Flamin’ June!

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Or should I say Windy? Here it is the 3rd of June, and the wind just hasn’t stopped.

Friday we went to Pueblo for some needed shopping and just plain relaxation. We got soil for the raised beds, plumbing bits for the Wendy House, a staple gun (wheee!!!! ) and groceries. When we got home, we could smell smoke and discovered that HWY 160 was closed off. There was a fire in town. The Main Event, also locally known as the Walsenburg Walmart had a fire behind it. We looked at the fire for a bit and then went home.

Saturday, I went to Rock Ledge Ranch, in Colorado Springs. They were having a sheep shearing and spinning event. I was suppose to meet a friend there, but her ride didn’t appear. I still had a great time though. It’s well worth the visit. I loved the houses and walking around the grounds.

Afterwards, I went to Joann’s and got some stuff for Battlemoor. It’s in just over 2 months! I have some sewing to do and I’m going to try and make some more nalbinding needles. 🙂

Sunday was suppose to be a workday around the house. Well… we slept in. While Dan worked on his school work, I did a little gardening, and cleaned house. Next weekend though is all about the plumbing! 🙂 Who’d have thought the idea of running water could make a person so happy? 🙂

May Blizzards…

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Well, nearly. We had snow yesterday and a few flakes today. I know I’ve groused a bit about all the snow, but the weather changes have really caused my parents and Dan pain. The flip flop between the weather cycles plays havoc with their arthritis. Plus, for the first time since we left England nearly 20 years ago, I’ve had pain in my hands. sigh…

The last two days of April were in the 80’s and Dan and I did some major construction work on the back yard. We are getting ready to put a green house in along with a few other bits and pieces. Yes, we are doing more work on the Wendy house. 🙂 I have a ceiling fan to go in for summer breezes and winter heat management. We are going to add a composting toilet to the Wendy house as well.

The weather this year has not been kind to the two houses or the yard either. The winter winds blew down the fence to the point where we had a choice. Trash it or move it. We chose to move it. Now that the stone work is done, it looks like it has always been there. When it warms up, I plan to hit it with some white spray paint and then decorate it. I’m thinking flowers or something sort of art deco. I’m still thinking about it.

As soon as the ground is dry-ish, we will be re-digging the trench and laying water pipes. We are planning to run water for the Wendy house and the green house which will be to the SW of the Wendy house by about ten feet if that. Once the pipes are in place, we will begin to level the ground for the first keyhole garden and green house. We spent half a day playing with various layouts. That of course was after Dan loaded up Visio. 🙂

We have been discussing reusing anything and everything we can in the yard. We have lots of building materials and there is a cabinet that I’m going to turn into a potting bench. It has drawers and shelves. We are going to use one of the old doors for one side, old curtain rods and a shelf for a bench and some corrugated roofing from the shed for a roof. Then I think I am going to apply liberal amounts of paint in loud colours. 🙂

Here are some pictures of how things have changed over the last eight years. Yes, progress has been slow, but the budget has been $0.00. The last pics are of RedTom, our cat and Brandy our dog, irises, etc.

Wow!

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January went fast. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I had almost as many meetings as days. So far, February isn’t looking much better and it is only the first. sigh…

We’ve had a couple of warm days which makes life easier. Tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day, and Imbolc is on Saturday. Six more weeks until Spring! As it is, Colorado is suffering a drought. 17 months of sub-par moisture. We had 5 years of it starting in the late 90’s. I hope that we get a bunch of snow in the next few months. Yeah, I know that isn’t popular, but we need the moisture and snow is one way we keep it around long enought to actually make a difference.

Some things have changed. Brian brought home a puppy last week. Mastiff and retriever mix. Plus, the dog we rescued from 7/11 on New Year’s Day is still with us. We’ve named her Pasha. She is a very sweet dog, and if we can get her to stop chewing the harness, we’ll be able to let her stay outside all day. We still haven’t gotten enough of the fence repaired to have the dogs out unchained. Brandy of course is NOT happy about having to share her people with other dogs. Oh well.

School board life has been… interesting. Yeah, that’s a good word for it. Interesting. It is taking up a bit more of my life than I expected. Granted, the district has some major issues and we need to be a proactive board instead of seven bodies in chairs. I’ve gotten my desk in the office fixed up pretty well too. There is a lot of stuff and now I have two desks to spread it out across.

Hopefully, this weekend we will be able to get some work done on the Wendy House. It has been cold or I’ve been too busy to do anything. My luck, it will snow. 🙂

Wendy House deconstruction

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Ah, the world of deconstruction moves on. I’ve gotten curtains up in the main room and Bryan and Dan have started digging the ditch for the water and sewer pipes. This has taken longer than expected as the ground was rock hard. Luckily we’ve had some rain and that helped.

I also changed around the entrance so that we had a place to put shoes and stuff.

Then the fun bit… Bryan and Dan were digging yesterday and Bryan caught Dan falling on video. He didn’t do any more work on the ditch after that.

 

Changes to the Wendy House.

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Life has been interesting. Dan and I moved into the Wendy House and Bryan and Katie have the main house. Of course this requires upgrades and renovations.A lot of work that we are doing is literally repairing what has already been done.  We’ve been doing demolition and repair work this last week. I now have a bedroom, an office, a quasi work area and a spot that will be a bathroom. Eventually. As I told Dan, rainwater running down the walls does not equal running water. Ahem. The one side has a leak and we put a bucket under it. Where is the bucket? In the bathroom. Hence the running water jokes. Here are some pictures.

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We still have lots of work to do. Dan and Bryan put in a French Drain on the one wall and drifted the bricks back into place. The hill had shoved them out of true. Then the mortar work… Fixed the front step too. We are seeing how much work we can do without having to spend any money at this point. We have some lumber and have lots of dirt work to do. Wheee…

 

Out like a Lion!

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Well, at least a windy one. It’s about 70 degrees and the wind is a light breeze at 22mph! Such fun to be hauling trash in an open truck with this breeze! Dan, Morgan and I loaded the truck. Dan and Morgan have taken the stuff to the dump, aka the waste transfer station. Then they will pick up a load from Yolanda’s and take it to the dump. 🙂 She had some trashy tenants.

After they get back and we have some lunch, It will be time to work on the Wendy House a bit more. Most likely we will work on emptying the shed and getting ready to rebuild it. Plus start lifting the brick so we can dig on the one side of the house to lay the new plumbing. Wheee… Argh. Where oh where are the boys when I need them for sweat equity labor?

I’m glad Morgan can help. She is on spring break. Otherwise most of it would be done just by Dan as I am achy. Sort of feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. ugh.

We also plan to re-dye Morgan’s hair. Her mom took her to a salon and they got her hair dyed. It turned out much brassier than redder. Ugh. Not a good combo for Morgan. Her mom said to just let it grow out. No, I don’t think so. So, Dan bought hair day and we will do that today. 🙂

Last but not least, my writers block on my one story has begun to lift! Wheeee!!!!