New Life Old Farmers

Somewhere along the journey, I’ve learned to say, “Oh, well” usually when things go wrong or adults express to me things that are going wrong….

“Oh, well.”

‘Did anybody die?’ is often my second question and then again…”Oh, well.”

I thought to myself, as I pulled out of the driveway recently….”Oh, well.” Our square hole had water in it….this was not good. “Oh, well” I thought, and then thought again…”oh, well….as in a well...a well with water in it” the pun was clear to me.

Yes, our excavation is having ‘issues’. Something to do with irrigation and ground water…. No remodel has ever gone to plan, why should we be any different?

Just as the excavation was starting to have ‘issues’, Dear John and Dear BJ pulled into the yard, with Turk the City Dog. They were on their way from Arizona to Alaska with a few stops in between, Glory Farm being one. We were delighted to see them. Dear John had previously asked, if we had any ‘projects’ for him, which made both My Loving Spouse and I start to laugh.

Upstairs we had 6 new windows awaiting installation. We’d had the windows for sometime now, as ‘Someone’ (My Loving Spouse) was disinclined to be crawling around on a roof covered in snow and ice, so that new windows could be installed, making the upstairs a tad less windy and less bug friendly.

The wind was not blowing, the snow and ice were gone and My Loving Spouse had someone to help him, (who actually knew what he was doing.)

“It was so easy working with Dear John”, said My Loving Spouse. Of course it was, he knows what he is doing and then…he finishes most of the job, while you took off for work.

Adding the trim, painting and making it all look great…

We are grateful for all their help, encouragement and friendship. We love their visits….and are blessed to call them family.

As for the water in our excavation…hmmm, considering this time last year we were driving home from the hospital….all I can say is,

“Oh, well.”

I realize that ‘schedules’ are a first world problem. We had a ‘schedule’ (hope/idea) for the kitchen remodel.

Here’s how it’s been going so far.

Schedule- Hire the demo/excavation company to remove the shack and do the excavation.

Reality – No one calls us back, so we start demo ourselves. Instead of 1 week it takes more than 3. No track hoe’s available to rent, so we do it with our tractor. We hire Big Nick, my BFF’s son who is young, strong and gets along with My Loving Spouse like no body’s business to help us be the muscle. We happily pay him as he saves a bit of our sanity and tons of back pain.

Schedule – The site is clean, so now we really do need that excavation company to come and dig out the site, so the foundation can be pour.

1 out of 5 companies call us back. Two more weeks pass….our schedule is going haywire. We worry, that if we do not get the excavation dug, the contractors we need for the next step will have moved on to bigger and better projects. Can you spell frustration?

‘People’ say, “Isn’t this a job you can do yourselves?” Hmmm…..

In a word….’no’. We cannot. My Loving Spouse puts a hole through the door with the tractor, runs over a nail and breaks 1 fence post. I’m only cataloging these tractor ‘woes’ as this will be a long restoration and I may need you to all remember, that not all of the tractor mishaps are my fault.

I vent/whine/express my frustration over the lack of excavators in the valley who know how to use a phone to my BFF. She says….”Would you like my Brother’s T’s number?”

Please hum the Hallelujah chorus!

We rent a mini back hoe and Brother T not only answers his phone, but shows up early. (He’s my favorite!)

He’s ability with the track hoe, is a thing of beauty. My Loving Spouse can barely empty the dirt he excavates quickly enough.

Just then Our Neighbor shows up to see how all is going. Luckily for us, he drove over on his tractor. He jumps into the dirt removal and the excavation moves along rapidly.

One little minor wire, that nobody knew was buried right there gets broken. It seems to run the shop electrical. We’re not even bothered, because our hole is being dug. Our favorite excavator says, “Well, you can’t make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.”

Three hours later we have a square hole.

I open the door from the kitchen just for fun.

The excavator says, “Watch that first step, it is a doosy.” We laugh, so extremely grateful for his help, for someone who will answer the phone! As he says, “My Momma and Daddy raised me right. If someone needs help, you help them”.

I shut the door, the clock falls of the wall and hits me on the head! Ouch, however, I am grateful for the calvery that showed up and helped us out hydraulically….and I am blessed.

Paddy The Pilot, was My Loving Spouse’s ‘handle’ when we met on Match.com (see, it does work). In a nutshell, if it floats or flies, he loves it. How he ended up with a wife, who gets sea sick and air sick, well, those questions were not actually addressed on Match.com’s website.

His latest vehicle for flight is a two seater Power Parachute. The pluses include, being able to take off and land in a hay field, and if there are any problems, well you are already attached to a parachute.

We, dog included, went over the hill last week to watch him fly. He is actively pursing his Sport Pilot license.

I hadn’t been with him before, because we had to get up long before the crack of dawn to arrive in time for optimal weather conditions. Last Sunday, I played the part of the ‘good’ wife and went to watch him fly. (This Sunday, I stayed home and happily pulled weeds).

We transported his Power Parachute on the trailer he made for it from an old boat trailer. Trailers are expensive. Old boats are free, so he perused Craig’s list for an old free boat….which came with a trailer. (Anyone want an old boat? It is currently in our big barn. It is free, trailer not included.)

He did some take offs and landings and flew around the airport a bit.

He is happy, and talks about flying a lot. I don’t really understand how it works, which is okay by me. However, unlike many of our projects this one leaves him happy to soar, not just sore….

So we are blessed.

We were set to have the dumpster hauled away first thing Monday morning, so we could begin filling it again. Unfortunately, Waste Management was short handed and we were days away from a fresh dumpster. Simple set back or a bigger plan?

Tuesday early afternoon I received an email from a Seattle based blog reader. I’d never heard from her before, or knew about her, but there was an immediate connection. She and her husband have been restoring an old home in our neighboring town. Old siding is hard to find and in a nutshell, if we haven’t emptied the dumpster could they come out and dig through it?

Arrangements were quickly put together. Her Spouse called My Loving Spouse and they were on their way over.

‘We’ll be stopping in Issaquah, do you want something from Trader Joe’s’, my new Dumpster Friend asked. I laughed as this is always THE Question when some one is coming through Issaquah to us.

I said to My Loving Spouse, “When you talked to THE Husband, did it seem like they’ve been our friends for a long time?”

‘Yes, exactly!’

To say we ‘hit it off’, would be an understatement. We delightfully shared all the wood we could find, that was useful to them. They dug around, thrilled to be able to out fit their home that needed wood both inside and out, re-arranging and making more room in our dumpster as they went. This was a win-win for us all. We were delighted that these old bits would be used again…

Sharing, making and meeting new friends, who will be back for more wood… and we suspect a bit of fun as well.

Oh, indeed we are blessed.

For years we tried to use the back bit of the house. It had no foundation and was falling off. It was 3 old pieces of house or porch or cold storage plan with 12 inch walls filled with saw dust. The ceilings were filled with sawdust as well, and it was always dirty…what a surprise.

This weekend it came down. Bit by bit, wall by wall.

We did it ourselves with a few new tools. A crow bar for him, a respirator for me, as I am allergic to sawdust.

Sawdust was everywhere, every time we opened a new wall or board or ceiling….it was in our hair, our ears, our eyes and blowing across the valley, with thanks to our winds.

I was sad as I pulled out cut/square nails, all very old indeed. I was not sad when I pulled on a rotten wall, that came apart easily….sawdust flowing out of boards which were beyond use.

We gazed at where the new kitchen sink will be.

There was no shortage of nails.

With each wall we took out, we thought…is this it? Will this be the one where the roof finally falls, (away from the house…we hope). We were cautious and careful. We broke some rope, and we broke some chain. We smashed a knuckle or two, but for the most part…we came through the ordeal unscathed.

Our first roll off box for debris is full…we’re waiting for the second.

Thrilled to have the wind blow as much of the sawdust across the valley as possible. We still have a tad of clean up to do.

….and what did we find in our 100 year old walls besides sawdust?

a skirt…

A flannel shirt….

An old pepper can…

A few burlap bags, an handful of old overalls and rags… a bird’s nest.

A wasp’s nest…

It is fascinating how they are built….

We find how the old house was put together…. an older roof hidden under our metal roof, as we see how one bit was added on to another. We’re a teeny bit tired, a teeny bit overwhelmed, a great bit excited.

Lucky and blessed indeed.

The kitchen table was loaded with bacon, biscuits, jam and fresh scrambled eggs. Sweet J, Number Four Son and I were set to dig into it all, as My Loving Spouse sat down. I said to him, “Sweetie, today you are the boss. You’re in charge, just tell me what you want us to do. I’m not going to argue with you.” The ‘kids’ quietly snickered and My Loving Spouse sort of scoffed, but I was serious. The job was sprinklers. All I know about sprinklers is that I just want them to work…..that and do not use that big digger thing over the septic drain field.

The Bride (Sweet J) and the Groom (Number Four) had calendared the day to help us work on the farm. With their help, sprinkler installation was sure to be a cinch. Except the weather stunk, as in cold and drizzling.

The whole sprinkler installation, information, drip, new pipe, diggers and the like, had My Loving Spouse and I doing what we seldom do….got a bid for someone else to do it. The bid was for $5800. This renewed our belief, that we could get it done.

The Bride and I tackled removing the dog yard fence as it was attached to the part of the house that is soon to come down. We were masterful un-screwers and had the panels down in no time.

We had Gunner’s new temporary yard built and were quite pleased with ourselves.

Number Four had the sprinkler lines dug in quickly and the septic system was left intact, this is what we call a win-win.

The guys have discovered that the back flow device must be replaced, Bad British word. The rain is still drizzling and the temperature too low to glue pipe.

The ‘Boss’ now gets to the job he’s been trying to do for weeks. This job is called unscrew the metal roof. We had originally planned to reuse the roof, then we’d planned to sell the roof, then we’d planned to ditch the roof, and now we’re planning to see how hard it will be to just get the darn roof off.

On a few other work days, the ‘Boss’ and I had a difference of opinion on our work priorities. He was ready to unscrew the roof, while I was thinking that we should actually empty out the stuff from the room, where the roof was attached. I know, silly me.

Number Four Son gets the trim off and determines that the roof is not salvageable due to the way it is installed. This means only one thing….how much roof can we lift off with the tractor…just for fun.

We call it a day and send our sweet cold workers home. Sunday morning there is a small window of good weather, which is why we were not in our regular pew at church, but out in the yard gluing pipe.

We do work well together and manage to get 2 of the 3 stations glued together with hardly any Bad British words.

After a very stressful week of planning the sprinkler system, driving around the county trying to get parts, help and information, the Boss is quite pleased at all we’ve accomplished and currently taking a well deserved nap on the couch.

….and we are blessed.

Cows are tough on fences. Barbed wire is tough on us. Cows are strong. They stick their heads in between the wires (trust me their hide is tough) and reach to nibble any available blade of grass, bending fence posts and snapping fence clips. Keeping fences upright is a challenge. In an effort to reduce the maintenance on fences, we’ve moved to ‘field fencing’.

Big barb-less grid fencing that is heavy and expensive. However, since cows cannot stick their heads through the grid, the posts do not get bent over and we’re hopping to have better fencing with less maintenance…..once it is up.

We start with a small stretch on a cold spring morning. My Loving Spouse needs to work down low and says something like. “I can’t work with these bloody gloves on!” So off they come.

He’s not too keen about having to lie down on the cold damp ground, so I do not mention that he is also rolling in….

Cow poop. Well, we are putting up field fencing in a field for cows….so watch where you step or lie down.

We have a fairly straight run of fence posts, that we actually got in back in October. I kept laughing to myself, as we had friends visiting at the time, one who is 6 years younger than I and he kept saying, “This is a young man’s job”. Well, that may be true, perhaps we’re in our second childhood….then again…perhaps we’re just stubborn.

Either way…nice field fence.

Spring is always a treat! Delightful to work outside with grass so very green.

Our clouds return and everyone is pecking away…..

We rush off to Yakima to figure out a new sprinkler system. We’re sort of burning the candle at both ends, hopeful to get a new sprinkler system in soon, very soon, as in next weekend, as we will have both THE Bride (Sweet J) and THE Groom (Number 4 Son) here to work for the day BTW.

We are trying to stay calm and get as much done as we can, because any day now, in fact…..it came!

In case you cannot read the small print….all we have to do is pay more $$$ and we’ve got our permit. Goodbye shack in the back...hello remodel!

We are grateful and blessed…and a teeny tiny bit anxious.

The chain saws were roaring again. We had a small, yet perfect window of time to bring down 3 large spruce trees.

We assumed that the trees were originally the previous owners ‘live’ Christmas trees planted after the holidays were over. A lovely thought, however as they grew, they crowded each other out and shaded an already cold house.

The first tree comes down by our very own pair of Young Bucks. E who is a chain saw loving, smoker jumper and Number 4, who is a work horse. The ‘bucks’ were both able to bring down the three trees on a pre-spring day of mild temperatures and nothing yet blooming through the snow.

The first tree shows that it was rotten at the core. We’re doubly grateful that it is down. Our ‘bucks’ get all trees down safely….the trunks blocked, the thick limbs cut and stacked and the long limbs piled up into 4 piles that covered the front lawn, all in one long productive day.

My spring break from school now begins. I spend the next 3 days dragging limbs across the lawn, toss them over the fence to my small slash burn pile. No wind, mild temperatures and the scent of burning spruce. I get a bit of help and encouragement from Hal.

I get a bit of the rotten trunk root burning and before you know it, I have the stump burning from the inside out.

I encourage the stump to continue to burn as it needs to come down as well. I haul and burn and haul and burn and occasionally get a bit singed.

The stump is well burned out….

We’ve a bit of trunk removal still to do, but I cannot wait to begin growing a gorgeous flower garden this year, BTW….!!! The trees we’ve left will now have a better chance to grow.

The snow is gone. The tree mess is cleaned up and spring bulbs are peaking through.

I am grateful and blessed.

Hoarfrost | meteorology | Britannica.com

https://www.britannica.com/science/hoarfrost

“Hoarfrost, deposit of ice crystals on objects exposed to the free air, such as grass blades, tree branches, or leaves. It is formed by direct condensation of water vapour to ice at temperatures below freezing and occurs when air is brought to its frost point by cooling.”

In other words, it has to be (Bad Word) COLD!

Or as I like to say…the beauty of hoarfrost is God’s way of apologizing for making your nose hairs freeze.

It also makes us especially glad, that one week later and the snow is melting and the sun is shinning!

We are grateful for Spring!