We've just been reminded by 2 different people that it has been a month (4-20-14)

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.

The promise of spring

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 was a big day!

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

Easter died this morning.

Sad day in the Bluegrass today.

Winter just keeps on holding on

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!!

It's been a long time

Yes.  Wilma tells me it's been too long.

It's been winter here.  Winter like we had for the last number of years back in Wheaton.  That is not what we were expecting here in Kentucky.  We had snow on the ground for 6 weeks!  I am so tired of it!  And it snowed again last night - another inch.  I know those of you in Wheaton are saying, "Be glad it is not 5 feet!"

There has been progress on the house, but oh, so slow.  Because of the cold temperatures, our contractor was not able to dig the trench to bury the electric line and get the permanent connection to the house.  So, it is cold inside.  The drywall is actually all done (almost).  They brought in a torpedo heater so they could work and left it on when they left so the mud would dry.  It feels wonderful to walk in from the garage - where it is still a gravel floor, through the doorway - which doesn't have the door in yet, and come into the space.  We love it!  When the sun is shining, it is exactly what we had envisioned.

The explanation for the (almost) above is that the contractor decided not to cut through to Charley & Jackie's house because of having no heat, so there will be a second drywall project.  At that time, they will cut the openings, drywall Jackie's closet, the openings connecting the 2 houses and the bathroom in the upstairs of the existing house which we never finished.

The drywall mudding, of course leaves a lot of dust.  In the basement, we brushed down all the walls and ceilings and then swept and vacuumed.  It warmed up last Saturday to the 50s, so I went ahead and painted primer.  I did the cutting in all the corners and Charley rolled the open spaces  We got about a third of the basement done.  Now it has turned cold again.

Our contractor has been able to get the trench dug, the electrician got it wired up and inspected.  We'll see when the heat gets put in.  Then we will have a marathon painting party.  We still have to clean up the dust upstairs.  That is a big job to brush down all the walls and ceilings.

Bob has been helping Charley with the animals.  Charley had bought some hay, used all of that and now we are getting old hay from a friend for the cost of hauling it away.  His first calf was born last Sunday.  It is a really cute little girl calf.

We are looking forward to spring.  The seed order is here.  As soon as we have heat in the house, I plan to start some seeds.  Charley bought the beginnings of a greenhouse at an auction last fall.  We need to get that built and clean out the small greenhouse they have already.  It has been so cold and dreary that I haven't been able to get out there.  I am excited, (although scared because of my lack of experience), about what we will be able to produce in the garden this year.  Bob has promised to build me 4 more raised beds.

Things should start moving very quickly within the next week.  We'll need to keep things going both in the garden and in the house.  We had hoped to be moved in before the garden season, but we'll have to deal with it.

So, that's how things are for us here in the Bluegrass.

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.