...the door is nicely framed, we put a heater on the wall where the oven used to be, and the yellow door now leads into our mudroom (we sacrificed garage space to build a mudroom and a pantry). Again, you can see the left edge of the entertainment center, and the loveseat there in the lower right. The clock and entry table are where the old pantry used to be.

*Opposite this wall we have a couple of armchairs, an end table and an ottoman, a small sitting area in what used to be our dining room. Or it will be a small sitting area when we unpack the rest of the boxes that are currently residing there. I'll show you that part later!*


And continuing on around the turquoise wall, we enter the dining room! I've shown you the dining room before, but it's Christmastime, so here it is again.


It's hard to tell in this picture, but we added a 45 degree angle on that turquoise wall to flow around the corner. That angle is mirrored in the kitchen cabinets, directly across from that wall. You'll see those soon. The end of the turquoise wall used to be the exterior of the house, if you can believe that.


That big hulking shape in the corner is the Christmas tree, lights off. I really love our dining room, but I bet you knew that already!

Master Bathroom/Cowgirl Spa!

Also known as "the Spa," this room is a source of pride for us. Number One and I chose the tiles, I designed the layout, and I also cut many, many of the tiles and laid them alongside the contractor (and sometimes alone) and helped grout the whole place. I learned so much, and I think I would be confident enough to take on a tiling project on my own!


The master bath is directly off the master bedroom, as you may have guessed, and is adjacent to my closet and Number One's closet. That's right, we each have our own closet! The door to my closet is in the bedroom, Number One's door is off the bathroom, you'll see that in a minute.

entrance door

The entrance door to the bathroom is not quite finished. We purchased it new, and just haven't taken the time to peel the protective vinyl covering off the glass yet. That's fine, because it's across from the only window in the master bedroom a person can actually see in through, which doesn't yet have curtains. So I'm okay with the vinyl helping to obscure the view of people getting in and out of the tub! We actually have a different vinyl to apply to the center window of the door, that will make it look like textured glass. (because doors with real textured glass are pricey!) One of these days, that will get finished!

We put so much thought into this house. It is the result of years of ideas and inspiration, coming together into what we both wanted out of a house. While the space itself turned out great, and it's technically not our "dream house" since we didn't get to start from scratch, all the details were carefully planned out based on things we had seen or thought about, that would make sense where we were starting, adding on to the existing house. whew, that makes me tired just to recall!


The design of the bath/closet area was inspired by Number One's dad's closet, which has a skylight in a hallway and lower dividing walls to allow light from the skylight into the closet. I thought that was genius! So we have a large, lovely, low-E skylight centered in the bath/closet area, and low walls dividing the bathroom from the two closets, and also giving the toilet a bit of its own privacy. (the ceilings in the addition are 9 feet; the low walls here are 7 feet)

low walls; that wall is NOT green!

the toilet "nook"

One trick we used throughout the house, especially on the low, existing ceilings, was to paint them the palest sky blue. This was my idea, inspired by the porch on The Grand Hotel (where I lived and worked for two years before moving out West), the ceiling of which is painted blue to echo and reflect the color of the lake. My idea was that it would fool our eyes into thinking the ceilings were higher, sort of like the sky. I don't know if it works that way, but I love how it turned out. Our ceilings are actually so pale it is only noticeable in certain light, but around the skylight it is most obvious.

skylight; the low walls of Number One's closet and my closet;
can you believe the ceiling is the same color as the skylight surround??

It's so interesting the way different colors appear in different light--the skylight surround is the exact same color as the ceiling, and the wall next to the toilet (the one that looks green) is the exact same color as the rest of the bathroom walls (sort of a sand color).

The vanity was a score at Home Depot, I can't remember if I've told the story here so I'll just tell it again. We had been pricing vanities, which at HD are basically any variation of the cabinetry they sell for kitchen and bath. That means they are custom-built and expensive, and no way we sliced it was one of those fitting in our budget. We were getting discouraged, until we noticed this cherry vanity up high on a shelf. It had a Will Call tag on it, but it also had a price tag on it. Mystified, we asked about it.


The staff said that it had been a special order but no one had ever picked it up. This doesn't make a lot of sense, because special orders have to be paid for up front (at least partially), so we didn't understand why/how someone could have backed out of the deal without losing a substantial amount of money. Regardless, we asked, "so it's up for grabs?" And they said yes!

We had them get it down, measured it to be sure, and then I asked if the price on the tag (which was already a bargain compared to ordering a custom piece) was the best they could do. They went off to discuss it, then came back and said they'd be willing to knock another 10% off the price! SOLD!


With the discount on top of a discount, it fit in our budget AND we were able to order a custom solid-surface vanity top with two sinks and very cool faucets as well!


I made the mirrors a few years ago; the one on the right was made from wood I salvaged when we tore down an old tack shed up at the mountain cabin. Both were in storage until I decided to use them here, and they're perfect!

And, Aunt G. already teased me about the "hollywood" light fixture, but they are bright and cheap and darn it, I like them! Plus they fit into our budget!

The bathtub was another score. We had such a limited budget for bathtub/faucets/rough-in materials (yes, our budget was broken down quite specifically) that we were worried we wouldn't be able to get a big tub like we wanted. All the tub that were bigger were also too expensive--we couldn't afford a tub AND faucets! We just didn't want to settle for a tub that a person couldn't stretch out in. Our old tub is so short you can't even get your whole body in the water, so it's not very pleasant at all.


So anyway, we were walking around Home Depot with our mile-long list when we noticed a tub on display. It looked nice, it was jetted, at 5 1/2 feet it wasn't quite as long as we'd hoped. But. It was on CLEARANCE. For just HALF of our total tub budget! A virtually unheard of bargain! When we found our HD guy, he said it was the last one and they could hold it for us until we could get back to pick it up. Awesome! At that price, we were able to get a lovely faucet, a rainfall shower head and matching handle, a really sweet drain, and all the rough-in parts, and we only had to borrow a few dollars from another budget category.


So the contractor built a tub surround based on our specifications (notice the extra 12" of space at the end of the tub, above), and then we tiled it. We haven't decided what to do about a shower curtain or something like that...I've debated having one of my three metal working artist friends design a shower rod, or then I've thought about a partial glass wall, but really I'm just not ready to mess with the lines in the bathroom with a shower curtain. With the nice tub we don't take many showers anyway, and if we do it really doesn't splash that badly, plus it's all tile! So that's another thing that can wait a bit.

The door to Number One's closet is one of the doors I salvaged from the bunkhouse basement, it was actually an interior door in one of the old houses here. I just sanded and painted it. I am not at liberty to show you the inside of Number One's closet right now, let me just say when it's clean, it's impressive. Ahem.

Number One's closet door

We're not quite finished in the bathroom, you notice the mirror on the floor I haven't decided where to put, but I really needed a hook for the robes. The one drawback about pocket doors is that you can't hang anything on the back of them--that's where we used to hang our robes. Other than that, they are perfect!

That's about all that I can think of right now for the bathroom. If you have any questions, just leave a comment!

Stay tuned for more rooms!

Reflections...

As we near the end of the year, it's time to reflect back on the passing and the accomplishments and events that have shaped us. Our little family has so much for which to be grateful this year, it was such a whirlwind it's hard to even know where to begin.

First and foremost, we have each other and our health and happiness. Number One and I really have two of the most terrific boys:

H-Bomb, now age 6 1/2, finished Kindergarten and is now in 1st grade, says that math is his favorite subject and at his very first parent-teacher conference had already surpassed the yearly goal for reading. There is nowhere to go but up! He has several good buddies in his class, and it's comforting to see him forming friendships (some since preschool) that will likely stand the test of time. H-Bomb is an amazingly loving and thoughtful older brother to Sawed Off, always hugging and teaching him and spontaneously telling him "I love you, Sawed Off." It is wonderful that this persists in spite of the petty sibling stuff.

Sawed Off, who turned three last February, is a strong-willed and opinionated almost-four-year-old who can't wait to follow in his big brother's footsteps. He is such a sweetheart, with his little curly hair, full of hugs and always affectionate. It is amazing to see Sawed Off learning so much from his brother and yet still being his own little person. He also is very free with the spontaneous "I love you"s, which we love!

If we have done One Thing right, it is knowing that our boys Love each other
and Help each other and will Be There for each other.

Number One and I were kept busy designing and deciding and supervising the interior of the addition on our house. While he helped with the major decisions, it was really me in there with the day-to-day, even spending three days side-by-side with the contractor's son, installing kitchen cabinets, and then another three days with the contractor, installing the bathroom tile. Indeed, after about one day, the contractor would come in, lay the mud for the bathroom tiles, and then take off, saying "here you go!" So I really had a lot of hands-on and I learned an incredible amount! I also got to know our sweet contractor better, he really is a good guy. And throughout this entire project, we became friends with "she knows who she is," spending time together and realizing we have lots of things in common.

After the contractors were finished, it was up to Number One and I to paint! A big job, and thank goodness we did have some help from a couple friends. After that, Number One also had to sand and finish the wood floors--over 900 square feet!--for which he had some help from our then-farmer guy. And the floors look great! (you'll see!)

The remodel went so well, everyone is so impressed when they see the transformation, and I still can't quite believe that we designed it from the ground up--from the walls to the very last cabinet pull! Amazing. We are so thankful to ABEG for doing this for us, and to the Universe for reinforcing us and blessing us.

And I promise, one day soon you will get a room-by-room tour of the addition. Promise. Coming Soon!

In February we managed a trip to St. George, Utah, for a family meeting and had such a lovely time with Number One's aunts and uncles. We got to see them all again for the summer family reunion at the ranch house! What a great year!

This past spring, we had a delightful visit from Number One's high-school buddy and his wife, and had an excellent time hiking and cooking and just spending time with them for the few days they were here. We miss you guys! And later a visit from his buddy's dad for several days, with more hiking, more cooking, more wine, which was very enjoyable.

We had a visit from my parents this fall, and they helped a lot with the addition, varnishing most of the new trim, building and installing shelves in the master bedroom, spending time with the boys, etc. We got to go on a few hikes, and also enjoyed a visit from my mom's cousin and her husband.

Seriously, such a whirlwind that I'm having trouble distinguishing the events this past year that happened besides the house...H-Bomb took a Photography class, I was hired for a Photo Shoot, we met new friends who immediately felt like old, dear friends, I cooked lots of ranch meals...some of them are probably on the blog already anyway!

We are just so aware of how amazing and supportive and wonderful our group of friends and family are, from near and far, old and new, and we are so grateful to have such awesome people in our life.

It was really fun to get some of you together at our party.
We hope to see more of you all
(and especially the people we missed seeing this year)
in the coming year.

The tribe is coming together. We are so blessed.

Happy Christmas.

Housewarming Extravaganza...the photos.

*Exactly how long can a post languish in "draft" status before it's published? Way too long, apparently! Here's a short post I started MONTHS ago and I suppose I got distracted or something.

Anyway, our party was fabulous, we have amazing friends and family who were there to support us and celebrate our new home, and it goes without saying the food was out of this world. Thank you to everyone!*

It's been three weeks since our fantastic housewarming party, and I realized I hadn't even written about it!

We had such a great turnout, lots of family and good friends showed up to celebrate with us. Everyone loved the house, the food was fabulous and it was just so much fun.

I'll share some pictures, but honestly we were having too much fun at the party to take very many pictures. If you'd like to see the menu and the recipes and pictures of the food, please visit The Bad Girl's Kitchen.

I will still take you on a virtual tour of the house, don't you worry! We're getting the rest of our living room furniture on November 18th, and after that the tour will begin.

Here are some of our guests, and you can see some of the house too...

Christmas Tree Success!

Taking two boys into the mountains to chop down a Christmas tree is a fun family tradition, right? We picked H-Bomb up from school at 1:00pm on Friday, ran a couple (from a list of never-ending) errands, and we were off. We drove up the mountain road from the town side, which is only plowed for a few miles up. We only passed one other truck, and they were headed down. We had forgotten to bring hot chocolate, but fortunately I remembered to grab the rest of the cookies! Sawed Off had fallen asleep on the way to town, so I stayed in the truck with him, crocheting a scarf, while H-Bomb and Number One took off into the forest.

The only tree they found was at least 20 feet tall, which is most definitely too big for the house, not to mention quite against the rules of Christmas Tree harvesting permits.

Number One decided he and H-Bomb would sled down the road. He suggested I call and order a pizza, which would be ready by the time we got back to town. Check. I was starving.

Incidentally, and this is pretty funny, I remember when I first moved here, driving up into the mountains in my little Festiva and encountering some kids on a sled. Their whole family was up there sledding, and I thought is was stupid and dangerous: sledding on the road??? we could have run over them! (not even close)

So now, my husband and my two young boys (because Sawed Off had just woken up at the critical sled-loading moment and did NOT want to be left behind) took off sledding down the mountain road. Despite what one might think, the sled did not go fast at all. There was absolutely no traffic, and we could have heard them coming for miles. So don't judge me. I followed behind, in the truck, inching forward so slowly that I was able to crochet AND keep moving. Indeed, sometimes Number One had to pull the sled, so I just parked and crocheted a few rows, then caught up again.

I had eaten more than my share of the cookies, and was still hungry. Thank goodness we had a pizza waiting for us down the mountain. When Number One and the boys had more than enough of the "sledding" and played in the snow for a while and threw some snowballs, we loaded up in the truck and went to the pizza place.

Over nice warm pizza, we decided that there was only one place to go for a Christmas tree. That is up the mountain road from our side, where we always go, but which is never plowed. We had seen some tire tracks on the road, and honestly we are usually the ones making the tracks.

It was getting to be late afternoon, so I was a little nervous about going too far on the road (especially knowing how slow our little sled travels) So we stopped when we saw some trees. We didn't find the tree for our house, but we did find a tree for the boys.

Now I have to tell you about this little tradition we have, that my dad started. When I was in college, he suggested that I take a little tree to school for my dorm room. I did, and it was so fun. My roommate said it put her little fake tree to shame. We even decorated our mini fridge to look like a fireplace and hung stockings on it. So much fun!

So anyway, when H-Bomb was little, we were in Michigan for Christmas, and Grandpa took him out to chop down his very own little tree, to put in his room (which is still decorated with the Super Sweet Semi-Truck wallpaper). We put lights on it, and a few ornaments, and H-Bomb was in heaven. Santa even left a present under his little tree! So special!

So every year, we let the boys choose a small tree and put it in their room. They love it. And sometimes Santa still remembers to leave a little present!


This year, H-Bomb hauled the tree over to the sled, and then the two boys pulled it to the truck together. Precious.


Hopefully in their selective memories, they will forget their crying about the sled not going "all the way" down the hill that occurred just after we loaded their tree on the truck. Number One said it wasn't a Christmas tree hunt until someone was crying about something.

We loaded everyone in the truck and headed up the mountain. The thing you need to realize about Number One is that he will just keep driving and driving if you don't say something like, "Ooh, there's one!" So we drove 8 miles up the mountain, to the turnoff to the lake, which is only 10 miles from town. In other words, we were just a few miles from the place we had started on the town side of the mountain. The tracks we were following kept going, but we didn't want to follow them all the way. Besides, Number One said we'd probably find the truck that made them, stuck up there.

The pickings were slim where we stopped, but everyone got out of the truck anyway so there was no turning back. I found a cute tree that was really too short, just over 6 feet tall. We figured it would look like a dwarf under our new 9 foot ceilings, but believe me, that tree was my backup plan!

Sawed Off was having a hard time walking through the snow. H-Bomb was getting frustrated because I had told the boys to stay together, but Sawed Off couldn't keep up. Number One was getting frustrated because he couldn't find a tree and it was getting late. This is the stuff of holiday memories!

I took a deep breath and this picture of the sun setting over the canyons below us.


I found a tree that I thought would work. We were putting it in the corner of our dining room, so I figured we could hide the hole in the back. It was about the right height, although Number One thought it was too tall. I said we could make it work. We all just wanted to go home for hot chocolate.

Number One chopped it down too quickly for me to take many pictures.

Let me tell you this: a 9-foot tall Christmas tree is a heavy mother.

And as we both were dragging this tree UP a damn hill to the truck, the screaming began in earnest. H-Bomb had snow in his boots, yet refused to walk to the truck OR sit down so I could dump out his boots. Sawed Off got stuck, or got snow in his mittens, or what I honestly don't remember. The decibels out in the middle of nowhere are exaggerated, so the deafening screams replaced the deafening sounds of silence. Number One and I wrangled the tree to the side of the road. I laid down in the snow, ears bleeding.

H-Bomb made it to the truck, still screaming. Number One carried Sawed Off through the snow to the truck. At least he wasn't screaming any more.

Somehow we managed to get that tree UP onto the truck bed. H-Bomb took off his boots, I gave him my heavy gloves to put on his feet, which of course he refused. I can't remember how I convinced him to stop screaming and crying. Oh my. I know this is the start of Seasonal Selective Memory (SSM), which will cause us to attempt the very same thing next year.

Let's just hope I remember the hot chocolate.

We got the tree into the house and up in the stand amazingly without incident. It is even fairly straight. Number One put the lights on, and we set up our new Christmas train! We should have gotten C batteries in bulk from Costco, because we are going to need them.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Tree Hunt

We had big plans today to find our Christmas tree. After school, of course. What we didn't count on was the time adding up for all our errands:

• a bag of spinach for dinner (and snacks for the ride home)
  
• a new pressure switch for the well
• a saw for cutting down the tree
• a Christmas Tree Permit (and a forest ranger wanting to chat for 15 minutes +)
• a sled to take to school and a new tube sled for pulling behind the four wheeler
• H-Bomb having to go potty Right Now.

And then it was 4:00 and the sun was already sinking behind the mountains. And it was cold. But, we really want a tree!!, so we went anyway.

We heard about a place to get a tree~close to town! trees close to the road! they got a fabulous one!~ from two different people, so we decided to go there.

It's a little slice of National Forest, sandwiched between two sections of private property. The road was plowed, but we didn't see much "close to the road." There was a road heading off the main road, but it wasn't plowed, and although there was a set of tracks, there's really just too much snow to try it in the truck.


We stopped the truck anyway, got the boys out, piled them on the new sled and took off. Slowly. The snow was a good 12" deep, we hadn't brought snow shoes, and the sled just sank into the snow with two boys on it. They got frustrated when they got snow in their faces. We got frustrated trudging through the foot of snow pulling a heavy sled.

We didn't see any good trees.

Sawed Off fell off the sled, landing on his face. We decided to head back to the truck and eat cookies and wait for Daddy.

Daddy came back empty-handed, so we'll try again tomorrow. (school is out at 1:00 tomorrow! plenty of time!)

At least we were rewarded with this glorious sunset all the way home.

A Little Cowgirl Quilt!

So I actually started this quilt back in June, 2008, for our friends' new baby. She's not so new anymore, has already celebrated her 1st birthday, but finally--the quilt is finished!

It's the same basic style as the 1st quilt I finished in May 2008, for my cousin Abbey's baby boy, just different fabrics.


This was for a little cowgirl! It had to be special. I initially thought of pink camouflage, but I don't exactly have an awesome fabric selection in town. So I found the cute flannel with litte pink flowers, alternated it with yellow flannel and backed it with a lovely sage green fabric. I even found a matching sage green yarn to tie it.


I honestly don't know why it took me so long to finish. The initial work went pretty quickly, but then it just sat in a big bag for the longest time. There was always "something else" to do. Now though, it is finished! It really didn't take me long to finish it, just over an hour of "real" work and it's done!


I hope little cowgirl Corinne likes it. And her Mommy and Daddy too!

Ranch Cookin'

I've been making food most of the week for the cowboys and crew, Tuesday was Shipping Day, and for lunch I made my Rustic Chili, several loaves of Artisan Bread, and the traditional Chocolate Sheet Cake to rave reviews all around.

Thursday and Friday, ABEG was here branding and sorting and preg-checking cows. On Thursday, I served lunch in the corral: Beef Brisket Sandwiches with our family's Famous Barbecue Sauce, chips, and Neiman Marcus Cookies. On Friday, I served another corral lunch of Cashew Chicken Sandwiches, chips, and Classic Peanut Butter Cookies. Friday was a very long day, so I also ended up serving everyone dinner: Sue's Pesto, pasta, a salad, wine, and some leftover cookies.

Last night, one of our old cowboys showed up with his son and a friend, and we also had another three cowboys show up to help move the cattle, which along with our regular crew and families adds up to 14 people. Now that the cattle are all branded, we have to move three large groups of them to three separate winter ranges. I'm not sure how we ended up with so much help this year, but that's the way it happened.

So this morning, CG asked me if I wouldn't mind making dinner for everyone--all 14 of us! I told her I'd think of something...

Stay Tuned!

Cars & Trucks & Fence Posts

Here are some little things we've been laughing about on the ranch this week...

On shipping day, after "lunch" which we actually ate around dinner time, I couldn't find Number One's new mini truck he got for the farm work. It's cute and small, and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of it, which means the stick shift is on the left, takes some getting used to. I needed it to take the leftovers from CG's house to our house, and it was already dark. Ranch hand told me it was parked over under a tree. I found it, even found the headlights in the dark, and drove it over near the door. Ranch hand said, "It's a weird little thing, it took me 10 minutes to find reverse!"

I said, "You mean where the 'R' is on the stick???"

So last night I was telling this story to our friend from ABEG, who came down to help with the branding and stayed the night in our new guest room. She laughed and admitted that she had also had trouble in the Dodge...Ranch hand was telling her to go somewhere and do something, and she said, "Well I would if I could find reverse!" (truthfully, there is a little trick to shifting the dodge into reverse, it's been a while since I've done it, but there is a button or some catch to it)

Last night, we all had some wine at CG's house after a big day of branding with our crew and a few ABEG greenhorns. (they call themselves that, so I'll take the liberty to repeat it) Before we left, CG insisted on a shot of tequila all around. (Ick). So then we were walking from CG's house to our house, three ABEG's and me, and it was very dark and we didn't have a flashlight and the moon hadn't risen above the canyon rim yet.

The ABEG's were trying to follow me (and I'm pretty sure I was wearing black), and they asked how they would find their way. I said, "Just feel your feet in the gravel. If they're not in gravel, stop and reorient." No sooner had I said "reorient" (it could have been less eloquently stated, but I'm telling the story here), than I ran right into a fence post. And then, disoriented at I was, I thought I was on the right side of the driveway, you know, where the fence is. I was actually on the left side of the driveway, you know, the side where there are, in fact, ONLY TWO OLD FENCEPOSTS. So as I was stumbling around, tripping over a piece of wire and running into the other fence post, going, "where am I?" and I'm sure everyone was laughing at me, I said, "Don't follow me!"

And then. Before the three ABEG guys headed for their hotel in town (lucky ABEG girl got to stay with us, remember), Number One's brother had drawn a map for them and asked them to pick up his truck at the repair shop and drive it back down in the morning. "The keys are in it," he told them.

Evidently, the guys decided that they had better pick the truck up that night, rather than in the morning. I'm not sure why, since there was only one mildly designated driver and the directions Bro and I gave them were "turn left at the jail." The truck wouldn't start, so they were trying to jump it, and in the middle of it all, the keys, which were in the truck to start with, got locked IN the truck. Sheesh.

So now ABEG girl has to go to town with me to pick up H-Bomb from school AND Bro's truck. She said, "that's another thing you can write about in your book." And I thought, why wait? Practically everyone is implicated in this story, so no one is singled out now! (no whining from anybody!)

I hope the ABEG's spend the night again tonight, and I'll have more stories for you tomorrow!

Squeals in the Night

Last night we woke up to the strangest sounds. Actually it sounded sort of like a baby giraffe or some other strange animal, squealing. And then there was running around, sounds of hooves and huffing and snorting. Right outside our window.

I had no idea what sort of animal makes those sounds. I did hear one of the dogs running around too, barking. I went to the back door with two flashlights and tried to figure out what the heck was happening out there.

I saw several sets of eyes, moving around. The squeals continued. Some of the eyes bounded away, and I figured out they belonged to mule deer. There was more squealing, and further away was huffing and snorting. I called the dog in the house, and he was panting, out of breath.

One set of eyes was near the ground, I heard the little deer sort of flopping around, not quite able to get up, and squealing. The deer must have gotten trapped in the new corner of fence created when our neighbors moved their garden, joined the fence with the fence on the field and took out the natural pathway from the orchard, where the deer clean up the fallen peaches.

In the distance, I heard the mother deer call softly, similar to a goat's bleating, to her fawn.

I moved away from the door as I saw the mother's eyes coming back. She was still calling to her fawn, and huffing. I'm not sure if the huffs were from running and jumping or just a sort of warning to me and the dogs.

I went back to bed, the squealing stopped, and the dogs settled in for the night on the carpet.

In the morning, there was no dead baby deer behind the house, as I'd feared we would find. It's mother must have gotten it to its feet and guided it out of the yard.

Shelving Maniacs

In the new master suite, which used to be a very small bedroom, there was an old, small closet. You know, the regular size closet that accompanies every small bedroom. We had a guy rip out the walls that framed in the closet (it only had one door anyway, the other fell off years ago and was never replaced), patch the drywall and flooring where the old walls came out, and it became...

...an Alcove.

It made more sense, since we just added two big closets to the master suite anyway, and didn't need a third, ugly little closet. Now, the alcove looks like it belongs, like it was part of the room originally. (I haven't had time to take a picture, sorry)

We decided the Alcove needed some bookshelves. Number One and my Dad went to town for wood and supplies, and got to work. You may remember the shelves Number One built for the new pantry? He's a good shelf-builder, but I wanted a different design.

Number One and my Dad came up with the shelving design. They ran the plans by me, but then while I was gone they changed them. (I'm over it now). Number One decided the shelves needed arches at the top.

They spent two or maybe three days building, then my Dad spent a day sanding and varnishing. And here they are:


I like how open they are, and I like the arches too. You can barely tell that space used to be a closet! They are just waiting for all of our books and things.

Now, we just have to do something about this light fixture in here: