Windows...

The next step in the process is putting in the windows.

So first they had to measure and mark.

The guys cut and bent a piece of metal that follows

the contours of the walls so they could

mark where they need to cut for the window.

They already welded the steel frame that will

go around the window...

There is his new door, there in the back.

It's not going there though.

It's going on the right between the lamp and

the end of the cabinet... which is also

not where it will end up.

The cabinets will be under the giant windows.

Marking and cutting...

What it looks like on the outside...

And then it decided to do the afternoon Florida

thunder storm thing.

Good thing Scott has moved out.

We have taken over his bedroom to store

half of the boxes full of insulation panels.

The other half are in the living room.

They threw a giant tarp over the container

to keep the rain out.

And we all came inside for a quick lunch

while the thunder boomed and the 

rain poured.

Beau needed a nap.

He was out like a light.

The rain stopped, so they lifted the tarp and got back

to cutting the window hole.

And the tarp.

Kyle bought a new plasma cutter.

It's HOT.

It's our very own 4th of July fireworks show!

And yes,

Kyle burned himself.

On like the first cut.

A piece of hot steel fell into his boot.

He has a couple of nice little blisters

on his ankle.

But in true "man" form, he's "walking it off".

(At least he didn't "rub some dirt in it" - that was

Uncle Scott's response whenever they hurt

themselves at the shop...)

He did put some natural burn salve on it,

but its pretty uncomfortable.

Poor guy!

They are trying really hard to get the main

triple window in tonight.

Rod just ran to Lowes to get some caulk.

That should mean its coming along...

So much to tell!

As always I'm BUSY!

Who ever said you sit around eating

candy and watching Jerry Springer on TV

once you are retired was never retired.

Kyle has been busy working on his

new "tiny house". It is coming together.

Spending a LOT of money,

but it costs a LOT of money to build a house.

Tiny or otherwise.

Yes, its a shipping container.
What else would you expect a trucker to get?
LOL

He and Rod got it all laid out in chalk on the floor.
It's going to be just right for a single man.

Next he built a beautiful bathroom vanity
using old pallets and some of the wood
from the trees they cut down and cut
into boards.
It's BEAUTIFUL!
He picked out a square "bowl" sink
and faucets that look a little like an
old fashioned well pump.
We "dry fit" it, and it looks GREAT!
And since the sink sits up on the counter
he won't have to cut a giant hole in his
beautiful wood.

I'll take another picture once he gets it
all put together. We got it in the house
but without windows in there yet, its
pretty dark and you can't see its full potential.

Then it was a trip to Lows to get the kitchen cabinets,

he spent the day yesterday distressing, staining,

and then sanding / distressing them a little more.

He loves the old farmhouse look

and didn't want them to look like they

just came out of a box yesterday.

*even if they did... lol

(before picture...)
I haven't taken a picture of them yet, they were
still wet last night...

Next I think they are going to put in

the windows. This place is going

to be nearly ALL windows.

Which is awesome.

He might be a bit of a hermit, but couldn't be the kind

that lives in a cave - he would have to be

a tree house sort of hermit.

It is going to be nice and bright in there!

(We will put in blinds, but I doubt he will EVER

close them, his blinds in his bedroom broke

and he just pulled them down a year ago.

His windows (giant window seat windows)

face directly east so he gets the morning sun,

sleeps through it just fine, but revels in

the beautiful natural light.

Out here (and out there) you don't need

to worry about "neighbors" peeping in after dark.

Then the wall insulation should be arriving

early next week so they can get that installed

and put up the drywall, paint, and then do the

bathroom. Put in the shower, toilet and water heater

and then it's just those finishing touches.

The dogs think this is GREAT!
(the hole is for his stove)

**********************************************

Meanwhile,
yesterday I delivered my eggs and then
Brock called and asked if I would go back
over and unlock the front gate for the delivery
guys that come in the morning.
(Thursday is "farm day" next door...)

But I forgot.
So this morning at 7:00 my eyes
binged opened and I realized I forgot!
Tossed on some clothes and walked over.

Got the gate unlocked and walked up to the barn
but there was no delivery there yet so maybe I beat him?
By the time I got home and fed the horses, Brock
was back on the phone letting me know the delivery
guy was there at 4:30. Bummer!
Luckily the driver is a really good guy and he
said he would come back after the rest of his deliveries.

I kept an eye out and when the local guy
showed up, I walked back over and helped him
unload his watermelons so he wouldn't be in the
way when the BIG guy showed up.
(Plus I needed just one more duck egg to make
up a dozen - Daisy obliged, so I took those over too...)

We overlapped by a couple of minutes, but it was ok.
I apologized to the driver and we chatted for a minute
while he got everything unloaded and then I offered
to let him just drive away and I would walk back
up and close the big double gates and relock them.
(It's a pain in the neck to get out of the truck
and close and lock the gates...)

Anyhow.
It's all good.

And I saw a pretty little flower!

I cut around the front of our fence and this little
beauty was growing there.

Hope the rest of the day goes smoothly!

Farm Visitors

Wednesday brought my friend and

fellow instructor Dominique

and her family to the farm.

They live about half way between

our place and the school I teach at

in South Florida.

They were heading up to the Orlando

area to meet with some other folks

and stopped by to pick up the

keys for my school and to see

the place.

I put the little saddle on Andy and

walked the girls around the property

for about an hour.

Luckily the sky clouded over a little

just as they arrived, so they didn't

totally MELT.

That's a big roll of hay under the blue tarp on the trailer.
Kyle picked up a bunch of them and that's all we have left.

The girls were really cute and had a good time.

I let them feed the chickens some scratch

and collect a couple of the eggs.

And then they headed on up north.

It was a nice morning.

The girls said they wanted to come back

on their way home.

HA!

I'm only good for one visit.

(grin)

So much happening!

Goodness!

It's been a LONG time since I wrote!

Jim turned 30!

Kyle turned 27!

I'm still 36!

On the 31st Jim turned 30 and I made

his favorite birthday cake.

(But didn't take a picture...)

He LOVES Sondra's chocolate cherry cake.

I made TWO of them.

(Well 3...)

One 9x13 to take to the office for him to

share with all the car salesmen etc he works with.

An 8x8 to take home to share with Sabrina

and their friends.

And another 8x8 for us to keep.

They were yummy!

That weekend I ended up in Tampa,

substituting for another instructor

who had to make a quick trip to Italy

for his other job.

Poor guy.

LOL

Then on Thursday, we took a road trip up to the Gainesville area

to look at some land for Linda to buy.

It is BEAUTIFUL land!

158 acres of good, flat, green pasture land.

The 40 acres in the front are more wooded

and actually have a couple of little hills...

There is electricity there already.

And 6 wells.

It's all fenced.

There are currently cows on it,

but she isn't going to buy the cows.

They have horns.

We don't DO horns.

LOL.

Kyle's favorite thing are the hundreds of

wild blackberry bushes!

He was in berry heaven!

Ate a bunch!

(Look carefully, there are a million little black

berries in the top part of the picture...)

She is going to put in an offer on it today.

(Or yesterday... time flies...)

That was Thursday.

Of course we checked out the local area.

It is just outside of a little town called Bronson.

With a GREAT little diner called Julie's Diner.

(When our kids were small, the guilty party

was always "Julie". Who ate the last cookie?

JULIE!

Who left all the toys in the living room?

JULIE!

hahahahaha)

It is also about 20 minutes away from the big city

of Gainesville. A college town with a big 

agricultural department.

And a GREAT farm store!

Rod reminded me that Father's Day

was coming soon...

It's about a 3 hour drive from here.

The plan is that Linda will buy a trailer/mobile home

and Kyle will move up there and live on the 

property, changing some things,

building up a new herd for a cow/calf business

where they buy late bred heifers, keep the females

and take the males to auction.

(Always keeping a couple to raise up for beef

for the families...)

Maybe in 10 years or so, she might move up

there herself - but that isn't certain.

She has 5 children and some of them might

want to end up there.

But she really likes where she lives now.

(Like me!)

It does get pretty cold up there.

It freezes several times during the winter,

although they don't get snow.

Whenever there is a cold night,

Gainesville is always the coldest.

Anyhow.

That was Thursday.

Friday, Kyle and I drove up to New Smyrna

about a hour and a half up the coast,

to our little feed mill.

We only picked up half a load of feed

this time because last time all the feed

fermented. We didn't want to buy as much

as usual if they have changed their formula.

I talked to the guys and they said they always

change the formula in the winter because the

temps and humidity are lower so they don't

need to put as much preservative in the feed.

And then Mother Nature threw a curve ball

and summer arrived a month earlier than usual!

Caught them off guard. 

They were still on the winter formula.

But they are back to the summer stuff now

and everything should be fine.

Which means another trip up in a couple

of weeks to get a full load.

That was Friday.

Saturday was Kyle's birthday!

I made him his favorite birthday cake.

He doesn't like cake.

So for years and years I have drawn a chalk cake

on the patio for him.

LOL

We took everybody out to Olive Garden for 

a combined birthday celebration that night.

It was good to spend some time together,

visiting and catching up on everybody's lives.

Unfortunately the family at the next table

had a couple of REALLY loud and poorly

behaved children. For an hour and a half.

Good heavens!

But we managed to have a great time anyway.

LOL

Sunday found me giving a talk in church.

Centered around communication.

Something I'm obviously going to need

to keep working on!

Hahahahahahahaha

(How many blog posts do I have that start

out... I'm still alive... just busy!)

Then yesterday, Monday,

a momentous thing happened!

I got a text from Jim.

It said.

"Your boy just sold your other boy

his first CAR!"

The truck boy is now a CAR owner!

(He still has his truck, just bought this little beauty as well...)

It's a 2003 VW Golf.

Gets GREAT gas mileage, in really good shape,

and will be terrific for buzzing back and forth 

from the ranch. 

(Jim's GTI is the dark grey one parked next to it,

you can't really see it, but we are now a 

4 VW and 2 Ford truck family...)

Not much variety in our lot.

Looking forward to the week ahead,

Rod has an order of signs that need to go out

this week to the property owners in St Johns, AZ.

(We still have that land...)

I am heading to Orlando on Thursday to attend

a 4-day school where I will be teaching two more

instructors how to use the new eRoster system

and observing them as they teach.

(I should be teaching my West Palm Beach class

this weekend, but the boss got a sub for me

and then I'll finish up the class next weekend...)

My sub is bringing her kids up on Wednesday

to pick up the keys and see the farm and the animals.

They had to run to Orlando so this is just a quick

stop along the way.

Life is not slowing down.

Which is a good thing.

Keeps us busy.

Yesterday I washed all the floors in the house,

bought horse feed,

baked more German Pancake for Rod's breakfast,

did all the laundry,

mowed the back pasture,

as well as doing some grocery shopping

and running to the UPS place to ship back

the keys to the Tampa school.

My days are full.

And now I'd better get busy sending

emails to all the students for this weekend's 

class and welcome them, introduce Dominique

and give them directions to the place.

And I just noticed the horses are still

in their stalls. Better go let them out.

And the day begins.........

(well, continues...)