2023
Year of permitting, waiting, and nature’s renewal…
July 2023
We welcomed our newest family member, Ona. Lucca was designated as the main decider and was immediately smitten. I was gone from the moment she was in my arms. That left Matthias. His sealed the deal with,”It’s hard to say no…”









We also had a sad goodbye. Our beloved oldest tree, which had been at our front door, was dying and needed to go before we started construction. Despite being incredibly verdant, even the most conservation minded arborists confirmed that the new leaves were growing from stored energy, and most of the tree was dead already a few years after the fire from the severe damage. If it was in the open, away from where it could hurt anyone, we could just let it fall. But alas, that was not the case. Our household had long called the tree Grandpa, and we felt it was a family member. We put a lot of money, sweat and tears to giving it a few more years following the fire, and Grandpa got our spirits through the initial devastation. Now it was time to let it go. Our Arborist and horticultural consultant


Getting a permit to remove the tree. Ona and Lucca take one of their final walks around Grandpa.
Rebecca Latta was assessing our “grandpa” oak tree in 2022



August – September 2023
The arduous permit process and the carex pansa that won’t grow in quickly are easier to handle with puppy sweetness as a distraction.


November 2023
Fifth burniversary at our house. Still no permit, but we keep trying in our full-time job of getting that permit.


December 2023
We got the vegetable garden fenced in and started building the beds.



The toyon always gives us wonderful holiday colors.


The year 2023 closed just as it began, with heavy rainfall.
Ona enjoys the building side after the rain cleared.