Last weekend I noticed some mud that looked suspiciously like a drain leak. Turns out it was. I had the plumber over while I was out of town; he was able to repair it without ripping it up and replacing it. Turns out they use ball and spigot type clay piping here, and at the joints, tree roots like to wiggle in for a drink. The plumber didn't think it had been snaked out for some time, he got feet worth of enmeshed roots. All's flowing well now, though. If I hadn't made a yard check on that side of the house I would never have known I had a leak. Kind of scary. Anyway, this is the west side of the house - the direction that storms come from - and it has no gutters. So the rain that runs off the roof just drops straight down, and splashes up along the stonework along the crawl space. I'm going to have that pressure washed when I have the gutters installed. The previous owners never cease to surprise me with some of the little things that they opted not to do (and some of the big things they did poorly).  

I picked up another orchid today; I have become a great fan of these relatively carefree yet exotic blooms. This one is in the bedroom. That lava lamp was my Grandfather's, original from the 70s.  

The front two windows on the porch were lacking screens. I learned this today when it got up to 60 and I wanted to air the place out. I started opening lots of windows but opted against the two in the front; luckily a quick trip to Lowe's solved the missing screen problem.  

My little address numbers have two side removable tiles. There are a number of them to match the seasons and holidays. I inherited this with the house, but since it's March, slotted on the shamrocks. Next is Easter Bunnies.....sheesh, this is so lame I'm embarassed to say I like it. 

Here's another of the landscape lights in the southeast corner of the front yard. That "bless this garden" rock, I found out, had a hidden key in it. Thank goodness I've changed the locks.  

Here are some mystery plants growing along the east side of the house (and the front too). They could be irises or daffodils; I'll have to wait and see what emerges. 

Here are some of the little solar landscaping lights I installed this weekend. Very care free - assemble the stakes, put in the rechargeable battery, and jam them into the ground. I did actually make an effort to measure them out so they're each separated by 12 feet though.  

Here is a bug zapper that I thought was my neighbor's. Turns out it's mine. The cord that leads to it, I found, is plugged in at an outdoor socket, but is severed where the flagstone walkway wraps around the east side of the deck.  

Here is a shot of the little table and chair set I got for the back deck. They're weather proof, but I may just get covers for them anyway....it's been raining almost every day recently. 

This was over a week or so ago, we got a little bit of snow that was more decorative than anything else. When it first started falling, in this photo, the flakes were big fat, wet, heavy chunks.  

This is a neighbor's yard, but provided the first opportunity I've had to snap one of the many little rabbits in the 'hood. 

Clumpy snow. 

This is a shot of.......the squirrels who live in the maple tree out back. Looks like they'll need to build an addition to their nest...... 

From the entry of the sunroom facing northeast. Not sure what I'll do with the Chinese Palm when it's nice enough to spend a lot of time in and out. Right now it's ok blocking the door to the back deck. The door is narrow, and the cost of storm door in that size is astronomical, though it would be nice to open up that side of the room and protect it with a screen during spring (well, later in spring...). 

Facing south in the sunroom. It's a small narrow room but my favorite place on weekend mornings. I've set up a wireless router at home so I can carry the laptop with me wherever I want to sit, or leave it plugged in and amped to catch the NPR weekend shows.