Yesterday, Ken dug holes and placed gate posts for the entries into the pond-side flower beds where we built a stick fence. We had to go cut more locust trees down, to get some thick, taller posts.
Here is the stick fence before the gate posts were placed:

The boys played outside all afternoon while we worked on the fence, and we had a fire going in our fire ring. It was a fun day.

 

and here is our resident black squirrel...it is entertaining to watch him around the yard. He has several gray squirrel friends to play with also. So far, they haven't climbed up the shepherd's hooks to get at the bird feed. They are too busy burying acorns.

What kept us busy all summer and into the fall...

Since we moved in, we had to

• put gutters on the house, breezeway and garage,
• repair the roof for a leak into the attic,
• replace several windows and a patio door,
• repair the plumbing pipes and boiler, 
• re-open trails, removing downed trees and clearing small shrubbery/berry bushes,
• re-organize flower beds,
• cut locust trees to build a stick fence and clematis trellis,
• cut and stack firewood,
• added lime rock on low spots in the driveway.

Just one stack of firewood.

Middle Trail...this trail was existing, but needed to be cleared. This is just one of about a half mile of trail that Ken has cleared. We walk the trails every day.

The boys love to explore on the trails. Here they are at the intersection of our Central and South Trails, checking out one of the brush piles.

The boys checking for critters in a brush pile on the South or East trail. They keep busy pestering the critters for hours at several of the brush piles.

We still have many projects to do this winter or next year.

Here are some photos of our cabin as we found it:

This is the view past the garage to our front door, leading into the open living/kitchen area.

View from the woods looking at the west side of the cabin.

Looking from the front entrance driveway across the front yard to the street.

Past the pool and flower beds to the central trail into the woods.

Our pond and surrounding flower beds.
These photos were as of the time we moved in.

Our Log (sided) Cabin in the Woods - work and adventures

We bought a log-sided cabin near Coloma, WI in the spring of 2013, moving in mid-June. It is a smaller cabin, but has just enough room for the four of us. And we have 5 wooded acres with trails. The boys especially love to go for walks on the trails.
We are within 35 miles of Portage and Plover/Stevens Point, and the Farm. If we have to go to Madison, it takes 1 hour, 20 minutes to get downtown-Campus.

There are lots of projects going on, some deferred maintenance on the cabin, cutting downed trees in the woods, getting the flower beds rearranged and doing other landscaping, taking care of the artificial pond in the back yard.

We will enjoy having all our stuff in one place again, and to be able to access it whenever we need it, instead of having it in storage and moving into/out of rental property.