To take a quote from Red Green, there's big changes coming at the lodge. We are working on buying a house. I have to admit that I am a reluctant participant in this endeavor but I do have to agree on the reasons for doing this. There ain't enough room in this here house. Which befuddles our landlord because he lived here with his parents and his brother and sister for years. I'm a reluctant participant because when we moved to this house I had declared that I wasn't moving again till Bill retired. Guess I better not make that kind of claim anymore. Look what happens.

Our landlord's family were blood relatives and it is easier to be more forgiving of cramped spaces when you've been raised up with the people you're living with. My family was quite a shock for my quiet, mild-mannered Canadian husband. He's gotten used to them by now but he still feels the difference. Also, right now the baby's room is right beside ours and we'll hear her crying sometimes when she's waking up to be fed. Then we hear them going in there to get her and change her diaper. The house that we are now in the process of trying to buy has a second story for the Muckheads to occupy. That should give us the feeling of separate and not so confining living quarters.

The dining room is a lot bigger, too. And airier with windows on all three sides. It's the dining room that I'm looking forward to being in. My dining table is small so putting it in a bigger space should help us not feel like we are eating on top of each other. But the biggest draw of this place is the backyard and all the trees that are in it. The yard is huge. It's long and spacious. I counted eight squirrels in it seemingly getting along with each other. There is a large deck to walk out upon from the dining room. Todd has visions of pitching a tent in the yard and camping out beside the little creek that runs at the end of the lot. Beyond the creek is a thicket of trees stretching all up and down the creek. We don't have any neighbors bordering along the yard down there. We like it like that. There are neighbors on both sides of us, though.

We have another change soon to be foisted upon us. Minnie's back! She came back after three days and wasn't telling us where she had been. So, we said, "Okay, that's enough of scaring us." I packed her up and took her to the vet to get her shots, to get her dewormed, and to get her ear mites taken care of. She's had to be isolated on the breezeway for three weeks while waiting for the ear mites to die off and to get her second shot for them. But after she gets the second shot on Monday I'm hoping that we can let her inside with the rest of them. I hope that she won't have to be quarantined for another three weeks while those newly hatched eggs die off but I'm suspecting she might have to be. She's getting rather pissed at me for confining her to a life of aloneness on the breezeway.

She's well taken care of. She has all the food and water she ever wanted and a nice warm heated plastic bin condo. The breezeway has storm windows in it so that keeps the little room warmer. But, let's face it. There's not much to do out there. She has to rely on the occasional visit from me to break the dullness of the day. She's not been too happy to see me, though, as time goes on because every time I go out there I'm either sticking an antiobiotic pill down her throat or rubbing Neosporin on her scratched up ear.

Soon, Minnie, soon. You gotta trust me on this one, dear. You with those big, innocent yellow eyes.