It’s been a week or so, but I finally had time to get out and organize my workshop. I have 3 walls now (instead of 1) and 2 doors (the man door, and the garage door to the outside), and plenty of floor space.

Finally the barn is ready to paint! Not an easy task — had to cover everything with plastic first! But a sprayer makes quick work of the job!

We had thought we would be painting the inside of the barn now, but instead we got the great idea to build a separate workshop inside. This will be for my woodworking projects, and should help keep the dust out of the rest of the barn.

Had great helpers to get this job done! All walls are covered with foam insulation boards, then plywood 8 ft tall.

We’ve needed this project completed for awhile now, but sometimes life just gets in the way. But Darren had a week’s vacation ahead and decided to tackle it. It wasn’t just form and pour work either — there’s a slope involved, a gutter drain to deal with, and he suggested that we incorporate a section under the upper deck that we hadn’t been using. It turned out great, and after raking the dirt smooth and spreading grass seed, I think it looks awesome. It gives us what we needed — a firm flat gritty spot to land on at the bottom of a staircase (no slipping unless we have an ice storm), and a path to the patio off the grass.

I haven’t been as diligent about uploading pictures here as I was, so I thought I’d catch you all up! It’s been a great summer — a decent amount of rain, a few hot days, but in general just a really good summer. Lots of sun and breezes, and plenty to keep us busy. We finished the woodshed and filled it so we are ready for the temps to start dropping so we can fire up our wood burner! It also got a coat of paint on the wood boards. We put a ceiling over our front porch to keep the rain from coming down between the balcony deck boards. We had several storms that brought trees down and twice they fell across the road and had to be cut away very quickly. We arrived to find a guy from the county road crew getting started one morning, so we jumped in to help. He was so appreciative that he send an excavator crew back the next week to get the large logs out of the creek and placed them so we could pick them up and haul them up here for firewood. They even cleaned out the creek and took away the debris. There’s plenty of cleanup yet to do, but that helped a ton. We finally cleared away the last of the logs that we’d kept from the house site clearing — they all are stacked next to the wood burner so we can add them as we are feeding the fire this winter. These are pieces that are small enough to just cut in half and put in as is — no need to split. And now the clearing in front of the barn is free of logs! We’ll toss out some grass seed just to see if anything will grow, but even if nothing does, that’s OK. We also hauled some large rocks up to our backyard and built a firepit there. It’s something we’ve wanted to do ever since we moved in, but it just always found its way to the back burner. We plan to add gravel yet but it’s a good start.

Lastly, on May 30th, we had to put our dog, Sandy, to rest. She was 14, and she managed to settle in here at our new home pretty easily, but she was almost completely blind and deaf, and was starting to become disoriented and had to be carried outside to use the bathroom. I think she enjoyed her time with us, and she was surrounded by family when she took her last breath. We brought her home and buried her in the sunniest spot we could find! Rest in peace, Sandy. You were a great dog!

This is our 5th summer on this property, and to date, no one has come through to trim the trees back from the power lines. However, they notified us recently that it would need to be done, so that happened last week. I am not thrilled that that must be done, but I do understand since these lines are not in the ground and can be broken by falling trees in a storm. Now that the deed is done, we might have to cut down more trees so that it looks better. Or maybe we’ll just let it grow up again. Not sure yet. The first picture shows the view from the road, but the rest show the new path that was cleared. It’s quite a change from how it used to look!

As if I don’t have enough to keep me busy, I’ve picked up a new hobby. What we have here on this property is a lot of wood. In many stages of life, from saplings to 100 year old trees to dead standing to on the ground. We took a lot of trees down to put in the driveway, clear for the house and barn, and we’ve turned a lot of that into firewood. But what to do with stumps? Or really good wood that is too good for firewood? Like cherry and oak? Why not create something beautiful and unique or useful? So that’s what I’ve started doing. I turned a stump slab into a side table for my sitting room. I turned another slab into a side table for my son. 2 other stump slabs are now cutting boards! I am learning as I go, but definitely enjoying the process and I love seeing those pieces of wood turn into something so beautiful!

A project almost 4 weeks in the making, our woodshed is now approximately 95% done! It needs the visible wood painted, and a piece of flashing installed over the door rail, but the rest is done! The sliding barn door side will hold firewood and keep it dry so we can feed the fire in the winter. The other side is a mini garage for our side-by-side. Many pictures to follow…

Still working on the wood for next fall/winter — 4 rows are complete, and I had to move the splitter to make room for the 5th row. Raked the whole area too, then split everything I could lift. Still have a long way to go! Earlier this week, our pug, Sandy, managed to get from the house all the way down the hill to the road! I had let her out to do her business, and got involved in writing an email and forgot about her for maybe 20 minutes. She never barked or anything, and once I remembered her, I ran around looking for her! Finally jumped on our side-by-side and found her trucking along across the cleared area at the bottom of the driveway near the road. Good grief! Also, the robin that used our deck roof rafters to build a nest last spring is back, and is trying very hard to build a nest on our outdoor ceiling fan! She’s made quite the mess but nothing is sticking. I set a ladder out there for her, and placed some of the sticks on it hoping she’ll get the hint. She might have to go elsewhere. Lastly, I saw a snake in our wood pile! It’s a black snake, good for keeping rodents away, but I’m glad to know it’s there so I keep a watch for it when we’re picking up wood to split!