I found hornets! Well, actually they found me...

So there I am working away cleaning up the inside of the house to prep for the spray foam insulation dudes. David helps me tape up these left over foam boards and tells me we can store them behind our shed. A shed I have been behind many times mowing, cutting ... well.. stacking wood etc. So... I walk on back there and drop the blue stack you see below.

What I didn't see is hidden up in the peak of the shed roof...
Here is a closer picture... taken at great risk for your viewing pleasure just so you know...

So like I said I drop the boards like I normally would but then I don't really know what happened next... All I know is my feet and hands were moving before I really grasped what was going on. Something bit at my ear and I am hearing a bunch of buzzing. I was briefly possessed and my language lapsed into some kind of strange tongue that would make a sailor blush... I FOUND HORNETS. Well, I ran out into the driveway and thought that was the end of it.. oh no... they came after me so I headed off down the driveway waiving like a lunatic and jumped into our truck to wait out the swarm. Looks like we need to add hornet spray to the shopping list!

I finished up what I was doing and me and the dogs went home. Speaking of dogs... Cosmo the Magnificent follows the sunshine inside the house now. It is great to see him being comfortable in the house the crabby little boy. He is an absolute terror to those big dogs. He is constantly bossing them around.. starting fights.. the works. Has a bit of the napoleon complex going on.


Some vistas you might enjoy... the front siding is just about done. Only the front of the mudroom/entry room needs to be completed.

David and Jerry working on the siding... both the north and east sides:

Here is a view from the road:

and another from the lake:

Standing on the deck looking down towards the lake:

There is one thing I will point out... unfortunately that will probably make your eyes go directly to that spot whenever you look at the house. First , we chose not to put a window on the front west side of the house. That is the pantry side and a window there is not necessary. We plan on putting some type of ornamental tree there or planting or something to break up that spot. The other thing is the kitchen window. It goes over the sink and is really pretty close to the mudroom wall. You see we had a true craftsman artist woodworker (buttered up yet Doug?) build our cabinets and they are beautiful! We brought them with us in the truck from California. Well, once we were here and saw the layout of the mudroom we realized we needed to make it bigger... but the cabinets were built for the window in a certain spot. When my Dad was here helping he said we could adjust the window over a few inches and that would move it a bit away from the mudroom but it would make the window inside the kitchen off centered. I chose to keep it the way it was... it would not have made that big a difference from the outside and I wanted the inside to look centered and we wanted the bigger mudroom... so ... there ya go.

I usually show you wildflowers but here are a few I actually planted.
First a couple of drumstick aliums.

There are actually two in that picture, one is just in the shade. I planted them last fall we were here visiting. It looks like a shadow...Kinda trippy.

The next is a morning glory that I planted on the 'fence' of the veggie garden. I have some planted in a couple other places too but they are not blooming yet. I love morning glories.



AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Siding is done! It looks wonderful and we are very pleased with the colors!