New Life Old Farmers

Usually, the only things that happen quickly around here are catastrophes, so starting and finishing a project that needed doing all in one day three hours is something that should be celebrated….and I mean Woo and Hoo!

The garage was pink cement block.  It was useful.  It was sturdy.  It was ugly not nice looking and it did not fit in, not at all!  We’ve been meaning to paint the block ‘barn red’, figuring that we could not make it look worse.Luckily for us, ‘A’ and The English Sister did not like it as well and were determined to help rectify the situation prior to their departure.  I was all in favor of us making room for a day of painting, because I knew that without them, it would be just I tackling the project.    We prepped, moving away from the side of the garage the wood-in-case-we-need it pile.Dug a trench along the side of the building to make rolling the paint easier.  Swept off the bits of dirt, spider webs and bird poop.Made two trips to the paint store for supplies and then got started…two people rolling, one cutting in.All three of us were on the look out for wasps and alerted the crew where to be extra careful…  Let me tell you, three people working fast and furious on one garage…it was a beautiful thing.  With thunder clouds rolling in, we put on the final touches just as the heavens opened up.  We did an outstanding job and I know for sure, none of us missed anything, not even any little spots, so if you do happen to see a couple little places…it was probably the rain.The garage fits in now and matches all the other out buildings here, a complete transformation all in 3 hours with one amazing painting crew!

The last few days, we have had a full house.  It has been a busy, crazy, happy place…full of family and a testament to all the reasons we moved and bought this home.  Just moments after, Number One Son, Wife and THE Grand baby arrived and the boys had planned and organized an All Family Float down the canal behind our home.  Everyone went…except THE Grand baby and I, well, after all someone had to stay home and babysit…and you know, I was grinning from ear to ear to do so.The float took about 45 minutes and all Floaters came back with rave reviews and mud between their toes.  They had so much fun that they went again the very next day….and yes, I was still more than happy to baby sit!

It is Our Friend the Farmer’s busy season.  His team is working hard to bring in their hay.  He stopped by to briefly talk about the hay we were getting from him.  When I showed up to discuss the hay and show him our grandson, his eyes sparkled, he put his arms out and said, “Oh, I’ve got time to hold a baby”…..The Number One’s were here for two nights and quickly discovered that 6:00 am, is not too soon to deliver the baby downstairs.  Number One Son showed up each morning a bit blurry eyed with a wide awake baby and said,

“Here Grammy, we’re going back to bed”.I was happy to snuggle and read to him, be helpful and be happy all at the same time…and yes, he loves this book!Of course there was a bit of croquet…and as “A” (and my parents) say,

“It is not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”

A perfect sentiment always, but especially last night as we discovered that when you get a late start playing croquet you actually can run out of daylight.  However, fueled by gin and ‘pocket wine’ (small plastic bottles of wine purchased for the float that seem to fit into The English Sister’s pocket) we managed to play an unforgettable game.I love that here, there is something for every body… and we are blessed.

…and so they are married! It was a lovely day shared by many that care about these two dear people, who shined with happiness and delight, that they were now ‘man & wife’. We wait patiently and might I say, we farm folk clean up pretty darn well…Wearing, as My Loving Spouse would say…”a proper hat”…and of course a string of pearls…The English Sister and I.

Who made who cry?…as both Daddy and daughter had tears rolling…

A little niece steps in to help the bride with her dress… …a few family moments…My Girl, My Other Girl & Number Three Son An absolutely creative & clever setting, with so many delightful touches, showing what could only be many days work by My Other Girl and her Mom… A gorgeous and delicious cake…

May God bless you both…

Traveling to St. George, Utah for My Other Girl’s wedding, I may have found the secret to dealing with security issues. However, you must not breath a word of this to the TSA.

We packed carry on only. However, I also had my wedding hat, as we were going to a wedding I needed my ‘proper hat’ and if you do not believe me, then you should take it up with My Loving Spouse.

At security I was in the expedited lane, the fine print said that this allowed me to wear shoes and a hat. Not wanting my hat crushed in the convayor belt lugage mover I put it on and was quickly waved forward through the preferred gate. The TSA agent said,

“I have just one question for you?”

Yes?

“Where did you get that fabulous hat?”

Oh, a vintage hat store in Spokane. 

“Well, you are rocking it! Have a great trip”

It might not really go with my t-shirt, but this deserved a selfie!

Number Two Son is attending Central Washington University, and they have a whole host of out-door supplies they rent to their students.  Over the weekend Number Two went on a Yakima River float with his friends, thereby becoming the family floating expert.  The Expert offered to take the ‘Brits’ and us floating, which is when we all said a Good British word – “Brilliant”, and so it was.

Along with the raft, the oars, and the life vests came a small foot air pump to blow the raft up.  We quickly decided it would be more efficient to blow it up at home reversing the attachment on the vacuum.  It worked great!  We then had a new ‘situation’ called…how to keep the raft in the truck.  However, being college educated…even we figured it out!The next learning curve was getting the life jackets adjusted, wondering aloud why they do not make life jackets for bottles of wine and the most problematic issue, getting THE Knee into the raft.Eventually we were all loaded up and off down the river, Our English Sister and I wondering why we had 4 oars when we only had 3 men?  Number Two Son, the River Expert, quickly announced that if someone didn’t grab those oars and start paddling beside him we were going to quickly hit the bank, as he ducked under a tree branch.  We did all manage to find our place & job on the raft and while I might not have used the oars much, I was in charge of handing out diner, chunks of fresh bread, cheese and meats as well as procuring and pouring the wine.  (My Trader Joe’s screw top wine coming in very handy on the river).

High on the priority list was running new barbed wire lines down the pasture fence.  We needed to keep the animals in and not out, especially not out at 5:20 in the morning!  With our family here and happy to help us, we headed off to my favorite hardware store for barbed wire and jeans.  Work gloves, new jeans and a pair of borrowed boots, The English Sister is looking good.“A” was given a quick lesson on how to run the bike, and a few reminders that one set of brakes didn’t work.  “A” came prepared with work cloths and only needed a borrowed pair of boots…our English Cowboy was ready, ever the man with his own ‘look’.The four of us settled into different roles and quickly eventually with the hot sun shinning down on us got three new strands of barbed wire up, tight and secure.  Happy that the herd could graze safely, happy to go off for a fun, late lunch and happy with work well done.  We were grateful for the help.

With our fences tight and secure we were unprepared for the wake up announcement at 4:20 AM in the morning night (well, the sun was barely up) from Number Two Son…

“The horses are in the front yard”

Bad British word!!!

After a bit, My Loving Spouse caught the little horse and luckily the bigger horse followed.  With the two horses locked up tight, we could examine our fences, where was the breach in our fortress?

A gate…meant just for people (but a horse will fit through) was standing ajar…an invitation for the herd to have a midnight wander around the property.  We were actually quite happy to find it to be human error, for a change.

Naps scheduled for later today.

Today is Number One Son’s birthday.

Since we moved to the country, our gift giving is just…. different.  Oh, we still tell each other we are getting them ‘books and clothes‘ and sometimes, we even do, but still nothing could have prepared me for this change.

Number One Son gave My Loving Spouse the best gift he could have asked for on his birthday a few weeks ago.  When he opened the card, his eyes lit up and his smile was wide…Number One had completed his hunter safety course….yes, my city boy was ready for bird season and prepared to bring home the Christmas goose with My Loving Spouse.

I didn’t know I’d be so happy for them both, but I am and if you do not think this is a big change, well then you’d be wrong.

We couldn’t give Number One’s present to him in person, so we dressed up for his gift presentation, oh yes, clothes again and a little something else for his birthday..

PS: We love you!

PPS: Time together is always the best gift!

I like to think that 5:20 comes once a day…and it is NOT in the morning!

‘We’ have been having a bit of frustration with some of the animals.  There is a certain in-door cat whose ‘to do list’ looks something like this:

– leave cat hair everywhere especially on Ellen’s side of the bed – check

– ruin nice couch by clawing it – check

– rip up toilet paper – check

– get into the remaining soot in the attic and spread it around the house – check

– try to get that bird in the window – check

My daily cat ‘to-do list’:

– remind My Girl that this is her cat and when she goes, it goes – check

– throw the Damn Cat outside – check

Zoe the black lab decided last night that she should chew on the rug.  We have hardwood floors…so the rugs we do have are few, but much-needed and I was not a happy camper.  I was saying things like…’why do we have all these animals?’ and ‘I’m tired of them wrecking stuff’ and so forth…I’m sure you can imagine the ‘come apart’ I might maybe have been having.  (‘Come apart’ is a Good British word for ‘tantrum’.)

…and so at 5:20 am (in the morning) My Loving Spouse woke me with those dire words…

“The cow is out”

Agnes was in the front yard…Bad British Word!

We made a plan, which including getting dressed, opening a gate and chasing the large black creature back into the field where she belongs…

So…in response to the ad My Loving Spouse found and sent to me from Craig’s list….

4 Wiener Pigs for Sale, reduced price if you buy all 4

….I don’t think so…at least not today!

‘They’ are almost here.  We’ve been waiting for them to come since we first bought the farm.  ‘They’ are fun, funny, enjoy a good game, a good book, a good glass of gin and a bit of a project…‘they‘ are My Loving Spouse’s Little Sister and her partner in all things the delightful ‘A’.  They’ve come from England and will be with us off and on for about 3 weeks.  We’ll have to host a game or two of croquet as we’ve been telling all of our friends about them and how much they are going to like them, etc. and so forth.

Except you see, they are not here yet, which is sort of good for us as we are very busy trying to get ready for them, well get ready for ‘A’ really.  We’ve been working on our ‘A’ list.  You see ‘A’ just celebrated his 70th birthday and so we’re trying to give him something very special, something never before experienced here at Glory Farm…ever…it is called a toilet upstairs.  This in no way should indicate that we are nearing the end of the bathroom remodel, but we are making good headway.It is starting to look like a bath room, well…at least to us, but then as you may imagine we have a large imagination.

Bringing the toilet in from the garage to the attic should be no big deal.  Attaching the toilet to the plumbing is a very big deal.  A house built in 1889 means that the house was built before there was plumbing.  The crawl space under the house is very, very small or so I’ve heard as I’ve not actually gone down there and have no intention of ever going.  So we hired some help for My Loving Spouse and between the two of them, they managed to not only get mud from one end of the house to the other, but did manage make the necessary adjustments to the plumbing to accept a toilet upstairs.

One problem with having two men working everywhere in the house, is our night owl, My Girl who is working graveyard and needs to sleep.  Ever innovative….the pantry was a cool and dark place…so in went the roll away bed.…and as her friend said, “Gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘mid-night’ snack”.

Also on our ‘A’ list is a door for the bathroom…lighting, tile, a sink on the wall, dry wall, a window are all on the ‘B’ list, or the ‘C’ list.

‘A’ has been worried that if they didn’t get to Glory Farm soon, all the projects will be done, which gave My Loving Spouse and I a good and long, hearty laugh.  My Loving Spouse keeps saying things like..

“Oh, when My Sister and A are here, I’ll get A to help me with that….”

So we’ve started another ‘A’ list….