Celastrus orbiculatus

There is a crabapple in the back yard with a orange-yellow hued fruit.  It is covered by a vine which is also partially supporting the spreading tentacles.  The vine does not have tendrils; it climbs by twisting which may lead to premature senescence of the host tree.  The vine is called Celastrus orbiculatus or the Asian Bittersweet.  It outperforms the native variety and other plants due to its ability bit get its leaves to the sun.  It also hybridizes the native Bittersweet.  These two actions, hybridization and outperformance, are leading to the extinction of American Bittersweet.  It was brought here as an ornamental and has since been spreading west.  I will be removing this vine.

We will have a garbage can on wheels in the kitchen soon.  I bought a moving dolly at Harbor Freight when it was on sale.  I am modifying it by adding a full wooden base and attaching the garbage can with velcro.  I will add pictures soon.

Happy Halloween.

A bar in the bathroom. What will it be?

When I started this remodeling project I wanted to reuse building materials and have upcycled features.  Also, I did not even know how to do normal remodeling let alone repurposing.  I did manage to hoard a bunch of boards in the barn.  For better or worse, right around the time we bought this place I started a new business with my dad and brother remodeling rental houses.  This opportunity allowed me to learn a lot in a short period of time.  I learned new skills but I also learned how I did not want to do some things.  The downside of it was that I was working all the time and had to hire help.  The help I hired did not always work out so well and this whole place has suffered for it.

Well, now that I am in more of the finishing phase of the project I can get back to my original intent of repurposing and upcycling.  Many of the elements from the bathroom were new but I finally managed to get some of my creations in.  The towel bar and a toilet paper holder are now both a thing; they are all designed and created by me.

It is sealed with polyurethane

The towel bar is a branch that we found on the farm.  I cut it to length and set about figuring how to best mount it to the wall.  The final way may not be the best way but it has not fallen yet.

Thread the needle

My brother though I should save the hardware from a drop ceiling we removed.  A wire is run through the hole, twisted off, and then run through the drop ceiling frame.  I drilled holes at 16" center on the branch and into the studs in the wall.  Pre drilling makes installing the hardware easier.  To make the branch stay put I threaded scrap copper wire halfway through then ran both ends through the branch.  The wires are long enough to wrap around the branch and back around the hardware.

It has not fallen yet

Many of my projects also are posted on Facebook.  After posting the towel bar a friend there suggested using an antler for a toilet paper holder.  There is no antler in my hoard.  I did have some scraps of copper water line out in the garage.  When this house was sitting here abandoned the backdoor was kicked in and all the the easily accessible copper piping was stolen.  It has all been replaced by pex.  When I tore the drywall out of the bathroom it revealed the copper that was left behind.  I threw it in a bucket with the plan of scrapping it myself, when I got around to it.

repurposed from the same house

The long end was a jagged break in the pipe so I cut it and brazed a cap on.  It was not easy finding a way to put it all together.  What you see is a battery terminal clasp; it is bolted into the wood.  The block is held on by a drywall screw and plumbing hardware.  There is a special bolt that is used to keep a toilet on to a wood floor.  It has a wood screw on one end and threaded as a bolt on the other.  The wood was something my brother gave me and already had a hole in the center.  I was able to thread the wood screw end through it and into the cabinet.  The bolt threaded end has a nut on it and it slides into the copper pipe.  This gave extra support and kept the battery terminal clasp from spinning as I tightened the bolt into the wood.

It did not get as many "likes" as other things I have posted but I don't care.  I think it looks good and I like it because I made it from things that were sitting around my garage.  I bet people would like it more if they saw it in person.  It works and that is what really matters.

The rest of the day was spent starting a thing for the garbage can. There will be more details on that in the future.  Also, time was spent clearing vines from a crab apple tree in the back yard.  There is a post on that too.

I believe

Is the Joy of Painting available on DVD?  Maybe on Youtube?  It would be easy to go Google it but I have to have something to type about.  I think it would be fun to start at the beginning of the series and follow along.  Of course each painting would have my own spin to it.  As Bob Ross said, "I believe everyday is a good day when you paint."

I believe

I have to get this house done and farm going before things like that but it is good to think about these kind of things.  I was feeling kind of creative but also kind of coming down off the high of getting that bedroom cabinet shelf thing.  I have some mundane tasks to do around here but those are not really enjoyable to share.  Who really wants to see pictures of an empty dishwasher!  I did tune up my bass and messed around on it for awhile.

The only thing between me and a 100% done bathroom is a towel bar.  We decided a branch would do it and picked one out some time ago.  I measured and cut to a fitting size then lead it in the corner.  Time goes by and it was buried in moving debris.  Low and behold it gets dug up and today I scraped off all the loose bark and sanded it some.  The coat of polyurethane has it ready to hang.  I have an idea of how to mount it but am not sure if it will work.  Let's find out tomorrow.  There will be pictures.

Actually, there are still some decorative elements that could still be done in the bathroom.  The bar should be decorative AND functional, the last of the functional.

Also, Oliver brought us a mouse today.

Do you even fact check, bro?

Hi, Not much to today.  We unpacked some boxes and moved some furniture around.  It is looking more like a home.  That's cool!  Not every day is a homerun but singles and doubles can add up.  Keep on fighting.

I did watch the republican debate.  Tell you what, I sure could do without all this petty snarl from the "moderators".  Hey CNBC, your bias is showing.  Do you even fact check, bro? I have to say, overall the people on the podium really took it too them and stood up to their malarky.  I think the "moderators" were shocked to see a stage full of people who stood up to them.  Perhaps they are just used to a bunch of spineless hand-wringing wimpy apologists who fall for loaded questions and personal smears. Hey, Carl Quintanilla, do you still beat your wife?  The hubris of the media is astounding.  Infotainment is steering this country to bad places.

In the end, they are all full of it.

*day after thought*
Ben Carson told a big lie last night.  Mannatech, look it up.

Donald Trump is so out of touch with reality.  He does not even know his own policy ideas that are on his website.  He can not explain any of his positions beyond buzzwords and gross generalization.  CNBC may have had a point when asking if he was a comic book candidacy.  He is a clown and anyone who believes what he says needs to get their head examined.

Cardboard and Clingos

With great moving comes great cardboard piles.  Add in some appliance boxes and you get a trunkload.  We packed them in and took them to be recycled.  We went in to Holland to get some shelves from the garage in the house that is still for sale.  There was also some more boxes there that we didn't use.  We got them used with some water damage from rain so we loaded them up and took them to a different recycling place.  One rule in life is never go to the grocery store hungry or you will be "hangry" at checkout!  Jette was hungry for mashed potatoes so we went to Cracker Barrel.  I had meatloaf because Jette dislikes it so we never make it.  We didn't need that much food but I was getting low on milk...again.  We did need new pillows!

Emrys Photobomb!

 I love that lamp but still would like a wall mounted one.

It has been way too long since I have seen our good friends Eric and Jada Clingo and children at Humblebee Family Farm.  We ameliorated that by stopping in.  Eric, his dad, and his son were installing a fence or as Jada put it, "three generations and one fence".  He was also smoking some bacon; it smelled fantastic!  Unfortunately we could not stay long but it was so good to see them.

 

          Rusty stuff!                                             Mine is like the one on the left

On the way home I got a call from my brother.  The trailer pictured above belonged to my grandpa, John Eberly.  The plate was last renewed in 1991 but is much older than that.  These were around in the 40's and '50 but I will have to do some research to find out more.  Ben called because he took ownership of it and the extended family wants it gone from behind the barn.  Grandma has been fighting a lot of ailments lately and part of me thinks certain people want the barn cleaned up so we can sell her place when we lose her.  That is all I am going to say about that part.  Anyway, Ben called to see it I wanted it.  He does not have a place for it and changes in his life are shifting his focus.  I plan to use it for hauling soils or aggregates,  brush or firewood, and things like that around the farm.  The red thing in the trailer is the top of a cab from a '86 Chevy pickup.  Ben and I bought it parts and sold or scrapped the rest.  We kept this because we had the idea of making it an awning above an exterior door.  It may go on the side of my garage.  It would be easy to install some marker lights on top and a dome light underneath!

Door + filing cabinet = desk

When we finally got home I unloaded the rusty junk in the trailer and the shelves in Jette's suv.  I threw this desk together in the barn.  The door is from a rental house.  It had an upper window which was broken by the tenant so we had to replace it.  Ben and I cut the top off and I hoarded the rest.  It looks serviceable but needs something to level the top.  If I leave it in the barn some plywood will do but if I bring it in the house a pane of glass would look great.  The late afternoon had me outside clearing some vines and overgrowth.  I wanted to work until dinner time but I cut my thumb; it put an abrupt end to that idea.  No worries though.  It is not too deep.

MEOW! 

(is that another project in the background?)

What to do with a hole in your wall

The hole in the wall is now a cabinet and a shelf.  I have been measuring, thinking, sketching, planning, and constructing this thing for months now.  It has been mentioned on this blog as well as posted on Facebook is finally done.

If I could find my real camera there may be a better shot 

but this cell phone pic will do for now

The original house was built in the 1890's and in the mid 80's the house had a major addition and remodel.  A master bed and bath was added to the west side of the old house.  The remodeler removed the window, added an off center 2x4, and scabbed over the hole with scraps of OSB.  The former exterior was and newly covered OSB had drywall hung over it to finish the room.  When I was working in the attic I could see the top of the old siding and when I was removing vents at the bottom of the wall the siding was seen again.  Based of these observations I had a hunch that the whole wall was siding beneath the drywall.  Removing a piece of drywall confirmed my belief and I used an angle grinder to cut it all away.  It took me a long time to decide what to do about the old window hole.  It would have been easy to just cover it but I knew there was an opportunity for more.  

The back of the cavity is merely the drywall for the adjoining bedroom.  I used Liquid Nails to adhere some beadboard my brother found in the garage of a rental house to the back.  This gave it a finished look while protecting the drywall.   Since the electrical wire was exposed I decided it would be a good idea to splice a wire in so that an additional outlet could be added.  The shelves were cut from one piece of salvaged wood and the pieces that they sit on were cut from jamb extension from the old windows.  The lower cover and cabinet doors were cut from two pieces of old fencing.  The fence once held horses in the pasture of my Grandparents farm; one board still had horse hair on it.  I cut them down to length from the bottom of the cavity to where I planned to have the top of the cabinet.  They were cut again to separate the lower cover end from the cabinet door end.  I numbered the top and the bottom to insure that the pieces all lined up.

That is a 4 D cell battery Maglite flashlight for scale

The shelves and the former fence boards are all coated in polyurethane.  The doors are held closed by magnets on a spring release.  This removes the need for handles.  Tomorrow I will get the bed made nice for a view of the whole wall.  Please leave any questions about this project, or anything else, in the comment section!

Is that a vole?

Fishstick the cat is a mighty hunter.  Today she left us a vole on the back porch.  Voles like to eat roots and bark at the base of trees.  They can be an agricultural pest and they breed rapidly.

My brother and I bought a trailer.  I am sure someone could get creative but it will not be easy because it is sitting on jack stands.  It is used and needed new tires.  He wants to replace the bearings so we took the tires and hubs off.  The brakes look beyond repair.  Someone at the place where he got the tires said that this trailer looks like someone took axles off of a mobile or modular home and built it up from there.  He thinks we can make some money with it.  I will be happy to use it to get my lawn mower in for service.

I cleaned up by one of the walls of the barn.. This whole thing is surrounded by debris, some of it in this spot was charred.  I cut back some overgrown grass and weeds.  It will all look good eventually.

Brew Squared

Eventually this blog will be more about farming but it is also about thing I do. I am a big "local" kind of guy even if I don't venture out as much as I should.  Today we had a small adventure to Wauseon, Ohio.  It is the county seat of my new county, Fulton.  I ran out of milk last night and all I could think was how much I want a dairy animal here!  After a quick stop at the Post Office for address change packets we went to the Chief grocery for the milk and came out with some cookies too.  Now, it is possible for me to live without milk but I read on Facebook about the grand opening of Red Rambler Coffees and North River Brewing Company.  Events for the day included bands booked for entertainment as well as demonstrations of coffee bean roasting and beer brewing processes.  This is something that looked worth while to check out and the true reason for the trip but figured we may as well get the milk while out.  It is on Shoop Avenue next to the Ace Hardware store.  One of the most exciting thing to me is that it is two small businesses with a shared space.  Another is that it has created more local jobs.  From what I gathered, North River has been around for a while but joining up allowed them to expand.  There are two main part of the space and both are shared.  

I would like to meet the designer.

The espresso/beer bar area is gorgeous.  It is in line with many of the modern design trends including usage of reclaimed wood, corrugated galvanized steel panels, Edison bulbs, and nice furniture which fit the theme.  The reclaimed wood was a blend of red and white painted along with unfinished pieces.  Just inside the door is a cafe area with seating to enjoy your drink.  The espresso bar was next and the beer taps beyond.  Past the bar was more seating including long rough hewn tables with sturdy steel legs.   I was truly impressed with the design and layout except for the lack of a clear space for serving the drinks.  They used a small spot next to the espresso machine to pass the drinks over; it works but could be better.  They called in friends to help volunteer with the opening; staff and volunteers were welcoming and amiable.  I had Morning Jos blend and Jette had an ice mocha latte espresso.  We both enjoyed them.  Going out to coffee shops is not a thing I am into; I am not a Starbucks person by any means.  I enjoy drinking coffee most mornings (it is great to sit on the back porch and sip away, I highly recommend it!!) and like to try new ones.  It was too early for me to have a beer and I am not one to try just one beer.  The walls that were not covered by chalkboard menus were unadorned gray.  I would love to be able to make an adornment for them to hang on the wall.  It would also be nice to go at a time when it is not so busy and get more pictures with a better camera.

The back area is two main rooms where all the magic happens.  It is basically one big room that has a commercial kitchen walled off where they make the food that is served here.  The remaining area is built like a warehouse with racking across the back wall.  Half of the shelving holds kegs and beer brewing supplies while the other half is large bags of coffee beans waiting to be roasted.  North River brought the bar with them from the old location and now it surrounds the coffee roaster.  They mainly use it to fill the smaller bags of fresh roasted whole beans for retail sale.  The rest of the room is all the tanks for brewing the beer.  They also had a walk in refrigerator that had three beer taps coming out.  Later in the afternoon there were bands scheduled to play; the stage was set up in the open area along with some folding banquet tables.  It looked like a good place to have a party.  I plan on going back and trying some of the beers. Who is with me?!

We brought two bags home! Do they fill growlers to go?

Up in smoke

Today started out with an estate sale.  These are fun for me.  They post pictures of some of the better items online and this smoking jacket caught my eye.  It had a black shawl collar and the rest was red.  Hey, I'm on the internet and can add pictures and save 1000 words.  Most of those words are about how awesome I would look wearing this.

Classy!

It was already sold so I got a weber charcoal grill for $20.  It had a cover too.  There is no doubt that I will use the grill but it is a crying shame that I have to do so in my trashy flannel coat instead.

It's me with short hair and short beard in a flannel jacket 

using my homemade smoker a few year back.

Back at the house I had a date with Poly...urethane.  I coated the doors to the bedroom cabinet thing I've been talking about for weeks now.  I also applied it to original wood that frames the whole thing as well as the shelves.  There were a few parts that I stained gray as well.  I think it looks good.  Tomorrow, when everything dries, I should be able to mount the covering and the cabinet doors.

Maybe a picture when it is done...

My brother and I pulled an old wooden gun cabinet out of a garage at a rental last year.  It has a catch for a lock and hole drilled in the door.  I wanted to secure it so I got a cabinet lock at Menards.  It was built different than what was originally there so it took considerable modification.  The tumbler was much longer so I mounted a piece of wood on the front to accommodate this.  The stain is not a perfect match but it looks better and functions.  It was not easy to get the latch into the catch but I made adjustments until it was sound.

Yes, that shelf still needs to be installed.  

No, I don't need to be reminded.

The only other thing of note is that I walked the property line and picked up all litter.  Now a few push ups then bed.

I need to eat

Today's big adventure was that I never got hungry and didn't eat all day then thought I was going to die.  Jette saved me with a sandwich.

I keep thinking of getting this thing called a Glowforge but it is expensive.

When I recovered I was thinking of apple trees and which ones I want to plant.  There are so many varieties and these sort of things overwhelm me.  I did some searches about uses and wrote some ideas down.  There are a few uses of apples to consider.  Some are good for fresh eating, others store well, some are good dehydrated, and others are best for baking.  Things to consider are how they work in this climate and soil we have here.  It is a lot to think about but writing things down helps.  I need to figure out how many trees we actually need.  There is no plan to compete with the orchard down the street.  The goal here is to keep us fed and also some hogs.  They can eat the ground falls right off the ground.  Tomorrow I aim to do some pacing off to get an idea of how I will lay things out.  With a rough pace count I can make a scale drawing.  Visualization.  See it.  Make it happen.  Find that vision.

Persephone is doing well.  Jette was off today so we didn't work hard; only unpacked a few boxes.  We watched some Supernatural on Netflix.  Persie slept on me nearly the whole time.

Driving around town

Hey, its been 30 days of blogging.  Should I quit now?

Persephone the cat had her big day at the vet; we did our part to control the pet population.  It was a battle to get her into the travel kennel.  Jette and I both got scratched up.  It was not a pleasant morning.  Once she was in it was much calmer.  The drop off time is between 7:30 and 8:00 am and the surgery plus recovery led to a 4:00 pm pickup.  We had all day to burn so we saved up all of out trips to town for one mega trip.

We had breakfast at Uncle John's Pancake house; it was good.  One of the motion sensor alarm I bought at Harbor Freight had a bad switch so we returned it for a new one.  Next was grocery shopping at Meijer.  Yay, food!  It will be nice when we have to go food shopping less because we are growing more of our own.  It was not even noon yet so we took all the refrigerated food and put it in the house at Holland.  It is still for sale by the way.  There were a few returns from Menards sitting in the garage so we cashed them in.  Of course there were other things there I needed including cabinet locks, some caulk, double stick tape, and an outlet cover.  There was some beef jerky on sale so I could not pass that up.  Jette remembered that I wanted to get a tarp strap that will help keep my home made hand truck extension attached so we got that too.

The garage was also holding a box of old records so we took those up to The Culture Clash on Secor.  They were too old for his purposes but he did want one because the graphic artist who made a logo for them must have used this old logo as the inspiration.  He said he would buy it for $1.00.  We countered that offer with that he could have it for $0.00 if he would take the whole box and he agreed.  I am happy with that deal because it is simply not my style to throw things away.  He said that BGSU music department should take them.  He seems to be a really cool guy but I think you have to be to keep a legit record store open.

Close to Franklin Park Mall, or whatever the hell they call it these days, is a shoe store called Foot Solutions.  Jette wanted to get something for work.  She twisted my arm into getting some boots.  I like them and I got some insoles to help deal with my ridiculously high arches.  Hopefully they will keep these ol' dogs from being sore after a long day of all the stuff I do.  Our last stop of the day was Costco.  I do like Costco.

At this point we had around an hour before Persie was ready so we debated running back home to drop off all the groceries (and footwear) or just getting the aforementioned refrigerated groceries at Holland then getting Persie and heading home.  We opted for the latter as it made no sense to head all the way back to Swanton then turn around and go back to Toledo then again to Swanton.

My friend Bryan has been building a house on the river and he is to the point where drywall is going up.  He helped me with my roof so I've been wanting to repay the favor so we got some boards up.  I didn't get there until after six but he got more done than he was planning to.  I made it home around 9:30 and was really glad that Persephone is still doing well.

Busy day!

Coffee and cat house

I started the day with coffee on the porch and was not distracted by the computer. Since I was already outside I did some work out there including caulking in around the front door and adding a piece of siding.  I was using a hand truck to move a big chunk of wood around and got the idea to make an attachment for it.  The roof was delivered in crates and I saved some of the wood.  This became the extended platform for the hand truck with some scrap 2x4 and construction screws.  I was able to stack more brush on it than I would have been able to carry by myself.  Somewhere in all that I took a picture of the cat shelter with Instagram. catsheltersofinstagram.  I built the cabinet doors for the master bedroom.

I really am impressed by this. /http://glowforge.com/  I could make so many projects with it and maybe even sell things to cover the price.  Very exciting.

Once again the cat is on me making it hard to type so I am cutting it short.

cat on me

Persephone has decided I am the best seat in the house.  The laptop is on my lap and she sits on my forearms.  Cats...

Nothing big happened today.  My tablet kept failing to load apps so I hit the factory reset button.  It took too long to redownload things and then reset forgotten passwords.  AM radio does not come in well so I have a radio app that has a sleep timer.  I like to listen to Coast to Coast AM.

Something strange did happen.  The power flashed off exactly at Noon.  At least it was easy to reset the clocks!

I did some push ups but am still sore from yesterday. 

Chicken Sunday

This is an outline, I may edit it up later:

Making Chicken and Noodles and shredded chicken for sandwiches.  Volunteered to help install security cameras on the community page. Way to get to know locals maybe.

installed sensor and made box

made cat house

made chicken and noodles also shredded chicken for sandwiches

had Jim and Sue over for dinner

did 31 pushups

Lots of chicken but not enough cowbell

We f'in did it!

Got the mini U Haul.  Got it moved.  The table looks amazing.  It is finally starting to look like a house.  I am sore and tired.  Could I rearrange this and make a haiku?

move prep

I finished installing all the shelves in the master bedroom and cut the boards for the cabinet door.

Cleaned and organized the garage.  There is enough room for the freezer now.  Then moved enough junk out of kitchen to make room for the table.  Tomorrow will be a big day.

Metal and mower

I got a call this morning from my brother.  He had a broken lawn mower that he set aside for me a month or so ago.  He put it next to a garage at the rental house he was remodeling.  The tenants were going to move in today so he wanted it gone.  The garage had a workbench in it that the tenants were not interested in so he asked if I wanted it.  It has a metal frame with a wood top and seems solid but not heavy duty.  There was also some 2x4s and a piece of aluminum that needed to get out of there that wound up in my CRV.  We put the workbench in Ben's truck and dumped it at my parents garage.  When were are moving things with the u haul this weekend I may be able to move it to my barn.  There was some room left in the CRV so I went to grandmas where I had stuff stashed in her barn.  I topped off the load with rusty metal things that I just can't seem to get rid of  and some old tools.  I hoard all these metal bits with the idea of making sculpture.

Since I was so close I stopped at Holland to check the mail.  I ended up pulling some weeds and making the front of the house look better.  The garage was so full that the garbage cans were on the driveway; it has been emptied enough for the can to fit in again.  I grabbed some food for from the freezer.  I will let some chicken and corn thaw out for dinner tonight.

Jette decided it was time to turn the furnace on so I did when I got back.  It gave an error message on the thermostat so I called Dave.  Oh this new technology.  It works despite of the error.  I really need to have alternative heat sources out here.  We can heat the house with a heat pump and a gas furnace kicks in when it gets cold enough.  They are both reliant on electricity so a back up source like a generator would be a good start.  The corner of the living room would be a great place for a wood burner or pellet stove.  I would like to build a rocket stove in the barn for heat.  Maybe that could work for the house too.

The cabinet and shelves in the wall cavity is getting closer to completion.  I installed the outlet and sleeved the romex wire with a scrap piece of conduit for safety.

Sell sell sell

I can't wait to get out from under this Holland house.  No calls on it at all since we have listed.  This makes me worry enormously.  The Realtor called and wants to reduce the price.  This news damn near put me into a panic; too much anxiety.  It feels like all the work I did to make it look nice has been in vain.  There is a number that we have to get to make things work.  Having two houses like this is crazy.

I was watching TV today when I should have been getting more done.  They aired a commercial for Silk Almond milk.  "It is Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, it clearly tastes like almonds". WTF, why have my almonds never tasted like vanilla.  Not sure why I am writing about this but it bothered me and I feel obligated to put something here.  "Tastes better than milk."  Does it taste better than vanilla dairy milk?  I bet vanilla milk would be good with some cereal.  I'd try it but it is a dumb commercial.

In the master bedroom where I removed the drywall to reveal the old tongue and groove siding there is an opening where a window once was.  The drywall of the adjoining room makes the back of the cavity.  There was much discussion of what to do with it.  It would be easy to just cover it in weather boards but I wanted to do more.  One of those sliding rail doors would be very cool but this will all be at the head of the bed.  Quality rail and hardware is expensive and other methods looked cheap.  The idea of a heavy moving door hanging above our heads while sleeping was not appealing either; I've never done one and I don't have a lot of faith in my carpentry skill.  The final plan is to permanently enclose from the bottom up to about a foot above the top of the mattress.  The next foot above that will be enclosed shelf with opening doors.  Both areas will be covered an old whitewashed board cut to lengths running verticle.  The wires feeding electrical outlets were exposed in this cavity so I spliced in another set of wires with the plan of having a box with an outlet on the top of the cabinet part.  An alarm clock and a wall mounted light can be plugged in here.  I would like to find an old looking accordion lamp for this.

A few weeks ago I used liquid nails to adhere beadboard to the back of the cavity.  It spans from behind the cabinet part and open shelves.  This is for cosmetic reasons and to protect the drywall.  Today I finally got back to it.  The packing, moving, painting, and cleaning at Holland  kept me away from working on projects here.  I got all my figuring and measurements done.  I cut and installed two shelves as well; they are the bottom of the cabinet.  It is not a whole lot done but it felt good to be back to it.  So far all of the wood has been salvaged.

hmm

It was a fairly uneventful day.  I will take it.  We went into town so Jette could get a key at the hospital.  After that it was grocery shopping at Meijer then back to the farm house.  We have both been working hard so we decided to watch Supernatural on Netflix.

I feel kind of bad for not having any good stories or bits of knowledge to share.  I do not feel bad about having some downtime.

I don't think having a penis or not should have anything to do with how much someone gets paid.  I am proud of Jennifer Lawrence for not pointing fingers and blaming others.  I am equally proud that she is taking a stand for herself and demanding what she feels she is worth.

The Democratic debate is on tonight and I think I'd rather just watch more Supernatural,

A tree falls

It was indeed another day of painting.  The second coat made all the difference and the whole place is looking clean.  Cleaner than it ever was when I lived there!  We secured a Uhaul truck to move the table and whatever else is left there.  There is not much as it has slowly disappeared load by load in our vehicles.  After Saturday I may never go back to that house which is really something.  There is this vintage TV/record player console in the basement.  It does not work and Jette says that the last time it was plugged in it started smoking.  I was thinking of gutting it and repurposing it as a cabinet to hold the cable box, modem, and other entertainment components.  She would like to give it to someone who could fix it and enjoy it.  While I am not opposed to that idea I have no idea where to find such an individual.  Repurposing it is better than just junking it.

The yard behind ours had a tree drop.  It fell into our next door neighbors yard and across the power lines.  It was old and leafless.  I feel very fortunate that we did not lose power because good lighting is crucial when painting.  Even more so when it is a 2nd coat of white.  That was the big excitement of the day.

On the way back to the farm we stopped at Bev's Kold Keg.  Mondays special is the chicken.  Go there; it is good!  I have a few draft Labatt's.  When we got home and unloaded the truck I was so tired that i took a nap.  I think the beer just put me down. It was worth it but day after day of working, packing, moving, painting, and stressing are really starting to take a toll.  I woke up in time to catch Gotham.

My parents made it safely to Florida.  That is good and that is all I've got for today.

about as fun as watching paint dry

The title really seems to describe my life these days.  We got a lot done at the Holland house; Jerry will be pleased.  He sells a lot of houses in our area so I hope ours goes quickly.  It has been listed a few days but it has not been shown yet.  All this painting will make it look great.  It is strange how long the painting is taking as I can usually get it done quickly.  I think I am just plain worn out after day upon day of hard work with too much stress.  It really adds up.  I almost had a meltdown today when I spilled a cup of paint.  I was daubing it up with a towel and my arms were so tired that I didn't want to get up.  I did and finished the room because that is what we do.  We carry on (my wayward son) and keep fighting.

We are SO thankful for my Aunt Sue.  After church, she came and helped Jette clean all day while I painted.  The place is really starting to look good.  Sue said that she is glad to help after all we have done for her but she had been far above and beyond anything we have ever done.  She is so sweet.

One of the worst things about being so busy is that I do not have time to help anyone else.  On Saturday my friend Jordan was digging up trees in his yard to be transplanted in a line.  I was painting.  My friend Eric was butchering a few of his hogs. I was painting.  My friend Bryan is trying to finish his house.  You know what I was doing; its all I talk about on here.  I truly feel bad about not being able to help Bryan because he helped me out big time on the farm house roof.  I need to make it up to him.

Soon we will be through this and things can get back to normal.  Well, a new normal because we will have a new house and a new life here on the farm.

I learned that you an saute leaves from your pepper plant when you are done harvesting peppers.  Hope I remember this next year.

paint

That is the highlight of the day, painting the kitchen at Holland.  I got a later start than I wanted to and then the paint I had was too old to use.  I stirred it for a long time and it seemed to be coming together but when I applied some to the wall it was streaky and did not cover well.  Naturally, I ha to go to Menards and spend more money.  I am so over this house and beyond ready to have this past me so I can get back to finishing the farm house and then actually do some farming.  That was the point of all this to begin with!

My parents left for Florida and they wanted to meet for lunch.  It was going to be at 1 so I cleaned my brush at 12:20 which would give me enough time to get there.  I got a text from my mom right after the brush was cleaned that it would be 2 instead.  I did a little more painting and when it seemed like a good place to stop I once again cleaned the brush.  It seems that I should have stayed at painting a bit longer because I got there early and they didn't show up until 2:20.  Whenever we all get together all my dad does is talk about business with my brother.  It kind of makes me glad that I quit working with them so I could do the things I need to.

By the time I made it back to Holland it was almost 4.  I painted until nearly 8.  The brush felt like it was 5 pounds by the end of the day.  I barely stayed awake to watch Doctor Who.  Tired.

The other side of moving

...is unpacking.

That is what we did all day.  Filled a few boxes of things we don't want.  It was hard to sort it all out on the load side I guess.  Sometime we just started loading boxes.  We knew there would be some things that would never find a place here but was not sure what it would be.  We got enough stuff stashed to have enough room for the kitchen table.

I am going to dig a small salad garden using the square foot method. It will be near the back porch.  It will be enough to keep us in a variety of salad vegetables for the season.  I will plan larger plots for corn and potatoes. They can be done in larger rows.  The square foot garden is not as good for large winey plants like melons and gourds.  I will figure it out.  Also, where to put the bees?

Getting closer to the finish line

The carpet are cleaner.  The house is emptier.  We worked on getting the back porch clean.  It was kind of a sad day though.  When Ozwald the cat passed 2 years ago I buried him in the backyard and today I went to say goodbye.  He was the best cat ever.  I also put my old grill to the curb as it is too rusty to move.  It was just a basic charcoal grill, nothing fancy but a lot of excellent dinner were made on it.  We had 2 plastic racoon statues and they are all cracked now so they have to be thrown out.

Around 1 p.m. we called it quits there and went grocery shopping.  I hit a wall of exhaustion and barely made it out of there standing.  When I got back to the farm I took a nap for 2 hours.  I am still tired and hate how dark it gets so early this time of year.  It is not even 8 and it has been dark for a half hour.  I think I am going to bed soon.

Clean and paint

All day was spent cleaning and painting the house at Holland.  The walls sucked up the paint.  It is looking good but it is not "home" anymore for sure.  My mom was able to give us half a day of help.  She is a dynamo!  I don't know where I would be without her! Love you, mom. I can not believe how tired I am.  Stanley Steemer is coming to clean that carpets tomorrow.  The"For Sale" sign is up for real; I saw it for the first time today and posted a picture on Facebook via Instagram.  We had a desk that we did not want anymore and put it out at the curb the other day.  Someone stopped and took it.  We had four desks in that house and pared it down to two that we are keeping.

On the way in today we saw a Sheriff following a white Chevy hauling an empty trailer.  It may have been complete coincidence but it felt good.  Hopefully they were following the lead and trying to catch this thief.

That is all I can think of for today.  Brain shutting down.

Keeping the streak alive

Nothing of great importance happened today.

I am not in a bad mood or anything.  Some information came up about the thefts in the area.  Multiple sightings of the same white Chevy dually pickup.  They got a plate number but it was to a different vehicle.  This is all old news if you see my Facebook.

The only thing of note is that I had some ideas of things I can make from my farm.  There are established Concord gape vines.  Some wine is obvious but I would like to put some of the wine into tomato sauce when I can it.  I also want to develop a bbq sauce that has the Concord grape juice or jelly in it.  The last bbq sauce I made had root beer and honey in it; it was received well by those who tried it.

The kitchen was clean enough to cook in so I made a simple dinner of pasta and sauce.  I didn't actually "make" any of the ingredients.  The pasta was Farfalle which is the type that looks like bowties.  Bowties are cool.  The sauce came from a jar but I forget the brand.  We had a coupon for it.  It had Merlot in it which gave me the idea for the Concord sauce.  See, I'm not that clever.

More moving I guess...and politics

Yup. The basement is empty of everything we are taking except the freezer and a bench vise.  I need to bring wrenches to remove it.  The Realtor said the "For Sale" sign was going up today.  This is a huge step for us and there were several times where I thought we would never make it this far.  It still needs a lot of cleaning and my Aunt said she would help with that.  I am going to do some painting there tomorrow. If it helps it sell it will be worth the effort.  It will be so good to sell the place.  We have years worth of good memories there but it is time for the next chapter in our lives.  We had to get a mortgage on that house to buy the farm so selling it will be a huge relief in that aspect too.  We may be able to afford to repair the barn when it sells.  I really need some help with that barn!  I can do lots of things but new trusses, purlins, roof and everything else is needs is more than one guy can do.  Help!

Speaking of new chapters in our new life, there is a township trustee race coming up.  No, I am not running!  However, a current trustee is up for re election and she knocked our door and asked if she could put a sign up.  I went to a few trustee meetings when they were talking about the pipeline.  She talked to us and was very nice and was compassionate when we told her we were new to the area and were greeted by a brutal break in robbery.  The trustees passed a resolution against the pipeline; it has no teeth but we who are against it appreciate the support.  She seemed like she was doing her job well and actually listened to the people in the township.  I got a message from one of my neighbors that although she signed on with the resolution that is as far as she has gone with stopping the pipeline.  The biggest complaint my neighbor had was the claim that this trustee is costing the township $25,000 a year in health insurance costs.  I was shocked to hear that the trustees were eligible for benefits at the township tax payers expense!  It is a part time job and I heard that the other trustees have declined coverage.  In her brochure she talks about what a successful small business owner she is.  I think that I great; I am a big supporter of local small business.  Now in hindsight it looks like her company may in part be successful as she has shifted the cost of her health insurance onto the backs of the tax payers.  No bueno!  I need to look into this more and I am too new here to start stirring things up locally!  My neighbor makes this trustee out to be a do nothing politician who is only in it for the perks.  Maybe it is true, maybe my neighbor is buddy buddy with the political challenger and this is some good ol' fashioned mud slingin'.

Oh, the cats have been getting alone well.  Jette even saw them eating next to each other recently.  Persephone loves to chase the laser dot.  Dang cats...

At least there is football

Yeah, you guessed it...another day of moving.  The end is neigh.  This move has literally taken months over all.  We would clean out a closet or part of a room when we had time and then slowly it would trickle out a few boxes at a time in my CR-V.  We both were working more than full time for much of that making time and energy scarce.  This place was too much of construction site to bring it all out at once.  As I pulled away from work and made fixing the house more of a focus I was able to bring more in as rooms were completed.  We managed to move almost everything in my aforementioned CR-V and Jettes Buick Rainier with some help from Jim and his Tacoma.  We can't stack the Tacoma high due to its cap.  We are going to rent a cargo van to get the kitchen table out here.  A few years back we survived a violent windstorm but the large White Oak in the front yard did not.  I was all broken up about it because I really liked that tree. *hint: I really like trees in general*  We made the most of the loss by having the trunk cut into lumber then hiring my friend to make us a kitchen table.  It is gorgeous.  We went with a modest design of a circle that can open up and table "leaves" can be put in to make it larger.  I moved it from his farm's woodshop to the garage at Holland in my older pickup.  The pickup is currently leaking fluids and tilts to the left.  It may be the rear suspension.  Regardless, I don't want to risk it for the moving job.  There is also a patio table that is too large for the suv so it can go in the cargo van.

The inside of the Swanton house currently looks like it invited the Holland house over for a party where it proceeded to drink until it vomited up all our belongings all over the place!  It will take some time to unpack and put things away.  I still need to figure out what kind of shelving and hanging rods will go in some of the closets.  I would like to nail that down as it will help with the organization.  Life will be so much better when the move is done and I can get back to finishing this place.

We did not work ALLLLLL day today because we both wanted to watch some football.  So at least there is that.

Oh I was too tired and forgot to tell this story yesterday.  I had one shirt that I "outgrew" but didn't want to get rid of yet.  When I was trying on shirts to see what would make the move I ran across it and sure enough the buttons fit right up with no strain!  Go me, right?  I put it in the donate bag because the shoulders are too tight and the sleeves too short.  That's life!  Oh well, at least I didn't hoard it.

Posts on moving are getting old

Moving.  It is my life right now.  My mom is amazing.  She worked all day without stopping.  I may have quit at noon if not for her.  Almost everything left there is now in the garage.  We will get the rest in there tomorrow and may even get it all but large furniture pieces out here.  We will need to rent a truck to get those things here.  The kitchen table is just too big fit into our vehicles.  I'm not sure when that will happen.  There was so much cleaning done today too.  We are going to have the carpets professionally cleaned.

I am going to try to stay awake long enough to watch the newest Doctor Who.  It doesn't even start for an hour.  There is a show premiering after called The Last Kingdom.  It looks good but I don't see it happening.

Well, the commercial just said it is "next" week.  It said it was next week last week!

Another day of moving

It is getting closer to the end of the house in Holland.  I spent all day there packing and stuffing it into the garage.  The Realtor is putting the sign up Monday and he plans to start showing it on Monday; our all needs to be out for that to happen.  I also spent a few hours trying on clothes to decide what to take.  That is almost done.  All this is very stressful to me because it is just so much stuff.  I am a borderline hoarder.  I do not keep garbage but I have a very hard time keeping things that are still useful.  Also, I like to repurpose things so it can be hard for me to throw something away.  It will all be done soon.  When we get it all here and we run out of room then we will have to get rid of more.  Twice the Salvation Army has come to take donations.  We also have taken some loads up to them.  Neither of us are interested in doing a garage sale.  She works all the time and I am always working on something at the farm.  Sitting there all day while people beat you up on prices is not my idea of a good time.  Jette stopped at Chik-fil-a and brought it to Holland.  After dinner I loaded up her vehicle and we drove back to the farm.  Both vehicles got unloaded so that is something we do not have to deal with tomorrow.  She is off this weekend and my mom is coming over to help us.  If we can get everything in the garage and then a few loads out then it will be amazing.  My cousin Jim is going to help us after he gets done with work by taking a load in his truck.

On the farm front, I put some posts on Facebook about finding a source for manure.  It will be composted down and used in the garden.  I got a message from people down the street from me.  This is an exciting development because it will help the the garden soil and it gove a great opportunity to get to know my neighbors who also have a small farm.  The manure available now is steer but they will have some lamb soon.  They have Black Walnut trees there.

It is going to be an early Friday night because I am exhausted and have a lot to do tomorrow!

Windy day

I have seen it posted on social media that 2015 will be remembered as the year everyone in America was offended.  For me it will be remembered as a year of great loss and also of renewal.  Ever since early Spring, every month there has been at least one death of a family member or close friend.  It all started with the passing of a dear family friend, Harry Lester.  Harry was a champion of the working man and a hard nosed advocate for safe working conditions.  He was a mentor to my father and a hero to my brother and I.  We got the call last night that Virginia Yoder, Jette's cousin from Dayton area, passed last night.  We are both glad that we took yesterday off for the final visit.  She knew we were there.  I regret that we were never able to get her up here to see the farm.  She was very excited for us in this endeavor.  There was also this week a death of a man who was in my high school graduating class.  I did not really know him but by all accounts he was a good guy and it is a loss to everyone whose life he touched.  Cancer is just terrible.  I think it will take my Grandma away from us soon.

The renewal is our life here on the small farm.  We had a miniscule garden that gave us a head of broccoli and a few tomatoes.  This is a long shot from where I want to be but every journey starts with a single step.