Posts
Where do I begin? It has been a long time since I last sat down to post. We have been busy working on all kinds of projects, but most of them are not really photo worthy yet. Still, I do have a few to show. The first one is a result of the afternoon's activities. Zach and Scott went out on the back part of the property to shoot some skeet and while they were back there noticed a number of snakes in the pond. The new activity became snake shooting. In total they took out 5 snakes, which appear to be cotton mouths. (Pause here to shiver and have an Indiana Jones flash or something.) Here is a picture of one of the casualties.
In light of the events of the day and all of the snakes, the next part of my story really scares me - in hindsight. Still, it was fun at the time. The land just to the east of the house has a tendency to become Lake McCarty during rainy weather, or "The Swamp" as my mom and one of the neighbors refer to it. Anyway, it becomes a watery wonderland for kids. Zach and Zoe love it, as did their cousin, Connor. They did a little "Redneck Rafting" out there this week. I didn't have a boat or any kind of swim float, so I blew up one of the twin sized air mattresses, handed them an old shower curtain rod and off they went for hours of fun.
Thank God for protection for these stupid city folks! It just looked like too much fun, and while I wouldn't be hanging out in the swamp now, at that age I would have been right in there - snakes and all. Heck, if you ask Mom, she'd say I'd have brought a few snakes in the house when I was finished!
I think now that Scott has pulled out the guns, we are going to be joining in with neighbors and providing plenty of blasts of our own. It's nice to fit in! I got a great shot of Scott on the balcony, preparing for Zoe's first date!
In between shooting snakes and swimming with them, we have done lots of work. Scott spent several weekends building a new foundation for the storage shed, moving it, building new doors for it and finally painting it. I neglected to take a "before" picture, but originally it had doors that were rotted and falling off, a floor that was rotted out and a foundation that was leaning at a double digit angle. Now it has a solid, level foundation, new floor, and new doors. It is also loaded to the gills with stuff already!
Zach's room is finished except for the space mural and glow in the dark stars. I would have posted a picture, but it is too much of a mess to be photographed! He loves it though.
Scott's newest project is the downstairs bathroom. It is pretty much gutted and we are preparing to build out the side that was angled off so that a tub will fit. The plumbing is all going to need to be re-routed, so it is quite an undertaking, but with a little help from our dads he has it figured out. (Or so we think!)
My projects have been less noticeable - unpacking, organizing and gardening. The garden is coming along fairly nicely. If the wild animals don't get to everything first, we should have tons of tomatoes. My next project is the garage. I am going to get all of the stuff that we are storing out of it and then clean, paint and put down flooring so that we can use it as living space.
I finally got on the tractor and did some brush hogging. (When you have 20 acres, you don't mow, you brush hog.) It was kinda fun. I felt like that scene in Footloose until I got the feel of how it shifts. Now I have this strange desire for a John Deere. What is up with that?
Over all, I am mentally, physically and emotionally tired. I am ready for the renovation to be complete. Once it is, I will re-evaluate how I feel about being out here. The amount of work to do to get where we want to be is overwhelming at times and some days I still wonder ... "What have we done?" Days with snakes and flooding make me wonder too!
P.S. We are still making 2 house payments and really need that to end, so if you have any clout with God, maybe put in a good word for us!
