A Momentous Week

Max turned six months old on May 8th.  Happy half birthday little guy. And your present...

We had Max neutered on Thursday. Both Ross and I were concerned about him going under anesthesia.  I felt better after dropping him off at the vet as they explained that they would do some blood work on him first to ensure he should be fine with the sedative. He made it through his procedure with flying colors.  If I didn't know any better, I wouldn't think that anything was different.  He has all the pep and onerousness that he had before.  His biggest fun is eating paper and cardboard.  I had him in the bathroom with me as I was cleaning the bathtub and the next thing I new he was chomping on the toilet paper (so cliche Max).   And, speaking of bathrooms...

We are almost finished with our bathroom renovation.  We finished painting the bathroom last weekend.  Every night this past week we spent placing the backerboard and floor tile. I was able to get the tile grouted on Friday evening which allowed us to get the toilet and sink in on Saturday.  We officially have a functional bathroom.  All that's left is to install the trim and some paint touchups. The change makes me feel so good that I find myself just standing in the doorway taking it all in.  It is a dramatic difference from what we inherited when we bought the place.  The best part is that this was the last room in the house that needed a major remodel.  Now all that's left are some minor renovations and basic maintenance.  Happy happy, joy joy!

The Morel of the Story

Lucky us!  We have several morel mushrooms growing in our orchard.  Ross picked one today, sauteed it in butter, and mixed it with asparagus (fresh from our garden), chives (fresh from our garden), ramps (grows wild on our property), and gnocchi (made with potatoes from last year's garden).  It was a gourmet lunch!  I hope that we are able to find some more mushrooms.

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger as of late.  I think we only made one post in April.  In our defense, April was a very busy month.

If you already didn't know, Ross and I are renovating our main bathroom.  We spent a good part of the month ripping it down to the studs and then starting to put it back together.  I took a lot of time thinking about the bathtub for two very good reasons. First, I have never installed a bathtub before, and second, this is the only bathtub in the house so until the new tub was installed and working Ross and I were not able to bathe.  Luckily we were able to get the old tub out and the new tub in within a day-whew!  We spent the next week taking baths as we worked on installing the tile surround.  I went to bed at around 2 o'clock in the morning several nights in a row due to hurriedly working on this.  I needed to get it done in time for my mother, my Aunt DeAnna, and my cousin Deb's visit.  They were to arrive on a Monday.  When I got home from work the Friday before there was no tile on the backer board.  When I went to bed on Sunday evening the tile was up and grouted and the shower doors were in place.  What is even more impressive is that Ross and I also picked up our new bees, went to church, and had our pastor over for dinner this same weekend!  I was exhausted.

Speaking of bees, we finally have more babies flying around the property.  If you didn't already know, we lost our last hive to repeated bear attacks late last fall. Ross and I decided to add a second hive this year (and will be adding an electric fence to keep the new hives safe). We ended up getting the bees right before my family visited and needed to check the hives while they were here to see how the bees were doing.  My cousin Deb, who was not keen on the idea of a swarm of bees flying around her, suited up and came out to help me.  She was a trooper.  The girls are doing great.  Enjoy the video I took today of one of the hive entrances (listen closely for Ross talking to the chickens in the background-my life is hilarious).

Hopkins Inn and Vineyard

We had a great time with my family.  I took a couple of days vacation so that I had more time with them.  We shopped, we ate, we drank, and most importantly we had fun.  This was my aunt and cousin's first time here.  It is always a treat to show someone the sights for the first time.  After dinner the first night I opened a port wine from 1983.  It was a lot smoother than I had expected.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  There is no better compliment to good wine than good company! Ross and Deb also made baklava (pronounce it however you may-inside joke) that went back home for Deb's family Easter dinner.  I heard that it made it back intact, no small feat given how much my aunt and mother liked the dessert.

After my family departed Ross and I took a break from the bathroom and decided to turn our attention elsewhere.  We spent the past week working in the gardens.  Ross started tilling his raised beds in the vegetable garden.  He had a little help as you can see. He has planted carrots, and peas, and ... (my mind is drawing a blank as I am loosing my steam, but rest assured that there was more).  I planted some annuals in my garden pots.  We also purchased three new fruit trees for the orchard-a Saturn peach, a Macoun apple, and our first plum.  Our asparagus is also starting to show.  We had a great weekend for getting our hands dirty.

As I stated earlier, we have been very busy, and busy we shall remain as we still have to finish the bathroom, still have to install the electric fence, still have to...the list is endless.