Brrr!

What is this, Michigan? As I write this The Weather Channel says it's 23 degrees F, feels like 7 degrees.  I can confirm the frigid forecast as I was just outside playing ball with Dexter.  We could only play a few minutes before we had to run back inside to warm up.

Yesterday we even woke to snow!

Our beautiful moss backyard with significant accumulation

I can't believe it.  It seems to have gone from 85 degree t-shirt weather to winter overnight.  I don't like it.  It's also hard to believe that about a year ago we got first 3 foot (ish) snowfall day of "Snowmageddon 2010".

From our condo door, Dec 19th, 2009

Amanda's car...not on the road heading to Michigan

Ha!  Poor puppy

Since we now have a long, steep driveway, I hope we don't get any record setting accumulation numbers this year.  It also delayed our Christmas travel plans last year, so I'm doubly hopeful we won't have a repeat.

Here's hoping for a heatwave!

:)

Decorating Grafton

We're closing in on two months of home ownership and we're still getting the place put together.  We recently hung our art and have added some new pieces of our collection, so I snapped a few pictures to share our progress.  Please keep in mind we're still unpacking.  :)

Our new rug and curtains...also, that end table was just given to us by Amanda's parents, more on that in a future post

Our 8-piece grid by Cherie Lester

Our newest piece by Pridon Goisashvili.  I'm a sucker for paintings of townhouses - especially of Capitol Hill 

Of course I have to sneak in a photo of Dexter - no excuses necessary

A painting of Eastern Market, though I can't remember the artist and can't read their signature

Union Station by Zakhar Sasim

Our new dining room table and chairs

Eastern Market photographs by Joe Shymanski

Buddha, mirror and our pie safe - that lamp was purchased from Ten Thousand Villages

I'll get some more photos posted soon, so you can see how everything is laid out...once we finish cleaning up the rest of our loose clutter.

Mutual of Alexandria's Wild Kingdom!

It's amazing, I think, for us to have found such a wonderful little piece of paradise inside the Beltway.  At our previous condo we rented, we were spoiled with wooded views out all of our windows, including daily sightings of deer.

Five (or so) female deer seen from our balcony

When moving from the condo to our new home, we were most sad about not having such beautiful wooded views and would miss the family of deer.  Well, I'm happy to say, the new place isn't as disappointing as originally feared.  In fact, we do have enough trees that I feel like we have "woods".  And!  I've seen deer.  Actually, I've had many animal sightings.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of my encounters since Dexter and I generally see them late at night when it's very dark.  We've seen deer two or three times, a large (twice the size of dexter) raccoon on two occasions, and our neighborhood coyote at least three different times in our backyard.

Our leafless trees and the ever elusive...bichon!

I shouldn't forget the birds and squirrels.  Amanda's parents bought us a suet bird feeder and suet block of seed as a house warming present.  We installed it over Thanksgiving weekend and it really increased the bird and squirrel activity in our little haven.  They went through the entire thing in just two days!  I've seen many woodpeckers, a blue jay and many little birds I can't identify...yet.

Random picture of Dexter

We're also very happy to have private outdoor space.  Dexter loves to run and play.  Our next door neighbors recently got a puppy (Wesley) and he and Dexter love to romp.  Dexter gets so excited when we hear them outside he goes to the door and whines.  They'll run and play and chase each other until they both lay down in the grass/moss panting.  It's adorable.

Dexter and Wesley eating sticks

On a sad note, our neighbors are moving.  I'm sure Dexter will miss Wesley very much.  It's such a treat for Dexter to have a friend to chase around in the backyard. I think we may end up getting another puppy of our own.  Maybe in the spring.  It's still being discussed, but Amanda's really for it.

End.

3 - 2 - 1 ...Compost!

I've started - and actually finished - making the structure to house our compost pile. It's some really high tech stuff. The first step of the project, as with any new house project, was a trip to The Home Depot. Boy-oh-boy, I love Home Depot. I think I make, on average, one trip per day and probably more like two trips per day on weekends.

Here's my shopping-list:

1. Rubber mallet
2. 4 wooden stakes (I think they are four or five feet long)
3. 25 ft of chicken wire

I think all the supplies ran a bit under $40, but I won't have to ever buy a rubber mallet again!

Here's the required tools that I already owned:

1. Electric Nailer/Staple Gun
2. Hammer
3. 4 foot level

Amanda helped me pick out a nice backyard spot to build the pile.

"a nice backyard spot"

I figured the project would take me less than 30 minutes, so I dove right in!

Dang...that is a sweet Narwhal shirt!

The first step was to measure out and mark where I wanted the posts.  Then I drove the posts into the ground.  Then I stapled the chicken wire to the outside of the posts.

As I suspected, the building was a piece of cake.  Mostly.  The ground is quite rocky and clayish and I think I broke a part of the fourth post...as you can see (front left), it's a bit crooked.  I tried using my level when driving the posts, but this one hit a rock, went sideways, and was never the same.

Day 1

Done and done!  Completed compost pile structure.  Now it's time to make some sweet dirt for our gardens next year.

Day 1.  Pile of leaves on the outside to the left of the pile...one apple.

By day 14, I'd bought myself a Leaf Blower and got to work on the yard.

Day 14

Now it's day 26ish and it's too dark for me to get a current photo.  I've done two runs through the lawn with my blower, mulching the leaves as I go, but with our latest rains, the previously full compost pile has been battered down to being merely half full.  That's fine with me as the trees are finally letting go of their last leaves.  I should be able to spend a few hours this weekend clearing the rest of the front, side and back yards completing my leaf duties for the year and again filling the compost pile.