Exploration

There's an empty 2.5 acre lot next to our property. Apparently the city will not allow anything to be built there, so it has been sitting vacant for a while, and the driveway and yard have reverted to meadow. What that means for us this time of year is lots of pretty wildflowers!

The owners contacted us about buying the land so I walked over there with Natalie a few times to look at it. It's mostly forested bluff-side that would have to be cleared and leveled for construction, and is not good for much else. Also it turns out their view is worse than ours since they overlook the apartment building that is obscured from our yard by a fence, and they're higher up so they see the big ugly development on top of the next hill over that is mostly covered by trees from our lower altitude.

But if you walk through to the other side, you exit the woods and emerge into a wide swath of tall grass. I lifted Natalie up onto my shoulders and we went tromping through it. We found a shallow gully cut by rain, and a pressed-down oval of grass that must have been the sleeping place for a large animal, like a deer. It was fun exploring the wilderness in our own neighborhood.