Tuesday June 24th

I have a finished kitchen! Finaly! It took the carpenters SIX full workdays to install cabinets and tile countertops. They ran out of screws - twice!, and glue - twice! Last tuesday afternoon they told me the job would be over friday. I was IRATE because they were moving sooooooo slow I knew we wouldn't be finished with what was supposed to be done. (On the other hand, I was so glad to be rid of them). They finished the kitchen wednesday afternoon which left only thursday and friday to build the stairs. As you can see below, they managed to build them but that's all. I've got alot of work ahead of me to finish. But first I have tons of cleanup inside and outside to do.

Saturday I started cleaning and putting things where they belong. Sunday I painted the floor. (thought I would have a real floor with this job - maybe next time). Monday I ran errands. And today I put up the new rods and curtains. Rest of the week more of the same plus yardwork. I have a yard full of construction debris to burn and some to haul off - after my truck goes in the shop thursday. Hopefully by the weekend I'll go to the Antique Warehouse - (12 huge buildings stuffed full, only 20 miles from here) and find a bench seat to put in front of the big window. And if I'm really lucky, a small trestle type table to go with it. Grin.

Tuesday June 17th

Eastern Phoebe

Finally caught a picture of the little bird who has her nest in my porch eaves. When I'm on the porch she flutters around on the fence of the dog pen fussing at me. There's babies in the nest - second batch.

No new progress to report. Spent the weekend catching upon my work around the yard and house and cleaning the new cabinets. Yesterday the carpenters showed up late then called to tell me they couldn't get in because of a tree that fell across the drive. I could tell they were dissapointed when I told them I'd come and get them, obviously they'd already decided they'd have a day off (not!). They worked about an hour then went to lunch. After lunch they helped Jim (my neighbor) remove the tree. When they finished that, they packed up and went home. So I'm pretty much where I was friday. Hopefully I'll have a kitchen by the end of the week.

Friday June 13th

Ta da! The left side is done!

Another busy week. Spent Saturday and Sunday weedeating, mowing, painting, and running errands. More or less getting my personal work caught up and making sure I had everything ready and all the supplies for the week for the carpenters. (If you haven't been here for awhile and have no idea what I'm talking about, scroll down to May 14th for the explaination). Monday was a rain day so my carpenters didn't come. Tuesday morning we picked up the cabinets! Yay! So this week was spent finishing door and window trim, installing cabinets and cabinet tops and starting the tile work. Below is how the right side used to look. Ugh.


And here's how it looks today.............
Still need to finish tile, install sink, install stove vent, and add hardware.

Friday June 6th

Busy week since last post.
Thursday I called Mrs Contractor and she assured me that my carpenter would be back monday so I decided to give them till then before calling someone else.
Friday I went to the feedstore to pick up some corn and even though I had no intentions of having a garden this year, I couldn't resist the baby plants so....
Saturday I spent the day removing the straw I had covering the garden, working the ground, and planting the plants.
Sunday it stormed most of the day
Monday my carpenter showed up. Early! And with another carpenter as his crew instead of just a helper.
Things have been progressing quickly since then. I've been working on paint prep and priming, today I'll start the actual paint. Plumbing is finished, electric is finished, sheetrock is finished, reblocking and leveling that corner of the house is finished.
Todays plan is to move the woodstove to it's new spot and start installing the window and door trim.

Friday May 30th

One of the great things about having a half mile long - through the woods - driveway is it makes for an interesting (and easy) walk. Every late afternoon/early evening I take the dogs for a walk. Even when I'm feeling lazy, their pitiful faces convince me to go. They think it's SUCH an adventure, even if we've already been outside all day. Weirdness. Anyway, if we go halfway and come back it's a half mile hike. That's about as far as Cheyenne can go these days (the German Shepherd - she'll be 15 next week).

The other, and best, great thing is the peace and quiet. The sounds I hear most often are birds chirping and wind chimes tinkling. It's truly a blessing.
(You know you live in quietude when the occasional sound of a truck way out on the highway is annoying. Ha.)

Thursday May 29th

More storms monday night and tuesday, finaly clear now and it looks like we'll have great weather for the next week. Tuesday I called my neighbor to see if their electricity was out too. They weren't home, they were at the hospital in Little Rock. Jim had a terrible motorcycle accident sunday. A punctured lung, 3 broken ribs and a broken shoulder - that I know of, I only talked to Karon for a minute. He'll be okay but it'll be awhile. Yes, same neighbor in front that the tornado hit hard.
Meanwhile I still haven't seen or heard from my carpenter. Looks like they might have lost TWO jobs by being greedy. Doubtful that the neighbors are concerned about remodeling right now. That's the job they left me for, that *I* recommended them to. Yesterday I went back to the lumberyard that recommended them, told them what they did and asked for a new referral. (It's unlikely they'll be getting any new referrals from them) They gave me 3 names. So we'll see what happens now.

Memorial Day

Freedom's Colors

Red is for Bravery; blood shed in sacrifice.

Freedom came with lives the price.

White is for Liberty; freedom's purity.

Life be free from God's decree.

Blue is for Justice; as vast as the sky.

Over freedom's land to occupy.

*

by Roger W Hancock

*

A special prayer today for our fallen heros.

Never Forget - Freedom Isn't Free.

Sunday May 25th

I've been such an emotional wreck lately. Tornados, Tornado warnings (now even thunderstorms freak me out), my house in pieces, the carpenter dumped me for a better job (he says it's temporary).

Then the worst of all - friday morning when I woke up Tux was pretty much unresponsive. He wouldn't even lift his head. I thought he was dying and didn't know if he had tick fever or was posioned by something he ate. I doctored him all day and by the end of the day he had some sips of water and went for a small walk - though he was walking like an old man (he's 4). Yesterday morning he was a bit better and by yesterday evening he was almost back to his normal self and trailing me everywhere. This morning he seems fine but I'm still keeping a close eye on him.

Thursday May 22

A spring on the hillside

Monday my carpenter called in tired from working the weekend. Tuesday they called in to say they had to be on another job for awhile. I was pretty pissed off that they're leaving me with an undone mess. But I've been able to get other things done and yesterday afternoon I decided I needed a break and took Tux for a walk down to the creek. Our trails are overgrown and gone (I'll have to bring a machete next time). We ended up spending 4 hours on our hiking adventure and came home covered in ticks and catbriar scratches. But it was fun. The creek was thigh-high in places and nice and cool. You can't tell in the pic below but that log was pretty high off the ground!

Indiana Tux

Sunday May 18th

We had to halt progress to find and fix a roof leak but as of friday I have sheetrock (and a housefull of sheetrock dust, ha), and all the electrical is in. All that's left is finish work and trim. Then we'll move on to stairs and hopefully kitchen stuff.

The weather has turned gorgeous, it looks like we'll have about 10 days of no rain and temps 70-90. Yesterday I spent all day working outside but today I have to go to town and run errands. Boo hoo. I'd much rather finish up my yard chores.

Wednesday May 14th

Alrighty, how to describe this. When you walk in the front door it's one big square room with the living room and kitchen. The back wall had kitchen on the left AND right with the door to the laundry room in the middle. Mike and I had decided to tear out the left side, add windows and have that be part of the living area. The right side will be the kitchen and fill more area that was empty space. That's the project I'm working on right now.

Above is the 'Before' of the left side. Ugly, isn't it? One of the last untouched parts of the house.
Below is the 'After'. Obviously it's not done yet but you can see what I'm doing and how much better it is already. (The post is temporary)

Tuesday May 13th

Sorry for the lack of update since the storm. I've been sick, picked up a bug probably from getting repeatedly wet and cold in the aftermath. Been busy, trying to keep up my normal stuff before and after the carpenter is here everyday. (I've got a huge mess going on). Had another tornado scare saturday night that about sent me over the edge. These didn't touch down, Thank God.

Other than that, everythings fine. ::::::smile::::::
FINALY after waiting a year got my additional 2 acres as a buffer so nobody can build next to me. Got the second of my 2 new windows in yesterday. Love, love, love it. Amazing how different the house looks. Pics soon.

Jennifer, if you're reading this.....Hope you had a great baby shower saturday. Sorry I missed it. Maybe next time. Grin.

Tuesday May 6th

Everything's pretty much back to normal here now. We even have phone service back as of yesterday afternoon. Bless my neighbors for clearing the road so utilities could get in and I could get out. Otherwise I'd likely still be back here with no power. If the power company had to cut their way in I'd probably have been last on the list.
The pics are of the road now that it's cleared. You can see in the last one that they killed the tractor at the not quite halfway point. After that they had to roll the huge logs out of the way by hand.

Sunday May 4th

Thanks Roxann! Whew, 2 1/2 days later and I still can't believe my house and yard were untouched! I'm back with power now and the driveway is clear since friday evening. These pics are the driveway from friday morning when I was trying to walk out. The one above is 100 yards from my place and the others are as you go down the drive towards the highway.

All Okay!

This is Roxann, Dena's friend. She wanted me to make a post here because she has no electricity right now and can't get on the computer. A tornado passed VERY close to her house this morning, damaging the neighbor's house but not hers. Still, it was very loud and very scary. Dena is not hurt, but the electricity is out, there are trees down all around, but her cell phone works. It only gets good reception outside, though, so if you try to call and she doesn't answer, she'll return your call later when she sees that she missed a call. Her home phone might work, I am not sure, but I think she mentioned that she had a non-battery phone to plug in. We spoke a few minutes ago and she was making some coffee with her non-electric coffee pot, whew! At least the coffee pot works - all will be okay :)

Tuesday April 29th

Indigo Bunting

I've had a super busy week. Another few inches of rain and my yard was a wreck (and it was starting to look so nice). Had to get ready for company saturday (thought I was having 6 people stay over) and friday I found out the carpenter I hired to put in the final 2 living room windows is starting wednesday so I'm taking everything out of what was the kitchen area and boxing it up.

Mike's cousin Monique, her husband Roy and 2 other couples were taking a weekend motorcycle trip from Crowley to Russellville, about an hour and a half from here. So she called and asked if they could stop by. Of course! I invited them to stay over but by the time they got here saturday they were 8 people and they'd decided they needed to be part way home by the end of the day because sundays forcast was rain all the way. Wouldn't have been a fun 9 hour trip. So they just stayed for a couple of hours, had coffee and headed out.

It was great to visit though and Monique and Roy promised to come back for a longer visit when school gets out and they can bring their daughter and her 4wheeler. Everyone else loved it up here and wants to move in, ha.

Monday April 21st

So, last week I was checking and refilling the corn feeders. (I feed the critters year round). The first one, up here by the yard was fine. You can see in the picture above what the funnel and spinner are supposed to look like. The other one, down below the garden and on the edge of the woods is pictured below. What the heck!?! Deer lips can't do THAT. I wonder if there's a bear in the neighborhood?

Speaking of the neighborhood, I had a nice chat with the new owner of the house up front yesterday. They're closing tomorrow and will be moving in soon.

Tuesday April 15th

Last spring Mike and I got a big kick out of watching a mama bird (Eastern Phoebe) trying to build her nest in the porch eaves. Must have been her first time, it took her forever. Every day she'd work and work and then half of what she built fell down. Finally she finished and ended up raising 3 baby birds. This year she's back and built this much better nest in just a few days.

Monday April 14th

Goldfinch are everywhere, they look like mini canaries.

I've let another couple of weeks go by. I swear, I don't know where the time goes. Earlier I didn't have much to talk about and now I'm way behind on news. The weather is still absurd. Half the state is flooded after even MORE storms last week. No flooding here except a little bit on the driveway down by the pond but Greers Ferry lake nearby is 10 feet over the norm and so is the Arkansas river at Little Rock. In between storms we've had some gorgeous spring weather but now we're back to winter-like with cold and howling winds. Tonight it's supposed to freeze. All the trees are in flower so I hope it doesn't kill the fruit again like the late freeze last year did.

Raccoons are still raiding the suet feeder every night. If I don't take it in this is what I see in the morning.

Floyd's place (in front of me) finally sold. The buyer is my neighbor behind me and across the creek, Dennis. He's a Baptist minister and missionary - just like Floyd was. He bought it for the mineral rights because of the huge gas field found in the area. He immediatly sold the house and front 20 acres (without mineral rights) to someone else so I should have neighbors soon. He also told me that he'll be putting the 33 acres between me and the front property up for sale right away (without the mineral rights). So who knows what'll happen with that.

Thursday March 27th

I haven't posted because I don't have any new pictures but it's been a couple of weeks so I thought I should check in anyway.
Last week we had torrential rains and half the state was flooded. That kind of weather makes me glad I'm on the mountaintop! We had about 10 inches here and the only problems were the low spot on the driveway where water drains into the pond. My neighbor said it was impassable last tuesday, I didn't see it till wednesday when there was about 6" of water. But my truck passed through that just fine. My little pond in the back overflowed till the water was halfway across the garden. As of yesterday the pond is still full and the ground is still wet back there.
Other than that, the weather is finally warmer! Spring is officially here! About time!

Wednesday March 12th

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I spent most of it starting my spring yard clean-up. After I came in I saw these two Pilated Woodpeckers in the backyard. How cool is that? I rarely see them and never more than one at a time. There must have been a hawk circling above or something.

Tuesday March 11th

We had our snowstorm friday and saturday.Eight inches!

In March!

The birds didn't like it much. By sunday afternoon it was mostly melted, leaving behind a muddy mess.

Monday was back to almost normal and the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 60s.

Yay!

Thursday March 6th

Yesterdays picture. The mini daffodils are starting to bloom.

Today it's sleeting, tonight we're expecting a snowstorm. Up to NINE inches. Eeek! Me and the pups are hunkered down.

Tuesdy March 4th

It's official. The weather is schizophrenic. Sunday was 72, spring was springing and this morning I woke up to 4 inches of snow! Hopefully it's winters last gasp.

Sunday March 2nd

Yesterday was a beautiful day so after I worked in the yard a bit and puttered with plants I went down to the creek. Nothing's green yet but it's still lovely.

Saturday March 1st

Finally! A few signs of spring! The crocus are up and the daffodil greenery is peeking out. It's been a loooong winter. The last few days have been sunny and 60s and I've been able to get outside and enjoy it. Tomorrow it'll be 72. Of course they're calling for SNOW monday night and a high tuesday of 38! Winter isn't quite over but it's on it's way out.

Thursday February 21st

The weather this month is just absurd. February 1st we had snow, February 2nd it was 65, February 5th we had tornados. Since then it's been back and forth, mostly in the mid 40s - low 50s, rainy and windy. Now it's cold and sleeting. 32 was the high today! I'm so ready for spring.

Wednesday February 13th

Today is six months since Mike passed. He is greatly missed.

Monday February 11th

Friday I drove over to Clinton. The town runs north-south on highway 65 and when you get to the south side of town everything looks perfect and business as usual. A little farther on, in the middle, EVERYTHING is wiped out. Houses, power lines, trees. There's about a half mile swath of devastation. Then you get to the northern part of town and everything is normal again. Surreal.

Friday February 8th

Tuesday we had horrible storms. Here's a picture of the tornado that went through Clinton, the next town over. You can see more pics at this site - http://clintonark.com/default.aspx

Everything is safe and sound here, Thank God. But we sure had a scare. A mountaintop is a great place to live but not where you want to be when there's tornados out.