Little Legs, BIG Spaces

I finally brought Ms. Trixie to the farm for a visit; her new home, this past Saturday and she approves!

Here she is looking back at me with the look of, "are you shitting me, ALL this space" -

She was a bit anxious with the car ride over, which is typical for her, and perhaps a bit overwhelmed with the new place but she eventually settled in just fine -

And tuckered herself out but settled and drifted off to sleep -

Click this link to see a short video of her checking out the inside of her new home for the first time - "Trixie @ Pritchard".  Once off the leash, she went from room to room

She's been a trooper through all of the upheavals and changes these last six months.  She has handled and adjusted just fine, which is more than I can say for myself.

#Blessed

Blown-In Insulation...

How bout blown-out insulation is a better description!

Apparently, this is what happens when you finally get power hooked up and the heat pump is turned on and tested, UGH!

Seems the attic insulation made it's way into the AC/heat duct work during transport.  Each and every vent spewed said insulation into each room where there was a vent, GRRR!

It's all been cleaned up from the floors but the vents still have pieces stuck in them, which means they'll slowly spew more out over time, not only making a mess but we'll end up inhaling some of this shite too -

Another example of shoddy construction and shoddy work, which we're seeing first hand with our Timbercreek manufactured home - buyer beware!

D-LISH-US!

As Tina Turner belted out - 

"You're simply the best

Better than all the rest

Better than anyone

Anyone I've ever met"

Pretty much sums up the banana pudding pie that the wonderful Mrs. Maria made for my birthday!

#Blessed

That's A 10-4 My Stuff's Enroute!

Get outta da way, yo!

Looks what's arriving on Monday morning, May 18!

Unfortunately, it's not Cledus driving this BIG rig, rather Carlos but don't much matter, so long as it arrives on time, safely and all my belongs are unloaded in a timely manner and without any breakage.

Hope they steer clear of the smokeys, county mounties, check-point Charlies and don't get eat'n by a bear...

It's been a long time coming, seems like forever ago I watched Safebound pack my entire house and load it onto one of their trucks, so I'm ready to finally have it delivered!

Plop And Droppings...

Alas, I'm still getting adjusted to some of the weird stuff that the locals eat around these parts -

💩

The "Beer" Necessities!

GEA finally connected power, from the pole to the house, so one of the first orders of business was for us to pickup a few critical items to have on hand in case of emergency, e.g. parchment, thirst, etc. -

Mission accomplished!

Flushed Too!

I took my first pee in the toilet of my new house today -

Just saying...

"Current" Situation - We Finally Have Power!

Well, would you look at that!!

That right there is our electrical transformer -

Greenville Energy Authority (GEA) was out yesterday morning to run our electric line from the pole, install the transformer and wire it to the meter, which means we now have full working electricity in our house -

The person responsible for the "trim out" work on the house, was onsite in the afternoon to verify and test each appliance, outlet and light to ensure everything was working as they should be.  He found a couple outlet issues but otherwise all is working properly!

We are wired!!

Looting The Lumber Yard

We did some pillaging in Jonesborough yesterday at Julian Sawmill and Lumber Yard on Bacon Branch Road -

The owner was happy to let us root around through their scrap and first cut piles of lumber and help ourselves to as much as we wanted.  Although, these piles are essentially firewood, we were able to find plenty of suitable boards that we'll use to close in three sides of the horse run-in.

Very few had straight edges but they'll add a nice rustic barn look to the run-in, which is what we're going for.

We made a couple trips and feel we have enough pieces to accomplish our goal!  We'll see, as time will tell once we tackle this next project.

Plaster NOT So Fun Time

There was a section of wall in one of the closets that needed to be repaired, which required the plaster to come back out onsite.  We were not there when he came but immediately knew he had come as we pulled up to the house.

Seems the plasterer thought it was okay and a good idea to, I'm guessing, clean his plaster bucket in the front yard, right off the front deck and neck to the driveway, GRRRR

There are clumps of now dried white plaster littering the front yard, circled in red in the below pic -

Frustratingly, there is the THIRD time this person has been out to the house to do work and the THIRD time he's dumped his leftover plaster in the yard.

It's not so much the plaster itself, as it's relatively easy to clean up when dried.  However, it's more the gall of this dipstick and his inconsiderateness that bothers me!

And for that reason, I'm awarding him an "Asshole Merit Badge" -

This is, perhaps, a nitpicky post or maybe it's just my OCD but regardless of which, it irks me and I think the guy's a douche!

Hold Your Horses, Literally!

We've completed the horse pen and covered run-in!

75'x75' square -

We "Gutter" Dun!

Gutters and downspouts have been installed!

Four wide downspouts, with special extension on the ends, installed at each corner -

They built the gutters onsite using exact measurements taken from the house. The downspouts are secured nicely to the house and hung perfectly vertical.  The crew did a great job!

Signs Of The Past

Here are a handful of pics of local state historical, or roadside historical markers.

These are Tennessee specific style historical markers. The red circle with the three stars is the Tennessee emblem, and the “1A 29”, "1A 113", etc., are the marker identification numbers.

These signs are typically placed by state historical commissions or departments of transportation to commemorate the following - early settlers, battle sites, historic homes, notable people and important local events.

They're difficult to read as you pass them by, especially the older ones that are fading, so I started taking pic of some to read later (and before I knew about the below online reference sites).  Here are several photos that I've taken to date -

Check out the following website - "Historical Markers of Tennessee" for additional information on these signs, their locations and more. However, from my quick poking around on this site, it doesn't look like all signs are listed, for example "1A 26" is not showing under the Pioneer NorthEast section.

Or you can also try the HMdb Historical Marker Database, which has all sorts of information and oodles of search options too!

In any event, it's all very interesting and clearly the East Tennessee area is rich in history!

Light At The End Of Tunnel

Our heat pump has been installed!

The dryer vent has been installed!

The required trim vents have been installed!

Most of the trim out repairs inside the house have been completed!

What remains should have no affect on the home inspection...

We're in the home stretch baby!

The county home inspection is scheduled for tomorrow, believe it or not!!

Fingers crossed everything passes and we get our occupancy permit and can FINALLY move in!

Burn Baby Burn

A little afternoon pyromania is all!

Before -

After, the following morning - 

Welcome To Mays Earth Sign!

For those of you that are into horoscopes, here's one for you - 

As an additional PSA from yours truly, this advice extends WELL beyond May!

All Decked Out!

Our decks have been completed!

The contractor did a great job on both.  They're super solid and look terrific. The hog wire siding and extra wide steps, and their placements, we requested really make them stand out.

Front Deck 10'x20' -

Back Deck 8'x25' -

We had to have them redo the front stairs railing.  Seems they forgot what we wanted and what we had originally discussed.  They installed with the hog wire running downhill, tsk tsk tsk, it looked just awful.

Before -

They happily redid them and it looks fantastic now, makes a BIG difference.

After -

Having the two big decks is SO much better than having (3) separate smaller decks, one for each door, which is the standard with this manufactured home - (2) 4'x4' and (1) 8'x8'.  Glad we opted to upgrade now!

We're Officially A Gated Community!

We've successfully install two (12') galvanized farm gates at the entrances to our farm!

The first gate is at the main entrance. We also added some attractive curb appeal eye candy fencing too -

Here are a couple before pictures of what the same main entrance looked like before we began any work on the property.  As you can see it was WELL overgrown and inaccessible -

We installed the second twelve-footer off the Oakdale lot -

Here are a couple before pictures of what the Oakdale entrance looked like before we began any work on the property.  As you can see it was too was overgrown.  However, this entrance was used as the main access point onto the main property the last dozen or two dozen years, which you can tell by the worn tire ruts -

Surely, this will keep the rift-raft out...

A Mole In A Hole

We found, and rescued, this Eastern Mole yesterday in one of the post hole holes we dug last week -

There's no mistaken this dude with it's velvety gray fur, tiny, tiny eyes, pointed snout and almost invisible ears.

They spend almost their entire lives underground, tunneling and feeding on insects and earthworms, so us seeing this one was pretty unusual.

Kinda cute for a rodent.

Can I Get An Amen!

They don't call this area the "Bible Belt" for nutt'n!

Churches galore, all denomination these days, dot the landscape here in East Tennessee.  From major cities and on major roads, to tiny obscure buildings off the beaten path on windy and twisty back roads. Their signage can be seen all over, along roadways, at intersections, even at the ends of driveways.

Remember, Jesus loves you -

Here are just a handful of signage samples that I stopped and captured when out exploring.  Some are pretty creative too -

Although, I couldn't find a bible reference to this one below, nor on the Google machine, I'm fairly certain this is a VERY important one from Jesus Himself -

Have a "Blessed Day"!