A tour.

I keep thinking of this book:

Wisconsin has been dealing with some pretty interesting (read: typical Wisconsin) weather. Not very spring-like, really, but spring here is more a vast quantity of weird combo-precip than straightforward blossoms-on-trees and gentle showers-bring-flowers. It's sleet-mist or sunny-thunder or hail-rain. However, the past couple days have shown traces of sun, if not been particularly "sunny." Today I went out with my camera for the first time, on an adventure into The Great Backyard. Actually, it was a quick traipse around the back yard and then a little journey through my childhood playhouse. To see what was afoot in there, and what the flora and fauna were starting to do in the woods.

So... to begin. This is the playhouse.

My dad built this house several years ago, and first it was in our side yard (my parents' house had two yards, one that [was] on the side of the house, and one that is definitely in the back, down some stairs and above the ravine). When they decided to build a garage in the side yard, they hauled the playhouse down a level, and now it sits on the gravel path below the garage (behind and above where I'm standing to take this photo). The one great thing about putting it down at the edge of the ravine is that it got...

... a basement! It needs a good sweep, clearly. Then again, that is a mud floor. Spring cleaning, anyone?

It is outfitted with all the modern amenities.

And once you get downstairs, the door leads out to the playhouse's own backyard. And then what does one happen to find in the playhouse's back yard today?

SPRING.