Some of you will recognize the address the letter comes from. We called up the owners of the Phelps’ old Cannon Falls house and asked if they would sell it back. They did. Lucky us, we now own a serious fixer-upper. When Chr’s’ grandma, Iva Hallberg, lived here, she thought that a great name for this property would be Walnut Hills Farm. There are some really nice trees, and it is not a farm any longer, but we’ve been here for a couple months and have thought up some pretty appropriate names ourselves. Here is a sampling:

The Bat Cave
Suggested by the chimney occupants, who finally left after we constructed a complicated bat door as suggested by an official bat guru, who informed us that it was illegal to kill them, as suggested by Julie, who believes the rumors about them getting in your hair and drinking blood when they are out and about doing whatever it is that bats do.

Site of the longest driveway in the world
Suggested by the girls, who now have to walk down it to catch the school bus.

Windy Chances
Suggested by Julie, who truly fears a light gust of wind knocking a lovely black walnut tree or two into the living room.

The national museum of 70’s wallpaper
Suggested by everyone who has seen it. There is nothing like 37 bags of floral wallpaper, ruthlessly ripped off by hand.

Café Phelps
Yeah, right! It’s just that with three functional kitchens, you have to at least pretend you know how to use them.

Invaders from the City
Suggested by the deer who feel it is their job to terrorize us, OK, mostly Julie, by standing in the driveway, looking in the windows, and pooping on the lawn.

Yes, that’s a problem
We honestly thought this was either the name of our house, or perhaps our title, as it was uttered in the first two weeks by the sewer guy, the gas guy, the water guy, the pest guy, the hardware store guys, and the garbage guy when we called for help.

Home
Suggested by Chr’s who swears that it will be, when the garage doors work, the painting is done, the walls patched up, the bedrooms added, the landscaping started…