HomeCrazzyHome

I hate those words. I really do…because they usually mean little to nothing is getting done. An excuse.

But when you live in a house that is 150 years old this year…that needs tons and tons and tons of tender, loving care…that every time you think you have fixed something you discover something new…well, those are the only words that fit.

As I sit here and write, I stare out the window at a skip, scaffolding, and a half done garden. All of those should be done soon…should have been done last week…last month.

But that is not what this post is about. This post is about our family project. What we accomplished over the summer…the three of us…me, Cookie Monster, and PanKwake. We had a tad of help from JalerDasBirdz while he was here for the summer…and a tiny bit of heavy lifting from a young, strong neighbor lad. But 95+% of it was…US!

Want to see?

This spring PanKwake was very sad to discover frog spawn on the lawn…because she knew that it could never become tadpoles there. Then we heard from the neighbors and the daughter of the former owners that there had been a pond in the back garden. About the same time, I did my first cut of the year on the backyard…to run over the edge of it.

So, out of curiosity at first we began to dig. Just to see what was down there. How big it was? What sort of shape it was in? That sort of thing.

But it keep getting bigger and bigger…and it sort of became our pet project. The thing that we did on the weekends or afternoons when PanKwake began her…I’m Bored…chorus.

It took us three, almost four months. Close to a dozen YouTube videos. Putting Cookie Monster to bed with his hip/back and me there with pains in my hands and knees.

But this weekend we did it! We finished it. In time for it to settle and the proper balance of living organisms to grow over the winter months…ready for those frog spawn and tadpoles come spring.

Best of all…

WE DID IT OURSELVES!

And PanKwake helped too! Taking ownership of it. Becoming our little own #AutisticGardener. Or the makings of one anyway.

Of course, there is always loads more to be done. In the backyard too. But this is probably it until spring. But once the builder reinforces the walls of the carriage houses, we are going to put in a sensory walkway like this one. So PanKwake and her friends can pace back and forth…feel the different sensations…and calm their sensory overload.

There are other changes too…a BBQ bit, some vegetable beds, and perhaps even a slide/swing/climbing wall frame for her too. But as with everything else at #HomeCrazzyHome…

Slowly, but surely…

We are getting there. I think. I hope. Does it matter? Walls and roofs don’t make a home…the people do…and there is definitely love enough to bind us all together.