Laminate flooring

Monday, June 30
   A big relief to have the laminate flooring bought.  While at Home Depot in Branson, we couldn't help but notice a pallet of flooring in the middle of the paint aisle.  Low and behold, the very type of flooring we have been thinking about buying was on sale for HALF PRICE. This is one shade darker than one we had thought about, but we love the color and the hand hewn look, and the price.  We called Home Depot in Harrison and they had 52 cases. We bought the two pallets of 24 cases in Branson and paid for the others over the phone. After picking up the 52 other cases,  we are only two or three cases short of flooring the entire house minus two bathrooms which we will tile.  The color is endenbury hickory.  We just are not carpet people.  I love carpet, but carpet and farm life just don't mix.  We can throw down area rugs and hope they add some ambience and warmth to the rooms.

The well man  made the final connection on the well and we are ready to lay plumbing pipes soon .  We do have running water at the barn and at the back of the house.

Hot and humid

Sunday, June 29
          The weather continues to be hot with a daily rain shower or two.  The humidity comes and goes throughout the day.  We haven't gotten as much done this week as planned due to the showers or downpours.  This has been a good week to get supplies and materials for the house.
Joe got all the  lumber for the addition ordered.  We bought a vanity for the guest room, the master tub, and room ducting for AC and heat.  The heater is also here .it is part in and part in the hall right now.  Joe unpacked it to make sure all parts were ok. We have continued to work on stringing electrical wires.  Having some trouble getting a few wires around a few corners where old 2x4's had to be braced so there may be 4 boards with a small wire hole  to bend wire through.  We will get it done one way or another.  I am ready to start putting insulation in where the wiring is finished.
      Our garden is growing and all the tomato plants have tomatoes.  Squash and peppers also have little veggies growing  on them.  I have to replant the peas as they were in soil we hadn't worked with much .  I bought some good soil to till in before I replant the peas.  We enjoy checking on the tomatoes daily as we can see such progress.
 
        Mud room toilet framed.                                      Insulation
 
  Placing tub for right height so I can see out the window.                Heater

Hay & footings update

Monday, June 23
      Well...we wound up with our share of the hay being 26 large round bales, about 5' x 5'.  My cow and calf probably couldn't eat that much all next winter if they tried.  Now we need to fence in the bales so the cows don't start tearing up the bales .  Some days we have about 65 cows from next door over here.  They wonder over, eat a bit and head back home. My horses are in the neighbors pasture, so can't really complain .  Besides the cows fertilize the pasture and keep the grass from getting too tall.  We had the bales put in the lean to building, but about 8 bales didn't fit.  We will be on the lookout for corral panels at auctions for the fencing. We can put up T posts and barbed wire temporarily .

     The footings are all in and if it quits raining for a few days we can lay the joists, subfloor and raise the new walls.

It's really happening

Wednesday, June 18

     Two of the addition footings wall are set.  Think the block layers will finish up tomorrow.
It was so hot today we took off for about half an hour and went to the lake for a quick dip.  The cool water was so refreshing.
     We are ready to take the boat out again and go fishing and swimming.

Hay fields

June 16

     One of our hay fields has been mowed, raked and baled.  It produced 13 large round bales that are about 5 ft by 5 ft.  Each weighs about half a ton.  Second field is cut and raked.  It should yield  a bit more hay than the first field.  The third field is smaller and should yield  about 10 bales.  We keep half the hay and the people doing the work get the other hall .
     I guess with the  hay bales in the field and two cows we could be considered a small farm.

Footings and minis picture

June 13

The septic arrived and the driver had it in the ground in no time at all.  We picked up the large blue roll of 500 feet of water line.  Water line will go from the well down to the house . Then, we will have another line from a junction run out to the barn for water there.

This week has been busy, but very exciting to see such progress.

The block layers will be here Monday to lay the foundation for the addition.    While all this is going on the minis are in their new electric fence pasture.  They are in one area and the front and back yards are electrified to keep the two big horses out.

Trenches Everywhere!

June 9 - 11

What a busy week.  Monday started with both of us seeing the doctor.  Joe for a spider bite that was causing the skin to sluff off and look like a cigaret burn.  He got antibiotics and is doing better.  I have bronchitis so got antibiotics also.  

It seems like a few major projects are getting done on the house.   We had trenches for water, power,  and footings for the addition dug.  There are trenches everywhere in the beautiful lawn!  Out back is a 7 foot hole for the septic . 

 June 12

The footings for the addition foundation were poured today.  It is nice to begin to get a feel for the actual size of the addition instead of little orange markers in the lawn representing corners.

The water trenches were finished today and some of the old pipe into the house was cut out.  Entergy has to come run the underground wires from the pole in the yard to the house sometime next week.

 

Last window

    Friday
 We just finished the last window and were setting the mud room door when the rain started pouring.  Talk about just getting done in the nick of time.
      I have been drilling holes for the electrical Romax to go through.  We have to get a longer bit so I can drill through 3 and 4 baring studs nailed together.  My old drill bit barely went through 2 studs.   
            South end of the old house

More windows installed!

Thursday, June 5

      Hooray !  We have only one window and one mud room door left to put in the  remodel.  Oops,  I have not counted the big door going in the fireplace room that we are leaving open until the addition is finished so we can haul materials in and out.  We are just waiting for the rain to let up long enough to replace the Tyvek where the window is going in the fireplace room.
        We are going to the airport Friday about noon to see Callie off for her Teen Mission boot camp in Florida.  From there she goes to on to Tanzania, Africa for  6 weeks.  I know Leslie will have a hard time not being able to talk with Callie but once or twice in 8 weeks!

Patio door, bathroom window, guest room

Mud room, master bath, two bedroom windows

OMG It's National Lampoon's Vacation

    Oh My Gosh!   I thought we were seeing a scene out of National Lampoon's Vacation.  Remember when the dog was tied to the bumper?  Well, we were driving towards Harrison when we saw an old man driving a 4 wheeler on the side of the road.  I could see a red dog leash attached to something brown that was bobbing in the grass.  I was going to tell Joe to pull over so I could tell the old man his dog wasn't keeping up!  We got up next to him and low and behold he was dragging a dead deer.  So glad I didn't flag him down.  Still weird seeing the old man dragging a dead deer alongside the road.

 

Gardens

Monday, June 2

      Leslie and Bill put in their garden a few months ago and all the vegetables are really growing.  Glad we get to be on the dinner list when they start harvesting.

Seeley Garden

      Joe and I started planting our little garden two weeks ago.  We started with 15 tomato plants.  Well.... Our garden has doubled.  We now have okra, eggplant, a few more tomato plants, squash, zucchini, and 4 types of watermelon s.  I think we must have about 20 watermelon plants.  I was going to plant the 20 melon plants and also put in carrot seeds, beans and sugar peas today.  I was out planting when a light rain started falling so I decided to get a few more plants in until the first flash of lightning and crack of thunder.  I made it to the porch just before the torrential rain hit.  It rained so hard we could not see beyond the barn! I hope my little plants weren't beat to death.  I'll check when I get back to the place tonight.  Hopefully I will get in the rest of the plants tomorrow.

     

                                                                  15 tomato plants

      

       We did notice some rain coming in under the roof cap in 3 places so Joe ordered a new wider roof cap that will prevent rain from blowing in.   Good to find the problem now before the insulation and drywall are in! New cap will be here Tuesday.

   

Babysitting

Saturday, May 31

    Doug and Misti were at Denton Ferry RV Park for the weekend.  They wanted to go on a float trip down part of the Buffalo River so I said I would watch Jack and Evan for the day.  Jack is 28 mo old and Evan is 9 mo old.   With that kind of energy to watch, I asked Meghan to help me with the boys. Callie and Emilee also volunteered to help with the boys.  We brought the boys back to Leslie's house, then took them down to the lake to play in the swim area. Both boys loved the water.  It was fun being able to play in the water with Jack and Meghan . Callie held Evan so his feet could kick in the water. The boys were so good, but it took Meghan, Callie, and me to keep up with them.
 I think everyone had a good day.
 Needless to say, nothing got done on the house on Saturday.