Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[TanksHill]

So Lori, that picture was the same place but when your Granny had it? Is her new place in the same spot? What an amazing view.

It may seem like it's going slow to you but to us it seems like just yesterday you were pulling permits and in the planning stage.

When do you get to move in? I wish you were closer I am sure we would all love to help you carry boxes.

You will be in in no time.

g

 

[lorihadams]

No sadly, her new place in not in the same spot. That was where I grew up and got married right in her front yard before she had the doublewide there. That is Smith Mountain Lake that was in front of her. Granny's parents owned 300 acres before the lake was put in and when it was all said and done they were left with around 100 acres and 3 miles of waterfront. It was sold a little while ago and it makes me sad to think about it. The interesting thing is this, the buyers have 4 yrs to pay up or the property goes back to my granny and her siblings. They are paying in installments and the economy has really hit them hard. They have only sold a handfull of lots.

Granny and Papa bought 17 acres with a creek and built a new house. It's crazy big. Granny was upset cause that was where she was going to retire (at the lake property).

 

[keljonma]

I love the porch - and the new pics in general. It sure looks like your two children are enjoying the porch!!

 

[lorihadams]

Well, yesterday we sure had one heck of a day. We had to go UNDER the house and level out all the dirt from where they dug the footers. We are sore today. Spent about 4 hours under the house with a shovel trying to dig up all the lovely Virginia clay that had set up and put it back where it was originally.

Got up this morning and one of my mallards had gotten out of the chicken tractor. In the process of trying to get her back in the other one got loose Took me and the kids about a half hour to get them back in the pen. I think we'll let them loose at the pond this week. My poor babies got "violated" by the male runners.

The septic guy came by yesterday while we were under the house to see if the ground was dry enough to get in today and put in the septic tanks.....it WAS. Now it's raining.

Chad had to be at work at 5 this morning so he is getting off work at 1:30 today and we are going to Farmville to see about the underpenning. We are hoping they will have something that will match with the existing underpenning, it looks like brick. The kids were having a really good time yesterday, I think they are getting used to the idea that that is where we are going to live. The porch swings help....

I had forgotten how my microwave allowed me to do some of the little things. For example....soften butter, thaw out frozen meat, reheat leftovers. I wanted to make banana bread this morning but I'm waiting on the butter to get soft. I'm making pork chops tonight so now I have them in the fridge. We ate leftovers yesterday and had to heat up the oven to eat them. Ugh.

 

[lorihadams]

Okay....first we sold the two bum lawnmowers for $120 tonight!!! Two more things we DON'T have to move.

second.....nothing happening in the 'bator yet and I'm getting worried. Yesterday was 28 days with my indian runners and the temps and humidity have been okay but nothing yet. When we candled them a week ago they had good air cells and lots of veins still visible so do I need to wait longer??? Where's QA when you need her?

third....I have a broody hen Now, normally, I would be excited as all get out over this but the timing is not exactly perfect with this one. It's one of my light brahmas and none of my chicken eggs are fertile cause I got rid of Ozzie. I removed all the chicken eggs from under her and replaced them with about a dozen duck eggs that she was more than happy to take from me......little #^%$ growled at me. Today was the first day so we'll see how it goes. Don't know what will happen when we move.

so, that was my day, aside from storytime at the library and playtime at the park and a trip to home depot to price materials and then to the pet store to get 3 dozen crickets and a betta fish. Still haven't gotten up in the attic to go through everything but I will probably do that tomorrow. We also meet with the electric company tomorrow afternoon and hopefully we can get our electricity hookup started in like 2 weeks. I have to sit down and see where we are with our budget.....I definitely want to paint the inside if the house and redo the floors and figure out something to do with the UGLY fireplace. I saw an article on BHG.com about covering the fireplace surround with mdf painted white and done really pretty with crown molding in rectangles on the sides. I would love to do that cause ours is so dark and the mantle is HIDEOUS. Anyway, gotta see what we can and can't do. I think for now we may just paint and clean the carpets and live with the fireplace for now until we sell our current house and then don't have to worry about 2 loan payments. Gotta get the barn situation figured out too......*sigh*

 

[lorihadams]

Well.....we went to lumber liquidators yesterday and got the laminate flooring to go in the new house. It is a little dark but we like it that way. Only problem is that when we put it next to the kitchen cabinets it makes them look orange. :/ Looks like I'll be painting the cabinets white (which I wanted to do anyway.... ha ha ha)

The kitchen is on the back side of the house and is in the shade in the afternoons and looks really dark so I'm hoping it will help lighten things up a bit.

I have some lumber to take back today and I'll get a gallon of kilz and some neutral paint and see if I can get started on my son's closet. Chad wants to do a test room out of sight to make sure the paint will adhere before we go buy all the paint for the house. I think it will be fine.

My parents got here last night and hopefully they don't give Chad too much grief about the flooring we bought (spent $1500) but we had saved some in other places in our budget so we felt it would work out okay. Mama wants to keep the carpet in the whole house but when we opened the door to go in yesterday all you could smell was pee.

The dogs that my mom used to have were in their teens and had several accidents on the carpet in that house and once it's in the padding it just won't come out. We're gonna see if we can clean the kid's rooms and salvage it but I think we may get a builder grade carpet to go in their rooms....shouldn't be more than a couple hundred dollars and it would make me feel a lot better cause I know the dogs had accidents in their rooms too.

I discovered quite a few books in the attic yesterday when I got up there to get all the cross stitching stuff down and I think I will take them to the used book store and get store credit for later so I can use it for school stuff for the kids.

I am getting a catalog from Holderreads and I'm thinking about replacing my runner ducks with better stock. Mine came from McMurrays and they aren't as upright as I would like, even though I still love 'em. Sadly, I don't think my incubator hatch is gonna happen. Today is day 30 and I have not heard or seen anything from the eggs. The temp dropped yesterday and I don't know how long it was down. Gonna have to do the next hatch with some added insulation inside the bator, I think.

Oh, and when we went to the dump the other day there was a guy there that asked if we wanted any tree pots. So I got 3 or 4 huge old tree pots for free! Can we say carrot garden!!! They are nice and deep and HUGE! I wanted to do my raised beds this year but I don't know if we'll get it done or not. I may have time for a late planting but it's too early to tell. Gotta get our electricity hooked up so I can water everything so I am still waiting. Hopefully it will get done in a couple of weeks. We're working on the underpenning today and gonna try to get the back deck figured out too.

Well, gonna go get breakfast for the kids.....have a good day everyone!

 

[justusnak]

Wow Lori.....you sure have been busier than a one armed paper hanger!! Sounds like the place is coming right along.
As for your broody...and moveing her..do you have a large dog crate you can put her in now? This way the move wont upset her as much. She will still be in " her same place" sorta.
Sorry about the bator....did you candle them yet? See where the progress is? Dont throw them out untill you candle...if they are duck eggs...30 days isn't bad..so good luck with them.
And, do me a favor..SLOW DOWN! You are wearing ME out! LOL

 

[lorihadams]

Ha! I wish I could slow down.....trust me!

I'll candle some of the eggs tonight to see if I've got any movement. I don't think it's gonna be good, though. I'm not very optomistic about it.

My broody is getting off the nest every morning when I let everyone out of the coop to eat and drink and I think I may give her another couple of days to make sure she is really serious before I move her. I do have a dog crate that I could put her in inside the run and I could cover part of it with a towel for her to close her in a bit. I hadn't thought of that, thanks! Probably be good to get her out of the coop anyway cause she is in everybody's favorite nesting box.....silly bird.

 

[justusnak]

I have a "part time broody" buff orp right now. Im thinking I will move her to her own space...give her some wooden eggs to make sure she wants to set. If she does...I will replace the wooden ones with some of my Barred rocks, and buff orp eggs. Time to refresh the flocks.

 

[lorihadams]

Mine is DEFINITELY broody.....she growled at me last night when I went to get the eggs out of the nesting boxes. I gave her some BOSS and told her to knock it off.

Got a lot done yesterday, did a test patch of paint in the bedroom closet and I was able to scrub it with a sponge so we are good to go with painting the house. My mom is terrified and thinks it is a horrible idea, as well as the floor but my granny loves it all.

Made plans for a 12x20 deck on the back side of the house, it was way higher than we thought so we will have to do a deck instead of a patio bricked area. When you stand at the back door it hits your neck and I am 5'9".

Gonna go back today and plant my blueberries and apple trees and I may go and get some more fruit trees, I'm thinking 2 peach and 2 cherry and maybe another variety of apple. We'll see what they have. Totally wrong time of year to plant fruit trees but oh well, I got what I got and that's what i got.

My grandparents surprised us and showed up yesterday! My kiddos were thrilled cause that means presents......spoiled rotten little things....

We set off some fireworks last night and the kids were very pleased....nothing fancy just some little ones that we got in a pack for $5 but they thought it was fantastic.

How much square footage of barn space do I need for 6 nigis? Anyone? I may not be able to do the barn we wanted so I was thinking of getting a horse barn with 2 or 3 stalls, one for storage and the other 2 for the goats. What do you think?