The work on the house was finished last week and it looks wonderful.

Before:After:
The vinyl railing and new gutters look great and really dress up the place.

The house before all the work:The house after all the work:What a difference. If you noticed in the ‘after’ picture, there’s no branch in the shot. That’s because when the workers left, they hit the tree and broke the branch off. In the fall we will probably be removing the azalea bushes in front.  They have gone crazy nuts.  Would you believe that 15 years ago we planted the ones in front of the garage from cuttings? They were literally sticks.  Now, even with pruning, they are as wide as they are tall.  They don’t bloom the way they used too so we think we’ll try to move them to under the trees in the front yard and see what happens.

In other news:

Yup, Willow is going to be a momma.  I know, I know.  “Have your pet spayed or neutered.”  I have no excuses except that time got away from me.  This will be our first experience with baby animals (except for mice, which I highly recommend not allowing to multiply). If you put your hand on her tummy, you can feel the little ones moving.  Willow has been eating like there’s no tomorrow and following me around everywhere more than usual.  I have been on the net reading up on it and trying to watch for the signs of when she will give birth.  The kids have been learning about it all also. Isn’t homeschooling wonderful?  Luckily we have a few people who have already shown an interest in kittens, so hopefully we will find good homes for them.  And as soon as she is able, we will take care of the spaying.  It’s kind of exciting though, and we are praying for a small litter.