Yesterday was a nightmare!
Let me start off by saying that we are thoroughly enjoying having our best friends here for Christmas and New Years. The boys have made a HUGE dent in the disaster that we called a shop.With everything going on for the past 6-9 months, it became so overwhelmingly out of control I had to wonder how on earth we'd ever get a handle on it. Fortunately I didn't have to worry.
Jeremiah and I started on the insulation and plywood a couple of weeks ago but that was put on hold when the house went up for rent and we spent pretty much every waking minute showing it to perspective tenants. I'm happy to report we have new tenants in but that hasn't come without its fair share of work. Not on their part, just last minute things we needed to get done that turned out to take a bit longer than anticipated. We found a leak in the roof due to the cold cedar shingle shifting. We had considered replacing the leaking part with new cedar shingles but the insurance company much prefers to see asphalt shingles and while the cedar does look nice, in the end it's cheaper and more leak resistant to go with good quality asphalt shingles. The downfall is that this is NOT the time of year to be roofing! Jeremiah spent a Saturday installing about a 100 square foot section to cover the leaking portion and it should be good to go until spring when we can get back up there and do the remaining. It will also be a good time to re-stain the shop as well and I think having some gravel dumped wouldn't be a bad thing either!
So, back to yesterday's fiasco. Well even before that. The tenant moved in a week ago Friday and the shower head upstairs suddenly wanted to spit and do nothing more so he used the downstairs shower until we could get a replacement (next day) but then the valve on the downstairs shower went kaput and was allowing water to flow out of the shower head. Fortunately one whole unit was able to fix both since the shower head downstairs was a really nice rainfall type and all it needed was a new valve and the shower head in the kit replaced the shower head upstairs. Super!
Wednesday I was out grocery shopping for the Christmas meal and Jeremiah and Frank had taken off for Lowes I think. I got back to hear the tenant had called saying the downstairs toilet was overflowing. Jeremiah rushed over there as soon as he heard, pulled the toilet and figured there was a clog in the line. The tenant told him to go home andit could be dealt with on Friday after Christmas. I figured we'd call out a plumber to snake the line to save us the trouble but figured one wouldn't be able to arrive until later in the day being busy after Christmas. Jeremiah scheduled the plumber for afternoon but called to find out if that would be suitable only to learn now everything was backing up including the downstairs shower. We rushed out to buy a snake thinking it may very well likely be roots in the line and could potentially be near the septic.
It turned out to be a bit more complicated than that. we were at Lowes first thing to buy a mechanical snake and new wax ring for the downstairs toilet that Jeremiah pulled and a new valve since it was leaking too apparently. We checked the clean out to see if there was standing water and sure enough, there was a lot! So that meant a clog somewhere from the leach lines forward. We pulled the cover to the septic, it was at a good level and no overflowing which ruled out the leach lines. Dug up the inlet and the main septic line from the house, unhooked it from the septic and sure enough, roots were clogging the inlet to the septic. Jeremiah got that cleared which allowed all the backed up water in the line to flow which we had hoped was the issue. We went back inside to reset the toilet (and I cleaned the bathroom thoroughly with bleach) except we had bought the wrong valve so I had to go back to Lowes for the right one, while I did that Jeremiah installed another receptacle in the laundry. There was just a stacked washer/dryer unit it it before and only one receptacle was necessary. They had a set. When I got back, we reset the toilet, fixed the valve and while the toilet started out flushing a little sluggish, it seemed to pick up after a couple flushes until we were satisfied all was good.
Jeremiah headed upstairs to see what may be the issue up there (if any) and came back with not so great news. That toilet wasn't flushing well at all and the drain in the upstairs shower was slow too. We decided that maybe with everything backing up, there was a clog and it may be best to pull the toilet and snake that line but that meant a new wax ring would be required which meant I needed to head to Lowes...again. By the time I got back, Jeremiah said the snake was stuck which was not music to my ears. After 20 minutes struggling with the thing he was able to get it unstuck but up with it came about a 5 lb. root ball! Not good!! We reset the toilet not wanting to chance sending the snake back down for fear of it getting stuck again, cleaned up and headed back outside to see if he couldn't feed it up through the main line clean out. It meant digging back some on the plumbing to take off the angled portion that pointed toward the septic. We needed to go in the direction of the house. I had to head home to do chores and got back in time to hear that another root ball had been removed, not as big as what came out upstairs but that the toilets were flowing super well now and he was confident everything was good. We got some copper sulfate down the line to help kill any more roots and I hope that takes care of that.
The tenants were in Wichita all day and got home just as we were finishing up, merciful as ever saying it wasn't a big deal. I cannot say I'd be nearly as forgiving given that the whole entire houses plumbing was completely unusable and with 4 boys under 13 including a toddler, that's just not my idea of "no big deal". A major peace offering is in order I'd say and the 2 loads of their towels I washed and dried is nowhere NEAR adequate compensation as far as I'm concerned!
It was cold yesterday (32 degrees) and we were in and out, made some huge holes in the yard getting part of the septic, lines and clean out dug up. I was exhausted last night and when the snake was stuck, it was a pretty low point in the whole day.
Fortunately, everything seems to be flowing and working well and I hope it continues that way. We just weren't putting the normal "strain" that regular household use - washing machine, dishwasher, showers, flushing, etc.- would put on a system so flushing the toilet or running some water down the line was never enough to back it up so we had no idea. By the time we were back, it had all had a chance to percolate through the root clogs. I feel so badly that the new tenants were the guinea pigs for the plumbing! I guess all's well that ends in a well though and hope that no other issue come up. I am so grateful to have tenants who have been so patient and understanding!
This morning has been major clean up after gifts and eating and having 8 people in the house. Our friends headed north for a couple days to visit other friends so it's pretty quiet around here. It's so cold out though and it's only going to get colder. The kids have been very good though and all in all it's been fairly quiet around here!
The electric ("invisible") dog fence has been unplugged for a bit and last night Snow took advantage of that fact and headed up to the garage to help herself to the turkey carcass I had set out there with full intention of taking it out this morning. She broke a glass bowl that was waiting to come in to be washed and overall made a mess! I cleaned that up this morning and plugged the fence back in. It's always something, it seems!
We still have not gotten much wood split! We've sot of been limping along a little on what we had left but overall, the weather has been pretty nice surprisingly! But the next 2 weeks isn't looking anywhere near as nice and we'll need to get something done. The weatherman is calling for wind chills potentially in the negative 20's to 30's. YUCK! The wood stove cannot keep up with wind chills that cold but it can help to keep it burning full blast so ease what propane is used in the furnace. With the wood stove running full blast and the furnace as back up, it stays plenty warm. We save the hedge wood (osage orange) we have split for cold like that because it likely has one of the best BTU outputs of all of the most common burning woods, even over oak (which we don't have), black walnut and locust (which we do and those burn well too). Couple that with most of what we have being very well seasoned and that makes it burn loooooooong and hot.
At any rate, I'll have my last "2 weeker" doctor's appointment on the 7th of January when I switch to once a week. I think these next few weeks will go very quickly and that's a bit scary! I've not had much time to sew and I really had hoped to have at least my newborn diaper stash ready to go! I'm struggling with what kind of system I want, wanting to stay away from fitteds and covers but I just can't help but go back to my old standbys even if I've made 4 dozen accented prefolds to use as lay in soakers already! I've just not been real happy with the All In Two waterproof shells. Maybe in the next 3 weeks I'll have a little downtime yet still and can get that all wrapped up.
We've figured out a routine for the animals to lessen the work on Jeremiah once baby makes his/her arrival. It's a pretty low work load as it is right now but we'll still bite the bullet on waste and just allow the goats free access to a couple round bales. I am feeling tired and it's getting harder and harder to roll over in bed but overall, I feel I have done more than an adequate job keeping up with my workload I maintained before pregnancy.
On side note completely unrelated, I just got up to reheat some left over mashed potatoes and noticed the last of the pies sitting on the stove beckoning someone's pie loving name. I started out making pies from scratching, including crusts, when I was about 12 I guess. I had always made crust with butter and while good, now at 34 I have completely switched to lard and that last few crusts I have made strictly with lard and not butter or a combination have come out far superior, been far less finicky about being warm, are easier to roll because of the temp and come out just as tender and flaky as the old butter crusts. I can only imagine that they will be twice a great if I would have had home rendered lard from our own hog(s) available to use instead of still frozen solid in the freezer waiting to be rendered!
I suppose I'll get back to cleaning and general picking up. Somehow I've managed to stay on top of the laundry despite it all which is not always something I am not always so great at. Jeremiah is over at the other house filling in ditches, I assume. The kids are camped in the living room where the wood stove has it the perfect temperature for taking a nap!
Hope you had a Merry Christmas! We're looking forward to New Year celebrations!
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
Bad blogger
Where I found time to blog in the past I don't know, it seems non-existent now!
Busy times! The "other house", as we call it, is done. I find photos daunting to upload here and to photobucket. Facebook seems to be the way to go but I'll put a few on here just to appease myself, and maybe you, if you care to see them.
The house seemed to take forever. I won't say we bit off more than we can chew, it turned out lovely and we are very pleased. The garage still has a bunch of stuff in it that needs to be moved out but the trailer needs to be taken to the dump across town first! There are also a bunch of telephone poles left from when they hacked down the old shop. I cringe when I think of why anyone would do such a thing!!! It wasn't very old! It was a pole barn style. Telephone poles were set in the ground, concrete slab poured around. Stringers of lumber (likely 2x4's) were attached horizontally and metal siding attached to that. They just took down the metal, lumber and took a skill saw to the telephone poles leaving a concrete slab and probably lowering the worth of the property by several thousand dollars! The problem is that the telephone poles are inside of the slab portion. New poles could be set to the outside, new concrete could be poured to fill in the gap and a new shop could be erected again but why someone would do such a thing is just a...well, it's criminal. Perhaps that was the intention. Given that this house was a foreclosure, maybe the prior residents figured they could make a buck off the metal. Who knows the why's, but it's a shame nonetheless. We are not going to put up a shop, maybe if we were ever going to sell it (which potentially some day down the road) but at least the concrete is there is someone ever wanted to and that right there is worth a small fortune!
The weather has been on again off again cold. Last week I got the carpets cleaned in the house. It turned bitter on that Tuesday. We had the propane guy out on Monday to check the lines. The tank is owned but no company will fill it unless they have inspected everything. Everything checked out. It was cool in the house Tuesday despite it being below freezing but it wasn't bad. I set the furnace to 50 so I could be sure the pipes wouldn't freeze and we didn't get back to the house until the weekend. The furnace hadn't worked all week!!! That could have been a disaster, let me tell you! We know! When we first bought the house and had a plumbing inspector out there he turned on the water and due to frozen pipes at some point before the bank had the house winterized, water spewed from the downstairs bathroom pipes into the bathroom. Ahhhh, the joys of that! A bunch of drywall was removed ASAP to prevent mold.
It's move in ready now and I am glad to be finished. We have things left undone here at our own house having spent every waking minute of the weekends at the other. Winter is quickly approaching and we're down to about 2 weeks left on our wood supply! We have piglets in with the sow and gilt that have to be moved otherwise they will take a year to get to process weight. Lucky we have a pen and pasture for them made up already, and technically we have a shelter we could move in for them but that's just a temporary solution as it's only big enough for one 250 lb. pig and will NOT be big enough for 3 100 pounders. So, we gotta get them something bigger. Which isn't a big deal, that's there the "other houses" telephone poles come in handy. We can drop 4 into the ground, run some stringers top and bottom, attach some rafters and side and roof the whole thing within a couple of hours likely. Anything more than a 3 sided shelter that faces south or east isn't necessary. They do just fine with a lot of good bedding and each other for warmth. The pigs, thus far, have been about the simplest thing to raise!
We'll be borrowing a boar from our neighbor starting Thanksgiving weekend. We sent our own off back in August. No point in keeping one when we can borrow and it helps the both of us out technically. Payment is a barter in piglets and keeping two productive sows is a lot better on the pocket book than a boar and a sow!
This mornings it's overcast drizzly and "cold". It's hovering around 32/33 degrees. I've already been out to do chores but I am telling you, after 4 years of collecting the right type of clothing (none of it is cheap!), I have finally put together the right gear to keep me warm in even negative wind chills. I would trust this gear at -20! As it was, just the insulated overalls, boots and a hat were enough, I shed my jacket pretty early on. I expect within a few weeks I'll have become used to the cold and for a while, anyway, may go back to jeans and a jacket. It's funny how one becomes acclimated to the cold, really truly you do and even in 32 degrees (if the sun is shining), I can be out in a cotton short sleeve t and still sweat...if I'm working =)
Anyway, I feel like our own place has been neglected so. We did get a new roof on in Sept. thank goodness but there is still other damage to the house that needs to be addressed after the first of the year and the shop will need a new roof. The next order of business though, speaking of the shop, is to get that sucker organized. I am telling you, it's a wreck!!!
As for Thanksgiving, after the amount of time we've been away working on the house, I really feel like just locking the doors, so to speak, putting on a turkey and having some nice quiet family time. Though, nothing is ever really "quiet" around here, so to speak. It looks like part of Thanksgiving weekend may be about the only decent weekend left before winter really starts to set in and if we have to pull anything out of that shop, it will have to be done when it's not snowing, freezing rain, windy, etc. etc.
Over the summer I saw an ad for plywood for sale. We made sure it didn't fall off the back of a truck somewhere - ha ha - and bought 30-40 sheets at a fraction the cost of new. I can't remember how many Jeremiah said he needed for the shop but the intention is to put it half way up on the walls, 8 foot full sheets I guess, we bought excess to do the milk barn. I am sure he'd eventually like to heat the shop but we definitely need walls to hang stuff from better! My milk barn skeleton still sits. The electric box is in, metal roof is on but that was about as far as that went! We do have the metal for the sides, another used purchase we made. Actually we bought quite a bit of that metal too! It came off someone elses barn that was re-skinned after a hail storm paid for entirely by their insurance. The pieces we got must have been on the non-prevailing side because there are no dings in it.
Always something to work on. The lean-to shelters are over 40 years old and were the first things erected on this property by the original owner who, admittedly, had never built a thing in his life. He actually did a good job, obviously! They're still standing 40 years later! The only issue is that the poles that are the main supports are rotting at ground level which is bound to happen and so they've got to be deconstructed and re-erected. There are some things that could be done differently. They don't need to be nearly as tall as they are, even for larger livestock like horses which they used to have. Keeping roofs as low as possible keeps more heat in though the height has been nice for maximizing space for square bales when we were still putting those up. This year we went entirely with big round and we just use the tractor to slide one right into the adjoining "stall" on the lean-tos since they are all split in 2 with an adjoining pen. It makes feeding a lot easier as I can get to the feeders without actually having to go into the pens with the animals and the feeders and animals stay under cover.
We like to build with the intention of someday selling which may or may not ever happen but even in 40 years, shelters that are usable for more than just goats or smaller livestock is pretty important in our opinion and that means height and size need to be taken in to consideration so the sizes will likely stay the same. I have really liked having moveable short squaty shelters for the pigs and a chicken coop is a chicken coop is a chicken coop Any pig shelter is likely to work well for goats too so that's a double bonus. =)
Anyhow, there are some pressing matters I need to get to around this house, I suppose. The laundry is never ending, I see painting I want to get done and we have friends coming in from Alaska in December for Christmas that I have vowed to myself to have at least the hall bathroom and laundry room repainted for. Not that they care, but I do! In over 4 years I have admitted done very little to make this place a home for us which is pretty sad to think about!
Busy times! The "other house", as we call it, is done. I find photos daunting to upload here and to photobucket. Facebook seems to be the way to go but I'll put a few on here just to appease myself, and maybe you, if you care to see them.
 |
| 2nd bedroom |
 |
| Master bedroom |
The house seemed to take forever. I won't say we bit off more than we can chew, it turned out lovely and we are very pleased. The garage still has a bunch of stuff in it that needs to be moved out but the trailer needs to be taken to the dump across town first! There are also a bunch of telephone poles left from when they hacked down the old shop. I cringe when I think of why anyone would do such a thing!!! It wasn't very old! It was a pole barn style. Telephone poles were set in the ground, concrete slab poured around. Stringers of lumber (likely 2x4's) were attached horizontally and metal siding attached to that. They just took down the metal, lumber and took a skill saw to the telephone poles leaving a concrete slab and probably lowering the worth of the property by several thousand dollars! The problem is that the telephone poles are inside of the slab portion. New poles could be set to the outside, new concrete could be poured to fill in the gap and a new shop could be erected again but why someone would do such a thing is just a...well, it's criminal. Perhaps that was the intention. Given that this house was a foreclosure, maybe the prior residents figured they could make a buck off the metal. Who knows the why's, but it's a shame nonetheless. We are not going to put up a shop, maybe if we were ever going to sell it (which potentially some day down the road) but at least the concrete is there is someone ever wanted to and that right there is worth a small fortune!
The weather has been on again off again cold. Last week I got the carpets cleaned in the house. It turned bitter on that Tuesday. We had the propane guy out on Monday to check the lines. The tank is owned but no company will fill it unless they have inspected everything. Everything checked out. It was cool in the house Tuesday despite it being below freezing but it wasn't bad. I set the furnace to 50 so I could be sure the pipes wouldn't freeze and we didn't get back to the house until the weekend. The furnace hadn't worked all week!!! That could have been a disaster, let me tell you! We know! When we first bought the house and had a plumbing inspector out there he turned on the water and due to frozen pipes at some point before the bank had the house winterized, water spewed from the downstairs bathroom pipes into the bathroom. Ahhhh, the joys of that! A bunch of drywall was removed ASAP to prevent mold.
It's move in ready now and I am glad to be finished. We have things left undone here at our own house having spent every waking minute of the weekends at the other. Winter is quickly approaching and we're down to about 2 weeks left on our wood supply! We have piglets in with the sow and gilt that have to be moved otherwise they will take a year to get to process weight. Lucky we have a pen and pasture for them made up already, and technically we have a shelter we could move in for them but that's just a temporary solution as it's only big enough for one 250 lb. pig and will NOT be big enough for 3 100 pounders. So, we gotta get them something bigger. Which isn't a big deal, that's there the "other houses" telephone poles come in handy. We can drop 4 into the ground, run some stringers top and bottom, attach some rafters and side and roof the whole thing within a couple of hours likely. Anything more than a 3 sided shelter that faces south or east isn't necessary. They do just fine with a lot of good bedding and each other for warmth. The pigs, thus far, have been about the simplest thing to raise!
We'll be borrowing a boar from our neighbor starting Thanksgiving weekend. We sent our own off back in August. No point in keeping one when we can borrow and it helps the both of us out technically. Payment is a barter in piglets and keeping two productive sows is a lot better on the pocket book than a boar and a sow!
This mornings it's overcast drizzly and "cold". It's hovering around 32/33 degrees. I've already been out to do chores but I am telling you, after 4 years of collecting the right type of clothing (none of it is cheap!), I have finally put together the right gear to keep me warm in even negative wind chills. I would trust this gear at -20! As it was, just the insulated overalls, boots and a hat were enough, I shed my jacket pretty early on. I expect within a few weeks I'll have become used to the cold and for a while, anyway, may go back to jeans and a jacket. It's funny how one becomes acclimated to the cold, really truly you do and even in 32 degrees (if the sun is shining), I can be out in a cotton short sleeve t and still sweat...if I'm working =)
Anyway, I feel like our own place has been neglected so. We did get a new roof on in Sept. thank goodness but there is still other damage to the house that needs to be addressed after the first of the year and the shop will need a new roof. The next order of business though, speaking of the shop, is to get that sucker organized. I am telling you, it's a wreck!!!
As for Thanksgiving, after the amount of time we've been away working on the house, I really feel like just locking the doors, so to speak, putting on a turkey and having some nice quiet family time. Though, nothing is ever really "quiet" around here, so to speak. It looks like part of Thanksgiving weekend may be about the only decent weekend left before winter really starts to set in and if we have to pull anything out of that shop, it will have to be done when it's not snowing, freezing rain, windy, etc. etc.
Over the summer I saw an ad for plywood for sale. We made sure it didn't fall off the back of a truck somewhere - ha ha - and bought 30-40 sheets at a fraction the cost of new. I can't remember how many Jeremiah said he needed for the shop but the intention is to put it half way up on the walls, 8 foot full sheets I guess, we bought excess to do the milk barn. I am sure he'd eventually like to heat the shop but we definitely need walls to hang stuff from better! My milk barn skeleton still sits. The electric box is in, metal roof is on but that was about as far as that went! We do have the metal for the sides, another used purchase we made. Actually we bought quite a bit of that metal too! It came off someone elses barn that was re-skinned after a hail storm paid for entirely by their insurance. The pieces we got must have been on the non-prevailing side because there are no dings in it.
Always something to work on. The lean-to shelters are over 40 years old and were the first things erected on this property by the original owner who, admittedly, had never built a thing in his life. He actually did a good job, obviously! They're still standing 40 years later! The only issue is that the poles that are the main supports are rotting at ground level which is bound to happen and so they've got to be deconstructed and re-erected. There are some things that could be done differently. They don't need to be nearly as tall as they are, even for larger livestock like horses which they used to have. Keeping roofs as low as possible keeps more heat in though the height has been nice for maximizing space for square bales when we were still putting those up. This year we went entirely with big round and we just use the tractor to slide one right into the adjoining "stall" on the lean-tos since they are all split in 2 with an adjoining pen. It makes feeding a lot easier as I can get to the feeders without actually having to go into the pens with the animals and the feeders and animals stay under cover.
We like to build with the intention of someday selling which may or may not ever happen but even in 40 years, shelters that are usable for more than just goats or smaller livestock is pretty important in our opinion and that means height and size need to be taken in to consideration so the sizes will likely stay the same. I have really liked having moveable short squaty shelters for the pigs and a chicken coop is a chicken coop is a chicken coop Any pig shelter is likely to work well for goats too so that's a double bonus. =)
Anyhow, there are some pressing matters I need to get to around this house, I suppose. The laundry is never ending, I see painting I want to get done and we have friends coming in from Alaska in December for Christmas that I have vowed to myself to have at least the hall bathroom and laundry room repainted for. Not that they care, but I do! In over 4 years I have admitted done very little to make this place a home for us which is pretty sad to think about!
Monday, September 15, 2014
'Tis the season
Rachel has been congested with a sore throat for over a week now. The sore throat has has to do with her sleeping on her back so I made her change that after day 2 of complaints. Since then it's been major congestion and some coughing. She's been doing some "saline nasal irrigation" - I seriously hate that term- but it works wonders at keeping her sinuses open and makes her much happier. Drew started in feeling sick Friday and I am positive now it's the flu. I am not one for giving medications, we usually ride it out pretty well without but the night time coughing despite being elevated is too much and so 12 hour cough suppressant has been our go-to when everything else in my herbal/natural remedy cabinet has failed.Both seemed perkier yesterday. Saturday they spent most of the day inside but Sunday was gorgeous and I sent them outside to play much of the day and I think it did them good.
Jeremiah and I worked on the "rental" on Saturday morning. I started grouting the kitchen tile. By noon it was time to stop and head over to Lowes. our new roof was finally put on this weekend and the old roof was off before lunch. We met the guys down at Lowes to pay for the shingles (Military discount is AWESOME) and headed back home to relax a bit after lunch. Jeremiah ended up getting up on the roof for the rest of the day to help. I went back over to the house to finish grouting. I got it all done except for the pantry which Jeremiah had just laid the finishing tile in that morning so it was nowhere near dry enough yet to grout. I had hoped to get over there to finish that up yesterday but after all the up and down and in and outside, I was pretty sore and laid up. I did a few odds and ends around here while the guys finished up the roof. We took the extra bags of shingles back around 3, had a bite to eat and came home and made a milk stand.
The weather the past couple of days has been so so nice! Thursday and Friday last week were down right cold but it warmed up and the sun was shining all weekend. A great weekend to put on a roof and a great weekend to enjoy being outside!
Today I am not feeling so great at all. Started in with wheezing and congestion last night and this morning I can feel a fever spiking. I don't normally stay sick very long and quite honestly, getting out and "working it off" feels so much better for me than laying in bed. I can only lay around so long, pregnant or not. I am sure by tomorrow I'll feel much better but I can't help but wonder if my soreness is from all the work Sat. or if it's because of the flu or a culmination of both, probably both. I know I need to take it easy. I made home made soup Friday which, oddly enough, reminds me of Spaghetti-O's every time I see it. Pretty sad since it's supposed to be Minestrone!!! It was very soup-like Friday but I assume the pasta has since slurped up a lot of the liquid. That's fine and it's great soup but for whatever weird reason I have been craving Spaghetti-O's and I don't even buy that crap! I am currently looking up a recipe for a home made version though to satisfy the craving.
I have my 2nd and last as we know it sonogram today and a regular appoint. tomorrow. We're at 20 weeks 1 day today. Time seems to be flying but I am sure the 2nd half won't go nearly as quick. Other than feeling like crap today I have been feeling great. It can't eat nearly as much as I did before, which is probably a good thing. There's just not a lot of room for a full stomach.
I've been looking up a few homemade recipes for Speghetti-O's and what I find most hilarious is that all of them say, "the real deal" or "tastes just like the real ones" but they all contain different ingredients. How is that possible? One has carrots! I don't remember Spaghetti-O's having carrots. They must be pulling my leg. Well, one of these days I'll satisfy my craving and hopefully not have to try a bunch of "real deal" recipes. For now I am going to keep eating my Minestrone Spaghetti-O's imposter until it's gone.
Time to get some work done. Another nice day and lots of weekend laundry to get to.
Jeremiah and I worked on the "rental" on Saturday morning. I started grouting the kitchen tile. By noon it was time to stop and head over to Lowes. our new roof was finally put on this weekend and the old roof was off before lunch. We met the guys down at Lowes to pay for the shingles (Military discount is AWESOME) and headed back home to relax a bit after lunch. Jeremiah ended up getting up on the roof for the rest of the day to help. I went back over to the house to finish grouting. I got it all done except for the pantry which Jeremiah had just laid the finishing tile in that morning so it was nowhere near dry enough yet to grout. I had hoped to get over there to finish that up yesterday but after all the up and down and in and outside, I was pretty sore and laid up. I did a few odds and ends around here while the guys finished up the roof. We took the extra bags of shingles back around 3, had a bite to eat and came home and made a milk stand.
The weather the past couple of days has been so so nice! Thursday and Friday last week were down right cold but it warmed up and the sun was shining all weekend. A great weekend to put on a roof and a great weekend to enjoy being outside!
Today I am not feeling so great at all. Started in with wheezing and congestion last night and this morning I can feel a fever spiking. I don't normally stay sick very long and quite honestly, getting out and "working it off" feels so much better for me than laying in bed. I can only lay around so long, pregnant or not. I am sure by tomorrow I'll feel much better but I can't help but wonder if my soreness is from all the work Sat. or if it's because of the flu or a culmination of both, probably both. I know I need to take it easy. I made home made soup Friday which, oddly enough, reminds me of Spaghetti-O's every time I see it. Pretty sad since it's supposed to be Minestrone!!! It was very soup-like Friday but I assume the pasta has since slurped up a lot of the liquid. That's fine and it's great soup but for whatever weird reason I have been craving Spaghetti-O's and I don't even buy that crap! I am currently looking up a recipe for a home made version though to satisfy the craving.
I have my 2nd and last as we know it sonogram today and a regular appoint. tomorrow. We're at 20 weeks 1 day today. Time seems to be flying but I am sure the 2nd half won't go nearly as quick. Other than feeling like crap today I have been feeling great. It can't eat nearly as much as I did before, which is probably a good thing. There's just not a lot of room for a full stomach.
I've been looking up a few homemade recipes for Speghetti-O's and what I find most hilarious is that all of them say, "the real deal" or "tastes just like the real ones" but they all contain different ingredients. How is that possible? One has carrots! I don't remember Spaghetti-O's having carrots. They must be pulling my leg. Well, one of these days I'll satisfy my craving and hopefully not have to try a bunch of "real deal" recipes. For now I am going to keep eating my Minestrone Spaghetti-O's imposter until it's gone.
Time to get some work done. Another nice day and lots of weekend laundry to get to.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Long weekend
The weather has cooled down substantially. Last week was in the high 90's and overnight it dropped to the 70's. Friday and yesterday's weather was downright gorgeous.
Rachel came home from school Friday not feeling well. She's been complaining of her throat hurting and a stuffy nose. I suspect allergies and she's sleeping on her back so it's draining to her throat. She didn't look great Friday evening, I gave her some Tylenol and she looked better. The kids and Jeremiah were going to go to the football game but Rachel and I both decided she should stay home and then Drew decided he didn't want to go after all so we pretty much stayed home. She seemed to be feeling much better yesterday but did go to bed pretty early (for her) last night.
Saturday Jeremiah and I were up early. There was some work to do over at the house that was too dusty for me to be there for so I did chores here then went over after he finished. We headed to Lowes for more mortar and interior doors. The pantry door went in easily, didn't need to be trimmed but the doors upstairs, with the ceiling only being 6'10" needed to be trimmed so Jeremiah did that while I tiled. I went as far as I could with the 1 50# bag of mortar we mixed up and we figured out last week we were about 2 boxes of tile too short. That was a dang tile that came from Home Depot in Wichita too so it meant we'd have to go back to get it!!! Not looking forward to that! We hadn't had the pantry in mind when we originally got the the tile anyway so thought we'd buy enough to do that too on the 2nd trip down. By 2 PM we were both hungry so we headed home and decided to knock Wichita out, took the kids down, had lunch, picked up more tile (in which it's been fully restocked and they probably had more than they had last time when they said it was in stock but nowhere to be found!). We were home by 5 and decided there was a lot to do here at the house so spend the rest of the evening working around here.
We still hadn't taken care of the big locust tree that had broken 3 Friday's ago and took out a metal trellis. The blades on the brush hog hadn't been sharpened in a while and the pasture will need to be mowed before winter. The county tries to mow at least one pass along the frontage before fair (which started Friday). This year they went all out and mowed back, where they could, to people's fence lines/tree lines. The brush hogs are wide, at least 10 foot so it's quick but I don't think they have ever mowed that far in and it looks nice all along 4th street all the way to town. I think it's the 3rd time the county has mowed. Our frontage is quite steep and deep and so they usually don't mow way down into the ditch which leaves us a lot along the driveway and the culvert but they did Thursday. I was headed to town, in fact, and saw them working down the road and came home to remove the solar lights. Generally they don't mow enough to bother them but with as wide as it looked liked they were doing, I didn't want them run over.
Pretty much we'd been working since 8 AM solid on through to 8:30 last night minus the trip to Wichita. We didn't come in until after dark. I mowed the yard, which takes forever and that's without moving the lawn furniture. Usually I am in a hurry and mow around but the grass growing up underneath the picnic table made it unavoidable. Some things are becoming eye sores and needed to be put away or thrown away. Jeremiah got the tree taken care of so the front yard looks much better.
It was a really gorgeous Sept. day yesterday. We're in for another really nice day today. It's supposed to heat up to 90 for a couple of days which stinks because I am picking the kids up to take them to the fair tomorrow after school and was looking forward to not sweltering!!! Traffic has picked up majorly in town with it being fair time. Lots of out of towners and trailers, etc. are all over. All the extra people really does make a significant impact.
We're going to get back over to the house today after a couple of errands this morning, shooting for Oct. 1 for this house to be done. Don't know if we'll make it, the "small" last minute things sure add up!
Rachel came home from school Friday not feeling well. She's been complaining of her throat hurting and a stuffy nose. I suspect allergies and she's sleeping on her back so it's draining to her throat. She didn't look great Friday evening, I gave her some Tylenol and she looked better. The kids and Jeremiah were going to go to the football game but Rachel and I both decided she should stay home and then Drew decided he didn't want to go after all so we pretty much stayed home. She seemed to be feeling much better yesterday but did go to bed pretty early (for her) last night.
Saturday Jeremiah and I were up early. There was some work to do over at the house that was too dusty for me to be there for so I did chores here then went over after he finished. We headed to Lowes for more mortar and interior doors. The pantry door went in easily, didn't need to be trimmed but the doors upstairs, with the ceiling only being 6'10" needed to be trimmed so Jeremiah did that while I tiled. I went as far as I could with the 1 50# bag of mortar we mixed up and we figured out last week we were about 2 boxes of tile too short. That was a dang tile that came from Home Depot in Wichita too so it meant we'd have to go back to get it!!! Not looking forward to that! We hadn't had the pantry in mind when we originally got the the tile anyway so thought we'd buy enough to do that too on the 2nd trip down. By 2 PM we were both hungry so we headed home and decided to knock Wichita out, took the kids down, had lunch, picked up more tile (in which it's been fully restocked and they probably had more than they had last time when they said it was in stock but nowhere to be found!). We were home by 5 and decided there was a lot to do here at the house so spend the rest of the evening working around here.
We still hadn't taken care of the big locust tree that had broken 3 Friday's ago and took out a metal trellis. The blades on the brush hog hadn't been sharpened in a while and the pasture will need to be mowed before winter. The county tries to mow at least one pass along the frontage before fair (which started Friday). This year they went all out and mowed back, where they could, to people's fence lines/tree lines. The brush hogs are wide, at least 10 foot so it's quick but I don't think they have ever mowed that far in and it looks nice all along 4th street all the way to town. I think it's the 3rd time the county has mowed. Our frontage is quite steep and deep and so they usually don't mow way down into the ditch which leaves us a lot along the driveway and the culvert but they did Thursday. I was headed to town, in fact, and saw them working down the road and came home to remove the solar lights. Generally they don't mow enough to bother them but with as wide as it looked liked they were doing, I didn't want them run over.
Pretty much we'd been working since 8 AM solid on through to 8:30 last night minus the trip to Wichita. We didn't come in until after dark. I mowed the yard, which takes forever and that's without moving the lawn furniture. Usually I am in a hurry and mow around but the grass growing up underneath the picnic table made it unavoidable. Some things are becoming eye sores and needed to be put away or thrown away. Jeremiah got the tree taken care of so the front yard looks much better.
It was a really gorgeous Sept. day yesterday. We're in for another really nice day today. It's supposed to heat up to 90 for a couple of days which stinks because I am picking the kids up to take them to the fair tomorrow after school and was looking forward to not sweltering!!! Traffic has picked up majorly in town with it being fair time. Lots of out of towners and trailers, etc. are all over. All the extra people really does make a significant impact.
We're going to get back over to the house today after a couple of errands this morning, shooting for Oct. 1 for this house to be done. Don't know if we'll make it, the "small" last minute things sure add up!
Monday, September 1, 2014
Tiling and what not
No new news to speak of really. I could talk about the weather. Things were getting a little dry around here up until about a week-week and a half ago. We had some overnight storm roll through dumping a coupe of inches in total. Thursday seemed rather overcast and sprinkley if I remember right. It's still been pretty warm, in the 90's. The humidity makes it worse! I think we have few more days of 90 degrees before we drop into the 80's and the rest may be history.
Yesterday Jeremiah and I were over at the house house. The weather people predicted strong storms. Most of the time they build out of nowhere, sometimes overhead and head west and sometimes west and they hit hard. The summer storms are quite spectacular how they can just build out of thin air. I've subscribed to a Facebook page called Weather Watchers. They've been a great source of awesome and accurate information, more so than any other other and they are very local. I've learned a great deal about weather in general but more so about the oddity that is weather here on the plains, a place with weather like no other.
Jeremiah worked the concession stand at the stadium on Friday night for the varsity vs. jr. varsity football game. Rachel asked if she could help so I ran her to town and dropped her off. She was very excited to have her first job, as she called it. Completely volunteer. She said she had a great time, she ran the nacho station. Drew and I grabbed an ice cream cone and picked up a couple pizza's, came home, did chores and watched TV.
The kids start school on Wednesday. I'm a little sad about that. It's been a great summer and I will surely miss them! This year, more than any other, it seems they have grown up so much and are so helpful with chores and what not. Not that they haven't been helpful all along but this year more than any other, I can trust they will do what needs to be done by just asking and they are usually very eager to oblige. It's been a really great summer.
The sow was due yesterday. Jeremiah and I moved her over to one of the pens. She was kind of in a foul mood all day yesterday, which, I guess I can't blame her. Some of the piglets are reserved for feeders for others but we plan to raise a few up. We took our boar off recently, he came in weighing close to 500 lbs. or more. That yielded 191 lbs. hanging weight for half the hog!
I've sold a few more goats and the herd, to me, is looking pretty small! I think after these 2 kids leave we'll be down to 20 in all including 4 adult bucks. I was going to keep a younger buck but decided against and he to a family up near the Ne. border. They drove down last Sat. to pick him up. Two other doe kid are reserved with pick up next weekend.
Our milk barn still isn't any more complete than the roof that was put on over the spring but everything in due time, I guess.
I've been sleeping horribly most nights, waking around 1 or 2 and being wide awake for hours. I try o grab a few hours before 7 AM but it's fitful and almost worthless most days. Some days I sleep all the way through the night but most days not. I toss and turn and toss and turn and eventually just get up and sit around.
After few chores around here yesterday morning Jeremiah and I went over to the other house. We sort of lost our drive for a while there to work on it, not to mention there were some serious pressing issues here with the fence that had to be addressed. Now that that's taken care of and we feel a bit more of an invigorated spirit we got some tiling done yesterday. Jeremiah had to take the air chisel to some old mortar to get it up. I swept and vacuumed real good. We let the A/C cool the house down while we came home for a while to grab lunch. The kids were back from church at that point.
We went back and Jeremiah mixed the mortar. He put entirely too much water in the bucket which required the whole bag of mortar. I was near 3 PM at that point and we hadn't intended to stay as along as it would take us to use all that mortar but it ended up we used it quicker than we thought. We got most of the tedious stuff done. Where the bathroom exits into the kitchen there was carpet before along with the first step down into the basement. We tiled all of that which took quite a few cuts. We still have a few more pieces to lay but because we were doing a "patch" job for that area, I had to start at the existing tile and work my way to the wall. I had no choice but to work myself into a corner, so to speak, and needed to leave enough area to be able to jump out. The mortar should be set today and we can finish up that little bit.
The rest goes pretty quickly. We set some tile in the center area where there used to be the island. It was all tiled around the existing cabinet so putting in the new tile makes it a seamless patch job. The bulk is still yet left to do but it's nothing more than laying tile after tile in a row...save for some cuts along the wall, it should go pretty quick! Right now the kitchen cabinets are sitting in the area we need to tile. We had to replace some tile where the existing cabinets were along the wall. We did that yesterday so now the cabinets can be moved in to place. I am hoping to have enough stamina and time today to finish laying tile I can grout on my own some time this week. At the time we bought the tile, I don't think we had intended to put the pantry in so didn't account for extra tile. Now that the pantry is built, I don't know if we'll have enough tile to do that too. We could just put in laminate as well, either way. I don't think it would make a difference either way.
I wrote out a list of "to dos" yet left to do and the list isn't all that big. It seems bigger before I started but it's really not bad. I'd like to be done before Oct. The weather is going to turn at some point and there are things we have to do around here before that happens. We need to replace our back door, at the very least. We've tried all kinds of different weather stripping and nothing is working like we need it to. When that cold north wind hits the house, all bets are off and freezing cold air pours though. Our front door isn't much better, but it's not as bad. Jeremiah hates installing doors but there's little choice.
For years we've talked about putting in a wood burning furnace. The kind that usually go outdoors or in a basement? There are lots of reasons we wouldn't put ours in the basement, #1 being I am not hauling wood downstairs! I think outside would be a good location but Jeremiah keeps mentioning the garage and I guess that would be okay too. I love the wood stove and it works fine but it is a lot of work to keep running and stocked with wood and not that I mind but I think a wood burner would be a lot more efficient and would only require stocking 2-3 times a day. The basement does get kinda cold with the wood stove burning so we don't use it as much in the winter. We still have yet to run duct work from the living room to the back bedrooms though the attic. Jeremiah complains about being cold in the winter. I think most people keep their houses entirely too hot in the winter and I am not really a fan of the cold myself! But I hate sleeping in a hot house or coming in from outside where it's literally freezing or worse and the the house is blazing! Warm is nice, blazing isn't! If only people here would realize it's cold out and winter appropriate clothing would make a big difference! That said, it sure is nice after a long winter to finally go sock-less. But then I look forward to sock winter in the fall too. Funny how that works!
Fall is just around the corner. We have a lot of chores in mind. Back in May we bought a boat load of plywood. Jeremiah wants to put it up along the walls in the shop. Right now the shop is just a wreck! Not that the plywood would change that, putting things away and cleaning up after jobs would change it but that is one of my requests before it's too cold to work out there, that we get that shop picked up!!!
We have got to get metal on the milk barn before it starts to snow. The subfloor won't last long. Working diligently can often times be a problem, keeping at the " to do" list seems a little relentless but I know if we keep at it, we won't feel like we're always playing catch up and if it's not one thing it's another around here! The yard looks nice for now, I mowed on Saturday. The fences are fixed. The processing date or the 2nd hog is made and we have a month to get the other house done!
We're hoping to put a steer in the pasture next year. Prices are sky high though and I cannot fathom spending what they're running! Forking out $500+ for a weanling calf that we'll have to feed for 12-18 months seems daunting. If the rain keeps up there's pasture 4-5 months out of the year but boy howdy, $500 is a small fortune for an animal you hope doesn't DIE! We're near out of beef and will have to buy another 1/4 from someone but the prices are just awful. It's bad all over, of course and I try like heck not to buy a single scrap of meat from the grocery store, organic or not. I bought some grass fed hamburger the other day and I reminded myself why I don't do that often...I really prefer grain finished. I don't see what people see in beef that isn't grain finished. Yuck. We've gotten to the point though of having non-feedlot non-commercially raised meat and honestly, there is no comparison to farm raised! Regular grocery store meat is tasteless, not to mention I shutter to think what's in it! Brainwashed or educated, whatever the case may be on that commercially raised meat, I can taste the difference and that's enough for me!
I hear the thunder roaring outside. It's not storming overhead but it is somewhere close enough by that the lightening is lighting up the house. I think I will try to grab a couple more hours of sleep before the sun's up and the day begins. I'm trying to get a blog post in here and there. None of this news seems very exciting to me/us, it's every day "mundane" but maybe mundane and uninteresting is neither to someone else.
Bye for now.
Yesterday Jeremiah and I were over at the house house. The weather people predicted strong storms. Most of the time they build out of nowhere, sometimes overhead and head west and sometimes west and they hit hard. The summer storms are quite spectacular how they can just build out of thin air. I've subscribed to a Facebook page called Weather Watchers. They've been a great source of awesome and accurate information, more so than any other other and they are very local. I've learned a great deal about weather in general but more so about the oddity that is weather here on the plains, a place with weather like no other.
Jeremiah worked the concession stand at the stadium on Friday night for the varsity vs. jr. varsity football game. Rachel asked if she could help so I ran her to town and dropped her off. She was very excited to have her first job, as she called it. Completely volunteer. She said she had a great time, she ran the nacho station. Drew and I grabbed an ice cream cone and picked up a couple pizza's, came home, did chores and watched TV.
The kids start school on Wednesday. I'm a little sad about that. It's been a great summer and I will surely miss them! This year, more than any other, it seems they have grown up so much and are so helpful with chores and what not. Not that they haven't been helpful all along but this year more than any other, I can trust they will do what needs to be done by just asking and they are usually very eager to oblige. It's been a really great summer.
The sow was due yesterday. Jeremiah and I moved her over to one of the pens. She was kind of in a foul mood all day yesterday, which, I guess I can't blame her. Some of the piglets are reserved for feeders for others but we plan to raise a few up. We took our boar off recently, he came in weighing close to 500 lbs. or more. That yielded 191 lbs. hanging weight for half the hog!
I've sold a few more goats and the herd, to me, is looking pretty small! I think after these 2 kids leave we'll be down to 20 in all including 4 adult bucks. I was going to keep a younger buck but decided against and he to a family up near the Ne. border. They drove down last Sat. to pick him up. Two other doe kid are reserved with pick up next weekend.
Our milk barn still isn't any more complete than the roof that was put on over the spring but everything in due time, I guess.
I've been sleeping horribly most nights, waking around 1 or 2 and being wide awake for hours. I try o grab a few hours before 7 AM but it's fitful and almost worthless most days. Some days I sleep all the way through the night but most days not. I toss and turn and toss and turn and eventually just get up and sit around.
After few chores around here yesterday morning Jeremiah and I went over to the other house. We sort of lost our drive for a while there to work on it, not to mention there were some serious pressing issues here with the fence that had to be addressed. Now that that's taken care of and we feel a bit more of an invigorated spirit we got some tiling done yesterday. Jeremiah had to take the air chisel to some old mortar to get it up. I swept and vacuumed real good. We let the A/C cool the house down while we came home for a while to grab lunch. The kids were back from church at that point.
We went back and Jeremiah mixed the mortar. He put entirely too much water in the bucket which required the whole bag of mortar. I was near 3 PM at that point and we hadn't intended to stay as along as it would take us to use all that mortar but it ended up we used it quicker than we thought. We got most of the tedious stuff done. Where the bathroom exits into the kitchen there was carpet before along with the first step down into the basement. We tiled all of that which took quite a few cuts. We still have a few more pieces to lay but because we were doing a "patch" job for that area, I had to start at the existing tile and work my way to the wall. I had no choice but to work myself into a corner, so to speak, and needed to leave enough area to be able to jump out. The mortar should be set today and we can finish up that little bit.
The rest goes pretty quickly. We set some tile in the center area where there used to be the island. It was all tiled around the existing cabinet so putting in the new tile makes it a seamless patch job. The bulk is still yet left to do but it's nothing more than laying tile after tile in a row...save for some cuts along the wall, it should go pretty quick! Right now the kitchen cabinets are sitting in the area we need to tile. We had to replace some tile where the existing cabinets were along the wall. We did that yesterday so now the cabinets can be moved in to place. I am hoping to have enough stamina and time today to finish laying tile I can grout on my own some time this week. At the time we bought the tile, I don't think we had intended to put the pantry in so didn't account for extra tile. Now that the pantry is built, I don't know if we'll have enough tile to do that too. We could just put in laminate as well, either way. I don't think it would make a difference either way.
I wrote out a list of "to dos" yet left to do and the list isn't all that big. It seems bigger before I started but it's really not bad. I'd like to be done before Oct. The weather is going to turn at some point and there are things we have to do around here before that happens. We need to replace our back door, at the very least. We've tried all kinds of different weather stripping and nothing is working like we need it to. When that cold north wind hits the house, all bets are off and freezing cold air pours though. Our front door isn't much better, but it's not as bad. Jeremiah hates installing doors but there's little choice.
For years we've talked about putting in a wood burning furnace. The kind that usually go outdoors or in a basement? There are lots of reasons we wouldn't put ours in the basement, #1 being I am not hauling wood downstairs! I think outside would be a good location but Jeremiah keeps mentioning the garage and I guess that would be okay too. I love the wood stove and it works fine but it is a lot of work to keep running and stocked with wood and not that I mind but I think a wood burner would be a lot more efficient and would only require stocking 2-3 times a day. The basement does get kinda cold with the wood stove burning so we don't use it as much in the winter. We still have yet to run duct work from the living room to the back bedrooms though the attic. Jeremiah complains about being cold in the winter. I think most people keep their houses entirely too hot in the winter and I am not really a fan of the cold myself! But I hate sleeping in a hot house or coming in from outside where it's literally freezing or worse and the the house is blazing! Warm is nice, blazing isn't! If only people here would realize it's cold out and winter appropriate clothing would make a big difference! That said, it sure is nice after a long winter to finally go sock-less. But then I look forward to sock winter in the fall too. Funny how that works!
Fall is just around the corner. We have a lot of chores in mind. Back in May we bought a boat load of plywood. Jeremiah wants to put it up along the walls in the shop. Right now the shop is just a wreck! Not that the plywood would change that, putting things away and cleaning up after jobs would change it but that is one of my requests before it's too cold to work out there, that we get that shop picked up!!!
We have got to get metal on the milk barn before it starts to snow. The subfloor won't last long. Working diligently can often times be a problem, keeping at the " to do" list seems a little relentless but I know if we keep at it, we won't feel like we're always playing catch up and if it's not one thing it's another around here! The yard looks nice for now, I mowed on Saturday. The fences are fixed. The processing date or the 2nd hog is made and we have a month to get the other house done!
We're hoping to put a steer in the pasture next year. Prices are sky high though and I cannot fathom spending what they're running! Forking out $500+ for a weanling calf that we'll have to feed for 12-18 months seems daunting. If the rain keeps up there's pasture 4-5 months out of the year but boy howdy, $500 is a small fortune for an animal you hope doesn't DIE! We're near out of beef and will have to buy another 1/4 from someone but the prices are just awful. It's bad all over, of course and I try like heck not to buy a single scrap of meat from the grocery store, organic or not. I bought some grass fed hamburger the other day and I reminded myself why I don't do that often...I really prefer grain finished. I don't see what people see in beef that isn't grain finished. Yuck. We've gotten to the point though of having non-feedlot non-commercially raised meat and honestly, there is no comparison to farm raised! Regular grocery store meat is tasteless, not to mention I shutter to think what's in it! Brainwashed or educated, whatever the case may be on that commercially raised meat, I can taste the difference and that's enough for me!
I hear the thunder roaring outside. It's not storming overhead but it is somewhere close enough by that the lightening is lighting up the house. I think I will try to grab a couple more hours of sleep before the sun's up and the day begins. I'm trying to get a blog post in here and there. None of this news seems very exciting to me/us, it's every day "mundane" but maybe mundane and uninteresting is neither to someone else.
Bye for now.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Pork
A cool breezy start to Tuesday morning. We had a nice storm blow though last night which dumped some rain which was badly needed. Rachel was invited to a sleep over last Friday which we were getting ready to take her to before 6 when the clouds rolled in, the thunder and lightening started. I raced to get the clothes in off the line and not a minute too soon because the sky opened up and then we lost power. I had intended to make nachos for dinner but that was out of the question so Drew, Jeremiah and I headed to town to grab a bite. We got back just before 8 and later I found out exactly what happened but not knowing at the time, it looked like all hell broke loose. It's odd how storms can be so strong in one area and non-existent a few miles away. Not 5 miles north after dropped Rachel off there was barely a sprinkle, at our house though and further south, 70 MPH straight line winds snapped power poles along highway 50 which is what knocked out our power, took down a tree in the front yard smashing a metal trellis and plastering the south side of the house with debris.The weather has been extremely hot and heat indexes are topping well over 100. We can't complain too much, the summer has been pretty mild thus far and will cool down again just in time for fair "week". We did not enter anything and are not taking the goats. We'll go just to have fun!
The kids start school next Wednesday. There is an open house next Tuesday night that I plan to attend and I will take them all in on Wednesday morning as we plan to carpool with someone who will be bringing them home. I'll get the low down on what traffic conditions are like and let Jeremiah know so he can better plan the morning and what time to leave so that he can get to work within plenty of time. Mornings aren't generally our forte so it may be harry for a while!
I've been feeling okay, not sleeping well so I try to get a nap in mid-day...or rather most days I HAVE to. I am looking forward to the cool down. We've spend a lot of time at the community pool and at a nearby private lake with a friend. Jeremiah works the concession for the football game this Friday, we have dinner plans with friends Sat. and we intend to take Jeremiah to a Mongolian Grill place in Wichita for his birthday on Sunday. Somewhere in that whole mess we have to fit in tiling at the rental house and hopefully a few other odds and ends.
I best go, I'll leave you with some piggy photos I took yesterday morning. They grew out a bit faster than I anticipated on the new hog feed and the next processing date wasn't until Sept 18. Mama Sow is due to farrow Aug. 31st and the whole process starts all over.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Tom Tom
Tom and Tom are 2 of our 3 turkeys. The 3rd is a hen and nowhere near as interesting to look at as these guys. Last year we only raised a hen. Turkeys really are fun animals. These guys are so talkative, inquisitive and friendly! And, they are the best bug catchers EVER snatching flies, grasshoppers and everything else mid-air! The bugs and grass have pretty much been their main diet since they left the safety of the roving coop at 8 weeks old when we butchered the broiler chickens. They have done very well for us free range.
Right now they are in their full "dress to impress" outfits. Normally their heads and necks are a pale pink, their snood (the piece of skin that hangs over their noses) is shrunk up to their faces and their feathers aren't puffed out but this particular morning there was a need to show off to the hen.
The wild turkeys have been in great abundance this year. We have 2 hens that visit the back yard frequently. Between them they hatched out over 15 chicks so we have little turkey poults running around. They like to get into the pigs' pasture and hide in the tall grass. Our turkeys haven't seemed the least bit interested in the wild turkeys and visa versa. I was assured we'd have a hard time keeping our meat turkeys from mingling with the wild ones. Two years in a row and even last year with just a single hen, I guess they figure the vittles are better in "captivity" though their life may not be anywhere near as long...but then again, it may!
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Dog days...
The work on the "rental house" has come slow. We can see
the light at the end of the tunnel but getting there has been one
heavy step at at time. So much for July 1, we're well on our way to
Sept. 1 or later. BUT, we're not breaking our backs and trying not to
break our enthusiasm. Truth is, we have a lot going on at home too.
The electric fencer (the box that plugs into an outlet and basically supplies electricity to the electric perimeter fence) was the wrong one. All these years we had no idea! The goats had been getting over into the neighbor's property day after day. It's a huge issue when their front yard shares a fence with our back yard and their garden area and lovely lawn is right there. Last Sunday we ran another 3 strands of fencing which doesn't take terribly long but after a little more research on the type of fencer I discovered why we were having issues. Another trip to town to buy the right fencer and all was zapping right! Except...yesterday (Wednesday) evening I went out to do chores and check the pigs mud hole to discover they may not have had water for a little while to do the fact somehow somewhere the electric was jumping over to their automatic water metal bowl and shocking them! Poor pigs! It's been close to 100 since Monday and for the life of us we cannot figure out why or where the current is coming from.The chore this weekend is to get the tractor in there and shore up the area they have dug out nicely for a wallow but it's also under mining the fence, to sink a post to attach the auto-waterer to and call it a day.
We had to unhook the invisible fence (for the dogs) when we put up new fence lines and for 3 days in a row now Snow has been out in the early morning. It's just never ending it seems! This evening's chore, as if there weren't enough is to hook the fence back up for the dogs except we have to do some rearranging because the line their fence was running on is now electrified so we have to go around the entire perimeter and hook it up to another line. Sigh.
I am feeling better as far as the nasuea goes, it's all but gone but I still tire easily. Granted, I am not sleeping well at night either. I'll sleep a few hours and be up or a few hours, try to get a few hours before he break of day but wake up so tired that sometimes it's better had I not fallen back to sleep. I've had that horrible sleep cycle since Drew was born. Occasionally (every couple of weeks) I'll get one good interrupted 8 hours of sleep and be "good to go" for another couple of weeks. I am not one for naps, but generally I have to catch a 1.5-2 hour one daily. I guess it's a good time for it though because it's so hot out during the day anyway that there isn't much else TO do.
The temps the last couple weeks have been unbearable. I won't complain too much. The reality is the summer has been pretty nice and we're in for another cool down, so they say. The garden went to heck while we were in Ca. ll the rain we got really got the pigweed growing well and it was just too much to deal with when we got back. We tried, Jeremiah and I, spend a good few hours in there but it just did so little bit of good that we gave up. I've weed eated a bath through the bermuda and pig weed so we could get to the tomatillos and tomatoes and so that's what it's been. The luffa and gourds are still growing, I expect once things start to die back I can get in there and gather those.
My first sonogram was last Monday. All looks well. I had an AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein- screens for Downs Syndrome, Trisotomy 18, Spina Bifida) test done by blood work. The test results came back normal. I debated having it done. I am not "old" but odds do increase quite a bit after 30 compared to being in one's 20's though still the odds are quite low in the broad scheme of things. On that note, if something like Trisotomy 18 were to show up, I'd want to know so that we could prepare ourselves ahead of time. I hate the thought of having a bunch of sad people after being so excited to hear the news. That said, the test isn't fool proof but is 80% accurate.
Our next sonogram is Sept. 15, the half way mark and that should be it unless something comes up. The insurance plan has us at a hospital in Wichita. I am not thrilled about that due to distance and potential weather in Feb. but it is a good hospital and for that I am grateful. I will give the insurance company a ring and see what the odds are of changing it but if it's Wichita, it's Wichita.
The goat herd has been whittled down quite a bit. I still have a couple of individuals for sale and will have a few more later in the year. We've had a lot of hens go broody and hatched out quite a few new chicks this summer. It looks like we have one last hen sitting on a nest that is probably due to hatch any day now. We've lost a lot of the chicks to hawks and such. Once they leave mom at about 4 weeks they tend to get taken pretty easily. I don't feel like putting them all into a chicken tractor (roving coop) as that means extra feed and filling water. Right now we feed so little with as much as they all forage that I figure the cost of loosing some is worth the savings of work and feed. That may sound kind of awful but it is what it is. One mama hen has successfully managed to keep her brood of 8 safe. She's taken refuge in the pig pasture where there is a lot more tree coverage. We'll see how many chicks end up making it to pullet size, determine which are hens and which are roosters and then cull the rest of the flock based on those #'s. I know we have entirely too many roosters currently. We caught quite a few and send them home with a friend. They aren't worth our time to butcher them for dinner. There are 2 more I'd like to catch but they've gotten smart and have started roosting in the trees.
Our boar (male pig) went off to the processor a week ago. Keeping him at near 500 lbs. was getting too expensive. I have a couple of ideas for breeding our sows but for now, we don't need him. We have a sow due at the end of the month. In fact, I have to get out there and try to get her moved over to a pen and shelter. She shares the pasture with her 2 Feb. piglets, one of them our new gilt we'll keep as a breeding sow (another reason for moving our boar on as he was her sire). I only took 6 piglet reservations for the next litter. I expect to keep a few for us to raise up too. We need to get 1/4 beef too but there's still plenty of time for that. What there's not plenty of time for is putting up hay. We were in Ca. when brome (grass) was cut. I had wanted to put up 100 bales of those but it would have been a special request to have small squares done by our supplier so we just asked they everything be put in to rounds. We've picked up 5 already and will be going out for at least another 6 some time this weekend I think. I thought about maybe going back to alfalfa hay instead of the pellets. For a while there the girls weren't eating them but all the sudden they changed their minds and so I think we'll just keep on keeping on with that. They are more expensive but take up so little room, are always available and there's no waste.
The rental house we still him and haw about what we're going to do with. I think with everything that's going on, it may be best just to sell it when it's complete. I cannot imagine having a rental property to deal with too. We aren't disappointed we bought it, life has just changed a bit and we're trying to decide what's the best decision to make. It still has to be finished though and that includes a little more painting, finishing the tile floor in the kitchen, 6 interior doors, installing 2 exterior doors, fixing the little roof on the ornamental well out back and few other odds and ends. The upstairs bathroom and pretty much the entire upstairs, aside from some baseboards in the bathroom, is done.
Hutch. schools are back in session. The kids don't go back until after Labor Day. It's been a nice longer summer. Their school class roster came out yesterday, they are excited. I know being at a bigger school will be a change but they will enjoy it I am sure. It's farther away of course but we're set up to carpool with one of Rachel's friends. Jeremiah will take them in in the morning and they will be brought home afterward.
With Hutch. schools back in session the pool in Hutch is now closed. The Buhler pool though is still open and I took the kids up yesterday afternoon to swim for a couple of hours. Drew desperately needs to work on his swimming skills. He wants to go off the diving board but is just not swimming well enough I am confident there won't be issues. Rachel has always been a great swimmer and we've asked her several time if she might like to join a team but she's quite happy just being a guppy for fun and will literally spend an hour and a half jumping of the board over and over and over. The Buhler pool is small but was pretty quiet yesterday. Mostly moms with their younger kids trying to beat the heat. We'll try to go a few more times before the end of the month I think. It's cheap and close enough entertainment, that's for sure. In fact, driving up to Buhler is closer than driving all the way over to the west side of Hutchinson.
Mot days seem to roll one right into the next. Some days we're busy, other days are slow.Time to get started with the day.
New baby's first photo
Drew helping with barn chores in his PJ's
The electric fencer (the box that plugs into an outlet and basically supplies electricity to the electric perimeter fence) was the wrong one. All these years we had no idea! The goats had been getting over into the neighbor's property day after day. It's a huge issue when their front yard shares a fence with our back yard and their garden area and lovely lawn is right there. Last Sunday we ran another 3 strands of fencing which doesn't take terribly long but after a little more research on the type of fencer I discovered why we were having issues. Another trip to town to buy the right fencer and all was zapping right! Except...yesterday (Wednesday) evening I went out to do chores and check the pigs mud hole to discover they may not have had water for a little while to do the fact somehow somewhere the electric was jumping over to their automatic water metal bowl and shocking them! Poor pigs! It's been close to 100 since Monday and for the life of us we cannot figure out why or where the current is coming from.The chore this weekend is to get the tractor in there and shore up the area they have dug out nicely for a wallow but it's also under mining the fence, to sink a post to attach the auto-waterer to and call it a day.
We had to unhook the invisible fence (for the dogs) when we put up new fence lines and for 3 days in a row now Snow has been out in the early morning. It's just never ending it seems! This evening's chore, as if there weren't enough is to hook the fence back up for the dogs except we have to do some rearranging because the line their fence was running on is now electrified so we have to go around the entire perimeter and hook it up to another line. Sigh.
I am feeling better as far as the nasuea goes, it's all but gone but I still tire easily. Granted, I am not sleeping well at night either. I'll sleep a few hours and be up or a few hours, try to get a few hours before he break of day but wake up so tired that sometimes it's better had I not fallen back to sleep. I've had that horrible sleep cycle since Drew was born. Occasionally (every couple of weeks) I'll get one good interrupted 8 hours of sleep and be "good to go" for another couple of weeks. I am not one for naps, but generally I have to catch a 1.5-2 hour one daily. I guess it's a good time for it though because it's so hot out during the day anyway that there isn't much else TO do.
The temps the last couple weeks have been unbearable. I won't complain too much. The reality is the summer has been pretty nice and we're in for another cool down, so they say. The garden went to heck while we were in Ca. ll the rain we got really got the pigweed growing well and it was just too much to deal with when we got back. We tried, Jeremiah and I, spend a good few hours in there but it just did so little bit of good that we gave up. I've weed eated a bath through the bermuda and pig weed so we could get to the tomatillos and tomatoes and so that's what it's been. The luffa and gourds are still growing, I expect once things start to die back I can get in there and gather those.
My first sonogram was last Monday. All looks well. I had an AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein- screens for Downs Syndrome, Trisotomy 18, Spina Bifida) test done by blood work. The test results came back normal. I debated having it done. I am not "old" but odds do increase quite a bit after 30 compared to being in one's 20's though still the odds are quite low in the broad scheme of things. On that note, if something like Trisotomy 18 were to show up, I'd want to know so that we could prepare ourselves ahead of time. I hate the thought of having a bunch of sad people after being so excited to hear the news. That said, the test isn't fool proof but is 80% accurate.
Our next sonogram is Sept. 15, the half way mark and that should be it unless something comes up. The insurance plan has us at a hospital in Wichita. I am not thrilled about that due to distance and potential weather in Feb. but it is a good hospital and for that I am grateful. I will give the insurance company a ring and see what the odds are of changing it but if it's Wichita, it's Wichita.
The goat herd has been whittled down quite a bit. I still have a couple of individuals for sale and will have a few more later in the year. We've had a lot of hens go broody and hatched out quite a few new chicks this summer. It looks like we have one last hen sitting on a nest that is probably due to hatch any day now. We've lost a lot of the chicks to hawks and such. Once they leave mom at about 4 weeks they tend to get taken pretty easily. I don't feel like putting them all into a chicken tractor (roving coop) as that means extra feed and filling water. Right now we feed so little with as much as they all forage that I figure the cost of loosing some is worth the savings of work and feed. That may sound kind of awful but it is what it is. One mama hen has successfully managed to keep her brood of 8 safe. She's taken refuge in the pig pasture where there is a lot more tree coverage. We'll see how many chicks end up making it to pullet size, determine which are hens and which are roosters and then cull the rest of the flock based on those #'s. I know we have entirely too many roosters currently. We caught quite a few and send them home with a friend. They aren't worth our time to butcher them for dinner. There are 2 more I'd like to catch but they've gotten smart and have started roosting in the trees.
Our boar (male pig) went off to the processor a week ago. Keeping him at near 500 lbs. was getting too expensive. I have a couple of ideas for breeding our sows but for now, we don't need him. We have a sow due at the end of the month. In fact, I have to get out there and try to get her moved over to a pen and shelter. She shares the pasture with her 2 Feb. piglets, one of them our new gilt we'll keep as a breeding sow (another reason for moving our boar on as he was her sire). I only took 6 piglet reservations for the next litter. I expect to keep a few for us to raise up too. We need to get 1/4 beef too but there's still plenty of time for that. What there's not plenty of time for is putting up hay. We were in Ca. when brome (grass) was cut. I had wanted to put up 100 bales of those but it would have been a special request to have small squares done by our supplier so we just asked they everything be put in to rounds. We've picked up 5 already and will be going out for at least another 6 some time this weekend I think. I thought about maybe going back to alfalfa hay instead of the pellets. For a while there the girls weren't eating them but all the sudden they changed their minds and so I think we'll just keep on keeping on with that. They are more expensive but take up so little room, are always available and there's no waste.
The rental house we still him and haw about what we're going to do with. I think with everything that's going on, it may be best just to sell it when it's complete. I cannot imagine having a rental property to deal with too. We aren't disappointed we bought it, life has just changed a bit and we're trying to decide what's the best decision to make. It still has to be finished though and that includes a little more painting, finishing the tile floor in the kitchen, 6 interior doors, installing 2 exterior doors, fixing the little roof on the ornamental well out back and few other odds and ends. The upstairs bathroom and pretty much the entire upstairs, aside from some baseboards in the bathroom, is done.
Hutch. schools are back in session. The kids don't go back until after Labor Day. It's been a nice longer summer. Their school class roster came out yesterday, they are excited. I know being at a bigger school will be a change but they will enjoy it I am sure. It's farther away of course but we're set up to carpool with one of Rachel's friends. Jeremiah will take them in in the morning and they will be brought home afterward.
With Hutch. schools back in session the pool in Hutch is now closed. The Buhler pool though is still open and I took the kids up yesterday afternoon to swim for a couple of hours. Drew desperately needs to work on his swimming skills. He wants to go off the diving board but is just not swimming well enough I am confident there won't be issues. Rachel has always been a great swimmer and we've asked her several time if she might like to join a team but she's quite happy just being a guppy for fun and will literally spend an hour and a half jumping of the board over and over and over. The Buhler pool is small but was pretty quiet yesterday. Mostly moms with their younger kids trying to beat the heat. We'll try to go a few more times before the end of the month I think. It's cheap and close enough entertainment, that's for sure. In fact, driving up to Buhler is closer than driving all the way over to the west side of Hutchinson.
Mot days seem to roll one right into the next. Some days we're busy, other days are slow.Time to get started with the day.
New baby's first photo
Drew helping with barn chores in his PJ's
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Life in photos
The kids have already been out of school for a month! We've gotten a decent amount of rain with another couple of storms supposedly moving in tonight so the grass looks great and it looks like the hay situation may be good this year. The wheat, however, is a different story and much of it is beyond help. Most people said they've never seen it so short and if rain doesn't come at the right time of development, it's all lost. I would imagine most people will cut and make it for hay, but without grains, I can't imagine it would be better than straw. Nonetheless, it is what it is and sometimes that just happens.
We're been working long hours on the "investment" house and there is quite a bit more work that we made for ourselves than we had to although, doing it now means we won't have to do it later and updating it just makes it that much more marketable, whether it becomes a rental or a flip.
Here is a link to the house photos and video if you'd like to take a look: CLICK HERE I doubt I'll post any "during" photos, it just takes a lot of time but you can go to this link as often as you'd like to see how we are coming along. There is also a 12 minute video. I apologize if you cannot hear all that well, my camera is so so with taking video but at least it should give you a better lay out of the house. The flooring is almost done in both upstairs bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom is ready for the stud walls between the master bedroom and the bathroom and where the new tub will go. I should be done by the downstairs laundry room today (Wednesday), but I am publishing this post for tomorrow. I will also need to paint the one wall in the kitchen (stairwell wall) because we're picking up cabinets today.
A couple of weeks ago we roped off the woods by the pond for the goats with temporary electric wire and posts. They enjoy getting out there and eating all of the delicious treats, we enjoy that the woods are kept a bit more tame.
Our garden is completely in. I made some garden trellises for the pole beans and melons. We used a 16' cattle panel bent into a hoop between two t posts for our gourds and luffas to climb up. We use cattle panel sections for the climbing cukes too, it saves space in the garden when we can get as much as we can to climb vertically. When all was said and done, I think we have over 50 tomato plants in, 12 melons, 4 cukes, lots of pole and bush beans, cabbage, broccoli (both green and purple), lots of herbs, tomatillos, squash (butternut, patty pan, yellow & green and spaghetti)...and sunflowers =).
I have the trellis here over the cabbage so that once the pole beans start to grow up (I still need to drill holes in the horizontal beams and install cordage for them to wrap around), the beans will shade the cabbage and hopefully keep it cooler. We didn't have a problem growing cabbage this time of year last year with the heat except the grasshoppers were of biblical proportions and we lost them all.
The meat chickens have been put in to the roving chicken tractor. They get moved once a day for now but when they are a bit bigger it may be twice a day although by that point they are allowed out of the cage during the day through a door on the side and they can free range. They all go back in to the cage at night for safe keeping. They are already 4 weeks old and will be processed in about another 4 weeks. We also bought 3 turkeys as well.
The piglets are getting big. We kept 2 back. One sow and a male we castrated. We may keep the sow on as a breeding sow and sell off her sire, our big boar. We have a friend with a boar who would stud him out and keeping one sow and one boar is NOT cost effective.
Lastly, here are just some random shots.
We're been working long hours on the "investment" house and there is quite a bit more work that we made for ourselves than we had to although, doing it now means we won't have to do it later and updating it just makes it that much more marketable, whether it becomes a rental or a flip.
Here is a link to the house photos and video if you'd like to take a look: CLICK HERE I doubt I'll post any "during" photos, it just takes a lot of time but you can go to this link as often as you'd like to see how we are coming along. There is also a 12 minute video. I apologize if you cannot hear all that well, my camera is so so with taking video but at least it should give you a better lay out of the house. The flooring is almost done in both upstairs bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom is ready for the stud walls between the master bedroom and the bathroom and where the new tub will go. I should be done by the downstairs laundry room today (Wednesday), but I am publishing this post for tomorrow. I will also need to paint the one wall in the kitchen (stairwell wall) because we're picking up cabinets today.
A couple of weeks ago we roped off the woods by the pond for the goats with temporary electric wire and posts. They enjoy getting out there and eating all of the delicious treats, we enjoy that the woods are kept a bit more tame.
Our garden is completely in. I made some garden trellises for the pole beans and melons. We used a 16' cattle panel bent into a hoop between two t posts for our gourds and luffas to climb up. We use cattle panel sections for the climbing cukes too, it saves space in the garden when we can get as much as we can to climb vertically. When all was said and done, I think we have over 50 tomato plants in, 12 melons, 4 cukes, lots of pole and bush beans, cabbage, broccoli (both green and purple), lots of herbs, tomatillos, squash (butternut, patty pan, yellow & green and spaghetti)...and sunflowers =).
I have the trellis here over the cabbage so that once the pole beans start to grow up (I still need to drill holes in the horizontal beams and install cordage for them to wrap around), the beans will shade the cabbage and hopefully keep it cooler. We didn't have a problem growing cabbage this time of year last year with the heat except the grasshoppers were of biblical proportions and we lost them all.
The piglets are getting big. We kept 2 back. One sow and a male we castrated. We may keep the sow on as a breeding sow and sell off her sire, our big boar. We have a friend with a boar who would stud him out and keeping one sow and one boar is NOT cost effective.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Bees!
We picked up our bees on Saturday and the transfer of the frames went off without a hitch! We love them and are perfectly enthralled with them! They are SO docile, proof of being well handled. We do not need a veil to work around them, now that may change when we start collecting honey but for now, we can stick our faces right into the hives and they go about their business.
Jeremiah and I built these hives in April. They are top bar hives.You can read more about there here if you'd like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_top-bar_hive
Jeremiah and I built these hives in April. They are top bar hives.You can read more about there here if you'd like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_top-bar_hive
Because we bought "nuc" colonies (bee colonies that were already established), they came in a "nuc" box with frames the bees were already building on. We took out the frames and slipped them right into our hives and within an instant, they went right to work doing what they do. We placed them on a hill up behind the pond. They are protected by the trees there and the animals won't mess with them. Additionally, we don't have to mow around the hives and disturb the bees.
Friday, May 30, 2014
House
For those who visit this blog who I don't speak to on a regular basis, a house down the road came up for sale after a foreclosure. We bought it are now in the midst of renovating it.
I took some video to give an idea of layout. More photos to come as we progress through the demo. There were several things that absolutely had to be tended to (leaky water pipes in the bathroom. FOUR so far and one in the yard), the kitchen was not well laid out and the step up living room with the way the center island sat was very dangerous.
We've since torn up the carpet in 2 upstairs bedrooms and the living room and pulled up the raised portion of the living room which was raised with cedar planking and plywood. Jeremiah has fixed the leaky pipes in the bathroom and it will need new drywall in spots now and has fixed one broken pipe in the yard but there is still another going to one faucet because when turned on it has no pressure. These are the downfalls to buying repoed properties especially in cold climates. The the property is not "winterized" soon enough, freezing and thawing is inevitable.
I have since painted 2 of the three upstairs bedrooms, ceilings and walls. The master bath had an open concept from the master bedroom and no access from the other 2 bedrooms which I thought odd as the landing upstairs is big enough for another door and if the bathroom is large enough for a huge 2 person whirlpool tub, it's big enough for a tub shower combo instead! The other bedrooms could only access the bathroom upstairs through the master bedroom or walk all the way downstairs and through the kitchen. Can you imagine doing that in the middle of the night?? No thank you. Changing things around a bit will make the house more usable and it's not too much time or money extra.
The kitchen will need new tile in place of where the old cabinets and counter used to be as the cabinets were in place before the "new" tile floor. Fortunately it was laid in such a way that we can pop up a few cut pieces and install whole tiles and it will be seamless. We'll also tile the rest of the living room that was raised before.
These videos were taken early this week when we did not have some of the work done we have now. I'll take updated photos as we go. My apologies if my voice is low. I was talking normally. I am also not a videographer, apologies in advance if your head spins a little when the movement or if it's dark. We did not get the electric turned on until Tuesday.
In the first video I walk through the existing door right into the kitchen. The glass pane to the right has been removed and is now the entry way into the living room. The previous entry way will be a walk in pantry off the kitchen. When you walk in the front door there will be a new wall to the left.
The closet upstairs where the furnace is is dark and you probably cannot see it. Sorry about that. These may be out of order.
I took some video to give an idea of layout. More photos to come as we progress through the demo. There were several things that absolutely had to be tended to (leaky water pipes in the bathroom. FOUR so far and one in the yard), the kitchen was not well laid out and the step up living room with the way the center island sat was very dangerous.
We've since torn up the carpet in 2 upstairs bedrooms and the living room and pulled up the raised portion of the living room which was raised with cedar planking and plywood. Jeremiah has fixed the leaky pipes in the bathroom and it will need new drywall in spots now and has fixed one broken pipe in the yard but there is still another going to one faucet because when turned on it has no pressure. These are the downfalls to buying repoed properties especially in cold climates. The the property is not "winterized" soon enough, freezing and thawing is inevitable.
I have since painted 2 of the three upstairs bedrooms, ceilings and walls. The master bath had an open concept from the master bedroom and no access from the other 2 bedrooms which I thought odd as the landing upstairs is big enough for another door and if the bathroom is large enough for a huge 2 person whirlpool tub, it's big enough for a tub shower combo instead! The other bedrooms could only access the bathroom upstairs through the master bedroom or walk all the way downstairs and through the kitchen. Can you imagine doing that in the middle of the night?? No thank you. Changing things around a bit will make the house more usable and it's not too much time or money extra.
The kitchen will need new tile in place of where the old cabinets and counter used to be as the cabinets were in place before the "new" tile floor. Fortunately it was laid in such a way that we can pop up a few cut pieces and install whole tiles and it will be seamless. We'll also tile the rest of the living room that was raised before.
In the first video I walk through the existing door right into the kitchen. The glass pane to the right has been removed and is now the entry way into the living room. The previous entry way will be a walk in pantry off the kitchen. When you walk in the front door there will be a new wall to the left.
The closet upstairs where the furnace is is dark and you probably cannot see it. Sorry about that. These may be out of order.
I will get photos today of the progress now that the electric is on. The basement would have been pitch black before the electric which is why it's not shown.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
I've been bad
I've been terrible at posting, absolutely terrible. Here's a pathetic attempt at updating:
I think all of the does, as of April 13th or so, have kidded. I say I think because we put a buck out with the does to run with them while we were gone in Ca. but I don't think I left him long enough to "clean up" which is just as well as it is we had 10 does to kid this year and that just seems like way too many.
We're looking to downsize, in the process of actually.
The weather has been crazy, on again off again cold and for the next 5 days it's supposed to be over 90! So in one week's time I'll have gone to using the wood stove to the A/C!
I had wanted to start getting the garden in this weekend but our rototiller's carburetor needs a good cleaning so Jeremiah took it in to school with him and it didn't make it onto the docket before the weekend.
I have been sick fighting some sort of sinus/respiratory nastiness. It all kind of hit Thursday with a cough. Our last cough lingered for a while but there weren't any major issues with it. Drew had it something bad. I almost took him to the dr. just to get him something to quiet his cough so he could sleep but I found an alternate home remedy that worked just dandy! As for me, yesterday my head ached something awful and the Tylenol I took took forever to finally work and for the first hour didn't even take the edge off. I am sure I had a pretty high fever too, I could feel the heat radiating off my face. Nevertheless, I honesty cannot lay in bed, it makes me feel worse so I got up and did regular chores yesterday morning and a few things here and there. I feel a little better today.
Bees: I have been in touch with the individual/company that we'll be getting our bees from. This might tell you how bad/long/crappy the winter was, as of 3/4 of the way through April, they were still about a month out from separating the colonies to sell off because there wasn't enough flowers out yet for them to eat from. We ended up building the hives ourselves, we're almost done for them. I have photos I'll post once they are and painted up. It wasn't too difficult and we're happy with them. I am very excited for the bees!
Kids: Their last day of school was Wednesday. We got a letter in the mail with their new school assignment which is where everyone else from Obee will be going also.
2 weeks ago Wednesday we attended band sign up for Rachel to see which instrument might be best for her. She tried out the flute (which was her first choice originally before trying any of them but she has a widows peak in her lips which doesn't make playing impossible but it would take extra determination to learn to account for that. As a downfall to having beautiful lips, it makes it harder to play the flute, or so we're told. Oh well, she leaned she liked the clarinet better anyway so we're buying her a clarinet and she goes to band came for a week in May. Tomorrow she starts an hour long poetry class at 10:30 to noon with a friend of hers at a bookstore in town. Drew and I, I guess, will hang out at the library.
Drew's 2nd grade class always attends "The Magic Treehouse" (series of books) field trip. The 2nd grade teacher's parents have this beautiful piece of property about half an hour west of town they have turned into a kid's paradise. Jeremiah took off work to go this year and we had a blast.
The farm: The piglets are 2.5 months old now. All but 2 have been sold. Of the 14 born eleven made it past 2 weeks old and it wasn't pleasant having them in February. We had to rig up a brooder to keep them from freezing to death so I don't think I will farrow again in February...or March! As it is we are on track for the sow to farrow again in Sept. and I consider selling the pigs off completely but now with this swine disease going around, I have to wonder if that's really the smart thing to do. We kept a gilt (female) and barrow (castrated male) back to raise up to butcher out. Keeping a boar is expensive for just one sow an a few neighbors and I are considering keeping one between us to use. We have a friend about half an hour away who has one we could borrow but the whole swine disease kind of has me scared about using outside services at all.
Who knows what the best answer is. Pork prices are only going to soar, just like beef did- Supply and demand. It's not even the finished product that is the issue, it's finding the animals to raise up to begin with! 50 lb. feeder pigs were going for as high as $200 an individual at the sale barn last month! Keeping 2 sows and no boar would be more cost effective but a boar has to be available.
Onward and upward though....we got our delivery of 160 meat chicks in the mail day before yesterday. They are delivered to the post office and we go and pick them up which is usually a late night proposition. All 160 are not for us. We went in on a group buy. We kept about 50 some and in about 6-8 weeks we'll be butchering again!
Rental property: We're on track for the rental property to close on or about May 16th. We have to get the septic tank pumped and do some general yard clean up but we won't rent a dumpster until a busted pipe has been fixed in the downstairs bathroom wall. Otherwise all it needs is some kitchen cabinets, appliances, carpet if we can afford it (otherwise what's there just gets a good cleaning) and some paint.
Jeremiah: One of his students won gold for welding sculpture so he'll be going to Nationals at the end of June for a week in Kansas City. He's also signed up to finally take the CWI (Certified Welding Inspection) class and CWE (Certified Welding Educator) the first of June at the college for a week.
His college classes are almost done (or are done) this week.
I'll update with photos later but I want to get this posted before I forget and it sits as a draft like all the other well meaning posts I've been meaning to get posted.
I'll end for now. The heat is supposed to be near record breaking this week in the 90's+ so I'd like to get started on chores before it's too hot to!
I think all of the does, as of April 13th or so, have kidded. I say I think because we put a buck out with the does to run with them while we were gone in Ca. but I don't think I left him long enough to "clean up" which is just as well as it is we had 10 does to kid this year and that just seems like way too many.
We're looking to downsize, in the process of actually.
The weather has been crazy, on again off again cold and for the next 5 days it's supposed to be over 90! So in one week's time I'll have gone to using the wood stove to the A/C!
I had wanted to start getting the garden in this weekend but our rototiller's carburetor needs a good cleaning so Jeremiah took it in to school with him and it didn't make it onto the docket before the weekend.
I have been sick fighting some sort of sinus/respiratory nastiness. It all kind of hit Thursday with a cough. Our last cough lingered for a while but there weren't any major issues with it. Drew had it something bad. I almost took him to the dr. just to get him something to quiet his cough so he could sleep but I found an alternate home remedy that worked just dandy! As for me, yesterday my head ached something awful and the Tylenol I took took forever to finally work and for the first hour didn't even take the edge off. I am sure I had a pretty high fever too, I could feel the heat radiating off my face. Nevertheless, I honesty cannot lay in bed, it makes me feel worse so I got up and did regular chores yesterday morning and a few things here and there. I feel a little better today.
Bees: I have been in touch with the individual/company that we'll be getting our bees from. This might tell you how bad/long/crappy the winter was, as of 3/4 of the way through April, they were still about a month out from separating the colonies to sell off because there wasn't enough flowers out yet for them to eat from. We ended up building the hives ourselves, we're almost done for them. I have photos I'll post once they are and painted up. It wasn't too difficult and we're happy with them. I am very excited for the bees!
Kids: Their last day of school was Wednesday. We got a letter in the mail with their new school assignment which is where everyone else from Obee will be going also.
2 weeks ago Wednesday we attended band sign up for Rachel to see which instrument might be best for her. She tried out the flute (which was her first choice originally before trying any of them but she has a widows peak in her lips which doesn't make playing impossible but it would take extra determination to learn to account for that. As a downfall to having beautiful lips, it makes it harder to play the flute, or so we're told. Oh well, she leaned she liked the clarinet better anyway so we're buying her a clarinet and she goes to band came for a week in May. Tomorrow she starts an hour long poetry class at 10:30 to noon with a friend of hers at a bookstore in town. Drew and I, I guess, will hang out at the library.
Drew's 2nd grade class always attends "The Magic Treehouse" (series of books) field trip. The 2nd grade teacher's parents have this beautiful piece of property about half an hour west of town they have turned into a kid's paradise. Jeremiah took off work to go this year and we had a blast.
The farm: The piglets are 2.5 months old now. All but 2 have been sold. Of the 14 born eleven made it past 2 weeks old and it wasn't pleasant having them in February. We had to rig up a brooder to keep them from freezing to death so I don't think I will farrow again in February...or March! As it is we are on track for the sow to farrow again in Sept. and I consider selling the pigs off completely but now with this swine disease going around, I have to wonder if that's really the smart thing to do. We kept a gilt (female) and barrow (castrated male) back to raise up to butcher out. Keeping a boar is expensive for just one sow an a few neighbors and I are considering keeping one between us to use. We have a friend about half an hour away who has one we could borrow but the whole swine disease kind of has me scared about using outside services at all.
Who knows what the best answer is. Pork prices are only going to soar, just like beef did- Supply and demand. It's not even the finished product that is the issue, it's finding the animals to raise up to begin with! 50 lb. feeder pigs were going for as high as $200 an individual at the sale barn last month! Keeping 2 sows and no boar would be more cost effective but a boar has to be available.
Onward and upward though....we got our delivery of 160 meat chicks in the mail day before yesterday. They are delivered to the post office and we go and pick them up which is usually a late night proposition. All 160 are not for us. We went in on a group buy. We kept about 50 some and in about 6-8 weeks we'll be butchering again!
Rental property: We're on track for the rental property to close on or about May 16th. We have to get the septic tank pumped and do some general yard clean up but we won't rent a dumpster until a busted pipe has been fixed in the downstairs bathroom wall. Otherwise all it needs is some kitchen cabinets, appliances, carpet if we can afford it (otherwise what's there just gets a good cleaning) and some paint.
Jeremiah: One of his students won gold for welding sculpture so he'll be going to Nationals at the end of June for a week in Kansas City. He's also signed up to finally take the CWI (Certified Welding Inspection) class and CWE (Certified Welding Educator) the first of June at the college for a week.
His college classes are almost done (or are done) this week.
I'll update with photos later but I want to get this posted before I forget and it sits as a draft like all the other well meaning posts I've been meaning to get posted.
I'll end for now. The heat is supposed to be near record breaking this week in the 90's+ so I'd like to get started on chores before it's too hot to!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Our last big snow completely melted away but this was a photo of the greenhouse. We cannot start seeds in it. I pot in it because it's rather toasty on a day when the sunshines but without power and our cold nights, it does not stay warm enough. We have a shelving unit in the kitchen by the window that works well for starting seeds. With any luck, I can hopefully move all the flats into the greenhouse mid-March. At the rate we're going though, maybe mid-July!
 |
| My favorite tree on the property- a Cottonwood. (and the chicken coop and pig's shelter in the background) |
 |
| The sow is living in one of the loafing sheds with her piglets. In this cold, they must have a heat lamp and this is the only loafing shed that has electricity. It allows us much closer one on one contact with them though. |
We're gearing up for another big cold storm this weekend. I am very weary of it. I am weary of the snow and I am especially weary of the cold, this one promises to pack windchill's well below negative with potential for record setting lows. Imagine that, our coldest recorded low was -24 in 2011. WE WERE HERE FOR THAT! Only the tiniest tips of green grass are starting to emerge. Normally I would feel we're on the upswing to spring but with that huge ice storm in April last year and snow in May, it's hard to be excited.
We have a couple does due today. It's going to be an exponentially long weekend making sure everyone is as warm as possible, new kids will have to be brought in to keep ears from freezing. Our youngest are 10 days old, they should be OK but anyone born in it would, at the very least, have frostbitten ears though it's very likely they would freeze to death if born with windchills that low.
Then there's still milking and now bottle feeding. We lost one of our older does Wednesday. To what I don't know but with this warm again cold again weather, it's very likely it was fast moving pneumonia and there was little I could do. She left 2 kids behind. I have sold off the buck kid and now have the doe kid. That, coupled with 2 piglets who are lagging behind, and I am bottling a few animals around here. The dogs are separated currently and the only way to do that successfully is to keep one in the garage and the other out in the barnyard. They switch places every 12 hours and neither one is very happy. They miss each other but Snow needs a break from pregnancy and a trail separation is the only form of 100% positive birth control.
I don't like bucketing warm water but sometimes it's necessary. So, there's my weekend plans- surviving. The cold and snow is exhausting. I don't like to complain but few who have to get out in it don't get it. I could get rid of all of the animals for sure, that would leave me little to complain about, I guess. But, that would also take away much joy too, that's what you call a catch 22...a conundrum.
It's 3 AM. I am out to do a barn check. The wind is howling but this isn't near the worst of it. This cold is manageable. Tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night will be a different story. Jeremiah is leaving early to pick up the trailer from the shop this morning. He's done some modifications to it and the alternator was kaput. We're having friends over for a soup supper tonight. I'll be running the oven part of today for bread. I'm cooking a ham tomorrow.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Bottle Porker
10 piglets are happy and healthy but 2 aren't looking as plump as the others. I took it upon myself to try to supplement those girls. The info on hand rearing pigs hasn't been good. "It's difficult. They're stubborn. You loose them 50% of the time." Eegads, it doesn't sound like I am going to be too successful! But, I gotta try.
These 2 girls don't look much bigger than they did when they were born- which is usually nothing but skin and bones! So, I brought 'em in and tried feeding them with an eye dropper, by golly the one little girl looked like she wanted to suck so I decided to try the beer bottle and "lamb" nipple I use on the goats and wouldn't you know, that pig took to it like a fish to water! Dumb luck? I don't so. #2 girl took to it like a fish to water too and so now I am bottle supplementing all the ones who are looking a little less plump than some of the others and no one seems to have an issue taking the bottle at all! I think it has to be in the nipple! What's funny? I can't even get the goat kids to take it as easy as these pigs!!
They need to be fed often when they are this young and for that reason, I am leaving them with the sow for the most part. They seem to take to her just fine too but boy when they see me, I think they know the real chow wagon has arrived! I'm not real sure how this will all play out. My hope is that I can train them to a pan fairly soon. By the time they are about 10 days old they start to nibble on regular hog feed so it shouldn't be much time at all before I can start getting them milk through alternative means other than a bottle. I would imagine if a momma sow wasn't available, it would be a very time consuming proposition! They're getting goat's milk, by the way. Goat's milk is a well known universal supplement for so many animals because it's so easy to digest - cows (some dairies will even give their replacement heifer calves goat's milk instead of cow's milk as a preventative of disease transferable through milk or as a means of keeping their cow's milk for sale...seems almost silly but that's entirely another thing), puppies, kittens, foals, crias (baby alpaca), piglets, etc.
Pigs really are funny things. So smart and really very friendly once they know who to take a liking to. I'll tell you the same thing I tell the kids, "Don't get attached!" Everything has a purpose and her purpose is to make bacon.
The weather has been super nice up until this morning. I think it was 72 on Tuesday (!) and yesterday I had clothes hanging on the line. Last night wind picked up, the temp dropped this morning and about 7:45 when I went out to do chores, it was hailing and windy as all get out. The hail turned to snow shortly thereafter and now it appears it's all blown through and today's high is supposed to reach 51. Go figure!
I think the building construction class is about done with our milk barn. I thought it was supposed to be done by now as today marks the end of the 2nd trimester. I don't know what else is left to do seeing as how we're putting on the rood and side walls and pretty much the only thing they were to do is floor and framing and rafters/roof joists. They didn't want to do the metal siding and rooding which is fine, that goes up quick enough.
This last trimester another class is making our bee hives. I need to go in and speak to the instructor about what I want and give him some blueprints. Our bee colonies are reserved and will be ready for pick up come late April I think.
One of the does was bred earlier than I figured she was, as in, I had no idea! We had a couple buck escapes at different times which I wrote down and there have been no surprises as of late...except this doe. We have some round bales of hay out in the pasture the girls free eat off of and Tuesday when I went out mid-day to water the sow here she came walking up with 2 kids in tow - a boy and a girl. We're up to 7 kids now (4 boys & 3 girls) and one of the buck kids has gone on to his new home already.
Goat prices are up at the sale barn. I am not sure if it's because of the time of year (ethnic buyers) or because beef is scarce and more expensive (doubt it) or an influx of local ethnic groups (???) but anyway, we made quite a good price off of the whethers we took on Sat. It's not my favorite thing to do and we try to avoid taking animals there but it is what it is.
We ran out of wood, ran clean out, last week...when the temps were in the teens during the day! Not a stick left. That's a little frightening when propane is sky high ($3.64 locally a gallon and reports of up to $5.15 a little father up north). We paid $1.64 I believe last Oct. when we filled up. Granted, that was last Oct. and well before these polar vortexes and cold storms dumping lots of snow everywhere but sheesh, if that don't make you want to go out and find some wood, I don't know what will!
After some unusually above average temps at the end of last week, the snow as pretty much gone by Saturday. Last spring when we rented a dumpster to clear some brush from the front of the property we separated good burnable wood from junk brush. We barely made a dent in what's all out there but the burnable limbs sure came in handy! We loaded them into the truck, backed up to the garage and had a field day cutting up the 4-6" limbs with the miter saw. That miter saw is the way to go for quick firewood cuttin', I tell you what.
Additionally, Jeremiah is yet again modifying the log splitter. Nevermind I have been asking all along why we have to have a cylinder wedge driven splitter. It seems so dang slow! One night he was "You Tubing" log splitters and saw one with a cylinder driven plate that drove the log against a splitter shaped like a all-in-one pie slicer. That's the way to go! Split all your slices all at one instead of one at a time! Some day we'll have something that saves us time!
This winter has seemed long, but then, they all do. I am sure we're still a ways off from spring but the warm temps every now and again are a nice reprieve. The weekend after next we're supposed to be plunged into cold again just in time for March to come in like a lion.
I suppose it's better than a perpetual beach day, more interesting anyway =). Have a great day.
These 2 girls don't look much bigger than they did when they were born- which is usually nothing but skin and bones! So, I brought 'em in and tried feeding them with an eye dropper, by golly the one little girl looked like she wanted to suck so I decided to try the beer bottle and "lamb" nipple I use on the goats and wouldn't you know, that pig took to it like a fish to water! Dumb luck? I don't so. #2 girl took to it like a fish to water too and so now I am bottle supplementing all the ones who are looking a little less plump than some of the others and no one seems to have an issue taking the bottle at all! I think it has to be in the nipple! What's funny? I can't even get the goat kids to take it as easy as these pigs!!
They need to be fed often when they are this young and for that reason, I am leaving them with the sow for the most part. They seem to take to her just fine too but boy when they see me, I think they know the real chow wagon has arrived! I'm not real sure how this will all play out. My hope is that I can train them to a pan fairly soon. By the time they are about 10 days old they start to nibble on regular hog feed so it shouldn't be much time at all before I can start getting them milk through alternative means other than a bottle. I would imagine if a momma sow wasn't available, it would be a very time consuming proposition! They're getting goat's milk, by the way. Goat's milk is a well known universal supplement for so many animals because it's so easy to digest - cows (some dairies will even give their replacement heifer calves goat's milk instead of cow's milk as a preventative of disease transferable through milk or as a means of keeping their cow's milk for sale...seems almost silly but that's entirely another thing), puppies, kittens, foals, crias (baby alpaca), piglets, etc.
Pigs really are funny things. So smart and really very friendly once they know who to take a liking to. I'll tell you the same thing I tell the kids, "Don't get attached!" Everything has a purpose and her purpose is to make bacon.
The weather has been super nice up until this morning. I think it was 72 on Tuesday (!) and yesterday I had clothes hanging on the line. Last night wind picked up, the temp dropped this morning and about 7:45 when I went out to do chores, it was hailing and windy as all get out. The hail turned to snow shortly thereafter and now it appears it's all blown through and today's high is supposed to reach 51. Go figure!
I think the building construction class is about done with our milk barn. I thought it was supposed to be done by now as today marks the end of the 2nd trimester. I don't know what else is left to do seeing as how we're putting on the rood and side walls and pretty much the only thing they were to do is floor and framing and rafters/roof joists. They didn't want to do the metal siding and rooding which is fine, that goes up quick enough.
This last trimester another class is making our bee hives. I need to go in and speak to the instructor about what I want and give him some blueprints. Our bee colonies are reserved and will be ready for pick up come late April I think.
One of the does was bred earlier than I figured she was, as in, I had no idea! We had a couple buck escapes at different times which I wrote down and there have been no surprises as of late...except this doe. We have some round bales of hay out in the pasture the girls free eat off of and Tuesday when I went out mid-day to water the sow here she came walking up with 2 kids in tow - a boy and a girl. We're up to 7 kids now (4 boys & 3 girls) and one of the buck kids has gone on to his new home already.
Goat prices are up at the sale barn. I am not sure if it's because of the time of year (ethnic buyers) or because beef is scarce and more expensive (doubt it) or an influx of local ethnic groups (???) but anyway, we made quite a good price off of the whethers we took on Sat. It's not my favorite thing to do and we try to avoid taking animals there but it is what it is.
We ran out of wood, ran clean out, last week...when the temps were in the teens during the day! Not a stick left. That's a little frightening when propane is sky high ($3.64 locally a gallon and reports of up to $5.15 a little father up north). We paid $1.64 I believe last Oct. when we filled up. Granted, that was last Oct. and well before these polar vortexes and cold storms dumping lots of snow everywhere but sheesh, if that don't make you want to go out and find some wood, I don't know what will!
After some unusually above average temps at the end of last week, the snow as pretty much gone by Saturday. Last spring when we rented a dumpster to clear some brush from the front of the property we separated good burnable wood from junk brush. We barely made a dent in what's all out there but the burnable limbs sure came in handy! We loaded them into the truck, backed up to the garage and had a field day cutting up the 4-6" limbs with the miter saw. That miter saw is the way to go for quick firewood cuttin', I tell you what.
Additionally, Jeremiah is yet again modifying the log splitter. Nevermind I have been asking all along why we have to have a cylinder wedge driven splitter. It seems so dang slow! One night he was "You Tubing" log splitters and saw one with a cylinder driven plate that drove the log against a splitter shaped like a all-in-one pie slicer. That's the way to go! Split all your slices all at one instead of one at a time! Some day we'll have something that saves us time!
This winter has seemed long, but then, they all do. I am sure we're still a ways off from spring but the warm temps every now and again are a nice reprieve. The weekend after next we're supposed to be plunged into cold again just in time for March to come in like a lion.
I suppose it's better than a perpetual beach day, more interesting anyway =). Have a great day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)