This and that

Not the most interesting title, but my goodness things have been busy here lately!!  My daughter and her dh are searching for a home, and real estate is such a roller coaster of emotions, up, down, jumping through bank hoops ( seller hoops, inspector hoops, etc ).  They put an offer in, but the inspection was rather, how should I put this.....revealing, so my daughter and her dh amended the offer. It was countered with such ridiculousness ( if that isn't a word, it is now!) that the kids terminated the offer.  So they are in a state of disappointment, yet still excited about what God will provide for them.  It is not just stressful for them, it is pretty darn stressful for this momma too!  Remarkably, Robyn has been fairly calm, I really don't need her  stressed to this extreme when she is pregnant!  Yes, I am still a very protective mom, even if she is 21.

The past two weeks, we have had a problem in our neck of the woods which is a first for us.  We have been having issues with bears, and not just one, a momma and her cubs.  They have turned our green compost bin  inside out at least 4 times.  I saw big paw prints in the driveway.  And then there is scat.  Bear scat ( poop) is nasty. Not only have I been picking up after the dog, but also the bears and now a fox!!  This is ridiculous!  The bears have been spotted a number of times around here, they are not really showing any signs of leaving.  I did see eyes in the forest the other night when I shone the flashlight down into the dark, but have not seen them in daylight or in the early evening as many people have been.  We usually put out apples for the deer, and have done so since we have been here, but no more, it is not worth the risk of meeting up with them one night.

A couple of weeks ago, before we knew about the bears, we took a hike down a new subdivision that has opened up, with 4 lots for sale on a beautiful lake.  As we looked along the shoreline, we were surprised to see an abandoned wooden house at the water's edge.  Oh how I love old homes, they have such a history and I wish the walls could talk. Well, as long as the stories weren't too sad or scary I suppose.  We found an old bottle along the trail, dated 1934, which we brought home and I intend to use as a vase.  It was exciting to hike into this place, but also a bit scary, not knowing what to expect, or what could pop out.  When we finally pushed our way in, we found there was another little cottage, with a really nice stone chimney, still pretty much intact.  The rest, well, it was pretty much ruined, but there was an amazing enamel sink inside that I would have loved to have, but it was much to dangerous  to try and get it.  Though my dh did try.  It was also not ours to take ( the bottle was thrown away and fair game!)

Here are some photos of the hike, Robyn took these, she is such a great photographer, and just has such an eye for really interesting shots.

 

Well, hello there!!  What a surprise this house was!

 

 

 

And this is the second little cottage, a sweet surprise we could not see from the other side of the lake.

 

 

 

 

At least the moss is happy!

 

 

 

This was the front porch, holding it up is an old wooden boat!

 

 

 

This is the house we saw across the lake.  Maybe it was a boathouse?

 

A little hard on heating costs with a roof like this!  See the picket fence?

 

 

 

 

Okay we did try to pinch this doorknob, but alas, it was on there really well, and we weren't about to take a whole door!

 

 

Neat mushroom!

 

 

Under the boat.  It looks pretty good from this viewpoint.

 

 

 

This tree was covered from root to tips with this really odd fungus.

 

 

 

It would be really nice to go in there to get some photos again, perhaps when the snow starts to fall.  That will be coming soon enough!