Lights! Too Bright!

No, this is not am image from the Iran war!

So much for peaceful, relaxing nighttime front porch sitting -

This is a light that’s mounted below a cell tower, on a hill to our left when sitting on our front porch. 

As you can see it’s extremely bright, and for some odd reason, it’s pointed out not down towards the base of the tower, and directly at us!

We mistakenly assumed our homestead would be in complete darkness at night but that’s just not the case with this dude and a couple other neighbor's lights, alas.

Guessing it’ll be more bothersome come fall when the leaves have all dropped, we’ll see. Until then we’ll make the best of it, as the saying goes - “you can’t pick your neighbors…”

A tad obnoxious for sure…

Shoo! Scat! Scram!

Um, seems we have a cat now…

This was an odd site to see first thing in the morning because we do NOT have a cat!

Believe this is one of the many cats we’ve seen down at one of the neighbors houses off Pritchard.

I’d sic Ms. Trixie after it but worried she’d get her butt kicked, alas.

A Lot Of Buzz

I’ve missed you!

Finally reunited with my Oral-B toothbrush!

It’s the simple things…

First Night In New House!

It’s taken some time, more time than I expected anyway, but here I am about to spend my first night (in my own, literally, bed) in my new house, Ms. Trixie too!

Home sweet home 🏡!

I'm Not "Horsing" Around With This News!

Well giddy up!

Look who arrived yesterday safe and sound, Ms. Wisteria -

She seemed pleased to be off the truck and into her new pen.

She didn't waste any time checking the area out, as well as her new surroundings.

She also stopped, dropped and rolled serval times, enjoying the course grass scratching's on her back and side, see video below -

She looks goods!  It's nice to finally see her in the new pen we built, which was just an open field not too long ago.

NOT So Safebound

Well, it finally arrived - all my "stuff" from my home in Franklin, that is!

It was delivered on Tuesday, May 19.

It's a long story, one I'm not able to put into words just yet.  Suffice to say, it's an expensive and frustrating tale with missing items, damaged items and broken items...

That being said, we've made some great progress in sorting many of the boxes; those that go IN the house and those that go OUT in the storage container!  

The heavy items were moved into the house by the not-so-careful-movers, e.g. mattresses, furniture, etc., and placed in their new locations.

Many a box has been opened and items are being placed in their new locations!  A slow and, quite frankly, an overwhelming process.

More to follow...

A tempting teaser for my follow up - notice where the 18-wheeler moving truck is parked on Route 11E!!

Round and Round We Go!

The local farmers are at it getting in their first hay cuttings of the season.

It's quite a sight and the smells of fresh cut and drying grass are intoxicating!

I took these pics yesterday on a neighboring piece of property -

Let me close with a "dad" joke -

Why do hay bales never argue? They just roll with it. DOH!

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 -