All Hallow’s Eve ~

Stormy October Sunday

We started our Sunday with blue skies and sunshine, a rare treat for us this entire month. Then, storms began to blow in during mid-afternoon. We do not need any more rain for awhile, however the dark skies and Fall color made for a good combination. More Autumn pictures, anyone? I just can’t help myself… It will all be over with before we know it!

I love the view across the neighbor’s corn field. That blue tower in the 2nd photo  is our rural water supply, of course! It’s one landmark we use to direct new visitors to the farm.

While I’m posting pics, here is a quick Barn/Cottage update. The Fiddler has been busy the past couple of weekends, mudding the sheetrock. It looks like we’re on the final layer. Sanding to begin soon! Then our “Barnwood panels”  will be installed on the lower portion of the walls. It’s the faux stuff, but it actually looks pretty convincing.

Hope you’re enjoying a nice Sunday ~ wherever you may be!

Fall Foliage Kaleidoscope

The dogs and I just returned from a wonderful walk around the farm. I started in the yard and worked my way around our acreage, soaking up the most beautiful Fall color and scenery I could find. After a few days of not feeling up to par, I think this is just the medicine I was waiting for.

Are you ready? Off we go on our walk.

Here is a peek at a portion of our tractor and walking path. Banjo always stays a few steps ahead ~ just in case anything exciting pops up.

I took a thousand pictures (really, I think I did). Here is the remainder of our walk in mosaic form.

Thanks for sharing our walkabout today! We don’t seem to be at our peak Fall foliage just yet, but it’s off to a lovely start. 

How’s Fall shaping up in your neck of the woods?

Blue Skies and Hee Haws!

First, I want to thank so many of you who commented last week about your “roots.” I enjoyed them all! 

Second… I cannot even believe I’ve gone more than a week without posting. Truth is, our weather has been blah. And so have I. But today we have a bit o’ blue sky, and life is good.

Here’s a quick mosaic from today. Our Fall color is only beginning in this neck of the woods.

If you time things just right around here, you can see the most amazing rodeo in the back yard. Hee Haw Style. Loud, hearty brays can be heard, as well as lots of playful, teasing kicking. And running. Lots of running. Here are a few pics from their play time today. You may notice that the girls are getting their Winter coats now.

Gracie kicks (please pardon our muddy coats as we didn’t have time to get all prettied up) ~

Rodeo time ~ What a joy to watch…

I’ll leave you with this…

 

… and a hope that wherever you may be, you’re not being deprived of Blue Skies and Sunshine, and cute fuzzy kittens to cuddle (or the equivalent thereof). Because, as we all know, it’s the little things that really count!

Thursday Walkabout: Hometown

I only live about 20 miles or less from my hometown. Our farm is only about a half-mile from where Mr. W grew up. Guess you could say we haven’t ventured out much?

Here are a few of my favorite sights from my hometown: Courthouse & Library architecture, Fountain statue at the courthouse, Church I grew up in, County Veterans Memorial. I cherish these old buildings. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore!

This is my parents’ house – where I grew up.  And just look at this portion of their park-like yard. Wish I had inherited the “perfect yard” gene. Darn. Their landscaping and lawns really are something to be proud of. Next summer I’ll have to do a more in-depth walkabout with many more photos at their location.

These were taken yesterday during the beautiful weather. Today, we’ve had too much rain all day and into the night.

Are you near to…  or far from your old stomping grounds… where you grew up?

Barn/Cottage Update

A quick recap: Back in April of this year, our long-awaited Barn Building Crew finally arrived and built our 30x50 foot “Barn/Cottage” in our backyard.  View all Barn/Cottage posts here, beginning with the barnraising!

Our Barn/Cottage is also described as a “Shouse” (shop/house combo – thank you, Patti, for teaching me that cool word!), or simply a living quarters at one end of the garage-workshop. This building will ultimately be where we move in to during the period that our old house is being torn down and (hopefully) new house is being built. The tear down/build up project is at least two years in the future. However, the Fiddler will stay there much of the time over the next couple of years. Mr. W worked long and hard on many of the finishing projects for the Barn/Cottage during the past few months. However, with farm and other projects taking priority during much of the Summer, we still had quite a lot to finish up the Cottage area before super cold weather hits.

Yesterday, we were fortunate to have some of the Fiddler’s friends to help out with drywall. I was fortunate to entertain one of the friend’s little five year old (adorable) girl for the day. We had to check out kittens about a bazillion times (but it was fun of course!). And pet donkeys & feed them baby carrots. And see the geese & feed them dandelion greens (their favorite). We scrapbooked & did crafts too.  A fun day for me! And hopefully for her!

Back to the Barn/Cottage: The drywall is completely installed. I managed to finish painting the bathroom with primer, then paint two walls of color. And we now have the double doors partially installed between the garage portion and the cottage. You can see our progress below, as well as some beautiful artwork one of the friends left for us (on the drywall). He and his twin brother are very talented artists.

First the Artwork. This fine drawing was penciled in a matter of just a couple of minutes. Such talent!

The new doors ~ still wrapped (for now) in plastic. Soon they’ll be primed and painted… or just sanded and varnished? The more I look at the pretty wood grain, the more I hate to cover it up.  See the insulation below the new drywall sheets? We’re putting barnwood panels there. One of the next steps!

On a whim, I chose this gray-blue color for the bathroom. I am very pleased with it. Light fixture ~ $20 Lowes; Sink & Vanity Combo ~ $88; Recessed Medicine Cabinet $12 Lowes (yes, $12!!). The faucet is Moen & was about $50. This bathroom was really very economical to do. 

I really wanted Barn Lights, and this was the closest I could get. Lowes had copper pendant lights. I sprayed them silver to coordinate with the tin ceiling.  These are scattered throughout the Cottage area.

 

Some more artwork  with painters tape compliments of Mr. W and accomplice…

Oh, and Toilet is by Jacuzzi and was less than $150 at Lowes.

Tub and Shower combo (not pictured yet) was about $315 with Moen faucet & shower parts running about $75 I think.

Next up -- a new tankless propane water heater, more painting, drywall taping & finishing, the barnwood panels, blown-in insulation to the ceiling, outlet & switch covers, trim trim & more trim, a closet, a built-in storage cabinet in the bathroom, and yes… more painting.  We’re getting there! Hopefully we’ll have faster progress now that we’re “down to the wire”, so I’ll try to post updates more often.

Hope your weekend was great!

Friday Warm Fuzzies: A Basketful of Kittens

To help redeem myself for being MIA on my self-imposed “Thursday Walkabout” last night, I am posting pure cuteness today. Here are Harlequin’s (Harley’s) adorable kittens in a white oak basket (basket hand split and crafted by moi several years ago). These little sweeties will be three weeks old tomorrow ~ each and everyone is spoken for, and going to good country homes when they’re ready.

Some Kitty Bokeh!

One more “Awwwwww” moment, please…

**And yes, I am a firm believer in spaying and neutering. We do have our cats, dogs, (and even bunnies) spayed and neutered. However, we still can’t catch Harley (she was a stray who found us early this Summer). She’ll only allow a quick touch. We set live traps and what do we catch?? Raccoons! I am slowly making progress with Harley’s trust in me, so hopefully she can take a trip to the vet in the near future.

On another note - watch for a Barn/Cottage Update late this weekend. Remember that project? Progress has slowed but we hope to have a small crew of buddies to help tomorrow! Cold weather is going to catch us soon! Speaking of which, I’m off to do some more painting right now.

TGIF! Have a great 1st Friday of October!