At the little house in the big woods, the excitement just doesn’t end. Yesterday, for the first time this year, I was able to hang laundry on the line. (From December through April, the backyard is in too much shade for the laundry to dry thoroughly.) I must admit that I am a fool for hanging laundry outside, especially in our backyard on a sunny yet windy spring day when the air smells sweet and cold. If I could bottle that smell, I’d be a rich woman.

We only own an acre of land, yet there is always something to do or fix. Yesterday, we replaced a portion of the storm fencing that surrounds the whole backyard. The yard is fenced in so that Liam can have a half-acre or so to run and bark and rest without us having to worry about him taking off for parts unknown.

Last October, the fence was damaged by a portion of a tree that fell during a storm.

Clif had patched and repaired it, but we knew this spring we would need to do more, to actually replace the portion that had been damaged. Luckily, we had a fence section tucked away, and we could use it  for the repair. After a few hours that were actually rather pleasant, the fence was fixed.

We were even able to haul in the wood that had fallen, which is good enough to be used either in our wood furnace or in our fire pit.

A nice afternoon’s work, and by the end, the sheets were dry. When Clif and I came inside, we both felt as though we had earned our tea and some time to read in the living room.

Laundry on the line and the fence repaired. Tea and reading in the living room. A finest kind of Sunday.