Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Ugh - rained all day yesterday. Got about 1.5 inches added to the .5 inch the at before and we are saturated again. Oh yay...

Got the new fridge installed, the old one hauled away and the extra one moved to the breezeway. Still need to hang the door between dining room and breezeway. That sucker is a big ol' solid core door and it's heavy - but we'll get it.

Talked briefly to the retirement specialist at the college yesterday. Just a sidewalk conversation but from what he said, without knowing all my particulars, it seems like January is my best bet. Except for something about working 90 days gets you a year... or something. I dunno - but when our summer session is over and we've settled down a little bit I'll make an appointment and have a more in-depth conversation with him.

Nothing new in farm news except I need to get over being lazy in this heat and sell some critters. Have a batch of piglets that are ready to go...just need to catch the little buggers. They're pretty quick, but they've started to figure out that I am the bringer of feed so they get pretty close to me these days. In fact, they get right under my feet - argh! Hard to move around very well when there's 6 or 7 itty, bitty creatures wandering in and out of your walking space.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@frustratedearthmother I feel your pain about moving the fridges through the doorway - it also applies to couches, recliners and freezers. We only have 1 door that is 36" wide - but you have to go through a 32" door to the porch to get to it. Moving our furniture into this house was a real challenge.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Whoever designed the layout of my house was an idiot, lol. The front door is a 36 inch door but the stairway starts within 3 feet of the front door. Going straight upstairs isn't a problem - but going into the living room or the dining room with a big piece of furniture is a lesson in frustration because you have to make an immediate corner. Try that with a full sized couch, lol. I haven't found a couch or a dining room table yet that hinges in the middle! Usually we have to angle a piece of furniture up on it's end to get it through....geeze!

 

[Mini Horses]

When I built, I have the 36" doors at front, back & the 2 inside for bedroom/bathroom. BIG shower. All because I felt it would be needed for wheelchair, shower chair, etc. All downstairs is wheelchair access. It was needed when mom was here. I'm an only, so knew it would happen even back 20 yrs ago. Then, there's me...

There was a screw up by framers and stairs are set back 3' too far, so back door opens and THERE are the stairs!! We took that door off hinges when moving things in for upstairs...little tight upwards, otherwise all ok.

They realized when so much was up -- and I would have had to spend for more lumber to tear out/replace. I did end with a big walk in storage at top of stairs that would not have happened otherwise. It works, just have to know the limits. Not what I wanted but, I have it. I was my own contractor, so cwouldn't force it redone at "contractors" expense.

So new frig in place. Older one in breezeway -- waiting for you to fill it! That's the milk, cheese and overflow one -- right??

 

[wyoDreamer]

I went to an open house once and you couldn't open the refrigerator door all the way because the builder put the island too close. Not sure how they even got the fridge in there it was so close.
We had to remove/raise part of the floor in one of the closets upstairs so that we could raise the ceiling above the stairway. Without that work, we couldn't get the box-spring for the queen bed and the mattress for the king size bed up the stairs. That was not an issue when the house was built - I don't think they even existed then. BUT, it also helped make is so my DH wouldn't hit his head every time he used the stairs.

My sister lived in a place without a single 36" door. They replaced a window in the living room with one that they could remove the window-sashes from fairly easy and that is how they moved the big stuff stuff in and out, lol.

 

[tortoise]

We have a queen size mattress built into our upstairs. And there's a special narrow door between our mudroom and bedroom to get mattresses in. There's no other way to get them in because of weird layout. Just things that happen in old houses.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

And there's a special narrow door between our mudroom and bedroom to get mattresses in.

That's actually kinda cool!

So new frig in place. Older one in breezeway -- waiting for you to fill it! That's the milk, cheese and overflow one -- right??

Yep - overflow fridge. Right now it's not so much milk overflow - but the garden is doing it's part to fill it up. Picking yellow squash almost every day...along with okra and peppers. AND - I picked figs tonight - yay! I love me some figs.

 

[Mini Horses]

Figs are ahead of me....We have a couple more weeks, then I'm anxiously awaiting.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, we had a good run at being dry! But we are wet again...back to rubber boots. UGH! Critters are over it and so am I. And..... more storms predicted for the next few days. Some "pop-up" storms possible today but early next week we are supposed to get tropical rain for a few days.

Had badness in the neighborhood yesterday. My next door neighbors (the 'bad' ones) got broken into. The guy came over and asked us if we'd seen anything but I was gone most of the day and DH was out for awhile also. Grateful that they didn't hit our house - but sad and worried that it happened to them. The gal next door and I were great friends for years until she married the new guy. He sad some things to me several times that were out of line and after that he worked to keep me and her apart as much as possible - fearing that I would tell her what he'd said. But, after he walked over and spoke to us about the break-in I called her and we had a really good conversation. I have hope that we can bond again because she really needs a friend right now. Her mother has deteriorated and needs constant care - and they were out looking for a place for her. To come home and find out your home has been invaded while you are dealing with that stress was just too much for her and she was extremely distraught.

Their misfortune certainly spurred us into action. We hadn't been setting our alarm for the past few days because we'd had the door between the dining room and breezeway off the hinges after moving the refrigerator. We sure re-hung that door yesterday and were able to set the alarm last night. Brought in the handguns from the vehicles also - don't want those stolen. We talked about fencing the front area and letting the dogs out there - but we'd have to electrify that to keep Cowboy form going over. Too much to deal with having to worry about them running out the gate every time we go in and out. Could always exclude the driveway area - but would be awkward to fence and would still need gates...not the best option. So, DH spent some time last night investigating a driveway alarm. It would alert when anything come up the driveway - and can be expanded to cover other areas. He is urging me to carry a firearm when I go out to feed - but that's likely not to happen. I'd have to wear a holster and that would be too bulky...I've got enough to worry about carrying buckets and keeping goats/pigs from knocking me down. And, there's the possibility that I'd get really pi$$ed at one of the critters and just shoot them from frustration, lol! (just kidding!) I don't worry too much about being out in the pasture area - I've got big barky dogs out there and an electric fence.

Sheriff's department urged the neighbors to get an alarm system - especially because we are somewhat rural. Her house/yard is also very cluttered and gives good hiding areas for the bad guys. All things the Sheriff pointed out to them so they've got some work to do. There is another house down the street that is set back from the road and has all manner of bushes/vehicles/trees all blocking visual access. Guess what? They've been broken into several times over the years also.

We'll be giving our place a hard look and see if there's anything else we can do to keep it more secure.

 

[Britesea]

thorny bushes under the windows can help a lot. Also, this looks pretty good, and not very expensive:
https://doordevil.com/