"There's a backhoe loader out front."

"What?!"

"It's clearing the snow from our driveway."

"Oh, that's nice. But our landscaper will be pissed."

I was wrong. I didn't expect the contractor today. Yet they put in a full eight hours. Their fourth full day in two weeks on the project.

When I told the boys that "Scoop" was outside, the four-year-old retorted, "That's not Scoop because there's a driver inside!"

We gave the mason our holly trees, the ones they dug up.