Felix, our Grand Guy, turned two in early November. We celebrated this past weekend with glorious weather, all the cousins, and a “two two” train. He appreciated the dinosaurs, but his favorite parts were the Pocky Stick bars on the cages.

Then Sunday was Bonfire Night, and we finally burned the cottonwood stump.

I had to look up when we created that stump. It was on March 14, 2020. It has threatened more than one car bumper in the past three years.

We’ve meant to burn it ever since it dried out. The time finally came!

There’s still a bit of stump left for our burning pleasure.

The time became right because we need access to the right side of that photo (behind that stump) to park our trailer over the winter. Our friend Robert has given us scathes of wood, a bit of which is green. Michael stacked the green logs in the space the trailer used to live. Then Robert came out with his log splitter and the boys cleared the pile of unsplit wood that had accumulated next to the wood bins. Voila! A place to park the trailer…but for that pesky stump. Thank you Robert for providing the motivation!

While Michael fed the fire, I beat back the bushes from the driveway. I love my new 6” electric chainsaw. I’ve been battling those bushes every year, but kept losing because I’m too wimpy to ply shears and Swede saw for as long as needed to keep the brush at bay.

We need to keep our driveway clear this winter as our newest Grand Girl is due to arrive in March. Thank you Persephone and Nate for providing us this most important of motivations!