Barn Raising, Day 7

Concrete! The first concrete truck arrived at about 7:30 this morning. A bit later, truck number two arrived. Each truck carried 11 yards of concrete to the interior of the Barn. Quite a process!

It was a little chilly and damp-ish today, so everything took longer to dry than usual. Other than that, it all seemed to go well (except for a couple of JRT paw prints!).

Tonight we have torrential rains again, so I really doubt we have any more progress until early next week. Then it will be the builders’ final step – pouring concrete for the porch floor. The forms are up and ready!

Barn Raising, Day 6 – plus Garden Update

It was raining cats and dogs yesterday, but today we had progress again. We now have garage doors, vents, guttering & more. Also, rebar was installed for the concrete floor. We are hoping the weather holds out and we can have concrete delivered tomorrow for the interior. Concrete for the porch floor will happen the day after (weather permitting).

Here’s a picture of the plumbing – exciting, huh? It will be pretty darned exciting when it’s all finished.

And, it’s really hard to resist posting our dogwood tree. So I won’t…. resist, that is :)

How about a garden update? This is the first raised bed we planted about a month ago. Lettuce and onions, and maybe radishes in just a couple days! I can just taste the wilted lettuce now…

Oh, and may I post just one more pic? Please? Here’s our sweet and feisty JRT - “Banjo” – she will be 8 later this year.

That’s it for now. I promise. Hope you’re having a great week!

30 Loooong Years Ago Today….

…..Mr. and Mrs. W officially became a pair. I had planned to have ‘then and now’ pictures to blog -- we intended to get anniversary pictures taken today. However,  it’s raining (and raining and raining) here today. I don’t know, the ‘now’ pictures might be too scary anyway?

Also, in case anyone was wondering… because of said torrential rain, there has been no barn progress today. 

So I will leave you with a picture of us on our wedding day. How young we look. Of course, we haven’t changed a bit (if only that were true!)

Barn Raising, Day 5

We still have equipment strewn around, so that says we’re still not finished… but closer… we are almost there :)

Enjoy the weekend!

Barn Raising, Day 4

Much accomplished today! What a great bunch of guys. Just can’t say it enough. And they’re all local, small-town, farm boys. Yay! Not a lot more left for them to do. Besides concrete floor for the building and porch, they have trim, roof vents, gutters, cupola and weathervane. I think that’s about it for them. Then our work really begins. Mr. W and I have been plotting, measuring out, planning the bathroom area today… and where the kitchen sink will be. There’s been a lot of manual shovel work going on last night and today!

Here’s our day 4 pic:

Couldn’t help but snap some lilac and butterfly shots this evening also---

Barn Raising, Day 3

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

The builders were very productive again today. Most of the metal is on the barn, except for the roof. All windows and the walk-in door are installed (but we will add a few more after completion, although this will be a major pain methinks).

The second picture is taken from the southwest corner. In thirty years of marriage we have never had the luxury of a garage, so rest assured… this will be greatly appreciated!

I went mushroom hunting tonight. Should have been prime morel hunting after our 70+ degree day. I found no mushrooms, but I did find a very old feeder top. I was so excited at first because I thought it said “Feed Donkeys”. However, upon closer examination it says “Feed Conkey’s”. What?! I think I will keep it anyway. It’s already flattened on the backside, so upside-down it could make a nice primitive planter hung on a fence post…. or something? If you have any ideas, please share.

More barn updates tomorrow I hope!

Barn Raising, Day 2

I meant to post an update earlier this evening, but the to-do list after work seemed a little longer tonight.

Here is our Day 2 photo. The builder dude crew decreased by about half today. The other half moved onto another location. The remaining builder dudes made a lot of progress, AND got treated to some homemade Amish friendship bread. These guys are fantastic in my opinion.

They finished installing the top-mounted purlins on top of the trusses, and also the purlins between the rafters on the porch so the birds would not have any place to roost. (I have to admit that Mr. W dictated that entire portion about purlins – I didn’t even know ‘those boards’ had a name. And, for the record, I love my birds but I do NOT love bird poop on my rocking chairs). Window and door openings were also roughed in.

Oops, I did mention “picture” about two paragraphs up, didn’t I? Almost forgot… it’s been one of those days. Here ya go…

Thank you again for going along on this barn-building trip with us. More updates to follow this week. Hope your week is going well!

Barn Raising – Day 1, Part III

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

I am totally amazed at what they accomplished today. We had to run off for awhile and vaccinate, clamp, and ear-tag our calves. When we returned a little bit later, this is what we found:

The donkeys were pretty excited about it too --

Thanks for sharing our excitement today!! More updates throughout the week… I hope! We don’t usually have this much excitement out here on the farm, so it’s quite a big deal :)

Barn Raising – Day 1, Part II – POSTS!!

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

Less than 3 hours after their arrival….

Posts, we have POSTS!!! Yay, Builder Dudes!!!

(Be prepared for more updates today and this week, and just be glad you’re not here to witness in person my crazy enthusiasm!)

Barn Raising!!

(NOTE: for background on this project, please refer to the last half of "Rainy Day Thoughts")

Ok, we finally have some activity here (maybe my whines somehow paid off yesterday?). Our back yard is just teeming with builder dudes. We have the beautiful sound of power tools in the background.

Ohhhh, sweet music to my ears♫

The crew, equipment and building supplies arrived at about 7:30-ish this morning. Fast forward two hours and everything has been unloaded and business is pickin’ up out there.

Here is a glimpse of what’s currently going on in our back yard–

Now excuse me ~ off to do a happy dance :-) Maybe more updates later today or tonight….

Rainy Day Thoughts…

We have this sign on our back porch to greet visitors to Flat Creek:

We actually have a decorating theme on the back porch (most everything else is a big hodgepodge here right now). I call our BP theme the vintage lodge outdoorsy theme. If you can’t see the “activities list” on the sign (not the best picture), here it is:
*Bear Wrestling
*Skinny Dipping
*Coyote Calling!
*Frog Catching

S’mores nightly? At least weekly during the summer months – around our cowboy fire pit in the back yard. Do we bear wrestle? No, haven’t seen a bear in these parts as of yet, but we’ve heard rumors of course. Do we skinny dip? Not with the snapping turtles who reside in our ponds. Do we coyote call? Yes, Mr. W has been known to do that on occasion. Frog catching? Yes, on occasion (today would be the perfect day for that activity). It’s rainy again today, and in the upper 50’s. Summer will soon be here – we hope!

In the meantime, we’re still awaiting our barn builder to show up. This weather doesn’t help matters. I’m growing weary of waiting to post pictures of the building in progress, so I’ll preview it here while I wait (and wait and wait…). I promise to update this the very second those first new barn posts are in the ground. I hope it’s SOON. My patience is about worn thin.

The plan is a 30x50 metal building with an 8 foot porch across the front. It will be just a few steps from our back door. I know we’ll love the porch this summer – if we get it built by then (<sigh>.. can you tell just how impatient I’m getting?). There will be an 800 or 900 square foot living area within (“cottage”) – we’re still working on details on that part since we’ll be finishing the interior ourselves. The remainder of the building will be garage/workshop. Here’s a photo of what the new building should look similar to. Our building will be white with green roof and it will have a cupola in the center with a donkey weathervane (of course!). And along the far end there will be two garage doors.

Photo courtesy of National Barn

As time goes by (we hope in a couple of years), we plan to take down this old house with its poor old foundation & roof (in fact I’m listening to a drip from a leak in or around the chimney right now), & other problems too numerous to mention. At that time, we’ll move into the cottage portion while hopefully building a new home (possibly another pole barn style) in the place where the old house stands now.

Anyhoo… that be the plan, folks! Have a great remainder of the weekend.

Today’s Bloomers

I took these this morning. What a gorgeous 70 degree day. We’ve been waiting for this.

Red Bud – just popping…
Ornamental Plum – I’m really not sure what this is called. We bought it as a seedling at a yard sale just a couple of years ago. It’s an eyecatcher!

“Monroe County Influences” ♫

Ok… the big day has finally arrived. The CDs are here! Our fiddler, John, recorded this back in 2004 (yes, we can really be a family of procrastinators at times). It turned out great, and it was well worth the wait. So, if you’re a Missouri fiddling fan… or just want to expand your musical horizons, check out "Monroe County Influences, Volume I."


Check out the preview clips on the side bar ----->>
and also check out John's website here...
Broken Bow Fiddle Co

Among the Amish

Painting: “Standing Watch” by Marsha Elliott

We traveled to our nearby Amish Community and whiled away this rainy day. This is one thing about Mr. W still being unemployed that is a good thing – more day trips! “Amish Day” is always a fun trip, and we come back with some great ‘bent and dent’ buys as well. Additionally, I always feel I leave there with a better, more relaxed perspective on life. Here is a description of a few of the highlights today. (I always wish it were permissible to photograph the Amish, but I do respect their beliefs.)

At the first ‘bent and dent’ store, an 8 year old boy was our cashier. When he had difficulties ringing up my 20 or so Power Bars at 5¢ each, he called for assistance from his 10 year old brother. Assisting this duo was their 5 year old brother who was rather nervously boxing up the items. The painting above reminds me of this adorable trio of brothers.

We observed a young brother and sister pair picking up hickory nuts. Also saw two young ladies bringing in two very large baskets of eggs from the chicken house… giggling all the way. Many kids were out fishing today on the pond, in spite of the light rain showers. In fact, it did seem that most residents of the community were ‘goofing off’… and it just appeared to me that today was an official holiday for them….perhaps Easter Monday?

At our favorite country store, we visited with our favorite little lady who is always chatty and good-humored. She was particularly beaming today, even happier than usual. There were many visitors arriving and departing by buggy. She informed us that they were all coming to see their new grandbaby who was upstairs from the store. Their 61st grandchild. She also told us it was very hard for her to come downstairs and attend to customers because of that little ‘magnet’ upstairs who kept beckoning to her. I don’t know how a grandmother would even keep 61 grandkids straight.. I mean really!! But it was quite obvious that each of her grandbabies were very special to her.

Mr. W is friends with many in the Amish Community. Since he and his ‘Pappy” build buggies and carriages, they’ve had many dealings with the Amish during the years. Many of the old friends we went to visit today were out and about, so we missed visits with them this time. Nonetheless.. it was a fun and interesting day, and yes, I did return home with that better perspective on life. (Note to Self: hold that thought!)

Have a Blessed and Happy Easter!

Photo Collage: Around Flat Creek Farm

Doe Doe Doe … Lookin’ Out My Back Door ♫

Ok, so I changed the words just a tad. The pictures are a little blurry… but the closer I got, the more she moved into the brush. This is what we saw lookin’ out our back door this evening.

Ain’t she purty?


Itchy!

Spring Updates ~ moving right along…

Here is a tomato plant update – side-by-side comparison from almost a week ago… and today. They’re doing well, but growing a little too fast. Today I introduced the little sprouts to the great outdoors for awhile. I hope they ‘fatten up’ a bit as they are getting too tall and skinny staying inside all the time.

C’mon li’l mater plants, sturdy up!

I took a short walk around the yard just a few minutes ago and here is what I noticed:

Lilacs are going to burst soon. If you really take a good sniff of these buds, they’re even starting to smell like Lilacs… Mmmm.

Here is our Bradford Pear right now. I don’t know if I love that tree more in the Spring, or in the Fall. Would be a tough choice.

Happy Spring, Y’all!