We worked on the house!

We are having a little spurt of work going on, just a little one.  We have needed to wrap the outside to keep it from rotting out there.  So this is pictures of that and a little bit of framing.

 Here's Bryan (we still work him like a dog) closing up some old window openings that are going to change.  This is the west side. (above)

 This is the back, or north side.  This shows the new opening for a future double door or window/door combination.  And there's a small window opening in the bathroom that will be in the back corner.

Here is the west side a day or two later with all the new window openings.  The upper is boarded shut from the inside.

 Here is a shot of those windows and the front of the house too, from the inside.  I'm standing upstairs in the "loft".

Beginning to wrap on the west side.

 Yes, I work too. (Bryan wasn't there!)

Another shot from the inside.  Straight forward you can see where the steps going upstairs start.  To the left will be the living area.  I am standing in the would be kitchen.

At this point we have the lower portion of the west side and back wrapped up.  I don't think I took a picture of the back.  We are framing the window openings where they need to be as we go.  And here you can see a new wall famed up dividing the stairs from the rest of the house.  Hopefully soon there will be a wood stove in from of that wall on the main floor.  We plan to put up a rock wall that will act as a type of radiant heat.

This is upstairs where a bedroom/office loft will be.



some recent tree work

Looking toward the west border of the property.

now zoomed in some

a few more marked for our next wind of ambition

Though we don't live here, we are out here a lot.  Much car fixing goes on out here.  Haven't made our break yet, but it's coming!

This isn't the same exact view, but it's a good example of how thick and ingrown the tree situation is.  Too many small ones under the big ones, which isn't good for either.

3 years later.....Let me correct that~it has been 4 years! and 5 months since we bought this place!

A little more than three years ago we bought this house.  It's been slow going!  We haven't done anything to the house for a little over a year!  But this past week we resumed work and hope to keep on a roll for the winter if we can.  Here's a peek at what we are working on now.

 We are enclosing the front porch to enlarge the house.  It will extend the living area 8 feet across the front of the house.  I'll put some more pictures but I hadn't posted in so long I couldn't wait!

The chickens have nesting boxes.

Not much else going on besides feeding chickens and mowing right now.  We're bound to get busy sometime soon, so don't go away.  The chickens are 3 months old now.  We got this great nesting box set up from someone who wasn't using them anymore.  Nice, huh?  Not free, but bartered.  No need to convert the blue boxes now.  What should I do with them?

Recycled walkway progress

Here is my attempt at a recycled concrete sidewalk so far.  I have to get some plastic edge strips and get back to it.  But so far I think it lays out kind of neat.  I got some help from the boys hauling the sand and broken concrete which has been in a pile out back all neat and just waiting to be repurposed.

The inner half circle will be filled up with some better dirt and I'll plant some flowers.  It will be a real bright spot.

a sign of life

 I was surprised to find these white irises by the side of the house.  It was a nice surprise though, because these are the only flowers out here!  Then we found a big bull snake really wanting to find a way into the chicken coop.  We caught him in time though and I hear that one of the boys wants to make a belt out of the skin.  Great plan of revenge, though I don't think I'll be able to look at it.  It's still giving me the creeps! 

These boxes should be turning into roosting boxes pretty soon.  We should be gathering eggs in 6 weeks or so.  The boxes were 50 cents a piece!   I love a good deal.

Inspiration anyone?

We have a small pile of broken concrete that I thought could be turned into something nice and useful.  Then I saw a picture of a little sidewalk made of broken concrete, but lost it.  Then I saw some more pictures.  What do you think?

complete coop and chickens on the move....

The chickens are about 5 weeks old here.  Their box was gettin' really crowded and stinky!  That's all folks!