As we work, we've been taking photos and videos and someday our future selves will post them in a website or something. But our present selves are busy carving our lives out of 60 acres of raw land.

Just before my kids bought the land a tornado swept through the southwest edge and blew trees down, snapped other trees in half and left other trees leaning at precarious angles in mid-air. We had to get those trees out of here before we could get a road in. Then came two building pads and septic systems. Followed by more dirt work to underground water, power and internet lines.

In this part of the country, forests are constantly working to reclaim the land, so there is no such thing as clearing it (or being done with that task ever). This month, my kids got a start on a trail up at their place. But there are still two trees laying in their pond and a dozen trees to get out of my part of these woods.

I built a waist high box for my vegetables and two days later, I woke up to bunnies hopping around it. So far, they are not jumping into it. My vegetable boxes kept rabbits, deer, voles and gophers out in the California mountains, but I don't know anything about Kentucky rabbits - and these groundhogs are too fat to jump that high. Thanks to the cattle, the deer rarely come down this low

JD, you're right about them groundhogs. They are so darned cute, I think of them as pets with a very large yard.

PS. thanks for the conversation :)