Well, the digging/leveling is done. *yay*  I finished it yesterday, with the help of about 2 inches of rain. As the bottom of the house foundations are made of clay, the water doesn't drain away and I had a perfect picture of exactly what parts of the house still needed to be dug level. So I spent a while on that and proclaimed myself done when everything was underwater. I celebrated with a small whoop that stopped abruptly with a nervous glance toward the neighbours. Apparently I'm very shy of making noise when I'm by myself. I hadn't realized.

Unfortunately, having a clay foundation where the water doesn't drain can also be a problem, especially for straw bales that aren't supposed to get their feet wet. I'm going to have to fix that - dig a small channel and fill it with stone or something.
The final depth of the back of the excavation is approximately 5'9'', for anyone who's interested.
The next task on the list is to dig post holes (only about 1' - 1'6'' deep, so not a huge endeavor) and cut down suitable posts. Once that is done, I can work on either putting a layer of gravel on the floor, continuing work on the frame, or building a retaining wall. It will be nice to know I have a choice instead of just shoveling. :)

This picture marks my favourite time of year - when the dandelions bloom. There isn't much prettier than a lawn sprinkled with yellow, in my books. Before they bloomed, I'd been trying to acquire the taste of dandelion leaves (makes sense to me - there's not much point trying to grow lettuce for the deer around here.) They're very bitter, but edible. After they bloomed, I decided to try the flowers. They're a mix between bitter and sweet and fuzz, and not bad once you get used to them. I'm working on that. I also found out that they turn your saliva yellow. Benita almost threw up when I made this exciting discovery.

I've started digging a garden near where Grandpa's old one behind the garage was. Mum benefits from this more than she knows - I was wondering where the easiest place to get sod for the roof would be, and now the back lawn is no longer first choice. :)

This is a picture taken about halfway along the path to the hobbit house. I've decided to call the tree Tane Mahuta Mate. Tane Mahuta is the Maori name for the biggest tree in New Zealand, translated to 'Lord of the Forest'. 'Mate' means dead. This tree is easily the tallest one in Hobbitvale, so it seems fitting to me - the only difference is that it looks like it hasn't worn leaves in a decade or so. Oh well. It's a very interesting tree. The bark has slid off it in large sheets, something is likely living in that cave under its roots, and worms have covered the wood in runes.

And this is a picture of the little creek that wanders along in front of the hobbit house, where my bridge (two stepping stumps and a tippy log) crosses it.