New Life Old Farmers

Being awake and the washing machine running seem to go hand in hand.  One thing leads to another and the end result usually turns into a big pile of laundry.

The mighty and fierce (soon to be mice hunting) barn kittens, Tigger and Pooh are currently escape artists.  Our beautiful big red barn is about 60+ years old and has plenty of cracks, crevices and holes for little kittens to get out of and since we have a lot of hawks and owls around here, we’ve got to be careful the kittens don’t become the birds next snack (sorry city friends).  No (cat lovers), they cannot live in the house, because then they’d be ‘house cats’, not ‘barn cats’ and the one house cat we have is often one too much.

It would seem that our life is one long ADHD moment, but really we do have a plan.  Really!  The old milk parlor (which I love) was to be turned into the next chicken house, thankfully Pat can adapt my ideas into stuff that actually work.  The milk parlor seemed kitten-escape proof, so we cleaned it up and were all ready to start first thing yesterday morning to add the chicken yard/hawk proof kitten yard.  Except…. it was very cold, and the wind was blowing as Pat says, “Like a wholly….(bad ‘Queen’s English’ word”).

We have a lot of tasks that get labeled, “let’s do them when Corey is here”.  Corey, eldest son, is strong and old enough to use dangerous tools, yet young enough to still like to ‘knock stuff down’.  With the chicken/kitten run put off, Pat had another idea!  Let’s move the empty old diesel 300 gallon tank on the farm that he was selling on Craig’s list.  Out came Jubal (our tractor) to drag the container and stand across the farm.  All was going well, until Pat’s hat blew off, Jubal went backward and the tank fell off, where we learned that it wasn’t actually empty.  Diesel was spilling!  Luckily, the three of us were able to push and shove and get it ‘righted’ so the spill ceased.  We weren’t actually covered in diesel, but no one came out clean on this adventure and we all smelled!

So now Pat is pumping the expensive diesel into barrels and figuring out how to ‘clean’ it.  I’m just trying to clean the clothes and NO, one time through the wash does not do it.

So that is today’s plan… except, someone just called with 5 day old chicks…..

We have a wedding coming up.  First born son Corey James is getting married and we are excited!  A dress for the mother of the groom is required and if you remember, I don’t really sew.  I conferred and consulted with Stephanee the bride then ordered the perfect dress… on-line.  It came and it was a little too blue and a little too big, or as Stephanee said, “You’re too petite for it”, which caused out loud laughter.

Besides a new ‘frock’, I find myself for the first time needing plenty of hats.  Yep, that is right… hats!  Ellensburg in spring is windy!  Oh, and I don’t mean breezy, I mean you are walking sideways windy!  So with this in mind, I bought this hat.  I love it, but even it did not keep me from giving up and cutting my hair to the short “wind-blown is in” look.

Ellensburg equals Rodeo!  It is big here, the final of the season and from what I understand ‘fun will be had by all’.  This doesn’t happen until Labor day, so we have some time to plan, but I have been told that ‘NO ONE’ from Ellensburg goes without a hat!  Put on your Wrangler jeans and grab your cowboy hat or don’t show up for the Rodeo.  Okay, I can do that.  I even know where to shop… one of my favorite stores.. the Feed & Seed.  Easy!

Now you know my Pat is British and he has informed me that “no mother would go to her son’s wedding without a proper hat”.  You saw the hats at the Royal wedding and the ‘royal’ part had nothing to do with it… it is ‘just what is done’.  Here’s my sister-in-law Shelagh at her son’s wedding looking smart in her frock and hat.  So, Washington hang on to the seat of your pants… we’re hat shopping now!

 

We knew that this morning was the Farmer’s market and we were going to make it.  I even brought a bag for all the great produce we were going to buy at our first ever true farmer’s market in the farm land with real farmers, not the glorified street fairs of So. California.  I should have know something was up, because for the first time since moving here, we actually had to look for a parking place.  Then I started seeing old cars and old guys standing near the old cars either rubbing the cars with a special cloth or just drooling.  Wouldn’t you know it?  My first Farmer’s market turned out to be a Car show!  The rest of it was pretty much a glorified street fair as the local produce is still growing in the ground.  I did meet the guy running for Judge and he assured us there’d be more produce later in the season.  I did also see some one selling eggs from “happy chickens” so I was wondering if they were slipping the chickens Prozac, but thought it better not to ask.

A quick trip to our favorite Fred Meyer for regular eggs from regular chickens.  They were 36 for $3.00, but only if you used the coupon.  Luckily for us an older lady (who reminded me of my mother) saw that we were about to blunder and instructed us to get the coupon from the front of the store, which we promptly did.

One more stop to the 4-H club kids’ car wash.  The car was dirty, but the real reason for pulling into the parking lot was to contact a certain horse riding girl from the 4-H club to met our teen and give some ridding lessons.  This was 4-H, so I figured that the adults in charge would know her.  As the boy with the hose watered our car and the car next to us that the Dads had just dried, I hopped out to get my information.

“Do you know ‘so-so’?”  Blank faces was all I got.  “Don’t you do 4-H horses?”  “Oh, no”, she said, “we’re pigs!”  (I have so much to learn here…)  I do think I refrained from saying something really smart like, “Oh, is that different?”.  I did learn that you could make more money faster with pigs, if your pig ‘made weight’ and got sold at the auction.  The car wash was raising money for the decorations for the pens when the fair came because there are prizes for the ‘best looking pig pen’, which to me was an oxymoron.  All my previous knowledge about pigs and fairs came from reading Charlotte’s Web about 40 years ago.

If learning new things helps with Alzheimer’s, I think I’m good.

 

So I was just sitting on my tractor, little John D.  We were off and mowing grass, weeds and a bit of baler twine.  (Baler twine is the plastic ‘rope’ they bale hay with.  It is pretty handy and tough stuff, so legend has it that the previous owner used it for everything… repairing fences, holding gates open, tying barn doors open or shut and then some.  We have various colors of baler twine and we have it everywhere, on fences and especially hidden in the grass.)  When we walk the dogs at night, we pick up baler twine.  I think baler twine reproduces at night, and you never really get it all cleaned up, just like Lego’s and Barbie shoes used to do.

The birds were singing, which they do a LOT here, the sun was shinning and it was NOT windy.  Spring time in Ellensburg = wind.  No wind = crop dusting.  The helicopter flew about 40 feet over my head, the pilot waved and dived down to 10 feet and sprayed the field next door. This kept this ‘city girl’ and Paddy the pilot quite amused.  Fun to watch as the helicopter swept up and down over our barns taking special care when near the field with our horse in it.  Then it flew back to its truck, landed on the special truck bed, filled up with dust crop juice and back to the sky.

The animal population is rapidly growing.  Perhaps a bit faster than I expected.  We now have these extremely mighty barn cats.  These tiny two were destined for the pound, so they have ended up with us.  We wanted boys, so of course it looks like they are girls.  Tigger & Pooh are cute like only kittens can be and I am not really a cat person, so this is saying a lot.  Their job will be to help balance out the mice population eventually and since I am not a rodent person, this sounds pretty good.

Adding cats is suppose to subtract mice, I guess that comes out about even (one hopes).  However, I was just informed that since we now had barn kittens, we should get our baby chicks (that will grow into egg laying hens) soon, because if we wait until the kittens are cats they might subtract our baby chick population by mistake.I wonder what animal we’ll need to add once we’ve included chickens.

This trunk was our first ‘find’.  The first time Pat and I both saw something old and unique (besides each other) and said, “Ohhhh, that is cool”.  We hadn’t been dating long and were driving down the street, when I saw this trunk sitting out for the taking and hollered, “Stop!” quickly followed by, “Oh never mind”. I didn’t think Pat would want to go back for such a ‘crazy’ item.  He, however, threw the car in reverse, put the trunk half in and half out of the car and backed up slowly all the way home.  It then dutifully sat in the garage, until we moved and yes, we brought it along.  We’ve never been able to find a use for it until now.

The downstairs bathroom, which actually is a bit redundant as there is no upstairs bathroom except in our (mind) plans, lacks storage, a medicine cabinet, and towel bars.  So we took this trunk apart and viola!  We now have towel bars, storage and a bit of personality.

 

I love reusing items and being able to put this cool old trunk to work here.  I am enjoying the changes we’ve made to this bath making it functional without making it obviously ‘modern’.

I don’t think I am going to enjoy this bath tomorrow though, as we will be spending some quality time in it as tonight the water heater started leaking AND this bathroom’s plumbing backed up.

Can you say,……. “Are we having fun yet?”

 

 

For the first time in my life, I have a Master bathroom.  It has a heater, it is ours and for that I am thankful.  It is however, not exactly ‘masterful’.  The installers must have been dainty and petite people.  We think that it was built for munchkin land.  If you know us, Pat and I are not actually small, rather we are what my cousin would call…. ‘gigantic-petite’.  At 6 ft. tall, the vanity’s top drawer hits me in the knee cap and the shower stall is smaller than an old-fashioned phone booth.  This is fairly problematic for getting my legs shaved and if Pat happens to drop the soap, well it is all over.  Someday this will all be changed….  

What we will not change is this wonderful claw foot tub.  So big I can hardly get it in this picture!  It is deep, it is relaxing, it is wonderful and I love it.

There is a window in this bathroom as well.  (This picture doesn’t do the view justice.)  Now we don’t have many neighbors,

but we’d like to stay on the good side of those we have. A window shade kept the bathroom polite.  I hated blocking the great view and sun light, so I asked Pat to install the bottom curtain a few inches higher so we didn’t need the top shade.  Now we have boob-free viewing, instead of free-boob viewing and everybody is happy.

I was told by more than one person to get prepared for a slower life in the country.  Some gave this advice as a warning and some as a benefit, still it sounded good to me.  We haven’t actually found this to be true… yet.  I finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday due to a knee that wouldn’t stop hurting.  As the doctor was trying to figure out what was wrong with it, he asked what I’d been doing.  After hearing about our last 5 weeks, I received my prescription… MORE Advil and to pace ourselves.  

Ut oh…? I knew this could be difficult for us before we’d even moved here as we are good at working, not so good at resting.  Our ‘to do’ list is lengthy but as my brother reminds me, “Remember, it is a journey”.

So due to the whole ‘pacing’ thing and the true reality that I needed fellowship with women here, I headed off to church.  I would like to say I was filled with confidence and security, but I wasn’t.  I’d been warmly welcomed and encouraged, but I was still heading off to join them in the unknown… the daunting… the often over whelming world of…. quilting and I don’t sew.  In fact I do believe sewing skips generations and it sure skipped mine.  I also did not really understand what it was they did at ‘quilting’.  I soon learned that they joined together to bless others.  I’m sure that their homes have lovely examples of their work, but they come together to make quilts as special gifts to many, the kids in foster care, orphans of other countries, each new baby born in the church, each high school graduate from the church as well as many others.

I showed up and was warmly welcomed and quickly put to work.  Given a pattern (an easy starter one, thank God), given material, given a teacher and most importantly told I could not ‘flunk’ at quilting.  I wasn’t so sure they were right, but I was willing to give it a try.  They shared with me their tips, their tools, their great senses of humor and I was blessed.

Oh, these horses?  This is what you see when you leave the church and they always make me smile too.

 

For so long in my life, to live in the country  seemed nothing more than a ‘want’ or a ‘dream’ with little opportunity to make it happen.  It continues  to surprise me that this is my new reality.  New life at 53…

This is the view through our bay window as we sit in the living room.  Grateful for beautiful wood floors and for our furniture to sit on at last!

Much of our garden is over grown and we’ve lots to continue to clean out.  However, there are also many gifts here from the previous owners who loved this place.

Glorious peonies which the camera can not do justice.  Lilac, daisy, bleeding heart, daffodils, roses and iris.  Some plants that are being allowed to grow, as we do not know yet if they are friend or foe.

I am surrounded by beauty here.  It catches my breath daily.

Yes, we are often over whelmed by the task we’ve taken on. We are often heard to say, “Where is the Advil, the ice, the tweezers?  Is this a splinter? A cut? A thorn?  Do you know where the (fill in the blank) is?”

But we also find ourselves saying daily, “Can you believe how beautiful it is here?”