Back door blooms and ‘chuck

I’ve been working mainly on the back entry and especially the stairway; as noted in the last entry, there’s a lot of building code around stairs & handrails, and it’s the last thing I need to have inspected. Here’s how it’s progressed:

From the plywood-patched opening on the house-in-the-air to a nice bright landing (with a remnant of original orange shag carpet from one of the closets, 1970’s zorchy!), in 99 easy steps.

That cabinet sitting at left in the pix above is a 3 drawer unit that will fit between studs on the right, to catch mittens, handtools, etc — the stuff that you want to grab on your way out to wreak havoc (or order) in the backyard. I’ll build cubby holes into one or two of the other stud openings, with coat hooks for a bit more storage.

And whilst my back was turned, working on the entryway, SUMMER has arrived. Our good friend Walli gave me a quantity of day lilies from her Roseville yard and they’re taking off, including this unexpectedly fancy peach colored one.

Thanks for the sunshine on a stick!

And the front yard has exploded in grass, alfalfa, the white clover I seeded last summer, and more wildflower things than I can name. I mowed a circular walking path in the front yard—here’s the view from the front deck.

(p.s. this was 2 weeks ago; the un-mown parts are taller, almost waist-high. But then, I’m a short person…)

One last wingnut for this update:

I have a new neighbor, living under the hut in the backyard. A woodchuck, who has been out various times of the day, trundling around nibbling on whatever greenery is within reach. It’s very shy and seems harmless.

Should I name it?