thefarmette50

In Times Past

2011-07-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder how I lost my life. What I'm doing now is what I should have been doing all along, but somehow I got blinded to that fact until nearly half my life was over. Now I feel like I'm having to play catch up.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. "They" told us that women should no longer be at home. We should get out of the house and conquer the world. We didn't need husbands and families, we needed boardrooms, resumes and portfolios. We were strong and we had to get out and show it. And we bought it. Hook, line and sinker.

We went forth to conquer, blinded by the promises of a better life. What we didn't realize was that it wasn't necessarily a better life just a different one. That's great, if you like different. I thought I did. Now that I'm hitting half a century on the planet here, I'm not so sure that I do.

When I came of age, I did what I was suppose to do. I walked out with my degree in hand, ready to show what a woman could do. I got a job in a man's world and pursued a career by going up, over and around the obstacles before me. I blazed a trail. Now I'm wondering why.

This year I am turning 50 years old. I am divorced with no children, and retired from a job that simply hired someone else to take my place the moment I left.

As depressing as that sounds, I'm happier now than I have been in years. I have chosen the life I am leading now and though it is contrary to a woman out conquering the world, it brings me more contentment that I've had in many years. My home and my garden, my little farmette fill me with a sense of purpose more solidly than my career ever did. I salute those women who charge into corporate lives with gusto and desire. May they find what they are looking for. What we should never look down on though are those women who feel their calling is the old style life of looking after home and hearth. Once we allow women to choose where they find their purpose, we truely will have conquered the world.

At The Dawn of Day

2011-06-23T21:12:00.001-05:00

The humidity has been so high of late that you can actually see the water in the air. The best time of day to catch it is early morning, just as light begins to creep in. The wind is still and the only sound you hear is that of a bird here and there waking, and announcing the morning.

What I Should Be Doing and What I Am Doing

2011-06-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

What I should be doing is out planting peas. What I am doing is sitting in the house under the air conditioning. Ahhhh.

After more than a month of not a cloud in the sky, we had two solid days of rain. Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain. You could practically hear the plants breathe a sigh of relief. It settled in and soaked the ground thoroughly and made us all giddy with the feel of it.

Then today came. The morning was good with a bit of overcast and a nice stiff wind. In fact, it was perfect. My mom, my sister and I had coffee on my front porch. Then the sun came out. With a vengence. And all that blessed water started evaporating. Right now it's hanging somewhere about eyeball level in 96 degrees temperature. I just do not have the will power to go out into that and work.

So....I'm making excuses. It's Sunday and I should take a day of rest. I don't really feel good, My head hurts and my back aches. That field will still be there tomorrow. It's not going anywhere. We're probably going to have a long summer so one day won't make that much difference. If I was planting with the moon, now would be the wrong time anyway.

So I'm staying inside letting the cool air ciculate around me and wondering why we didn't have a Spring this year. Oh yeah, it got blown away with the tornadoes. I'll tell you about those in another post soon.

A New Look

2011-06-15T18:38:00.000-05:00

What a difference two months makes. I looked back at my posts two months ago when the chicks were small and fuzzy and oh so cute.

Here's what they look like now.

It will only be a couple of more months and the girly chickens will be laying and the boy chickens will be making some mighty fine chicken and dumplings. Yum.

A Direction and A Meaning

2011-06-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

I started this blog to let my friends and family know what was going on with my house renovations. I had moved back home from years of wandering and settled down in a small house not far from where I grew up. Six-tenths of a mile to be exact. It was what I had been trying to accomplish for years. The fly in the ointment was that the house I bought was waaaaayyy smaller than what I needed, so when I started to change everything around, I started the blog to let folks know what was happening in my world.

As the house work wound down, other things started to take it's place. Being out in the country, I was able to indulge in a lot of things I had done as a child and missed ever since. Gardening was one of those and so was animal husbandry.

I found some things had changed though since my younger days. The promises of a chemical world had fallen short and it wasn't a good idea to slather everything down with Sevin dust anymore. Pest management was a concept to be reckoned with instead. I live in the deep south though and going organic is not that easy in the area of pest control. Here everything crawls or bites and munches down on your hard labor and can destroy your work in one night. And in this neck of the woods, deer aren't protected as the cuddly Bambis of fairy tales. Mostly they are considered to be varmits better served with gravy than saved. And Thumper has caused me more grief than I can possibly explain in one sitting.

And as these things have been brought forward again in my life, the focus of the farmette has changed. When I got here I wanted a retreat, a place to escape from the hectic pace I had endured for the previous couple of decades. I wanted someplace to hide from the world and enjoy some peace in my life. I wanted to be home.

And I have done that. I love the farmette. I never want to leave it. BUT....my focus has changed a bit. The news all around us is bad and getting worse. Even the mainstream media has finally admitted that times are not getting better as planned. The majority of people in this country are not prepared for a recession, much less a depression. I truely believe that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, and a lot of people will be hurting very badly, if not outright dying.

I look around my neighborhood and I worry about these folks. Most of them are older. They watched me grow up and they are part of what makes me me. Many of them are getting on in years and aren't able to prepare for bad times even if they believed they were about to happen. So if something bad is coming down the pike, I want to be able to take care of not only myself but these people who mean so much to me.

I've always believed in having a few things put back for a rainy day. My folks both lived through the Depression, and I remember tales from my Grandmother of making do with only what was available. I'm now trying to have enough to make do for quiet a few folks. I'm not going the tin foil hat route, but I'm thinking that being ready for unusual times is not a bad idea.

I was a bit surprised the other day when I checked the stats for this blog and found that I had more people checking it out than I realized. Someone in Japan is checking me out on a regular basis and I've even had quieries from Russa and India. Thank you. I hope you will all continue to check back in as I find a new direction in life and work toward reaching some goals of being more prepared for things to come.

Oh My Goodness!

2011-06-13T14:32:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Sorry about that. I knew it had been a while but didn't realize it had been over two months.

It's been hectic to say the least here on the farmette. Spring and early summer are always busy, busy times but this year has been more so than usual. Taking care of animals and planting crops can eat up your days in a hurry. Throw into that the usual round of family activities and time just seems to slip away.

We are also making some major changes in things here, in goals and aims for what we want to accomplish for the farmette and for our lives in general. I'll be posting more about all these changes soon. In fact, I think I'll work out an entire mission statement. I'll post that too.

Hang around. I promise not to stay gone so long. In fact, I'll probably be back tomorrow.

Chicken Explosion

2011-04-04T20:15:00.000-05:00

We have chickens everywhere. Well, actually, we have chicks everywhere. The original three in the chicken coop has expanded to 11 under three hens. Inside the house, the incubator has produced more than 24 chicks. We lost four for various reasons and now have a brooder box filled with 17 and another filled with three. Those three hatched a few days later than the 17 and it shows enough that they needed to be kept seperate.

In other things happening around the farmette, the fruit trees bloomed and then we had a freeze. Time will tell if the baby peaches, apples and pears survived. The garden has been turned but nothing is planted yet. It's still a bit early. The asparagus is up and running though.

And spring storms are rolling through on a regular basis.

And so it goes.

From Beginning to End

2011-03-28T15:08:00.000-05:00

It's just been so much fun over the last three weeks watching the cycle of life.

One of our chickens went broody. She would lay an egg and then stay on the nest....for a while. Then the next day she was back and would stay a bit longer. Finally she was staying even when other hens would come in and lay their eggs beside her. It was obvious she wanted to set a clutch. Finally, she decided to spend the night on the nest and we knew she was ready.

So instead of having eggs all out of order one day at a time, we took the eggs from everybody for one day and put them under her.

She was perfectly okay with this arrangement and settled in. So we waited......and waited.....and waited.... And yesterday our patience was rewarded with.....

We only have three at the moment from this clutch, and another one hatched in the clutch another hen has next to hers. We are expecting more at any time. In the meantime, however, we had two hatch out in the incubator. We're starting to have chicks spring up all over.

Maybe It's True!

2011-03-02T16:52:00.000-06:00

Seems we may actually be having an early spring. The weather is still holding and things are actually blooming around here. It's turning pretty.

The bluets are blooming....always a sure sign of Spring.

The yellow-bell is turning.....well,.....yellow

And the plum is bursting with blooms......

The creek is running clear

The deer are roaming happily free now that season is over

Even the brand new fruit trees are getting into the act.

If it freezes now I'm gonna scream!

Spring is Coming!

2011-02-26T20:40:00.000-06:00

It's been warm for two weeks now. I know its foolish to believe in it this early in the year, but it sure has been nice. I know there will be more cold weather to come, but a girl can dream can't she???

In the meantime, I've been preparing for when Spring really does get here. Tomato and pepper seeds are in pots and in wading in plates in water waiting to sprout. I've got lots and lots of them. If they all sprout and live I'll be giving them away by the dozens.

In an attempt to get better at this farming thing, I finally got myself something that will work wonders.....maybe. It's what I call my seed shack.

I found a great deal on a cheapy little greenhouse. It's not all that big, only 6' X 8', but it'll help me start plants just a little bit earlier. I may get this farm off the ground in spite of myself.

Meanwhile, I raided the garden for the last of the turnips and had an excellent meal of roast beef, turnips, beans and corn bread.

We've also now got about 10 out of 12 hens laying so we are getting covered up in eggs. I've been giving them away to friends and family and they just keep coming. I think my egg empire about is about to expand.

2011-02-02T18:51:00.000-06:00

The world is suddenly revolving around eggs for me. I have three chickens laying. We've got one large egg layer and the other two are game hens. They lay tiny eggs. They are cute but not very big. All of them are very tasty though. We had scrambled eggs (three tinys and one large) for supper tonight, along with some locally grown sausage. Threw in some grits and it was a yummy meal.

Here's the eggs.

Here's the only hen that we have that will lay large brown eggs, so at least I know where they are coming from.

We have 11 of the game hens and since I haven't actually seen one of them lay an egg, it's a tossup as to which ones are producing. I know I've got at least two going.

When they all get going, we're talking about a dozen eggs a day. I'm going to get very inventive with egg dishes. Anybody got any good ideas, feel free to post them.

Eggs!!!......Finally

2011-01-23T18:52:00.000-06:00

We have eggs! It's the middle of winter and hens aren't suppose to be laying, but one of ours decided to start. We weren't expecting them until Spring, but our little red hen just couldn't stand it any more and started laying.

They are huge eggs for such a little hen, but once she started laying, we've gotten one a day regular as clockwork. Guess we'll have to wait for spring for the game hens to kick in.

Christmas at the Farmette

2011-01-02T11:18:00.000-06:00

We didn't dream of a white Christmas this year. We actually had one! It was beautiful, all quiet and peaceful as the snow fell all day. I couldn't resist getting out in it.

It only stayed for a day and then it warmed back up and melted. It was great while it lasted though. Reminded me of days gone by and gave me time to sit and count my blessings. I have so many.

Have a great and wonderful new year everybody!

2010....From the Way I Saw It....Part 1

2010-12-20T00:05:00.000-06:00

It's been a humdinger of a year from the inside out. We've had good times and bad times and everything in between.

This time last year we were into some heavy duty construction. We had torn off the old carport and were putting in the foundations for the new construction.

We kept at it for the entire first part of the year. My mom made great improvements in her health along the way and was able to stay by herself for longer and longer periods of time.

So over the course of the year, I went from this:

To this:

From this kitchen:

To this kitchen:

There were some bad times during the year too. My heart was broken in April when I lost my beloved Lovely dog to a speeding school bus. Her absence is still sorely felt and I miss her more than I can say.

As the year has gone along my transition from jack-booted thug to tomato queen has been taking place at a steady pace. I planted a garden

Got chickens

got a tractor

and in general have had a grand time returning to my agricultural roots.

I have the best neighbors

and the view off my front porch can be spectacular

The inside of the house is turning out to be pretty wonderful too. I have tons of living room with great views all around, lots of windows

A beautiful wood stove to curl up in front of

The kitchen is grand, but the pantry is something dreams are made of. I'm cooking for half the neighborhood, so having lots of food on hand is oh so nice. Having all my pots and pans in one place and easily available is quiet grand too.

Baby dog and I moved into the house the weekend after July 4 and immediataly threw a party. I've spent the time after that, getting my things in the house and making it a home. So much junk and so little storage space. Looks like some downsizing is in order.

In the meantime greens grew

and fall arrived

The guys came back to work after working their summer elsewhere and installed my woodstove and took care of a gazillion little details that needed doing.

I had planned to decorate the house from stem to stern for Christmas this year but on Dec. 8 my mom had surgery. She had stints placed in the arteries leading down to her legs. She was having some severe circulation problems and it was getting critical. She went through the surgery fine and did great for a day or too afterward. Then on the following Friday she started having heart fibrillation problems and we've been fighting that ever since. Since she's so weak from the afib and needs help to get around, I simply moved into her guest room for the duration. So the house will have to wait a bit. Mom comes first. I'm happy to report though, that the new medicine her cardiologist put her on is starting to show some results and she is getting stronger daily. Her blood pressure now seems to be under control and her pulse rate is steady so things are looking up. Who knows, by New Years I may be back in the house working on it some more.

So that's the year, folks, here at the Farmette. Some highs, some lows, but overall good. Retirement is turning out to be a really good thing. I wish I could have done it sooner. I'm getting to enjoy life at my own pace and do so many of the little things that I always had to put off before.

Now, on a soft morning I can take my cup of coffee onto my porch, sit in my rocking chair and watch the world go by, as Baby checks out the bug and bird population in the yard. I watch the sun rise and the sun set and get to enjoy everything in between on both sides.

Stay tuned for more of my year in review posted as the week progresses.

Life is good.

...And the Fire is So Delightful!

2010-12-10T18:53:00.000-06:00

It's in. It's here. It's beautiful.

And best of all, it's keeping my house warm and my heating unit isn't struggling to keep up. It's suppose to get bitterly cold this weekend so it will be nice to curl up in front of a fire with a good book and hibernate. Can't wait to try that theory out.

Up In Smoke

2010-12-04T19:10:00.000-06:00

Winter is arriving fast, even in the south, and I'm trying to get the house tucked up tight for the cold and ugly weather to come. I'm sooooo close.

Right now we are installing a woodstove. It's all very exciting. I love having wood heat. It's actually going to be my backup and for the ambiance of it all. We have the power go out a lot up here on the mountain and I just don't want to have to leave my home if it does, so I'm putting in the ability to stay home no matter what the electric company throws at me.

I love what we're doing with it. When we replaced the roof, we took down the old chimney and I saved the bricks. So now that I'm putting in the stove, I'm using the old brick as the hearth. It's so cool, and it just sort of ties the old and the new parts of the house together.

This is what the hearth looks like while the morter is still wet.

We should have the back shield up and the stove installed by Wednesday. That's a good thing cause it's suppose to get down in the teens that day. Brrrrrrr.

The guys also got my chimney up. Actually, it's a pipe with a chase around it to look like a chimney. I think it looks great.

In the meantime, I've been cooking like mad for the guys all week and having a blast doing it. I love cooking and now that I've got my kitchen up and running, I've been indulging myself. I've cooked roasts and lots of veggies, big pots of chili and pans of cornbread every day. Yum.

Our greens are growing wildly now that we've had rain. Sister and I got out and picked and picked and picked and picked. I'll be canning them up for the next few days. That will be some good eating when the snow is flying and even into the summer when the greens won't grow. Yum.

I'll post more pictures as things develop this week.

Construction.......Again!

2010-11-18T21:12:00.002-06:00

Well, we are at it again. We're building. Actually, we're more like finishing up. The guys came back in this week to do a lot of minor details that never got done when we started work on the house a year ago. Can you believe it's been that long ago? Wow!!

So in the last couple of days, we've gotten the baseboard down in the hallway, the storm door up on the back door, the robe hook up in the bathroom, along with the toilet paper holder and the blinds up in the pantry. One of the things I love the most is the mirror in the bathroom.

That's not the greatest picture of it, but it's the only one I've got right now. It's a pretty awesome mirror. The reflection is showing where my washer and dryer is located tucked in against the gray wall. The toilet is next to the blue wall. That rod over the washer and dryer is simply a shower rod I stuck up there to have someplace to put my hangers. It's going to be replaced with a permanant shelf and rod, sometime next week. I'll try and get a better shot then.

One other thing I'm really excited about is what I'm doing in the kitchen. I currently have all the pots and pans in the pantry, which is fine except....they are taking up too much shelf space. I didn't really have any cabinets, drawers or shelves to put them in, in the kitchen, so then I got hit by an inspiration a couple of weeks ago. I have an empty wall at the back of the kitchen that I couldn't quiet decide what I wanted to put on so I wouldn't have a big, blank, boring wall. This is what I came up with.

I'm going to get pegs and hang the pots and pans there a la Julia Child. It will take care of the wall space, free up my shelf space and put the pots and pans close to hand in the kitchen. I'm loving it.

If you look on the right side of that photo, you can see the back door where we put up the storm door today. Baby will love that as I can now open the back door and she can lay there and look out the storm door and keep an eye out for the ground hog that is living under the storage shed.

The big accomplishment today was the back room finally got wired. It had lights but no electrical outlets that worked all during the summer. Now I will finally be able to get my office set up and get internet service back there. I've been living off my mom's computer service all summer. One more reason I haven't posted as often as I should have. One of the guys is painting the room tomorrow (after all the work the current paint just needed a freshner) and I will take the weekend and get everything moved in and in place.

Sooooo, the idea is that I have reached the tipping point on the house and everything is falling into place rather rapidly. By the start of next week, God willing and my back holds out, I should have the pantry organized, the back room in working order and the living room cleaned out. Oh my!!!!

Winter is Coming......Finally

2010-11-07T21:01:00.000-06:00

Well, the cold weather finally got here. Last night and the night before the temps finally dropped to freezing. I woke up to a winter wonderland of frost all across the grass. It took out the last of the garden too, which in a way was nice, because to tell the truth, I was getting a bit tired of it.

I did go out earlier in the week and strip anything that was left in the garden. I got a mess of peas and lots of green tomatoes of various sizes. A friend of ours also cleaned out her garden and gave me a load of hot peppers so I'll have plenty of spicy food this winter. Can't wait.

So it's time to tuck in and snuggle up for the winter. I don't think I'm going to have a chance to do that for a bit though. The crew is coming back tomorrow and starting to work on the house again to finish up a lot of the detail work that is keeping me from getting organized. I'll be posting as it goes along.

The cooler, clearer weather is bringing some amazing sunsets with it. All the volcanic ash in the atmosphere is showing up at sunset. Makes you realize why you like living here.

Around the Farmette

2010-10-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Sunday and I just took it easy. Went to church, took a nap, spent some time with the Baby Dog. In the afternoon, I took the tractor out and just rolled around the farmette a bit to see how things were looking in the semi-fall we are having.

Here's what I saw.

There's still some greenery left

But the woods are full of falling leaves

The persimmon trees are beginning to ripen

And the drought has claimed a few victims this year

It also claimed the hornets, which isn't a bad thing

And back in the barnyard, the chickie babies are disappearing behind a wall of leaves on their yard fence.

So all in all life goes on as it should and the seasons move along. Life is good.

Fall......Kinda, Sorta

2010-10-21T20:07:00.000-05:00

From what I understand for most of the country, fall has arrived.

Well here at the farmette, that might be debatable. It's getting cooler, somewhat. The nights are even coolish. The days are still a bit hot though. Still up in the 80s, although its finally in the low 80s. After the high 90s all summer, we thing we're doing well to get 82. "They" do say that it's going to start going down more next week. We'll see.

In the meantime, we haven't had rain in so long that instead of the leaves turning colors, they are simply dying and falling off. I hate it when that happens. We are getting a touch of color here and there though.

But work on the farmette continues no matter what the time of year it is. After we dug up the garden at the end of the growing season, we proceeded to throw out all the mustard, collard and turnip seeds that we could find. Add a couple of sprinklers and we are beginning to see a payoff.

We'll be canning them up soon to last us after the cold weather does actually show up. Good eating on a snowy day with a pan of cornbread added to the mix. Yum.

A Trip Back in Time

2010-10-10T19:02:00.001-05:00

It was a really neat day today. After church, Sister and I went to Lake Guntersville to the marina. Docked at the marina were replicas of the Nina and Pinta ships used by Columbus to discover the New World. We went on board and saw the way they lived on ship during the time of Columbus. It's very tiny. I can't imagine being stuck on there for three months with a whole lot of people and not having a serious personality conflict with some folks.

The Nina was to scale, but the Pinta is actually about 50 percent larger than the original. It's still way too small to spend that much time on. And it got worse. The Nina was the only survivor of a hurricane in the West Indies and after picking up survivors from the other ships it sailed to Spain with 201 people on board. The ship is slightly over 1900 square feet and not all of that is available to the crew. That had to be one uncomfortable trip.

It was an interesting way to spend a warm Sunday afternoon. Now I've got to do some relearning my history lessons.

My New Toy

2010-10-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

I’m totally speechless. I have a tractor. A John Deere tractor. My sister got it for me. She found it yesterday and just bought it for me simply because I needed one. Apparently there was an 80 year old man in the area that wanted a JD tractor even though his children opposed the idea. So he bought himself what he wanted and then found out it wasn’t. The children then had their way and the tractor got returned. So our local tractor company then had to resell the tractor as used even though it only had two hours on the engine. What an awesome deal!

So it was delivered this morning, all bright and shiney. I immediately spent a couple of hours working on landscaping in the back. It’s a learning experience, but oh how much easier than doing it with a shovel and a rake.

I think I’m in love.

Success!!!!!!!!

2010-09-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

At Last! I'm finally able to upload pictures!

I have found a new interest in life. I bought a trail camera, hung it up at the gate to the lower pastures at the farm and suddenly found myself bird watching. Wow! Seems to be the old gate is a perfect landing zone for just about every species of bird on the place. I'm having a wonderful time seeing what is coming about.

This could get to be habit forming.

Giving up

2010-09-25T11:04:00.002-05:00

Well, the uploading of pictures is still on the blink, so I'm going to give up on posting photos right now. I'll keep working at it, but for now it's going to be word pictures.

It's September but you'd never know it here. It's still hot, and I mean hot. It was 96 degrees here yesterday. Today is a bit cooler with a little cloud cover so that is nice. Getting some rain has become a beautiful dream. It's dry, dry here now. The grass is crunchy and walking creates a dust cloud. I'm so ready for fall to arrive.

The moon has been full for the last few days. A great big round of yellow cheese in the sky. It's been really beautiful. The other day on the first day of fall, was the actually full moon. A true harvest moon.

We've plowed up the garden. It was pretty much spent. Dug up somewhere around 100 pounds of potatoes, got a few onions and the last of the peppers out. Considering we didn't really do anything to help the garden out this year, we got a lot of food out of it. If we had put in any effort, we might really have produced a good deal more.

Then we planted half of the plot in wheat and half in winter greens. They are all coming up in great abundance. We are having to water them, however. The greens will be ready for picking in about another week or so, and the dogs are grazing on the wheat. They love it.

The chickens have grown double in size since we got them, which is good. The bad news is the majority of them seem to be turning out to be roosters. This could get to be an interesting situation soon. I'm either going to have to find somebody that needs roosters or learn how to process a chicken.

The house is almost done. I ran out of money for a spell so things got put on hold for a bit. Luckily, what is missing is small things, a bit of baseboard here, a touch of paint there, a mirror needing to be hung elsewhere. I've been living there since June, doing things in bits and pieces to get it done. Slowly but surely it's coming together. I got my house in Denver rented out so my builder will be coming back soon to finish up the odds and ends.

I love my house. It's turning out to be everything I wanted it to be. It's Home.

My Bad!

2010-08-13T20:09:00.002-05:00

I'm so sorry folks for not posting anything in the last three months. I haven't forgotten about the blog, I just can't get my computer going and I don't have the money to buy a new one. I promise to keep trying and post lots and lots of pics as soon as I get something up and running.

In the meantime, I will let you know with words what is happening. I am actually living in the house! It's such a wonderful thing. I moved in on Friday July 10. I can't begin to describe the joy of getting to sleep in my own bed. There's nothing like it. Getting to snuggle down in my big fluffy king size bed with my doggie curled up at my feet. It was amazing.

Since then, it's been a matter of getting the small stuff done. The punch list as my contractor calls it. Putting on switch plates, bits of base board, touch up paint, painting the door, putting all my belongings in place. Things like that. We still have lots of little things to do, but the only big thing left is to get the porch painted and the entrance ramp built.

My contractor has been off building a deck for a high end client at the river this week and last, but that's just as well, cause I don't have enough work to keep them busy full time, and I'm a bit short on the money end of things too. Soo0000..........

I just keep plugging along, and things keep getting done, slowly but surely. I promise to take some time and make another run at the computer's photos this weekend and get something up for everybody to see.

Oops!

2010-05-29T07:51:00.002-05:00

Bear with me folks. My computer is down with all my photos on it so I'm not able to post this week's progress. And there was so much to show!

The floor is down, the cabinets arrived on Friday, and so did the appliances. In the meantime, the gutters were installed and got their first workout about five minutes after the guys finished. My contractor brought his nephew with him this week and set him to work doing detailed weed eating around all the contruction debris laying around. At least now, I might be able to see the snake before I step on him.

I promise I will work on the computer and get pictures posted soon.

The Floors Are In! The Floors Are In!

2010-05-23T20:26:00.003-05:00

It's true, the flooring is down. It's absolutely gorgeous and somehow or another, the floor was just the right size and I had practically no waste and the last boards in fit perfectly, and we didn't have to cut them. My contractor couldn't believe it cause that sort of thing just does not happen. It also left me with a lot more left over than we had figured for. Oh well, a nice little spot somewhere, sometime in the future.

Paint and Plants

2010-05-13T07:40:00.006-05:00

Things seem to be moving so s l o w l y right now. Maybe it's just that I am impatient, but I so want this to move along. Seems like finishing takes forever.

We've started painting the walls. That is a slow process, cause you have to paint and then let dry and then paint and let dry. And there is just no hurrying it. But we definitely want to get the paint on before the floor goes down, because I just have horrifying visions of dropping a gallon of paint on my beautiful wood floors.

So the ceiling is going to be Informal Ivory and the walls are Moonlight Yellow.

In the process of all this, I now have a spotted dog, as Baby likes to cut corners a bit.

While I am watching paint dry, I've been outside doing a bit of gardening.

It it really takes off and grows and the bugs don't defeat me, I should have an abundance of produce for summer eating and putting by for the winter. I also have fruits coming on like gangbusters as we didn't have a blossom freeze to take out the forming fruit.

Peaches

Pears

I should be busy this summer preserving like mad. Hope it turns out as well as I want it too. I'll keep you posted.

Moving Forward

2010-05-03T21:04:00.005-05:00

Sorry Folks, but I took a break for a while after I lost Lovely. The blog sort of lost its interest for a bit.

But life moves on, and so will I. She will always have a piece of my heart, but its a large heart so there is room for more life in there.

In the meantime, the house has kept going. Walls are up, mud is on and paint is applied. It's a bit hard to show exciting pictures of electrical wiring, but I'll try and put some life in here.

We got the geothermal unit housed and blended in with the rest of the house

We also got all the lights and ceiling fans up on the porch. I've already got chairs and a rocker out there. It's wonderful.

And I got some steps installed along the porch. Haven't got the ones at the front entrance done yet, but they will come with time.

I'll get busy this week and take pictures of the walls. Paint is starting to go up and it's going to look fabulous, Dahlings. I may actually get to move in yet!!!

Remembering Lovely 2003-2010

2010-04-21T11:42:00.005-05:00

Life sort of got put on hold last Thursday when a light in my life got extinguished. I lost Lovely, my beloved Border Collie/Black Lab mix to a vehicle. She was a bit of a klutz as dogs go, so its not totally surprising, but so very sad. She will be missed more than I can say.

She was different from any dog I've ever had. It's easy to say that as all dogs have their own personalities, but she truely was different. She was a free spirit with a mind of her own and a great sense of joy in the world.

I got her when she was about five and a half months old. She was up for adoption from the Save A Life Foundation in Savannah, Georgia. She looked like a bowling ball with legs. Round and tubby she had been fed too much and all she wanted to do was sleep. But mainly she wanted to sleep in my lap. I told myself I didn't need a new dog. I even walked away and left her that day I first saw her. But she had touched my heart in just the few moments I had seen her and a week later, she came home with me for a forever home.

As she settled in, I fell in love. Even two weeks later when she ate all the Christmas ornaments off the bottom two feet of the tree, I couldn't help but laugh. I think she pooped sparkles for a week.

She had a personality that was all out. She went with me to the beach and thought getting blasted by waves was the greatest thing. When I moved to Colorado, she loved romping in the snow and thought it was the greatest thing. She enjoyed going camping with me, and thought sitting by the campfire was the greatest thing. She was having a blast playing with her cousins, and running loose on the farm and thought it was the greatest thing. I had taken her up to the new house and shown her the windows she could lay in front of and see everything out of and she thought it was the greatest thing. Her love of the moment was an endearing quality and a great thing to experience.

She enjoyed barking at my friend's cats and went riding happily in another friend's convertible with the top down, fur blowing in the breeze. She loved her baby sister Baby fiercely and protected her from her best friend Keno the Boxer, even though Baby was bigger than she. She showed unwaivering loyalty to those around her and picked a fight with no one.

She didn't suffer and for that I am grateful, but oh how she will be missed.

Trees, Sheetrock and Falling in Love

2010-04-12T21:56:00.004-05:00

Once again I've fallen behind on my posting. My only excuse is that it's been a busy, busy, busy week.

Last week was a week of outside work. The inside of the house was waiting on sheetrockers and they weren't coming until later in the week, so we moved outside to take care of things. We did yard work, and tackled the trees.

Tree #1 Up

Tree #1 Down

Trimmed and Stacked

Tree #2 Up

Tree #2 Down

Firewood

Then we replanted the shrubs we had dug up in the fall at the beginning of this adventure. Even though they had been sitting by the fence with a small root ball and with roots exposed in freezing weather, all of them budded out and show no signs of stopping.

Friday finally showed and so did the sheetrockers. They went straight to work, hanging boards and screwing them into place. They soon had enough up to tell what it's going to look like. I've looked at studs and insulation for so long that it seems strange to actually be seeing walls in place.

The man who is doing the mudding and sanding is suppose to start tomorrow. The hangers had to come back on Saturday to finish up. Builder came and kept an eye on them while Sister and I went to the Chicken and Egg Festival.

I have to admit I fell in love there. And even worse, it was strictly his looks that I fell in love with. His attributes had nothing to do with it. It breaks my heart that it was a chance encounter and I'll probably never see him again.

So things continue on. The guys are finishing up things on the outside. Since I don't/can't be around all the sheetrock dust, I think I'll work in the garden. What a neat idea!

Another Month Along

2010-04-03T05:40:00.008-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it's April already. Where did the time go? It's been over a year now that Mama had her heart surgery that sent me on this wild adventure. She's doing great. This house may be the death of me.

Actually we are getting there. It seems like it's taken forever, but in the grand scheme of things, not really.

This has been a very active week. We've gotten so much done that it's amazing. The tile man has been there every day working on the bathroom and now we only like putting the grout in. Once that is done, I can start putting in the fixtures, and you know what that means..........Home!

Since he was inside, the rest of us decided to move outside and work. The weather has been more than cooperative this week with temps in the 70s and even 80s and glorious, beautiful sunshine.

The guys went to work getting the siding in place.

They still have some to do, but the big patches are up. It's looking really good too.

While they were doing that, Builder was getting ready to switch my electrical service over to the new box. We avoided punching a hole in my new roof by going underground from the box to the house. So much nicer. The guys trenched a hole from the house to the pole, which doesn't sound like much until you realize they had to do it through a brush pile, a fence line and red clay. Once that was done, they laid pipe, ran a pull-through cord and called the power company.

Wonder of wonders, the power company was there early the next day. Within two hours they had set the pole, connect the box and installed a transformer. I was back in business power wise.

After that was done, the guys attacked the water lines for me. The plumbing in the house has been done for some time now, but I eventually want to do some serious gardening, so I wanted water near the garden. They ran a line from the main to the garden for me and installed a frost free faucet at the edge of the garden and another one at the end. It will be so wonderful not to have to haul miles of hoses and carry buckets full of water.

And while all this activity was occuring I took on the fence line. It was overgrown in shrubs and underbrush and needed a general tidying up. I realized the time was now or never because the snakes and other creepy crawly things would soon be making it their home. So I attacked it with vigor. It didn't take me long to realize that a hand saw and a pair of loppers just wasn't enough ammunition, so I brought out the big guns.....a chain saw. I sliced through vines, scrub and saplings with ease, and to be honest, it was a lot of fun. Mainly, it did the job. The fence line is clear and now I have to get rid of the waste. Thank God for lighter fluid and matches.

So the weekend is here and I'm stiff as a board. It's suppose to rain though so I can sit back and relax, and dream of perfect landscapes and finished houses.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2010-03-25T20:26:00.007-05:00

Seems like everything is coming together at once as we enter the final stages here. It's been a busy, busy week.

Monday it snowed.

By Tuesday afternoon it was in the 60s and I had a bedroom door leading onto the porch.

While the weather was jumping around, the tile man came and started putting up the shower tile. It's going to have small colored cubes of tile where the black streaks are now.

And the porch decking got done and the siding started being applied.

Then this afternoon, a tornado headed right at it. That was......interesting. It went slightly south of us though, so everything is alright, and we had some beautiful sunset clouds.

Tomorrow, more siding and tile and no telling what else. Can't wait!

Plumbers and Porches, Mud and Jacks

2010-03-18T06:00:00.006-05:00

My goodness what a busy few days it has been. The plumber showed up first thing on Tuesday. Well actually, the plumbers showed up. There were six of them. Never seen so many of them at one time in my life. Even my builder was amazed. We finally figured out from chatting with them, that they are usually spread out over several jobs, but with the economy being what it is, I was it for the morning. Anyway, they went right to work. One was working on the utility sink, one on the refrigerator, one on the kitchen island, two on the bathroom and one on the sewage drain. I walked into the house once, and only two of them were standing there. There were a bunch of muffled voices under the floor. I couldn't imagine that many people packed in that little bitty space.

I looked like I had a party going because I think every one of them drove his own vehicle. There were trucks everywhere. As I told my builder, it was what every woman needed. A house full of men, all doing her bidding.By the end of the day, the entire job was done..... Except for the 20 feet of pipe that he underestimated. A little bit irritated about that he was.

So yesterday, he was back and finished up first thing. It took hardly any time and only three showed up. I have plumbing in place. Yahoo!!!

In the meantime, Builder and company were staying out of the way by working outside. They put in a mini French drain under the porch.

And then finally got started on that decking for the porch.

I LOVE my porch.

Yesterday after the plumber had left, they went down under also. The original plumbers had chopped a joist in two places to achieve their goals, and it had to be replaced. Word of advice---if you have having plumbing done, and you see your plumber headed under your house with a saw, stop him.

Over time, the lack of support and the wide expanse of the beams had caused the floor to sag, so they jacked it up and put in a support beam. Now the thing is solid as a rock.

And in the afternoon, they finished off the floor in the bathroom and hallway for today the tile man cometh. Everything was cleaned within an inch of its life, swept and vacuumed, and then ¼ inch plywood was glued and screwed down. Let the mudding begin!

Today, while the tile man is mudding, the guys are going to be jacking up the kitchen floor, which is suffering from the same abuse as the bathroom floor. Too wide and bad plumbers. It has a definite dip in it that you can feel when you walk across it. Has to be fixed. It's gonna be a long day.

Slow Start, Big Finish

2010-03-16T04:43:00.004-05:00

The devil is in the details.

It's been hard to post for the last week or so, not only because I've been busier than all get out away from the house, but also there aren't many pictures to post. Running five million errands in town is preventing me from getting a lot of pictures in a day, but to be honest, electrical wiring doesn't lend itself to a lot of action shots. And that's what the guys have been doing....wiring....lots and lots of wiring.

My dad was an electrical engineer and he taught me you can never have enough electrical outlets. That being the case I've got 'em everywhere. Where you think you would need one, I've put three and wished for four. But I will have power. As time goes on, I hope to add solar panels and generate some of my own, but that's for a future project. Right now, I just want to have a plug available when I need power.

So things may have been sluggish this week, but that is all about to change. The plumber is coming tomorrow and the tile man is coming on Thursday. Builder went and got the decking for the porch yesterday and he's dead set and determined that is going on like NOW! I ordered the flooring last week and it is suppose to be in this week and I am still running none stop, picking up supplies and parts. Throw in the fact that I've been taking my mom to the doctor and to get some lab tests done and grocery shopping and going to church and.....and.....and......Good Grief! No wonder I'm tired.

We had a scare in the geo-thermal department last week. We had a brown out that lasted about four hours back Saturday before this last. Nobody was at the house at the time to shut the system down and it went on the blink. The guys from the company came and set things right, but it was scarey to think that brand new system might have been fried. I know the procedures now, and it will be the first thing to be turned off in future power downs. I expect there to be a lot more as the weather warms up. Too many people on a decrepit old system is a sure bet.

So look for more soon. I'm expecting things to pick up rapidly.

Falling Behind

2010-03-10T06:14:00.004-06:00

Not the remodeling, just me. Seems like I never have enough time in the day to do everything that I'm wanting to.

Spring seems to be heading this way. The temps are warming up and all the bushes and trees are plumping up their buds. The sun has been really bright for a few days and the peepers are beginning to be heard at night. My thoughts are turning to landscaping and gardening.

On the home front, things are moving along. The guys have started working on the exterior siding. Well, actually, the porch roof to be exact. It's starting to look really good.

I went on a mad shopping spree a while back and bought a refrigerator, kitchen sink, ovens, a utility sink, bathroom sink, toilet, shower head, bath faucet, kitchen faucet, ceiling fans, outside wall sconces, and enough corkscrew light bulbs to keep me going for a while.

Some things I also had to special order, like the bathroom sink and toilet and the patio door that I'm putting in at my bedroom. I'm waiting for those to come in. The appliance place said they would hold my ovens, and fridge for a bit so they're not getting banged up during the building.

The problem is, I'm not through spending money. I still have to go buy my flooring, sheetrock, a dishwasher, tile for the bathroom, outside lights, porch fans and find a plumber, not to mention a tile layer. For someone who doesn't like to make decisions, this can all be a bit overwhelming. It's sort of like being a supervisor at work. I had hoped that I was getting away from all that, but I guess I'll have to hold on for a bit longer.

It's raining today, so the guys are going to be working inside today. Actually, the plan is to work under the floor. A section of the old part of the house has a dip due to age and needs to be jacked up. At least it's not in the rain.

I Have Heat!!!!

2010-02-28T04:36:00.002-06:00

It's a beautiful thing. They finished it up on Friday and it has been humming dutifully ever since. We sat the thermostat on 60 and the house is staying around 57. Considering the amount of holes in the walls and ceilings I'm very impressed with that. What I'm really excited about is the lack of mechanical noise. Just the sound of wind going into the intake. It's really nice.

In other parts of the house, the water heater is in place waiting to be plumbed in. The front door arrived.....finally! and the pantry windows got framed in and put into place.

Builder also built a ramp for Mama to easily access the house. Now, she says, she can get in and tell me how to finish it up right!

And in the meantime, Builder got a new toy....a turning plow, and nothing would do but that he turn up a garden spot for me. The robins went nuts looking for grubs and worms. It looked like the ground was moving there were so many of them in the spot.

The plot is huge, but that's okay. I know I won't be able to grow the whole thing, but it makes me feel better to have it. I may just end up growing weeds, but my intentions are good.

Progress

2010-02-20T19:04:00.004-06:00

It's been a short week, but a very productive one. The weather kept the guys from working on Monday and Tuesday, but everything cleared up on Wednesday and what a frenzy it was.

The geothermal guys showed up and trenched from the wells to the house, laid down the pipe and then filled it all in. Now it's just a matter of connecting the pipes to the unit in the house. Then I'll have heat! Whoohoo! Can't move in though, cause shortly thereafter the guys will be tearing up my bathroom, and I ain't living with a 5-gallon bucket and no shower.

While my backyard was being torn up, the west side porch was being built up. The roof went on and the tar paper went down and by Friday, shingles were being laid. It was a wonderful thing to see. I beginning to believe there may be a house in all this mayhem after all.

Roof On

Shingles Being Delivered

Shingles On

Digging the Trench

Laying the Pipe

The Finished Pad for the Unit

Catch Up

2010-02-15T19:39:00.009-06:00

I'm way behind in my posting, so I have a whole week plus to tell you about.

We have yet to get our three clear days, and the west porch is still not done, but it is started. The guys started out on Monday putting in the foundation.

They hadn't gotten much further when the rain started.

The rain forced the guys indoors, but there was plenty of work waiting there too. Mostly wiring. Not only are they wiring for new lighting and electricity in the new sections, but I'm getting all the old stuff taken out and replaced with new and updated. I take no chances with electricity.

By Wednesday, the rain had disappeared to be replaced by a bitter cold. Those guys are tough though and they went back out in it.

Thursday was a slow day. One of the guys was out for personal reasons and Builder was out also. That left one of the guys, who did lots of little odds and ends that needed to be done around the place. He cut all the rafters and put in a form for the cement pad in the back needed for my geothermal unit. All stuff that doesn't show up that much, but has to be done and is in reality very important.

Then Friday came. All three of the guys were back, and working hard. With good reason. Snow was on the way. According to the weathermen it was suppose to show up about noon. It came in around 10:00. It started with a flake here and there, then a few more, and then it came down in buckets. It was just a bit too soon, so we didn't get the roof on, but the rafters are up and eventually it will get done.

The snow and the cold has stayed over the weekend with more snow being added as we've gone along. Today, the temps didn't even get above freezing and ice is coating everything. Needless to say nothing got done on the porch today. Builder did come over though and did a bit of wiring. The ductwork guys came over also and finished up all the ductwork inside the house for the geothermal system. While they were doing that, the guy from the geothermal company came out and said if the weather cleared they would be out tomorrow and try to get the system up and running by the end of the week. It is so exciting. I may have heat by the end of the week!!!!!

Tomorrow is suppose to be the day that it starts to clear. Everybody is suppose to be there tomorrow working, so maybe things will be done soon. Whoohoo!!!!

Rot and Rain

2010-02-04T18:09:00.006-06:00

What a difference a day makes.

With all the excitement Monday, the rest of the week has almost seemed mundane. Almost.

With the porch roof up on the south side, we have now turned our attention to the west side. Builder has informed me that if he can get three clear days, the porch will be done. That's a mighty big IF these days.

Wednesday was cleanup day. They moved all the salvage wood off the west side of the house, and piled all the kindling off to the side. Then they moved the shrubbery from in front of the house. It's all been with the house from the beginning, so I'm trying to save it if I can. Only time will tell.

It was a beautiful but cold day and things were going quiet nicely. I knew it was too good to last.

They started removing the old front stoop and that's where we found it. Rot. Real rot. Lots of rot. Deep rot. Everything came to a standstill as I watched little dollar signs with wings being sucked into the cold clear air. It wasn't a pretty sight. I'm not a contractor, builder, carpenter or even a whittler, but even I knew this was going to require some major overhauling. I knew there would be jacks and creaking joints involved, along with saws, drills, nails and screws. It was getting uglier by the second.

I could so have done without this. If it was as bad as we thought, they would have to go under the house, jack it up and start pulling and cutting and replacing boards. Not to mention two or three days of really hard labor for my crew.

We just decided to leave that part for the next day and finished cleaning off the west side.

Today didn't open on a promising note.

It was raining. Lots. I gotta give my crew credit though. They didn't let that stop them. They just hunched up and went to work in it.

Then the news got better. The rot was not as bad as originally feared. It could be fixed without jacking up the house. In fact, it only took about three hours to get the job done. Even though it was pouring down rain, the sun was shining in my world.

Then work really started moving. Builder was designing wiring, and the crew closed in where the door had been and framed in the window that will eventually go there. They also framed in where the new front door will go.

We're still moving forward.

Digging Down and Building Up

2010-02-02T21:14:00.010-06:00

Wow, what a way to start a week!

I pulled into my driveway Monday to find this sitting there, along with five other vehicles and seven men milling around. I actually had to park in the road because I couldn't get in my driveway.

The appearance of this behemoth caused quiet an increase in the traffic by my house and my truck being out there didn't help the flow at all. Luckily it was quickly moved into the back yard and I had room to park in my own yard.

This contraption is in reality a well drilling rig and it was there to put down the wells for my geothermal system. I wasn't expecting it for a couple of days so needless to say it was unexpectedly exciting at my house. Caused quiet a stir in the neighborhood too. I actually had neighbors out on their porches down the road watching the commotion. Nothing like being the center of attention.

So in quick order they drillers placed the machine in my back yard, raised the drill and went to work. Hole #1 went in directly east of the driveway. They hit water at 50 feet down which is truely amazing in this area and stayed in water the rest of the way down the 200 feet required for the well. Isn't that typical? When you want a dry well you get water, but if we had been looking for water it probably would have been dry.

So an hour and a half, two drill bits and 200 feet later, Hole#1 was done. I could not believe how fast they were.....and how loud. I was stuffing cotton in my ears and I still got a headache.

In the meantime, the builders were steadily putting on my porch roof. They had the best view of operations.

After finishing Hole#1, the drillers moved the rig 20 feet to the north and started in on Hole#2. Wouldn't you know it. Dry as a bone. Lots of limestone, with a start of sandstone and a small pocket of coal to make things interesting.

Another hour and a half and two more drill bits and they were done. They were pulling out of the drive by 2:30. It was amazing. Course they would have left sooner if they hadn't gotten the rig stuck in all the mud that had unfrozen while they were working.

It was a free for all at that point, with loads of gravel, broken cement blocks and logs and pieces of scrap wood all being used to give traction. Nothing like grown men playing in the mud with large engines. But it worked and in the end, it finally lumbered its way down my driveway and out of sight, leaving me with a pile of limestone dust and some unbelievably large ruts in my yard.

The pipes had been lowered into the holes, the holes were back filled and now it is just a matter of connecting the pipes to the unit that was put in the house last week. Maybe I'll have heat soon in spite of everything.

And through all the commotion and noise, a porch roof was added to the house. It's really looking awesome and that porch is going to be my favorite hangout spot weather permitting.

Yesterday, the decking on the roof was finished and the weatherproofing was laid down. Today we start on the west side.

Porches and Air Conditioning

2010-01-28T20:28:00.005-06:00

The camera is back in action!

The guys are working on the porch. They dug and started pouring the footings earlier in the week and yesterday they got the first joists down for the porch itself.

Today they started putting up the posts and were working on getting rafters ready for tomorrow when the end of the day arrived.

In the meantime, the HVAC guys arrived to put in the ductwork for the new heating and cooling system. And the guys from Southern Solar brought over the geothermal unit that eventually went into the ceiling.

Slowly but surely it's all coming together.

Disaster!

2010-01-26T21:09:00.002-06:00

My camera is temporarily out of commission so I won't be able to publish photos for a few days. As soon as I have it back up and running, I'll let you see what is going on.

For now, it will have to be just words.

Today they started working on the footings for the porch. The porches are going to be eight feet across, perfect size for rocking chairs and swings. They got the pilings dug and all but two of the footings poured. Tomorrow they will finish that up and start working on the framework.

The geothermal unit is on hold for a bit longer. It's just too boggy to get the drill truck in right now. We've rescheduled for next week, but its suppose to rain again this weekend so we may have to put it off again. We'll see. In the meantime, the ductwork guy is still planning to come tomorrow and do the inside of the house.

Otherwise things are going well. My neighbor came home from the hospital, my garlic has survived the deluge this weekend and the roof didn't leak during the rain.

Life is good.

Walls, Mud and Other Mundane Things

2010-01-24T19:19:00.004-06:00

I didn't post this week because I was just washed out. I had too many decisions to make and that takes way toooo much out of me. I'm not the decision making type.

But aside from trying to place lights and ceiling fans, pick colors, determine wall coverings and flooring material, not to mention everything that goes on the outside of the house, we had to finish placing all the walls of the interior of the house.

So first we had to finish tearing out the old kitchen part. The cabinets came out, as did the waterheater and then we stripped out the sheetrock.

Before

After

And then with a new wall.

Then, at last, the final wall. We had taken down the living room wall where the exterior wall used to be, and moved it back a few feet to give me more room in the big room. We got the wall up, what used to be the living room will now be storage and I'm turning the corner we opened up into a reading nook.

We also added easy access to the ceiling.

So today I went to clean up because tomorrow they are suppose to put the ductwork in for my new heating and cooling system. I'm putting in geothermal instead of standard HVAC. So I took the girls with me for them to explore their new home. Once Lovely found the windows I got a thumbs up and a "Mom, when can we move in!"

They were suppose to drill the wells for the new system on Tuesday, but the last two days have been nothing but buckets of rain so that will probably have to be put off until later. If we tried that now, the drill truck will be up past its axles in mud.

So tomorrow is ductwork and the beginnings of the porch roof. The cold is coming back in just as the guys have to go back outside. But work continues, and slowly but surely a house is emerging.

Wood and Bricks

2010-01-15T17:07:00.003-06:00

Thursday was a high water mark day. They got the interior wall out! It actually used to be the south exterior wall of the house, located under the carport. Since we enclosed the carport, it became an interior wall that has been interfering with my vision during this whole operation. Now it's gone (the wall) and the vision has free reign.

This is what the wall looked like before it went down.

And this is what it looked like after the work was done.

I laughed at Builder. He's such a perfectionist that he had built the support beam in the ceiling so well that when they took the vertical support beam out, the ceiling wouldn't settle to rest on the support beam they had built to hold everything up, until I can decide how I want to work that corner. They actually had to work to get my ceiling to sag. How weird is that?

Today the old chimney came down. I would have like to keep it, but it was chinked and too much of a fire hazard. The bricks came down easy enough, and were in fairly good shape. I'm going to take them and make the heat pad for my wood stove out of them. They will look wonderful and be a continuation of the old house into the new.

Taking out the bricks.

Before in the ceiling.

After in the ceiling

Anyway, things are rolling right along. I can't wait to see what the coming days and weeks bring.

Doors, Windows and Aching Bones

2010-01-13T19:43:00.004-06:00

It's been an interesting week. On Monday, along with the windows the guys put in a side door for me. While they went on to work more on the ceiling, I put in the lock and the deadbolt. I stepped out of the door and hit a block wrong and it folded up on me. I went sailing. Luckily, I landed on a strip of insulation which helped to absorb some of the shock, but today I am feeling some of the effects of an old and out of shape woman arcing about six feet through the air and landing prone on her side.

Nonetheless, we got the door up and the locks on. We also got the roof shored up and the final windows in. Like I said, it's been interesting.

Putting in the door I eventually fell out of.

Putting up interior support beams to replace the downward beams where the old carport used to be. Eventually all of that will be inside the ceiling and out of sight. The wall underneath the beams will be history too.

And we finally got the north windows open and installed. The whole room opened up when we cut out the Tyvek and made the frames ready. I am soooooo going to love this room!

And at the end of the day, all of the windows (14)were in and the house is looking awesome.

Tomorrow there is more ceiling work to do and the chimney is suppose to come out too. Once that is all done, we can finally take out the interior wall and there will be nothing to interfere with the vision. The excitement is building!

I Have Windows!!!!!

2010-01-11T22:18:00.004-06:00

This is just so cool!! To actually have windows and be able to see outside. It's a wonderful thing. My builder got a call this morning saying the windows were in so after doing some rafter and hip work where the old carport used to be, they loaded up and went to town, bringing back 14 windows (yes, you read that right, 14) and two doors. They got five of the windows in facing east and tomorrow we will get five more in facing south and four in facing north. I will have a room of glass. But it is going to be so awesome.

The Reason We Quit

2010-01-10T07:47:00.002-06:00

It may not look like much to my northern readers, but down here it's a lot. Not to mention this was when it first started and more importantly, there's a sheet of ice underneath it all.

Best of all, it looks pretty for a few days and then it goes away. We are suppose to be back into the 40s and even low 50s by the end of next week. Lots of good working weather.

Busy Week at the Farmette

2010-01-08T07:28:00.005-06:00

I haven't had much time to post this week as I've been running here and there and everywhere. Busy, busy busy.

We're down to details and whoever said that the devil was in the details wasn't kidding. What kind of lighting do I want? We have to put a load bearing post in this area somewhere. Where do you want it? What do you want it to look like? What kind of flooring are you going to be using? Where do you want your electrical outlets? How many? What are the rough-in measurements for the front door? Where do you want your roof access? Sheetrock or wood? Wood or tile? Where? What? How much? When? Why?

Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm better now.

Even with my brain on overload and smoke coming out my ears, I'm excited. I'm finally beginning to see the house that I thought this could be. Now I'm wanting it to be in a hurry so I can get back in it and actually be there.

So this week, they finished up the roof and wrapped the new addition up in Tyvek to keep out the wind.

Then with the outside done for the time being, we moved in out of the wind. What a joy! (And with temps below freezing and a stiff wind from the north west, I mean that with all sincerity.

I took this picture from where the end of the old carport was, facing east out into the new addition. When the room is done, the header in the middle where the old carport used to end will be done, and the wall to the left will be gone. My kitchen should be about where the wall is, the dining and sitting area will be in the new addition with all the windows and I've got my back up against where the front door will be. There will also be a door to the right, leading out onto a nice big porch full of rockers.

In the meantime, the guys drug a kerosene heater into the new addition and finally got to work in bearable temps. With the wind gone, and heat blasting into the closed space, it was almost nice.

No time to set and enjoy though. Starting making room for wiring and deciding on types of lighting. Some of the old rafters needed to be replaced so they had to come down.

But even being indoors wouldn't keep Old Man Weather from trying to do us in.......and succeeding. Thursday started out with an artic cold blast and shortly after sunrise, the white "stuff" started falling from the sky. And kept falling......and falling......and falling.

That wouldn't have stopped my bunch because they are an intrepid group, but the snow wasn't the problem. It was the ice underneath it that did us in. The youngest member of the team nearly spun out getting to work, and one of the guys actually had to drive down the mountain to get home. Coming up wasn't exactly a picnic and going down was going to be worse.

Then Builder's wife called and it took her 20 minutes to go 1/4 mile at the foot of the mountain. That ended it. We gave up and called it quits for the day and for the week. The temps are continuing to drop as is the snow and we're suppose to be in single digits for the rest of the weekend. We turned off the water, drained the pipes, stuffed holes with insulation and called it a day.

Next week, we begin again. Charge!!!

All Wrapped Up

2010-01-04T19:14:00.003-06:00

Geez, it was cold today. What a way to start the new year.

It never reached freezing, but my guys are tough and they were out in it. Not only out in it, but up in it. They put on roofing today. It's really beginning to look like a house. Not two sections.

First they laid down the roofing and joined it to the old part of the house.

Then they covered it with tar paper to keep the wind and rain out and the warmth in.

And by the end of the day, they had it all wrapped up.

Tomorrow they should finish the back side of the roof on the addition and then they can work inside. Good thing too, as we are going down in the single digits by the end of the week and the dreaded S word has popped up again, this time with accumulation. Brrrrrr.......

It's Starting To Look A Lot Like A House

2009-12-31T04:21:00.003-06:00

The devil is in the details. That seems to be what today was. Details, details, details. I'm so very lucky however, that I have a builder who is an honest conscience man who worries about the details.....in detail. He makes sure that everything is going together just right, solid and level.

And my house is actually starting to look like a house. With trusses in place, walls up and windows framed, one can actually see what we are aiming to accomplish here.

First he cut off the old roof vent and then plugged it. There is more work to do there later as a past leak has caused rot damage to the hip beam, but for now, it is shaped and plugged. The repair work will be done when the new section attaches to the old.

My kitchen window went missing when they started to join the new to the old on the east side. Eventually, the wall to the right of the window is going to disappear entirely and be a corner leading into the new section and the window opening will grow up to be a door.

At the end of the day, however, you can really see what is going on. The more it comes together, the more I believe I made the right decision to get this done now. It just feels right.

Once again, this proved to be a short week due to a combination of holiday, bad weather and rut season. So the year is coming to a close with so much left undone, but so much promise for the time still to come.

Happy New Year all!!!

All Trussed Up

2009-12-29T20:47:00.003-06:00

I didn't get to spend much time at the house today as I was running around picking up supplies, dropping off equipment and taking my mom to the doctor. I did get back just as the crew was leaving though to find all the trusses up in the new section of the house.

Hopefully, we can get these covered tomorrow as the bad weather is suppose to move in tomorrow afternoon. And even better...we can join the old and the new and make it one.

Trusses

2009-12-28T19:33:00.006-06:00

The work this week started with a bang.

The guys went to work immediately and finished putting up the wafer board over the framing. Then they got busy and started building trusses.

Didn't take them long and they were moving the first one into place.

And we did it all under the light of a silvery moon.

After they got the first truss up, they built three more but kept them on the ground. They will go up first thing in the morning. The rush is on now to get some work done, because the rain is moving back in on Wednesday and "they" are even using the S word for Friday. I don't doubt it because it was painfully cold today and it isn't going to get any better as the week goes along. But we did get started and it's really starting to look like a real house. It's exciting!!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T22:17:00.004-06:00

Week Six came to a close early due to the holiday, but...... so much got accomplished. They finished all the framing before they called it quits.

We got the front door framed.

And we got the south door framed.

And at the end of the day, the whole new addition, plus the old part of the house was framed and ready to be covered in siding.

So tomorrow while Builder is stalking Bambi in the latest monsoon to hit the area, I'll be pouring over door books, trying to pick out THE ONE that will grace the front of my house and say welcome to my guests. It's proving to be harder than I thought. You'd think you could just go in, say I want a door and that would be it. Oh no!! Not so. You have to pick out steel, wood, or fiberglass, chose between five dozen types of glass, full, 3/4, 1/2 or top only glass mount, not to mention all the mountings, caning, and hardware. Do I want side lights, top lights, any? Geez!!

So Christmas is here and I have all these decisions to make. That's okay though. I have so much to be thankful for. I am blessed with friends and family that love me, a house of my own, food in my tummy, and clothes on my back. I have more than enough and am surrounded by love.

Merry Christmas to all. I wish you as much and more.

I've Been Framed!!!!!!

2009-12-21T17:36:00.003-06:00

It's a beautiful thing.

The sun came out today and the temps went up into the 50s and it was sooooo nice. The guys arrived early and went to work. It didn't take long to get things up and running.

The guys weren't throwing together just a plain wall, though. They were doing specialized work because the wall is going to be an entire bank of windows. I'm going to have an unbelievable view. It's all very exciting.

This is the east side.

And this is the view I will have.

So instead of nailing up long boards, the guys spent a lot of time, nailing together headers.

But at the end of the day, you could see the walls starting to form and get a pretty good idea of what is going to happen.

Tomorrow the weather is suppose to be clear again, so they should be able to make good progress. Then when the rain moves back in on Wednesday evening hopefully, we will have some type of cap on it to keep things dry. We'll see how things develop.

Three Day Weekend

2009-12-18T21:19:00.002-06:00

No work today as it is pouring buckets here. It's snowing just north of here so I guess we are lucky. We put up a covering and a splash guard over the exposed decking yesterday before ending work and I am so glad I did. It means the decking is dry and the crawlspace isn't filling up with water. I love having a conscientious builder who thinks to do things like that. He is a good man.

So instead of watching wall building, I spent my day doing laundry, cooking and cleaning. I think I would have like the wall building better. It was a good day for it though and tonight I have the Christmas tree up and decorated.

Floors!!!!

2009-12-17T20:44:00.003-06:00

The subflooring is in. The guys went and got supplies this morning so they didn't start until around noon, but it went quickly after they starting putting the wafer board down.

And in between nailings there was always the painful sitting position.

But when they finally joined the new floor to the old, it was just about perfect.

And when the day was done, I had a beautiful subfloor in.

Tomorrow we are on to the walls.

Above Ground

2009-12-16T19:19:00.005-06:00

We are up out of the mud!! It's cold but we are not wet. Life is good.

Monday was a day of getting supplies and doing small things that didn't really seem like a lot but are very important. The guys spend a few hours in town getting materials for this week's activities. Then they came in and put plastic down in the crawlspace and painted the foundation blocks with Dryloc to help keep the moisture out. I have the world's prettiest crawlspace.

On Tuesday the center beam was put together and placed on the pilings and then the joists started being fitted into place with the spacers.

So by the end of today all the joists were up and a the floor is beginning to take shape. Tomorrow they will start laying down the decking.

The Foundation of My Home

2009-12-12T21:26:00.009-06:00

What a week! It started out pretty good with blocks getting laid on the footings, just like they should be.

Most of the first row of blocks was laid that first day. Then Tuesday came.

A front moved in during the night and with it rain. Lots of rain. Lots and Lots of rain. Work was impossible. Builder was in and out pumping out water and that was about all the work that got done that day.

When Wednesday came the damage was visible. The blocks that had been laid on Monday were totally underwater. The crawlspace was a minor swimming pool. The guys were slopping around in muck for the entire day.

A good portion of the day was spent pumping water.

But life goes on and so does the work. Wednesday dawned sunny, but cold and very windy. One of the guys was out due to taking care of flooding at his home, but the two left wrapped up and went at it. And slowly but surely, a foundation wall started to emerge.

When Friday arrived, it was just a matter of capping off the backside of the wall, cleaning out the crawlspace and putting a drain down along the outside of the wall. It was all done and by the end of the day and the end of the week, a real foundation was in place.

So the fourth week came to a close with the foundation in place. Next week we will be laying wood down. I'm beginning to see the vision become a reality. Stay tuned.

Footings.......At Last!

2009-12-05T17:20:00.000-06:00

I have footings!!! Whoohoo!!! The guys came in on Friday morning and worked like mad all day to get it done before the weekend. They suceeded.

First they finished digging the trenches.

Then they laid rebar and stationed it to be inside the concrete.

The cement truck showed up at 3:30.

Then the hard work really began. The guys had to work really really fast once the cement started to flow.

And right in the middle of all of this, an ugly cold front was moving in with a cutting wind and snow in the forecast.

But the work got done, and by 5:00 the cement was in and laid. The truck left and the third week came to an end.

So the footings are in and a great thing it is too, because..............

We had snow this morning!!!! We only got a couple of inches and it was gone by noon, but it was snow just the same and early in the year for such. Builder swears he'll be laying blocks on Monday whether it is raining or not. We'll see.........

Mud, Mud, Mud and more Mud

2009-12-04T11:21:00.000-06:00

Well, we haven't gotten much work done this week because we are awash in mud. And it's cold to boot. The guys came out and dug some more on the footings but the trenches kept flooding due to the downpours so they finally gave it up and we spent the rest of the week pumping out yucky water.

The dirt is red clay so it's holding water really well. One of the guys was skiing across it using a shingle as his board. I think a new redneck sport has been invented!

It's suppose to snow tomorrow and they are talking rain all next week, so who knows when we'll get concrete down. We'll see...........

Activity!

2009-12-01T20:25:00.000-06:00

The sun came out today and so did the Builder. They cranked up early and measured out the addition, put up the strings and started digging the footings.

The digging was ugly work. The ground is hard packed red clay. The original house had settled less than 1/4 inch in 45 years and now we know why. That is some thick dirt.

Unfortunately, the rain is suppose to come back in tonight and that can spell trouble for red clay trenches. If water gets in those things we may never get them dried out. The guys rigged a sort of shelter out of tarps. Hopefully, they will do the job and I won't have my own personal moat in the morning.

So if it doesn't rain tomorrow, they will be doing more digging. If it rains, I have no idea what they may be doing. The weather man seemed very positive about the rain too. In fact, he even mentioned the S word for Friday. Who knows, maybe we'll have a white Christmas this year. Just as long as it doesn't stop the building!

See everybody tomorrow..........

Washout!!!

2009-11-30T18:40:00.001-06:00

Today was a total washout. Literally. It rained hard all day, so the footings didn't get dug and nothing got done. (sigh) The clouds cleared out this afternoon so hopefully, tomorrow will be a more productive day.

Something I forgot to mention in my first post was the heating and cooling situation. The central unit that I currently have on the house has been nothing but a PITA since I got the house. The unit was new, but it was installed incorrectly and it's been giving me trouble from day one. It bit the dust again a couple of weeks ago just as I was needing heat. I finally found somebody who knows what they are doing with HVAC and called them to fix it. The motor on the fan was frozen up. While they were fixing it, they found that the unit had a 60 amp breaker on it, but it was wired with a 40 amp wire. It's a wonder the house hadn't burned down. Honestly. I know the guy that installed the unit. I went to school with him. I wasn't impressed with him back then and I'm even less so now. All I can say is that its a good thing he was nowhere to be found when they told me about the wiring.

So back to the original problem. No heat. Do I throw more money at the current situation or do I do something totally different. The problem is that just fixing the motor is not going to solve the problem because the current unit is not big enough to handle the house with the new addition, so I will have to put in a new unit, new wiring and new duct work. If I've got to do all that, I decided that I would check out something different, so....... I'm checking out putting in a geothermal heating and cooling system. It would cost more up front, but the operating costs are almost non-existent and it cuts your water heating costs by about 3/4. I'm there. Anyway, I got the man from Southern Solar to come out and take the measurements and he is suppose to get me an estimate this week on how much it would cost to install.

I love the idea of the geothermal unit and eventually I want to install solar for electricity which helps enormously. The geothermal would put way less of a load on the panels. Unfortunately, the electric co-op that I'm under doesn't allow grid tie-ins so I either have to be on grid or totally off.

My little farmette is becoming the great experiment. I'll keep you posted.

The Start of It All

2009-11-28T21:14:00.000-06:00

I'm renovating my house. Big time. And since I have so many friends scattered all over the country, instead of sending out 500 emails I decided to venture into the world of blogging to let everyone know what is going on in my world.

I retired in July and moved home from across the country. My furniture arrived on Sept 30th and it became obvious immediately that things were not going to work out as were. The orginal plan was to live in the house for a year and then do a full renovation. The idea was good and it could have been done, but......... The furniture fit but I would have been really uncomfortable for a year, so being the flexible person that I am, I made a quick executive decision that the renovation needed to be done NOW!

At first, I was thinking, maybe just a bit here and then I could take a breather and a few months later do something else. As I began to get serious about what I wanted to do to the house, I realized so many of the things were intertied that doing it in bits and pieces would just not be practical. So it was all or nothing.

I knew who I wanted to do the work, so I got in touch with him and told him I needed help. He came over and we spent a couple of hours going over the existing structure. He's great to work with. My knowledge of construction is limited at best, but I know what I want the end product to look like, so he tells me just to keep talking and sooner or later he'll see the same vision I do.

He agreed to start work on November 9, but circumstances ended up interferring with that and we actually started on the 16th.

So here's what I'm starting with:

The house is a two-bedroom, one-bath that was originally built in 1963. With the carport it's about 1,100 square feet. The kitchen is original and hasn't been updated ever and with my love of cooking that just wasn't going to work. It's also, in reality, a four room house - the two bedrooms, a living room and the kitchen. The bathroom was more a closet space even though it did contain a small bathtub, a sink and a toilet. I could literally stand in the middle and touch both opposing walls at the same time. Not to put too fine a point on it, but sitting on the toilet could become a real adventure in flexibility.

So the 16th arrived and work began. As with all building projects, destruction had to take place before construction could start. I think Builder was afraid that the mess generated would overwhelm me, but it takes a lot to panic me. I just accepted it as a fact of life and let it go.

The first to go was the small add-on room that was being used as a laundry. It had been added to the original stucture sometime in the 70s and was in pretty bad shape. It hadn't been put together all that well, and wear and tear was showing. Even if I hadn't been redoing the whole house, that would have had to go.

Next it was the concrete.....and more concrete........and more concrete..........and more concrete. What we thought was a thin floating pad that the laundry room was sitting on, turned out to be a foot thick slab with rather interesting fill items. Then when they starting digging out the addition crawl space, we ran into more concrete. Apparently, when they laid down the slab they took all leftover concrete and spread it out from the end of the carport. Over the years it had gotten covered with dirt and we had no idea it was there.......unfortunately.

So, two weeks have expired, interrupted only by a holiday and hunting season. The concrete has been busted, the crawl space has been dug, the carport roof is propped up, some of the siding is off and a good portion of sheetrock in the south end of the house has been removed.

Tomorrow it starts again. The plan is to measure off the walls and dig in the footings. I'll be posting more as it goes along.