No princesses allowed!

Goldilocks was banished for a few weeks more. Poor kid. She's just too good at getting her petticoats all muddy.

Spring snow and rain produce mud, and we've had a lot of it! For a few weeks now the goal has been to dry out the property so the footings can be put in, and the weather has not cooperated. My parents spent hours and hours and hours and... well, a lot of mud-filled hours, shoveling snow and vacuuming out water and mud off a huge tarp that they made to fit the footprint of the house.

My kids and Ben & Carrie's kids went and helped a few times.

Their favorite part was dumping the muddy water down the driveway.

Hunter got so muddy that his shoes were soaked through. He wanted to throw away his socks, but I assured him they could be washed. I've seen worse.

It was hard work, and some water still leaked under the tarp (water is good at doing that sort of thing) but it saved a lot more from soaking in to the ground where it would just make more mud and further delay construction.

Delays=bad. Exercise=good. Arthritis=bad. Someone needs to tell my parents they are old. They won't believe you, but it will give them an opportunity to explain why their knees hurt. My knees hurt, too, but I can't use that excuse with them around.

Finally the weather has dried up enough that Dennis says he may be able to put in the footings tomorrow - Thursday, March 15th. No one is holding their breath, but we're all still hoping.