I'm as surprised as you are.

Pit dug out and lined....

And soil, as far as the eye can see.

The brand new baby raccoons have arrived...

One of many.

Backyard...Take Two.

 First: Tear up everything dead, toss it all into a trash bag (no remorse!!) and raise up the blue-stone path a few inches.

Second: Dig out now non-organic organic vegetable soil and redistribute.

(didn't I swear I wasn't ever going to do this again???)

Next: Plant new things and hope for the best.
Hydrangea donated by my friend Joyce....

Lupine all the way from PA that actually came back from last year, don't ask me why...

Yarrow and Peonies that also reappeared with a new Camillia, Jasmine, Havana Blue Geraniums,and Rhodedendron in the background

And here's Todd trying to intimidate a Raccoon from coming in under the fence and eating my Lily bulbs.

It's funny, I've done so much work and planted so many things...and it hardly looks like anything.

Small progress

The area under the stairs was filled in before, but now we are making a door underneath so that it can be used as storage...

And the bathroom is nearly done with the exception of some of the fixtures.

Just when I thought I couldn't dig no more...

....I'm back to digging....but while extracting some dead plants from the yard I found this key:

And this morning for no particular reason we started to scrape away all of the rust and dirt off of the train I found last summer. It reads: Pennsylvania RR Co Washington 44
If anyone has any idea how I can try to narrow down a year for it, please let me know!

It's not an exact match, but the closest I could find to it online....this is the sort of thing that will drive me insane until I figure it out. All you train collectors, put me out of my misery...please.

It's starting to come together...

A little base-board trim...

 More doors frame, hung, and trimmed....

 And the bathroom starts to get tiled

I'm annoyed at myself because I feel like I should be more excited about these things...but I guess it's a little anticlimactic the second time around....

Got Clean?

Ohhhh Yeaaahhhhhh....

I love you washer and dryer. Please never leave me again.