Mail box accident

At 7:30am Sunday morning someone woke us up knocking incessantly at the door. Over and over. The dogs were going nuts. We go to the door, Rog in boxers and me in red cat pajama bottoms. There were two deputies at our door to tell us that someone had fallen asleep while driving and hit our mailbox. Really hard. The mailbox and the mail were all over the road. The 4x4 post it was on snapped in half. The woman then corrected to the right, directly in a huge bean field. She drove pretty far into the field too. She was kind enough to call the cops instead of just driving off. She has insurance, so we should hopefully get reimbursed for the new mailbox we had to get.







Then Roger left the mailbox inside while I was shopping and Roger was outside. Jax then ate part of the brand new mailbox and the screwdriver.


In farm news, we harvested the black beans. They're just like regular beans, but you leave them in the pod until they dry. They turn black when they dry. Then you split the pods and pick out the beans.


We also got a pumpkin! It's a bit early, but the vine rotted, so I had to pull it. Not sure what to do with a pumpkin. I've tried making pumpkin bread with real pumpkin before, but it was all stringy.

The bathroom is finished!

Remember this mess?



It is finished and it looks great! We have new paint, new lights, new towel racks, new light covers, new towels and mats...

Weekend #2 of bathroom renovating...

We painted the bathroom red. The giant patch you see me putting on the wall was the hole from the toilet paper role. We got new fixtures, and the new toilet paper role holders are much smaller than the giant inwall ones of the 70s.





We got a new light fixture over the sink:



We got new towel racks:


And lastly, we're working on getting a new fan/light combo. As I type this, Roger is up in the attic trying to rip out the fan unit that's been in there since the house was built. I really don't think this is going to be worth it, but Roger hates the old light with a fiery passion, so he's willing to invest in getting it done. It is amusing when Dia runs around barking at the ceiling.

Chicks and painting

A video of the chicks:



When the chicks first came in the mail, I forgot to post the picture of them in their shipping box.



Also, today we put the primer on the bathroom walls, and Roger caulked the shower.

Bathroom remodeling part 1

One of our planned winter projects was to remodel the guest bathroom. It has blue and pink pastel TEXTURED wallpaper, and gold accessories (towel rack, toilet paper holder, facet, etc). It also has MOLD destroying a a piece of drywall next to the shower, where the shower used to leak and instead of fixing it, the previous owners just caulked the shower (shoddily) and wallpapered over the mold.

So here is part one of the work. And let me take this moment to BEG any homeowners out there... please please please do not ever wallpaper anything. Seriously. Anyone who wallpapers should have to remove it themselves.

Before:


Ripping down wallpaper: We used hot water, a smidge of fabric softener, and a sponge.


Scrapping off glue. The WORST part by far. Same thing... hot water and a sponge, and a putty knife.

Wasp Sting

I've been working to shrink the size of a trash burning pit made of concrete blocks the previous owners left. I burned and burned and shoveled out years worth of ashes (4 tractor carts full). Now I'm working on moving one of the walls in.

There are lots of wasp nests in the blocks. I've had success with just ignoring them and avoiding moving the blocks with nests when there are wasps on the nests. It probably has also helped that when I'm working there I'm usually trying to burn down tree limbs and such and it's smoky.

Well, today my luck ran out. There was a wasp that started to bother me, and in my casualness I waved it away and it kept coming back. Then I felt it knock against my hand, so I started to retreat. Then my hand started to hurt... a lot. Then it landed on Dia and Dia jumped about 10 feet, then it started to... well... chase me. Dia and I ran for the house.

Right now I have a hive on my hand that's considerably swollen, but doesn't hurt anymore. I'm on my way out to Kroger to buy wasp spray before I continue my cement block work.

Porch Staining

When we bought the house it was apparent the porch had been neglected for some time. It was gray and warped. It looked like the wood had never been sealed.

Last week, Roger used a deck cleaning solution and pressure washed the deck and we were relieved to see it brought some color back into the wood, although it was still pretty pathetic.

Today we stained and sealed the wood! We used a tinted seal, so we only had to go over it once. It took four gallons of seal. The wood was very, very thirsty.

Before:


After:

Woodchuck #3 and painting

Three woodchucks in four days. This one was more scared. It's funny how they all had very distinct personalities; dopey, grumpy, and nervous.



Also, right now we're working on painting the living room. It's been a long process.