Funny thing, after I typed this I stood up and my little friend is eating with her baby from last year :-) Here they both are...sorry the pictures are not so good, my camera is acting up! I zoomed in, they are not that close to my house! LOL!

{{gwi:1436108}}

{{gwi:1436109}}

Oh wow! I hope I have some friends like that when we get moved in. I've seen their tracks out at the site.

Your description makes me imagine I am right there on your porch. I also imagined a glass of wine in my hand. ;)

Can't wait until I can really answer this question!

Cool picture! We've been in our house since the end of last June and for me it's the sunsets. We're on the lake in Texas and every single day the sunsets get more beautiful. Thursday night we had a party here and had about 40 people over, in the midst of the party we had a thunderstorm roll through yet it was as though someone had torn a hole in the clouds to see a little of the sunset. It was spectacular and eerie at the same time.

We're still really enjoying finishing up supper at our own pace and not having to run to the house site to get a few hours of work in before bed. We live here now! LOL

I love being able to step put the back door and go for a walk in the woods. Watching the geese come in to nest at night and the beautiful sunrises in the mornings which is my favorite time of day.

For me, it is the peace and quiet. We are on 7 acres about 2 miles from town and I love it out here. We haven't really had spring yet here in Minnesota, but it is coming and then I know we will enjoy our porch. We have also been enjoying the wildlife; we have wood ducks choosing their nest site, lots of birds and a wood chuck under our grainery. We saw a grouse pair last night.

I just love having friends and neighbors over and sit at our kitchen bar to share some wine and a meal. I love my kitchen and have been cooking up a storm. Then there is my master bath, which is just perfect. I guess I am pretty happy with everything. It sure feels good to be done.

The best thing for me is how most days seem like vacation days. Waking up to the early morning silence...which is the woods is not so "silent." Seeing the wildlife throughout the day. Hearing the frogs, owls and coyotes at night. Being able to walk around our property with the dogs - they seem to enjoy it as much as we do. Having family and friends over to sit on the veranda or fish in the lake. Feeling the breeze. Life is good.

Oh, Kel, what great pictures! We too have seen deer tracks on the property, but haven't seen the deer yet. We were out today and there were geese on the lake. We can't wait to sit on the deck and look out at the lake, watch the geese, see the fish jumping (yes, they jump!). Here's today's pic of the geese from great room (almost) window. They're kind of small in the first picture -- right in the middle of the image.

and closer

I think this will be what I will probably like the best when we get in the house!

t-mac-mo - beautiful! Nothing is more breath taking then nature if you ask me! (well besides babies!) What a pretty lake! You are never going to leave your great room!

armomto3boys - I had to laugh at your reply! I told my sister on the phone the other night when a cold front was moving in and it was about to storm all I needed was a good glass of wine!

allison - you said it. Life is good!

mcbird you must have had the same storm front move in as we did! But ours came in at midnight! I LOVE to watch the storms move in now. The dog for some reason is all of a sudden scared of thunder storms. Never has been before at all. I am thinking maybe it is the new house and the windows?? She was panting and shaking and trying to lay on top of me in bed...it was weird and somehow I got off topic????

Kelntx: At the risk of ticking off the forum "God", I am going to be an idiot and go off topic: I just saw a story on dogs and thunderstorms somewhere on tv recently. It said that some dogs are more sensitive because of the static electricity in the air and thus on their fur. They recommended using a dryer sheet or something like that to take away the static. I'm not sure if the dryer sheet is safe for dogs, but maybe you can find ones that don't have a sent or are safe for pets? Hope that will help her, at least a little!

Ok, go back to the regularly scheduled program/thread. One of these days I'll get to join in...sigh!

No doubt about it, I am with the rest of you, though I don't have a lovely lake, nor deer to look at, but I do have some of our local wildlife in the yard.

I want some kangaroos! LOL

Great eating, if properly prepared! (Unless of the photoshop variety.)

I can not WAIT to show DD your photos! Or should I? I might here..."OHHHH.... I want kangaroos in our backyard!" LOL! That is to sweet. The baby is so darling :-)What a beautiful sight.

I agree with Allison. The first two YEARS here I would find myself wondering when we had to pack up and go home. It was well worth the hard work of finding this location and getting the house built. So glad we did it when we did, in advance of some 'Senior Surprises'! (Like two hip replacements in three years.)

Yesterday our son and three-year-old grandson enjoyed a half hour pursuing that timeless male sport of hurling sticks and rocks into a body of water -- the creek at the side of our lawn. "Who owns the creek, Grandma," DGS asks. (Oh, WE do, little man. We do.)

We do not own the coyotes who prowl after the deer on the side of the creek. Nor the toads that fall into our window well, requiring rescues involving long poles and buckets on strings. The Canadian robins who winter along the creek are leaving, replaced by Illinois robins migrating north. Ma Duck is a torment to our Westie, trying out nesting places in front, back and side yards, and beyond in the conservancy. The great blue heron will show up soon -- a great shadow swooping down to the creek to wade and to fish. 'Possums, raccoons and the occasional skunk sneak around after dark. Before you ask, "No, we have not seen the second cougar supposedly spotted a few miles south of here in a forest preserve." Can't claim any kangaroos either, but I think that's a GOOD thing.

And to think 'town' is three minutes drive from all this peace and quiet! Gotta love it.

I showed DD the kangaroos and she said "KANGAROOS?? Where do they live?" She then went into a five minute speach about everything I needed to know about little joey's! LOL!

Not in yet but to share an animal story, besides the racoons,bobcats,blue jays,squirrels,deer,etc in the sierras, there's the occasional visits from black bears cruising the community. The most recent mishap was some folks up the hill from our build made the mistake of leaving a window open in the kitchen area w/ baked goods and they headed up town. Mamma black bear w/ two cubs proceeded in through the window and helped themselves luckily not doing a whole lot of damage to the kitchen/house, but as an attempt for mamma to get a moment to eat away from the cubs, she climbed up on their brand new truck. The cubs of course wanting to get up and eat w/ mamma proceeded to scratch the heck out of their truck!

We aren't in yet either, but we are on a nice private lake and have already seen a few animals and birds.

Blue Heron's

{{gwi:1436115}}

Snowy Egrets
{{gwi:1436116}}

White Ibis
{{gwi:1436117}}

some turtles and a baby alligator!

I probably should have mentioned that I am a "blow in" from Australia that quite enjoys reading this forum, but I rarely post.

I wouldn't mind a few deer, squirrels and some of the many nice critters that you are so lucky to have in the US.

Worthy....so I have been told, but I haven't partaken..:)

I don't think I could eat a Kangaroo. Nope! I won't eat deer and it drives DH crazy because he hunts. Well, I guess I will eat it if you don't tell me it is deer! LOL!

Australia is one of the places I REALLY want to go to. I told DH I want to go for our anniversary some year. My brother stopped on his tour of duty and fell in love with it.

Speaking of squirrels how do you keep them out of your bird feeders (besides buying squirrel proof feeders). Those little stinkers can get into any feeder I swear!

eventhecatisaboy - Thanks for the tip. I will have to try a dryer sheet and see if that works. It was kind of funny seeing the dog trying to lay on top of my 8 year old! DD was sleeping with me (DH is out of town) and she didn't move an inch. She even slept through the alarm going off one night. I forgot about the alarm and let the dog out at 1am one night. DH came flying through the house....it was kind of funny!

My favorite thing so far is having friends over for dinner and hanging out outside for hours into the evening.

While we're on wildlife photos, I have a couple. Not for the squeamish though!!!

Here's a harris hawk on DD's playstructure.

Looks innocuous enough, until you zoom in and see that he's eating lunch, which he caught just off my patio.

hey kelntx~

time flies, but I'm back on here again, at least for a few minutes before I collapse in to bed and thus begins another busy week. LOL!

Great photos from everyone. Today was sooo beautiful, I wish I had taken some photos. Tonight dh told his dad on the phone that our place looks like the garden of Eden right now..... just so green and gorgeous. Birds singing and all kinds of nature chirps and croaks outdoors. I'm new to the south so still don't know what all I am hearing out there, but it's surely a symphony. LOL!

Best thing about our new home is what others mentioned... waking up EVERY SINGLE DAY feeling like I am on vacation, and truly I have the feeling of "when do we have to pack up and go home"? It is that enjoyable in this house. :o) The neighbors are sweeter than we could have hoped for, the views are spectacular and seem to change every single day with more trees leafing out and grass just getting greener.

I could go on and on. I am truly in love with our new home. Our family is soooo happy here. This has been a dream come true. So much better even than I thought it was going to be. Well worth all of the crazy building headaches, and even though we aren't quite finished, it's wonderful. :o)

Hey Allison, if you happen to see this.... my e-mail is being crazy this past week. I get e-mails in my inbox, but nothing will "send". I've tried to e-mail you a few times, but it won't send. :o( DH is calling our provider tomorrow, so I'll write you as soon as I can. :o)

I realized yesterday that I actually love cleaning house now. It has been so long since I have lived in a decent house to clean that it is a joy. I love caressing the wood (gee that sounds a bit dirty!) and I love vacuuming. It is so nice to have the house clean and sparkling that it even stays that way for days on end. Now if I could just get rid of the few last pesky boxes.