25 Acre Woods Digest (2022-05-29): Ma, They're All Grown Up!

Kudos to the grown-up humans who will always be our “kids”!

Our “little girl” is moving on up past college.

Having graduated with distinction from Barnard, Zora will remain on Broadway as she begins her next step: NYU law.

We are thrilled, as this continues to give us a reason to come visit NYC. Nothing like a good salt bagel.

Meanwhile, Zach has crossed the first big hurdle in his path of actuarilizing.

No, Zach has not gone new age.

Rather, he is becoming an actuary, and has just passed the first exam in this very-tightly-locked-down field.

On the way to Zora’s graduation, I took a quick trip down to Bethesda to visit The Grand Matriarch.

Here she is hanging out at Balducci’s for a quick bite.

Barbara and Steve had come up from NC. Kevin and Francie hosted an excellent dinner. All in all, it was Progeny Central Weekend for The Grand Matriarch.

After the excitement, we returned to the 25 Acres, where life continues to be hectic, so very hectic.

Here’s Our Sponsor in the middle of the day. It’s the middle of the day. She must be hard at work!

Or is she just watering the plants?

Or, wait, is that a wineglass in her hands?

And where the heck is the water actually going anyway?

Michelle did take a quick trip to visit Chicago just before Zora’s graduation.

I was, needless to say dearest reader, left bereft for a long weekend.

Nothing to do, I found, but to drown my sorrows in the roar of heavy machinery.

This is the excavator I rented for a day. Then another. And another.

We now have the foundation for a mini-road we’ll use later this summer to install our new Guest House(tm). It’s coming … make your reservations now. (The Guest House will be an RV parked where there’s a great view and easy access to the house).

Bonus points: While the excavator was here, we also cleared space to build a UTV shelter for when the eagerly-awaited Mule arrives later this year.

In other news, the New Vineyard Fire Department went out to practice our hose technique as part of our training.

There’s Doug (our fearless chief) overseeing Ron (who started just before I did).

Not shown: There are a handful of other new folk hanging around plus the three guys who, besides Doug, actually know what they’re doing.

Yes, it has taken a few years and some serious plotting, but I have finally geared up to be able to approach a water pistol battle with SuperSoaker Zach.

Stay tuned as spring turns to summer. So many mysteries to unfold!

Our gardening continues. Which plants will make it?

Road construction turns out to be hard work. Will it actually get done?

And will we ever again have such a primo fire for making s’mores as we achieved last week?

Yep, we’ll dig into these mysteries and more.