Today the sky was blue, the clouds puffy and high and the weather was just delightful. As I washed the white rail fence, I thought…it is time to share our home. It is like me. In other words it is ‘perfectly imperfect’, as some railings are still needing to be installed. It is however, a beautiful transformation. The results are what I thought they could be, and yet, I am still in awe of what hard work can do.
From where we began…our ‘before’…
It is the result of many hours of work…doing something that I did not know I could do…
Helped by friends when I needed them most…
As they embraced the change with excitement and enthusiasm…
From high and low……and a lot of time on ladders…
We had a vision, but still are stunned at the result. We actually changed very little…White trim stayed white…black windows stayed black…a small black ‘eye brow’ was added to each window….
…and then we added yellow.
‘Butter Up’…a historical yellow…gives the innate beauty of this home a proper stage to show it off.
…I cannot believe we did it…
…and we are blessed.
This is it! This is the day, the last weekend in August and I was sure yesterday that I would finally be able to do our big ‘reveal’. I’d be showing you this old house all painted and pretty…all done! Not more cat pictures…
Not more cow pictures…although the little girls are growing so well and we LOVE to see them racing around the field together. They are seldom one without the other.
Not pictures of the dog yard where pumpkins have decided to grow…
All we had left was building the porch railings. My Loving Spouse had managed to figure out how to keep them secure and not twist (as he imagines small boys playing on them) as well as not split…
I had but one porch floor left to paint…
Today was going to be the day…except for last night… Last night My Loving Spouse became sick…very sick…there will be no railing building today and so I get to practice patience….again…and be reminded of one of life’s lessons from the pumpkin patch. A pumpkin growing between the fence…even when we’re in a tight spot, there is room to grow.
May you be blessed today…
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Although our days continue to be warm, and the skies show the effects of the horrible fires that are ravaging our state, we know that cooler Fall days are coming. Cold Winter days will follow those. Getting the rest of the fire wood split and in the wood shed needed to be done and it is a job I enjoy…black and white…easy to see the progress and way more fun than cleaning the house.
Luckily, we were able to borrow Mother Mary’s log splitter. A home-made splitter, that My Loving Spouse was intrigued by. We were given very clear instructions, if anything went wrong with the splitter, we had to promise not to ‘tinker’ with it, but to call one of her sons to fix it. (You can imagine that a ‘no-tinker’ clause was a bit hard for My Loving Spouse to handle, but he promised none-the-less).
The splitter worked like a charm. I was making headway and quickly finished all the log rounds I was able to lift. The remaining rounds were actually too heavy for My Loving Spouse and I to lift together. We were going to need the help of Number Four Son (who is very strong). 
The rounds were approximately two feet tall and two feet across and not a little heavy, but a lot heavy. Occasionally, I have been known to come up with a way to do a job that I wanted done, because I am not patient. I might maybe once have brought a floor jack into the house to move a very heavy piece of furniture. All I can say, is that it worked. I jacked that table up and rolled it to its new location. ‘Necessity’ might be the mother of invention or it may be impatience… I didn’t want to wait for Number Four, I wanted the job done now.
Today’s solution to my problem worked so well, that when Mother Mary’s kids came to pick up the log splitter they asked if they could borrow it.
Trailer ramp? Log rolling ramp! Worked great and I got all those heavy monsters split, and loaded into Blue for delivery to the wood shed…sort of smugly satisfied with myself.
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Most days it seems as if my motto should be…
“I don’t really know what I am doing, but I’m trying my best.”
No where does that bloom more readily than in my vegetable garden. I can take little credit for the good results…that is God’s magic. My weeding and watering schedule are both random. The only thing I know to do religiously is close the gate to keep the chickens out. 
My tomato plants went crazy. Huge bush like monsters hiding the produce within. In an effort to find and save the fruit I removed all the vines without tomatoes. I worried more about finding and getting the current fruit off the ground, than the plant growing more fruit. I was amazed at what was hiding under the bush.
Now all the tomatoes are supported by random wire cages to keep them off of the ground…and the gate shut.
This sneak peek at my pumpkins will show that I have powdery mildew on some of them. How dare that stuff! Now I need to pull those leaves off as well (according to the internet after I Googled ‘Powdery mildew’). You can also spray it with milk and water, but I have too many pumpkins to try that solution.
The pumpkin patch is out performing itself once again. Most of my family members still roll their eyes when I mention the word ‘pumpkin‘, so I am twice as thrilled to have THE Grandson, because I can tell him all the time…
“Wait until you see Grammy’s pumpkins!”
He never rolls his eyes at me….of course he hasn’t learned how to do that yet, but you can tell he is a really good listener.
So now I shall return once more to painting the house…it may never end…
I wish you all a blessed day.
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Pooh is always about. While the other barn cats are sleeping atop a hay bale in the barn, Pooh is underfoot. Pooh is our ‘nice’ cat. Pooh is more Labrador Retriever than cat, which is probably what makes her as ‘nice’ as she is. She wants to be with us, around us and ever at the ready. If there is anything going on, usually Pooh is there. Cat people love her…the rest of us think she is pretty ‘nice’…for a cat.
Delivering a table…there’s Pooh.
Pulling out vines…there’s Pooh.
Filling the trough….there’s Pooh. 
Sleeping on the porch…there’s Pooh.
Sleeping on the hat you left on the porch…there’s Pooh.
Sleeping inside the old potato cage…there’s Pooh.
Need some assistance on that ladder…there’s Pooh.
Everyday…there’s Pooh…she’s a pretty nice creature….for a cat.
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I imagine you dear readers might be tired of hearing about our painting the house, and all I can say is…so am I. It could be a bit like hearing about someone running a marathon and they are telling you about each sweat drop and ankle strain…except…something really cool happened. The X Team arrived. Seriously!
These sweet gals said, “We saw it in your eyes…you are beat…and so we came to help.”
I am blessed. They sanded, cleaned and ripped off the porch spindles…and made progress and lifted my spirits!
Then Number Four Son texted…
“Do you need any help today?” (I mean seriously, can you see why we claim this one!) He showed up with his girlfriend and they both set to work. (Yes, she’s a keeper!)
We soon declared that there was an extra point earned in the Croquet Season Tournament for anyone who didn’t life here that was helping. (That might not sound like much, but then you’d not understand our seriousness about Croquet).
With the help of the X Team, we were able to break out the secret weapon…Sherwin William’s Primer X (and no this is not a paid advertisement…oh, be still my heart, how I wish it was!) My goal with painting the house was two-fold…
1. Make the house look beautiful.
2. Never, never, never EVER…do it again!
Old paint peals. Often old paint peals and breaks through the new paint. This old house had a lot of old pealing paint, which I have scraped to death. Primer X, I have been told seals the old paint up, like glue and then hardens. Out came my ten gallons of Primer X. We were going to cover the house in it. It truly is like painting with glue, and I must say it is the weirdest stuff. It goes on blue and then dries clear. The drying clear is both good and bad. Good it doesn’t matter where it goes, but it doesn’t cover brown wood. My Loving Spouse realizes that we need to paint the brown wood white or the final paint job will be splotchy.
Ugh! One more step… So yesterday morning I set out to Fred Myer for the following emergency supplies:
1. Creamer for the coffee (one cup was certainly NOT going to do it)
2. White paint
3. Chocolate
We got after the great Primer X-this-stuff-better-work-paint-a-ton. My Loving Spouse climbed to the peaks of the house on the wobbly ladder. I stood on the bottom rung to keep the ladder from moving…hmmm…and he gives one last bit of advice as he heads up.
“If I fall off, get out of the way…don’t try to catch me…”
Yep…that’d not be pretty.
My Loving Spouse has said for years,
“We are a formidable team”… I think he is right.
We got the house primed and it is finally ready to paint…
I know, I am blessed…
Please pass the Advil.
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I am calling ‘it’!
Done!
The paint prep-unpainting-scraping-the-house-to-eternity-and-back is over. I am calling ‘it’! Like calling a game when one team has clearly beaten another team or when it is too dark to play anymore or when you’ve been doing it for 5 weeks and you cannot scrape another paint chip. The prep is officially over, except for the high eaves that I cannot reach even with a 30 foot (or so) ladder that wobbles. My Loving Spouse has to do that part, because even with my big girl panties on…I cannot do it.
The last day of unpainting went well. Number Two Son and I pressure washed and wasp killed and paint chip picked up and it was hot…and we were sweaty. I had to call ‘it’ or go crazy and keep prepping the house until there was no paint left.
Luckily, we have sweet neighbors who’ve been watching this process. They keep saying things like…
“Wow…you are working hard…it is going to look great…do you want to come for dinner?”
Just in the nick of time…saved by sanity…and someone else’s cooking…and a cool evening breeze.
Plus I got to help My Neighbor feed his buffalo, which really meant I just sat in the jeep and watched those big beasts walk by…but it was cool and life is good…and the prep is over. 
Done.
Finished…just like me…
almost.
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‘Reclaimed’, what a great word. I love how we humans use words to make things appear ‘better’ or more ‘desirable’. As in, ‘used’ cars = not so good, ‘pre-owned’ car, a much classier choice. ‘Reclaimed’ means it was junk, but I like it so I am ‘reclaiming’ it and calling it good or even great. (I believe there is a sermon or two in this).
One of our very first finds in the early days of Glory farm was this old green table. It was poorly constructed. It wobbled. It was well-worn, very well-worn. Someone practiced cutting their knife on it and spilling stuff on it, but Number One Wife and I loved it. I claimed it as ‘mine’, which meant My Loving Spouse could not use it to hold car parts, spray paint on it or cut it up.
The Green table never quite made it into the house, too wobbly and not quite the right size to work anywhere. Also, My Loving Spouse would say things like,
“You really want to bring that thing in the house?”
Until this weekend…when I said…
“I want to bring that thing into the house. Will you fix it please?…But make sure you don’t FIX it!”
Directions that I believed were very clear. He knew what I wanted…make it the right height, non-wobbly and possibly put the ends together, but don’t wreck it.
“Are you sure you want those knife scratches on it?”
“Don’t FIX it! Just please, fix it…”
Isn’t married life grand, it really is all about proper communication….and grace…and love…and time…and sometimes not having to work on unpainting the house and being able to hide in your workshop and ‘fix’ a table. A table that in your eyes might be junk, but if your wife wants to ‘reclaim’ it, well, it is not going to cost you any money, it won’t matter if someone forgets to use a coaster on it and it makes her happy…. So you do it…
And with the help of Blue and Pooh (who is always everywhere)…you even deliver it…
I scrape the loose paint (because that is what I do this summer) and varnish it. The green table is now declared perfect….
Reclaimed and I love it!
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Summer days continue to move across the farm…as I struggle with the ‘unpainting‘ of the house. There are tractor jobs for me to do, that I accomplish without ‘incident’ as it were…in other words, I did not get the tractor stuck or set any fields on fire!
The little hens have grown up and are starting to lay. Mother Nature is kind to them as their first eggs are small.
The vegetable garden is delivering up beans daily… I’ve found that these are easily blanched and frozen…
While THE Pumpkins are thriving to the point that Garden Gladys Night can barely keep her head above them.
No one knows how to cool off better than Sundance on a hot day…
It is helpful for me to stop and notice all this as I truly do struggle with the enormity of prepping the house to be painted. It is not the act of scraping old paint that has me struggling, it is the art of ‘balance’ in my life that is harder with a large job to do… Balancing time for sewing…reading…when there is more work to do…
It is a marathon…not a sprint. If you are like me, and feel that need to ‘get your work done first’ when your life choice has offered you a never-ending supply of work…then perhaps we can encourage each other to find a grateful balance of work and rest and play.
Bless you this day!
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When My Loving Spouse gets home from work he usually says,
“Hi Sweetie, I’m home!”
Except for the ‘other’ nights, then he says….
“What in the world are you doing?”
Such was the other evening… I had the shop vacuum out and was vacuuming the lawn…and the flower beds.
The ‘Unpainting‘ of the house has taken its toll. Number One Son was worried about the old paint and THE Grandson, which made THIS Grammy worried about the old paint chips and THE Grandson…and so I started to vacuum up the chips, which were on the lawn and in the flower beds. White flower petals looked like paint chips, so they got vacuumed up. Sometimes the chicken poop looked like paint chips too, so I vacuumed those up as well.
Our lawn has never looked so good!
