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That’s what we’re apparently getting across the street. When we first moved here, there was a TV repair place on the corner, and a performance art space next door. These were a grocery and butcher at one time, according to a neighbor.

The art space stayed on (perhaps for a lack of other interest), but the TV repair place went within the first year we were here. Hard to believe people were still getting TVs fixed, actually. It was empty for a while after that, then a remodeling company planned to have offices there, but that lasted only long enough for them to clean up the inside, install a couple of ceiling lights with fans and repaint the sign, then they were gone too.

It was over around a year that the corner space sat empty again, until we noticed some people interested in it a couple of weeks back. Then this past week, we noticed that the wacky window covers in the art space were gone too. We were looking more at moving then, and figured that if it was going to be a gun & ammo shop, we’d put up the for sale sign.

Autumn was out today and saw someone cleaning the front windows of the corner space, so she asked what they were going to do. Apparently, a sewing store in the corner, and a coffee shop next door. Not sure if it’s the same owners or a coincidence. Maybe the building owner finally dropped the rent, or maybe someone with some startup cash finally discovered it. It would be funny though, if it were the same owner for both spaces, and the place was filled with wired-up old ladies knitting sweaters and socks at top speed, espresso cups lined up around them.

Funny, we’re far less inclined to move now…

Spring is really trying hard, 17° F on Monday morning, 65° F yesterday. I biked to work on Tuesday for the first time of the year, and my butt is still recovering. I’ve been updating the website for my friend David’s farm, and created a new website for the farmers we get our meat from, Anderson Farm. The Anderson’s site should be up in a day or 2, just need to get the files copied there.

On Sunday, Autumn ran her first 5k race and finished at a very respectable 36 minutes on a cold and breezy day. Unfortunately, the girls and i got hung up in re-routed traffic and didn’t make it in time to see her cross the finish line. To make up for it, Autumn has signed up to do a mini triathalon in Duluth this summer. It’s small, an easy triathalon, kinda like easy labor.

Ella keeps amazing us with her smarts and imagination. She has been getting good at making circles and triangles in her drawings and has rediscovered Legos, making all kinds of things with her big duplo blocks. Fiona is starting to eat some solid foods; rice cereal, some bananas, pear. She’s really interested in what we eat, and gets really excited to eat food when we’re eating. She’s occasionally cranky when she’s not getting food when we eat.

I’ve got a few more new photos up here.

We’re still undecided on the house thing. Autumn is very much in a stay-in-the-house mood and i’m still curious to see what might be available. There haven’t been any new houses listed around for a couple of weeks though, so it’s a moot point. We’re going to just focus on getting some spring cleaning done and hopefully some time for Autumn to get the first seeds started for her garden.

I got it started too late for St. Patrick’s day, but we had a fine dinner tonight with home-corned beef.

This was a brisket from our 1/4 beef of last summer, and the corning recipe came from Beard’s American Cookery. Pretty easy, actually, just a brine of salt, brown sugar and spices (it was supposed to also have saltpeter, but i didn’t have time to look for it), soaked for a good week then simmered until done. The spices were a blend from Penzey’s.

The result was quite good, nice and tender. That’s saying something, because it seemed like quite a touch piece of meat when i was stabbing it with a long fork before brining. We at most of it already, but there’s plenty for a couple of fat sandwiches.

We love our house. We’ve invested money and sweat and blood in it, inside and out, top to bottom. There are gifts to us planted here and installed there. We’ve built a garage and established a productive garden. We brought two children home here. Immeasurable laughter and tears and love in this house.

Ok, the street is a little noisy, and before too long we’ll want another bathroom. And another bedroom. And the kitchen needs to get done eventually, but when? We can continue to fix windows, stop drafts, build shelves indefinitely and the house will continue to get better, more comfortable, more efficient. An addition, though, might build us out the neighborhood, and there isn’t much yard to work with as it is.

So, we’re keeping our eyes open. We’d frankly rather wait until fall, our calendar is overflowing as it is, but there are signs that mortgage rates might start climbing mid-summer, and spring is when most of the houses hit the market. So we look. We do really like the neighborhood, so we’re mostly looking within a mile or two.

And it’s really really really sad to think of leaving here.

autumn here - typing one handed.

fi has two teeth coming through now. teething hasn’t been too hard on her, but hopefully she will get a break before the next set emerge. she is still a very happy kid, delighting in the antics of her older sister, enjoying her own hands and feet. she is nearly sitting on her own and is great at rolling across the floor much further than we expect. “how did you get over there?” is uttered often now (partly from fi’s rolling, and also from e’s new interest in picking up her baby sister. yikes).

e might be a doctor or nurse (or homeopath or midwife) when she grows up. she’s very interested in anatomy, how blood cells work (’the white blood cells fight the germs’), the construction of skeletons. yesterday she checked out my ears, eyes, and mouth with the headlamp uncle mike gave her. ‘this won’t hurt mommy, i’m just checking your ears.’ if she doesn’t become a medical professional of some sort, she will probably be a dancer…or a hobbit.