A Soft Place to Land

It's official...Mr. Pickup and I own a bit of earth again.  I must say that it feels good.  We'll be building a new home, just down the road from our old house (remember the 3D paper diorama I made of it?)

Let me apologize for the silence here, and through email. The last week or so has been happily busy, and I haven't been on the computer much.  I finally had to give up on my more than full Google Reader.

We've been working with our contractor, the bank, and with a good friend who sold us the land, and that's been taking up a lot of time, too.  School started yesterday, and hopefully I'll figure out a real routine pretty quick.   In the meantime...feast your eyes on what will be the view from our new home.

Isn't it gorgeous?  I have spent most of my life in the Western U.S., and although this looks rather barren, I love our high desert here in Southern Idaho.  I also love watching the seasons here of planting, growth, and harvest.  It is good to live where you remember where your food comes from.
We're only about 200 yards from our old house.  You can see it in the distance here:

Included with our land purchase is this old barn.

Yeah, it's pretty run down.  Don't be too jealous.  We're actually not sure what to do with it yet.  It was once a milking barn.  For now, it's kind of picturesque.  It'll make a great background for photos.  There is so much junk hidden in that June grass, it's a bit frightening.  As you walk through the barn, there is all kinds of things from the last 40 years, from tires to furniture.  If any of it is worth saving, it may get refurbished and end up in the new house!  We hope we can make a bit just on scrap metal.

Along side the barn are a couple of chicken coops...also not in great shape.  I have wanted to keep chickens for a while.  Hopefully we can rehabilitate this coop into usefulness again.

We're beyond excited about the opportunity we have to live here again.  It will be a lot of work to make this spot a place to live, but Mr. Pickup and I love a challenge.  I'll be sure to keep you all updated on our progress.  We're hoping to break ground a month from now...which will also be our twelfth anniversary.

So what have you been up to?  Do tell!