EEK! It's wood, isn't it!?

Haha. What you see is the delivery of the planks.

 

The builder must think I have a sense of humor here, because it’s just about killing me to see that wood he’s got under the tarps. Surely I won’t have to wait until  next weekend, right?

 

Oh- and check it out. The plywood and framing you see is our FLOOR… well the subfloor anyway. It’s also the ceiling of the basement. *Big cheesy grin*

 

I’m stoked they were able to deliver today instead of tomorrow, but really? Is it too much to ask to actually get a picture of the actual wood?

 

Barbie~

August

This month has been a heck of a whirlwind. It started with me coming home to find this little sweetheart of a pup stealing the show at home. He's a doll, but has some serious issues with mouthing and nipping at us. All puppies do and I know it's just a phase, but it is a painful one. He's learning and growing and I'm glad he's part of our family. So far he's more than doubled in size and I think the ears may have even tripled in size. ;-)

We also had a weekend trip to Alabama to see the progress on the basement. That went well. It was the pups first road trip, of many more to come I am sure. This is how we found out that he doesn't actually NEED to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes, he just wants to. We only had to stop 3 times so roughly every 2 hours. We also introduced him to the ATV, UTV and tractor. He may make a farm dog yet.

Mid month was a massive rush of getting ready for the first day of school. Hundreds of dollars worth of school supplies and clothes and shoes. I'm still feeling quite poor because of it. It also meant meeting this teacher, that teacher and oh- the AP courses have their own orientation. BUSY BUSY time.

But now the kids are back to school and things are settling back into the pattern of getting the kids up at 7, dressed by 7:30 downstairs by 8 - eating breakfast, walking the dog and catching the bus. Typically during the first few weeks of back to school we also manage to get in a swim or some gymnastics after dinner and before it gets dark. That will only continue until the time change, but for now I am taking full advantage.

This weeks project was to reinstall a barricade to help hide our pool pump... When we painted the house over the summer the original lattice was pulled down and even though we intended to save it to reinstall, the painters chucked it into their trash. So when a home that went into foreclosure finally sold down the road we spied a white vinyl picket the new owners were replacing with privacy fence. We stopped by to talk to them and they let us know that one of the workers wanted to take it. Oh well. They did say though that if the fence was still there the next day we could pick it up. Well - low and behold the next day it was still in the driveway.  Since i had already gotten permission from the owner I stopped and filled up my truck with all that it would hold. Purloined with permission. :-D Oh I was happy. Did I mention it was the day before our Alabama trip? No - well that did make things a bit difficult and we worked well into the night to get the truck unloaded and the fencing stacked into the back yard.

Guess who helped dig? (Can you see the dirt on his nose?)

The kiwi plants were already beginning to topple over without the support even though I had cut them back to the ground when I had to remove the lattice.

 

GROSS. This fence was just disgusting. I  don't know what in the world they did to it, but yuck!

So I put in the posts, checked to make sure they were level, installed the bottom board....and quickly realized this is nothing at all like dealing with a wooden fence. Ho, Hum. I did manage to finagle it in, but I had to had cut a few of the pickets in order to get the top rail on. It works, and you can't see the cuts now that it's all together but the second panel went in SO much smoother once I figured out NOT to install the posts first. LOL

Eh- as these things go it went pretty well. A little time consuming until I knew better what to do. but all in all I would call it a success. 

The kiwi are much happier and I am too because now I don't have to look at this!

It's definitely been an eye sore for the last few weeks but the kiwi will take over the fence before winter and then I won't have to worry about it any more. I'm also hoping that the fresh start for the kiwi will help it to produce some flowers next year because if it doesn't at least attempt to produce fruit soon it will be replaced.

I still have a few small things to do to wrap this project up. A sprinkler head needs moved, and the brick to protect he base of the vines needs redone. But for the most part it is done. I've washed the fence once (See last pic isn't as bad? But it needs at least one more attempt. It's still fairly grungy. I can't even tell you how bad it was.

So this project got put ahead of the wall for the blueberry planter and the wall for the main garden but those are still on the radar. We've just dealt with a ton of rain recently and when we've been able to dedicate any time to it we haven't been able to due to the standing water. This I knew wouldn't take as long and was quite a bit easier to do by myself. Thank goodness because it's starting to seem like the projects are piling up faster than we can do them.

See you soon!

Barbie~

Egg basket

Sent from my iPhoneLooks like the ducks got jealous that I was talking about the chickens. Now we have yet another new color to add to the egg basket. :-D

Harvest Monday 8.24.15

Avocados are still the main harvest. However they will only be the focus for another week or two. All of the fruit I can reach is nearly gone. I may have another 10-12 out there and that's it. They've been great this year but I am still unsure if freezing smashed avocado will work and if it does how handy it will be.

Also this week I have harvested the last pomegranate. The tree is dead and I am not sure if I will replace it because I don't know what killed it. Boo!!!

Waiting on the bananas now. This is the first year I will get a small harvest







Also the new chicks are officially hens. They are all laying now. I've got a beautiful nest to pick up each day.


Things are moving quick around here and while some projects (Like the new garden) are on hold for a while, others are getting started and some are even getting finished. So I'll be posting a bit the next few days. Then again, I always say that and i have the best intentions, but when I want to post I never seem to be able to.

See you soon!

Barbie

Still building!

Of course we are. It doesn't happen over night. It does however seem to be going very fast. We had a slight bump in the road when the rains came and a small tornado took out the local Walmart. Since then it's dried back up and the masons have completed their work. We were able to capture the basement walls about 2-3 days before completion.

The walls are now complete and the floor joists are set. The floor boards are being installed now and over the weekend the staircase should be placed and framed in.

Our exterior wall boards are due for delivery on either Wednesday or Thursday depending on weather and when we return in 2 weeks we will be able to see the walls partially finished and hopefully the roof started.

Best news of all? So far my little (OK not little) apple tree has survived! Just look at my little sweetie there standing tall near the corner of the foundation! :-) It still has to make it past the installation of the boards and the grading. That's the dangerous part. If the grading is too high it will suffocate the bark and it will get infected. The smaller tree that was transplanted went into shock (completely expected) but seems to be holding it's own. The unpredictable rains did help in that matter. I'll still need to find another fairly large apple to adorn the opposite side of the house for symmetry, of course. ;-) and good taste.

 The walls are 9' high. I had forgotten we requested the taller basement and by the looks of things the home will be MASSIVE> Now I'm glad we kept it to under 1200 ft. I can't imagine it being any taller or bigger and we still don't have the cabin walls up!

At the back of the house the basement walls will be approximately 18" above ground to allow for a small window for light. At the front of the house the basement walls will extend roughly 3'. We will one day come back to put a rock facade over the block but for now we'll seal it and paint it complimentary coloring to the stain...

Oh the stain. *GULP* That is what is scaring me right now. What a big decision. It's not like paint where you live with it for a year or two and simply repaint it to a color you like better. Stain is for better or worse. Once it's sealed it's pretty well done for 5-10 years.

So while I'm debating on putting the colors into a hat and drawing one, I'm also dealing with the back to school rush. The kids met their respective teachers this week and while my twins will have separate classrooms it seems like they each like their teachers. That's one relief. Next step - getting them to the bus stop Monday morning. LOL.

See you soon!

Barbie~

Basement update

The footers were poured this week, and now the block mason is out squaring the corners so that his crew can move in and finish the walls. It's all so exciting.




This was the picture we were sent last week.The footers are completely dug and the vapor barrier is down. The rebar is laid in the footer panels and all was ready for the concrete truck. He was scheduled out for Thursday.













We went up last weekend and saw the first half of the pad with the footers in place. It was so hot that the concrete cured before they could finish it. Now a portion of it is rough and will have to be ground down to get a decently smooth surface. That's important to us because we plan to paint the floors with an epoxy and just use a few throw rugs rather than finishing the floors. Unfortunately due to the way the first portion of the slab set up they put the second half on hold until Monday so they could try to get a better finish on the rest.

So we only saw half the basement floor finished. 

Here hubby inspects the work and shows little B what is going on. Seriously, I know more about building than he does so this is somewhat comical. Note the 6' ladder in the rear right corner. It shows the true depth of that pit. It's hard to believe that it is that deep until you get inside and look up. 

The next picture shows how the rebar is run under the pad to strengthen it and through a block inside the footer pad for stability.

By the time we left on Sunday they had the rebar uprights ready for the masons arrival.

From the ground level it just doesn't seem that impressive.

But look over the edge and suddenly you realize it. These are the pictures I took last weekend. This weekend the walls for the basement should be up and if all goes well they will be sealed and the floor joists for the cabin will be started. Fingers crossed we stay on schedule because I only have 1  3 day weekend after the construction is scheduled to be finished to get in the cabinets and plumbing. Once that is done we can take our time getting the flooring done and other chores. It just needs a basic bathroom and electric so we can 'camp' there until we get everything ready for move in.

We will be heading up again in a couple weeks and then things will get REALLY exciting. That is the time they are scheduled to start the LOGS, EEEP!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Monday?

Sent from my iPhoneAck! I completely forgot it is Monday. Harvest report time! This week brought the first of the muscadine a and a table completely covered in avocado. Not bad.