So much has happened in the last month, I don't know where to begin.
Charley and Jackie got final approval to travel to China to pick up their son, Joshua. They left on May 15 and returned on May 31. Joshua is such a sweet little boy. He will be 5 in a few weeks. He is doing well, but it was heart-wrenching this morning to have him crying and say he wants to go home to Beijing. So much going on for such a little person. Jackie got out the memory book they gave him at Bethel (where he was taken care of for the past year and a half).
It is also a big adjustment for John. He is doing excellent, though.
We are now living in our house. We are really pleased with our design. It "lives" really well. We had our first guest. Wilma came to help us for 3 days to get settled. She is such a hard worker and we LOVE having her around.
Bryce, our intern from Asbury University moved in and is SUCH a big help. He helped us move and is working in the garden and did all the animal chores while the kids were gone. We have enjoyed having him around also.
We are doing the door and window trim ourselves and have not had time to work on it since we got moved in. There just aren't enough hours in the day. We have made time though to enjoy the beauty in which we live. We take a few minutes to watch the pasture twinkling with fireflies, or to see how quickly the sun sets in a beautiful sky. We have time to sit on the porch and enjoy popsicles with the boys - a first for Joshua.
I have enjoyed my time in the greenhouse starting plants, but we haven't gotten them all in the ground yet. Charley is helping to do that before he goes back to work.
I have been cooking meals for 7 to 10 people each night. Bryce has invited some friends and Jackie's parents have joined us. It has been a great time. Wilma showed me how to make bread and I am trying it for myself for the first time. The first loaves are in the oven. They look good. Wilma has been so patient because I've had to call her twice today to ask her questions.
Our bedroom window faces east and we have no window coverings yet, so we have been wakend by the sun every morning - except the one morning when it was cloudy and then we were wakend by 2 little boys.
We haven't yet moved anything from our storage locker. My quilting machine, our 2 freezers, all my fabric, and a whole lot of other stuff. We have missed our "stuff."
The small garden looks really good. The potatoes, onions and kohlrabi are there.
The big garden has corn, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes. We don't yet have our beans planted. We are really behind, but are setting up a permanent garden. We have aisles and planting beds. Once we get to making our own compost, we will start adding to the beds each year. Today they are putting cardboard down - reusing from our building project - and then mulch which we get from the county.
Bob is kept busy keeping everyone else running. He is maintaining the big tractor, 2 lawn tractors and everything else we ask him to do.
So, hopefully you can understand why I haven't found time to write here. We are ready for company, so let us know when you would like to come. The trim isn't finished, and the boxes aren't yet unpacked, but we would love to see some of our old friends and share our little piece of heaven with you - down here in the Bluegrass.
Here is a view of our house that I don't think I have shown before from the back.
It looks really big, but let me explain. The white door on the back to the left on the upper level is our laundry room. To the left of that is our garage. From the white door to the right, the main part is our house - plus the upper room in the connecting piece. The lower part of the connecting piece is the kids' new family room and the right is their house. We have a basement below our house.
We've started painting trim and interior doors and have installed some of the trim. There is a PILE of trim to be done.
The first step of the kitchen cabinets has been installed. The counter is scheduled to be installed on May 16. We had a 2-week delay. I won't go into it, but very frustrating.
The hardwood floors are done, although they will do a 3rd coat of poly just before we move in. This is the living room and the doors that go out to the back deck. The door to the left in the back is to Bob's office and the door to the right in the back is our bedroom. In the front to the left by the chair is the hallway to the guest room and my sewing room. I'm standing in the dining room.
We brought our dining room light from our house in Wheaton and it looks just as good in Kentucky.
We have an attached garage which we have never had before. And with a garage door opener! WE LOVE IT!!! Right now it is our trim painting room.
We were excited to nail in our first piece of trim. In our master bedroom.
Things are really popping up in the greenhouse. I'm out of space so Bob is going to try to fit in another shelf if he can. I have squash, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, corn.
You see the greenhouse isn't very big.
The big garden has been plowed. It will be roto-tilled this week. Our current plan is that this is the last year it will be tilled. We plan to lay out permanent planting beds about 2 feet wide and aisles 42 inches wide. We will be able to drive the garden tractor and trailer between the rows. I'm excited to see how this works for us.
All the calves have been born. One cow and calf died, but I think there are 8 that lived. They are growing so fast.
Back to the house progress, the plumber is supposed to come tomorrow (May 6) and do everything except the kitchen - which can't be done until the counters are installed. Also, the concrete will be poured for the 2 basement entrances and a new sidewalk for Charley & Jackie's front door.
On Wednesday (May 7), the electrician comes to do everything except the kitchen. Bryce the intern moves in to C & J's guest room on Wednesday.
If only we could be living there ...
So that is the out-of-control life here in the Bluegrass.
After things moving so slowly all winter, now all of a sudden things are moving so fast we can't keep up. We fall into bed exhausted at night. I haven't taken any pictures. Wilma and Amy have been down almost every weekend helping us and they have taken some pictures, so I asked if they could send them to me.
The upstairs of Charley's house which had never been finished is almost there. The drywall is all done in their upstairs bathroom and it is painted. There is vinyl on the floor, carpeting in the rest of the upstairs and a runner down the stairs. That bedroom is also painted.
In our house, the painting is all done on the main floor except the guest room. We hired the painting done for our main floor and the guest room was piled full of stuff from Charley's upstairs when she painted, so we couldn't do that room. The hardwood is down in the main space and there is vinyl in the bathrooms, Bob's office and my sewing room. Carpet in the 2 bedrooms will be the last thing they do.
We will be gone several days this week. Tomorrow, Monday, we will pack and then drive up to Marion to Josh's. They fly out on Wednesday to return to Macedonia. They were down here for this weekend for Easter and when they left this afternoon, it was easy to say goodbye because it was "see you tomorrow night." On Wednesday, it will be, "see you in 3 years" and that will be hard. Then we drive to St Louis to return the car they have been using and then on our way back are going to stop in southern Illinois to see our dear friends, Ken and Dottie. Back home yet Thursday night and then Friday morning we will see how much the contractor got done while we were gone.
Part of the appliances were delivered on Wednesday. We bought then from Lowe's on a Thanksgiving weekend sale, and they have been sitting in their store since then. On Tuesday they were unboxing them for delivery on Wednesday and discovered that the front of the refrigerator had 2 dents. So they delivered the stove, dishwasher and microwave on Wed and then the refrigerator on Saturday (which they got from a different store.)
On Thursday, the kitchen cabinets were mostly installed. There is one small thing that needs changed and then they can measure for countertops. It will take them a couple weeks to make them.
I think the electrician is supposed to come tomorrow, Monday. We had to take all the light fixtures, fans and dimmer switches and put them around the house so they are ready when he comes. We had to do the same with the plumbing fixtures. We had to do a marathon shopping session - 3 1/2 hours -on Wednesday to get all the stuff. I had to use one of those carts that you drive around because my feet hurt so badly.
They put in the lower columns which support the porch. Those are concrete block, We will need to clad those in stone, but that doesn't have to be done before we get occupancy. They put in the 6x6 posts for the upper porch which will be clad in painted boards, but again it doesn't need to be done before we move in. The railing will have to be done, though.
Bob and I have been working on trim boards. We are doing a different style - the same as Dick and Josie have in their house although painted white. The mdf boards that were delivered all have square corners, but Bob is using the router to round the corners. Then I am painting them before they are put up. I need to put on a coat of paint, then sand that rounded edge and then paint the whole thing again. Then when they are installed, we will only have to touch up the nail holes.
Jackie was gone last weekend so we put on a big push to get her closet done (almost), and got started on the window seat in their new family room.
Anyway, we have made lots of progress.
I do have a few pictures, although not of construction.
Charley, Jackie and John at church this morning.
Josh, Rachelle, Kayla, Briana and Titus at church this morning.
Uncle Charley holding Titus.
The kids hunting for Easter eggs on Saturday with Wilma helping Briana.
I have gotten some seeds started, although not nearly what needs to be done.
And Charley got his pigs put out to a new pasture. This is the first time keeping them in with electric fence.
Faye got the riding mower out this afternoon and did some mowing. In Wheaton we always mowed the last weekend in April. We are only 1 week ahead of that this year, usually we would be mowing 4 weeks ahead of that in KY.
OK. That's all for now.
Busy times here in the Bluegrass.
Finally, it seems that spring will actually come this year! That makes everything seem so much better. On the road into our place there is this first patch of daffodils.
We have made some good progress. We have cut through from the new to the old so we can see how the entire space is going to flow. We are very pleased. The cut-through from Charley & Jackie's new family room to their kitchen is really a nice space. This is our contractor Tyler and his helper Fernando a few days ago. Now the beam is all in and the drywall mudding is done.
Also, we are beginning to use our basement, even before it is actually set up. Because C&J will be going to get their next son in another couple months, at the same time, Jackie is getting their room in shape. Plus Uncle Wendell gave Charley a hive so he can get started with bees and that hive needed painted. So, Jackie and I are painting in the new basement. Fabulous space.
In this picture, the door behind Jackie is into the basement kitchen/mud room. That has a door to the back porch and into their family room. The door to the left is into the farm office and there is a bathroom there also, so that will be a very versatile space.
This week, we are having a painter paint part of the space. We started to do the painting ourselves and realized it was too big a job for us, so will pay to have most of the new upstairs painted. We will still need to paint the old upstairs and the basement, so we still have a lot. The vinyl is supposed to be installed next Monday and the hardwood the Monday after that.
We need to get the garden started and there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Exciting and busy times here in the Bluegrass.
Today our contractor cut through from the new space to the old space. They connect in 3 places. Charley & Jackie's kitchen/dining room connect to their new family room. Their bedroom connects to a new walk-in closet and upstairs there is a hallway connecting our main floor to their upstairs. It is exactly as I had dreamed it to be.
I didn't get any pictures taken, believe it or not. There was too much else going on.
We are doing the painting ourselves to try to save money. It is a big job. We have the primer done in the basement and will move upstairs tomorrow. On Saturday, Wilma and Amy and Claude and Sallie are coming out to help us paint. We hope to get all the primer done upstairs so we can begin putting on color on Monday.
Tomorrow morning we are going to a class at the Garrard County Extension Service on gardening. Charley wants us to learn about this whole garden thing.
I'll try to post pictures soon.
Exciting times here in the Bluegrass.
Easter died this morning.
Sad day in the Bluegrass today.
This past weekend, Charley & family went up to Marion, Indiana to see Josh & family. They were predicting snow, but we always figure we can handle whatever comes. Well...
The kids left Friday after John got out of school. Saturday morning Bob and I woke up at the farm. I looked out the front window and down the pasture. I saw an area covered with about a hundred vultures. At least that is what we call them. I hollered at Bob and he drove down to check. One of the young cows had her calf and it had died. The cow's name is Easter.
Charley's bull is a small breed, I think called a Dexter. Well, the cows had gotten into the neighbor's pasture last summer and their bull is a big, big one. Evidently he got to the cows before Will, our bull did, so the baby was too big for this young heifer and it died. Something happened to Easter in the process and she can't stand up. And Charley is gone...
This is Charley's bull, Will.
We first built a shelter for Easter, putting the horse trailer on one side and some fence panels on the other side with a tarp over it. We were guessing which direction the storm would come from.
Well, she evidently didn't like it, because she worked her way out of the shelter. Every so often she will struggle to get up and since her left hind leg will not support her, she falls back down.
That night the storm came with sleet first and then snow. This is some of the other cows, but Easter was covered with ice also. We gave her hay and water every few hours.
On Sunday we put loose hay over her, trying to keep her warmer. The other cows ate all the hay off of her and the next morning, she is laying there covered with ice. There was nothing else we could do except keep her fed and watered. We didn't expect her to survive Monday night getting down to 6 degrees. But she did!!
When Charley got home, they took the tractor and loader and put her on this pallet thing Bob had built so he could use the tractor kind of like a forklift. The forklift itself is actually a 3 point hitch mounted hay fork for moving the big round bales. He used the hay spear attached to the loader and a strap around her belly to pick her up and put her on this pallet thing and then carried her up to the shop. She was strapped down so she would not fall off.
Charley and John built a pen using some plywood and some pallets.
And she is now inside where we can keep an eye on her, although the temperatures are going to be warmer the next few days. At least, the other cows will not steal her food. She is such a sweet cow. She is one they raised on a bottle.
This last side was enclosed after the picture was taken.
Everything is better now that Charley is home.
The farm is beautiful with the snow, but we are ready for it to be gone!!!
And that's how things are here in the Bluegrass. We are longing for spring!!
