Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

[Tallman]

Quail, I must say that you and E have made great progress over the years, and it's been fun and encouraging to watch. Congratulations on another step up. I hope you have great weather when it's time to move. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Tell E that he's one lucky guy!

The Tall

 

[TanksHill]

Hey Tallman long time no see!!!

Aly I love the place. The natural light seems to flood all of the areas. The exposed beams in the ceiling are really cool. Please don't paint them.

It's nice to see a pic of your hubby. I love the beard.

gina

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

WOW!!! thats totally awesome!! arent you so excited!?!!??!

yay!!!

 

[Henrietta23]

:bun Nice place!!! Lots of light
I'd move those shelves too. I'd be the one ramming my shoulder into a corner constantly.

 

[keljonma]

Love the pics of the new place! The separate laundry room looks terrific.... I'm sure you're going to feel less congested.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Good morning everyone - I have so much to tell you about this past weekend, it's all good, but the most important thing I want to tell you right now is this -

Friday I was really down - I mean really down - the stress from the whole week was getting to me and then the van gave us fits. I went down to the store and bought some drinks - and well, I didn't drink them all i only drank one - but Saturday we woke up, picked up our Amish friends - and worked all day Saturday from 8 am until around 3 or 4, came home did more work, and then had a job taking a group of Amish to an auction last night - so got home at midnight!!

who knew the Amish were such night owls???!!!

Anyway, I have found that by staying busy and I mean SUPER BUSY and falling into bed so exhausted that you can't think beyond getting your head on a pillow - you don't have time to feel down, or think about how hurt you are or anything!

And when you're working for something that's so wonderful for your family, you have no room for sadness, hurt, or anger because you're adrenaline is pumping excitement through your body in such heavy doses - you can't help being happy!!

I do have pictures from yesterday, and A LOT to tell you about how the day went and how our Amish friends really helped us!

 

[2dream]

Sounds like you were really busy. And I know what you mean about working until you drop. Its the only way I survive sometimes.
Waiting for those pics and more news.

 

[lorihadams]

me too!

isn't farm life great!!!

can't wait to see pics, oh and btw, your sebbies are sooo pretty!!! love the new avatar

 

[deb4o]

Quail,
I haven't been on here in awhile so have spent the last few days catching up on everyone, Iam so very happy to hear about your new place and the pix are great.Just think soon your family will be all nice and tucked in this new home, and all your hard work will just be a memory. Won't it be nice to be all cozy this winter!

I know that sometimes life can get ya down, what with all the hard work of moving and all but just keep your chin up and looking forward to all the happy days ahead, in your new home.

And when you put your head down on that pillow at night,take pride in a days work well done.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

ok so ya'll won't have to go looking for the pic a couple pages back, this is the before of the trailer from the road.

Now, I had to run back and forth between front and back of the trailer, as I was only able to take pictures of the work out of respect for our Amish friends.

I didn't think to take a full back view of the trailer, but this is the back door under the carport before - well actually during - the tear down. Our Amish friends were on the roof taking the screws out of the tin over the carport and front porch.

Behind E in this pic is/was a small storage room that was added on, but it didn't open into the trailer.

Tear down of the front porch.

Front porch rafters

View from road after Front porch tear down

Carport coming down.

The rafters to the carport was taken down whole, and then cut into 3 large equal pieces so that we can re-use them as a roof for the add-on we plan to build.

And that was pretty much ALL of the pictures I got during the work, because we womenfolk went to set up the lunch.

Here's a couple pictures after everything was done, mostly. We cleaned a lot of this up before we left, loaded as much of the wood stuff as we could into the trucks and hauled it over to our house. We plan to sort through the pieces and keep what's salvageable for any projects we have here.

Our Amish friends could only stay until noon. We picked them up at 7 am and were at the work site and ready to go by 8 am. Those boys wasted NO TIME! They were up on that roof, and by 9 am we had run through ALL of our drill bits!! Thankfully Becca had an extra, but that one ended up breaking off, too. We plan to replace her bits for her.

My parents showed up in time for lunch We had more we wanted to get done after lunch, but my step dad was just rushing us. He's one of those that likes to "be in charge" even when it's not his place to be in charge. He kept telling E "let's just get the trucks loaded so I can go home" and E told him he could go home whenever he wanted, that we could take stuff over in our truck and come back for more.

Step dad was like oh no I'll take a load so E said, "Ok, but we're not leaving until this is cleaned up." So my step dad sucked it up and stayed through the clean up.

We left the work site between 3 and 4 I think. Not really sure on that. When we were done for the day, both carport and front porch were off, all the skirting was down, back storage add on was off, and the electric was turned off but not all the wires are disconnected.

We took out all the storm windows and screens and laid them down on the floor in the trailer so they won't fall out and break during the move.

We have to go back and disconnect sewer and water lines and the rest of the electrical. Plus jack it up and put on the tongue and put the wheels on the axles.

Our Amish friends asked to walk through and see it, so E gave them a tour. They loved it! B said, "Ya'll are gonna be cramped in here. With your family size, you need a bigger front room and a couple more bedrooms."

E agreed and then B said, "Well, we'll just have to come help you get something added on fast before winter sets in so ya'll won't be so cramped in."

He's worked out with E trading help for one of our steers!! B wants a beef to butcher for this winter, and then he asked if he could just work for the steer! we agreed!

B's brother N also helped, and he's cleaning barn this week. E is going over on Tuesday to help him clean barn since he helped us yesterday. They told us he didn't have to, but E said it's only fair since they helped us.

They normally get paid for this type of work, but their "pay" from us is in Turkeys, chickens, and ducks. They were very happy about it. We also gave them some fresh tomatoes and zucchini from our garden. They were thrilled - especially with the tomatoes because they hadn't had any from their gardens yet.

They may have a roofing job coming up, and they asked E if he'd like to work with them. They need a truck to haul the shingles, etc. if they get the job. They told E that sometimes there may be shingles that fall and would need picked up - but they were a little concerned if E can do it, because they saw first hand and commented that E can't bend. To which E replied, "It may take me a bit longer than you to get down and get something, but I WILL get the job done." They said that if he thinks he can pick up shingles (not packs of shingles, just fallen from the roof shingles) and allow them hauling use of his truck, they'll hire him. E said, "yes, please, because I want to work, but no one will hire me." They also know a doctor hasn't released him, but what can you do when you NEED the income?

Then last night, N called and said they wanted to go to an Auction. "They" were N, his wife, baby, and N's Aunt and Uncle. E had to get B to haul water for the horses that are still here, and we're trading a small stack of firewood for an oak pallet, so E asked N if they'd mind if I drove them. They said no, so I took them to the auction. This auction started at 7 pm and lasted until 10 pm! but by the time I got them all home, dropped everyone off at their homes, and got myself home, it was midnight!

So it was a long, exhausting, but totally rewarding day - and we can't wait to get the trailer here!

Our Amish friends are even willing to help us move the trailer to help us save money and level the trailer once it's here!

We've been so blessed lately!!! I mean REALLY blessed, and after last week, yesterday was just what I needed!