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First Harvest!

I picked the lettuce today even though I'm not exactly sure how to do it. I decided that since the outer leaves seemed to wither and die while being replaced with younger leaves in the middle, I would just pick the outer leaves. I picked about half a plastic grocery bag full. Then I picked the one little jalapeno.

More Projects

Just when we think we've got the big projects done, something else crops up.

We went out to the farm for a couple of days to clear away several things from around the existing barn because the builder has scheduled the concrete foundation to be poured and they need lots of room to manuever the trucks. Tom got everything cleared away and the builder told him, "By the way, you need to cut off the overhang in the back so that we can set some poles."

So Tom spent the afternoon on the hot tin roof. First he started to pull off the whole roof, but after one strip, he saw that it was just too big of a job to get done in such a short time. So he ended up taking a saw and cutting the tin off along the back. He's going back today and tomorrow to cut the overhanging rafters off. The foundation is scheduled for Thursday. He'll take the rest of the roof off during the 7-10 day concrete curing period.

I've scheduled with the wood floor installer to begin the installation of the subfloor on Monday. We're almost ready for that, but there are still a few small projects to be done ...and one big one - the rebuilding of the office wall.

Tom has to go to Houston on Thursday and Friday for some Republican voting thing. He has been elected as a voting delegate. I think the convention he is attending is for electing the electoral college delegates from among the district delegates.

In the meantime, Tom went to a hearing on our property taxes. He prepared and presented his case to the panel. They ruled against him, but were intrigued and excited about the information that he presented. I asked why they ruled against him if they were so convinced. One of the reasons was that if they ruled in his favor, it would set no precedent. They want him to file a suit and go to court because if he wins, it will benefit everyone in the county. In the meantime, they did lower our appraisal by 30%. But, really, does Tom need another project?

Amazing Progress

It is quite amazing what Tom is able to accomplish. In just a few days he has torn out and rebuilt much of the living room walls that were eaten by termites. When he tore everything out, we were astonished that the room was still standing. It must have been held up by the window frames. One whole wall had to be torn out, window taken out and replaced. And these are not tiny sissy windows. These are huge slabs of glass about five feet wide and six to seven feet tall. Fortunately, he only had to remove and replace one. For the rest of the repairs, he was able to pry out the damaged wood from underneath the windows and shore them up without removing them. He had help from friend, Nolan, for two of the days and I was there, but wasn't much help with the heavy work. Mostly, I just tried to keep the area cleaned up so he wouldn't have to work amongst the debris.

Now he has to tear out and replace about one and a half walls in the office. Except for that, we're ready for the wood floor guy to come put in the plywood subfloor.

Yesterday, the granite countertops were installed. The installer did a horrible job. But to correct the problems would mean selecting new slabs and causing further damage to my lovely new cabinets by taking out the granite. The fix is worse than than living with the bad job. I'm not willing to go through it, so I will live with it. Otherwise, the stone is beautiful, the island turned out great with a big curve across the back so that we have some space to sit at the counter on bar stools.

Two New Goats

Since Billy was so lonely, we decided to get him a pal as quick as possible. On Sunday afternoon Tom went to the Canton First Monday Flea Market and bought a little goat. He was told that it is a Nubian, but I'm pretty sure she is not. She's a little white goat with light tan markings similar to a Boer goat and she has some funky ears - long and pendulous like they are supposed to be, but they turn up at the ends.

I think I'll start my flower themed names with her and call her Pansy.

After Tom got that goat, I happened to check Craigslist that same evening and found a registered Nubian nanny. I went to see her this morning and bought her. I think her name should be Hyacinth.

Hyacinth is as affectionate as Billy. When I put her in the pen with Billy and Pansy, both Hyacinth and Billy were jostling for a place to stand next to me. Neither wanted the other to be near me. This resulted in a head butting contest which was hilarious to watch.

They would both stand their long ears straight up, which made them look like little donkeys, then they'd rear up on their hind legs and come crashing down, butting their heads together. After watching that scene for a while, I decided that if I left, they might be able to work out their differences. I watched them from the house and they did stop butting heads soon after I left. In a short time, they were all happily grazing together.

The building in the background is the previous owner's new barn. Ours will look similar to that. She chose the same colors as me so that our properties would kind of look like one big place and everything would go together.

Veggie Tales

Yippee! We have veggies!

Don't snigger at the grass in my garden. I know it's out of control. I spent the morning hours pulling it out from around my veggies, but I just didn't have time to pull it out from the middle of the rows. Hopefully, when we get the house in shape, I'll have more time to tend to the garden properly.

Despite the neglect, my lettuce is growing good, I have baby squash and a cute little green pepper. Tomatoes are blooming, so if the bees are doing their pollinating job, I should have some tomatoes on the vine soon. The watermelon vines are growing like crazy, but I forgot to take a picture of them.

Thirty Years of Dirt Is a Lot of Dirt

Nasty discovery today. We took the paneling down in the living room and office and discovered extensive termite damage.

Before we bought the place, we had a wood destroying insect inspection and the inspector noted in the report that there was damage, but there was no evidence that the bugs were still active. So, somewhere along the road, termites were eating the house, they were discovered and euthanized. Unfortunately, the damage was not repaired. It was hidden by that hideous paneling. Above is a picture of what the gypsum board behind the paneling looks like. It's going to have to be torn down. Also the bottoms of all of the window frames (in that room) are all eaten away and have to be replaced.

Also, after removing the baseboards, I was sweeping and vacuuming up the endless supply of dead bug carcasses that were behind the baseboards. I noticed that in one spot, I'd vacuum up a pile of sand and more would replace it. I spent a very long time vacuuming us sand that was falling out of the wall. It was pouring out as quickly as the vacuum could suck it up. I gave up after filling three vacuum cleaner bags. I'm sure there is more. I think that at one time, the house was infested with ants and they built the mother of all ant hills in the wall. Who knows how long it has been there...or how long it will remain.

Billy Goat Pics

I finally remembered the camera so I've got lots of pictures to show. These are of Billy. He's afraid of Pearlie and she fancies herself a herding dog.

Making Hay

It's amazing what we don't know. lol

I had an uncomfortable feeling that we were supposed to be doing something about our pasture that is supposed to be coastal Bermuda hay but looks more like a huge weed patch. I finally did a google search and read up on it, discovering that there is a small window of about two weeks in which to cut the hay so that it will be at it's optimum - retaining the most nutrition for the livestock and not being too wet or too dry.

What I did not read and didn't find out until just this week by asking one of the locals is that you're supposed to mow the pasture early to knock out the weeds, which can't grow back as lustily because of the heat. That way, you have a lovely field of hay which is more nutritious and healthy for the livestock.

Needless to say, we did not do that. So our first cutting of the hay will be full of weeds. It's not a total loss because the goats will still eat some of it and it can be used for bedding, too.

Apparently, the second and third cutting of a hay field yields the best hay. Unfortunately, fuel has become so expensive that it is knocking a lot of hay balers out of business, so we're going to have to really search for someone to bale our hay for a price that won't break the bank.

Billy the Goat

The goat's registered name is Stony something-or-other, but Tom insists on calling him Billy. There is no fighting it. He will be Billy. And Billy is a character. He's just like a pet dog. He wants to be with us, not out in the field. He bleats and bleats. He wants us to pet him constantly and will stick his head under our hand to achieve that. Sometimes he makes a funny spitting noise, "Puh!". I don't know if he is actually spitting because he has only done it when I wasn't looking - I think out of disgust for his not getting attention. I don't know if goats can spit, but it's hilarious to hear him.

We went down the road about a mile or so to talk to the owners of a goat farm. We thought they might have a little female Nubian for sale. But they raise Boer goats and only keep a few Nubians. The woman informed me that she won't sell her goats for less than $400.00 each and that I shouldn't either. And she won't sell her goat milk for less than $8.00 a gallon and I shouldn't either. I don't know if she was giving me good advice or trying to keep me from competing with her.

What she doesn't know is that we have no intention of going into the goat raising and selling business. We only want enough to be self-sufficient and aren't looking to make a profit. However, I've been told that one Nubian will produce up to a gallon of milk a day. I don't think there is any way that we'll use that much. We don't even consume a half gallon in two weeks. So I'll either be learning to make butter (which I intend to do), buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, cheese, etc. or I'll have to give the milk away or sell it...that is, if I'm successful and keeping the goats alive and learning how to milk them.

Livestock

First, above is a picture of one wall of my kitchen cabinets. It's the "command center" where I'll put my computer, keep farm records and recipes, and have the intercom system.

Second, these are the guard donkeys. Tom wants to call them Hilde and Buffy, after the characters in Tom Hank's early hit TV show Bosom Buddies. I kind of wanted to call them names of flowers like Hyancinth and Daisy. Maybe we'll compromise and go with Tom's choice so I can save my flower names for the goats.

Speaking of goats, we ended up getting the little male goat yesterday...earlier than I had planned, but that's how it worked out. He's like a pet dog and wants to follow us around. It was very sad to leave him out in the pasture when we came home because he was standing on his hind legs looking over the fence bleating his little heart out.

Joanne (neighbor, former owner of farm) said he was bleating last night and they thought he was so cute. They felt bad for him and watned to bring him into their trailer to stay with their dog. I told Tom to tell her to feel free to do so because we felt bad for leaving him out there.

Both of the donkeys are pregnant and due soon - maybe within a month. I'm kind of bummed because they won't let me near them and they are not halter broke. I had wanted to have plenty of time for them to get used to me and let me handle them so that when their babies are born, I'll be able to get close to them. Since they're due so soon, that may not happen. It is also problematic that they aren't halter broke. There is no way for us to move them into another pasture if we need to.

Cabinets

The cabinets are installed. It went off almost without a hitch. The man that I hired to install them was very good. Very meticulous like me. Not once did I have to tell him, "That's not right!" or "This goes here." or "Where did that big scratch come from?" or "That's not level."

They look great. I'm more than a little miffed with the designer, though. I only wanted a couple of cabinets with pull-outs in them. She insisted that I needed pull-outs in the big tall cabinets. I gave in on those against my better judgement. But I told her to order the other cabinets without pull-outs. Well, almost every cabinet has pull-outs. It's a huge amount of wasted space for those stupid drawers (I'm all about using space efficiently)...and it's an upgrade that costs more. I mean, if I had wanted drawers everywhere, I'd have ordered drawers instead of doors. Bah.

And, she didn't order any shoe or scribe moulde. I mentioned it to her before we ordered, but she waved my suggestion off as something that wasn't needed. Well, we need it. So I'm going to have to order some and have the installer come back to put it in.

I forgot my camera, so don't have any pics, but I'll take some when I remember to take the camera with me.

Also, I bought two donkeys today. We got the truck fixed (it just needed a fuse), so I'll be able to go pick up the donkeys and the goat this coming week. I got two "Jennys" (female donkeys) that are supposedly pregnant and due to foal some time this summer. Cute baby donkeys in the future!

Painting

I spent yesterday and today painting the guest rooms and hall leading to them. I finished the biggest one and ran out of paint before finishing the second. I'm painting everything Antique White and it took two coats to cover the green and purple in the biggest room. I think there were a million pin and nail holes in there that I had to patch.

Direct Buy has an account with Sherwin Williams paint supply store. I'm happy about that because that's the kind of paint I like to use anyway. I got the paint half price with the Direct Buy card, which was a happy surprise.

The cabinet installation is scheduled for Friday. Yesss!

When I got to the house today, there was water on the floor in the soon-to-be kitchen. Uh-oh. I think it might have come in under the doorway that we blocked off. I'm not sure what the short term solution to that will be, but the long term solution will be for us to build the new entryway that we were planning...and soon.

First Livestock Purchase

I put a deposit on the goat today. We'll have to pick him up within two weeks.

I wasn't able to go to the farm. I had too many things to do at home and still didn't get them all done. Mostly because I spent the evening watching TV. Oh well, hopefully I can do them tomorrow evening.

Snake!

We were out at the farm Friday evening and Tom was out in the carport moving a small stack of lumber. When he lifted up one of the pieces, there was a snake under it. He called me out there to see. I was sure it was a young rattlesnake. It was about 18-20 inches long and very slender. We couldn't see a rattle, but I thought that was because it was too young. We prodded it into an empty Gatorade mix can and put the lid on it. Then wondered, "What do we do now?" Kill it? Take it out and set it free?

Larry called a little later, so we asked him. He told us it would already have a rattle if it were a rattlesnake. Tom showed it to our handyman friend, Nolan, in the morning and he told us it was a bull snake. Since that's a good snake, they set him free. Perhaps he'll help us out by eating mice or something...that is, if we didn't traumatize him by making him stay in a Gatorade can all night.

With Nolan's help and a 14 hour work day, we managed to get the kitchen ready for the cabinet installation. The new window is installed, the doorway is blocked off, all the electrical work is done, all of the drywall patches are in place, and the 2x4's to raise the height of the cabinets have been nailed in place.

We're going to retain a bit of the 70's by reusing the 30 year old sound system control. It's a radio/intercom system that was also hooked up to an eight-track player. We took out the eight-track and moved the radio/intercom control over to where my desk is going to be. Then we'll hook up my under-cabinet mount TV/DVD/MP3 player to that. There are speakers in every room and on the back porch.

Blackberries Galore!

Happy discovery! There are loads of wild blackberries everywhere. All along our fence line, all along the fence line across the street. I really need to take some time to pick them before the birds get them all. I don't have the time to make anything from them, but maybe I could at least freeze them for later? I've eaten a few and they are quite good.

Yes...We're Busy, Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh

Here's the gutted kitchen. In the background is the living room full of the new cabinets still in their boxes.

Bad Dog

And while we were busy putting the roof back on, Pearlie was wandering around outside, knowing she was not allowed. I turned around and she was rolling around on the ground, undoubtedly in something odoriferous that I couldn't see. So she had to go around for the rest of the day with weeds stuck in her hair. See, she's too embarrassed to show her face on camera.

Well Cover, Well Covered

Another project completed! Yay!

The roofers finally came out to shingle our little well cover that Tom had taken down weeks ago. So Tom was able to put it back up with the aid of me, Wonder Woman, and the little red tractor that could. This was a clever idea. Unfortunately, this idea caused a little damage to the shingles.

While Tom was wildly dangling and swinging the roof from the tractor bucket by the chain and straps, it managed to rub some of the color and texture off of the front edge of the roof. No, it couldn't have rubbed it off the back, that would have been too easy. Anyway, probably in an effort to keep me from noticing and getting upset, Tom thought it would be a good idea to spray paint the rubbed spots red.

Of course, that was a failed attempt. Tom is not equipped for such subterfuge. What's the first thing I saw when I looked proudly at the finished roof perched on top of it's new supports? Red spots. I was thinking to myself, "What are those red spots." I supposed it was my puzzled look that made Tom 'fess up. Then he tried to wash the paint off. That was a no go. Oh well, there are worse things in the world than red spots on a red roof.

Dog ... or Donkey?

So, I was sure I wanted to get a Great Pyrenees to serve as a guard dog for the goats that we're going to get. But while I was looking on Craigslist checking out goats for sale, I came across "Guard donkeys, raised with goats", which piqued my interest.

I did a google search for guard donkeys and, lo and behold, people use donkeys to protect their goats and sheep. Apparently, they have a natural dislike of canines and will bray loudly, chase, and even attack dogs and coyotes and some other small predators. Of course, they can't handle mountain lions or bears, but we don't have those at our farm anyway. We do have the occasional stray dog and definitely coyotes. When we spend the night out there, Tom and I can hear packs of them howling and yipping.

If the donkeys are raised with sheep or goats, they bond with them and become protective and possessive. In fact, they are so protective that during lambing (or kidding), they have to be removed from the flock for a while because they will sometimes view the new babies as intruders and will hurt or kill them.

I can definitely see a benefit to having a guard donkey as opposed to a dog, the main one being that the donkey can graze with the goats and I wouldn't have to buy dog food. And the donkeys that were for sale on Craigslist were only $100.00. Seems like a bargain.

Floors and Windows

I ordered the kitchen window today. Just went with a simple slider style rather than something beautiful or different. We've been spending so much money, I couldn't bring myself to spend much on the window. Hopefully, it will just blend in and not be a noticeable feature of the room.

I also ordered the wood floors. One little snafu...the floors are from Brazil and they are having some kind of strike over there. I'm getting all of the stock the company has in the U.S., but it still leaves me short a few hundred square feet. The rest will be on back order and is expected to arrive sometime in June. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later.

Our gospel meeting started yesterday and goes through Wednesday, so we aren't planning to spend a lot of time at the farm until the meeting is over. Tom went today and got some work done, but I stayed home to take care of the ordering of supplies.

Wildflowers

Our drive to the farm is beautiful at this time of year because of the wildflowers...that is, if you can look past all the trucks, cars, and guard rails to see them. The primroses are like a river of pink all the way down the median of Highway 80 around Forney. I've included a picture, but it doesn't do them justice. Click on the picture for the big view.

We're making good progress. I keep forgetting my camera, so I don't have pictures of the latest. Let's see, Tom has the kitchen completely torn out, including the tile. In preparation for the cabinet install we have to take out the door and drywall over the opening, Tom has a few plugs and light switches to reconfigure, a couple of drywall repairs need to be made, the texture on the ceiling needs to be scraped off, and the window above the sink needs to be replaced.

I wasn't going to scrape the ceiling or put in the new window until after the cabinets were installed, but Tom insists that it needs to be done before. So, that's next on the list to do. I haven't even ordered the window (on my to-do list for tomorrow). Hopefully, it there is not a long wait time to get that in.

The barn builder has put in the forms for the barn foundation, which is exciting. We're not on his schedule to actually pour the foundation for at least a couple of weeks, but it makes me feel like something is happening just to see the shape laid out. And at least we can go ahead and getting the plumbing in place for the apartment.

The garden is coming along. Everything sprouted except the onions and bell peppers. Bummer. I'm not sure what happened with those. But I went ahead and planted more green beans, corn, and lettuce in the places left bare by the unsprouted ones.

We tried to open the double doors in the dining room this week. We knew the doorknob didn't work, so I took it off and we still couldn't get the door open. Turns out, it has been painted shut on the outside. I guess the former owners decided that it would be cheaper and more convenient to never use the door rather than replace a broken doorknob.

Progress

I wasn't able to go to the farm yesterday or today, but Tom went. Yesterday, he took our handyman friend, Nolan, with him and they finished tearing out the kitchen cabinets and took more tile out.

We've hired one of our neighbors, Perry, to do the "dirt work" on our barn site. He has to level out the pad so that the foundation can be poured. He's a super nice guy. Tom met him out there today and while Perry started on the dirt work, Tom moved all the stuff that was laying around the barn - wood and old wire, etc. The barn builder is going to order the supplies to build the barn soon, so things are under way for that. We're going to have to finalize our plans for the layout of the barn apartment so that we'll know where to put the plumbing before the foundation is poured. The septic system at the house and the barn appear to be finished.

I have to go tomorrow and open all of my cabinets boxes to make sure nothing is damaged. Hopefully, that won't take all day and I can get some other work done - namely weeding the garden and scraping the texture off the kitchen ceiling.

Growing Garden!

Our garden is actually growing. I'm so excited.

From the top picture is the corn, the row of squash and one little bean plant that is the only one sprouted so far. The onions are also sprouted, but they are so tiny, they probably wouldn't show up in a picture.

I spent a couple of hours mowing today and it is getting so pretty and green, I took some pics. One facing the house and the other facing away, looking down the drive toward the street.

Peptic Septic

Ugh. We know nothing about septic systems, but we're learning. The first step in getting our new systems was pumping the old ones. The septic guys did that yesterday. That was a smelly job. He told us that one of them was completely taken over with roots. I'm surprised we didn't have gunk bubbling up in the yard.

So he pumped both of them in the back, then told us we have a "grease trap" in the front yard (in front of the kitchen). I didn't know what a grease trap was, but...OK. So they dug in the yard and found the lid. I was curious about it, so I went out to watch. Apparently, it is a small tank and it was FULL to the brim with a slimy, stinky sludge. When they stuck the hose down in to pump it out, I had enough and went inside.

The worker told me that it needed to be pumped about every year, but it probably hadn't been pumped in several years. It's no wonder. Nobody knew it was there. It was underground. So I asked him how we could have it pumped without digging up the yard every year. He told me they could put "risers" on the top to lift the lid up to ground level. That makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense is to put in a tank that needs to be pumped, but not put an easily accessible lid on it.

Today they are supposed to come crush the old tanks that were just pumped and fill in the holes with dirt. Then they will put the new tanks out behind the fence instead of in the yard. I was told that the whole process only takes a few hours.

Implements and Evidence

Our good friend, Bill, gave us three farm implements to attach to our tractor. Tom has our implements in a neat little row. There's our trailer (compliments of Paden), our tiller, then the three implements from Bill (which are some sort of plows), then our finish mower attached to the tractor.

Also, evidence of our newly planted garden. The tiny green shoots sticking out are the 24 tomato plants. I might have gotten a little carried away with the tomatoes. Tom and I have to build their cages some time soon.

What Were They Thinking?

That is a question oft asked during a remodel.

Who puts one plus inches of mortar under tile?

One nasty little secret we've discovered is that someone thought it would be a good idea to do exactly that. The living room and bedrooms are carpeted and I pulled up a little piece of carpet in the master bedroom to see what it was laid on - the concrete foundation. The kitchen, entry, and hallway are saltillo tile. Apparently, someone thought it wood be a good idea to pour the foundation in the kitchen/hallway/entry about two inches lower than the bedrooms so that they could fill it up with mortar and tile. How weird is that?

I want to take the carpet and tile out and replace all of the flooring with wood. The problem is, if we take out the tile and mortar, which is what Tom has begun to do (see picture), we'll have to build the floor back up with 2x4's and plywood so that it will be even with the bedrooms. It's a mess.

No Asbestos!

The house has popcorn textured ceilings that I want to remove. While researching on the internet the best way to do that, I discovered that houses built before 1978 sometimes had asbestos added to the popcorn texture. Our house was built in 1974. So, the question was, "Do we want to know? Do we want to live with the texture the way it is? Do we want to risk our lives removing it?"

If there was asbestos, to have it removed legally, we'd have to hire a HAZMAT team at great expense. Or we could scrape it off ourselves and hope not to kill over some day because we breathed in a piece of asbestos. Another option was to sheet rock over the existing ceiling...not such a great option.

We decided that it was best to find out for sure and then decide what to do from there. So I risked my life to scrape off a piece and send it to a lab to get tested. We've been waiting a week for the results to be sent to our attorney. I finally called the lab and they told me they had e-mailed the results on Monday (note to attorney...check your e-mail occasionally :) ). And they went ahead and told me that the texture is safe.

Yay! So now I get to scrape off approximately 2,800 square feet of ceiling texture. Anybody want to volunteer to help?

Wallpaper...Bleh

My very good friend, Linda, went to the farm with me today and we scraped off wallpaper in the dining area. It was slow going because we had to tear off the top layer, then soak the backing and scrape it off. It's like twice the work. We finished about two-thirds of the room.

Our compost was delivered, so Tom came out to spread it and the other garden ingredients around and till them in good with the tractor. We have to wait a few days to allow the compost to cool and then we can plant. Woohoo! I'm going to the feed store tomorrow to see what kind of seeds I can get, then hope to plant on Friday if it isn't raining.

I had another contractor come out to give me a bid on tearing out the kitchen. He's supposed to call me soon with a quote. Also, the septic system installer came out to have a look. We currently have two systems for the house, but he's going to replace those with one large onem then put a system out by our barn site for the apartment. Septic installment is scheduled in two weeks.

We also decided on a barn builder - the first man to give us a quote. He came up with a more cost effective way to build it so that the existing structure can be enclosed, although the price has gone up overall because the cost of materials, especially metal, is soaring. We should be able to get that project under way soon.

Workdays Number Three and Four

Yesterday, Tom started repairs on the little well cover roof. The posts were rickety, so he took the roof off and skinned it of it's three layers of shingles. In the coming days, he's going to replace the posts and the roofers are going to come back and put shingles on to match the house. I'm not sure, but I think that used to be a real well and was capped off when the new well was dug.

Today, he finished scraping the grass out of our garden plot and we started a compost pile. I read that it's good to start a compost pile with brush and branches on the bottom, then put compost material on top of that, then more branches in a pyramid shape, then more soil and other compost material. Supposedly, the branches create an air flow that is helpful. So, that's what we did to start our pile.

After helping Tom start the compost pile, I went inside and started the kitchen tear out - taking off paneling, wallpaper, nails, curtain rods. I got the breakfast nook done. The only thing left to do in that part of the kitchen is to take out the door and block it up and remove the old sound system that is there. The radio works well, but it has an 8-track system circa 1970's that has got to go. Then Tom has to do some electrical work.

First Disaster

We spent the whole day at the farm yesterday. First, we went to the organic supply store and bought our organic fertilizer, horticultural cornmeal, and dry molasses. I really don't know what all of those items actually do, but it seemed a good idea. I read an article in the Dallas Morning News by Howard Garrett that said those are what you need to prepare a garden plot...only his recipe included lava sand and expanded shale. Common sense told me that since our soil is very sandy, I didn't need to add any more sand to it, so I skipped those ingredients.

Coincidentally, the store owner decided to give me a book on gardening since I'm a newbie and the book was written by Howard Garrett! I told the man that I had e-mailed Garrett to ask where to get all that stuff and he had recommended that store! I guess he liked me, 'cause he gave me a free bag of fertilizer, too...or maybe it was pity. heh.

We also ordered eight yards of organic cotton burr compost to be delivered (it's made of all the leftover cotton products after the cotton is harvested). After it is delivered, hopefully tomorrow, Tom will till all of the ingredients into the garden plot. Brian (our friend who had come to visit) and I marked 30x30 feet out in the front pasture for the garden. It sounded like a good sized plot to get started with, but after we marked it out and Tom scraped the grass off, it looked more like a postage stamp. But...we're going to stick with that size and see how we handle that for starters. We can always add to it later if we need to.

So, Tom started working on the tractor and I started mowing on the Toro again. The first pass down our very long driveway, I bumped a water spigot and it popped into the air, followed by a geyser of water. So I raced back to the barn where Tom was to find out what I should do. Brian and I found the shut-off valve in the well house, I borrowed a repair kit from Joann, Tom capped off the break, and we all went back to work.

We worked until dark, were exhausted, and covered head to toe with dirt. Ahhhh, the joys of farming.

Couple of Pics

Here's Pearlie the pup enjoying country life. She is not being good. She seems to think she doesn't have to come when I call her while we are out there. Bad, bad dog.

And a picture of one of Joann's foals. There are two that were born two-three months ago. Pearlie is very afraid of the horses.

The Tractor Has Landed

WooHoo! We brought the tractor home today and also towed the trailer with the riding mower out to our place. Tom taught me how to drive the zero turn Toro lawn mower, so I had a blast zipping around mowing the yard while Tom tinkered with the tractor.

...think we like red?

Moving Day

Well, it's not really moving day for us, but the previous owner finally did move out. She cleaned the place up nicely and even got rid of all old equipment, etc. in the garage and on the property. So we towed our ski boat out there and parked it in the garage (that is really semi-enclosed carport).

We moved the boat out of our garage so Paden could put his lawn equipment into it until he sells the rest of it. Now that he's taken that equipment out of the trailer that we bought from him, we will tow the trailer with mowers in it out to our new place. While we're there today, we're supposed to pick of the new tractor.

Then...let the mowing begin.

Fini!

The roof is finished. I love it. It's such an improvement over that tired ole' asphalt shingle. Eventually I'd like to change the color of the trim on the house from the dark brown. I'm thinking...light tan might brighten it up a bit, but am open to suggestions. The top picture is the front of the house and the bottom picture is the back porch.

The little pump house got a new roof, too. Cute. That happened sort of accidentally. I had asked the roofer to leave me some scraps so that I could roof the little well cover beside the house. Somehow he misunderstood and ended up roofing the pump house. They charged me for it, but since it was their mistake, they knocked a few hundred off the price.

And...Wisteria

Wisteria arbor is in bloom...beautiful! Click on any of these pictures to see the BIG version. You can see some Texas Longhorns in the background of this one. There are a couple of calves (there's a white one beside it's spotted momma in the picture) out there now. Rumour has it that those longhorns escape frequently and roam all around.

Roofing Progress

The roof is almost done. It looks great.

Wasted Day

It looks like my whole day is going to be wasted. The girl from Sears delivery was supposed to call me back on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning to let me know when they were going to deliver the appliances on Thursday or Friday so I could meet them out there. Also, we're getting another barn estimate and a woman from that company was supposed to call me back yesterday to set up a time to meet her today. So, I was planning on going out to Athens today to receive the delivery, meet with the barn builders, and go look at a tractor that Tom wants me to see. In addition to all of that, the roofer told me they were going to try to roof today before several days of rain commence. I wanted to be out there for that.

NOBODY called me back. I don't know how to reach Sears delivery, so I can't call them. I called the barn person and she said she'd just run out there to see the place herself. I'm still waiting on a confirmation from the roofer, but I'm doubting they got out there. It doesn't make sense for me to drive all the way out there to look at one tractor. So I'm in a holding pattern here at the house until I hear from someone and it is so frustrating.

Rain and Roofs

Tom finished the rafter repairs today so I sent the roofer a message that they could put the new roof on any time now. He wrote back that the materials were supposed to arrive on Thursday and he scheduled us for Monday. Oops. I checked the weather forecast for the next ten days. It's supposed to rain Friday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I asked could they possibly move it up to Saturday and am awaiting a reply.

I got a call from Sears and my appliances, that I ordered last week and were supposed to take four to six weeks to be delivered, have arrived. They wanted to deliver them in the morning. I was able to put them off until Thursday or Friday, so I'll be headed out there later this week to take delivery and find a place, in the still-occupied house, to store them.

Roof Removal

The roofers began removing shingles today.

Rescheduled

The rain did affect the roofer's schedule. We're pushed out to Monday.

I ordered my appliances today.

Rain...and More Rain

We've been having a constant downpour all day. I doubt there is any roofing going on today. I hope it doesn't set us back by much.

Cabinet Mania

Finally, the kitchen plan is complete and the cabinets were ordered today. It was a surprisingly draining experience. It took four meetings with the designer, the last one being today and that lasted four hours. The cabinets are scheduled to arrive in four to six weeks, which will be around the end of April. That should give me enough time to get the existing kitchen torn out and prepared for the new installation...after the tenant (ex-owner) moves out.

The next steps are ordering the appliances, sink, and faucet, which I've already chosen, then choosing the granite, wood flooring, and tile for the back splash.

Roof shingles are supposed to be torn off some day this week. We're having storms for the next couple of days, so it may be toward the end of the week. Tom got the breaker box changed out yesterday.

Bigger Is Better?

Ack! I think our barn has grown a few feet. We met with the barn builder out at the new place to show him what we wanted to build. To enclose the current barn structure, it looks like we'll hav to lay a perimeter foundation around the whole existing structure, which adds a foot or two to the size, at least width-wise.

I had wanted to have that perimeter anyway because I was afraid that the barn wouldn't look finished if two-thirds of it had a concrete foundation showing and the other third just had metal siding down to the ground. I was also concerned that varmints would burrow under the foundationless side and invade the barn. Tom was hesitating on the perimeter foundation, so I'm glad the barn guy said he needed it.

We still don't have a quote on the cost, though. That may curb our enthusiasm a bit.

While walking the barn site, trying to imagine what it's going to be like, I noticed that the living quarters will have a lovely view. The windows and the outside door will be all down one side and looking out over the pastures with big trees, which will also shade that side. Maybe some day we can put a little porch out there for guests to enjoy the view and the summer breeze.

We also had the opportunity to drive around the town quite a bit.. We found a church that looks promising. It might be full of old people, but the building was fairly new and smallish. We'll visit there as soon as possible.

Athens seems to be a bustling little town with quite a lot of traffic on the square. I stopped at the visitors center and picked up a bunch of literature about the town and a phone book. There's plenty to see and do....at least for a day. lol And they have a nice civic center with an inside pool, conference rooms to rent, workout rooms, walking trails, etc. Also, an arboretum. I'll have to check that one out to see what grows well in that area. Apparently, Athens is the black-eyed pea capitol. Who knew?

Measurement Challenged

Well, I did say that I was not to be trusted with a measuring tape. My kitchen plan did not get finished today, despite a three hour meeting with the designer. I had made a couple of measurement errors that required some changes in the plan, in addition to the few tweaks I had made in the original plan. I have another meeting with the designer on Saturday. Maybe we can finish it up then. I sure hope so because she's leaving the company on the 18th and I don't want to have to switch to a different designer in the middle.

Living in the Barn

For those of you who may come to stay with us someday, we're planning an apartment in the barn (we'll also have two guest rooms in our home, for those who object to barn living ;o) ). Tom and I are actually having some fun planning it. Who knew? Anyway, since our barn has morphed into a much larger space, the apartment has grown along with it.

The current plan is that down one whole side of the barn, all 64 feet of it, will run, from front to back - Tom's 12x12 office, a bedroom, bathroom, living area with kitchenette, and another bedroom at the far end. There will be a door that opens into the barn from the living area and also a door that opens to the outside, plus some windows.

The finishing out of the apartment is some time down the road, but we have to plan it now so that we can put in the plumbing before the foundation is poured.

We had planned on giving our bedroom furniture, which we inherited from Tom's grandmother, to one of Tom's many newly married cousins. Fortunately, none of them seemed to want it. So, now that I know we're planning an apartment, I'm glad I still have it because I can use it to furnish the place. There is enough to furnish both bedrooms except we'll need to get one more bed. And since the new house is smaller than our current house, I'll also have enough living room/kitchen furniture to furnish both places, which is great.

We're going back out there tomorrow for more measurements and again on Wednesday to meet with the barn builder.

And...They're Off!

Roofers are scheduled for a couple of weeks from now. I've got an appointment on Monday to finalize my kitchen plans. Hopefully, I can get the cabinets ordered this coming week. I had a contractor go out to the house and remeasure the kitchen for me because I'm not to be trusted with a tape measure. Then I have to get a few bids on getting the work done.

Our barn has grown much larger than we had orginally planned. There is a barn on the property, but it's kind of an eyesore and is not totally enclosed. However, it has some very nice, sturdy stalls and a tack room. We plan to take off the old tin that is currently on it and have it completely enclosed as part of our new barn. So, we'll have the stalls on one side and a big open area in the middle to park tractors and do barnly stuff. On the other side, we plan to put in an office for Tom and a small apartment for guests. We're going to go ahead and put the plumbing in before the concrete is poured so that we'll have it when we get around to finishing the apartment.

Luckily, the kitchen appliances are pretty new, so I can put them into the apartment's kitchenette.

Landowners

We did it! We bought the land. We signed our closing papers this week and FedExed them to the title company. The seller will be signing today or tomorrow.

I've begun to plan the kitchen remodel. Whew, there is so much to do just for that project. I signed up with Direct Buy with the expectation that they'll save me a lot of money. They have a kitchen designer on staff that is drawing up my plan on the computer. That's a big help. Now I have to pick out door styles, colors and appliances before our next meeting. I have to get a crew to tear out and install the kitchen, put in new floors, and do some drywall work for me.

I have to schedule the roofers for the new metal roof. It will be metal that is made to look like Spanish/Roman tile; plan a barn and get that started; plant a garden when Tom decides on a tractor; put in a new septic system when the seller's 30-day lease is up; and Tom has to change out the electric box.

We have to decide when to put our current home on the market, trying to schedule it so that we all have a place to live until the new house remodel is finished and Paden goes to school.

Either during or after we've finished all those projects, we need to build a henhouse, get chickens and learn how to keep them alive and producing eggs. Hopefully, they pretty much know how to do that themselves. Heh. We also need to get some milk goats, Nubians I think, from which I hope to get our milk and actually make butter! And get some Boer goats for meat. I'll have to stay away from them as much as possible lest I get attached and can't eat them later.

I'm sure there are a million things that will have to be done that I just don't know about yet. But, I just tell myself to take one day at a time and do what I can.

The Money Changers

We've signed the contracts and money has changed hands. The title company should have the closing papers ready withint 10 days. If the title is clear, and we think it is, we will actually own the property soon.

Still

It's been over a month since the inspection on the property and we still haven't made a move. We had a structural engineer look at the rafters and give us a report on what needs to be done, then this week we had a roofer go out to look at it and we're awaiting his estimate on a new roof and the repairs to the rafters.

We want to get a metal roof, so I think it's going to be very expensive. I was hoping for a closing by the end of the year, but at this rate, that is not going to happen.

I Did It

Well, I did break my message board habit. I still go to the message boards and read, but I have hardly posted at all in the last several weeks. Still, haven't anything much to say on a blog.

For the past year we've been searching for some property to buy. I finally have found some and we've made an offer. It's been a long drawn out affair and we're not done yet, but getting there. 

It's been over two months, but we've finally progressed to the stage in which we got an inspection done on the house. When we rec'd the report there were three serious problems to be addressed: (1) One of the two septic systems needs to be replaced, (2) the roof has two layers of shingles on it which is too much weight and causing the rafters to separate, (3) the breaker box/wiring is dangerously substandard.

The seller has agreed to replace the breaker box; gotten an estimate to replace the septic; and is waiting on the roofer's estimate. 

If we buy the property, we'll be embarking on a whole different life...a farming life...something neither my husband nor myself knows much about. It's a scary thing and I'm very conflicted about it, but we're forging ahead. I've prayed that if it's not meant to be that God will save us from ourselves. I have to wonder if perhaps all these troubles and delays in finding a suitable property and negotiating a deal has been God's way of telling us it's a bad idea. But how does one know? How do we know if this is the wrong thing to do and we've been stubbornly insisting on our own will, or if all of these roadblocks are just trials that we're supposed to overcome and will make us stronger? I just don't know. I've prayed for guidance. What else can I do?

Huh?

Sporting a new hairdo, she was standing around talking to some friends when Elder She walked up.

Elder She, "I like your hair today...Is it yours?"

She, "No, I decided to wear Donna's hair today. Next week, I think I'll wear Connie's hair."

Conversation

She, "So, Tom Thumb has put tables and chairs out in front of their store. I guess it's just in case someone wants to have lunch in front of the grocery store."

He, "It's for the employees. I've seen them."

She, "So they can swelter in the heat?"

He, "They're black. They're made for the heat, that's why God put them in Africa."

She, "God said, 'I have made thee black people. Thou shalt live in Africa?"

Phone, "ring, ring"

End of conversation.

Finished Kitchen

Oh! I forgot about this blog. Guess I don't have too much going on in my housewifely life.

Finally finished my kitchen. What a pain that was. Lots of mistakes. Lots of problems with the cabinet supplier. The only thing I need to do now is put up some kind of window treatment 'cause it looks kind of bare in there and get some new chairs for the breakfast area. So here's the big reveal.

So...ya want your kitchen remodeled, do ya?

Think long and hard before you want to make this mess. My cabinets were scheduled to arrive on October 10th, but didn't actually get here until the 19th. Demolition started the 17th. Of course, there have been all kinds of problems. When we took out the fur downs above the sink/window, we discovered that the upstairs bathroom plumbing was there. It cost $1300 extra to have a plumber come out and move the plumbing. He had to saw through the studs and joists and squeeze the four inch drain pipe into a three inch space.

Also, the wiring was strung across there too tight, so we had to get an electrician to rewire to the tune of $375. Because of other problems with the cabinets it has taken the carpenters twice as long as they expected, so that raised the price yet another $480. Apparently, no shoe mold was ordered, so that's something that will cost an additional amount.

There has been one problem after another and I'm going over budget. And the installer just told me that we don't have enough toe kick. Oh joy.