It's been almost a month

Oh my!!  It's been almost a month since I posted last.  We've made a lot of progress on the house and we've had some really cold temperatures.

New Year's Eve, Darin, Holly and the kids came over.  Jackie took a picture, but I didn't get a copy of it.  They have now begun their first term with SIM and are in Texas at Spanish language school.  They tested out of the first semester, but will have to do some catching up with the rest of the class.

The siding on the house was completed

They delivered the drywall for the whole house.  That is a lot of drywall, so the truck is very heavy.  They tried to back across the front yard and got stuck.  They had to bring another truck to pull them out.  We didn't get out to the farm until they had already gotten it out.  They left big holes, but we will have to reshape the front yard anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

It was really interesting to watch them hang the drywall.  They did the garage first.  It made it seem a lot bigger than it was before.

There were 2 young men doing the work.  One of them barely looked old enough to be working.  He was the one working up on the stilts.  Here he is standing where the kitchen eating counter will be.  The door behind him goes out to the front porch.

While they were doing the ceiling, one fellow was up on the stilts.  The other one worked up and down on a sawhorse.  He did the measuring and cutting.  The sheets of drywall were 12' long and 4 1/2 ' wide.  He would pick up a whole sheet, step up on a 5 gal bucket and then up on the sawhorse - carrying the whole sheet.  The fellow on the stilts would take one end and hammer a couple nails to hold up his end.  The fellow on the stilts had a drywall screw gun and he would screw the whole piece in place.

All the drywall is now complete, but it is too cold for me to go over and take pictures.

When we left the farm tonight, it was minus 1 degree.  This is just too cold.  We thought we moved away from the cold.  Charley says we just brought it with us.  

Charley works for a local farmer, so is out in the cold all day.  They try to stay in the barn as much as they can.  Charley takes care of the goats and they open the doors as little as possible.

Our eggs are freezing.

We never thought we would see snow drifts down here.  Charley tried to get to work on Monday the 20th.  (I'm writing this on Thurs, Jan 23.)  It is 8 miles from our farm out to Highway 27.  He got 5 miles - with a lot of difficulty.  At that point, he couldn't make it up the hill.  Through his trying to get up that hill, he ended up turned around and headed back toward home.  But he was down in a bowl between 2 hills and couldn't get up the hill to head back home.  Someone stopped and helped him and then they drove together for a couple miles.  That fellow turned off and a bit further Charley went off the side of the road.  Thankfully it was a safe place.  Charley walked home which was about a mile and a half.  Jackie had stayed home in the first place.  We stayed at the apartment both Monday and Tuesday and didn't go out to the farm.  J has not had school all week.

J has been building things with his Legos.  I'm amazed at what he can do.  He took some pictures on my camera for me to have.

J took this picture also.  We processed 2 pigs and were getting the meat put into the freezer tonight.  He had most of it made into sausage.  We had some for supper and it was really good.  He raises American Guinea Hogs which are a heritage breed.  They forage in the pasture for their food, but don't put on weight as fast as the pigs we were used to growing up in Iowa.  They don't get nearly as big either.

The window you see boarded up in the background is where the opening will be connecting their current house to their new family room which is a part of what we are building.  They are looking forward to a little more space.

I'm getting weary.  And this cold weather now is not helping.  I am ready for the house to be done - and the garden season to begin.  That is when the hard work begins.  Now we can complain about the cold and the snow and then go inside and just sit there while we warm up.

Looking forward to spring in the Bluegrass. 

Christmas

Christmas week and Josh and Rachelle and family came for a visit.  We had progress on the house.  Busy week.

Claude and Sallie came over on Christmas Eve day.  We had our family Christmas dinner and then went to Christmas Eve service at our church, the Wilmore Free Methodist Church.

Sallie enjoyed holding baby T.

We started our Christmas day with reading the Christmas Story.  We need to be reminded of why we give gifts at Christmas time.

We opened gifts.

And decorated gingerbread houses

And did crafts, this one called Perler beads.  We put these plastic beads on a form and then heated them with an iron to make Christmas ornaments.  One pink kitty on the table is an example.

J and K had a wonderful time playing together.  We had mild weather, so the kids were able to play outside and play in our house.

They have partially built the hallway that will connect our main floor to the upstairs of the kids' house.  They won't make the final cut through until the new house is heated.
In the meantime, though, you can go through the mini door where they put stuff to store in the eave/attic.  The kids can go through that door and into the new house.

Jackie really enjoyed time with baby T.

We had a lot of work on the house in the past couple weeks.  Lots of tradesmen's trucks.

We passed inspection for HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing.

The first step of the insulation was done.  We did a thin layer of spray foam insulation and then will use fiberglass bats which will give us a value of R38 in the attic and R26 in the walls.  The foam will act as the vapor barrier.

I've been choosing paint colors.  That's a scary time for me because we will not easily re-paint.

Well, that's what's been happening here in the Bluegrass.

It's been a while

Where do I begin?  It's been so long and we've been doing so much. 

Bob & Charley had one afternoon to work on the line fence  They need to have a whole week when Charley doesn't have to work and the weather is good.  We'll keep whittling away on it.  John and I "helped."

I went on a road trip with Josh, Rachelle and family to Iowa.  We had a wonderful trip.  We started out in Fayette.  We had time with my brother and family and were able to do an early celebration of my Mom's 94th birthday. Then on to Charles City where we had some time with Bob's brothers.  Then on further to see my other brother in Thornton.

When we were at Fayette, we were able to go to Northeast Iowa Community College where Shelia works.  We saw the working milking barn.  Also, they are about the open the robotic milking barn.  It is mind-boggling how they can do that.  We were able to see them setting up the equipment and I'm sure it is now in production.

 

On our way back, we had a night in Galena where the family had time in the pool.  We had a great time!  Josh took K down the water slide.

We ended the trip with our friends in Wheaton - College and Church.  Wonderful to have a few minutes with old friends.

Then, back to Marion and then on to Kentucky. 

When I got back home, they had made so much progress on our house.
The siding will be finished tomorrow, the plumbing passed inspection today (12/18) and the electrical inspection is tomorrow (12/19).  The HVAC is nearing completion.

We now have a picture of how the hallway will cut through to the existing house.  Today they had to move a duct that was in the way.  I'll be anxious to see when that is out of the way.  They were still working on it when we left tonight.  The pink stuff is where the door will be.  The dark gray you see is the roof of the existing house.

Anyone who is planning to come visit us and can stay in our guest room - this is what it looks like now.  The bed will be in the center of this wall and on either side of the bed will be bookshelves which are actually built out over the shingles.

They started the siding on the back side, so that is all done, the end of the garage and the lower level in the front.  The ceiling is in for the porch, and the wood was delivered today for the porch floor.

It's one week until Christmas and progress is great.  Our first Christmas as residents of The Bluegrass.









 

Shingles are on!

The shingles are on!  They finished at dark tonight, Nov 21.

You see Charley & Jackie's house on the left.  Then the piece that is their new family room on the lower level and our guest room on the upper level back.
The front porch - and the view is as fantastic as we had imagined it to be.  We are so excited to get finished so we can have friends come and share with us.  I'll let you know when we can start scheduling visits.  I was hoping for January, but I don't see that will happen.  The lower level is another guest room, a canning kitchen/mud room, and Bob's woodworking shop.

 

This is the front door and garage.  I can't believe these guys walking and running around on the roof.

 

The step before the shingles was getting the framing all done.  They were a wonderful bunch of guys to have around for several weeks.  Steve Beachey and his crew.  Their final step was putting the decking on the roof.  Again, the steepness and how they moved around was amazing.

 

 

 

Last Saturday we had a family Thanksgiving dinner with Wilma, Wendell and Amy, Darin, Holly and the kids, Josh, Rachelle and kids, Charley, Jackie, J, us and Jackie's parents Claude and Sallie.  19 of us.  I can't believe we didn't think to take a picture.  I did however, get a picture of the kids playing out on the dirt pile.  They had a wonderful time.

When we moved here (in our temporary apartment), we asked Charley about parking.  Those of you from Wheaton know that there is no street parking overnight.  He just said that we didn't need to worry about that.  We live on a cul-de-sac and this is how our neighbor handles having 4 cars most nights.  Just park 2-deep at the curb.

And then to end on a very special note.  Josh and Rachelle had family pictures taken now that they are 5.  Aren't they a beautiful family?!

A busy but wonderful few weeks here in the Bluegrass!

Where do I start?

We went up to Josh and Rachelle's for the weekend.  We had B's birthday, grandparents' day at K's school and Trick or Treat.

At grandparents' day, the children made a turkey using cutouts of traced hands for the tail feathers.  It was a fun time.  They had a book fair and a photo opportunity.

T is doing well.  He's doing the things 2 month olds are supposed to do.  Eat, sleep and cry.  He is a very good baby and his sisters love him.

 

 

Trick or Treat was fun.  B was piglet.  K was a Rock Star (which is a character in a Veggie Tales video).  Josh wore this wig.  When he took it off, we said, "Where is your hair?  Or is that Grandpa's hair?"

K responded to say, "No!!  Grandpas don't have hair!"  Any of you who know both of K's grandpas know they don't break their budgets with hair products.

 

 

We helped celebrate B's 2nd birthday.  She is growing up to be such a caring, loving little girl.

 

 

 

Back at the farm..  We had 2 litters of baby pigs.  One litter of 7 and another of 8 (born Sunday morning).  They are guinea hogs which are a heritage breed that forages for their food.

 

 

Progress on the house is fantastic and exciting!  They built the deck for the front porch today.  John took this picture of Jackie and I standing on the porch.  The framing crew is hoping to finish this week.

 

 

Another beautiful sunset in the Bluegrass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of different things

I haven't had time or energy to post for a while.  Things are really happening fast.

We were driving down to the farm earlier than usual because the framers were starting.  As we came to the point to descend into the Kentucky River valley, we saw ahead this wall of fog.  The blue you see directly ahead on the highway.  As we drove down onto the bridge, we couldn't even see the railing on the side of the bridge.

As we got close to the farm and the river near our house, the fog is sitting like a bed of cotton all along the river.  We have fog every day, but on this day, it seemed softer - like a bed of cotton candy.

 When we got to the farm and I looked toward the hill where the sun was peeking over the top of the hill, it was shining through a tree.  It looked almost like the wings of a dove flying into a ray of light.

 

The weather reports predicted a frost, so I pulled all the pepper plants and pulled off the peppers.  I had a bumper crop. 

 

 

I sat at the picnic table the pulled the fruit off the vines while I watched the framing team begin to build our house.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Sunny and warm with a nip of fall in the air.

 

Now - what do I do with the peppers?  I did some research and decided to try to make some pepper rings.

 

 

The internet said to wear gloves to handle the peppers.  I didn't and now, 2 days later, I can still feel the burn on my hands.

 

I ended up with 8 pints.  We can't taste for 4 weeks, so we'll have to see how they are.

And now the exciting progress on our house.  The basement walls are framed in, the main floor deck is on ...

And most of our main floor walls are up.  The angled wall you see below is our front door.  Just around the corner to the left is the kitchen window.  Then the center door and 2 flanking windows onto the porch and will be our dining room, and then the far left, my sewing room.

Below is a view from the back, from a distance.  The difficulty that you cannot see from this picture is that the new roof is going to be in the way of the satellite dish antenna, which is currently located on the back corner of the existing house.  We cannot relocate the antenna to the new roof because it does not exist yet.  At least, that is what the DISH network guy says.

 

 

Tomorrow, Friday, I expect the roof to go up.

We are soooo excited!!!

An exciting time in the Bluegrass.