Cleaning and Organizing

Once we unpack the USB connector for the camera, I promise my posts will be more interesting. For instance, if I had the USB, I could show you before and after pictures of the tiny portion of the front yard I reclaimed yesterday. Actually let me describe it: you can hardly tell I did anything. I filled up a smallish garbage can 4 times, but you can just barely tell the difference. I ripped out a ton of ivy, weeds, old dead leaves, pinecones spray-painted silver, and pieces of tile and pottery. I started to prune three of the small trees that I haven't identified yet. I ripped up some grass lumps that were growing between the path stones. But I can only tell that there's a difference because I worked on it for three hours. I have grossly underestimated how much time it will take to reclaim the yard.

Ben, on the other hand, has made huge progress in unpacking and organizing the house. Yesterday he explored our inherited antique Chambers stove, and got all of the elements to light properly.
There is this neat broiler mechanism that lifts up from the stovetop, then lowers back down into the stove. It's a beast! More things we need to take pictures of.

This picture of the stove is with the previous owners' crap on it still. Ours now sports a lovely blue crock and a metal chicken on wheels holding our cooking utensils.

So our progress is still incremental, but I'm happy with how things are shaping up. This afternoon we have a date to hose the basement with Nature's Miracle which will hopefully eliminate the Ghost of Cat Pee Past.