KUDOS

This summer when I was doing some work outside I noticed how grimy and icky our decorative shutters were. Some had been drilled by insects (on vinyl, no kidding!), some appeared to have permanent spider webs, others looked like they were peeling! So I measured carefully, and then got on line to order more.

They arrived the day before we left for our Canadian trip, so we put them in the shed. You know what they say - out of sight, out of mind??? Well, now the seasons have changed so we finally got around to doing it. This week WE (read: my dear, long-suffering husband) did so. In between rain showers. They look great, and I'd put up a photo but they are exactly the same as the ones we had before, and from the street, they won't look much different. So look at the profile photo and you'll get the idea.

Now, having done that, I'm late in the game for this, but I want to post some photos of "looking out my windows." This was a meme started by kcinnnova. The funny thing is that when I started looking out her windows I realized I was looking out mine! I don't know exactly where she lives, but I guarantee it's within 30 minutes of my house (notwithstanding traffic)! It truly is a small world.

The first picture is looking out my kitchen picture window up the driveway toward the cul-de-sac. We have wide eaves so we hang the suet in closer and the squirrels, so far, can't reach it. Further out on the wimpy dogwood tree is a regular bird feeder that they habitually raid. My sister sent me the windchimes from Florida. We grew up with them overseas.

The second photo is looking out the living room picture window to the back yard. My husband built the play house for the kids years ago. It has secret panels and doors inside for them to put treasures in. It also withstood Hurricane Isabel just fine. When he builds something, it lasts...forever... As you can tell, at the moment this area is an 'encampment.' Someday we'll do more to landscape the backyard, but our son will only be a boy once and I didn't want him to have to worry about knocking over the 'nice' plants. Besides, the deer will just eat them anyway.

The third photo is looking out the side of the house toward our deck. Straight past the deck is a path down to the area pathway system that runs through the stream valley. Right now they're working on stream restoration so it's pretty noisy and not at all pretty but they're using pretty cool machines so it is interesting.

The final photo is grainy because I took it at 6:45 this morning. A little neighbor who lives under the basketball hoop. He loves to come out and scavenge whatever the birds and squirrels knock down from the feeders. We've even seen chipmunks climb trees to get to the feeders, and wedge themselves into the chickadee sized holes. They drink from the water that collects in that little divot on the base of the goal.