And then there are wonderful days like this one.

Tom and I were due, at noon, to meet our real estate lady for a final inspection out at our new house. I woke him up and said, "Hey! How about if we get out to the house early, way before Cher does, so we can walk through the places in the barn which we haven't even seen yet. And we can walk out a ways on the property, too."

Tom thought that a good idea. So we drove out there beneath the most blue skies and pulled into the gravel driveway of this soon-to-be-ours house and hardly before Tom shut off the engine I'd leaped outside of the car and began my own inspection. 

I ran to the huge garden and looked it (and its weeds) over. I gazed to my left and told Tom (who'd finally caught up), to look! And there was a second orchard which we'd not even seen before because the trees are all babies. But they are trees (Update: grape vines.).

Then we examined the barn board by board, including the chicken coop which we never did see before and a room off of it which will be a perfect place to lock-up Tom's tools until we enclose the carport on the side of the barn. We found a bird nest in the rafters complete with baby robins and we discovered lots of wood pieces which we'll be able to burn when we get a woodstove.

Then we walked around our green, pretty property and noted trees and tall grasses which need to be mowed. And beyond a grove of small trees I pictured a picnic place. Tom (the extreme nature lover) kept pointing out all the birds in the trees, but I was like, "Yeah, yeah birds. I know. We can see those anywhere. But can you believe all the trees there are back here?" 

The sense of discovery, the delight of all outdoors, well, we both felt like children again.

Then Tom and I discovered that the house was unlocked and though he was all nervous about our actually going inside, I burst right in, laughed at his nervousness and breezed through all the sunny rooms and talked to myself, too, as I checked details I'd forgotten to check before. Eventually, I talked Tom into the house ("What is anyone gonna do? Sue us for walking into this empty, unlocked house which is more ours at this moment than the previous owners?"). 

So I checked out all the rooms again, with Tom this time, then we went and picked up hamburgers down the street at the little everything-in-one-place corner market. We brought back the burgers and sat in the car before the barn (not having any insect repellent to ward off insects) and dreamed and planned some more.

Oh, we have two-hundred plans for Healing Acres. And on Friday afternoon we will begin the doing of those plans.

I simply cannot wait.



******