poplar road

Above we have our driveway, which the goat&llama man has since plowed using his quad, and two shots of the barn which looks so great in the snow. To the left of the barn, backing onto the forest behind us, is a wide, potentially flat area that could be used to make a mini hockey rink, weather permitting. That's something we might consider for our New Years 2006 party if enough people are into it. (Let's hope the weather is colder!)

The barn, remember, is going to be Richard's shop. Getting the interior cleared out and re-organized to allow the 4x4 to fit through is the next demolition project, starting this spring. Richard's mom has dibs on the gorgeous barn door (below) for a table, although we're tempted to keep it ourselves. We could make a table big enough to seat 20 people out of all the wood we'll salvage. (We'll be putting siding up over the existing exterior as part of insulating the whole thing.) I'm not sure if Richard will tear down the last chicken run, which is covered in beautiful Virginia Creeper vines, or use it as storage for all those ugly truck parts etc – which would keep them out of my sight!

Playing in the snow aside, I am still searching for a job and doing small reno tasks like finishing the white trim and doors in our master bedroom. Richard finally got a replacement demonstration Unimog last week, a white one this time, and he and his cousin Greg worked on both their Mogs last weekend. In a few weeks, Richard heads to Alaska for a week to deliver his old orange one to a client there (his first sale back in October), and I'm heading down for a quick weekend in Vancouver to see an international belly dance troupe perform in Richmond with some of my classmates. Aside from Greg's visit last week it's been very quiet around here, but we look forward to visitors soon. In addition to the snow factor, for those animal-lovers out there, the goats just had a bunch of kids over Christmas, and Cama, Jonathan's last remaining llama, is due in February. (Best wishes, by the way, to the Adies and Schmolls who are expecting babies in the next few weeks.)

Snow is the most exciting thing happening right now, but I'm close to finishing the master bedroom paint job and will post a couple of "final" pictures soon. The ensuite bathroom reno is unfortunately still a long way away – Richard much prefers tinkering on our new car (a 1987 Toyota Cressida which we bought on our way home after Christmas), and his new Unimog (which of course justified new tools). If I knew how to do electrical, plumbing, and framing, I'd be drywalling in there by now, but I know once we get started it's only one week's work to do such a small room. Eventually we can rest with a trip to the spa – in our own home. In the meantime, it's white white white inside and out as I crack open the can of trim paint and look out my bedroom French doors at the snow.