Enough All Ready!

With all this foolish heavy rain we’ve been having, our pond has breached the top and now running overtop of the driveway -

We had the grade level of the driver’s raised in that area of the pond specifically because it seemed to always be “wet”. It was raised quite a bit, so very surprised to see it breaching.

It’s ironic because not too long ago, before all this rain, when it was dry, the pond level dropped quite a bit! It was super low. One neighbor said it’s gone dry in the past. Well that’s not an issue today.

Here Chick, Chick, Chick 🐣

As Ray Kinsella famously said in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come”…

So, we tested this theory and built this 2’x6’ cage -

And lo and behold, it worked!!

(10) Black Sex Link pullets and (1) Lavender Orpington cockerel, all 5-weeks old, magically appeared -

Fingers crossed 🤞 this is in fact a cockerel.

We’ll know soon enough -

And we’re off…

A Deluge I Tell Ya!

We got a bit of rain yesterday afternoon, geesh -

The skies opened and it poured! Kinda came out of nowhere too.

However, as you can see, the water is draining off Pritchard and running down our easement in a torrent! 

There used to be a trench that ran parallel along the right side of the easement but it’s long gone. We’ll be mulling this issue over and giving some serious thought to having a new trench dug to manage and control all this water, when it come and to minimize the erosion.

A Little Privacy Please

I spied this deer 🦌 peering into the house last evening, right through the sliding glass door! Geesh, how bout minding your own business dear (see what I did here 🤣)…

I was too slow on the camera draw. She ran off as I was trying to get closer to the window, you know to take that perfect pic, alas.

However, my brother was sitting in the living room and in a perfect spot with a perfect view . He was super quick on the camera draw and snapped this rather coolio pic.

Rise And Grind People!

Happy Saturday morning!

It was a tad foggy here this AM at the old homestead -

But that didn’t bother the local wildlife from venturing out -

#Blessed

The Sky’s A Fire Tonight

What a beauty tonight -

Can’t beat front porch sitting!

#Blessed

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…

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!