Bid Set

We have the plans far enough long to get a rough bid from the builders. I'm very curious to find out just how much this thing is going to be. With our previous design and we had quotes ranging from mid 400s to mid 700s. Madness!

We've picked a rather classic palette of materials: A metal roof, shingled upper reaches, stucco for the midsection and stone near the ground. And one nod to the contemporary: corrugated metal accents. Which, in all reality, isn't that big of a deal out in the country. The stuff is damn near everywhere you look.

Oooh, you might notice on the plans a very exciting addition: a tunnel. Tasha's parents have one and I've always loved the thing. Tasha's been rather blase about the tunnel probably because she grew up with one. Anyway, we're thinking it would work as an excellent root cellar and secret escape hatch. Some little hobbit door disguised as a rock in the retaining wall would be just the thing.

Prairie Seeding

After spending many hours collecting an odd assortment of prairie grass and flower seed this fall we finally had a suitable snowfall on which to sow our seed. After mixing in some sawdust to thin the seed mixture we went to work and quickly realized we had nowhere near enough seed. We had hoped to cover the triangular area to the west of the driveway with our five 5 gallon buckets full of seed, but we didn't even come close. Ah well. The kids went sledding and crashed into the blackberry brambles and we might have some neat grass and flowers.