- Watermelons
- Gooseberries
- Currents
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Cranberries
- Peaches
- Plums
- Apples
]]>
As you can see, this actually did require some very physical labor since the boards were being held down by 4 inch nails. And when we were taking the damaged boards off, we were pretty surprised to find that the floor underneath is completely sand. Apparently they used to just fill up around the floor beams with sand which kept everything stable and insulated the floors as well...and of course it was rather cheap and natural so it's hard to go wrong there.
A few of the beams we needed to piece together with smaller scraps since they had shifted a bit and we needed to flip all of the beams over since they were covered with nails which didn't come out when we pried the boards off. We also had to replace the beam on the far right side which had so much water damage. This meant digging out quite a bit of sand which we ended up putting in the barn and will be using to fill in the floor later on when we lay the old bricks down out there.
Once we got all of the beams resituated and leveled out, we started with laying the new floors and we luckily were able to find floors which are a close match to those in the living room. We imagine that the other half of the floors in the former dining room will be the same color as those and therefore the new pieces we have installed should match up nicely...but we won't know until Macky gets his sanding guys in there to finish things up.
Laying the entire new floor took us about 4 hours and after all the work we'd already done earlier in the day, I'm almost surprised we finished. There was a period of time when we were about one-third done when I was pretty ready to call it quits...but it was actually only 5:30 pm and that's just not a proper time to stop so we kept on going. I'm quite glad we did since we were in the groove then and things seemed to go faster after that. Who knew we could be so handy with circular saw, a few hammers and a nail set...and of course a mommy who knows how to do all this stuff lol.
]]>They have closed up most of the bricks on the driveway finally so we can get that trash container out of there and probably order another new one very shortly after we move in if not before. We're planning to order one for our rental house as well since we need to dispose of our old kitchen which was in the garage and suffered some water damage last winter as well as a few other things which are garbage. We figure it will be easier to do it this was instead of via the regular large trash pick-up scheduling since I think we've missed the one for January already anyway and don't want the landlord to try to bill us for that clean-up process. But it was a good thing that we had the trash container at the farm over the holidays anyway since we did a whole lot of clean-up and wouldn't have had any place to put all the trash from ripped up the floor and all that.
Macky should be finished with the tiling today and hopefully can also install the door leading from the new kitchen into the pantry/mud room. He is going to have his sanding guys come out hopefully later this week and take care of the new floors and sand down the old wood floor we found in the dining room. Then there will be the new bathroom upstairs to worry with. We are still waiting to hear about the shower's expected delivery date and have to determine what sort of wall tiles we'll use in the shower but otherwise he should be good to go. We're not overly stressed about him getting it all in there before we move in although it would be very nice...but at least we have another bathroom in the house already in case the new one isn't quite finished...
]]>
Since my mom was here over the holidays and she has a lot more experience renovating homes than we do, we spent quite a bit of time over at the house discussing options for the farm and especially the build out of the attic into a master suite. When we originally discussed this with our architect, his idea was to build a wall to break the room into two pieces and make the smaller part into a huge walk-in closet. This plan sounded really great to us since one thing we will certainly need there is closet space. But after talking with my mom, she helped us to realize that if we split the closet area in two, we will still have more than enough room for a large closet and a bathroom with a shower. Needless to say this last option is even more favorable to us which would give us a 3 bedroom, 3 bath home and we all know how that will improve the value of the home in the long run...and it will also make life a lot easier for us when we have guests visiting since the only other bathing location is the huge tub downstairs and it really isn't all that practical which would usually result in everyone sharing the shower.
In the plans below, you can see what the architect originally laid out for us. On the left is the bedroom ("Schlaf") and on the right the closet ("Ankleide"). With our new idea, we will take the upper half of the closet, building a wall along the stairs and a wall level with the window in the wall to the right. Then in that space we will have a nice little bathroom. Then there will be a hall which will face the closets which will be closed off with sliding doors or something similar.
Macky originally said we would need to add about 15 cm of insulation and floor on top of the existing floor in the attic. But we've inspected it closer and now believe that we don't actually need to lay down any new insulation and can actually use the majority of the floor which is currently up there. A good portion of the floor on the bath/closet side is covered by bricks and the rest are wide wooden planks. On the bedroom side, almost the entire floor is wooden planks. So this means all we need to do is sand down the floors and seal them and we imagine that they will end up looking very close to the staircase which has been refinished going up to the attic. We actually thought we would need to rebuild the staircase there but Macky told his guys to go ahead and sand it down since we had some overage on what we'd paid him already and we discovered that the stairs are actually very beautiful hardwood floors, which could be oak (I'm guessing).
Macky also told us that we could take out some of the support beams of the house up there and run a steel beam down each side of the roof instead for support. There are also quite a few loft beams running across the ceiling which we already are fairly certain we can take out since everyone we've talked to thus far has said that would be fine. But now we're thinking we won't actually even need the steel beams but can instead just cut out a portion of one of the existing beams to give us a normal room height and then we can put in angle irons for support if we need. So we'll need to talk to some experts and probably call the structural engineer again but at least then we'll know for certain what is possible and necessary. We've definitely had some radical new ideas and we're really excited about them plus we intend to do a large portion of the work ourselves which means plenty of new pictures and experiences...
Oh and when my mom and I were upstairs on yesterday, we managed to lock ourselves in the attic lol. So that would be two attics which I've been locked in now. Thankfully there was some sort of tool in one of the window sils upstairs and I was able to get the door open from the inside. Thanks again, Arthur, for always looking out for us.
]]>Here's the saga:
On November 24th, we went to IKEA and ordered our entire kitchen. The kitchen we selected is generally in stock but there were a few pieces missing so they told us they would order the entire kitchen and have it all delivered to us at once. Excellent, we thought...just as long as it was there in time for Christmas. We were promised that this would be no issue at all by the sales guy (although they really don't sell anything there so perhaps that is the wrong term for them) and we went along our merry way. Our order did state that the kitchen would be delivered in the 2nd calendar week of 2007 which should have been our first indication that we might have issues but we trusted that what he was telling us would indeed be correct.
So a few weeks pass and we're starting to get anxious. You may recall that we originally intended to have the entire kitchen finished by Christmas and actually even hoped that we would be able to celebrate the holidays there and perhaps even cook in that kitchen. I know, a bit ambitious on our parts but we were crazy and excited so we remained hopeful even if it was a stretch. Anyways, I called IKEA sometime around the second full week of December and got a guy on the phone who looked up our order and assured me that it would be delivered on December 19th. He was very competant, actually noticed I was a native English speaker and spoke incredible English and I stupidly forgot to ask his name for the future. But then again, I thought all was well and we were going to be getting our kitchen next week.
Well, we never got a call from IKEA or the delivery company so we called again. This time, we were told that two of the items in the order were back-ordered and they would hold up the entire order...but everything else was good to go. Naturally we told them, cancel those two pieces and send out the rest of the kitchen. We were again assured this would be no problem and they would call us back to confirm everything. Two days passed, no one called so this time hubby got to call. He is much more aggressive on the phone since he knows the language much better than me and he has a very good ability to get what he wants from most people...
This time, they told us that it would be impossible for them to cancel those two items from the order without cancelling and re-entering the whole order...or sending the request through their main office. We of course didn't care how it would be done, we just wanted to get the kitchen there.
So, we decided to take matters into our own hands and on December 18th rented a van so we could go pick up whatever they had at our local store from the kitchen we'd ordered. As it turned out, they had almost everything there and about 10 pieces needed to come in still but would be reserved for us when they arrived. It was a lot of stuff to move into and out of the van and we needed to transport some of it in the Defender as well but we figured that all-in-all it was worth it.
Once we had everything (well, almost everything), we called IKEA and told them to cancel the order. Ok, sure, seems simple enough. No more calls from them, everything seems to be in order and life resumes as normal while we wait for the last few pieces of the kitchen and for Macky to finish the tile so we can assemble everything (by now we've established that putting together the kitchen before Christmas is not going to work because the tile won't be finished).
Unfortunately, last week we got a call from IKEA again saying that although we'd cancelled the order, we would still need to pay the delivery fee since that is done through an outside company and they still get paid regardless. Um, riiiight. So hubby gets on the phone again and is informed that if we will not pay the shipping fee we will still have to pay an order cancellation fee (first time we heard about that one) and therefore we should just deal with it. Lovely.
So we figure that things are finally resolved with all this, we have to pay the €79 delivery fee which we'd already paid anyway and I figured it would be a mission to get the money back anyway so we're fine and just want the hassle behind us.
BUT today I get yet another phone call (I actually have hubby's cell phone with me otherwise he would have gotten the call and might have killed the woman on the phone) and this time it's the delivery service. They want to know if they can deliver our kitchen on January 24th. Um, no. So just to be certain it's not the other pieces we had on back-order, I ask her to tell me what exactly it is they want to deliver...and she starts rattling off things which obviously set off alarm bells in my head like dishwasher, sink, stove top and so on...which we have already collected from our local store on December 18th. So I told her we have cancelled the order numerous times and she can send it all back to them...which hopefully means that the other pieces of our kitchen will shortly be available as well. Talk about chaos...
I guess I just can't understand how a company that more-or-less prides themselves on being so organized when it comes to packaging things just so and their whole logistics process and all that, can have such a disorganized system when it comes to orders...or perhaps it's just a complete lack of training and/or intelligence on the staff's part...I just don't know. But as I said before, I will really think twice about ordering things in the future that I can't just immediately take with me...and I certainly won't think about trying to order something over Christmas because it just seems completely dillusional now that the items would arrive on time.
But the better news is that we will actually be able to begin building our kitchen together this weekend since Macky should be more than finished with the tile by then and hubby is taking Friday off so we have 3 full days to build kitchen cabinets until our hands fall off...so I'm off to charge the drills so we're fully prepared to screw everything together with the utmost of ease lol.]]>
While my mom was here, she offered to help us fix it. Thankfully there are a few extra pieces of carpet downstairs which we were able to use to repair the hole. This was definitely not an easy task since the carpet is extremely low pile, almost like commercial carpet, and apparently about 20 years old making it relatively brittle. Anyway, my mom worked wonders and we finally managed to get the thing into place and looking as good as it possibly could.
We started cleaning everything up and were admiring our work. It was just about time for hubby to come home when we looked down at the step and noticed there was a chunk of the carpet missing again, right over the corner of the step. Not 20 minutes after we'd replaced the carpet, she had eaten a hole in the thing again. Which gains her the right to sleep in her box until we move since we can't have her destroying stuff in the house we'll need to repair right before we move...we simply don't have the time. Hopefully everything else will survive before the move and she won't decide she needs to start eating the moving boxes as well...we need all of them we can get at this point.]]>
While my mom was here, she offered to help us fix it. Thankfully there are a few extra pieces of carpet downstairs which we were able to use to repair the hole. This was definitely not an easy task since the carpet is extremely low pile, almost like commercial carpet, and apparently about 20 years old making it relatively brittle. Anyway, my mom worked wonders and we finally managed to get the thing into place and looking as good as it possibly could.
We started cleaning everything up and were admiring our work. It was just about time for hubby to come home when we looked down at the step and noticed there was a chunk of the carpet missing again, right over the corner of the step. Not 20 minutes after we'd replaced the carpet, she had eaten a hole in the thing again. Which gains her the right to sleep in her box until we move since we can't have her destroying stuff in the house we'll need to repair right before we move...we simply don't have the time. Hopefully everything else will survive before the move and she won't decide she needs to start eating the moving boxes as well...we need all of them we can get at this point.]]>
The sander was also already working and apparently did the majority of the work yesterday or early this morning. He was sanding the corners and edges when we arrived and even managed to lacquer it before he left today...which is perfect timing since they will be starting the painting on Monday and we really hoped to have that done so they can paint in there first and we can move all the office furniture in there from the start.
We also discussed the bathroom upstairs which they will begin working on next week. Macky will be building a stepped wall all the way around the room which should look really nice. The shower will hopefully be delivered next week as well (the sooner the better) and they already have the toilet here. He thinks he may manage to finish it next week as well so we may just happen to finish everything before we move in. They are also going to put the starting drainage system for the bathroom we will add in the attic which will make things much easier when we start that project.
Here's our progress from today. We're not quite half finished but we ran into a few complications along the way. Let's just start by saying I definitely understand why people pay to have their kitchens assembled for them now. The instructions are less than clear in many instances and I consider myself to be quite experienced in reading IKEA. But they do strange things like putting special instructions on how to install the cabinet to hold the Domsjö sink (I think it's called) inside the box holding the sink and not in the instructions which come with the actual cabinet.
We also ran into some larger problems when we realized we had hardly any of the fronts to the drawers and it's rather impossible to install the drawer without having any idea what the drawer front heights are. And it turned out that many of the cabinets we ordered are not in the regular IKEA catalog or in the kitchens catalog. We actually had to make a trip to IKEA because we only had the regular catalog here with us...I stupidly left the others at home, assuming the instructions with the kitchen would give us pictures of how all these funky little cabinets with all the special features should be assembled. Unfortunately, they did not have the Faktum kitchen pieces catalog which has pictures of two of the tall cabinets we need to assemble and we have no clue how all the pieces are supposed to fit together. So tomorrow we'll have to make a trip back to the house to pick up that catalog before we can get things finished. But they did have quite of a few of the drawer fronts we needed and we also found out our new oven is there waiting for us. So tomorrow we will go pick that up (we had the other oven and microwave in the Defender already) as well as the bathroom cabinets and sink and the drawer pulls and door knobs so we can actually start using the kitchen. We certainly have enough things we'll be putting in there.
]]>At 1:30 pm, we had managed to build another two cabinets (that seems so pathetic but one of them was pretty big and there were lots of drawers which take a while to assemble) and then we realized that we didn't have enough feet to get the rest of the cabinets in the island to stand up together to the same height. The other half of the island cabinets are actually wall cabinets and don't have the holes for the feet which I guess is why they didn't give us the feet along with the order even though we told him how we intended to use the cabinets.
So this meant we needed to make a run to Hagebau (the little home improvement store about 10 minutes from us which is getting a ton of business lately - think Ace Hardware) where we hoped to find feet which would allow us to achieve the same height as the feet we'd already installed on the rest of the cabinets. Naturally, that was not an option and the feet we already have will only go so high which meant we needed all new feet for the island(24 in total). This also means the island will be a bit higher than the rest of the cabinets but we're thinking this will be rather beneficial since both of us are pretty tall and we've commented a few times that the cabinets in our current house are a bit too low when you're cutting things and so on...so we'll see what this new experience will yield.
We'll also have to come up with a new trim for the bottom of the cabinets since the one we bought which matches the cabinets will be too short now and they don't make them in other widths (that we know of). Why not just leave it open? Well we could do that but we'd end up growing another Newfie under there in a matter of days and unfortunately most of the feet are mix and match under the cabinets since we practically had to buy our their entire stock of feet. We also had to get a bit creative when we realized that the little screw in adjustment feet which go into the bottom of the foot itself had two different sized screws...and of course only some of them actually fit the feet we had. Going back to Hagebau was not an option because we bought all the screw in feet that they had in stock (hence we ended up with the wrong ones I guess) and we really didn't have the time to keep making trips here and there.
Our final solution came as one of those light bulb moments like you see in cartoons with it suddenly blinking on over your head...why not use a bolt to secure the foot screw in place and then we would once again have the correct heights all around the island.
A few hours later, we were finally ready to call it quits. The entire island had been constructed and the first oven installed as well as the hanging cabinets to go on the wall above the sink. Of course that wasn't totally without a bit of drama as well. I apparently ordered the wrong width on a few of the cabinets and we didn't think to double check it until it was too late. So we decided to keep the wider cabinets and will buy a shelf for the end to match up the length...another trip to IKEA is in the very near future.
Ayla stayed nearby during most of the project and made sure we were doing everything right. Thank goodness we ended up with such a mellow dog who can be content sleeping in the cold corner while anchored to the new radiators. We unfortunately couldn't let her roam freely in the house because the guy had sealed the floors and we didn't want her to mess anything up but she accepted the fate well.
]]>There seem to be about a million things that we need to get done in the upcoming week but so far we're not stressing out too much. Thankfully if we just don't have enough time to get everything out of the house, we still have another full week and weekend to take care of a few things (like finishing the painting of the former theatre room downstairs and replacing the carpet on stair AGAIN because Ayla ate a whole in it again just minutes after my mom repaired it for us)...and hopefully they will be able to finish up all the major stuff on the farm this week like the bathroom upstairs so we can move in smoothly and without too much chaos.]]>
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout...! Run right back and make friends.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.
Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.]]>
We're really looking forward to moving to the farm since she'll soon be able to spend more time outside in the cold without being tied to something. At the moment there's still tons of stuff outside and inside which aren't suitable at all for her to get her mouth on but a lot of it is Macky's so that should all be gone relatively soon as well. Needless to say I think we're all looking forward to the move although the cats still aren't fully informed and we are probably going to have some interesting integrations going on but perhaps the change will be what they need to finally reach a truce.]]>
We're really looking forward to moving to the farm since she'll soon be able to spend more time outside in the cold without being tied to something. At the moment there's still tons of stuff outside and inside which aren't suitable at all for her to get her mouth on but a lot of it is Macky's so that should all be gone relatively soon as well. Needless to say I think we're all looking forward to the move although the cats still aren't fully informed and we are probably going to have some interesting integrations going on but perhaps the change will be what they need to finally reach a truce.]]>
We were concerned about there not being any hot water pipes in the kitchen for the sink and such but Macky is going to install a water heater for us under the sink since it would be inefficient to pull the hot water from the house system being that it's not incredibly far away. The guys seem to be making progress on the bathroom as well and I'm really hoping they call soon about the delivery of the shower.
After visiting the farm, I headed over to IKEA to pick up the oven, door grips (which will make using the kitchen cabinets quite a bit easier) and the furniture for the bathroom upstairs. Unfortunately, the smaller cabinet we were intending to use to balance out the kitchen cabinets doesn't come in the same finish as our kitchen so we're going to have to come up with something there...what we're not really sure of yet but it's one of our lessor worries at the moment. This IKEA was also missing the cabinet which goes under the sink for the bathroom so I will eventually need to hit up another IKEA store sometime this week which is supposed to have the cabinet in stock.
Then it was back to the farm to drop everything off (except the oven which I barely got in the truck myself and will certainly need some help to get it into the farm) and off to Hornbach. I needed to pick up a furniture dolly to make the move go a bit smoother and quicker and a couple wardrobe boxes to move our clothes in.
I couldn't believe how well Ayla was taking all the stops this time around. She slept pretty much the entire time, whether I was driving or in the store or wherever. Again I have to be thankful for such an easy-going dog.
I'm back at the house finally and going to try to get a few more boxes packed and see if there's anything else I can cross off my list of To Do's. Tomorrow will be another full day as the container should be delivered in the morning and I figure I'll start moving some of the stuff from the horse stalls into the barn and attic so we can use that room for storage of a few things if we need to...and because most of that stuff really doesn't need to be in there. If not that room, I'll probably end up trying to rearrange stuff in Storage Rooms A, B & C which are a bit of a mess now and there's quite a bit of space that's not being used very well. But regardless of what I end up doing, I will most likely just need to make sure I keep on moving because it's quite cold again here in Germany. We've got temps below freezing at night and around 45 during the day...and since the heaters still need to be blown out at the house to get rid of any stoppages, many of the doors are being left open because of the dust being created while these guys are working, and
because of the number of people working, it's just not comfortable for me to hang out there and wait for the container guy to show up, which could be anywhere from 9 am until noon.
Once that task is completed, I may travel to the other IKEA to pick up the sink cabinet since I want Macky to mount that for us if possible...and the more pieces of the bathroom we have here and completed, the better our chances are that it will be finished when we move in.
There's still quite a few boxes to be packed all over the place as well so I guess I'll fill up the last of the boxes we have here and make a trip to OBI eventually for more boxes....but at least the list of things to get done is growing shorter and the number of things left to pack is getting smaller.]]>
One day, she said something which has really stuck with me and has become a bit of a motto or even mantra while we've been working on the house lately. She told me that when I was growing up, she would constantly discourage my father to give me coloring books because she wanted me to learn to color outside of the lines and create my own pictures without limitations. Especially while building the kitchen, we have come up with some ideas that might have escaped kids who've grown up in the video game generation. These things were quite simple, like using a bolt to secure the adjustable feet on the kitchen island when the screws were too small to thred into the foot, but after seeing so many dim people and children on reality TV, we have begun to slightly doubt the street smarts and creativity of upcoming generations.
Take music for example. Many of the new artists are only making a name for themselves by covering versions of older hits. Many times they don't even change the feel of the song but perform it exactly like the original. How is this creative? Where is the skill and talent in performing keraoke and why are people buying these records by the millions? I know the younger generations control a lot of this but it's just rather pathetic. Looking back on music and in particular those songs from the Rolling Stone Magazine's Greatest 500 Songs of All Time List, it's incredible to hear the talent and creativity of the artists. These people revolutionized music, they weren't just copying it. Sure there are some who still break barriers and bring new styles...and I realize there doesn't seem to be much anymore that is undiscovered, but why do we need to hear the same stuff over and over again? How many cover versions must the world endure??
OK, I've gotten a bit off topic...the point is, don't ever let yourself just keep thinking within the coloring lines and within the box. Let yourself conquer little hurdles so the big ones get easier. Let the rule of "no coloring books" be ever-present in your mind and help you to push yourself harder to find a solution with the things you have and not with what you don't.]]>
The painters have also started making some good progress and have moved on to room 2 of 4 today as they have the majority of the walls finished in the living room as far as removing the old paper is concerned. They showed me a few wall textures this morning so I need to decide on something later today before I leave so they can get that moving along as well. We are thinking as little texture as possible at this point since we don't really want to wall texture to distract from the room itself.
I'm really hoping the container guy shows up soon. I have another 1 1/2 hours to wait max so it's anyone's guess when he'll finally get here. I planned to start cleaning out the storage rooms and shifting things around in there, taking stuff to the attic and barn and so...but it turns out that there isn't all that much which can be done to help those rooms at the moment. I did make a major impact in A since there were a lot of free shelves and plenty of things to put in them but the others show little improvement at all. It's cold out still and I'm not really feeling motivated to lug around heavy stuff so I guess I will just try to catch up on some other work while I wait...at least I'm not underfoot at the moment since the kitchen is essentially finished and with Macky not being here, there's really not much going on in here at all.]]>
The pictures aren't so great because she was being camera shy again but basically the drawer on the bottom became a Newfie-sized snow cone...without the flavoring lol. She also got her first interaction with the hair dryer which she's only seen from a distance in the past and wasn't quite sure if it was attacking me or not...but with all the ice to eat, she eventually just didn't care anymore. At least one member of the family is happy that frost-free fridges are not super popular over here...now if I could just get her to clean the frost out on a regular basis ;-)
]]>They are definitely doing a lot of work on the bathroom upstairs and since they already have the drywall up there, they just moved the metal studs up there as well and I hope that means that they are going to start building out the side step in the wall which is a very good thing since I'm guessing that will be the most time consuming part of the project since it will go all the way around the room...aside from laying the tile which is certainly a much smaller job than downstairs but since he has to cut each tile almost all the way through or risk breaking them, it's still a pain. Now if we could just get the shower here so he can lay that in before doing the rest of the tile, I'm relatively certain he would be happier...but we're still holding out hope that it will arrive before the end of the week and hopefully not hamper the progress too much...and of course we can certainly finish it up next week if need be since we thankfully have a full bath downstairs which is finished although lacking a standing shower...but we can't have it all sometimes. There's still some hope of just managing to pull it all off....]]>
I waited and waited for the container guy to show up. Finally after waiting three hours and past their usual time frame, I decided I was ready to get out of there since there wasn't really much I could do besides surf the web. It was good that I was there for a while though because our painter friend came by to check on his crew and asked a few questions about things so at least I was there and he didn't need to track Stefan down since he's still in the middle of this conference. And I figure the faster they get the answers they need, the sooner they can get things finished ;-)
I managed to get a few photos before I left. The house is looking worse than ever lol. But at least once the trash is off the floor and you can see the wood again and the walls are painted, it's going to look fantastic and all the wall textures will finally match...what an interesting concept ;-)
As I was taking photos, I also noticed that Macky had managed to close up around the drain pipe for the bathroom upstairs. Apparently he was rather productive yesterday with several little projects as well which are often the ones that go unnoticed...which I am definitely feeling now with all the packing going on and other chaos.
When I went upstairs to ask him to watch out for the container, I also found that they were finished with the step on the first wall and already framing the second...which means that they should be well underway with that tomorrow and possibly about ready to start finishing out the walls already. I also talked to him about the heaters because it's incredibly cold in the house with people coming and going all the time...and because most of the heaters are not at full warmth. He added two new radiators in the kitchen but our heating system should have no trouble working those in with the others. The problem apparently lies with there being too much sediment in the water system and it's clogging up the pipes. So Macky is using a pump to push everything through the system but he wasn't having any success yesterday so he decided to consult a professional...never a bad idea if you're not really clear if you're doing the right thing...but he is indeed on the case and I'm extremely hopeful that by the time we move in and are ready to sleep there on Saturday that we will not be freezing anymore.]]>
This morning hubby tried to reserve our moving van for Friday and Saturday...and thought he'd successfully accomplished that until the rental company called to say that they didn't actually have one of those vehicles available for us. So he called another branch of that same company and they also had nothing for us. Apparently their website isn't linked to their availability booking system so you can technically reserve anything you want but that doesn't mean you're going to get it in the end...sounds smart to me...or something.
So he ended up calling a competitor and surprisingly enough got a very competent guy on the phone who ended up getting us the truck for about half the price that we thought we would originally pay...which we certainly won't argue with. Plus it's actually more convenient for us to pick the truck up which is very good as well.
My call for the day was to Hornbach, one of our local home improvement stores, where we've ordered our shower. We were told (it's even printed on the bill) that they should receive the shower by Dec 22, 2006. When I ordered the shower in the store, the guy even told me we should most likely get it earlier because of the holidays and we could expect it the week of the 17th. Awesome...or so we thought. So Christmas and New Year's came and went and we still had no new information about the shower. I've talked to them once last week and got nothing new...so I called again this morning to see what was going on. They did actually receive shipments of showers today and yesterday...but not ours. Great. So I asked the guy what was going on since it's printed on my receipt that it should have been received on Dec. 22. He started to get indignant and said according to his computer it was supposed to be the first week of January...but according to my calendar, that still makes it two weeks late. So the best he could tell me was we might get something else before Friday since most orders some in on Wednesday and Thursday so you can call back then. Right. He was less than encouraging about that and so I guess I will be pretty shocked if they call tomorrow to say it's arrived. Whether or not they would still be able to deliver it this weekend he also wasn't sure of...not how I wanted to start the day.
As you might notice, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment but there is honestly very little we can do ourselves to push things forward. I'm fairly certain Macky and the painters made some very good progress yesterday after I left and hopefully they will be really far along when I go back out there tomorrow. I think I just need some distance from it all at the moment. These past two days have felt like an entire week and I'm just feeling totally drained.
So I'm not going to the house today to check progress. I will instead take it relatively easy, go try to find some more decent packing boxes and hopefully pack up the majority of the things still around so at least that worry can be gone. And when I go to the house tomorrow, there will hopefully be tons of progress and perhaps even the first room or two will be ready to have things moved into it...and whatever they don't finish - well, the house is going to be a work in progress for years to come so if we have to live in slight chaos for another week or two, so be it. All we really, really want is to have the rooms painted so we can move all the furniture and boxes to the rooms they actually belong in and not have to do a lot of shuffling later on. And as for the bathroom, we've been cutting it tight on that project for a while now. If the shower was here already and sitting at the farm, I would be very hopeful that they'd be able to finish it up...but with no shower, well I guess we're just going to have to wait and see how things develop.]]>
We headed out to the house in the morning, keeping a close eye on our watches because we didn't want to stay out into the afternoon. The news here is full of the approaching hurricane "Kyrill" which is expected to bring winds up to 90 mph and plenty of rain. We always figured if we ever experienced a hurricane it would be while we were living in Florida...but we never guessed it would be while we were living in Germany. This storm essentially covered all of Europe at one point and has caused damage all over the place. Hubby's parents were also planning to drive up already tonight so they could start helping tomorrow with the move but we all decided it would be much safer if they stayed home until Friday when the winds were supposed to die down.
Once at the farm, we checked up on the painters who had definitely not progressed as far as we would have liked. The living room was mostly finished and being painted but the soon-to-be office was still having wallpaper removed along with the room in front of it. To say we were concerned is probably an understatement...but we were still thinking perhaps they would pull off a miracle since they've known for over a month that we planned to move in soon and would be doing so this weekend. So I guess it will be interesting to see how far they get tomorrow...
Macky has also made some good progress. He has the entire bathroom framed out with drywall upstairs so he only needs to put on the plaster and wall tile for that part to be finished. Naturally the shower is still not here so Hornbach is going to be getting a call from hubby very soon who will not sound happy on the phone at all. But at least we have one clean, functional bathroom to use once we get moved in.
Tomorrow we pick up the moving van and at 4 pm we can pick up the carpet cleaner as well. And on Saturday morning, Macky is lending us two of his guys to help with the move since we have lots of heavy furniture and a tiny staircase in the farm which will take some careful maneuvering to say the least. Going to be a very full couple of days coming up indeed.]]>
Hubby's parents were also there when we arrived as they finally drove up this morning to help out. The weather ended up sounding worse than it was although it was very, very windy and it's better to play it safe when things like that are going on. The only damage the farm seems to have suffered during the storm is the loss of one of the roof shingles running along the edge of the top of the barn. We found it broken on the ground but all others seem to be fine and we haven't noticed any leaks or anything like that so far either.
What we also found as far as progress from the painter was extremely disappointing. It turns out they hadn't even started the two bedrooms upstairs and had only put plaster on one half of the office area downstairs. Actually, the entire office was already plastered but the rest of the room where the dining room used to be and the breakthrough is now had received no new attention. The living room was totally finished and looked absolutely fantastic but it's certainly not big enough to hold all of our furniture from our old house. And the painters themselves were no where to be seen. So a very disgruntled hubby called the painter, who happens to be the father of a good friend of ours (yes, our first mistake) and asked what was going on. He first told us that the work-week ends for them at noon on Friday - wow, what a life. He then said that we at least had one room we could move into (out of 4) and the rest would get finished when it was finished. Definitely no "customer is king" policy here.
I guess at this point I need to go a bit further back in time. This painter has known since September that he would be doing this job. We talked to him again in December and he told us then that he would be starting during the first week of January. We couldn't start any sooner because the floors were still be sanding and lacquered and this would cause so much dust that we decided waiting would be the best choice.
The first week of January then came and went. So we called him again and he brought by a paint sample book so we could pick out wall colors. We decided going stark white would be the best bet for the time being since we really aren't sure what we'll end up doing with some of our furniture and so on. So then he tells us that he's not going to be able to start the job until February...to which we replied that this would not work at all for our schedule since we need to be out of our rental house by the end of January. His reason for not being able to start sooner is because he has recently gotten a rather large commercial contract and they are really monopolizing a lot of his time and his workers. But he said that we were friends and therefore he'd make the time to get our job done. He figured that he could finish at least 3 of the rooms before our deadline if not all of them. Sounded great to us.
Unfortunately, we all know how that story ended. They couldn't pull it off and we're wishing we just let Macky do it from the beginning since it definitely all would have gotten finished in our 5 day time frame, even if it killed him. We told the painters to come and get their stuff since they had no viable solution for us aside from "we'll get to it when we get to it" and I guess they will be here promptly Monday morning. Hopefully the painter doesn't go crazy when he starts calculating the costs of this job - it's not as if he's ever cut us any favors in the past anyway. But the part that really gets to us is that he took on the job without really considering whether he could accomplish it. He told us that he'd probably be finished with everything within the week and they weren't even half way there. And if he'd just told us that he had too much on his plate already and just couldn't fit it in, we would have been fine with that and gotten Macky to do it or whatever. We were very happy to find that the job turned out to be simpler than we first thought since there were some thoughts that some of the walls might start decomposing a little when the paper was pulled off but that hasn't been the case at all.
Because we already had the rental van and everything else ready (including hiring two of Macky's guys to help us move the big stuff tomorrow), hubby and I decided we would give the rooms upstairs a quick touch up paint job just to cover up the stains on the walls and paint the office walls as well which had already been plastered. So off we went to the home improvement store to pick up a few paintrollers from Wagner
that suck the paint in like a syringe and painted the upper floor. Then we'd be hoping that Macky could come up with some time to redo the entry for us (which has a really terrible wall texture on it at the moment) and finish the unfinished room that the painters left behind.As for doing final finishing touches on the two bedrooms upstairs, we are still planning to build out the attic at some point (hopefully later this year) so we figure that when we get that finished, we will just remove the wallpaper ourselves and either learn to do the plaster or get Macky to help, then paint it ourselves. It's not rocket science and we've become quite proficient these days at all sorts of home improvement things. Then we can move stuff from the other bedroom into our old bedroom and redo that room and so on.
Anyway, we'd hoped to get almost all the boxes out of the house to bring to the farm already so there would really only be big stuff left to take care of tomorrow. Needless to say, we didn't get in more than one trip today because we had to do the painting but the rental van is rather huge and we still ended up packing almost all the boxes from the downstairs room in there which was quite an accomplishment. Things are starting to look like a war zone here and I'm certain it will only get more chaotic here tomorrow. Hopefully the day will yield more progress and less surprises for us, though.
]]>So hubby's parents were on cleaning detail while they were here. Not only did they clean at the rental house but they cleaned at the farm as well. Since neither hubby nor I are really big on cleaning in general, this was a huge help for us since we won't need to spend a day doing it right before moving out (since we already have plenty to take care of next weekend with needing to finish painting the basement and repairing the carpet as well as steam cleaning the carpets throughout the house). We were able to focus on trying to keep the moving process flowing smoothly and they went room to room to make sure the rooms were ready for us to move stuff into and clean once everything was out.
It essentially took us 3 trips to move all the big furniture. It truly was amazing how much stuff could be packed into the moving van (think European style, as in a full size Mercedes van but extra long - no big U-Hauls here since most people don't have the correct driver's license to use them) and these guys just didn't quit, especially the Moroccan. Their packing style was a bit chaotic at times but nothing was severely damaged (a few dings and dents which almost always happen while moving) and they were more careful than our last movers which we paid more than 3x as much for. They also managed to get it done in about 10 hours versus the 24 which it took our movers last time...and we have even more junk this time around lol.
They called it quits after the second run. One of the guys wanted to spend time with his 3 month old daughter since this was his first official day off in months although the Moroccan would probably have worked long into the night and offered to help us again tomorrow. But we figure we can manage without him. But we are going to prolong the rental on the van for one more day because there is still quite a bit of smaller stuff there which we need to pack up and it will go a lot quicker with the van since we can pack so much in there. But hopefully after that run, everything will be moved over aside from a few computers and things which need to be moved more safely.
We are going to be very happy when this is all over. Things are just stacked everywhere and we've filled up our storage rooms to almost overflowing. It's not a matter of not having space right now, it's more that we just have so much stuff that we aren't quite sure what to do with yet that we're stashing stuff here and there just so it's out of the way so we can bring in more things.
We are definitely going to be living in chaos for a while longer though. We haven't ordered our countertop yet and it turns out that Macky put the connection for the dishwasher behind where we've installed the dishwasher and it actually sticks out so far that we have to move the entire counter out about 2 inches from the wall. This is just not going to do so we've got to have that moved in the coming week as well so we can finally get the counter ordered...which will hopefully arrive in 2 weeks although I'm thinking 3 is more realistic at this point. There are also still a few doors missing from our kitchen which means that one of my pantry compartments is unusable right now. The door pulls out with 4 drawers behind it, two of which will be mounted to the door, and none of the IKEA's in our area currently have them. They also haven't really been able to tell me when they might arrive so I'm a bit antsy to say the least. But I have been able to unpack a few boxes in there already and I'm starting to actually find things again which is very nice. Now we just have to figure out how we're going to cook since we don't have a counter to mount the stove into...interesting times indeed.]]>
What I did happen to take pictures of was our sleeping situation. Because the staircase here is so narrow, we have not been able to get our box spring upstairs. The mattress was a challenge in itself but at least had a bit of flexibility. There was also a couch which have us some trouble getting up the stairs but we did actually manage to get it moved up there...getting it down will probably be another story all together but we don't plan on moving it anytime soon anyway.
After taking the railing off the staircase also didn't work, we decided taking the box spring apart was our only hope. Either it would come apart easily and we could figure out how to reassemble it and use it...or we'd need to buy a new bed because we destroyed the thing and it didn't fit back together. Hubby and his dad took on this project while us girls continued cleaning and unpacking...and also did a bit of just dazing out while sitting at the dining table because we were just worn out. The guys did an amazing job of getting it back together though and it actually ended up being really great that they did because it was creaking for a while but now it's sounding perfect again and basically like new...
What else did we do today? Well, we made another run to the house to pack up more small stuff. We have finally managed to get almost everything here to the house and we also brought over the kitchen which we had in our first apartment here (you usually have to buy kitchens when you rent an apartment - they are just an empty room with the connections otherwise) but we've had it in our garage and we had a little water damage so the kitchen is not looking so hot these days. We thought we might be able to salvage part of it but after closer inspection, it looks like we won't be able to after all. So instead of ordering a trash container at the old house which we thought about previously, we just decided to bring the kitchen pieces here and throw them in the container we already have and then fill up the rest with whatever junk we have around here and boxes we've destroyed during the move.
All of our clothes are also moved now although we still have to unload some of them from the Defender and hopefully they will all fit into the built-in closets in one of the rooms upstairs. Otherwise we're probably going to have to get creative...the previous renters of our old house did leave a hanging clothes rack which we've been using to dry laundry but worst case we'll just use that for overage and hope it all fits with that added space.
Most of the old house has also been cleaned now. It's totally vacuumed and the bathrooms are clean...so we just need to finish painting the room downstairs and steam clean the carpets...and we're very much hoping that we will get all of our deposit back. We will also need to repair the carpet again from the doggo but I'm thinking we may run out of time for it so we might end up having to give him a bit of the deposit for that work.]]>
Macky also came by in the afternoon to install the drain for the dishwasher and hook up our sink and the little water heater that goes to it. Unfortunately the cool tap that we wanted to use isn't going to work because it only has two hoses and we need one with three because of the little heater...so we have a loaner for now until we find something we like better. He is also supposed to have the heater guy come out tomorrow to bring us a new pump. It's still quite cold in the house and we did a lot of playing with the heaters today which brought us a little progress but things are still not quite right there.
We didn't make any runs to the house today but instead focused on getting things cleaned up and unpacked around here. We still have a very long way to go but at least we've located everything hubby needs to be able to go back to work tomorrow (I'm very glad he didn't go back already this morning since I had no clue where most of his stuff was although I did find the iron already which is useful. And of course all his shirts were still in the bottom of the piles of clothes in the back of my Defender which still have to be unpacked.
The office is finally starting to look like a real room now...and you can actually see the furniture behind all the boxes. The same goes for the living room although we forgot several of the shelves for our DVD bookshelves and therefore have to wait to unpack a few more boxes there. We also decided last night that one of our next projects (sometime in February I guess) will be to build custom shelves for DVDs and CDs which fit under the lamps at the far end of the room. The lamps we have now are just too tall and really don't optimize the space. But we would essentially be able to fit all of our DVDs and CDs along with a few other things we think with shelves running the entire length of the wall, in total about 11 feet long and 4 feet high.
Our bedroom is also finally starting to get some order although that room actually has been the easiest since there isn't all that much furniture to deal with and certainly a lot less boxes. The cats are living in here as well so we try to keep things as calm as possible for them. They were a bit disturbed by the painters coming to get their stuff and haven't really returned back to normal yet (whatever normal is for them) but we are going to try to give them a chance to really explore the house in the following days after we've installed the doggy gates. We also want to wait a bit until the workers have finished most things up since that will only cause them more trauma.
Then there's our sort of "catch all" room which we originally thought about making into a theatre room until we realized we probably wouldn't really use it. We will likely make it into a guest bedroom at some point but there are closets at one end right now (thankfully since that is where our clothes are - which all happened to fit in there) but the bed should really be situated where the closets are for the room to really flow correctly. Unfortunately the closets are built into the wall and there is no flooring under them so that will be yet another project for the distant future. As you can see, it's a total wreck but it's probably going to stay that way for a while as well since the things in there are very low on the priority list, aside from organizing our clothes a bit more.
]]>On Sunday, Ayla had an accident on the kitchen floor and, since it is huge beige tiles, we clearly saw that there were a few drops of blood in her urine. She doesn't normally have accidents and this was the first once since the few she had over Christmas so we were immediately a bit on edge. Not sure whether this was a certain sign that the infection was back, we made an appointment for her on Tuesday (today) and started keeping a very close eye on her. We made sure she was drinking more water and also that we were letting her outside regularly. We are pretty sure that if the UTI is back it's our fault since we've had to keep her on a leash quite a bit with all the moving and probably haven't given her enough breaks. But she didn't complain to us or indicate that she needed to go so maybe we're just assuming the worst.
After the appointment today, the vet said that it's hard to determine whether the blood was just remnants of the heat still or whether she indeed has an infection. She thankfully didn't want to put her on any more antibiotics for the time being until we actually know if there is something wrong with her or not. But we will be going in again in 3 weeks to check things out again and hopefully I can get a better urine sample this time. I used the tried and true ladle method again which worked great but I had made the mistake of taking Ayla for a walk not too long before we left and figured she would be able to produce enough of a sample in the meantime. But I was wrong and there was only a small amount in the cup at the end. To make matters worse, while we were in the waiting room, Ayla got rather excited about some of the people in there and knocked over the sample cup with her tail. We didn't make much mess since I had a cover on it but still managed to lose the majority of the sample.
At the moment things seem totally normal with her and at least things are going to become a bit more routine again. Hopefully we won't see any more accidents and she'll be totally healthy when we have our next vet visit.]]>
After 4 hours, they had progressed this far. The start of the wall is already in, they've filled the holes in the wall with plaster and are about to start painting. Good progress has also been made in the entry way where they have made a major dent in taking off the wallpaper already. I imagine they may even be able to put up the plaster in there today and if we're really lucky, they could even paint it today although that may be stretching it....but Macky expected to have the former dining room finished up by the end of today and I think they will definitely accomplish that.
To say that they work faster than the painter is an understatement. Had we originally given the contract to Macky, there is little doubt that he would have finished everything in one week but we had him working on other things already so we weren't really sure he would have time to accomplish this as well...and of course he's told us he doesn't like painting and things along that line all that much so we figured we wouldn't bother him with it. These three guys will finish in one day what it took the painters 3 days to do. The moral of the story: be very wary of working with German contractors. So far, of the 4 contractors we've had, 2 have been German and gotten themselves fired...and 2 have been Croatian and we will continue to use them long into the future. Not only do they do the work for a great price but they are clean, fast and absolutely know what they are doing.
]]>I managed to bring back our primary work computers and hope to be able to set those back up tomorrow in the office, which actually is starting to be usable. By then Macky should be finished in the room in front of the office which means we can set up the small bookcases in there (currently in the bathroom since they were in the way in the entry hall) which I can use for magazines and other random books we've assembled (until we get the new shelves built in the living room and start rearranging everything again) and can get some more boxes out of here.
As you may be noticing, the next few months of our lives will probably involve a lot of shifting and reorganizing as things get finished and we figure out just how we want things laid out. We definitely have enough space around here for everything we have and everything we have plans for but since we only had so much time and energy for the move itself, we had to temporarily store some things here and there until we can work out all the details. So the farm itself is sort of like one of those little puzzle games where you have a picture and a few tiles which you need to keep shifting from place to place until everything lines up correctly.
Anyway, when I got back home yesterday, Macky and his guys had made very good progress. As far as I can see, they completely finished the work in the former dining room, aside from being able to cover up the drawings on the wall. Apparently at some point, the family living here before us put in a few sheets of drywall when they finished out that part of the house. At that time, they also left their mark on the property by drawing a few things, one of which was actually written in English but unfortunately we didn't manage to take pictures of it all before and it was quite hard to read. But some of the artwork must have been done with permanent markers because even though Macky painted everything yesterday, part of it showed through again. When we painted in the office, we noticed the same problem but we used something similar to Killz which can be used to cover up just about anything and it didn't show up again. So I guess we'll see how that goes and if we have to recommend our own paint to him.
Today they're working to finish up the entry hall. Now that all the old wallpaper is down, they need to do a bit of texture and repaint everything. He's also going to be putting down some new trim along the floor and he's picked out some nice moulding...I only wish we didn't have so much furniture in the office already so he could put it down in there as well...but since the walls are almost completely covered with furniture, you can hardly see them anyway.
As you can see in the picture below, he's also put drywall over the staircase which was showing here. It really makes quite a difference in appearance and should look really great when it's finished. He intended to do this at a later point but figured since he was here already, might as well take care of it now. Then he'll move the light switch over a bit so it's closer to the bathroom although we unfortunately can't move it right next to it or inside because there is a beam in the way...but after coming home and having no switch at all yesterday (he thankfully left the light on), I will just be pleased to have a switch in general.
]]>Hubby also called Hornbach today and they finally have our shower. He got the impression that they may have given the shower to someone else the first time it came in...and that they intended to give this one to someone else also. Not sure what sort of crazy system they are working on there and why they think that's acceptable but we are thankfully getting the shower delivered sometime tomorrow so we're very happy about that. So Macky will start finishing that up on Monday and should easily be finished by the end of the week, despite needing to lay a bunch of tile and all that.
I was without internet for quite a few hours yesterday so I had the opportunity to unpack some boxes. I also installed the drawers for the pantry in the kitchen because I realized that there is actually a detail sheet about it in the IKEA instruction book for the drawers. So at least a few more things could be put away and a few more boxes discarded (it's hard to see the progress at this point since there are still quite a few boxes around) and when the doors to cover those areas finally arrive, we can just put it all together rather quickly.
We are also giving back the house this weekend. We still have to finish painting one room, cut and lay a new piece of carpet on the stairs and clean the carpets. We intended to do all of this on Saturday but the landlord sent an email last night that they want to come by on Saturday at 2 pm which means that I will need to go today and paint & see what I can do myself with the piece of carpet...perhaps the glue will work better this time around and I'll be certain not to let Ayla get anywhere near that step. I've noticed that she once again was chewing on the thing and got another piece off. It must be very tasty carpet. So since the shower is coming sometime tomorrow, I guess I will be making a quick trip to Hornbach for some paint rollers and then I'll be heading to the house (which at least has better heaters than here which is a very good thing since it's quite cold today) to finish the painting. Hopefully I can also cut the carpet and will attempt to lay it also but since it's on a corner I'm not really sure if I can pull it off alone. And as for the carpet cleaning...they were dirty when we moved in so we'll see. I guess worst case the landlord causes a scene about it and we either take care of it Saturday or have him take it out of the deposit...]]>
Newfie puppies (and I imagine others as well) do something really adorable when they are little...they lay in a "frog" and/or "rug" position all the time. The "frog" position is when the dog sticks there legs behind them while laying on the floor, but instead of having them straight back, they are more off to the side. This was Ayla at 24 weeks.
The "rug," on the other hand, has the legs fully extended back which we only managed to get a picture of when she was 13 weeks.
I have read that most dogs don't do this once they are over 6 months or so because it just becomes much harder for them to accomplish...Ayla actually stopped doing both of these at around 6 months. She tried it a few times but just couldn't seem to quite pull it off. Then around Christmas when she went into heat, she started doing the "frog" again. We thought that maybe she would stop once her cycle was over but she has actually continued to do it all the time. Not only does it make us happy to see that her hips are so healthy but we also think it is adorable. Hopefully we'll manage to get a picture of her doing it sometime soon. She's really camera shy lately and every time she hears me turn on the camera, she starts moving. So I'll try to keep it close by and be sly about it lol.]]>
Last night, I pulled my truck into the courtyard because I had some computers in there and other various things that I don't really care to have stolen. Since I was pretty tired when I came home, I didn't feel like unloading everything so I figured I would take care of it this morning...which I did. So I had everything unloaded and had just finished collecting everything else I needed to finish the painting. I pushed the button to open the gate to the street and the door tried to open but didn't actually go anywhere.
Our front gate is completely electric and and there is a little box in the center of the gate on the innermost door. Coming out of the bottom of this box was a steel bar which was stuck into a hole in the ground. I tried to lift the bar but couldn't find anything which I could use to get under the bar which would allow me to open the gate.
While we were moving we had the problem of almost not being able to get the gate open while the guys were coming back with a load of furniture and the electrician was installing our new breaker box. The gates had been standing open when the power was turned off and the guys left, but it was rather windy that day and the gate gradually was being pushed closed while the guys were gone. Thankfully the electrician finished just the nick of time because the doors don't seem to have a latch to release them so they can be opened with no power and moving everything from the street would not have been fun for them.
Anyway, in the box there is a lock. I figured this must have something to do with helping to get the door open in case it's not working properly but we were not given this key when we moved in. There are about 100 random keys in key boxes around the property and not to mention drawers full of random keys in the former workshop. I tried at least 50 of them that seemed like they could possibly work but nothing would go in there at all.
Starting to get desperate and not wanting to go the brute force route of just knocking the gate down or breaking the little box, I noticed that there was a wire for electricity running to this box and couldn't quite figure out why it was there. I started to think that perhaps there was a switch somewhere which would open the lock at the bottom of the gate somehow...but I've never really noticed any switches that seem to go to nothing and, after trying a few switches, nothing seemed to make any difference (I even tried the extra button on our security phone for the front door).
Just about at my peak of frustration, the bell on the small gate rings. Our front gate is two components, one which is for people to pass through and they can be buzzed in from inside the house, and the other is the gate for the courtyard which cars can drive through. Standing there was our insurance guy who seems to have the worst timing ever. Hubby laid into him a few days ago because he called after the heated discussion with the painters and asked about some stupid paperwork that we wouldn't have been able to find if we needed anyway. So he starts in about these papers again and I'm just thinking he needs to leave. Since we'd barely finished moving into the house, I had no clue where to even begin looking for what he needed and since I was trapped in my own house, I really didn't care. So I explained that I didn't really have time at the moment and perhaps he can he try us again next week because I'm trying to figure out the gate. He replies that with what I've got in my hand, I'll never be able to open it myself...and leaves. Needless to say that did not really perk up my mood.
I'd been talking to hubby off and on and told him about the visit from the guy. Hubby called him to clear up exactly what needed to be done as far as the paperwork and the guy apologized for coming along at the wrong time and for not thinking sooner that we have a policy which covers locksmith services and other small emergencies around the house. So hubby told him I was planning to go up to the locksmith in town and hoped that I could then be freed. So the insurance guy offered to meet me up there since he knows the guy rather well. Unfortunately, the guy wasn't there and his son (also a locksmith) wasn't going to be in until later in the afternoon...and it was only 11 am.
Well, my insurance "knight" gets on the phone to get our policy number and calls the emergency service to get a locksmith out there. I guess the locksmith was ready for lunch because he said he wouldn't be out for about an hour but would call on his way. An hour and a half later, our insurance guy came back and asked if I'd heard from the locksmith...and not 2 minutes later gets a call from the guy that he's waiting for us at the house. Actually, he was on the south side of the street and just needed to drive down a few blocks.
It didn't take him long to "diagnose" the problem and he opened the box with the lock on it. Unfortunately, the box had been painted so many times that I couldn't see two screws holding the pieces of the box together or I may have figured things out better on my own and saved some time and aggravation...
When the electricity is triggered to open the door, the little metal pole is also triggered to lift up. But apparently with the cold weather, the gate shifted a bit and the pole was still be lifted, just not enough. So the locksmith raised the box up just a bit and everything worked properly while we tested it. The key lock was merely there to help out if the pole wasn't lifting enough so it could be done manually. The locksmith didn't have a lock that would fit in the hole properly and trigger the mechanism so we have to find one on our own or just seal up the hole in general to prevent rain from getting into the box and short-circuiting everything.
So thankfully, about 5 hours later than I'd wanted, I finally managed to get on my way to finish the painting. Naturally I didn't get everything done because there just wasn't enough time left but I'm definitely hoping that tomorrow I can get out there early to get everything wrapped up. Of course this would mean that the delivery guy has to come in the morning with the shower so we'll see what happens there.
But I sure am glad that we paid about €100 to the locksmith to come out and that he did such a great job "moving" the box on the gate. When I got home, it was stuck again so I guess we'll have to work it out on our own. Thankfully the hole in the box hasn't been closed up so I can just use my finger to lift the pad to get the pole all the way up and the gate then functions perfectly for the rest of the day.]]>
The procedure works like this. The delivery guy picks up the shower in the morning from the home improvement store and then we can call the store to get the driver's cell number. Then we call the driver personally to find out in what time frame the guy plans to deliver the shower based on his other deliveries for that day. So I called this morning to get the number and all seemed good. Then I called the driver and he had no clue what I was talking about when I told him the city he was making the delivery to. So I called the store back and told them we had a problem. They assured me that he did in fact have our shower and they would get to the bottom of things. Thankfully, I thought to ask what delivery address they have down for the shower because it turns out that they were going to take it to our old house. I guess that might have been fine except that no one would be there and getting it to the correct house would have been a problem - but apparently he hadn't tried to deliver it yet so all was good. But I couldn't get a delivery time frame yet because the guy would return to the store first, pick up more stuff and then come bring our shower however it fit into the plan. I wasn't exactly thrilled about this but at least it was coming.
As it turns out, we seem to have been the first delivery on his list because when I finally got him on the phone after he'd been back to the store, he said he was just leaving there and on his way to our place. Excellent news. He got here about 30 minutes later (it was about 12:30 by now) and actually started complaining to me for not giving the right address to them for delivery. So I explained to him that when I ordered the shower, the sales guy told me the delivery address wouldn't be a huge issue since they would call about setting up the delivery time anyway...but apparently they didn't do that since the number to call was hubby's cell but that's not really my problem.
Unfortunately they also delivered a toilet with the shower components. I saw unfortunately because we did actually order the toilet in the beginning but told them weeks ago to cancel the toilet because it was no longer needed. We forgot that the system needed for the upstairs bath is a bit different than the one we had downstairs so we needed a slightly different toilet. They assured us multiple times that the toilet would not be included but somehow we still got the thing. So we'll be taking that back to the store tomorrow and hopefully without any hassle. As if we need one more thing to do tomorrow...
Anyway, I finally got out of here at about 1 pm and made my way over to the old house. After packing up more random stuff in my truck, I started the painting project and was happy to see that everything I did yesterday was looking great. And thankfully I managed to finish the rest of the walls today so we don't have to get to the house quite so early tomorrow to take care of things before the landlord arrives to check everything out. We still haven't replaced the carpet on the stair so that is worrying us a bit but we'll see what we can do with it tomorrow. And we decided that we will not be cleaning the carpets after all (although they badly need them) but they needed it before we moved in as well and legally the landlord is now supposed to replace the carpet so we'll see what he says.
We're definitely dreading this meeting since he kept all of the deposit from the previous renters and really made a stink about things that they did. We know this since they were friends of ours and we were there when the landlord met with them to hand over keys and such. They are usually reasonable people and we think we've been rather good tenants and certainly left them alone about most things...but we'll just have to see.]]>
We had quite a bit to get done today so after the walk, we immediately headed out. Our first stop was breakfast at McDonald's (healthy, we know)...but sometimes you just don't have the time for "real" food. Of course we brought Ayla a plain hamburger as well since it's not really fair to be fattening only ourselves lol. And surprise, surprise, she totally loves them.
Then we were off to the old house where we had to finish up a few things, clean the last bits of trash out of the house and turn over the keys to the landlord. We actually will still need to make another visit to pick up the plants and such from the house but at least the most daunting things are done now.
Since we finished up cleaning earlier than expected and had some time to kill until our meeting, we decided to make a run over to the pet store to get some more food for Ayla and the kitties. I now remember why hubby and I never go in there together - it just turns into a very expensive shopping experience.
We've been talking about getting a new food and water stand for a while now. We saw a very nice stand last year with huge bowls and a tilt feature for the bowls which we thought was quite nice. But the price tag was about €200 which made us quickly change our minds. Instead we bought a cheap version to last us through the puppy times and we figured we'd upgrade at some point when we found the right stand. Since the move, we've been trying to figure out the best area of the kitchen to have Ayla's bowls and decided to buy a Plexiglas sheet to put on the wall behind her bowls since she made such a mess at the old house while eating. But then we came across the Ferrari of dog bowls and knew this would be perfect.
As you can see, there is already a back splash built into this model and the holders for the bowls are mounted on a steel arm. We saw another slightly cheaper version of this stand with plastic arms but the sales girl (who really is one of the best informed sales people ever) pointed out that a rambunctious dog like a Newf is not going to always been so nice to the bowls so metal is definitely the safer bet if we want to keep the stand for longer than a few weeks.I have to say that the bowls themselves are more than huge. Her dry food ration barely covers the bottom of the bowl...but I do think it helps her to slow down a bit while eating which is definitely a good thing. She's got more room to chase the food around in these bowls which should beneficial. We've decided to use the old bowls strictly as water bowls now. We have them in the entry way which is where she sleeps at night so she can always have plenty of water available. And since she will only drink from a bowl of water once, it does make it a little easier to make sure she's got fresh water since there are 3 sources now instead of just one.
In addition to the new bowl, Ayla also got a few new treats and the "alien cow." It's a little neon green squeaky cow (sorry, no pic yet) with no eyes or anything but wow does that thing squeak. It's almost as if it's screaming when she has that thing in her mouth. We're trying to make it a mostly outside toy simply because it's so loud but at least if she's playing with it, you know she's staying out of trouble because you can hear her all over the house.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this earlier but we also recently switched Ayla to a new dog food and we're all rather thrilled with it. She's quite literally eating better than us now but our cats have been doing that for years as well so I guess it shouldn't be such a huge shock. Our pet store has started carrying a brand manufactured for them called "Real Nature." They sell a dry food which is cold-pressed, helping retain many of the minerals and all that, and a canned food. The dry food is actually Black Angus, Barbary duck and some other delightfully tasty stuff...and the canned food comes in 4 variations which are also things like wild turkey and venison.
I was a bit skeptical about the stuff at first but we haven't been overjoyed with our current food anyway so when the sales girl told me about it, I figured why not give it a try. We have been very happy with it and hubby can finally be in the kitchen while I mix up her food without gagging. When we were feeding canned green tripe, he couldn't come anywhere near the food bowl or the kitchen so this is a very nice change. Maybe one day he'll even be able to feed her himself lol. Not only that, but it also comes out very nicely in the end. Sorry for anyone eating breakfast now or something but we are quite concerned about the consistency of her fecal matter. With the old food, it's been very foul smelling (not such a joy to clean up later on) and not very firm. But almost instantly after switching to this food, things are just as they should be...and yes, I'm finished talking about it for now lol.
Anyway, the meeting with the landlord actually went much better than we anticipated and we think that our chances of getting the majority of the deposit back are very high. That should be good news for Ayla since her birthday is coming up in less than a month and now we have no clue what we're going to get the dog who already has everything ;-)]]>
After our walk with Ayla this morning, we headed over to Hornbach (home improvement store) and picked up a few things that we needed...and probably a few we didn't really need either. We wanted to get some satellite cable in hopes that we could extend the cable currently in our bedroom down into the living room where we have the TV. Ideally we will drill through the floor in the bedroom and run the cable down through there but that's another story for later...We also picked up a lamp for the entry hall which we think will look really nice in there (project for tomorrow).
After that stop, we headed over to our rental house to do the final cleaning stages and pack up a few more things in the Defender. Seems like we may never get everything out of there. When we were doing the walk through with the landlord, we found another 3 boxes that we'd almost entirely forgotten about. But the meeting with the landlord was good in general. We think we should be able to get most if not all of our deposit back although some of it will have to go to cover heating oil and things like that. They didn't make any comments about the freshly painted room and even said we are the best tenants they've ever had...so that hopefully means very good things for us.
We ended up leaving almost an apartment full of furniture there because we just don't have the space for it here. I know that sounds crazy since we have a huge barn and all that but nothing is there is totally protected from the weather and still gets exposed to a bit of moisture and definitely temperature changes. So one of the things we left behind were our closet units from our first apartment here. They won't fit in the house here because the ceilings aren't tall enough for them. We thought about using them in the climbing room in the barn but they aren't really optimal for that either...But hopefully anything the landlord may think we should have taken care of before he will counter balance with the furniture we've left behind.
We also included a visit to Fresnapf in all of this and got some cool new stuff for Ayla which you can read about on her blog. Once we'd gone over everything with the landlord, we headed back to the farm to unload everything we still had over there. We'll still need to make one or two more trips to pick up plants and the latest boxes we've found but then that's everything. It will be quite nice to not need to drive over there every few days to check on things and finish things and all that.
Then, because we hadn't punished ourselves enough already, we made a trip to IKEA. Normally I'm excited about trips to IKEA but lately they don't have what we're looking for which makes the whole experience much less enjoyable for me. Plus, IKEA on a Saturday afternoon is a nightmare and a half! You would think there are no other stores open in the world! Everyone is there shopping and their kids are running around screaming, people are fighting over parking and others are trying to figure out just how they're going to get their new furniture home...never a dull moment. Anyway, we were told that they have the cabinet which fits under and holds up our sink for the new bathroom. Unfortunately that was not the case. But they did have the two doors which were still missing from the kitchen which was a very good thing anyway. That means that I can finally finish putting everything away in the kitchen (aside from what goes under the sink which they still have to work on to lay the new shut off for the dishwasher).
So I guess we'll work on a few small things now and see what other projects we can get get done. We have several things lined up for tomorrow as well so hopefully we will get a lot accomplished before it's time to go back to work.]]>
As you can see in the photos, he's made quite a bit of progress today on the bathroom. He put up all the wall tiles today and I guess he might be grouting it tomorrow. I have to admit that I'm a little freaked out about the appearance of the room at the moment because I'm having some trouble visualising what it's going to look like in the end but Macky has very good taste as well and knows our style quite well so I think he's going to pull it off just fine in the end.
Not really sure what he's going to proceed with tomorrow but we're thinking they should definitely be able to get everything finished in there by the end of Friday which will be really awesome. We're pretty much sick of having workers in and out of here and we can't let the cats out of our bedroom at the moment because we don't want them to be totally freaked by all the noise and the activity of the workers. Plus we still need to install the baby gate to keep the doggo away from them and that would just be one more thing the workers would have to constantly open and close so we figure they can handle a few more days cooped up in the bedroom...but they are definitely starting to wonder if there is life outside of the bedroom or if we've moved into an incredibly small apartment.
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]]>Here's the view from the door as you walk in. You can see the heater on the left and almost directly in front of us will be the sink and storage space.
As you look to the right of the sink, you see the toilet (hook-ups lol) and just the edge of the shower floor. The shower itself will come out further than the basin because there will not be an actual door, just a walk-way with a glass wall separating the toilet from the shower.
And here's the shower corner.
The wall grout will be white in the end and the tiles on the floor will be the same that we used in the kitchen downstairs. I'm still a bit freaked out by it all but things are looking better at the moment and everything else has turned out so well that I'm sure it will all be great in the end....now if they'd just get it done already lol.]]>
]]>So Ayla got into the room and this is what happened to the floor...
Thankfully the contractor just laughed when we called. He said it was no big deal and not to worry about it at all. He'll take care of things tomorrow, smooth it out a bit since the cement should still be rather wet and then put the glue over it. Since it will be about a centimeter of glue on top of there anyway, a few little dents shouldn't screw it all up. Thank God...once again she screws things up but not to a point where it's irreparable...amazing lol.]]>
As you can see, we still don't have the counter top but we've covered the open spaces with boxes and that's working out pretty well for us so far. We do have all the doors finally which makes us very happy and the only thing missing now is a few of the blinders for the sides of the cabinets which are not against walls. And we need to put on the blinder at the bottom of the cabinets so the dog fur doesn't collect under there...but these are relatively minor things for us at the moment which we're not overly concerned with right now.
Here's my spice drawer next to the stove. Believe me, I have a Monica moment (Friends) every time I think about this drawer. We actually partially got the idea from the cooking show "A Perfect Dinner." They have a German version with German "stars" and one of them had a huge drawer under the stove which held what seemed to be about 100 of these little jars with spices. We have 27 (I accidentally broke one already) but will get another 8 which should cover just about all the spices we use on a regular basis...and some we don't use that regularly either but probably should lol.
Here's my full wall cabinets with the built in microwave and new oven. We're still learning how to use the oven. Last night was our first attempt at doing a pizza and it didn't seem to get quite as warm as it should have but I guess I'll pull out the manual to figure it out. As you can see, to the left of the appliances is the majority of our glassware and some serving dishes and pasta bowls.
The right side of the cabinets has become my pantry space which most everything fits in very well. Of course I have one drawer specifically for American products and other things that aren't carried everywhere which I need to stock up on from time to time...and a drawer just for dog food. I'm rather nervous about overloading these drawers but they say they've tested them for over 50 pounds so I guess they should manage ok.
And after some deliberation, I finally found a good place for the baking sheets and such. And the shelf at the top allows the perfect spot for the large roasting pan which doesn't get much use but came in quite handy at Christmas this year. It was just a tad too wide to lay beside the other baking dishes but sticking it on top actually works out even better for me and uses up the last shelf we had laying around.
For the first time since I bought my china 7 years ago, I finally have all of it out of the boxes...well all of the plates and bowls at least. We rarely use the cups & saucers so I figured I would leave them in their boxes for now and should we actually have an occasion where I need them, I'll just pull them out. Formal plates on the bottom, every day stuff on top. And eventually we'll be getting plate racks from IKEA to hold everything in place.
Outside the kitchen door is another storage area and overflow of the kitchen. In particular, I've put things in here that I don't need on a regular basis and things that just don't need to be taking up space in the kitchen itself. As you might notice, we haven't really had the time to give this area a good cleaning but most of the stuff doesn't require a pristine environment so it's all good. Perhaps this weekend we'll get around to it...Behind the door I've got the garbage cans and most of the beer and drink cases. Bottles and cases come with a deposit here so all these go back to the store when they're empty and get replaced by a new case. (Katie, please notice the case of Schneider Weisse on the bottom lol)
And on the other wall we've got the laundry area and storage for other stuff like paper plates for parties and so on. We'll also be getting some storage containers from IKEA to make everything look a bit more uniform in here and really optimize the storage space. Yes, the similarities to Monica are frightening lol...
]]>Macky laid the tiles on top of the step today and added a little border of trim as well. Otherwise, the only really noticeable thing done is the cement stuff he's put down to smooth out the floor. And after really close examination of pictures from yesterday, I can see that he's also filled in the seems in the walls so that should make them just about ready for paint.
I'm also happy to report that they started closing up the holes from the windows and door today. He's supposed to finish the rest tomorrow and then some time in the spring we plan on painting everything. So we'll be looking at the grey stuff for a while but at least it will be closed up.
]]>Turns out that door was closed...but the door to the bathroom wasn't...because it's not even on its hinges. Not thinking about the wet floor at all, I completely forgot that Ayla had full access to that room and of course she couldn't resist exploring it.
Thankfully hubby arrived home a few minutes later, surveyed the situation and called Macky. He told us not to worry about it at all, no big deal and he'll fix it all up tomorrow. Since the floor will still be a bit wet he'll smooth it out then and it doesn't have to be perfect because there will be about 1 cm of glue put down on top of it anyway for the tiles. Talk about relieved...I was already trying to figure out how we could smooth it all out ourselves without him noticing it...which would be next to impossible since he did such a clean job already.
]]>So I talked to Macky when he got here this morning and, as always, he was totally laid back about the changes. No big deal, it's no problem...these are his usual responses. So tell me why I'm such a wimp again? lol.
Anyway, he forgot that our shower came with two glass walls and no door which means that we need a little platform to step up onto and then we step into the shower. Simple enough and it was built 3 hours later. Not bad at all.
]]>On Wednesday night, my husband decided we'd been without cable for long enough. For whatever reason, the satellite cable which is already laid in bedroom doesn't seem to work. We attached another long cable to it so we could run it downstairs into the living room but we get nothing but a black screen and the indicators pick up a little something but a quality of 0 which still doesn't help us.
Last weekend we picked up 50 meters of satellite cable and have been trying to figure out the best way to lay the cable without it showing all over the house. So we drilled a hole into the floor upstairs and the ceiling downstairs and tried to find the holes...needless to say that didn't really work and we'll instead need a very long drill bit but it was worth a try. That process was only complicated by the fact that the room upstairs is slightly larger than the living room, the walls are in slightly different places and so on. It's an old house, after all. We're lucky there is even a satellite dish up at all.
So on Wednesday night, Stefan decided he would climb up on the roof of the new kitchen and attempt to change the head on the satellite dish with a new one we bought. This sounds like a simple task but I must mention that the pitch on our roof is very steep, not to mention very high. He would still be on the peak of a two-story roof, with one side dropping even steeper than the one pictured (it almost looks tame in the picture) and another 5 or so feet further to the ground. We're talking a high likelihood of breaking every bone in the body if not death. But we're climbers so whatever - we should be able to handle it, right?
Or not lol. Oh, and did I mention it was dark outside? And that, although we climb, my husband is very afraid of heights?
The first attempts were using a ladder to climb a direct route from the edge of the roof to the peak where the dish is located. Unfortunately there is so much pitch to the roof that it was almost impossible to just walk over the roof to the dish and there's nothing to hold on to or steady your grip. We even tried using our climbing shoes since they are designed to grip when their is truly nothing to grip. Climbing slab walls becomes a non-issue with them. But climbing roofing tiles - a big issue.
The next idea was to toss a rope out the window in the attic which could then be used to help him feel more secure while on the roof and prevent him from falling. In theory this was a decent idea. But this required that he climbs up the roof along the wall of the house, then across the peak to the dish. Once he got to the peak, panic was setting in so he sat with one leg on each side of the roof to steady himself. Next logical idea, scoot across the peak to the dish, change the head and come back. Unfortunately the dish is mounted almost directly on the peak and he realized about half way there that he had the new head but no tools to get the old one off. And how was he going to get past the dish and/or turn around while sitting on the peak??
At that point, this all became a fact finding mission. What did we find out? We should probably try this in the daylight next time, with the climbing harness on and with the Defender in the alley to use as an anchor to tie the rope to...and so we can move the rope to the middle of the roof where the dish actually is and not try walking the peak again. What we didn't find out is what exactly we'll need to get the old head off.
The trip coming back to the house went much quicker but then the next mission was how to get off the roof. Only two options were clear: 1) Go in through the window in the attic which was going to be quite a stretch if going feet first, and 2) climb back down the roof along the house wall and then use the ladder. In the end, he went for climbing through the window which entailed him eventually sort of launching himself headfirst through it and me trying to make sure he didn't land on his head or get tangled up otherwise as he brought his legs through.
Not the smartest thing we've ever done and I can't really believe that he's going to try it again this weekend. Far braver than I am, I have to say...or maybe just stupider...]]>
Tomorrow Macky is supposed to be back around 9 am to lay the floor tile and paint the walls...and he's said that on Monday he should be installing the toilet and shower walls so we could technically use the bathroom already on Monday afternoon/evening if we wanted to. That will definitely be a nice change for hubby who has already complained about the treacherous climb down the tilted stairs to the bathroom downstairs...not to mention it's not exactly warm down there since the heater still isn't working - but don't get me started on that subject.
Yesterday I mentioned that the outer walls were supposed to be finished up today but that isn't going to be happening. Robert didn't show up today which I imagine is because he simply wasn't needed. The weather today was quite miserable and wet which meant that he couldn't work on the outside walls anyway.]]>
Are you talking about the tiles on this picture or have you gone further back in time to the lovely tiles that used to be in the old bathroom with the huge tub. There are white tiles in this post with white grout...if you go back a day or so you can see them without the grout which makes a huge difference!]]>
Best wishes, Anna]]>
While there are many companies out there offering wine racks of varying quality we have decided that we would go the DIY route with this one. Poured concrete racks made exactly to our own specifications and wooden benches built into the far end of the cellar. As I am typing this we had the idea that we could use the old piece of marble we found in the cellar as a top for the table, but I guess we should think about that some more given the danger of spilling red wine on marble.The plan is as follows: In two weeks the "Schadstoff Mobil" (literally translated Pollutant Vehicle) is coming around to collect old stains and lacquers and we will use that opportunity to start clearing out the cellar. Eventually we will put pavers on the ground and way down the road it will be time to do the build out. It really isn't much of a priority, but boy will it be exciting when it's finished.]]>
For those interested to read more about Pigeon Point Project, you can find their houseblogs.net profile here http://www.houseblogs.net/community/account.php?u=202 and their Wine Cellar project here http://4renovators.com/blogs/pigeonpointproject/articles/66.aspx]]>
The morning started slow. We were both pretty tired from the past week and needed a little while to get motivated, so we started with small stuff, like hanging some of our favourite pictures in the kitchen. The walls are so big and white that we just had to get some color in there.
A high point of the morning came when we just went ahead and tried out our old Siemens Gigaset phone system which we got while living in Miami but could never get running over here. We love that setup. It consists of a base station with digital answering machine and the capability to run up to 8 cordless handsets with it. This time we succeeded and were extremely happy. We need to get some new rechargeable batteries for the cordless handsets but otherwise it's working perfectly. Thank goodness we have tons of extra transformers from our previous rental house & the tenants who used to live there.
As mentioned, the storage rooms are also somewhat usable again. We rummaged through all three of them trying to find all of our camping and outdoor stuff and moved it all together into the former goat stables. It's amazing how much we've collected over the past couple of years. Multiple tents, lots of camping chairs, grills, etc., etc.. But the really good news is that now we can actually get in a couple of the storage rooms and move around. A major difference from before when we couldn't even walk into the rooms once the door was open.
Now its time to get to lunch - we finally managed to get to the box with our camp kitchen, a topic on its own actually, and got our gas camping stove. So finally we can give the local pizza delivery guys a rest and cook for ourselves again until we get our granite counter top in a few weeks.
Our to-do list for today includes a whole lot more, including tackling that satellite dish again. Hubby thinks he feels like an idiot putting on his climbing gear, but hey - better than falling and breaking your neck. So, we are definitely not running out of things to do here.....]]>
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]]>Hubby got up on the roof again to try to hook up the satellite dish. We went about it a bit smarter this time around, though, and with a bit more safety. I parked my Defender in the alley on the side of our house and we tied a rope to my roof rack. He then used an ascender to help him climb up onto the roof from the ladder and was able to feel relatively safe up there. Unfortunately we still weren't able to switch out the old satellite head because the mounting bracket on the current dish is too small. So we'll have to call a satellite guy to come out and do it for us. I don't think hubby has any desire to spend more time up there.
Aside from that, we moved one of the shelves in our living room out into the former dining room. We're hoping to find the time and inspiration to build some custom shelves for our DVD collection to fit in the living room and the shelf wouldn't really fit in there afterwards. We also moved our wicker chaise lounges from the barn into our bedroom. We're not exactly sure that we'll use them much in there but at least they're out of the barn. We also moved two IKEA shelves into the extra room to use for extra close space. That move wasn't totally without incident, though. Our staircase leading upstairs is very narrow so that was the first challenge. Then we found out that the bookshelves are barely small enough to fit into the room. We had to flip them just right but we managed alright. Then we were able to unpack another 6 big boxes that were full of clothes.
We also did a few other small things like moving all the random tools out to the workshop in the barn and organizing things out there a bit. But it was pretty chilly out there so we didn't want to spend too much time out there. Hopefully the winter will be ending soon and we can start doing more work outside. It was actually quite nice outside for a few hours and we're looking forward to grilling this evening. It will be our first time cooking a real meal in the house which will be a nice change from ordering take out every night.]]>
So what do we have exactly? 3 tents of various sizes (1 two person tent, 1 huge 6 person tent with living area in the middle & our LL Bean tent for us and doggo), a sun shade, the Camp Mate with all our kitchen gear (minus the gas stove top which we're using in the house at the moment), 2 aluminum boxes with various camping items, 3 folding chairs which we inherited from the previous renters of our old rental house, folding camping table with 2 matching benches, a small charcoal grill, the Boxx Grill suitcase grill from Globetrotter, sleeping bags, roll up mattresses for the small tent, a full air mattress and various other smaller things.
Rarely would we ever attempt to take all of these things along at once. I can't even imagine a time when we would need it all along unless we were going camping with a bunch of other people and they happened to need something. But I would say that our list of items is quite complete, including items like nice plastic wine glasses (which we knew we'd be needing in Italy).]]>
Anyways, right before christmas we met one of the "oldtimers" from our town who used to be friends with the previous owner. It turned out that the guy is a freelance reporter and photographer and has a wealth of knowledge in all kinds of interesting things about the region. He told us that the old well was shut down and removed in 1954 because of typhoid fever spreading in the region. He told us that the old owner and him had been thinking about lobbying to bring the fountain back.
A few weeks ago while browsing the archive of city council meeting transcripts on our town's homepage, very informative - I recommend for everybody to check those up in their own town, and learned that they just decided to bring back the well in another village that belongs to our town. Of course we where quite excited to hear that, that means there is hope!
This is a picture of a well just what we are imagining for outside our house. Before the question pops up, yes we do have running water in town and the well would just be for cosmetic reasons. But seeing that we are falling in love with this town and thinking about how we can get involved in restoring its beauty, this is something we really want.
]]>Today we've got several smallish projects we want to get accomplished like finally hanging a lamp in the office, setting up the computers so I can start working again and putting together our IKEA furniture for the new bathroom so it's ready to move in there when the bath is finished up tomorrow. Thankfully none of it is really that major since I pushed for us to get the more physical stuff done yesterday. I mostly just wanted to be able to sort of relax today while still getting things done so we can recharge before the week starts again...which is working out quite well so far. Guess we better get started...]]>
The room is roughly 200-250 sq ft and would be perfect for quite a few fun prospects, but right now we really have no idea what will eventually end up in there.
Here are a few ideas:
- Game room / Bar - somewhere fun to watch sports, hang out with friends, and play some games. But since we aren't big party people in the first place, and pretty much like sticking to ourselves we would maybe get 4-5 uses out of that per year. Sounds fairly expensive for the fact that we'll never use it.
- Music Studio - both of us enjoyed making music in high school and college, but we left all of our equipment in the US when we moved here and we really wouldn't be spending too much time in there anyways. So, basically that option is out since we don't really need another hobby that sucks our wallets dry.
- Guest cottage - ultimately probably the most useful and sensible option, but in our eyes also the most boring. But we do have people staying over quite often and it would be kind of nice if they had their own place to stay.
But of course the game room would be great, too. Sounds somewhat familiarto me ;-)]]>
This is a former big stall which we haven't cleaned out all that much yet. We've removed the first layer of cobwebs and dirt but we still have a lot of stuff to throw away from in here. We think we'll eventually use it as a sort of locker room area where we can store our climbing gear.
This is where the climbing room will be. When we bought the place, this is what it looked like. There are two different Singer sewing machines, two huge buffets and a sideboard. They are really beautiful pieces of furniture but we haven't quite figured out where we're going to put them yet. There were also lots of pieces of scrap wood and other random pieces of furniture that we don't seem to have the rest of the pieces to.
This area may eventually become a bouldering room but we're not too sure of the logistics yet so we'll see. There's a bunch of bed frames and old mattresses up there at the moment which we haven't gotten around to cleaning out yet.
Here's what it looked like after we'd given it a good vacuuming and cleaning out. There was about an inch-thick layer of dust and dirt on the floor and we didn't even realize there was a brick floor until we started removing the dirt.
And then we pulled the old kitchen out of the house (where the office is now) and needed someplace to store it until we figure out what we're going to do with it. This area seemed like the best place to stash it away for now since we won't be able to start on the climbing room project for quite a while.
One thing we have learned in the meantime is that we can actually make our own climbing holds. This website gives you all the instructions you need so we're thinking we'll have to give it a try since they are quite expensive.]]>
You can see the chicken coop to the left of this picture with the brown wooden slats and the bottles in front of it. Back in the day, this was used for coal storage according to some old photographs which were left behind by the previous owners.
Here's what it looked like before we really started cleaning it up.
We tackled shoveling everything out on our first major clean-out weekend. Several of our friends were kind enough to volunteer to help us out. I don't think they really knew what they were getting themselves into.
We took out everything from the inside and most of the stuff outside. We're planning to put a bar shelf outside at about the same level the railing is at now. There's been a bar there since at least the 1930's and we figure we might as well try to preserve that. We pressure washed the interior and used the wet/dry vac on it as well. At this very moment it's being used to store a few things which were around the courtyard and all the tools and extra materials from our contractors. They are supposed to take everything with them tomorrow so we're definitely hoping that will be the case. At least that would be one less reason to keep the dog cooped up in the house while it's nice and cold outside.
Ultimately we'd like to build a couch along the back wall and around the inside corner of the patio area. We found a really cool outdoor sofa and table combination but the price was not friendly at all. So we figure that one of these weekends when we have nothing better to do and have accomplished a whole lot of other projects, we'll build platforms for the seating area and construct foam cushions. We are huge fans of grilling so this could be a nice place to relax while the fire is getting started, especially during the summer.
]]>
but she also helped him hold down the couch later on which is a very hard task.
And this morning, she was using her head to help dust out some cobwebs. Now how can I refuse that sort of help?
]]>But now, things have changed and I'm thinking maybe the once a day thing had to do with a growth spurt. She was sleeping a lot during the day and not really getting as energetic as usual in the afternoon. With all the chaos going on around us all the time, I thought the constant car rides and everything else were just wearing her out. Today, on the other hand, she has been driving me rather crazy for the past 3 hours. Some of it was just her wanting me to go play with her outside but then at about 4, she seemed to be wanting to actually eat. She was looking at her food bowl and whimpering, coming into the office and whining at me and just begging for attention in general which is usually not very like her. We've had lots of small behavior changes since she was in heat but today was really a first and I've noticed that it's really gotten more noticeable the last few days.
So I think I will try feeding her twice a day again. Since she's been wanting to go on walks between 7:30-8:30 am during the week, I think I will try feeding her after the walk just since she doesn't seem hungry before and usually snoozes in the entry way until she realizes she really needs to go "hurry up." And then we'll do the usual evening feeding and hopefully all will go well. I've been thinking about doing this anyway the last few days because we feed her dry kibble with the hint of canned food one day and veggie flakes with canned food the next day - and after the flakes & canned combo, her stool is a bit runny (sorry again to all the people who don't care to be reading about this lol). And of course on the dry days, it's firm as can be...so mixing it up so she's eating both on the same day should help to regulate her as well I would think.]]>
Speaking of him, this morning he's trying a new commuting option. One of his co-workers lives relatively close to us and they've decided they'll trying meeting up in the morning and driving in together. I'm not really certain how it's going to work out. His hours can be really crazy sometimes so that could be an issue - but she also works long hours and they might enjoy the company of having someone to talk to during the 30 minute or so commute so we'll see.
This morning I wanted to get a few more boxes moved out of prominent areas so things are a bit more organized. We had several boxes and a few extra computers sitting in our entry way for the past few days and I wanted to take them upstairs to the extra room earlier but other things just seemed more important. So I've moved them already this morning as well as a few other boxes which were in the kitchen. I'd made a box for random tools and such that needed to go into the workshop in the barn and also one for random stuff that needed to go into one of the storage rooms. Since we freed up a little space in storage room b this weekend, I figured now is a decent time to start filling it up again lol.
So this morning I'm working again to try to get our computers networked together. We changed out the wireless card from one of the computers we won't be using for the time being and put it in our primary PC...but for some reason it's not letting us input the correct network key so I guess I'll be playing with it for a while until I can trick it or something. Eventually I know we're just going to have to reformat almost all of our computers but now isn't the time...and the DVD burner on that PC is on the fritz so we technically will need to get a new one and install that if we intend to keep all the data on that PC which will absolutely need to do.
And I figured I would post some photos of our "progress" although at times I don't really see it all that much myself from room to room lol.
Here's the kitchen. As we mentioned the other day, we've hung up a few pictures in the room.
We're not completely sure we'll be leaving this one at the moment but the Texas flad washboard will definitely stay above the dog bowls. We love this painting here. It's called WTC Guernica and we learned after we bought that it's two images laid over one another. Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, inspired by Picasso's horror at the Nazi German bombing of Gernika, Spain on April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The air raid destroyed the city, killing a number of people variously estimated between 250 and 1,600, and injuring many more...and after 9-11 an artist laid the New York skyline with the burning towers to the piece. It's an extremely powerful piece when you look at it carefully since there are faces and demons and all sorts of things in the background. Perhaps not something to have in the kitchen or dining room but we're not really sure of a better place for it right now...
Ayla was helping me do a bit of dusting this morning as well...you can see what she collected on her head.
And we also have "Eyes Left" which goes rather well with the coloring of the room and the furniture. Eventually we'd like to put up a flat screen here but that investment will have to wait for a while.
Here's the current status of the living room. If we manage to start building the DVD shelves next weekend as planned, things will begin to look very different in here then. But the fish will stay and the shelves will be at about the same height as the speakers are currently.
Here's some photos from our bedroom. It's a mess so sorry for not at least making the bed but it just doesn't seem all that important will all the other stuff going. There's even a kitty in this photo who wasn't hiding under the bed for a change. We're hoping to be able to put up the baby gate at the top of the stairs today so we can let the cats roam free a bit and inspect everything. They've been cooped up in the same bedroom for a few weeks now and we're thinking they're not too thrilled about it. But with workers coming and going, our options have been limited.
And this is one of the cabinets for the new bathroom that we put together yesterday. We're thinking the color is going to look great in there with the tiles and needless to say we're very much looking forward to this room being done.
And here was our second grilling & cooking experience here in the house since we've moved in just in case people still think we're depending on delivery. Both of us are very relieved to have "real" food back on our table for dinner because the take out stuff was just getting a bit boring. And since there's only about 3 places we can order from around here, that really limits our options.
I won't dare show any pictures of the extra room. It's looking terrible in there still and will probably continue to look pretty bad for the next few months. We just don't have places for a lot of the stuff in there right now so it's going to be a while before we get it all sorted out.]]>
- Trying to get the final computer to update so I can hook it up to the Internet (which sounds so much more simple than it is)
- Updating the layout of this blog (which turned out to be much more complicated that I ever would have imagined)
What was so special that I wanted to add a third column now? Well, I came across an interesting little gadget from Houseblogs.net which you should be able to see on the right. It's a progress tracker where you can update how far along you are on your projects which I think is rather interesting. Of course, the majority of our projects are far from even being started but at least this way you know what we have in mind for the future and what you can be looking out for.]]>
So, once again we find ourselves in this situation. Our bathroom upstairs is basically finished. All there is left to do is put grout on the floor tile, mount the toilet and shower stall and be done with it. He didn't show up today (even though he told us he would finish on Monday) and when I tried calling him, he didn't answer. Well, to give him the benefit of the doubt, there is a wicked bad stomach bug floating around and A LOT of people are sick here right now, but this just sucks. What's so hard about picking up the phone or sending a text message real quick?
It's not so bad I guess. We do have a functioning bathroom and what's one more day of waiting...but man this just really irks me. And to make matters worse, it wasn't so much the bathroom we had looked forward to. Mostly it was not having workers in the house for a while and their stuff disappearing from our porch so we can let doggo run free in the courtyard again without worrying what she could get in her mouth. Earlier today she came inside with a can of some sort of acidic paste. Guess we'll have to keep her cooped up a while longer :-(]]>
So Robert (the contractor's assistant who was supposedly just in the hospital with pneumonia) asked if I would move my truck this morning so he could open the gate and pull the work van in. He's going to be loading up all their junk over the day while Macky finishes off the bathroom - which makes me very happy. So that sounded like a simple enough task...but unfortunately the electric gate opener is either frozen or died completely in the last week. Usually the motor starts and if the lock on the bottom is hanging, I just use my hand to lift the plate attached to the rod which holds the gate in place (thanks to the locksmith who came out and didn't have a new lock to fit in there) . But today the motor does even make any sounds which is not a good sign at all.
I'm really hoping it has to do with the cold damp weather or perhaps the fact that part of the mechanism is exposed through that tiny hole in the lock...but the opener seemed to be on its way out anyway and the engine was running a few seconds too many after the gate was already closed...just not great news. Thankfully my truck is not closed in their this time but we do have a trash container in there which we were hoping to get picked up tomorrow. I guess we'll be paying the extra €3 a day until it thaws enough to see if the gate will work again or until we figure out the next best plan of action. Perhaps we won't be building shelves in the living room this weekend but instead putting in a new gate opening system...if we're capable of that? lol]]>
I was also just upstairs checking progress on the bathroom and the grout is in now. So after that it's just installing the toilet and the shower walls and then they should be finished. Woohoo. Hopefully he doesn't plan on just taking off though since there are still some other little projects left which he hasn't finished yet like laying the tile border in the old bathroom, moving the water connection pipe for the dishwasher so we can finally get our granite counter top ordered, repainting the walls of the old bathroom where the heater exploded and sent brown water all over the place, having the heater repairman finally come out and eventually closing up the rest of the holes in our walls outside.]]>
And here's the current status of the holes around the new door. Just about closed up indeed...too bad for them they have a couple more holes to worry with as well although the shower is getting priority which it should be since it's the most important thing to us right now. We don't plan on painting the exterior until the spring (whenever that decides to arrive this year) so we have time although we'd naturally like everything done as quickly as possible since it eliminates the need for tools to continue to lay around here.
And believe it or not, this is the current look of our chicken coop. As you can see it's still full of all sorts of tools from the contractors although they started cleaning it out this morning already. The Del Conca tile boxes are ours but almost everything else they've brought over the last few months and left behind as was convenient. Definitely can't wait for that part of the process to be over for a while.
]]>When we went for our walk this morning, Ayla did get to have a bit of snow fun. The fields behind us and the grassy areas were still covered with snow although she didn't really seem to grasp that things were any different than rain...just colder perhaps. I'm still waiting for that day when there's at least a foot of snow on the ground and she can really romp in it...but we might have to wait until next year the way things are going now...or go to visit grandma & grandpa in Bavaria since they get a lot more snow than we do.
The contractors are supposed to come today and finally finish cleaning out their junk from our outdoor patio. This will put our minds at ease a bit because we can finally let Ayla roam around freely in the courtyard. We've tried to let her do that now but she usually manages to find something like slightly damp paint rollers (she might be trying to turn herself into a Landseer), some strange compound in a little tub (which apparently tasted great), rolls of tape or pieces of insulation. Thankfully she hasn't seemed to have eaten anything toxic but if I see one more cigarette butt or glass shards on the ground from our workers, I might have to kill someone. It's not as if they don't know we have a big dog running around...]]>
Today is the first day that our two cats have been allowed to roam freely around the new house. Because we've had contractors coming and going, we didn't want anyone to escape by accident or for them to be so traumatized by the commotion that they never wanted to leave our bedroom again. It's bad enough that the contractors have been using chain saws and a multitude of other loud tools while working on the new bathroom upstairs.
Tonight we will build in another baby gate which will prevent Ayla from gaining access to the bedrooms upstairs. Then the cats will have their own territory that they can feel safe in and the dog will probably start spending more time outside anyway as things begin to get cleaned up out there. With any luck, the cats will start trying to hang out with us more (not that they're crazy about us to begin with) because the dog isn't around as much. And perhaps Ayla will finally get over the urge to chase them every time she sees them.
As I sit here typing this, both cats have now ventured into the dog area independently. Our Norwegian Forest Cat, Princess, has actually come back for round two and is in the kitchen where the dog is passed out on the floor. I don't dare move from my seat since I'll probably startle both of them but their curiosity is definitely getting the best of them at the moment...hopefully it will continue and maybe we can even teach the cats that as long as they run to us, we'll protect them. Only time will tell I guess.]]>
When the guy arrived, he rang the bell on the front gate and I just buzzed him in. I didn't open the front door for him because I knew he'd be taking all the stuff from the covered patio outside and I didn't think he'd need to do anything in the house since they'd taken most of the stuff from inside with them already yesterday. But apparently Ayla had a different plan about how things were going to work. When she saw him walking in the courtyard, she started going nuts. I didn't want to let her outside since it was wet and I didn't want her bothering him but she was jumping on the door and barking like crazy. Not a mean bark but a playful, "Hey, you forgot to say 'hi' to me today" routine.
This guy is definitely a dog person so he came inside for a few minutes to greet her and she could finally settle down then. She watched him working outside and you could see that she wanted to "help" but since he had the front gate open already and was carrying tons of stuff, I knew the last thing he needed out there was a Newf getting in the way and trying to supervise.
Since the guys will be gone for close to a week and then only be back to for a day or two to finish up some small stuff, it should be interesting to see how she reacts when she sees him again then. She had just seen him the day before so I don't know what she was so wound up about yesterday aside from the fact that they usually let themselves in with their key but they gave that back to us already. So perhaps the doorbell ringing started her off on a crazy foot and then when she saw it was him who she loves to love on anyway, it was just too much excitement to contain. Crazy doggo lol]]>
When the guy arrived, he rang the bell on the front gate and I just buzzed him in. I didn't open the front door for him because I knew he'd be taking all the stuff from the covered patio outside and I didn't think he'd need to do anything in the house since they'd taken most of the stuff from inside with them already yesterday. But apparently Ayla had a different plan about how things were going to work. When she saw him walking in the courtyard, she started going nuts. I didn't want to let her outside since it was wet and I didn't want her bothering him but she was jumping on the door and barking like crazy. Not a mean bark but a playful, "Hey, you forgot to say 'hi' to me today" routine.
This guy is definitely a dog person so he came inside for a few minutes to greet her and she could finally settle down then. She watched him working outside and you could see that she wanted to "help" but since he had the front gate open already and was carrying tons of stuff, I knew the last thing he needed out there was a Newf getting in the way and trying to supervise.
Since the guys will be gone for close to a week and then only be back to for a day or two to finish up some small stuff, it should be interesting to see how she reacts when she sees him again then. She had just seen him the day before so I don't know what she was so wound up about yesterday aside from the fact that they usually let themselves in with their key but they gave that back to us already. So perhaps the doorbell ringing started her off on a crazy foot and then when she saw it was him who she loves to love on anyway, it was just too much excitement to contain. Crazy doggo lol]]>
So here's the mostly finished bathroom. We still have to get the cabinet that goes under the sink and the sink mounts on top of it so there is currently no sink in there at all. Actually, we're not really sure where the sink has ended up at the moment because I bought it a while back and I'm pretty sure it was put into one of the storage rooms but at the moment, most of them are still very packed so I guess I'll be digging that out this weekend if not sooner. And hopefully IKEA will be getting the cabinet in stock and we can have one more finished room with some space to unpack more boxes. Now if only we find a place for some of the stuff in the extra room...
]]>But this morning's shower was divine! The heater in that room works and Macky did a fantastic job on the bathroom! The shower walls look great, the tilework is perfect and the layout is also quite good if we may say so ourselves.
According to Ikea's website the sink cabinet is back in stock at the Ikea near us. So cross your fingers that the site is correct and we can pick one up friday night! We can't wait until the bathroom is finally all the way finished, but right now the shower is already quite good!]]>
We're really hoping that this new environment will help the dog and cats get along at least a little better. The dog knows the territory now and should be spending more time outside as the days get drier, warmer and longer. And since the whole house probably smells like the dog as well, maybe it will help the cats see that she's going to remain a part of the family and perhaps gain some acceptance of her. Hopefully as Ayla grows a bit older, she will finally lose the interest to chase them which is one of the main problems now.]]>
Thankfully the dog can now mostly run free again and we don't have to stare at all that junk. It would have been one thing if it was our stuff. But when it's someone else's and you know they're not even using most of it, it's quite annoying.
We still have quite a few tiles left over so we'll see what the best course of action will be with them. We'd ideally like to use them in the mudroom when we finish that room out eventually and also use them in the patio area they're sitting in now since they are indoor/outdoor tiles. But for now we'll probably just rearrange them a bit in that area and wait until the plans become more final. The boxes are insanely heavy so moving them more often than we have to is not something we'd be looking to do.
]]>As I sit here typing this, it's snowing again. Still not sticking to the ground but it's only 34 degrees outside at the moment. We're supposed to get up to 37 - big leap there. Tomorrow we should actually have a bit of sun again which will be a nice change. Unfortunately for Ayla there doesn't seem to be any promise of major amounts of snow anytime soon.]]>
I tried to take a picture as i see it here from my desk in the office but they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. A master photographer I'm certainly not.
I also took a shot of the house across the street. They are incredibly nice neighbors and have done quite a bit of work on their house as well. But it's not under historical protection so they've been able to do some stuff like adding on a covered porch to the side and installing plastic windows. I'm pretty sure that even if we didn't have the historical protection we wouldn't be doing things like that...but I guess sometimes convenience and price can get the best of a person. But it's still a lovely little house which we're quite glad to have as a neighbor.
]]>Tonight we will hopefully be installing the baby gate to keep the dog out of the upper floors so the cats can have their freedom again. They don't really seem to mind staying in the bedroom that much at the moment but it's not really fair to them either. And since the dog is passed out half the day anyway, why shouldn't they be roaming around lol.
And on Saturday hubby is determined to once again tackle the satellite dish. I thought the plan was to give up and just call a profession but apparently that is not in the cards just yet. So we're going to try mounting a new dish up there altogether that already has the correct satellite head and bracket on it and all that he'll need to do while he's on the roof is take the old dish off the mounting pole and then screw the new one on. This sounds simple enough but he's probably going to have to go up there the steep way this time so we may need to come up with a new rope rigging system to keep him a bit safer. We also will need to purchase a satellite finder so we know the dish is pointing at the right place. And hopefully when we pick that up, we can also pick up batteries for our cordless Siemens phones which go along with our Gigaset base station. At the moment we have to go into the entry way to answer the phone. Since the house is not all that small and there's doors and baby gates and stairs and everything else, having the two cordless phones hooked up will be a huge help.
Not sure what else will be on our list to tackle after that. Definitely will need to put together the sink cabinet and hopefully we can dig the sink out of Storage Room A without too much drama. It will be another full weekend but hopefully we can find some time to recoup in there too since last weekend left us almost as tired as we started off. But at least the week has gone by quickly and here we are almost at the weekend again.]]>
Introducing Dogs & Cats
Tips on Introducing a New Dog to Resident Cats
I guess in some respects our thoughts that the dog and cats will get along wonderfully at some stage in life are just crazy. And we can certainly see why our little cats would be so freaked out by the big, boisterous black furry dog who is a nut and a half most of the time. Most articles say you need to make sure you have a safe haven for your cats with their food, water and litter box...so I guess we're back to cleaning up the extra room and making that into a kitty area. Of course this isn't so fantastic when we have company over since they would likely be sleeping in there...so perhaps we should put food & such in our bathroom & use hook & eye locks to hold the doors open enough for the cats to get through but not the dog. This will at least prevent us from needing to buy another baby gate. I just wonder if the hook & eye will be strong enough if doggo tries to get in the room. But I guess that's where we need to come in more with training her to not chase, not force her way in and so on. We definitely have our work cut out for us but at least our cats behavior is normal and they're not traumatized by the move or anything like that.]]>
Some of the items on our new wish list:
Cat Genie Cat Box
Price: $299.99
This one comes with a very high price tag but it's very ingenious and sure would make life a bit nicer. And if we did end up moving the kitty potty area to the laundry room, it would be the perfect setup. A self-cleaning cat box. I mean really, what can be better than that? And this one actually seems high-tech enough that the concept would work, unlike those that just sweep all the waste to one side or that you throw away the entire cat box tray. The refill stuff is comparable to what we already spend on disposal and litter...and not having the task every few days is certainly worth the price. There's even a demo video of it in action as well as lots of other information about the product on their website CatGenie.com
OmniPro II Starter Kit
Price: $1699.99
Home automation starter kit. What could be better than that? This thing could control everything in our farm already which is a lot of ground to cover...and the pricing could be worse. Of course this is another one of those things that would only come much further down the line once all the other projects are done...but it sure would be fun lol.
Sites like this give lots of great inspiration and if we find something we really can't live without, we always shop around before making a final decision. Most of their prices seem decent compared to retail but there are almost certainly better deals out there.]]>
So we set about our task and then realized that the gate we have is too wide to fit in the staircase...or most of the door frames in the house. This one is apparently for wide entrances and that is certainly not something we have in this house. So we're back to the drawing board as far as the cats go. We've come up with a few options but we're not really sure how great any of them are. One thought is to put a kitty door in the door of the extra room upstairs so that the cats can have a place to retreat whenever they want. I'm thinking I will put their food in the kitchen which should force a bit more interaction between the three of them & we'll just keep the dog on a leash in the house for a while when the cats are roaming. Hopefully then we'll be able to teach the dog that the kitties are not to be chased and none of their stuff belongs to her (that last one is going to be really tough - especially when it comes to the litter box...yuck!) We're also thinking that we can put the litter box in the mudroom/laundry room which would really prevent the dog from gaining access...but we'd need to put another kitty door in our new kitchen door. Definitely something we need more time to think on and I guess it's time to do some new research on the subject and see what we can do to help ease the process.]]>
It'a little muddy once we get out of town, but you can't beat the feeling of a crisp morning walk down that path.
]]>Click here to see it on Google Earth!]]>
1) Patio
Basically we need to set some drywall in the back to cover the back wall. The stones are over-salted from all the chicken dirt that putting plaster on them again is not an option. The rocks have to breathe. Then we need to put some stuff down to even the slab out and lay the tile. Will need to also take down the ceiling panels to install some recessed lighting and perhaps some speakers. A fresh coat of pain and we are good to go ;-)
IMPORTANCE: Not so high, but will be a good practice project to take on before comitting to the larger drywall/flooring things like the horse stables and the laundry room.
2) Laundry Room
This is a pretty major one and there is lots of things to consider. The laundry room is the other half of the old workshop which is now our kitchen. While it's functioning right now it really is not such a lovely room - and really cold. So first steps will be to rewire the room and put up dry wall. We also need floor insulation and tiles in here. Should be an interesting project to say the least.
IMPORTANCE: Very important! Right now it's basically unusable except for running the washing machine and storing a few things. Too dirty and industrial.
3) Horse stables
We have pretty much decided to make this into a little 1 bedroom guest apartment. It will be very tight, at roughly 25 sq meters (250 sq ft) so it's not very big at all. I guess we need to do some research in how to make the best of this space. I guess the procedure of this will be roughly the same as for the laundry room.
IMPORTANCE: File this under nice to have. We do have a spare bedroom in the house for guests and it will do, but really it would be quite nice to have a seperate place for guests. More privacy for them and us.
4) Garden
I am sure this will take us quite a few weekends as well. The garden is big, and right now it's an absolute mess. All of the steps will need to go into a seperate post. It makes me depressed just thinking of all the different steps we need to take in there. Taking out old, dead trees... building paths and flower beds.... it's giving me a headache;-)
IMPORTANCE: A race against time ;-) Basically we need to get to this as soon as the ground is starting to dry out and spring comes. Nature is taking over our garden right now and our barn with it. It can't stay like this for another season.
Trust me, there are many more. But these really seem the like the next major steps that should be taken care off ASAP.]]>
Things have been moving along incredibly fast lately, even with a few delays here and there. But looking back on the last few months we have really come a long way. We still get overwhelmed sometimes by all the work which needs to be done, but we love it here and can't wait until the spring comes so we can get a move on.]]>
There's one thing I wanted to ask you: Is your house "unter Denkmalschutz"? And if it is, how did you deal with it concerning the renovation of the house? Are you allowed to make all the changes you'd like?]]>
]]>Saturday was a pretty good day for us. We went to IKEA in the morning and finally managed to get the cabinet which goes under our sink in the new bathroom upstairs. This has been a major mission and about our fourth attempt to try to get this thing so we are quite happy to be done with that. We also received a post card in the mail earlier last week to let us know that the remaining pieces of our kitchen were also finally there. These are just pieces to make it all look prettier but we are very happy to finally not need to visit that store for a little while. We also took back a few things which we had left over from the kitchen installation and the faucet for the kitchen sink which isn't compatible with the stand-alone water heater since it doesn't have enough connection hoses. So we'll need to locate another faucet we like in the next little while.
After our IKEA trip, we also made another close inspection of the gate outside which decided to stop working earlier last week. We're still not exactly sure where the problem is but we have pretty much ruled out the fuse box which the handyman, Robert, thought was hooked up to it. As far as we can tell, that fuse box actually controls the lights which come on when the bell at the front gate is rung. The lights come on so that if you are in another part of the house and don't hear the buzzer, you may still notice the lights coming on. Quite practical but for some reason they want to stay on all the time so we may indeed need a fuse for that anyway. The good news about the gate is that we also find a manual release (we knew there had to be some way to get the doors open without electricity), so we can at least get the very full storage container picked up finally. Slowly but surely we're figuring out all the little things we need to know about the gates and doors in the house but it's taking us a while. We may actually end up having to replace the opening device on the gate outside which isn't something we wanted to do right away and will almost certainly require an electrician. But at least we can get the door open now without a lot of chaos.
Since it has been raining pretty much all weekend (and it still is), hubby didn't make any attempts to get on the roof to fix the satellite. But he does have it in his mind again that he's going to fix the problem so perhaps we'll get to that next weekend if it's dried out around here a bit.
We also did a bit of house cleaning (not nearly enough) and just getting things settled in general. It will still be a long while before there are no more boxes living amongst us but things could be much worse. We have pretty much found everything so far and should we need to locate something, we are pretty quick at finding the box it is in (excluding the speaker cables which have gone completely missing in action).]]>
It was actually still dark outside when I took this picture this morning so you can see that the light is quite bright. There are 5 halogen bulbs on the little lightening bolt shaped structure which we've now got pointing all over the bathroom. We think we can even overcome the need for a light above the sink because the light reflects a bit from the mirror and lights up whatever is standing in front of it...so we'll see how that works for putting on make-up in the morning.
As you can see, we decided to move the cabinet over further from the wall so both of us can use the sink at the same time. The faucet swivels which makes this a lot easier and the sink itself is more than large enough. The medicine cabinet on the wall will need to be moved, though, since it was hung before we had the cabinet. It was actually a bit of an accident that it got hung first because I wasn't really sure where we'd end up with the sink cabinet and knew we could run into trouble there. But if we have to patch one more little hole in the wall, so be it.
I really can't wait for this room to be finished. We have a bunch of bathroom stuff to unpack and a lot of it needs to go up here so I am ready to get going. After having 4 bathrooms in our old house and now finally getting back up to 2, it is a bit of challenge to find homes for everything at the moment. Eventually we are probably going to build a closet into the nook in the bathroom downstairs that used to have a closet but which was ripped out when we moved the door and put up a real wall instead of just a sheet of plywood. Then we will have a good place to stash all our extra guest towels and other bath rations.
Overall the bathroom has turned out better than initially expected. I knew that it was going to end up looking fabulous but there was a short period of time with the unfinished wall tiles up and the hospital green still showing from the drywall that I really started to think we'd made a mistake. I am also very happy to report that when we first checked out the bathroom, the floor was creaking very badly, even when you walked into the shower stall and we were really concerned that this would be a big problem. But the heater had been off in there and now that it's warmed up (since that is one of the few radiators in the house that works wonderfully), the floors aren't making any more noise. Woohoo!
]]>So at about 8 am, Ayla and I came back from our walk and he wasn't here yet. In fact, he didn't actually show up until about 9:45 but at least he actually came. There's not so much that needs to be handled so showing up a bit later isn't the end of the world.
He's already finished with reconnecting the dishwasher line under the kitchen sink. Now hubby and I will need to cut a notch into the sink cabinet to make space for the hoses to run back and forth and then we can finally move it all against the wall and call our granite guy to come take the measurements. I also mentioned to Macky that there is a leak from the dishwasher which seems to be occurring when the water and muck is flushed from the dishwasher. It's actually a rather significant leak and we almost managed to start an electrical fire from the looks of things because of it. The plugs for the stand-alone sink water heater and the dishwasher are sharing a plug strip under the sink which had just been laying inside the cabinet. I noticed on Sunday that the water heater wasn't working and when I inspected it closer, I saw it wasn't on at all. Then I saw the water in the bottom of the cabinet and I knew we had a bit of a problem. I thought it was probably coming from the sink but after several uses, there was no water to be found where it didn't belong. Until I started running the dishwasher this morning. Then we got the water pouring out again into the cabinet. I am thankful that I at least was able to figure out where it was coming from so hopefully Macky has already found the solution as well. He told me to test it but I have to wait until the water is back on but then we'll see.
At the moment he's hooking up the sink upstairs in the new bathroom which will be really fabulous to have finished. That will almost complete that room, aside from moving the cabinet above the sink (which I would love for Macky to take care of today since he hung it in the wrong place but I don't think he has the right tools with him) and other little small decorating touches.
We're also supposed to finally have our trash container picked up today. They usually come before noon but it's past then and they're still not here...so hopefully they will get here in the next hour so I don't have to worry so much about not letting the dog out in the courtyard in case they show up.]]>
The dishwasher definitely doesn't seem to be leaking anymore although the faucet drips in the bath upstairs...something new to add to the list. I've still got a test run going with the dishwasher so we'll see in about an hour if all is indeed well but it's definitely looking promising since I haven't seen a drop yet.
My bath layout had to be changed a bit since the hook up for the sink is closer to the corner and the piping for the sink needs to run directly under it...but it still looks good. The cabinet is still a bit off-center but we'll get to it. Macky didn't have any of the tools he needed to do it today or it would be done already. I guess as long as I can keep myself from loading stuff up in there just yet, it will be ok. I was rather fond of the plant in the corner but I guess I'll just have to find a new, more suitable plant to stick somewhere else...maybe after we've put up a few pictures and such.
We've come a pretty long way from the original room...
]]>I think I am way over the norm when it comes to moving since I've lived in 21 homes in 28 years, across 3 states (TX, VA & FL) and 2 continents lol. My hubby moved from NY to FL and I from VA to FL to go to college in Miami so we're no stranger to that type of move either. Where in FL are you now?]]>
The most entertaining moment for us was when the dog decided to jump on the bed. Both cats were growling in unison then, even though they couldn't see her. Just knowing she was hovering above them was apparently close enough. But thankfully when we went to bed later the cats didn't seem completely traumatized. This morning they were even around for some petting so the ordeal must not have distressed them too much. Usually they wouldn't have been seen again for days.
Aside from that, all has been pretty much routine. Ayla needs to go back to the vet this week to make sure that she doesn't have any infection. We would probably be at the vet now if I wasn't sitting here waiting for them to come pick up our trash container. So perhaps tomorrow will be the day.
Ayla has also decided that she is going to steal food from her bag of kibble which will be met with serious consequences. She's skipping dinner tonight because she certainly probably ate more than her portion just now. I was doing laundry and she wanted to stay in that room so I took everything upstairs, came back downstairs and find her with her face in the bag. It's not the first time but since she was laying so quietly and peacefully when I left the room I thought she might have forgotten about the food. Stupid me.
Oh, well lookie there. As I sit her typing, both of our cats have just come downstairs to explore. The dog is outside in the courtyard laying in the cold so I figured I'd open the door for the cats. They definitely are getting bolder and started the exploration much faster this time around. Hopefully that's a good sign.]]>
So now we basically need to vacuum every other day to keep the fur and dirt situation under control. Since it's the rainy season in Frankfurt (Can someone PLEASE tell me when that ends exactly?!) and our walks are on farm roads, she tends to get dirty. And there is still quite a bit of loose dirt floating around our courtyard which she tracks in. The tiles in our kitchen are off white with a light brown structuring running through them which somehow always manages to look clean after the tumbleweeds & loose dirt have been vacated. Maybe we just need one of those vacuum cleaners that runs on its own...We'd probably need to replace it every year or so from wear & tear but it would certainly have its benefits.]]>
When my mom was here visiting over Christmas, she asked if we'd ever tried to vacuum the dog to get some of the loose hair off her. I had but not with much effort since Ayla would usually back away as soon as I lifted the sweeping attachment at the end of the hose off the ground. But while my mom was cleaning up one day, she gave it a try as well and Ayla put up no resistance at all. Now I can't even keep her away from the thing. If the vacuum comes into the room, whether it's running or not, Ayla will immediately be there waiting. And when I take the floor attachment off so I can use the nozzle to get in tight corners and grab the fur tumbleweeds, Ayla starts licking the hose. This is the part of the vacuum that she will let me use on her until she has no hair left. She's even managed to get her lips stuck in there but it doesn't bother her at all. She doesn't panic or seem concerned, just happy to be hanging out with the vacuum.
I personally really wonder just how much fur is being sucked up by the machine from her. It seems like it takes a bit more effort when I'm brushing her every day but I guess it just depends what area I'm targeting at the moment and whether it's undercoat that is the target. I have the impression that it won't come out quite as easily with the vacuum.
I know that some people talk about using high power blow dryers on their dogs and this blows out the old hair as well as dirt but are there people out there with tolerant dogs like Ayla who are routinely vacuuming their dog in addition to or instead of brushing? I guess there's something new for me to Google :)]]>
The store is literally about 3 blocks from us but it's been raining on and off and I am still American by nature so I drove there. I think my expectations about what I might be able to buy were also still a bit skewed at that point. In our old neighborhood, we had a similar little market which was quite well stocked. Just about anything I needed, I could usually find there. But this new store is not at all the same. It's about half the size of the old store with 4 rows of goods and one of the smallest produce sections I've ever seen. They do happen to have some fresh rolls that are delivered in the morning and if you look hard enough you can pretty much find one of everything...but with the atmosphere of bargain basement shopping. There's even graffiti on the building and our neighborhood isn't THAT bad.
So next time I guess I will either try the farmers co-op which is also just a few blocks away to try out their produce (and see what else they might have to offer) or go to the next larger town over; Bad Vilbel, which has quite a few options to choose from. There still aren't any huge major grocery store chains (that I have seen) but I do know that as soon as we enter town, there is a Lidl (discount grocery shopping) and a Tegut (more upscale, focusing on organics, but still supposed to be quite decent) right next door to each other so between the two I think I should be able to fulfill most shopping lists. After this experience, it really does feel more like we're living in the country lol.]]>
I'm trying to recall exactly how many containers we've had so far...
We had two 10 cubic meter (approx. 350 cubic feet) trash containers in August 2006.
In September we had another two 10 cubic meter trash containers and one 5 cubic meter container for gardening waste.
We filled up yet another 10 cubic meter trash container in October and in November ordered a 7 cubic meter (250 cubic feet) building material waste container.
Because the majority of the building was done once that container was full, we went back to ordering regular trash containers again. So in December we ordered yet another 10 cubic meter container and finally have had our 7th 10 cubic meter container picked up today.
In total that makes 70 cubic meters of regular trash, 7 cubic meters of building materials (that was the one I was digging through to get our old bricks out) and 5 cubic meters of gardening waste although we probably only filled it up half-way.
Needless to say, all of these trash containers have been an expensive venture and we are wishing we owned some stock in the container company. But disposing of it any other way would have been massively more complicated and probably even more expensive. This is Germany, after all, where it's next to impossible to throw things away outside of your usual trash containers. For example, we currently have 4 different trash cans and 1 special sack to throw garbage away in. The cans are for: gardening waste (branches, grass clippings, etc), household compost (potato peelings, egg shells, etc), paper and all other regular trash. The sacks are for packaging materials and plastic. And the best part is that each of these trash collection days is on a totally different day so you really have to pay attention to those little trash schedules...or hope your neighbors are putting their trash out early!]]>
I took advantage of the weather and decided to go run some errands and while I was driving, I actually realized it was so warm in the truck that I could open a window and/or my air flaps in front. This is the first time this year that I've been able to do that. I didn't really think about this much last year, perhaps because spring & summer really crept up on us and didn't want to stick around for long periods of time. But I'm thinking to myself now that this will probably become a new ritual for me - welcoming spring with the flaps down. Noticing that first day of the year when you can finally go outside without a jacket on and not freeze in place.
Weather forecasts say that next week it's supposed to be rather chilly again but that the sun should be showing itself a bit more. I am really looking forward to that since it's a real rarity during the winters here. As every day grows a bit longer, I am so thankful since I really need the sun to sort of recharge myself. When you're sitting in an office all day and can only look out the window to grey skies, it's not exactly motivating. Of course, the first really nice, warm day of the year isn't going to be very motivating for inside work either but that's another story.
Our climbing partner, Jenny, is coming over again and we can hopefully make some firm decisions then about what we'll be doing over the Easter holiday this year. We're starting to run out of time as far as planning goes but there's been so many other things going on for all of us that now is really the best time to start thinking about it. We're not really certain we'll be able to camp yet in Locarno or Italy since it may be a bit cold still...and finding an apartment or cottage to rent with a 100 pound dog - well, it will be interesting.]]>
For the most part, Ayla was a perfect angel. We were amused that even though we had vacuumed about 15 minutes before our friend arrived, there were actually Newf tumbleweeds roaming around the kitchen 20 minutes after she'd arrived. Thankfully she has two dogs herself so she's not grossed out by it all but we were rather shocked at how quickly the stuff piles up. Apparently we'll be spending some serious time in the next few days on brushing out her baby coat which she currently seems to be shedding.
After we'd all finished dinner, we were just sitting around and relaxing with most of our plates still on the table. When I bought the steaks, they were in a four-pack and we decided to go ahead and grill all of them at once and would decide what to do with the last steak later on. I come from the South and we always go with the mentality that you can never have too much food on the table, just not enough appetite. At one point, we all went outside so the smokers could have their nicotine fix and completely forgot about that remaining steak. But we really didn't need to worry. Ayla gobbled it down in record time and by the time we thought about it, it was gone. We thought it might give her a bit of indigestion since it was seasoned a bit spicy but apparently not. We certainly won't be having any dinner parties where she's roaming freely unless we can get that behavior curbed...which I'm guessing should really only take us until she's either not agile enough to counter surf anymore...or she's gone to the Rainbow Bridge. ;-)]]>
For the most part, Ayla was a perfect angel. We were amused that even though we had vacuumed about 15 minutes before our friend arrived, there were actually Newf tumbleweeds roaming around the kitchen 20 minutes after she'd arrived. Thankfully she has two dogs herself so she's not grossed out by it all but we were rather shocked at how quickly the stuff piles up. Apparently we'll be spending some serious time in the next few days on brushing out her baby coat which she currently seems to be shedding.
After we'd all finished dinner, we were just sitting around and relaxing with most of our plates still on the table. When I bought the steaks, they were in a four-pack and we decided to go ahead and grill all of them at once and would decide what to do with the last steak later on. I come from the South and we always go with the mentality that you can never have too much food on the table, just not enough appetite. At one point, we all went outside so the smokers could have their nicotine fix and completely forgot about that remaining steak. But we really didn't need to worry. Ayla gobbled it down in record time and by the time we thought about it, it was gone. We thought it might give her a bit of indigestion since it was seasoned a bit spicy but apparently not. We certainly won't be having any dinner parties where she's roaming freely unless we can get that behavior curbed...which I'm guessing should really only take us until she's either not agile enough to counter surf anymore...or she's gone to the Rainbow Bridge. ;-)]]>
I went shopping on Thursday and picked up some really nice Angus steaks at the store, each about an inch thick. They came in a package of 4 and although we were only 3 people, I knew someone would eat it eventually. What we didn't really count on was our Newfoundland puppy eating the final steak when we weren't paying attention...but that's another story.
The evening overall was really nice. We pulled out one of our huge patio candles and had that going while we grilled on the Weber. I actually have several more that are huge lanterns but I apparently put the candles which go inside them "somewhere safe" where they wouldn't melt or anything and I now have no clue at all where they are. But it's still chilly out and rainy so I have another month or so to track them down.
We also helped to lighten the load of our wine cellar (not that it needs it) and polished off a few bottles of red wine from Krems along with a German sparkling wine that we bought over Christmas. So today we'll be recovering a bit after not going to bed until very early this morning and ending up with about 4 hours of sleep before the dog started asking to go out. Spring chickens we certainly are not.
We've just come back from breakfast at Südlicht, the bar & restaurant down the street from us. So now that my belly is full I'm planning to spend the afternoon sleeping a bit and just relaxing. This is the first weekend in a long while that we haven't had an immense list of things that must be done so we're just going to enjoy it since we know most weekends in the future (especially over the summer) we just won't get that lucky.]]>
Since the container is gone, our courtyard looks really huge and we're starting to get used to the way it looks without one. But with the workers coming and going and all the construction and moving going on here, quite a few things have been more or less abandoned in the courtyard until we were ready to move them on to another place. So we decided to make use of the great weather and clean up around the courtyard. None of it was anything major but sometimes it's the little things that make a huge difference. We had all sorts of random bricks and pieces of wood which were left over from building projects and the contractors so we moved them all into the barn until we figure out what we'll need and what we'll be putting in one of the upcoming containers.
We also started thinking about where we'd like to have our outside dining area and set up our old table and chairs in there for now. At some point we'd like to switch out our cheap plastic patio furniture for something wooden or wrought iron but we aren't really set about any details. We might consider building something ourselves if we find some plans we like online since wood furniture is not cheap - unless you're getting it from IKEA which is always a good option to us.
We'll be grilling once again tonight. Hopefully we won't have any altercations with the dog this time. Her first birthday is coming up, after all, and she better start behaving or she'll be getting nothing this time around.]]>
Hubby and I were home alone and grilling again since the weather was quite nice yesterday although still pretty chilly out at night. But I'm a Texas girl and have converted my husband to be a Texas guy so we never pass up the chance to use our Weber grill, part of the reason we're very much looking forward to warmer weather and longer days.
As we stood outside sipping Coronas and waiting for the grill to get ready, we once again let our guard slide and were just chatting by the fire. We glanced into the kitchen windows and say Ayla with her paws up on the counter. I yelled for her to get off and walked in to check the damage. I imagined she had licked all the spices off or drooled all over them...but in fact, our precious little puppy wolfed down both of our steaks. These were not as nice as the steaks we had the other night...but we were not thrilled with ourselves.
Again, we weren't mad at the dog, just felt rather dumb that we'd been duped into thinking she wouldn't pull that stunt again and somewhat impressed that she'd just packed away about 500g (18 oz) of protein in addition to her regular dinner portion of kibble and canned food which she'd had about two hours earlier.
How could we be tricked into believing that innocent face of hers again? Well, she was laying far away from the steaks and hadn't shown an interest at all. Such a good actress she is and we are clearly the most gullible people around. Imagine what fun our children are going to have with us lol.
Thankfully we just bought a box of frozen steaks so we were able to thaw out a couple more in a few minutes and the grill wasn't quite hot yet. So we still threw two steaks on the grill and had dinner as planned...just a little later than first anticipated and with a bit more beer. Ayla's first birthday is coming up on Friday so we're thinking perhaps we'll finally grill her a steak of her own for dinner. She clearly likes them quite a bit and her kibble is made with Black Angus after all. Our little Newf spoiled before she even hits that first birthday?? What would make you say that? ;)]]>
We were playing with the idea of hubby taking the day off so we could really show Ayla a special day but unfortunately that's not going to work out. So instead, we're thinking we may just grill that evening and make Ayla her own special steak (since she seems to love them so much) and try to do something special with her over the weekend.
I thought I'd post some photos of her over the next few days to show how much she's grown. This set of photos is from birth to the day she came home with us at 8 weeks old.
She's only 1 week old here, sleeping away with her only sister, Aika.
Walking to her mommy - 3 weeks old.
Resting a bit - 5 weeks old
You know that face it going to be trouble - 6 weeks old.
Picking her up from the breeders - 8 weeks old
]]>Licks,
Nanook]]>
We were playing with the idea of hubby taking the day off so we could really show Ayla a special day but unfortunately that's not going to work out. So instead, we're thinking we may just grill that evening and make Ayla her own special steak (since she seems to love them so much) and try to do something special with her over the weekend.
I thought I'd post some photos of her over the next few days to show how much she's grown. This set of photos is from birth to the day she came home with us at 8 weeks old.
She's only 1 week old here, sleeping away with her only sister, Aika.
Walking to her mommy - 3 weeks old.
Resting a bit - 5 weeks old
You know that face it going to be trouble - 6 weeks old.
Picking her up from the breeders - 8 weeks old
]]>Here's Ayla when she could still fit under the coffee table at 9 weeks.
Showing that water bowl who the boss is at 10 weeks.
Taking her first bath at 11 weeks.
Getting a nice belly rub at 13 weeks
Wanting to be on the couch - 15 weeks
]]>Germany is not the most ideal place to grow many of the fruits and vegetables we love to eat and have grown used to while living in places like Miami. So finding a way to extend the growing season is essential if you want to get beyond the typical backyard veggie garden and include some "exotics" like chilies.
So off we went on a wild Internet search trying to find THE perfect greenhouse for us. WOW there are a lot of different styles of greenhouses out there, ranging from the ultra low budget to extravagant English manor style garden houses.
There are actually quite a few sites on the Internet which have plans for building your own greenhouse, an option that appeals to us since we will pretty much need to customize it to be exactly what flows with the style of our barn. One pretty good website to learn all about greenhouses and materials, sizing, locations etc. is from the University of West Virginia - you can read it here
Ultimately what we want is a lean-to type greenhouse which leans directly against the back wall of the barn. But this design below is also very, very nice and would make a perfect addition to our backyard...who knows, perhaps the plans can be modified. The greenhouse below is made by The Sun Country Green House Company - they offer the plans for sale, as well as kits to save yourself a lot of hassle.
Anyways, we will see where we end up. As always it seems the to-do list is getting longer and the borders between "want" and "need" is getting a bit blurrier, but thankfully there really is no rush on these things. For now, it's just fun making the most of the farm and really feeling like this is home.]]>We were grilling again on Monday night and decided to take the opportunity to train Ayla at the same time. We were watching her extremely closely, making sure she didn't even sniff at the counters and that she was never alone with the steak. We reprimanded her when she was thinking about jumping up to inspect the counters, etc., etc. So we managed to get the steaks on the grill and we even got to eat the steaks...but hubby's was a bit tough so he left almost half of it on his plate. I can honestly say that he really must have found it bad or had too much to eat for lunch because I've never seen him turn away a steak before...ever.
Ayla was being exceptionally loving that evening after dinner. She kept coming over to the couch for petting and just to check on us. We had eaten in the living room and hadn't cleared the plates yet, again mostly because of the dog. Clearing the table meant taking care of the dishes right away or she would be trying to get them in the kitchen sink and we just weren't up to the task yet. So hubby decided to go have a cigarette outside and he started looking for something which he was asking me to help him locate. At the same time, I was using the laptop so I was distracted from him and the dog...which was her perfect cue. Since my view of the plate was obstructed by a napkin, I didn't even realize she had taken the steak until it was nearly gone. She's certainly too fast and too smart for her own good.
After all this, I'm not sure that we'll be giving The Steak Monster another steak for her birthday dinner. But if we do, we should apparently season it with plenty of herbs and spices since they don't seem to bother her. We're actually pretty sure that she's taken a liking to A1 Bold & Spicy steak sauce with Tabasco in it...and the stuff isn't so mild. She's already shown us she loves wasabi and Louisiana Hot Sauce when we tried to use them to deter her from chewing on us. She is truly a strange dog but perhaps it's just because she's a Texan at heart.]]>
Most of the day Saturday, hubby actually slept on the couch. This is pretty much unheard of because he's just not a napper...which immediately told me he really must be feeling bad. On the walk with the dog in the evening, he looked like he might pass out and he collapsed on the couch again when we got home.
Sunday morning wasn't all that different and we both slept pretty late. He was feeling a little better and we actually managed to clean up a few things around the house but nothing major. To this point, I wasn't really feeling sick which was pretty surprising to me. This was probably the point at which I cursed myself...
Monday morning, hubby surprised me by calling in sick to work. Again, that's just something he doesn't do. He feels guilty about it all day long, regardless of how sick he is, and therefore rarely does it. But he's travelling to London on Wednesday to see customers so he needed to gather his strength for that escapade. He did manage to do a bit of work from the couch as well, preparing his presentation for his meetings on Wednesday.
As for me, Monday morning I started feeling the effects of this cold. After he called in to work, we both went back to sleep and slept until 9 am. This may not sound too late to most people but for us, it's very late. Hubby usually wakes up at 5.40 and leaves the house by 6.30 am. We also went to bed the night before at about 9:30 (unheard of for us) and still managed to sleep almost 12 hours. Usually my internal clock simply shuts off after 8, max. 9 hours, and I can't go back to sleep at all...but not this morning. Thankfully the dog has gotten more lenient with us about going out and having breakfast so we were able to sleep mostly interrupted.
So we've been recuperating today and hope that we will be fit for the next approaching weekend. Maybe we've just been pushing ourselves a bit too hard over the last few weeks...we're not spring chickens anymore lol. We are just hoping now that we can get healthy again quickly so life can resume as normal...and hopefully the cold season will be ending soon. We still have a lot of work to get done around here, after all.]]>
Since both of us were now sick Monday morning, we completely forgot about the mole which was still laying on our walking path and she picked it up again, parading it around like a new toy. I honestly don't see what's so great about a stiff, nasty little mole carcass but I guess that is something humans and dogs will just never understand about each other. Naturally, neither of us had an "ammunition" in our pockets (doggie treats) and we had to stalk her to get her to finally stop and release the mole...
Today she was not so lucky and had to stay on her leash the whole walk due to various factors like other people on the path. But I'm sure she's just waiting for the opportunity when we forget about the mole again...I'm just hoping it stops being attractive to her before that happens again.]]>
During the recent walks, we have come across a few interesting neighbors. One is a woman with two HUGE Irish Wolfhounds. Anyone with a large dog probably feels their dog isn't all that large until it's standing next to a regular sized dog like a Golden Retriever. But next to these dogs, Ayla is basically a dwarf. She could easily stand directly underneath them and all but her head would fit perfectly. We've actually seen the woman out walking with the two dogs before but unfortunately never got close enough to talk to her or find out what they were. I actually had to Google it since we were so amazed by the sheer size of the dogs that we forgot to ask what breed they are.
We also have discovered that there is a small collection of English speaking people here in our little town. I was told by a woman who we run into often that she met an American woman living in the city square and while we were out walking, we ran into a couple with two Pugs where at least one of the people is British (the woman didn't really talk). It was actually his terrible German with a thick British accent that gave him away. lol
Of course, as many people who have dogs know, it is often the case that people don't recognize you without your dog...but Ayla is nearly always with us so that shouldn't be too much of a problem for us...
And here's one of the local kitties just around the corner from us. Looks like a good mouser to me ;)
]]>
A few days ago, somone on the Newf-L mailing list sent a link to the most adorable brown Newf puppy and I just have to share the link. How cute is this guy??
I guess that just makes it final. We have discussed about if/when we finally get another Newf (not anytime too soon I'd say) that we'd love to have a brown one and this little guy would just be far too cute to pass up. Thankfully none of the breeders we've come across here in Germany have any puppies available right now. ;) Actually, even better yet would be a brown & white Landseer...but we haven't totally forgotten what it's like to have a crazy puppy running around so we're not quite ready to embark on that again.]]>
The Brat Pack]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
This visit is the second we've had since we've lived in the house and I'm starting to wonder what kind of money he was making off those birds. So far we've basically had one visit per month since the year started. Actually, we only moved in on the 18th of January so it's basically a little over a month that we've been in here. I can only imagine that as the weather gets warmer and wedding season really starts that we will get more visits. We did find our address online with the previous owner as they'd apparently run a story about him on a local TV show. They promptly removed it when we contacted them but apparently there are still locations with his old posters and perhaps other advertising up. But now with all this traffic we're either going to have to find someone to refer these people to or something.]]>
Thanks,
Bruno Bornsztein
Co-founder, Curbly .com
www.curbly.com/bruno]]>
Three handsome male dogs are walking down the street when they see a beautiful, enticing, female Newfoundland.
The three male dogs fall all over themselves in an effort to be the one to reach her first, but end up arriving in front of her at the same time.
The males are speechless before her beauty, slobbering on themselves and hoping for just a glance from her in return.
Aware of her charms and her obvious effect on the three suitors, she decides to be kind and tells them, "The first one who can use the words 'liver' and 'cheese' together in an imaginative, intelligent sentence can go out with me."
The sturdy, muscular black Lab speaks up quickly and says, "I love liver and cheese."
"Oh, how childish," said the Newfie. "That shows no imagination or intelligence whatsoever."
She turns to the tall, shiny Golden Retriever and says "How well can you do?"
"Um. I HATE liver and cheese," blurts the Golden Retriever.
"My, my," said the Newf. "I guess it's hopeless. That's just as dumb as the Lab's sentence."
She then turns to the last of the three dogs and says, "How about you, little guy?"
The last of the three, tiny in stature but big in fame and finesse, is the Taco Bell Chihuahua.
He gives her a smile, a sly wink, turns to the Golden Retriever and the Lab and says......
(ok, this is good)
"Liver alone. Cheese mine."]]>
Welcome to www.dogswithblogs.com.au - it is great to meet you, and I am sure you will make lots of friends here :-)
Love
Opy]]>
Actually, I guess I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be. When we moved into our old rental house, we actually had 6 plants. Some were there when we moved in and a few were given to us as house warming gifts. This probably seems like nothing to most people but they were almost thriving which was something really special for me, especially the papyrus plant which absolutely loved our old winter garden. That is one plant I don't think anyone could manage to kill. My poinsettia on the other hand is looking very sickly and I definitely need to give it some TLC soon. Of course, I do wonder that if I can't keep 6 house plants alive where I have an endless supply of water (I actually usually give them the remainder of what's left in Ayla's 3 indoor water bowls - I figure the drool is probably good for them), how are we ever going to manage to keep a garden going.
Anyway, here is the article: 18 Houseplants for Bad Gardeners]]>
But let's get to the point, huh? In the latest This Old House Yard & Garden Newsletter, they featured an article about finding bargains when shopping for plants. A bargain hunter since birth, this article naturally caught my eye. And as I read through it, I started to wonder how many of these things will be implementable here in Germany. For example, I'd love to be able to buy out everything in the garden center at the end of the season but I'm just not sure that would fly since they seem to have rules and regulations about everything...and heavy discounting like that is not usually done. But I think if I were to sick hubby on a task like that, he may be able to talk them into it.
Another thing they mentioned is becoming friends with the local nursery. We actually have two in our tiny little town and one of them is owned by the family of the farm's PO's son's wife (sounds complicated, right). We've only met her once but she was incredibly friendly...so perhaps she'll be working there the first time we go to check it out...which should be pretty soon since we have a bunch of window boxes to fill up, not to mention the huge planters on the street. The place we like to buy our Christmas trees from is also not too far away and they have lovely plants which are usually fairly priced. So at least one of these places should pan out of us eventually.
In addition, the home improvement stores here usually have huge garden sections and there are also large chain nurseries which we haven't visited yet either. And at the beginning of the planting season, there are also usually vendors selling plants at the local weekly markets...so we are not at a loss for selection or opportunities to find good deals. It's more a matter of figuring out what we're going to want to plant.
Here's the article: Get the Best Deal on Plants]]>
rr]]>
- We got engaged after knowing each other for about 3 months. Crazy for some but we did actually wait a while to get married...not because we were having doubts but because we were moving from Miami to Germany and the time for planning wasn't really there. We've been together almost 7 years now and married just over 5...how the time flies!
- The farmhouse is the 5th place we've lived together...and the 3rd here in Germany. I personally have moved somewhere around 25 times in my life. Hubby has a much more "normal" number...but I guess neither of us will be adding new digits in the near future now.
- We both feel like expats here in Germany. Since I'm American, it was definitely a culture shock moving here. But hubby spent his younger years in Germany, than a few in Japan and finally lived about 12 years in the US before we moved back over here. He speaks fluent German still but since his really formative years were spent in the US, he feels like a foreigner.
- We come up with a new idea for a business every few months. That could be the Gemini side of hubby showing but we actually have had some really great ideas...now if only we can reign them all in and start making some money from them.
- We would be lost without the Internet. Most of our projects around the house have been heavily researched on the Internet. We keep in contact with the majority of our friends and family over the Internet. And if we have no Internet access for long periods of time, we feel like we're losing touch with the world (especially hubby lol)....but this is getting better now that we have the farm.
Our House in Georgetown, DE
This (Really) Old House
Our Old House
Pecan Place
1912 Bungalow]]>
You may have noticed by the size of our kitchen that we like to cook. We haven't been able to do that as often as we'd like lately since we still don't have our countertop yet (don't get me started...it's on our To Do list for the weekend to order it finally) but that doesn't stop me from browsing cooking blogs and looking at tons of recipes. One of my newest favorite food blogs is called Homesick Texan. It's written by another misplaced Texas girl who just needs a bit of down home cooking every once and a while...and the recipes she features in there are really incredible. Such as her post yesterday - Independence and Chicken Fried Steak. I basically bookmark every recipe she talks about so I can go back to them later. I can't wait to start trying them out and I'll try to share some of my thoughts when I finally do!]]>
Once those errands are run, we will likely be focusing on a few indoor projects because it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Those projects will be installing the kitty freedom devices and probably vacuuming the attic of the main house to get the primary layer of dirt out of there. With that completed, we're planning to start moving some of the extra stuff from the extra room of the main house (which is currently our closet and just storage for the things we aren't sure where to put yet) into the attic where they will remain until we start finishing that part of the house out (whenever that will be). And if we're lucky and the weather is good, hubby is talking about another attempt to replace the satellite dish so we'll see.]]>
The statue is over three feet tall and you can store your pool cues and pool balls in there - now that is cool..... but at 420$ also a bit stiff. Check it out at statue.com]]>Saturday morning we had a bunch of errands to run to fill up our pantry and so that our animals have something to eat. We also made a quick run to the home improvement store where we finally got the hook & eye latches for the doors upstairs and some paint sample chips so we can start making a decision about repainting all the doors and door frames in the house. All the walls are currently white (aside from where the dog has dirtied them already) and the doors and frames are a sort of vanilla color. The color is just a bit too intense to really flow with everything that is definitely one of our upcoming projects to just make things nicer inside.
After the errands, we installed the hooks for the cats. That is probably one of the easiest projects we've done so far. You just screw them in and you're ready for action. It really doesn't get any more simple.
So we now have them on our bedroom door...
and the bathroom door.
We plan on eventually moving their litter box into the bathroom and may move their food in there as well if we have the space. But for the time being we're just going to let them adjust to the new freedom and hearing the dog more clearly with the door partially open.
On Sunday we had some really nice weather so we did a few small jobs inside and then a few more outdoors as well. We have an ongoing project of moving things from the storage rooms at the front of the courtyard back to other areas in the barn or around the far. Some of the items in these rooms is staying where it is but some of the smaller furniture pieces that we've taken out of the house are being moved into the barn where they are out of the way until we figure out what we're doing with them. We also moved the old saws from the horse stall (they used to be mounted on the barn door) to the barn along with a few other smaller things which were being stored in there. We're basically just trying to get some order and move things to a more final resting place so we are ready to get started on other projects as soon as the weather turns warmer.
In addition to that, we also started cleaning the attic in the main house and moved several boxes up there as well which were in the extra room. These are basically boxed that I've moved with me for several years now without opening and it's reaching that time again to see just what is inside the boxes. I know they're supposed to hold various mementos, Barbie dolls and other similar things but I can't say with certainly anymore what is in them. So I figure at some point we'll need to go through everything and repack them.
This is basically what the floor looked like before (it still does on that side since we just ran out of energy during this whole process). There are wood planks and bricks under all the dirt if you look closely.
And now we have a few boxes in a cleaned up area and are making use of this rather heavy table which was already stored up there.
I can't remember if I posted any photos of the floor before when it was "discovered" by us around Christmas but there are actually wooden planks in the attic which we think may be more or less the same material as the floors downstairs. It won't be the best quality of floor but it should look pretty nice after it's been sanded. And it appears that there could be a dirt insulation under these boards as well. There's only a few places that don't have any flooring at all so we'll just figure out what to do there when we're ready to finish out this area...but it's definitely got tons of potential.
And we brought this piece of furniture down from the attic to use for kitty food storage and whatever else we may need it for. It's a nice little piece of furniture although it needs a bit of love. They weren't very gentle to it and there are a few noticeable scratches in the finish. So one of these days it will get an overhaul as well...but in the meantime it should serve this purpose well.
]]>We finally managed to get a picture of Ayla and the vacuum cleaner together and thought we'd share. This is actually the first time she's rolled on her back to get the vacuum love and we happened to have the camera nearby so it worked out very well. If only I could get more of her fur to come off during the process...I think I need some sort of brushing attachment for it which would help get the fur off but instead of having to pile it in a sack, the vacuum would just suck it away...do I hear another business idea blooming? lol
]]>Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Since we've set up the table and chairs again now in the courtyard, Ayla has decided she needs to be up there again, especially if it's really nice out. She'll just lay up there for hours. She actually stayed up there long enough for me to take a few photos this time which turned out quite well since I was inside. Hopefully she won't start thinking this is totally acceptable behavior when guests are over too...or when there's food up there. And imagine how shocked we're going to be if she ever tries this with the dining table inside the house. Thank goodness it's wood so we don't really have to fear her breaking it.
]]>Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
]]>But it's not official...we are going back to Locarno. We will stay in the Residenza Motta again in the heart of Locarno, have our parking space again which is about 5 minutes walk, revisit Pizzeria Popolo which was just a few steps outside our apartment door, go to get breakfast panini's around the corner and visit as many ice cream places we we possibly can...especially those near the lake which we missed last time around. We contacted the couple which rents out of the vacation apartments and were happy to hear that they accept well behaved dogs...so it will be interesting to see their faces when they see just how big she is lol.
We're all really looking forward to the trip now so it's just going to be a matter of the weather now. So far this year it's been quite mild so it should be just beautiful down there again...so we'll see. It's only about a month away now so we're lucky they still had a place available for us...but it's not exactly high season down there until later and most of the climbers aren't willing to pay much for accommodations which suits us just perfectly.]]>
We got used to sorting everything in the old rental house where the procedure was basically the same...but they have an additional trash can here which is the garden waste and it's really throwing me off. They only pick up this container once every 2 months in the winter and then once a month during the summer months. I also think that they allow people to put out compost sacks with garden clippings in them during these pick ups and have even seen cardboard boxes stacked with clippings...but we will see in the future if they allow all this excess stuff every time or if that was just something special. It will make a bit of a difference for us since we still have lots of vines to cut back and we'll either need to pay to have it hauled off in another bio container or we'll need to plan so we can get it out with the following garden waste pickup. Next week we will have the first garden waste day of the year so we shall see.
Anyway, today was supposed to be bio day and I was really looking forward to it because our can is rather full, mostly due to them not picking up our garbage two weeks ago. Apparently they either saw something in there they didn't like (and it would have been useful to know what the problem was so I don't make the same mistake again) or we aren't registered with the trash collection agency to have this trash picked up. I know that they have picked it up in the past when we weren't living here yet but perhaps they didn't realize we weren't on the list and now they know...but we don't...
So this morning when I told hubby to take out the garbage can with him, I guess I was half asleep or just confused since our old bio can was green...because I told him to put out the garden waste container instead of the bio one. Green for garden, brown for bio. It makes sense, right? But somehow I still haven't learned it.
Next time around, I will do what I usually do and just pull the correct container to the gate the day before so there is no room for confusion...and should I get confused, I should be able to correct the solution before it's too late. Had I looked out the window when he left this morning, I might have noticed that the other cans standing on the street were brown...or I might not since it was still pretty dark. The do the pick up at about 7 am so you really need to be on your toes or put the can out the night before.
Thursday is regular trash day...hopefully I can manage to get that one right lol.]]>
We're both a bit nervous about the meeting since we have small doubts that we're being good Newfie parents. Ayla has been losing her baby fur so she's looking all shaggy and maybe she's a tiny bit overweight...although she was always the runt so her sister should still be larger than her. I'm sure our fears are pointless and the breeders have been nothing but nice in the past so it should be fine. But it should definitely be fun for Ayla who hasn't seen them in about 6 months and will very likely be very happy to finally have someone she can play roughly with again. We haven't managed to find anyone in the neighborhood here who is a really good play partner for her. Amelie, the Golden Retriever, she just bowls over. A lot of the dogs are too old to be interested like the Irish Wolfhounds. And others are just never outside on the trails when we are like the Bernese who lives cross the street from the walking trail.]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Why the frenzy of cleaning? Well, I didn't feel like doing something "more constructive" for one of my many jobs that I do from home...and somehow cleaning seemed like the best alternative since some of the cleaning is a bit overdue. The interest in doing it now probably had something to do with hubby telling me that the realtor who sold us this house will be coming by on Saturday to see what we've done with the place. Now don't get me wrong. I really like the realtor. She helped us get this house for a steal and really did work for her commission...but people outside our close sphere of friends have not really seen much of the house yet so it will be really interesting for someone to see it now that's mostly finished....because she spent some time in it before when it was still a bit of a mess and didn't really see much of anything during the construction phase. Plus her husband buys up old properties, renovates them and converts them into apartments which he sells and rents. He actually mentioned to us that he would have loved to have done that with our place...so it's very good that we found it first. Hopefully he won't see the one down the street that is for sale because we'd like to give that one a go ourselves to rent it out...but that's another very different story. Yes, we have the bug lol.
Anyway, hubby also talked to the guy who will be supplying the granite countertop for us and it turns out he doesn't need to come out to our place after all. We are actually supposed to take boxes or large pieces of paper, cut them to the exact size of the cabinets and then we take those to him. He will remeasure & figure out overlapping spaces and then we're good to go. And then it should probably take a month or so for the counter to get here. It will honestly be quite strange to have the counter in after all this time...and absolutely wonderful. I'm not even sure I'll know how to behave myself when it gets here and we can use a real stove to cook dinner. I will be a bit sad that we won't have the option of gas anymore but they told us that we should be getting gas in the city in the next 3-4 years so perhaps it will be time to upgrade then to a lovely gas-burning stove. I never really realized how fantastic they are until we started using out little camping cooker all the time. I know it's not the same but I get the general idea and I think it would massively better so I think we're both on board for getting that hooked up when it becomes available to us.
Ok, enough rambling for now...almost time to take doggo for her walk.]]>
To be honest, we're not really upset about it because we were planning to get a new table and chairs for the courtyard anyway. But now it's just one more thing to store until the next trash container arrives...which probably won't be for another month or so.
We also talked briefly with the breeders and we're not sure it's going to work out for this weekend...but we hope that if not this one, then the weekend of the 24th instead. We already have some people coming by this Saturday and have some errands to run so we'll see how it all works out. And the following weekend a friend from Munich will be coming to stay with us so we're sure Ayla will love that and probably try to sleep in his bed. It should be interesting to say the least. :)]]>
Here's the quiz
Don't worry, it's only 10 questions and you can get hints if you like (I swear I didn't).]]>
Apparently this happened several years ago and they either ran out of money or just stopped caring so the house has just been sitting there. The permit on their front window is several years old and they don't seem to have any plans to start things up again. Thankfully the side of the house that faces us is still nicely painted and you really can't tell all that much from our side or the street...but we know it's fishy and would of course love for the house to be renovated at some point since it would only mean good things for our block.
Anyway, I don't know if this neighbor actually owns the house or what but he's always very nice on the rare occasions that we see each other. When there was snow on the ground a month ago, the neighbor was outside sweeping his sidewalk also and he indicated that we shouldn't go overboard with the sweeping. Apparently the PO would clear the bare minimum and that would be that. Since we have the corner lot, we have a lot of sidewalk to clear (you are responsible for the sidewalk outside your house if it snows...because if someone should fall you can be sued...makes sense since it's government property, right?).
So this morning, I was putting out the trash bin (the correct one for a change) and the neighbor was in his truck and getting ready to pull out into the street. He started yelling over to me but since the garbage men were actually in the alley next to our house and there was some traffic, I couldn't really hear him. So he got out of his truck and I walked over in his direction so he could tell me that I should turn the trash bin in the other direction with the handles pointing inside...because the garbage trucks pick them up automatically with their little arm. I actually watched this taking place and I have to say it's really quite ingenious...and wonderful for those poor garbage collectors who before had to actually do work and now just need to push a button.
Now this may seem like a small thing to you that our neighbor went to the effort to pass on that nugget of knowledge...and perhaps it would be in some other places...but in general, the people around Frankfurt are not all that friendly. It's a working city and the people commute in, do their job and go home...to repeat it all tomorrow. It gets to be routine and you ignore the other people you come into contact with because they just tend to be annoying anyway. But here in our little village it would seem that at least two of our immediate neighbors have started to accept us...and they will be rewarded with invitations to our house warming party whenever we finally have that (after painting the outside and about a million other projects take place). The other people living around us will not be so lucky, especially the old woman who always glares at us...unless the dog is near and then she stays as far away as possible. So it goes :)]]>
So, back to the initial story, Ayla was barking and I went to inspect. When I got outside I saw that she was staring at the gate and the street...and the roof of the house across the street from us. On top of the roof was a black cat and she seemed to be taunting the dog. So I did my best to reassure her that the cat was not invading, that she didn't need to bark at it and that life should now return to normal...which it mostly did.
But this morning we had another invasion and this time it was much closer. When Ayla started barking this morning she was standing outside the kitchen and looking back towards the barn. I immediately thought of the black cat again and wondered how in the world he'd managed to get on the roof of any of our buildings. But what I found was instead a bird. It was hard to tell but I would say that it was a dove and it was not leaving until it was ready.
As you can see, it was sitting on the edge of the barn and I'm not even sure why she happened to notice it. Maybe she saw it in flight before it landed there.
After I went outside and talked to her, she eventually stopped barking at it...but continued to keep a close watch lest it decided to move further into her territory. If she will be this vigilant about protecting us from people we will be very safe...
]]>I've decided to spend some time working on things here on the farm today after my cleaning frenzy yesterday had some nice effects. It turns out that when the house is a bit cleaner, we both like living here a lot more. Who would have figured? lol. So I'm trying to determine what the most useful thing I could do by myself is. I'm actually thinking about moving the last of the boxes from the living room into the attic but that is a looong trip with two full flights of stairs. Plus, once we build our dvd/cd shelves in the living room, most of that stuff will be coming back downstairs...so moving it isn't necessarily seeming logical but it would probably be nice to have it out of the way. I also thought about just moving it to the extra room but there is still quite a bit hovering in that room...so perhaps I will start there to see what can still go upstairs....]]>
You can find all sorts of tips like these:
- Hiccups: Suck a wedge of lemon doused with Worcester sauce.
- Skin blemishes: Cover the blemish with a dab of raw honey and place a band-aid over it. Raw honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile and speeds healing.
- The healing powers of garlic
- Oregano for pain
It first happened about a week ago. We usually keep the bathroom door closed to keep the warmth in (although the heater doesn't work in there but don't get started on that subject) and to keep the dog from jumping in the tub or vandalizing things. I forgot to close the door once last week and I heard a crash while I was working in the office. Ayla had knocked over the basket of guest goodies, taken off with a duckie (which I later found in the kitchen) and decided it would be nice to take a nap in the tub. I actually considered giving her a bath at the same time but decided it would be better to wait for back-up before starting that task.
So a few days later, I went to use the bathroom and Ayla followed me in. No big deal, I sat down and she made a bee-line for the ducks. She had her mouth poised and ready to snatch the duck when I made my infamous "aaangh" sound (you know, the one you make when you are warning someone not to do something). So she closed her mouth and made the "What? I wasn't going to take that" face and left the bathroom.
Since then, the bathroom door has been left open once by hubby who wasn't fully informed about the duckie mishaps. I went into the bathroom later and noticed that a duck was gone. But where was it? It seems that it decided it would try to take a swim in the kitchen but there was not enough drool on him to let him float. He's the poor little guy that looks so dirty in the picture since he usually gets stolen.
Sometime this weekend, Ayla will be getting a bath so maybe we'll let the duckies get in there with her to play. Perhaps they will even help keep her distracted for a little while so we don't need to use so much peanut butter lol. It will be the first time using the huge tub in the farmhouse to wash her so it should be interesting to say the least. Maybe we should have left tile on the wall in there after all...at least we could wipe it down more easily...]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
There are 12 photos overall, most of which were taken in the 1930's and 40's. I'll only post a few at a time so the post doesn't get too long but I figure I'll start with two of the most interesting ones...
Here's the house as it looked in the early 1900's. You can tell from several of the other photos in the collage that it still looked the same in 1953 which was when the most recent photo was taken. There was a bus stop outside at this time and it appears that the well had already been covered up. The photographer we talked to a while back told us he thought it was about 1954 when they covered it because typhoid was going around and they thought it might be in the ground water.
This picture shows essentially how the house looks now...or at least will when we get the window boxes planted and everything is green. We seem to recall that the PO had the house for about 30 years before we bought it so it is possible that they did the renovation to the timbers themselves which is an immense amount of work. We do know that they added the horse stalls and the outhouse around 1975 and they told us they added the bathroom inside in the late 70's or early 80's (hence the lovely avocado color scheme). The glass awning over the front door and the railings on the wall have apparently been there since at least 1930. We figure they were probably on the house when it was built.
]]>I managed to unpack about 4 of the 10 boxes which was a pretty good accomplishment since I really didn't know where to put most of the stuff. It's almost all books and knick-knacks that we had on huge built-in shelves in our rental house and we currently don't have a place for most of them. The plan is to eventually build shelves in the living room for our DVD & CD collection. Then we will shift the bookshelves holding the DVD's into the room outside the office (we guess) and use that as a library area. There would also be an option to do this in the extra room but we'd need to figure out what to do with some other furniture first...
Anyway, when I started on the room, it looked like this...(please don't laugh at more poor little poinsettia - I told you I was bad with plants)
And a few hours later, now it's looking like this. Definitely an improvement. Now I just need hubby to get home so we can finish moving the boxes upstairs into the attic. I decided to move the couch away from the wall where the shelving will be (under the fish) so we can see if we're going to be happy with the room that way. I still need to pull the couch a bit more into the center of the room but we also need to move the entertainment center and I can't manage that on my own. I am a bit concerned that we might have to move hubby's turntables somewhere else or get smaller living room which I know would just devastate both of us since these have been through a few pets now. We'll just have to wait and see...
]]>We first heard about this company about a year ago. At that stage, they really didn't have many people on board and it was pretty difficult to find other users to share networks with. But now, we actually have a few in neighboring towns and I'm thinking that on our next road trip, this could be interesting. You can even download the points of interest into a TomTom or Garmin GPS device...which I have to say is really nifty.
If you've never heard of FON and don't feel like visiting their website, here's what they're doing. There are three types of users for them: Linus, Alien and Bill.
Linus wants to connect to the Internet everywhere for free...and therefore shares his own connection so that he can have free access to the connection of other users who are selling or sharing as well.
Alien just wants to use Wi-Fi everywhere so he pays a €3/$3 a day user fee to connect to the network. They don't share their Wi-Fi.
Bill wants to make some money in the process and he might be a business. He makes 50% of the user fee being charged and can advertise himself on his personalized FON page which users see when they search the map of FON users.
To become a user, you just need to sign up with them and buy their special router. The router splits your own connection in two, you control the speed of the connection being streamed out and you connect via Wi-Fi in your home, office or business as usual.
It's a shame this hasn't expanded further yet but I'm starting to think it could be interesting to get on the bandwagon...]]>
We first heard about this company about a year ago. At that stage, they really didn't have many people on board and it was pretty difficult to find other users to share networks with. But now, we actually have a few in neighboring towns and I'm thinking that on our next road trip, this could be interesting. You can even download the points of interest into a TomTom or Garmin GPS device...which I have to say is really nifty.
If you've never heard of FON and don't feel like visiting their website, here's what they're doing. There are three types of users for them: Linus, Alien and Bill.
Linus wants to connect to the Internet everywhere for free...and therefore shares his own connection so that he can have free access to the connection of other users who are selling or sharing as well.
Alien just wants to use Wi-Fi everywhere so he pays a €3/$3 a day user fee to connect to the network. They don't share their Wi-Fi.
Bill wants to make some money in the process and he might be a business. He makes 50% of the user fee being charged and can advertise himself on his personalized FON page which users see when they search the map of FON users.
To become a user, you just need to sign up with them and buy their special router. The router splits your own connection in two, you control the speed of the connection being streamed out and you connect via Wi-Fi in your home, office or business as usual.
It's a shame this hasn't expanded further yet but I'm starting to think it could be interesting to get on the bandwagon...]]>
This first photo is said to have been taken in 1930 and is the first car in town. As you might notice, they are standing in front of our front door, inside our gates, so that makes us wonder if the family living here actually owned the car themselves or if they had some very wealthy friends. Because the ceilings are rather high in the front rooms, we were discussing that this could have been the home of a mayor or some sort of local official, and the fact that it sits on the main road also likely contributed to the height of the ceilings...which is part of the reason we don't hear the traffic going by so much.
You can see here again that the glass awning was already on the house along with the hand rails on the walls. The front door is also the same one we have today and it's possible that the shutters are also the same or at least have been replaced to be the same size. And the cobble stones in the courtyard have seen been replaced with pavers but there is a street near here where we sometimes walk the dog which still has stones just like these on it.
I do find it rather interesting that on the house behind this guy, you can clearly see the timber framing...but as of now, that has been covered up and the house looks much like what ours looked like in this photo. We are rather certain that at least half of the houses on the main street and in the older section of town are timber frames but that they have simply been covered over. Some of the houses which aren't in very good shape are actually starting to reveal the timbers themselves so it will be interesting to see if people start looking to buy up and restore some of the houses around here. We'd actually love to start on a project like that as well but that is a lot more than we're ready to take on right now lol.
For comparison with the photo above. You can barely see the house behind him which is a timber frame. It has the red roof but our neighbors have built a garage in front of it so you don't see much.
So, moving along to the next photo, something that is really noticeable to us is that there is a peak on the building behind the main house...and we think I big sliding barn door. The PO wrote on one of the photos that this area was once a horse stall...but we're not sure whether that was before or after they were renting the area to the neighborhood as refrigerator space. We still have a huge walk in cooler room which is currently storing a bunch of furniture refinishing stuff which was left behind.
You might also be able to see (you can click on the photos to make them bigger) that the entire structure behind the main house is brick. We figured this out when they started breaking through the wall and that's how we ended up with what we hope is enough to pave part of the barn floor for gardening supplies.
Oh, and the granite stairs also look to be the same as the ones we currently have which makes me reconsider my plans to put a wider step on top and have exit stairs at the front and back sides...but we'll see.
And of course, this is how it looked when we bought it...
You can clearly see that the roof line was altered and you can see that they put up several small windows along the wall when they took off the barn doors.
And this is how it looks now. We put in the windows and the doors and will eventually put in a permanent step outside the doors because it's just a bit too deep at the moment - hence the brick in front of the door. And we are very much looking forward to the spring and drier weather so we can paint outside. At least then the house will look normal and not all battered and bruised like it does now.
]]>But today, the poor little guy really got into trouble when I noticed Ayla was eating something...and I'd given her nothing to eat. It was in fact the insides of the poor little kangaroo. He probably never even saw it coming.
Here you can see both the leg injury and the flank that has been torn open. Looks more like T-Rex got hold of him or a lion instead of a Newf. :) I have actually read, though, that they tend to be very aggressive with stuffies and many of them actually shred them...so maybe the others were just lucky and we are now entering into the destruction phase since she's a "big girl" now.
I will be trying to repair him but it seems that she actually tore part of his "skin" off and ate it. This means he will be permanently disfigured but at least he should still be able to enjoy the rest of his life and have a puppy that loves him dearly. I did consider throwing him away already but Ayla seemed so upset that I first took it away and then put it out of her reach that I figure that is a sign to try to prolong this guy's very short life. I'll be sure to update his status after he's out of surgery - which could be a while since I'm not sure where a needle and thread might be at this point lol. Not exactly something I use very often around here...]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Boxer healing vibes headed out to the kangaroo...]]>
So, since we didn't want the place look all newfiefied in case she did show up, we spent the last few hours giving the place a real good cleaning - heavy duty! 3 o'clock came and went but the realtor didn't show. Oh well, the house needed cleaning anyways!]]>
When we first started living together in Miami we went to a home expo and found these gorgeous adirondack chairs for a steal and imediately bought them. Well, to make a long story short the company never delivered and we went through hell getting our deposit back. So for years we have been talking about getting some adirondacks over here (our first apartment here had a huge rooftop patio) but never found the right ones.Now living at the farm we decided to tackle this project once more and doing some searching on the internet we came across this website. They have plans for what seem to be the perfect chairs ever. Curved for comfort, perfect arm height for reading and extra long armrests to hold your drink without bending your wrist. How is that for relaxing after a long day at work, or working on the farm.
We will of course post about the experience of actually building the chairs - and of the first comfort test.]]>Browsing the Internet we came across the website of the Royal Horticultural Society, a British society hubby's colleague raves about. Apparently they have a book on just about every thing there is about gardening.
Their website has tons of information also, including a nifty little gardening calendar telling you all there is to do every month of the year. This might come in very handy.]]>
The website pythiosis.com describes the disease as follows:
"Pythiosis is a devastating & often fatal cause of chronic GI or cutaneous disease in dogs & cats. It is caused by Pythium insidiosum, an aquatic pathogen belonging to the class Oomycetes. Oomycetes differ from true fungi, and as a result, antifungal drugs are relatively ineffective for the treatment of pythiosis. In the US, pythiosis is encountered most often in the Gulf Coast states, but has been recognized in animals living as far north as New Jersey, Virginia, Kentucky, & southern Illinois & Indiana, & as far west as Oklahoma, Missouri, & Kansas. Recently, a number of dogs with GI pythiosis have been identified in Arizona & northern California. Many dogs with pythiosis have a history of recurrent exposure to warm freshwater habitats. However, some cases are observed in suburban house dogs with no history of access to lakes or ponds. Affected animals are typically immunocompetent & otherwise healthy.
"Clinical signs associated with Gl pythiosis include weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or blood in the stool. Physical examination often reveals a thin body condition and palpable abdominal mass. Signs of systemic illness are not typically present unless intestinal obstruction, infarction, or perforation occurs."
A blood test can determine whether the animal is infected.
This page was also shared from the CDC which gives a bit more information about the disease as well as information about a specific case in Africa.
Thankfully the CDC page says that the disease has not yet been reported in Europe so we don't need to worry so much at this point. But with global warming and our unexpectedly high temps recently, I'm sure it's only a matter of time.]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
The photo below is dated 1940 and was taken during a family party.
This one was taken at another party with even more friends and family sometime in 1940.
And this one was taken in 1942. These guys (don't you love that bathing cap??) are standing on a cement platform which was taken out at some point. If this photo were taken today, they would be standing right in front of the horse stalls.
And this photo was of the Wiesenbach family in 1953 with their dog Cilly and her puppy. Anna & Wilhelm are the older couple on the right of the photo, their daughter Erma is standing and their grandchildren are Rolf and Gabi.
We have a couple more to post so stay tuned :)In case you missed the others...
More old photos - then & now
Something we inherited with the house...]]>
So we essentially decided that instead of working on the covered patio or any other project next weekend, we will do yard work. The weather is supposed to be really nice again and perhaps even in the 70s...and because spring is coming, it is really essential that we get the ivy off the back of the barn and get the other plants growing on the storage buildings under control before they really start to bud and take over the buildings.
Here are a few photos of how things looked in July & August when we first got the house.
The green section of vines running along the wall of the house and above the doors of the storage rooms is one target. The vines are a mixture of roses (as you can see in the next picture) and what may either be wisteria (although we haven't seen it bloom or drop seeds which it should have done already - we had a few huge ones growing over the patio of our old rental house) or just some other random and really aggressive vine. The wisteria (as we'll call it for simplicity's sake) will be coming out altogether. It's just a nuisance up there, constantly trying to get under the roof of the rooms and causing trouble otherwise. So we'll either replace it with grape vines or perhaps more roses after we determine how many roses we'll be left with.
Here you can see I trimmed a lot of stuff back and none of the leaves had fallen off yet because it wasn't yet winter. But with all the trimming, now there is basically very little left besides bare vines on the bottom which just looks strange. The vines are extremely dense behind the fencing that is being used as a trellis and it has eaten away at the face of the buildings. So we need to not only cut the vines back dramatically but will also be taking down the fencing and probably put up a new framework and fencing for the vines to grow along.
The garden is a whole other ballgame...and a major reason we will be ordering a bio container to put most of these clippings in. As you can see, the vines are starting to take over the barn and have also invaded inside, growing under the eves of the barn. We need to pull down all the vines from the roof and everything off the back off the barn since we will eventually be building a lean-to greenhouse on the back. Thankfully the roof here is not too dramatically sloped so we should be able to get on the roof to cut this stuff back and should also be able to hold on to the edge of the roof in a worst case scenario for extra safety. The stuff back here is mostly ivy and other aggressive vines with a rose or two sprinkled in which we will probably try to save just because it's so old.
I think it's safe to say we'll have our work cut out for us and I haven't even discussed the stuff in front of the house...but thankfully we have cut back most of that already, aside from one wildly growing vine, and otherwise just need to weed everything and get rid of the dead stuff.]]>
Because it was Sunday, we couldn't go out and buy anything to treat them so we started looking for home remedies. We found two: boiling tobacco in water until all the chemicals are in the water and then spray that on the plants...or try essentially the same thing but with black tea. We had both tobacco and tea on hand but we figured we'd go for the stronger method of tobacco. It did work to some degree but I think there weren't enough toxins to go around. Perhaps if we'd sprayed them another time or two it would have worked out really well but we resorted to buying chemicals instead. Yesterday I picked up a spray that is specifically for aphids so hopefully that will do the trick...and there are several other products if they keep hanging on. There are also little sticks which you can plant around your plants to prevent the aphids from coming back but we have to get rid of them first...and we're a bit concerned that the dog might end up digging them up (she goes through little spurts where she feels the need to dig in the flower beds) and perhaps eat them so hopefully the spray alone will be successful. I plan on tackling them later today when it warms up a bit (it's only about 34 degrees right now).]]>
Here you can see most of the planters in front of the house and especially the one with the dead tree. With any luck, the weather will indeed be nice this weekend and the tree will already be here so we can trash the dead one and get the new oleander planted in time for it to bloom in a few months.
By the way, anyone interested in getting one of their own, their Latin name is Chitalpa tashkentensis. I happened to find one here along with some other information about it.]]>
We have determined that the car in the first photo is a BMW Dixi DA2, likely built in 1929 or 1930. The BMW Dixi was the first car made by BMW.
Dixi (formerly known as Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach and later Automobilwerk Eisenach) had been making cars since 1904 but in the difficult times of the 1920's was finding it hard to sell its 6/24 and 9/40 models so looked to enter the small car market and in 1927 agreed a licence with the Austin Motor Company to build the Austin 7. A production level of 2000 cars a year was agreed with Austin being paid a royalty on each one made.
The first 100 cars were supplied as kits but by December 1927 the first of the real Dixis, the DA-1 3/25PS were coming off the production line. DA stood for Deutsche Ausfuhrung meaning German Version and 3/15 indicated the taxation and actual horse power ratings. Apart from being left-hand drive and using metric threaded fasteners, the car was nearly identical to the Austin. Body styles available were coupé, roadster, tourer and sedan with a few chassis going to external coachbuilders. Most cars left the factory as tourers.
Looking to move into car manufacture, BMW bought the Automobilwerk Eisenach in 1928 and with it the rights to build the Dixi car. At first the cars were badged as BMW Dixi but the Dixi name was dropped in 1929 when the DA-1 was replaced by a slightly updated version, the BMW 3/15 DA-2.
We figure it might be fun to find a club here of Dixi owners and maybe recreate the photo today with the same car and the same angle, just a rather different looking house. We've actually found a group here already with several members who have the car, just different wheels. View it here. Or maybe you like it better in red. Or even dark blue.
The photo below was taken out of one of the family party photos and you can see the car lingering in the background. It's not much to go on but it is something....
At first glance, I thought it was an Adler Trumpf (not Triumpf) but the eagle (Adler is German for eagle) on the grill isn't the same and this one looks like it has clips on the top of the windshield which I thought might be where the wipers were missing...but it would seem not on very close inspection. So I guess we're back to the drawing board on that one.
]]>
I think (but it's rather hard to tell) that the soldier on the ladder in this photo is the soldier which we barely notice in the photo above...and the woman on the ladder is the one who is standing next to him (I think...).
We haven't figured out exactly what they are hanging there but we figure it is tobacco since it was war time then and that was quite scarce.
Here are Anna & Wilhelm sitting in front of what was then the wood & coal storage room. When we bought the house it was a chicken coop and now we've taken off the fencing and are planning to make a covered patio here. It won't be huge but we'll build some sofas for a nice seating area and hope to eventually have speakers out there and so on. The shelf at head level will be reconstructed as well. Apparently they have had a shelf up there for a very long time so we feel it should remain that way. We took the one down there with the rest of the chicken infused fencing but will build a new one, perhaps wide enough to sit under if we find some high enough stools...
And this is a photo of the old well that we've mentioned a few times before (notably here). As you can see, it wasn't much more than a hand pump although we'd like to have something a bit more substantial should they decide to put it back in operation.
Behind the geese is the neighbor's house across the street. You probably wouldn't recognize it, though because they have a new fence and gate, the brick wall is gone and was replaced by another fence, they've built a covered entryway (they're not restricted by "denkmalschutz" (historical protection), built a garage and have exposed the timber frames. The house still does look nice but just not original which is what sorta gets to us.
In case you missed the others...
Even more old photos...
More old photos - then & now
Something we inherited with the house...]]>
]]>]]>Here she was at 27 weeks playing with the first ball...
]]>Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Thankfully the summer is fast approaching so perhaps we will be able to get in a few of these places that are relatively close like Füssen, Bruges and Prague. The rest will just have to wait for us a little while longer. Verona we might get to if we go back to Italy this year since we skipped it when we were down there in 2006. So many wonderful cities to see...so little time!!]]>
Anyway, he's installing a door to our office today. Then we can close the door on all my chaos when guests come over or in the evening when we want the dog to stay out of there. The latter is especially important since Ayla likes to steal things from time to time like the phone, calculator, camera or anything else that may be lying on the desk.
He's also supposed to take care of a few smaller projects today since the door isn't going to take the whole day. He should be cutting a hole in the back of the sink cabinet so the drainage hoses from the dishwasher fit through there and we can finally get the cabinets moved back against the wall for the proper measurements. We actually wanted to do that this past weekend and have the round drill bits to cut the holes...but the spacer that holds the bit in place was missing from the box of drills so that kinda killed our progress.
I'm also hoping he will have time to move the medicine cabinet upstairs in the bathroom since it's off center and drives me crazy. We can do this ourselves of course but he hung it the first time so it would be nice if he corrected it...and if he has everything here already and the time to do it, why not? Anything less we have to worry about is always good.
Otherwise, I don't really know what he has planned. He has a few more pieces of trim to take care of in the entry hall and he may have brought the piece for the edge of the stairway but I can't be sure yet. At the moment he's out buying things that he either thought we had or just forgot...]]>
Here's the article Protect Your Possessions from TheStreet.com]]>
KnowYourStuff.org is provided by the Insurance Information Institute (III) which serves the purpose of informing the public about insurance and helping them to understand everything. The website focuses on the home inventory software and gives a little background information about the organization.
I tried out the download a bit already and I do think it's very useful. You can upload photos from each room of your house and also add photos for each item you inventory along with a copy of the receipt or appraisal slip. The inventory of each item asks for the quantity, price, date purchased, place purchased, make, model, serial number and description so there isn't much chance of forgetting any little details. Of course scanning all your receipts doesn't sound like loads of fun but unless you're buying everything new every few years, the list should last you a while and you'll only have to update it from time to time when you buy something new.
There is a place online at KnowYourStuff.org that you can store your files but it doesn't look like you can export the information to other formats. But you can print several different reports of information at a time, such as a household summary, a detailed inventory by room or category, all pictures saved, or all receipts included. I guess if you have a PDF writer program, you could just "print" it with that and send the file to yourself anywhere.
It might have been nice to find this software when the weather was still crummy...but I'm sure we still have some rainy weekends ahead of us which will be perfect for taking on this project.]]>
I didn't ask him about the cabinet upstairs yet but perhaps he can tackle that tomorrow with any other small projects we might come up with that he hasn't finished yet. He's also supposed to start working on a bid for us to have the foundation walls around the front door repaired. There is some damage because the right materials weren't used when it was done last time or perhaps it's just been too long since it was done. Costmetically that is going to make a huge impact, especially once it's painted along with most of the rest of the house and the shutters. Yes, still tons of work ahead of us but thank goodness the spring and summer are on their way!
We've come a long way when you look back to the old photos of the stairs. Wow. It's crazy but sometimes it's hard for me to imagine that it was just a few months ago when everything looked SO different here. It makes me extremely thankful that we've taken as many photos as we have thus far. It would have been nice if your video camera was working properly back then but it is now so maybe we'll get some good footage of what we've done so far and what is to come.
We took down the lovely wagon wheel railing which hugely changed the feel of the entry way. Of course when the dog starts getting older or when we have kids, we'll have to do something else there because the stairs will become a major hazard...but it works for us right now.
And of course we had the stairs sanded down to their natural color which turned out really nicely in the end. But we did leave the worn down steps and didn't have them shifted just because they're crooked. It's an old house and we want to keep some of that old feel. If I was over 160 years old, I'm sure I would be crooked also. :)
]]>Today I started to formulate a new theory about what might have happened to the gate...and it's name is Ayla. Usually when I'm working at home, I sit in the office. I have everything I need within reach and basically sit there all day, aside from when I get up to let the dog out or in. But today I'm working from the kitchen table because the contractor was here and planned to install the door to the office so I didn't want to be in the way or trapped in the room while he worked. Sitting at the dining table, I'm able to see into the courtyard better and as I went to put my dishes from lunch in the sink, I glanced out the window and saw doggo sitting in front of the right side of the gate mechanisms, wagging her tail.
I immediately think that maybe someone is standing outside the gate talking to her. It's a small town, people are aware of us because we have a huge dog and we're new in town - it could happen. So I step outside to investigate further and see that there is no person. She could have been playing with a bug I guess but I'm pretty sure that my suspicions are correct...
A few days ago, Ayla was playing in the courtyard during the evening. I walked outside and there was a strange collection of things laying around which I couldn't really figure out where she'd found them. It was a shopping bag, a dust pan broom, some other junk and what I thought was the cover to one of the gate opening arms. But when I looked at the arms, everything seemed to be intact. So I just assumed that she'd snuck into a storage room or there were some things laying in the covered patio that we hadn't noticed, most like that had been left out by the contractors.
So today when she was sitting there, I looked at bit more closely at the gate and it turns out that it wasn't the cover from the top of the arm but the bottom. I also noticed that the cables running out of the arm are missing most of their paint and it would seem that the cover popped off when the cables were being pulled on because the cover doesn't actually screw on but rather seemed to be glued or otherwise stuck on.
Here's the entire right arm of the gate. The whole box is a hydraulic pump which opens the door.
On the ground is the cover for the bottom part of the mechanism where one of the cables feeds into the opener. You can also see some oil or hydraulic fluid has leaked out on the ground. This I noticed a few days ago but just couldn't quite put all the pieces together yet.
Here is the cable I bit closer...as you can see there is no paint on the part of the cable which I would say with almost certainty was not the case when we moved in. The PO used some little cinches to hold the cables together and even used cable clips to mount part of the cable to the gate where it runs underneath the opener.
Do those indentations look a bit like bite marks to you??
These are the cables on the other side of the gate and you can see they're nicely painted and all attached to the wall and so on.
So tomorrow there will be some closer examination of everything. I'm not very good with electronics and usually end up breaking them more than I improve them so I'm just going to wait until hubby is home for that. He is taking two days off to go run some errands, get us registered here finally and things like that...so we should be able to deal with this also. Very hopefully, we will discover that we don't need to buy a new gate opener after all...and can use that money on another project around the house. :)]]>
Today I started to formulate a new theory about what might have happened to the gate...and it's name is Ayla. Usually when I'm working at home, I sit in the office. I have everything I need within reach and basically sit there all day, aside from when I get up to let the dog out or in. But today I'm working from the kitchen table because the contractor was here and planned to install the door to the office so I didn't want to be in the way or trapped in the room while he worked. Sitting at the dining table, I'm able to see into the courtyard better and as I went to put my dishes from lunch in the sink, I glanced out the window and saw doggo sitting in front of the right side of the gate mechanisms, wagging her tail.
I immediately think that maybe someone is standing outside the gate talking to her. It's a small town, people are aware of us because we have a huge dog and we're new in town - it could happen. So I step outside to investigate further and see that there is no person. She could have been playing with a bug I guess but I'm pretty sure that my suspicions are correct...
A few days ago, Ayla was playing in the courtyard during the evening. I walked outside and there was a strange collection of things laying around which I couldn't really figure out where she'd found them. It was a shopping bag, a dust pan broom, some other junk and what I thought was the cover to one of the gate opening arms. But when I looked at the arms, everything seemed to be intact. So I just assumed that she'd snuck into a storage room or there were some things laying in the covered patio that we hadn't noticed, most like that had been left out by the contractors.
So today when she was sitting there, I looked at bit more closely at the gate and it turns out that it wasn't the cover from the top of the arm but the bottom. I also noticed that the cables running out of the arm are missing most of their paint and it would seem that the cover popped off when the cables were being pulled on because the cover doesn't actually screw on but rather seemed to be glued or otherwise stuck on.
Here's the entire right arm of the gate. The whole box is a hydraulic pump which opens the door.
On the ground is the cover for the bottom part of the mechanism where one of the cables feeds into the opener. You can also see some oil or hydraulic fluid has leaked out on the ground. This I noticed a few days ago but just couldn't quite put all the pieces together yet.Here is the cable I bit closer...as you can see there is no paint on the part of the cable which I would say with almost certainty was not the case when we moved in. The PO used some little cinches to hold the cables together and even used cable clips to mount part of the cable to the gate where it runs underneath the opener.
Do those indentations look a bit like bite marks to you??
These are the cables on the other side of the gate and you can see they're nicely painted and all attached to the wall and so on.So tomorrow there will be some closer examination of everything. I'm not very good with electronics and usually end up breaking them more than I improve them so I'm just going to wait until hubby is home for that. He is taking two days off to go run some errands, get us registered here finally and things like that...so we should be able to deal with this also. Very hopefully, we will discover that we don't need to buy a new gate opener after all...and can use that money on another project around the house....or perhaps to build something that will allow Ayla to tug all she wants on something designated for that purpose. I have no idea what that would be but she loves to pull on stuff (she pulls the plants out of the flower beds all the time) so we have to come up with something or I'm afraid the behavior may continue on other things I don't want her touching. Of course, keeping a much closer eye on her will also be a must and she's going to get a lot less free time outside in the future.
(Reposted for the most part from our blog Our New Farmhouse in Germany)]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Today I started to formulate a new theory about what might have happened to the gate...and it's name is Ayla. Usually when I'm working at home, I sit in the office. I have everything I need within reach and basically sit there all day, aside from when I get up to let the dog out or in. But today I'm working from the kitchen table because the contractor was here and planned to install the door to the office so I didn't want to be in the way or trapped in the room while he worked. Sitting at the dining table, I'm able to see into the courtyard better and as I went to put my dishes from lunch in the sink, I glanced out the window and saw doggo sitting in front of the right side of the gate mechanisms, wagging her tail.
I immediately think that maybe someone is standing outside the gate talking to her. It's a small town, people are aware of us because we have a huge dog and we're new in town - it could happen. So I step outside to investigate further and see that there is no person. She could have been playing with a bug I guess but I'm pretty sure that my suspicions are correct...
A few days ago, Ayla was playing in the courtyard during the evening. I walked outside and there was a strange collection of things laying around which I couldn't really figure out where she'd found them. It was a shopping bag, a dust pan broom, some other junk and what I thought was the cover to one of the gate opening arms. But when I looked at the arms, everything seemed to be intact. So I just assumed that she'd snuck into a storage room or there were some things laying in the covered patio that we hadn't noticed, most like that had been left out by the contractors.
So today when she was sitting there, I looked at bit more closely at the gate and it turns out that it wasn't the cover from the top of the arm but the bottom. I also noticed that the cables running out of the arm are missing most of their paint and it would seem that the cover popped off when the cables were being pulled on because the cover doesn't actually screw on but rather seemed to be glued or otherwise stuck on.
Here's the entire right arm of the gate. The whole box is a hydraulic pump which opens the door.
On the ground is the cover for the bottom part of the mechanism where one of the cables feeds into the opener. You can also see some oil or hydraulic fluid has leaked out on the ground. This I noticed a few days ago but just couldn't quite put all the pieces together yet.Here is the cable I bit closer...as you can see there is no paint on the part of the cable which I would say with almost certainty was not the case when we moved in. The PO used some little cinches to hold the cables together and even used cable clips to mount part of the cable to the gate where it runs underneath the opener.
Do those indentations look a bit like bite marks to you??
These are the cables on the other side of the gate and you can see they're nicely painted and all attached to the wall and so on.So tomorrow there will be some closer examination of everything. I'm not very good with electronics and usually end up breaking them more than I improve them so I'm just going to wait until hubby is home for that. He is taking two days off to go run some errands, get us registered here finally and things like that...so we should be able to deal with this also. Very hopefully, we will discover that we don't need to buy a new gate opener after all...and can use that money on another project around the house....or perhaps to build something that will allow Ayla to tug all she wants on something designated for that purpose. I have no idea what that would be but she loves to pull on stuff (she pulls the plants out of the flower beds all the time) so we have to come up with something or I'm afraid the behavior may continue on other things I don't want her touching. Of course, keeping a much closer eye on her will also be a must and she's going to get a lot less free time outside in the future.
(Reposted for the most part from our blog Our New Farmhouse in Germany)]]>
Take the quiz]]>
Disposal of special substances can be a real pain here so we fearing it might be an unpleasant experience. We had about 130 liters of various paints that have been used around the house. But we didn't want to keep most of it because they used the wrong type of exterior paint on the house to begin with which doesn't allow the walls to breathe. Plus the original color of the main house was a bit too yellow for our taste and since we don't plan to paint the entire house yet, we'll need to match it to the faded version which we like better anyway. We did keep the 3 buckets of dark green paint that we have although we think it's the shade of green from the outside doors that we like the least but at least we might be able to get most of them matching finally.
You can see our pile of buckets here. The rules state that you're only supposed to throw away 100 liter or 100 kilos. Most of the buckets aren't full, though, so we figured they would count by the actual volume of the liquid...and worst case they'd just tell us to take it back home and come to the next disposal drop off which is in two months. There were also a few containers that weren't the original containers so we worried that might be a problem also. Instead, we found it to be one of the most simple processes ever here.
We drove up the the truck which is a huge semi-truck that has been modified with all sort of huge drums to pour various chemicals in. They have a big scale where they weigh everything to make sure you're not over your limit and they ask you what's in the containers. Of course that question wasn't always easy for us to answer since we weren't 100% sure but we were pretty sure that for the most part it was various types of paints.
It turns out that they actually judge the volume on the size of the bucket, regardless of how much is actually inside it. But because we were basically the first people there today, he had mercy on us and took everything so we don't have to worry with this again later. We were very surprised to say the least and extremely pleased that we now have one less thing to worry about disposing of. Now we just need to get a big trash container to get rid of the shelving down there, move out a bunch of other stuff and we can finally get started on the wine cellar...]]>
So, since the weather was so nice today we wanted to get started. We started picking away at the concrete holding the rail in place - let's just say it wasn't as easy as we would have hoped for it to be. We ran into a slight problem with the top post as the stair had cracked when they first installed the handrail and it the corner has come off when we got the rail out. Time for some concrete tomorrow.
Post number two wasn't much better, but eventually after 4 total hours of working on the removal process we where finally getting somewhere. There where times we wanted to give up on the whole process, but once it looked like this there was no turning back.
It was frustrating getting the lower post out. Actually it was more like mind games. The post wriggled freely and we could even turn the entire handrail around but it just didn't want to come out. We gave it one final push and tried lifting it out of the whole, putting our whole power into it and the thing just came out smooth, smacking hubby on the fingers (which apparently hurt pretty bad). But look at the result! One step closer to restoring the house to the way it used to be. It was hard work, we feel a little bruised and battered from the many times we scraped our knuckles on the iron but we love the feeling of the staircase. Now a lot more people can sit out there together and that's always a good thing.
]]>
]]>We hope the stupid container gets here soon, we are exoecting guests tonight and have tons of stuff to take care off first.]]>
We had a long dry summer last year and during the weeks before we bought the house the peach tree in our back yard thrived! The weight of the peaches was too much for the little tree to bear and it split. We tried fixing it, but there we just not enough wood holding the branches on. So the thing needed to go to make room for another fruit tree.
It actually turned out to be easier than anticipated. The tree didn't have very deep roots and we where able to mostly rock the thing back and forth to remove it. A few of them where quite tough but in the end it still wasn't nearly as much drama as we had thought.
The corner of the garden is looking a bit empty now, and we need to figure out what tree we want to put there now. But this being the second tree we took down yesterday (the first one was the dead pine tree out front) we feel quite satisfied with the progress.]]>
Since we want to put up a greenhouse as a lean-to structure (god, I hope the historical society approves of that) we decided to take most of the stuff down right now rather than just cutting it back.
After about 1.5 hours of stripping away the little stuf, we found them: THE ALIENS. The branches of the plant had worked theselves behind the wood of the barn and developed huge air roots.
We made a good dent in the removal process and we love the outcome. The barnwood is in surprisingly good shape despite all the plants going wild on it for over a year and growing on there since the PO put them in.
]]>Hubby has a year on my age-wise so his 10 year reunion is this year. He went to a German high school while he was living in New York and he is still very good friends with a guy he met there, who happened to be here this weekend helping us work on the farm. Poor him for getting involved in those projects but it seems we didn't work him too hard lol. So hubby and a few of his old high school buddies decided that they must have a 10 year reunion and since no one else seems to be interested to plan one or even mention one, they designated themselves. Actually rather impressive for 3 guys to take on a task like that but they have been joined by a girl who is really cracking her whip over them now so it would seem that the event will be taking place...at our farm...on May 19th.
We volunteered our place because it's large enough to host at least 50 people for drinks, dinner and all that...and we can offer it for free. Plus if people are really wanting to save some cash, they can sleep in our hay loft although we wouldn't necessarily recommend it...nor do we want to have to clean everything out up there just yet so people can sleep up there. But we will of course.
So that date puts us under some serious time constraints and we are probably going to come down right to the wire on this one. We will be working on things during the weekends for the most part, unless things really get tight and hubby has to take a day or two off.
Here's how things look for us for the weekends until May 19th...
- March 24-25 - Finish taking down the ivy in the backyard and at least get the main parts of it off the roof and out of the barn. We also need to get everything loaded into the bio container and should have some additional time for things like finishing our kitchen handles.
- March 31-April 1 - Order another trash container and fill that sucker up. We have tons of stuff in the barn still that can go as well as some bird refuse still. It's almost like there's an endless supply of things to throw away here. I'd really like to get the bird areas cleaned up before the reunion since they have a bit of an odor now and in the summer it will only get worse. Plus, we just don't need that stuff sitting around, attracting bugs and who knows what else.
- April 7-8 - This is Easter weekend and a four-day holiday. We probably should be staying here to work on the farm but we're going out of town instead. At least it's a bit of a reward for all the hard work we'll be doing the weekend before.
- April 14-15 - Macky is supposed to start working on the foundation running along the bottom of the house which is showing some wear and tear. I don't mean a slab or anything structural, but more a border running along the bottom of the house, basically the exterior walls of the basement since the house sits up rather high off the ground. We're hoping he'll be finished with repairing this by the end of the week but we're not getting out hopes up too high considering his previous jobs. So we will probably start painting the exterior of the house and all the buildings this weekend, starting furthest away from the house so they can wrap up their work.
- April 21-22 - Here we'll be hoping to finish the rest of the painting. We're budgeting 2 weekends and hopefully we'll have good weather. If we can't get it done these two then we still have a third weekend that we can use to finish things up.
- April 28-29 - This weekend hubby will be in Monte Carlo with his company for an off-site meeting. I have no idea what I will be doing yet this weekend but I am fairly certain it will be something to do with gardening, planting or cleaning.
- May 5-6 - Here we've got a weekend to finish any painting, get another trash container or just get things together around here. We might have to be doing some planning stuff for the reunion as well at this stage.
- May 12-13 - Hubby's grandmother will be turning 80 so we will be out of town this weekend also to attend her party.
- May 19 - REUNION PARTY!!!
Here's the article: Installing Undercabinet Lighting]]>
And we've got a long list of other recipes that we have found which sound great but we've not quite gotten around to making them yet. This one is a Rachel Ray recommendation from my mom which just sounds excellent. Hubby and I have made penne alla vodka a few times and loved it so this might become a staple in our house.Here's the recipe: You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta
View the motion picture or learn more here.]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
On the last leg of the walk though, our luck ran out...sort of. Instead of rain, we ended up with snow. It's not sticking to the ground but it is a bit unexpected. It snowed a bit yesterday also but all melted when it hit the ground. I still wish for Ayla's sake that we'd get a bit of accumulation but there's always next year.
I was trying to point out the flakes to Ayla and encourage her to play with them...but everytime I told her "look" and pointed at a big flake, she would start wildly looking beyond my finger for an animal or anything interesting that I must be pointing out. I mean who wants to play with frozen rain? Booooring. :)]]>
The weekend before last, hubby and I were out taking out Sunday morning walk with Ayla. The weather was so gorgeous that we decided to take the long-ish version of the walk over the cobblestone path....
This path runs parallel to our usual walking path where there are a bunch of apple trees and other fruit trees...a really nice treat during the summer and fall when you can just harvest your own snack along the way.
Along the cobblestone path are a few small garden plots like this one as well as some larger agricultural fields.
This particular garden had some sheep...but when I tried to take a better photo of them, they all turned their backs on me. They also didn't want anything to do with Ayla...most strange ;)
Since the day was turning out to be so nice, we decided we would just keep going. Before we moved in, I once ended up on a walk with one of the neighbors which lasted about an hour. I was pretty sure I could find the route again backwards although I wasn't too sure about getting there forwards. It winds through a bunch of the farming land behind our town and goes up into a small forest as well...plus we figured it would wear the dog out and give us some time to work and these days we can never have enough time.As you can see, there are a few more orchards along here but these are private property. But one of the really nice aspects of the area back there is the rolling hills.
No walk is ever really complete without floogers. I wasn't really sure this photo would come out because it was so bright out that I couldn't really see what I was taking a photo of.
As it turned out, I got a pretty good photo of it lol. She was excited about possibly getting to meet a German Shepherd which came along the path...but that didn't really work out because the owner was keeping him at a distance. I always have to wonder if it's the owner's that make their dogs antisocial from the start or whether the dog has a reason for being that way...but around here, German Shepherds tend to be the worst about aggressive behavior.
About half way through the walk, we approached the riding centers. There are two centers, one on each side of the road. One has an indoor and outdoor riding ring and even hosts a summer camp for kids.
We also got the impression that one of the houses up there is a bird farm although we have no clue whether it's just for fun or actual profit. As we approached the farms, we glanced over and thought we saw statues of geese in the wood stack...and then they started moving and multiplying. Ayla, of course, never even noticed them but since they are often pretty mean, it's probably better that she didn't.
At the riding center with summer camp, Ayla also almost made a new friend. This little guy came out and greeted us but I guess we lingered a bit too long because after a minute, he started barking at us to move on. He was really friendly at first though...I swear lol. Ayla didn't care much either way. As soon as he started barking, she just ignored him which was quite funny.
Past the riding areas is a path through the forest. It's not a long portion of the walk but if it's really warm outside, this part would be nice to cool off a bit. The rest of the walk has no shade but in here it's quite cool.
After we came out of the forest, we happened upon another personal garden which looked really interesting.
When I took a closer peak inside, it turned out that there were 3 large ponds just inside the fence. There are a lot of koi and aquarium fish breeders in this town so we figure it might have something to do with that. We even looked it up on Google maps and it seems that there is another huge pond behind all this. We were thinking that it would make a great Newfie haven in the summer although we would fill in at least one of the ponds in the front portion because you don't need the Newf to be that wet.
Afterwards we made our way home and definitely noticed that Ayla was worn out. Before we joined the last leg of our usual walk, we ran into the British guy in our neighborhood with two Pugs. We'd never really had the chance to talk to him much before so we took the opportunity to get to know him a bit better. You can never know too many English speaking people when you live in a foreign country. This conversation even earned him an invite to our housewarming party when we finally get around to having one.
It turns out that he is actually a lover of big dogs and really wants to get a Great Dane (I was shocked by that comment also lol). He said he got the first Pug because a big dog wasn't possible while he was living in an apartment...and then he got the second on sort of on a whim. Now he's living in a house, though, and is anticipating getting a Dane when the little ones go to the Bridge. When he told us that the Pugs need to go out 5-6 times a day and he has a dog walker for them, I knew we had not made the wrong choice about not getting a small dog when we lived in an apartment.
One other really interesting tidbit we learned from him is that there is another Newf in town!! Apparently they basically live on the other side of town but they supposedly go into one of the bakeries every Sunday morning so perhaps we'll have to hang out there with Ayla and maybe bump into each other. It seems that it's a boy since our neighbor said he's much larger than Ayla and it sure would be nice for her to have a Newfie play friend in the area. Hopefully he's still young enough to hang with her :)]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
When we met the woman with the two Irish Wolfhounds, I noticed that she had really nice retractable leashes. So I started looking on eBay for something suitable for Newfs...and I found the Flexi Giant.
After using the leash for about a week now, I think I can safely say that both hubby and I love it...and Ayla seems pretty amused with it also. Usually when Ayla walks down the street, she carries the leash in her mouth. Sometimes she wants to try to play tug-of-war along the way which can be rather frustrating when it's raining. But with the new leash, we can keep walking a bit further while she tugs and then she'll realize the game isn't working and catch up.
I did fear that she might try to wrap herself or us around a few trees since she's not very used to walking on leash when we get to the regular paths...but s far that hasn't been an issue either.
Of course, we have noticed that several of the people around here really don't seem to care about the ordinance at all which makes us wonder if there are any penalties or anything like that...but since it's our first bird season here, we might as well follow the rules at least once. And this way Ayla also can't be tempted to run into the little stream beside the path as the weather (hopefully) starts warming up.]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Looks like you have some beautiful places to go for walkies.
licks,
Toby pup]]>
Here's the realtor's website: http://home.immobilienscout24.de/770642/angebot.php?exp_id=41105171
Some of the best rooms judging from the pictures...
The kitchen - I adore that fireplace in there. And the kitchen has such a great rustic feel.
Outside in the courtyard - I love the covered porch. Would love to have had the opportunity for something like that here...we have one in front of the horse stalls though which is really nice.
The indoor swimming hall - Can you believe this thing? There's a sauna in here also...of course!
So, the details, in case your German isn't so great ;)
It's on the market for €1,300,000. The living space is quoted at 5,000 sq ft (500 sq meters) and it's not quite two acres of land.
Three main buildings: the main house with built out attic (picture on the description), another building which connects to the main house and is where the living room is located and the swim hall which has a separate apartment. There is also a two-car garage and horse stalls outside...among other things.
The one thing it doesn't really say is when it was built. They state 1500 on the profile but I find that highly unlikely.
Apparently the Realtor ingrained in me since childhood (my mom was a Realtor and I almost got my license before we moved over here) still loves to market property. Doesn't anyone want to buy a renovated house over here for a small fortune? lol Personally I think it would make one hell of a day spa or restaurant. Naturally it is also a pretty nice place for someone to live but a lot to take care of. We are thinking about maybe going to see it just for fun. It's only about 15 minutes drive from us in one of the neighboring villages and it could give us some inspiration...]]>
Since we've moved in, we've had a flattened moving box taped into the window. It didn't look pretty but it kept the neighbors from seeing something they didn't want to see...or that we didn't want them to see. This was especially important our first few weeks here since we were using this as our primary bathroom and some of our older neighbors might have called the cops on us if they'd seen us in the shower, thinking we were trying to make trouble when in fact we were trying to shower as quickly as possible to prevent from freezing since the heater doesn't work in there (a topic I will not discuss at this time because it's STILL NOT FIXED - stupid Macky).
When one is sitting on the toilet, this is actually the view you have of the neighbors house...so anyone leaning out a window would certainly be able to see you...which happens more often than you might think.
And here's another neighbor's yard which you can see if you lean forward a bit or stand...so they basically could get an eyeful, especially if hubby is peeing or anything else is happening in the bathroom. They can also see into the bathroom from their front door and the entire corner of their house. Not good.
So of course we've been thinking and planning and trying to figure out what we should do in this bathroom for window coverings. And then I remembered that we bought some frosted window foil from IKEA to put up in our bedroom window at the old rental house (which was impossible to find a curtain for since the top of it was at an angle). In the end, we had plenty of the foil left over and actually packed an entire roll when we moved. But finding it was the real challenge.
I didn't really realize just how many boxes we still have lingering here in various places around the farm. But I thankfully did remember that the extra roll of foil had been in the garage when I packed it...which meant it could only be in so many places - barn, storage room a or b, extra room, mudroom. I basically went from place to place and then back to a few of them when I wasn't successful in the barn. It turned up in a box on a shelf in storage room b which was basically my last resort. So here I sit with the roll of Amorf Frost foil (love the name, right?) and I'm considering taking on this project this afternoon so it will be done with. We are also planning a trip to IKEA this weekend (which I will discuss in another post) so at least then I'd know if we need to buy more.
I'm also considering putting the foil in our office windows which are the same style. The previous curtains were half coverings with chickens or something on them. They are long gone with one of the many containers so I would need to come up with something new there anyway. But the frost covering at least lets in a lot of light still and would prevent anyone from seeing all the equipment in the office which would be very nice. Granted, these windows are a good 6 feet (2 meters) off the ground but you can still easily glance in them when walking down the street or driving.]]>
His contractor friend we've met briefly before at Dino's showroom because he was sort of hanging out there one morning when we dropped by. He's also Italian and the two of them together is just great. They're both probably about 60 and during the measuring process, they were just bantering back and forth with each other. Most of it was in German but at the end they started sticking to Italian which I found to be completely amusing. I didn't understand much aside from a few numbers since it's close to Spanish (which studied in high school and then promptly forgot most of it - doh!) but they were still completely entertaining.
Dino was actually not too thrilled about coming out here to take the measurements because our house is about 50 km from his store (31 miles). To us this is not a huge distance but apparently for him it was almost too far because he complained a lot about it on the phone to hubby, saying it would cut into his margins (I don't understand either but I guess his time is very valuable as well) and he basically put it off until we kept pestering him. If he didn't want the order we would have found someone else...all he had to say was "get lost." But we bought the tile for our kitchen and bathroom from him and he made us a really good deal since the original order for them had been canceled (so we therefore helped him out as well) and we figured if he wanted the order, great.
We wanted to measure everything ourselves but it turns out that we need to actually cut a piece of cardboard or use paper to make a template of the counters. This is then sent to Italy and they cut it according to the outline you sent in. So that means if we screw anything up with the measuring process and it's ever so slightly wrong, we're screwed...and we're not so excited about spending €1500 for a few pieces of granite that won't actually fit our cabinets. I gathered while they were measuring everything that the granite company will actually cut their own template in the end and just use your measurements - so I guess we could have handled this ourselves - but I do feel much happier that Dino was here and has assessed the situation himself since he is the expert.
The problem area for us was obviously not the island, which is very simple, but was actually the cabinets on either side of the sink. We bought a massive farmhouse style sink from IKEA called Domsjö and there is a groove under the sink where the counter needs to fit into which will help to support the sink. There is also a funky corner at the front which we would have needed to cut out to get the right length of the counter but we weren't really sure what the usual procedure was. The guys have informed me that they will actually have to make this cut themselves when the counter is being installed because it will need to be dead on and their measurements are not necessarily perfect. So I guess we could have actually done the measurements ourselves but I feel much safer knowing they have done them.
One thing we probably wouldn't have arrived at is that the counter should be even with the basin of the sink. We figured 2 cm depth is norm and that would work fine...and as I type this I have to think about that monkey at the other granite place who didn't want to sell us granite deeper than 60 cm. But the basin comes out 4 cm so the flow would probably be a bit strange at only 2.
And then there is the complication about our stove top. It's almost 4 cm thick but the counter we were going to order would be 3 cm. So this means it would either have to hang down into the drawer below a tiny bit which the drawer should still be able to clear...or we'd need to make the counter on the island 4 cm thick...which most likely means using two pieces of 2 cm thick granite glued together versus 4 cm which will be insanely expensive. And the guys believe the hole we cut for the stove top is also too big although we were just following the instructions that came with it from IKEA. The final decision they came to? Take the range with them and figure out the hole size and depth from the office. Fine by me - not like we can actually use the range at the moment anyway.
We decided on the color called Paradiso Bash for the granite. You can see it in the image below. The amount of black varies and there is a tad more of a pinkish tone than you can tell in the photo but we had a sample in our old kitchen laying on our dining table for a long while (it's the same wood as our kitchen) and we really liked it so we're still thinking it should look fabulous. Our other consideration was a nearly all black granite but we figured that in the end it would probably be a bit too dark. Unfortunately I never took a photo of the various choices when we were considering them at the rental house...but oh well.
So now we have a decision to make about what we will do on the wall behind the counter. We could leave it just regular wall but there is the complication of keeping it clean should anything splash on the wall. If we leave bare wall, then we will have a 10 cm piece of trim along the bottom. But behind the sink we should really put something up since water constantly splashes up there while washing things in the sink. So then the question is put a piece of granite on the wall behind the sink that matches the counters? Or just put some tile up there? And what is going to look right? Or should we just put granite on the entire wall?? And what would all this cost us in the end?
We learned during our venture with the floor tiles that the border can often end up being more expensive than doing the full wall so perhaps that will be the case here. We have to call Dino tomorrow to let him know what our decision is for the wall so maybe he will have worked up some estimates for us already regarding the cost.
While I do think it would look really nice with all granite back there, I'm just not sure. I wish we had thought to have him bring the granite sample with him but we didn't think about it. I stuck a few pieces of cardboard to the wall to help us imagine what it would look like if we just did the piece of granite in the middle with the border around the rest (see the photo below). But I really have no clue at the moment what I will like the most. Somehow it just doesn't seem right. The full wall with granite would probably be beautiful but since our upper cabinets aren't quite as long as the lower ones (on the side by the door)...well that could also look strange. Tonight we will be spending a lot of time considering our options and hopefully reach some sort of useful conclusion. And then when we hear the price, we might make another conclusion lol. Any input as to your own thoughts??
]]>Unfortunately, the certificate has now vanished off my desk so I will be spending some time searching like a mad woman to find it now. It's been laying here just waiting for us to use it and now when the time comes, it vanishes. Typical. The worst part is that is actually expires tomorrow so if it can't be found, we just miss out on the rebate. NOOOOO!! I'm sure I put it somewhere "safe" aside from the desk, thinking the dog might grab it or it might fall off into the trash...but where that safe spot is exactly is now anyone's guess lol. I guess it's about time to clean up the office again anyway ;)]]>
Here's something not necessarily new but pretty interesting. Nouvelles USA offers wall decor stickers in all sorts of designs. From flowers to animals to frames, they have a collection of large stickers for an interesting alternative to the usual framed art. You need a bit of your own creativity to place them on the wall...and probably some confidence during the process since unfinished it could become intimidating and you may start to think it was a bad idea...but those with a good eye or who want a pattern just like on the picture could really have fun with them.I particularly like the Black Baroque and Garland designs...but I was thinking of a slightly different purpose for them...At some point in the near future, we need to start repainting the shutters on our house. We'll keep them the same dark green that they are now but we aren't crazy about the flower-ish design on there now. We've looked around for stencils but haven't really found anything we really like so far. But I'm thinking a rustic looking rose like the ones they have in these packages could be really nice since there are roses growing all over the place here and many of them seem to be quite old. Unfortunately, this company only seems to sell them in quantities of 12 sheets and I don't imagine I would need more than one for the stencil...but at least now I have the idea and can start looking around for stencils that might be along this fashion...or can find a pattern I like so I can design my own.
]]>I personally think it's already a vast improvement.
]]>The good news is, Hornbach, our favorite home improvement store over here (the chain's management spent a whole year with Home Depot, and it shows) is right next to Ikea. And in fact, as it turned out we could leave the car parked in one spot and only had a few feet walk to either store. Very convenient indeed!
The Hornbach ROCKS! It is even bigger than the one in Frankfurt and it is much more modern with many, many more cool toys and gadgets. The main mission was to get a sample can of paint for our inside doors and trim and a few other knick knacks...but as always when hitting the home improvement store you think of most stuff you need when you are already there. We ended up finding a saber saw (needed to finish the kitchen) with a laser guide and super high wattage for 29.99 euros - can't argue with that. Hubby picked up a starter greenhouse for the garden - one of those really low ones used to start vegetables and we even found out we can have the paint for the shutters (weather proof of course) mixed at the store from a paint chip. All in all a really enjoyable shopping experience, and the damage to the bottom line was not so bad.
On we went to Ikea, once again not enjoyable - but what can you do, their products are excellent and we did have a gift certificate. We mostly stocked up on stuff to beautify our bathroom upstairs and a few things for the kitchen, which I will report about later. There are just too many people at Ikea turning into zombies out for the Swedish furniture goodness, not paying attention to anything around them. The lines were long at the cash register and someone went trigger happy on the thermostat and the place felt like a sauna but now that some of the things have found new homes in our upstairs bathroom we know we will go back! Swedish furniture goodness is just too great to pass up!]]>
While not specifically geared towards gardening in cold frames this website - yougrowgirl.com - gives a lot of advice for first time gardeners like us. While we have had a few vegetables growing on our rooftop patio when we first moved to Germany, none of them really turned out that great. A few of our tomato plants had decent results, but lettuce somehow didn't prosper. Maybe with the help of the web we can finally get decent results.]]>
I was browsing the web yesterday, trying to find some inspiration about what we should put on our shutters when we repaint them. Now that we now we can get the color matched that is currently on there at Hornbach, we just have to decide what we want them to look like in the future. We're not happy with the flower design on there now, it just look cheap and improvised. We're leaning towards something like a rose but not totally sold on that although we do want it to be relatively simple. I found something I like at the Stencil Library website which has some really nice stencils without the country and froo-froo feel.
They also have some really nice grapevine stencils which we'd love to try to use on a plaque above the wine cellar or something like that...And if you're looking for any sort of architectural stencils, this is a great place to start. Columns, planters, statues, even huge fountains...very cool indeed but unfortunately not remotely fitting for our place.]]>
I was thinking the other day after you first posted about this that you might want to take a pictue of one of your windows and use photoshop or even just cut & paste with paper & glue to try out the look of different stencils.
One last fyi - I was thrilled to see that you linked to my blog, but I've changed, from http://georgetownhouse.livejournal.com, to http://retrovation.blogspot.com.
I have so much fun reading about your house updates - it's just such a different type of renovation project than most out there.]]>
Hope you enjoy blogger. I have to admit I'm in love with all things Google lol]]>
Stevia
They say growing just one plant will yield enough leaves for you to have sweetener for a year...we drink tons of sweetened iced tea throughout the year so we figure this will be a much healthier alternative. There is still some controversy on stevia as a sweetener as there is a 1985 study out there which says the plant has mutagenic activities prompting the EU to outlaw the sale of stevia sweetener. This study has been debunked lately and we think the risk is so low given that people in south America have been using it as a sweetener for generations without adverse effect. Besides, how much worse than pure cane sugar can it be?
Tomatoes
Hubby found the seeds for a tomato called "Black Krim". The fruit turns black and is supposedly very sweet, meaty sort of tomato. Perfect for sandwiches was the thought that went through our head. We ordered all seeds from Exoga.de, but it seems tomatogrowers.com has them available in the US. We are not sure how far we get with the garden this year, but if we do progress nicely then these are definitely on the list to plant. Tomatoes are an absolute essential in our lives.Corn
We love to BBQ and no BBQ is complete without corn on the cob. So as we continued our search through Exoga's catalog (mostly because we thought it was ridiculous to pay 0.98EUR for the Stevia seeds and 3EUR for shipping) we came across a variety of corn which supposedly grows 1/2ft a day and reaches heights of 18ft, producing cobs 1.5ft long. This being Germany we know it's not genetically modified since it's pretty much outlawed here, so we have to see this for ourselves.
Peanuts
We haven't been able to find out what the yield will be per plant but they recommend that kids give it a try so how hard can it be? And it will be really fun to eat peanuts grow from our own yard :)
Lettuce
We bought a few lettuce plants last weekend which we just got in the ground today...but we'll post more about that later. We've got lollo rosso, lollo verde (? the green version of the first) and iceberg lettuce.What you see here is the sorry start of our vegetable garden. The cold frame we bought yesterday is now set up and the lettuce is planted, but that is something for another post.
We bought some paint yesterday to try out on our inside doors, we decided the guest bathroom door with its lovely cracks and stylish avocado green inside. This weekend has been sort of a bathroom and garden weekend so it seemed appropriate that this would be the door that got to try on the new color, not only is the avocado absolutely hideous but the "Mac Gyvered" frame on the ouside of the bathroom is the first thing you see once you walk into the front door.Like usual we started such a project relatively late in the day. No idea why we do this to ourselves, but by the time we started it was already 5.30pm. But oh well, rather start late and get the first side of the door painted than wait another weekend. At least all the sanding was already completed on both sides and the painting process on the frame and light side of the door wouldn't take that long.
As there where some cracks we had started fixing those this morning with some wood putty and manged to do quite good once hubby found a suitable spatula in the barn. At the end of the process the door looked quite funny - sort of pock marked but it turned out quite good.So even though it was already late-ish and we still wanted to walk the dog in the sunlight we set off . Unfortunately the paint isn't strong enough to even cover most of the light peachy sort of color on the outside - can't wait to see what it does on the avocado side. The avocado on the doorframe will definitely need a second coat. As the paint is drying it is starting to flatten itself a bit and it's looking much better already. Tomorrow we'll have to do the other side and give the frame it's second coat. Hopefully the finish will become a little bit more matted, as it looks quite shiny right now and that's not the look we where going for.
But look at it now..... it is really starting to look quite nice!
]]>
Yesterday we finally had some nice weather so we made the most of it and got the vines cleaned out of the garden and also set up the cold frame we bought on Saturday for our lettuce. This is the second thing we've planted so far (after the red gooseberry last weekend) and we're quite interested to see how it's all going to turn out. We don't really know what our ultimate goal out here is going to be this year but we'd like to grow at least a few things to sustain ourselves. There really is nothing like home grown so if we can work out an inexpensive way to build a greenhouse that will also look nice, we're probably going to go for it. But we're not so sure anymore whether we'll be trying for a lean-to method like we previously thought or if we will build a stand alone greenhouse towards the back of the property which will block the view to the neighbors a bit. For the time being, though, the cold frame is it.
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So we mostly filled up our biodegradable trash container already vines from the backyard, but I'm thinking we could fill it up even more with the remaining waste from the bird areas. There are two cage areas left, one of which will be completely removed and the other which we're thinking we're going to clean up and eventually may use again to raise a few chickens. Notice I say "a few" - by no means does that mean the 50+ birds they must have been raising here before along with ducks, rabbits, pigs and who knows what else. We're thinking a few chickens just for our own egg needs and possibly to sell the overage down the street at the market or via our front gate. The only other things we'll be selling here will be from what's grown in our backyard that we can't eat ourselves.
I'm definitely not a fan of playing in bird feces, especially by myself, but this really does need to be done and since it's beautiful but fairly cool out still and we have the container, I figured I might as well go for it. Plus, I have yet to get involved much with the bird pooh cleanup and hubby did nearly the entire chicken coop by himself which was far worse than these so it only seems fair that I at least get started here.
Here is the coop that we will probably be keeping. We think he had doves in here which must have been part of the troop he used for weddings and other special events. We'll remove most of the old cages in here because they're just really nasty but that will wait until we have a regular trash container which will likely be right after they pick up this bio container.
And here is the other coop which I will probably focus on first because it somehow seems like less work. I may go to the trouble of at least taking down part of the bird stuff from the walls but it's really almost pointless unless you have some place to trash everything right then. We once thought about building a smoker in this corner since we should easily be able to draft it out the glass block window hiding in the corner here...but we'll just have to see. It's right outside the wine cellar so we might try to integrate it into that space as well...thankfully we have plenty of time to work that out lol.
]]>This is not her first painting experience and it probably won't be her last...but we really did have to laugh at how funny she looked. We were hoping we wouldn't run into anyone on the walk so we didn't have to explain how this could have happened...personally, I'm suspecting that Ayla was trying to become a Landseer like her sister...they might even be plotting to switch places on us. :)
]]>Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
The border was close to the one below which I've found from Daltile called Rittenhouse Square White Classic. It's a ceramic tile so I guess that is what we'll need to be looking for when we do all this. They also have some very nice white ceramic borders here but I think we'll probably be going for a rectangular tile versus square.
I imagine we may end up back at Dino's for this purchase as well since he has a good selection but he's not really done us any favors and he's not all that close anymore so we'll see. We have another friend of a friend who offered to cut us a very good deal on tile before but our floor tiles just sort of fell in our lap so we haven't seen them yet. But they may indeed have just what we're looking for.
I think we'll probably wait to select anything until the counter top is here, though. That way we can check tile colors and see exactly what the counter will look like here...and know if we need to stick with a granite trim or if we can go with the tiles...one step at a time ;)]]>
I started with the smaller of the bird areas, I guess so I could slowly build myself up for the room which I considered to be much worse. The clean out took about 45 minutes which was not so much shoveling bird waste but more taking down the little bird perches and things like that. there were so many perches on the wall that it was a bit difficult to walk around...which is what triggered me to start taking them down. I couldn't stand the thought of constantly brushing against the poo, regardless of how many layers of clothes I was wearing.
Here was the finished product of the first room. I know, it probably doesn't look much different to you than the before photo. But all the perches are now gone from the wall and the bit of waste that was on the shelf and floor are gone. We will hopefully get another large trash container this weekend so we should be able to get the rest of these cages out of here at that point along with the doors and such...and then we can take the pressure cleaner to it and hopefully not end up taking down part of the wall with it.
This room is nestled between the horse stalls and the barn...and the door you see above goes to the wine cellar. We knew already that all the bird waste was causing problems to the stone walls and many of them are going to need to be treated to remove the salt from them. But something even more disturbing from the birds is the picture below.
This is some of the framing for the barn. There was a bird perch attached in front of this so we never noticed this damage before. I can only imagine that the feces started to eat away at the wood and it doesn't seem like they were taking the majority of the perches out when they cleaned for the birds so there's no telling how long this may have been like this. It is not completely deteriorated but it's not looking great so we will definitely need to do something here. It's also a great place for bugs and other vermin to find their way into the barn (as if there aren't plenty already) so this is just not good.
After that I moved on to storage room two. This one was considerably worse but still had to be much, much better than doing the chicken coop.
My little helper wanted to be there close by but her idea of helping is eating the bird poop which isn't going to fly. So I actually had to close myself inside the bird rooms. Joy. Thankfully I'm not clausterphobic but it was still not really my ideal. I'm pretty sure if I got stuck in a room like that, I would freak out a bit...but since there is only chicken wire on this door it wouldn't have taken much effort to get out.
Remember me mentioning that I almost knocked myself out? Well, it happened about now. I was trying to make sure the dog stayed away (I know, terrible to blame her for my stupidity) while I was working. I had one of the bird perches in my hand, turned to throw it in the trash bag sitting outside the door and ran full force into the beam you see here.
To say that it hurt was an understatement but apparently I have a very hard head because now, just a few hours later, it barely hurts where I hit it. Needless to say I was extra careful afterwards, bending way down to make sure that didn't happen again. I have to say here that hubby is usually the one that ends up running into something like this. He's hit his head so many times cleaning out the wine cellar that he often just stays outside while I pass stuff out to him. Imagine how that's going to work when we finally have that cellar finished...definitely going to need to be careful after having a tasting down there lol.
Anyway, right after I hit my head, my Newfie nurse rushed over to make sure I was ok. I had a little table outside to sit on until the throbbing subsided and she offered some kisses to get rid of the tears. And then she decided that I was not capable of taking on this task alone and she laid down in front of the closed door. Thankfully, it was not too hard to persuade her that I was ok to continue and she resumed her spot in front of the horse stalls where she could keep a close eye on me.
This picture above is an example of why we may not get chickens after all. This was one enormous poop clump which I decided to dispose of exactly like it was. I was using a hand shovel and large bucket to dump transport the waste to the trash container since there wasn't so much to shovel and using a wheelbarrow would have encouraged the dog to try to "help" even more. All along the edges of the room were big clumps of waste like this...and they all just got packed onto the shovel and marched over to the container which was thankfully not too far since they are surprisingly heavy.
Above is the cleaned out room. It is a massive improvement and I am very happy to know that most of the spider hiding places are now gone. The incline in the ceiling you see in this photo is actually a staircase that goes to the attic above these rooms and our kitchen & mudroom. It seems that at some point, this room was completely open to the attic and they closed it off to use for the birds...or maybe it was always closed off...hard to say. We actually didn't even know about this room and the one next to it until we bought the house. We were so overwhelmed with all the other spaces that we just never even noticed them.
The room next to this one has stone floors and brick walls. It seems that they even put up a wall between the two rooms at some point...but the bricks look old so it could have been a long time ago. I'm just hoping that under the last layer of dirt and poop we will find stone floors here also.
In case you're wondering what I did with all the bird perches, they have been moved into the closed off section of the horse stalls where there is already other bird stuff in there waiting to be torn down and thrown out. So since that area is already bird infested and easy to seal off, it seemed like the best place to put everything. Plus, it should be very close to where we put the new container :)P.S. To our parents reading this, yes, I did wear rubber gloves and a mask while doing this. There is no way I was going to let that bird poop touch me...and the mask, although very warm, cut down a bit of the smell so all your scolding us for not always having them on in the past has actually paid off ;)]]>
As of yesterday, spring seems to be arriving here and we're looking at least 2 weeks of sun and temps in the 60s...which is a very, very welcome change from the last 2 weeks which was grey, rainy and in the 40s. Of course, Ayla loves it that way but it doesn't make me so excited when I need to clean the kitchen floor every day. Yes, our stupidity for cream colored tile but at least I can see when it's dirty this way.
Anyway, I decided I would take the opportunity to clean out the rest of the former bird areas that we have here (the previous owner of this house raised doves and chickens and who knows what else) and Ayla was totally on board to help as much as possible. But she thinks "help" involves eating the bird poop so I politely declined her assistance.
I'd been working about an hour and Ayla was starting to get a bit more persistent about helping. Despite me taking a few short breaks to play with her, she still wanted to do her part. We actually tried to get her to help us move vines from the backyard this weekend but all she wanted to do was carry them to the other end of the courtyard and leave them so she could come get a new one. So I snapped this photo of her above and went back to work. Apparently I was a bit too distracted with her because a few minutes later, I smashed my head into a beam that runs above the door. Not too smart and I'd been doing so well...
I must have hit it pretty much full force because it felt like my head was exploding. I actually checked for blood (hubbers is a hypochondriac - I think it's rubbing off lol) but my head was only a bit tender. It did bring tears to my eyes though and that's when my nurse came to the rescue. I sat down on a little bench outside the door and she was jumping up on me to make sure everything was still ok. I have no doubt that she started over when I whacked my head because I seem to recall it making a really interesting sound when I struck it. Thankfully Ayla helped wash away my tears very quickly and then she decided I would no longer be going in that room.
As you can see, she laid down in front of the door and wasn't moving for anything. I finally just rolled her onto her back and gave her a good belly scratching. I guess that proved to her that I must be feeling ok because she eventually went to lay down in front of the horse stalls instead where she could keep a close eye on me. My little Newfie nurse - always there to make sure we aren't killing ourselves - after all, someone has to provide dinner ;)If you'd like to read more about the bird area clean up, please visit our house blog or view the clean up post.]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Yeah, I know, you're getting sick of reading about stencils already...but I came across another site with some interesting stencils that just might work for our shutters.This flower stencil from Stencil Planet which I think could look really nice. 7.5 in x 5 in (HXW) for only $15.95. Even if I don't like it, it's hard to argue with that price...and they will automatically resize any stencil for you on their website which is very convenient.
We both really like this one so we may have finally found the one and you guys won't have to read about them again for a while ;)
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A little more searching brought us to this little contraption. We are thinking of building this greenhouse as it is pretty much perfect for what we're looking for. One could add to it a little in length and perhaps even width, paint the beams and use real panes instead of poly film and voila a pretty little greenhouse at bargain prices.
The following links show all one needs to know about the process, and they actually manage to explain things in simple language even we can understand. No idea when this process will start. Most likely not soon enough, although so far it looks like the high school reunion will be a rather small affair, so less things to worry about. We certainly will keep you posted on the progress.
How to build a greenhouse
The picture is of Ken's greenhouse which was built using these plans but with PVC panels similar to what we would be using.
They even give you simple to follow plans on pouring the slab.
Pouring a concrete slab part one
Pouring a concrete slab part two]]>
If you'd like a head start on the tips for other seasons, you can find them here:
Spring Maintenance Tips for Your Home
Spring tips
- Replace your furnace filter
- Clean the kitchen exhaust hood and air filter
- Check your electrical system
- Always have a multi-purpose fire extinguisher accessible.
- Make sure the light bulbs in all your fixtures are the correct wattage
- Review your fire escape plan with your family
- Consider installing a lightning protection system on your home
- Protect all your electrical appliances from power surges and lightning
- Have a professional air conditioning contractor inspect and maintain your system as recommended by the manufacturer
- Check for damage to your roof
- Run through a severe-weather drill with your family
- Repair all cracked, broken or uneven driveways and walks to help provide a level walking surface
- Protect your home from sewer or drain back-up losses
- Check all the fascia and trim for deterioration
- Check your water heater
- Check the shutoff valve at each plumbing fixture to make sure they function
- Clean clothes dryer exhaust duct, damper, and space under the dryer
- Replace all extension cords that have become brittle, worn or damaged
- Inspect and clean dust from the covers of your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Replace or clean your furnace filter.
It should be checked once a month and replaced or cleaned as needed. Some filters are reusable and are supposed to be taken out, washed with a hose and re-inserted. A dirty filter can lower the efficiency of the heating/cooling system, increase heating costs and cause fires.
Clean the kitchen exhaust hood and air filter.
Keeping this clean of cooking grease will help keep a stovetop fire from spreading.
Check your electrical system.
- Look for burn marks at the main electrical panel; they can be a sign of arcing inside the panel, which can easily lead to a fire. Loose connections or damaged insulation can cause the arcing. Note: Only a qualified electrician should remove the front panel cover.
- Trip and reset the circuit breakers regularly.
- Remove any combustible materials such as paper boxes or flammable liquids from the area near the main electrical panel. Sparks caused by arcing inside the panel can ignite material stored nearby.
- Check all electrical outlets for loose-fitting plugs they are an indication of a worn out receptacle. Worn receptacles should be replaced as they cause overheating and fires. Also check electrical outlets and switches to be sure they work properly. If any switches, outlets or receptacles do not work, have a qualified electrician determine the problem and fix it to avoid fires inside the walls of your home.
- Install safety covers to help protect children from electrical shock. Any appliance or tool that gives even the slightest shock should be unplugged and checked by an electrician or repair shop.
Always have a multi-purpose fire extinguisher accessible.
Make sure it is Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listed or Factory Mutual (FM) approved. Check the gauges to make sure they are charged and ready to use.
Make sure the light bulbs in all your fixtures are the correct wattage
The light fixture manufacturer recommends the correct wattage. If too high a wattage bulb is used in a light fixture, heat produced inside the fixture can lead to fire inside the fixture, ceiling or wall.
Consider installing a lightning protection system on your home.
Read more at Lightning protection systems.
Protect all your electrical appliances from power surges and lightning.
Read more at How to choose surge protection for your home.
Have a professional air conditioning contractor inspect and maintain your system as recommended by the manufacturer.
Maintenance should include:
- Cleaning the evaporator coil
- Lubricating fans and motors
- Tightening or changing the belts
- Checking electrical safeties
- Checking the drain pan for leaks
- Testing the capacitors
- Check the condensate drain
- Test the crankcase heater
- Calibrating the thermostat
- Visually checking the wiring for potential short circuits
These steps can help decrease the chance of fire, save money by making the system run more efficiently and help prevent breakdowns.
Things you can maintain:
- Check the condensate hose to be sure it is not blocked with algae.
- Clean the outside condensing unit screen of leaves.
- Listen for unusual noises.
Check for damage to your roof
Signs include missing, curling, cupping, broken or cracked shingles. Pooling or ponds of water that fail to drain from flat roofs may indicate low areas and inadequate drainage.
Repair all cracked, broken or uneven driveways and walks to help provide a level walking surface.
This will help prevent guests and family members from slipping, tripping or falling.
Protect your home from sewer or drain back-up losses
Read more at Wet Basements.
Check all the fascia and trim for deterioration.
These areas can become weathered and worn and may lead to potential water damage.
Check your water heater.
- If you have a gas-fired water heater, check to make sure it is venting properly. Light a match next to the vent and wave it out (don't blow it out). See if the smoke is pulled up into the vent. If it isn't, have a professional inspect and repair it. Otherwise, carbon monoxide and other combustibles can build up in the home.
- Check around the base of your water heater for evidence of leaks. If your water heater is over 5 years old, it should be checked monthly for any leakage or rusting at the bottom. If water leakage or rust is found, the water heater should be replaced.
Check the shutoff valve at each plumbing fixture to make sure they function.
Know the location of all valves and what equipment and water lines they serve. Teach all family members.
Clean the clothes dryer exhaust duct, damper and space under the dryer.
Poor maintenance allows lint to build up in the exhaust duct and cause fire.
Replace all extension cords that have become brittle, worn or damaged.
Exposed wires may cause arcing, which will produce heat and can start a fire. Care should also be taken to keep appliances and their power cords away from water or a heat source because this will damage the cord's insulation.
Inspect and clean dust from the covers of your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
Read more at Smoke alarms save lives.
]]>Test your pet IQ now]]>
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
Peanut butter licks,
Nugget]]>
At first the answer seemed to be a resounding "NO" because we don't have a marsh in our backyard. Cranberries grown on a large scale actually are flooded during the winter months to protect the vines. But then I found a quick little article from Cranberry Creations which says that mulching the plants with pine needles or leaves in late November will actually do the trick. And the planting season is April 15th - May 31st or in the fall which is just perfect for us.
How many cranberries each plant would produce I'm not sure. I also don't know if we can get them here although I would imagine they should to rather well since they typically grow them in Maine, Canada and other colder regions. I don't really need tons of them but they are very expensive here and it would be nice to have our own to dry or to use over the holidays in relish and such.
Another fantastic article from Grow Your Own Magazine even encourages container growing of cranberries!
Growing cranberries at home.
If the garden soil is acidic and azaleas, rhododendrons and heathers thrive, cranberries can be planted to act as ground cover in the shrub border, especially if there is a bank or wall for them to cascade over and show off their mass of dainty flowers and glossy red berries. Alternatively, they can be grown among blueberry bushes in the fruit cage, either in the soil, if suitable, or planted around the blueberry plants in their tubs, although cranberries do not appeal to birds so they don’t need the benefit of netting. If the garden soil is not sufficiently acidic (pH 6.2 or below) cranberries can be grown in containers of all shapes and sizes; troughs, tubs, pots, even hanging baskets. Of course, the more restricted the root system, the shorter the life of the plants but the beauty of cranberries is they are incredibly easy to propagate so it is very easy to replace them at home.
If you are planting them in the garden, incorporate some peat and/or pine bark chippings into the existing soil to provide suitable organic matter for the roots to grow into. (Never use manure or any animal-based fertiliser on blueberries or cranberries as the roots are easily killed by chemical scorching from such strong solutions). Plant the cranberries 30cm (12in) apart and they will fill the space between them in a couple of years.
Container cranberries If you want to grow them in a tub, use ericaceous compost. Any compost will have enough nutrients in it to last the cranberries all summer. If you don't like using peat, try organic soil conditioning bark, which is quite finely milled and reasonably rotted. Choose a shallow container, if possible, as cranberry roots rarely grow more than 10cm (4in) into the soil unless they have a real need to send down longer roots in search of water. Two-year-old plants may give the occasional berry in the first summer after planting but should really start cropping the following year.
Use the usual technique for planting hanging baskets is to put four plants in ericaceous compost in a 30cm (14in) polythene lined basket. You can incorporate one of those water-holding gels if you like. If planted in April the basket should become very well filled and most eye catching by late summer. Keep it watered in the usual way preferably, although not necessarily, with rain water to maintain the acidity. (My tap water has a pH8). Watch out for that critical period in September and early October when it is so easy to relax and pay less attention to watering. But this is the time when next year's flower buds will have formed, unseen, and they can be damaged or even aborted by lack of water.
Plants in hanging baskets, and other small containers, will get tired after about three years and need replacing, but that’s a long life span for a hanging basket which gives year-round interest and a food crop.
Color me excited :) And I can do them in combination with blueberries...that sounds like a very good match up to me!]]>
As for cranberries, I seem to remember that currants grow voraciously in your country. At Christmas we made excellent "Whole Cranberry Relish with Orange Zest" when we had no cranberries, but used frozen currants!!! Currants can be used instead of cranberries in many recipes and not just for jelly.
The Mommy]]>
| Granulated Sugar | Whole Stevia leaf powder | White Stevia Extract (powder) |
| 1 teaspoon | 1/8 teaspoon | Dust on spoon |
| 1 Tablespoon | 3/8 teaspoon | 1/2 pinch |
| 1/4 cup | 1 1/2 teaspoon | Pinch |
| 1/2 cup | 1 Tablespoon | 1/8 teaspoon |
| 1 cup | 2 Tablespoon | 1/4 teaspoon |
Very impressive to say the least and also very much in line with what we read earlier about one plant producing enough stevia to last you a year.
We got our seeds today from Exoga.de and are excited to start trying them out. I actually started a few of the seeds today in hopes that they will start to grow. We read that only 20% of brown seeds sprout versus 80% of black ones. Quite honestly, I can barely tell the difference between one and the other. But I dropped about 5 in each cup with a moist paper towel and we'll see how they do. This has been the most successful route for us so far when it comes to getting seeds to sprout so hopefully it will work this time around also. Of course, if by some odd chance all of them sprout, I guess all of our friends and family are going to have their own plants as well :)
And just as a personal note for anyone out there who wonders if this plant really can be that amazing, they included a small dried leaf in the seed packet that we received. I was quite curious so I just broke off two tiny pieces, maybe a 1/4" square each and it is amazing how sweet it actually is. I'm really, really hoping these plants take off because that will be so much healthier for us and fun to tell people that everything is made from our own natural sweetner! :)]]>
Anyway, the garden actually has a lot of things growing in it already to give us a head start for this growing season where we'll just be getting a feel for things. This will basically be our first attempt at any real gardening and cultivation project so it could get interesting. But we have more than enough space and we figure we might as well use it and just give things a try. Luckily we were here when everything was still growing last year so we know what most things are.
What we've got:
Raspberries - I'm not sure if we're going to be keeping these. They didn't taste very good last year and at least part of the berry bracing will need to go when we get ready to start on the greenhouse. But they may all survive this season if we don't get that project started in the coming months.
Red & White Currents - we have two red current bushes and one white current which produced really tasty berries last year. We only got to try a few but we had a huge one at the rental house and really enjoyed having our own currents on hand. Last year over Christmas, we even substituted them for cranberries and made a current relish since we couldn't get our hands on any cranberries at the last minute.
Strawberries - there are tons of strawberry plants and it seems that they are producing in different seasons as well. One patch already seems to have blooms on it although some of the others may have been trampled in the vine removal process. But we figured we would have to reduce the number of plants we have so that we have more space to grow other things so at least this way they're being narrowed down automatically.Peaches - we lost the biggest peach tree last year because there was too much fruit and it split the tree apart. We tried to save it but unfortunately it didn't work too well and we took it out last weekend. But there are two smaller trees that are doing well so hopefully those will satisfy our peach needs.
Plums - we're still not 100% sure about this tree but I seem to recall they were plums that we saw on there. But we had a plum tree at the rental house so maybe I'm just getting them confused.
Bay leaves - not something we use all the time but the plant is growing rather heartily despite the winter.Sage - not 100% on this one either but it looks and smells like sage at the moment.
Rue-bitterwort (Ruta Graveolens) - this is already growing in our garden and we don't know much about it. But after searching a bit, it seems we probably won't use it much aside from its insect repelling qualities. Here's a profile.
Rosemary - there are actually a few rosemary bunches around the garden although we may transplant some of them in the end.]]>
We also rehung the door to the bathroom which we painted over the weekend. It still needs another coat but we're trying to get a feel for the glossy finish and at this point, we're both still liking it. So I'm going to work on getting the other side painted, probably tomorrow and we'll probably make a final decision about whether we want to buy the paint for the rest of the doors or go in an entirely different direction. But the color is definitely a VAST improvement over the vanilla color the door used to have. And inside where the door is still avocado green, it's going to also make a massive improvement...
]]>I guess I'll start with a bit of history. I'm T, the female, and I am a Texas girl at heart. I grew up there but went to high school in Virginia and then college in Florida (go CANES! lol). S was born in Germany but also lived in Japan a few years before moving with his family to New York. He lived there for 8 years until moving to Florida for college. That's where we met, fell in love and then S was offered a job in Germany. So we decided to take on the adventure together and have now been here almost 7 years.
Last year, we found an old farmhouse which was built in 1834. It's an amazing property and we fell in love with it almost immediately. The property is exactly what we wanted and includes a garden back behind our barn. Many people don't even know it's there because it's hidden from the rest of the house.
As you can see, there's not much to look at right now...but spring is upon us and we're ready to start turning this plot into our own little garden of Eden. Plans include a greenhouse which we'll be building ourselves, lots of fruits and veggies and a few plants that most wouldn't likely expect.]]>I've always been a fan of banana bread so when some of our bananas started going brown one day, I went to allrecipes.com to find myself a good recipe. What I found was Almost No Fat Banana Bread which has an excellent rating...but I modified that recipe quite a bit after reading a bunch of review and this is what it turned out to be...a moist, delicious banana bread which isn't so bad for you and tastes great as a snack or for breakfast.
A Better Almost No Far Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 2 egg whites
- 3-4 bananas, mashed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add milk, applesauce, egg whites, bananas and vanilla extract ; stir just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool before slicing.
Chimney sweeps have a similar outfit which seems very fitting considering they're working around soot all day. But why would a roofer want to wear all black?? Hubby says the vest and pants are made from corduroy and breathe quite well...and they can very easily be brushed off with the hand when they get dirty so they clean up easily. I can certainly see the benefits and I personally think they look super cool...but it would be a bit like the Marlboro man or Easter Bunny doing your roof if this was the US :)
]]>Cost: It costs mere pennies to grow your own produce. Good, fresh vegetables at the store are expensive and with the help of a greenhouse we can extend our growing season and produce more than enough to replace our need to go shopping. We have a well on the property and plenty of containers of rainwater so the cost of watering is not a factor either. The start up cost will definitely not be cheap (especially for the greenhouse) but we will try our best to do this budget friendly.
Security: There is some wacky stuff going on in the world today. Global warming, wars, pandemics and various other threats are splashed all over the news every day. Not that we plan on building bunkers like some of the other self reliance websites out there, but it doesn't hurt to know that if the shit hits the fan or SHTF as they like to call it, you can survive on your own for a while.
Ecology: Did you know that the average yogurt has traveled more on its way from the utter to your fridge than you did last year? Well, it's true given the different places all the ingredients have traveled from to the manufacturing plant (nice that's where I want my food to come from) on to the store and then to your home. That is a lot of travel time for food to get to us and with global warming that is just not cool. Another issue is all of the packaging materials, no need for those either when you grow your own!
Here is what we plan to do:
Over the coming weeks we are beginning to rework the garden and plan to set up the greenhouse. While we already have a lot of stuff in mind for the garden (lettuce, tomatoes, corn, etc) we will also need to take a look at our shopping list to determine what we can grow ourselves and get locally. We already have a few things in mind which are most probably not on most people's mind when they think about self reliance, but that will be explored later on.
The Challenge:
We want to try to replace as many store bought products as possible. While that doesn't mean we will cut toilet paper from our shopping list, we will have to examine choices such as candy and "convenience food", such as frozen pizza. We certainly don't plan (or have the ability and space) to grow ALL our food ourselves so we will also allow ourselves to buy from local producers within a 10km range from the farm.
Keep reading as we embark on this adventure and let's hope our black thumbs are turning green sometime soon!]]>
We'd really appreciate it if you dropped by their site and registered to vote for us :)
Here are the competitors]]>
This picture above is one of the stacks of excess wood, beams and so on that we've found here, there and everywhere. You can see we've got the railing from the front porch as well as the stair railing....and some lovely wooden molding like that below.
I have no clue what we're going to use it for yet but it's definitely not getting trashed. I WILL come up with something.
Here is the workshop in the barn. As you can see above the workbench and all the shelves, there are stacks of pieces of wood, furniture and who knows what else. Some of the scraps are particle board so most of that will get trashed. But some of the other things up there are shutters, furniture legs, decorative pieces and other things which would have made a carpenter's life more simple to have on hand. We're far from carpenters but perhaps someday we'll hone our woodworking skills enough to make some use of these things.
The corner you see above will be cleaned out as much as possible and then we will move the taller pieces we are keeping from the pictures at the top into this corner. There they will be out of the way until we have a use for them.
]]>They also have some other cool tools like estimating your home's value on their remodeling tools page.]]>
We're having tacos for dinner tomorrow, a favorite in our house. We use a recipe for the beef from a Harley Davidson cookbook and they are fantastic. And then we pile on all the other necessary taco ingredients like refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, ranch dressing, Louisiana Hot Sauce, cheddar cheese. Yum. For the past few years, I've been making Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing from packets. I only need to dump a cup of mayo and milk in there, mix it together, let it sit in the fridge for an hour and enjoy. But my supply ran out (don't worry, no one needs to send more) and I decided to check the Internet for any copycat versions. I've usually just come across the packet mix instructions which could be useful but they don't sell saltines here so that puts a kink into it. So instead I found a clone for the dressing itself which I made this morning and I was extremely pleased with. I always try to link back to the recipes but, well, I wrote the ingredients down a few weeks ago and can't seem to find it anymore online. Sorry.
Here's the recipe:
Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Clone
Ingredients
1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
2 pinches dried thyme
Mix everything together in a bowl and that's pretty much it. Chill it, serve it, enjoy it.]]>
We had a lasagna recipe that I've been using for a little while now but it just lacked flavor in the end. The ingredients had great potential but perhaps it all just needed to sit a lot longer. Even after it was frozen, the flavors didn't come out much. So it was back to the drawing board (read Allrecipes.com lol) and I came across a new recipe which has rave reviews.
I did a few modifications to it: added some mushrooms, bay leaves, a bit of chili powder, basil and some extra garlic pepper. I'm thinking 1 hour isn't really long enough to bring out all the flavors so I'm going to let it sit at least 2 and then see how it tastes. I usually make lasagna in at least two small portions and freeze one for later since there are usually only two of us eating it. This one actually turned out to be three and we've got one in the oven now...
Linda's Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 12 ounces cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef until brown. Drain. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour.
- While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, Parmesan and egg until smooth. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover sauce with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with one-third of remaining sauce. Top with half the mozzarella. Place another layer of noodles and one of sauce over the mozzarella; top that with the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining sauce.
- Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top and bake 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.
Tonight our friend Jenny is dropping by and we're going to have tacos. Then tomorrow we'll go shopping because she needs to pick up some new climbing shoes, our birthday present to her. We're all going climbing in Locarno, Switzerland, over Easter and her current shoes are wildly uncomfortable so she must have them before the trip. That means there won't be much blogging from us during that time...but there will be plenty to discuss afterwards since hubby will have the week off and Macky will be starting the work on the foundation. Woohoo.
Anyway, I've got even more cleaning tasks to do today. Need to vacuum up the Newf fur tumbleweeds and cook refried beans for the tacos tonight (don't worry, I'm posting the recipe later). Oh, and in case you're wondering, the lasagna last night turned out awesome. I will probably use a bit more spices next time and hubby suggested less mozzarella and more noodles...but I think I'm going to need deeper lasagna dishes to accomplish that...or we just need to start buying grain from the mill here in town, grinding our own stuff down and making pasta noodles that fit the dish...because the ones now are not even close and all the little filler pieces don't give much firmness to the dish.]]>
This time next week, we will already have been on the road for a while, headed to Locarno, Switzerland. I think we're all really looking forward to the trip now although it will be interesting to see if any of us still remember how to climb since it's been nearly a year since we last went. But it's usually like riding a bike so I think we should all do fine. And we've been climbing here before so that should help us out. Besides, when we went last year, we had only been once in the previous 6 months so I guess we're not so bad off. To say that it's going to be awesome when we finally have our own climbing hall at the farm is an understand.
Anyway, Jenny is coming over tonight and tomorrow we'll go buy new shoes for her. She has climbing shoes but they are massively uncomfortable as climbing shoes are "supposed" to be. But after climbing a few routes, her feet look and feel like they're going to fall off and we just can't have that. We will be looking to climb most of the day and we don't want her to have to sit out most of the fun. Last year we gave her new shoes as a birthday present but haven't had the chance to buy them for her yet...so this will be the weekend since there won't be time otherwise.
We've got the climbing guide ready to go and already have our apartment reservation as well. We're staying at same place as last year and are really looking forward to the pasta and especially the ice cream! :)]]>
One project that caught my eye is installing gutter guards outside which is something we're going to need to take care of at some point for the gutters on the horse stalls (if not more of them). The grapevine growing up the barn sheds a lot of its leaves on the roof of the horse stalls and it seems that they all end up down the drain pipe where we already have a leak. Of course, that could have been related to all leaves and junk that I later found in the drain pipe above the opening for it to drain into the rain bucket (does that sentence make sense at all? lol). But it's still another little project way down our list of things to do these days :)
You'll need to go to this weekend projects page and scroll through the weekend project videos to find it. The video is rather useful although I didn't find the step-by-step instructions to be nearly as good...and there's no direct link to the video?!
So go find yourself something to keep busy with this weekend. If those don't satisfy your quench for projects, you can find more on the Weekend Projects Channel. Topics include kitchen remodeling, bathroom upgrades, home improvement, painting tips and outdoor projects but they still seem to be building this up as they don't have many of the videos featured on the first site.]]>
Naturally I ended up looking like a silly woman when it did arrive and I was trying to open the front gate. We haven't figured out what is wrong with gate still (I've got a hunch it may have been lightening now...which is my 4th hunch now? lol) but we've found the bolts to loosen so it can be opened by hand with a socket wrench. The container guy walks up the courtyard to the bio container so he can see how full it is and make sure he's going to be able to stack them on top of each other so he can trade them out. (Have I mentioned how they do this before? They actually stack the empty container on top of the full one, then lift them both onto the truck, re-hook the chains onto the empty one, lift it out of the full one and set it down on the ground. Very interesting to watch lol)
I take my wrench and open the right side of the gate with no problem...but the left side only wants to open partially and then locks into place....which means that the bolt is not loose enough. So I take my socket wrench and turn to the left..."lefty loosey, right tighty" has gotten me through so many moments like this in life. But it still isn't letting the door go and the bolt stops turning. So I go back in the other direction and by now the container delivery guy is standing there looking at me. He tries to tell me he thinks I'm turning it in the wrong direction and that "in Germany loosening it is in the other direction"...um, not really because I was turning it to the left. So I turn the bolt in the direction HE thinks it is again and it reaches the end and gets tight. Silly man. Then I try back to the left again and suddenly it works. Righty-o.
As soon as the container was on the ground and I had the gate closed behind the delivery guy, I put on my gloves and threw the bird perches I had placed in the horse stall into the container. No need to waste time, right? I considering taking on more stuff since the weather was just perfect after being not so lovely this morning...but since most of it is on top of the wine cellar in the barn, it would be much easier with two people so I decided to just let it be.
Here's some of the junk from the top of the wine cellar. If one person stands up there we can just hand the stuff down and take it directly to the container or set it down and then move it all afterwards together.
And since that is certainly not going to be enough to fill it up, we may start on the space above the former pig stalls which will eventually likely become part of the climbing hall.
]]>
Luckily I came armed with cheap beer and plastic cups so those little alcoholics are hopefully going to party like it's 1999 tonight so we can eat some of our own lettuce in the near future. We still had 8 or so plants left over from the first planting so I stuck those in the ground as well. At least this way the one plant doing so well has slightly better odds of surviving. It will be interesting to see if we've caught any slugs starting their weekend early when we check everything before our walk with the dog ;)
And here you can also see my garlic which is doing quite nicely. We planted them a few weeks ago after a couple bulbs we had in the spice closet started to sprout. I moved them into the backyard yesterday because they're getting big enough for the dog to notice and I don't want her deciding she's going to "harvest" them before we do.
I also finally got around to planting the catnip for the kitties. I buy them a plant every now and then from the pet store and before I manage to replant it, they die. Of course when I buy them, there is hardly any soil left in the pot so it's no wonder they don't last long...but it does make me wonder how they keep them alive in the store...or maybe they get new ones every day lol.Unfortunately, while I was outside in the garden, I also seem to have been bitten by a spider. I actually saw a tiny little one crawling beside me while I was serving up beers for the slugs and my first instinct was to kill it but I figured, "I leave him alone, he leaves me alone." Apparently that didn't work so well...or maybe it was a friend of his...but when I came inside later, my calf muscle was sore and there was a small lump. After very close examination, I finally found the bite marks (they're about an inch from the lump and painful area).
I actually had a spider bite in almost exactly the same place last summer and it took me forever to figure out what actually happened. It bruised so quickly and happened right after the dog collided with me (she was still in her puppy stage then) so I thought it might be from her. But apparently it was also a spider and after a few days of looking like I'd been beaten, the enormous bruise finally turned lovely shades of yellow and green and went away.
So far there is hardly any bruising or pain but it's starting to be a bit more noticeable. I guess it's good that it's not summer yet so I don't have to worry about people seeing me in shorts lol. It should be lovely by tomorrow...so maybe I'll take a picture of it to share although I'm sure our parents are not going to be amused. ;)]]>
I started soaking my beans on Thursday and I've changed the water a few times to help eliminate the gassiness of them. I read on Purely American that 4 hours tends to be enough time for soaking although many recipes suggest overnight primarily for convenience.
We usually use a recipe with seasons the beans with cumin and oregano, neither of which are in this recipe. I always found the oregano to be a bit strange although it tastes great in there so I may be modifying this recipe a bit as well.
We had plenty of left overs so we had bean burritos for lunch today. We're definitely going to need to make some modifications next time around and perhaps not burn the bacon...there wasn't much taste (and of course they're not supposed to have a lot) but the little taste that is there isn't all that good...but I will be trying again.
Refried beans Ingredients:
1 pound of pinto beans
1/4 pound of salt pork slit with a knife
Half an onion, whole
1/4 cup of onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 slices of bacon
Salt to taste
Method:
Soak the beans overnight or quick soak by bringing to a boil and then turning off the heat and letting them sit for an hour.
Drain soaked beans and then place back in the pot. Cover beans with fresh water to cover them two inches.
Throw half an onion in the pot and add a couple of dashes of salt. Can also add 1/4 pound of salt pork (if you do this there’s no need for extra salt.)
Bring beans to a boil, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.
The time it will take to cook the beans will depend on the freshness of the beans and the hardness of your water. If they’re not completely cooked after an hour, let them simmer a while longer until they’re done.
Remove salt pork and onion and then drain the beans, keeping 1/2 cup of the bean broth.
Chop the slices of bacon and fry them in a skillet on medium until crispy and all the fat is rendered.
Remove cooked pieces (you can either nibble on them while you’re cooking or save them for something else).
Fry the diced onion in the bacon grease for a couple of minutes, and then add the minced garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the drained cooked beans into the skillet, adding 1/4 cup of the bean broth.
Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding more bean broth for desired moisture.
Keep stirring the mashed beans in the bacon fat until the texture is a chunky paste.
Notes: You can substitute 1/4 cup of lard for the bacon grease. Or you can use 1/4 cup of peanut oil. If you don’t want to cook a pot of beans, two 16 oz. cans of cooked pintos can be used instead. You can also use black beans, just be sure and throw some epazote in the pot when cooking them. This recipe makes 4-6 servings.]]>
What he wanted was the really basic version which basically only has a few tools, is the bigger version but still small enough to carry around everywhere. He always had one of those, which he got from his dad when he was 6 years old for carving sticks but that got lost not long after that. For Christmas when he was 10 his parents gave him one of the bulkier ones with everything but a kitchen sink in it which we take camping and 18 years later still works as good as the day he got it. But it's heavy and not really practical to carry in your pant pocket when working around the farm or going on hikes.
Let me tell you, these things are not very expensive anymore - we both remember them being much pricier when we where kids. Hubby found exactly the one he was looking for, and it only cost 13.99 Euros. So he is now the proud owner of a new gadget!
Victorinox Spartan
This is the one hubby had as a kid for that brief amount of time (I think losing that has scarred him for life), it is the old style that doesn't have useless things like magnifying glasses, staplers and other stuff they include in these things these days.The Victorinox Spartan
really is the perfect little Swiss army knife. It is the 3.5" inch version which has a few basic tools. Most often it will likely be used to open a bottle of wine while camping or the occasional corona while BBQing on the farm but it will definitely get good use around here. Oh, and one thing we didn't know these things are even covered by a Lifetime Warranty. Hubby is very excited!Victorinox Rescue Tool
Surfing the web, we came across a new kind of tool from Victorinox, the Victorinox Rescue Tool
for your car. Having lived in Miami we know how many people drown each year when they lose control of their car and go into a canal. Well, here the Swiss did it again, they developed a pocket knife for car accidents. It can be used to break your window (replacing that spark plug everyone of you should have in your glove compartment at all times anyways), cut through seatbelts, remove windows etc. Very cool indeed! We will probably get one of these for each car, because of 59 Euros theses things could come in quite handy if we ever have to get out of our car after and accident or help someone else who just wrecked. So, be safe out on the road, it's crazy out there!]]>
So off we went on a wild Internet search trying to find THE perfect greenhouse for us. WOW there are a lot of different styles of greenhouses out there, ranging from the ultra low budget to extravagant English manor style garden houses.
There are actually quite a few sites on the Internet which have plans for building your own greenhouse, an option that appeals to us since we will pretty much need to customize it to be exactly what flows with the style of our barn. One pretty good website to learn all about greenhouses and materials, sizing, locations etc. is from the University of West Virginia - you can read it here
Ultimately what we want is a lean-to type greenhouse which leans directly against the back wall of the barn. But this design below is also very, very nice and would make a perfect addition to our backyard...who knows, perhaps the plans can be modified. The greenhouse below is made by The Sun Country Green House Company - they offer the plans for sale, as well as kits to save yourself a lot of hassle.
Anyways, we will see where we end up. As always it seems the to-do list is getting longer and the borders between "want" and "need" is getting a bit blurrier, but thankfully there really is no rush on these things. For now, it's just fun making the most of the farm and really feeling like this is home]]>Actually, I guess I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be. When we moved into our old rental house, we actually had 6 plants. Some were there when we moved in and a few were given to us as house warming gifts. This probably seems like nothing to most people but they were almost thriving which was something really special for me, especially the papyrus plant which absolutely loved our old winter garden. That is one plant I don't think anyone could manage to kill. My poinsettia on the other hand is looking very sickly and I definitely need to give it some TLC soon. Of course, I do wonder that if I can't keep 6 house plants alive where I have an endless supply of water (I actually usually give them the remainder of what's left in Ayla's 3 indoor water bowls - I figure the drool is probably good for them), how are we ever going to manage to keep a garden going.]]>
Browsing the Internet we came across the website of the Royal Horticultural Society, a British society hubby's colleague raves about. Apparently they have a book on just about every thing there is about gardening.
Their website has tons of information also, including a nifty little gardening calendar telling you all there is to do every month of the year. This might come in very handy.]]>
So we essentially decided that instead of working on the covered patio or any other project next weekend, we will do yard work. The weather is supposed to be really nice again and perhaps even in the 70s...and because spring is coming, it is really essential that we get the ivy off the back of the barn and get the other plants growing on the storage buildings under control before they really start to bud and take over the buildings.
Here are a few photos of how things looked in July & August when we first got the house.
The green section of vines running along the wall of the house and above the doors of the storage rooms is one target. The vines are a mixture of roses (as you can see in the next picture) and what may either be wisteria (although we haven't seen it bloom or drop seeds which it should have done already - we had a few huge ones growing over the patio of our old rental house) or just some other random and really aggressive vine. The wisteria (as we'll call it for simplicity's sake) will be coming out altogether. It's just a nuisance up there, constantly trying to get under the roof of the rooms and causing trouble otherwise. So we'll either replace it with grape vines or perhaps more roses after we determine how many roses we'll be left with.
Here you can see I trimmed a lot of stuff back and none of the leaves had fallen off yet because it wasn't yet winter. But with all the trimming, now there is basically very little left besides bare vines on the bottom which just looks strange. The vines are extremely dense behind the fencing that is being used as a trellis and it has eaten away at the face of the buildings. So we need to not only cut the vines back dramatically but will also be taking down the fencing and probably put up a new framework and fencing for the vines to grow along.
The garden is a whole other ballgame...and a major reason we will be ordering a bio container to put most of these clippings in. As you can see, the vines are starting to take over the barn and have also invaded inside, growing under the eves of the barn. We need to pull down all the vines from the roof and everything off the back off the barn since we will eventually be building a lean-to greenhouse on the back. Thankfully the roof here is not too dramatically sloped so we should be able to get on the roof to cut this stuff back and should also be able to hold on to the edge of the roof in a worst case scenario for extra safety. The stuff back here is mostly ivy and other aggressive vines with a rose or two sprinkled in which we will probably try to save just because it's so old.
I think it's safe to say we'll have our work cut out for us and I haven't even discussed the stuff in front of the house...but thankfully we have cut back most of that already, aside from one wildly growing vine, and otherwise just need to weed everything and get rid of the dead stuff.]]>
Because it was Sunday, we couldn't go out and buy anything to treat them so we started looking for home remedies. We found two: boiling tobacco in water until all the chemicals are in the water and then spray that on the plants...or try essentially the same thing but with black tea. We had both tobacco and tea on hand but we figured we'd go for the stronger method of tobacco. It did work to some degree but I think there weren't enough toxins to go around. Perhaps if we'd sprayed them another time or two it would have worked out really well but we resorted to buying chemicals instead. Yesterday I picked up a spray that is specifically for aphids so hopefully that will do the trick...and there are several other products if they keep hanging on. There are also little sticks which you can plant around your plants to prevent the aphids from coming back but we have to get rid of them first...and we're a bit concerned that the dog might end up digging them up (she goes through little spurts where she feels the need to dig in the flower beds) and perhaps eat them so hopefully the spray alone will be successful. I plan on tackling them later today when it warms up a bit (it's only about 34 degrees right now).]]>
Stevia
They say growing just one plant will yield enough leaves for you to have sweetener for a year...we drink tons of sweetened iced tea throughout the year so we figure this will be a much healthier alternative. There is still some controversy on stevia as a sweetener as there is a 1985 study out there which says the plant has mutagenic activities prompting the EU to outlaw the sale of stevia sweetener. This study has been debunked lately and we think the risk is so low given that people in south America have been using it as a sweetener for generations without adverse effect. Besides, how much worse than pure cane sugar can it be?
Tomatoes
Hubby found the seeds for a tomato called "Black Krim". The fruit turns black and is supposedly very sweet, meaty sort of tomato. Perfect for sandwiches was the thought that went through our head. We ordered all seeds from Exoga.de, but it seems tomatogrowers.com has them available in the US. We are not sure how far we get with the garden this year, but if we do progress nicely then these are definitely on the list to plant. Tomatoes are an absolute essential in our lives.Corn
We love to BBQ and no BBQ is complete without corn on the cob. So as we continued our search through Exoga's catalog (mostly because we thought it was ridiculous to pay 0.98EUR for the Stevia seeds and 3EUR for shipping) we came across a variety of corn which supposedly grows 1/2ft a day and reaches heights of 18ft, producing cobs 1.5ft long. This being Germany we know it's not genetically modified since it's pretty much outlawed here, so we have to see this for ourselves.
Peanuts
We haven't been able to find out what the yield will be per plant but they recommend that kids give it a try so how hard can it be? And it will be really fun to eat peanuts grow from our own yard :)
Lettuce
We bought a few lettuce plants last weekend which we just got in the ground today...but we'll post more about that later. We've got lollo rosso, lollo verde (? the green version of the first) and iceberg lettuce.What you see here is the sorry start of our vegetable garden. The cold frame we bought yesterday is now set up and the lettuce is planted, but that is something for another post.]]>
Yesterday we finally had some nice weather so we made the most of it and got the vines cleaned out of the garden and also set up the cold frame we bought on Saturday for our lettuce. This is the second thing we've planted so far (after the red gooseberry last weekend) and we're quite interested to see how it's all going to turn out. We don't really know what our ultimate goal out here is going to be this year but we'd like to grow at least a few things to sustain ourselves. There really is nothing like home grown so if we can work out an inexpensive way to build a greenhouse that will also look nice, we're probably going to go for it. But we're not so sure anymore whether we'll be trying for a lean-to method like we previously thought or if we will build a stand alone greenhouse towards the back of the property which will block the view to the neighbors a bit. For the time being, though, the cold frame is it.
]]>Today we measured the entire garden space and drew everything out. We're rather certain now that we'll have plenty of space to grow everything we're interested in having and we can always change our minds about things the following year. Some stuff is a bit less common so we figured we'd break down the components of the garden in a few separate posts...otherwise this entry would go on forever. Hopefully in the following days, we'll get all of them up. ;)
The garden will consist of:
- Vegetables - pretty much all of the veggies will be grown in the garden itself. We'll start a few things off in the greenhouse and continue to grow things like lettuce and tomatoes throughout the winter in there, but most stuff will be grown in the dirt.
- Fruits - several of these are trees and bushes but a few odd ones like cranberries will be a bit more of a challenge to grow.
- Herbs - we have a long list of herbs that we want to grow so we'll have a couple of herb growing areas. Plus a few of them are sprinkled around the roses and other plants already.
- Loofah & Aloe Vera - we'll try the loofah outside with the cucumbers and beans...but the aloe vera we'll try in the greenhouse or perhaps even the house.
- Tea - we'll need to reserve space in the greenhouse for this one.
- Mushrooms - these won't actually be growing in the garden but more likely in a stone room in front of the climbing hall...near the bird area I was cleaning out when I whacked my head.
- Chilies - these will also be in the greenhouse. We're a bit nervous about what might be able to cross pollinate with them so things could get interesting.
A little more searching brought us to this little contraption. We are thinking of building this greenhouse as it is pretty much perfect for what we're looking for. One could add to it a little in length and perhaps even width, paint the beams and use real panes instead of poly film and voila a pretty little greenhouse at bargain prices.
The following links show all one needs to know about the process, and they actually manage to explain things in simple language even we can understand. No idea when this process will start. Most likely not soon enough, although so far it looks like the high school reunion will be a rather small affair, so less things to worry about. We certainly will keep you posted on the progress.
How to build a greenhouse
The picture is of Ken's greenhouse which was built using these plans but with PVC panels similar to what we would be using.
They even give you simple to follow plans on pouring the slab.
Pouring a concrete slab part one
Pouring a concrete slab part two]]>
At first the answer seemed to be a resounding "NO" because we don't have a marsh in our backyard. Cranberries grown on a large scale actually are flooded during the winter months to protect the vines. But then I found a quick little article from Cranberry Creations which says that mulching the plants with pine needles or leaves in late November will actually do the trick. And the planting season is April 15th - May 31st or in the fall which is just perfect for us.
How many cranberries each plant would produce I'm not sure. I also don't know if we can get them here although I would imagine they should to rather well since they typically grow them in Maine, Canada and other colder regions. I don't really need tons of them but they are very expensive here and it would be nice to have our own to dry or to use over the holidays in relish and such.
Another fantastic article from Grow Your Own Magazine even encourages container growing of cranberries!
Growing cranberries at home.
If the garden soil is acidic and azaleas, rhododendrons and heathers thrive, cranberries can be planted to act as ground cover in the shrub border, especially if there is a bank or wall for them to cascade over and show off their mass of dainty flowers and glossy red berries. Alternatively, they can be grown among blueberry bushes in the fruit cage, either in the soil, if suitable, or planted around the blueberry plants in their tubs, although cranberries do not appeal to birds so they don’t need the benefit of netting. If the garden soil is not sufficiently acidic (pH 6.2 or below) cranberries can be grown in containers of all shapes and sizes; troughs, tubs, pots, even hanging baskets. Of course, the more restricted the root system, the shorter the life of the plants but the beauty of cranberries is they are incredibly easy to propagate so it is very easy to replace them at home.
If you are planting them in the garden, incorporate some peat and/or pine bark chippings into the existing soil to provide suitable organic matter for the roots to grow into. (Never use manure or any animal-based fertiliser on blueberries or cranberries as the roots are easily killed by chemical scorching from such strong solutions). Plant the cranberries 30cm (12in) apart and they will fill the space between them in a couple of years.
Container cranberries If you want to grow them in a tub, use ericaceous compost. Any compost will have enough nutrients in it to last the cranberries all summer. If you don't like using peat, try organic soil conditioning bark, which is quite finely milled and reasonably rotted. Choose a shallow container, if possible, as cranberry roots rarely grow more than 10cm (4in) into the soil unless they have a real need to send down longer roots in search of water. Two-year-old plants may give the occasional berry in the first summer after planting but should really start cropping the following year.
Use the usual technique for planting hanging baskets is to put four plants in ericaceous compost in a 30cm (14in) polythene lined basket. You can incorporate one of those water-holding gels if you like. If planted in April the basket should become very well filled and most eye catching by late summer. Keep it watered in the usual way preferably, although not necessarily, with rain water to maintain the acidity. (My tap water has a pH8). Watch out for that critical period in September and early October when it is so easy to relax and pay less attention to watering. But this is the time when next year's flower buds will have formed, unseen, and they can be damaged or even aborted by lack of water.
Plants in hanging baskets, and other small containers, will get tired after about three years and need replacing, but that’s a long life span for a hanging basket which gives year-round interest and a food crop.
Color me excited :) And I can do them in combination with blueberries...that sounds like a very good match up to me!]]>
They are lined up on my window sill waiting for me to prepare their bed, but they all have little berries on them.
Nice blog by the way.]]>
Hope you blog about them in one of your blogs! Looking forward to reading more of your life in Utah - the view from your backyard is breathtaking! And best of luck to your husband in the elections!!]]>
| Granulated Sugar | Whole Stevia leaf powder | White Stevia Extract (powder) |
| 1 teaspoon | 1/8 teaspoon | Dust on spoon |
| 1 Tablespoon | 3/8 teaspoon | 1/2 pinch |
| 1/4 cup | 1 1/2 teaspoon | Pinch |
| 1/2 cup | 1 Tablespoon | 1/8 teaspoon |
| 1 cup | 2 Tablespoon | 1/4 teaspoon |
Very impressive to say the least and also very much in line with what we read earlier about one plant producing enough stevia to last you a year.
We got our seeds today from Exoga.de and are excited to start trying them out. I actually started a few of the seeds today in hopes that they will start to grow. We read that only 20% of brown seeds sprout versus 80% of black ones. Quite honestly, I can barely tell the difference between one and the other. But I dropped about 5 in each cup with a moist paper towel and we'll see how they do. This has been the most successful route for us so far when it comes to getting seeds to sprout so hopefully it will work this time around also. Of course, if by some odd chance all of them sprout, I guess all of our friends and family are going to have their own plants as well :)
And just as a personal note for anyone out there who wonders if this plant really can be that amazing, they included a small dried leaf in the seed packet that we received. I was quite curious so I just broke off two tiny pieces, maybe a 1/4" square each and it is amazing how sweet it actually is. I'm really, really hoping these plants take off because that will be so much healthier for us and fun to tell people that everything is made from our own natural sweetner! :)]]>
Anyway, the garden actually has a lot of things growing in it already to give us a head start for this growing season where we'll just be getting a feel for things. This will basically be our first attempt at any real gardening and cultivation project so it could get interesting. But we have more than enough space and we figure we might as well use it and just give things a try. Luckily we were here when everything was still growing last year so we know what most things are.
What we've got:
Raspberries - I'm not sure if we're going to be keeping these. They didn't taste very good last year and at least part of the berry bracing will need to go when we get ready to start on the greenhouse. But they may all survive this season if we don't get that project started in the coming months.
Red & White Currents - we have two red current bushes and one white current which produced really tasty berries last year. We only got to try a few but we had a huge one at the rental house and really enjoyed having our own currents on hand. Last year over Christmas, we even substituted them for cranberries and made a current relish since we couldn't get our hands on any cranberries at the last minute.Strawberries - there are tons of strawberry plants and it seems that they are producing in different seasons as well. One patch already seems to have blooms on it although some of the others may have been trampled in the vine removal process. But we figured we would have to reduce the number of plants we have so that we have more space to grow other things so at least this way they're being narrowed down automatically.Peaches - we lost the biggest peach tree last year because there was too much fruit and it split the tree apart. We tried to save it but unfortunately it didn't work too well and we took it out last weekend. But there are two smaller trees that are doing well so hopefully those will satisfy our peach needs.
Plums - we're still not 100% sure about this tree but I seem to recall they were plums that we saw on there. But we had a plum tree at the rental house so maybe I'm just getting them confused.
Bay leaves - not something we use all the time but the plant is growing rather heartily despite the winter.Sage - not 100% on this one either but it looks and smells like sage at the moment.
Rue-bitterwort (Ruta Graveolens) - this is already growing in our garden and we don't know much about it. But after searching a bit, it seems we probably won't use it much aside from its insect repelling qualities. Here's a profile.
]]>Luckily I came armed with cheap beer and plastic cups so those little alcoholics are hopefully going to party like it's 1999 tonight so we can eat some of our own lettuce in the near future. We still had 8 or so plants left over from the first planting so I stuck those in the ground as well. At least this way the one plant doing so well has slightly better odds of surviving. It will be interesting to see if we've caught any slugs starting their weekend early when we check everything before our walk with the dog ;)And here you can also see my garlic which is doing quite nicely. We planted them a few weeks ago after a couple bulbs we had in the spice closet started to sprout. I moved them into the backyard yesterday because they're getting big enough for the dog to notice and I don't want her deciding she's going to "harvest" them before we do.
I also finally got around to planting the catnip for the kitties. I buy them a plant every now and then from the pet store and before I manage to replant it, they die. Of course when I buy them, there is hardly any soil left in the pot so it's no wonder they don't last long...but it does make me wonder how they keep them alive in the store...or maybe they get new ones every day lol.Unfortunately, while I was outside in the garden, I also seem to have been bitten by a spider. I actually saw a tiny little one crawling beside me while I was serving up beers for the slugs and my first instinct was to kill it but I figured, "I leave him alone, he leaves me alone." Apparently that didn't work so well...or maybe it was a friend of his...but when I came inside later, my calf muscle was sore and there was a small lump. After very close examination, I finally found the bite marks (they're about an inch from the lump and painful area).
I actually had a spider bite in almost exactly the same place last summer and it took me forever to figure out what actually happened. It bruised so quickly and happened right after the dog collided with me (she was still in her puppy stage then) so I thought it might be from her. But apparently it was also a spider and after a few days of looking like I'd been beaten, the enormous bruise finally turned lovely shades of yellow and green and went away.
So far there is hardly any bruising or pain but it's starting to be a bit more noticeable. I guess it's good that it's not summer yet so I don't have to worry about people seeing me in shorts lol. It should be lovely by tomorrow...so maybe I'll take a picture of it to share although I'm sure our parents are not going to be amused. ;)]]>
Today we measured the entire garden space and drew everything out. We're rather certain now that we'll have plenty of space to grow everything we're interested in having and we can always change our minds about things the following year. Some stuff is a bit less common so we figured we'd break down the components of the garden in a few separate posts...otherwise this entry would go on forever. Hopefully in the following days, we'll get all of them up. ;)
The garden will consist of:
- Vegetables - pretty much all of the veggies will be grown in the garden itself. We'll start a few things off in the greenhouse and continue to grow things like lettuce and tomatoes throughout the winter in there, but most stuff will be grown in the dirt.
- Fruits - several of these are trees and bushes but a few odd ones like cranberries will be a bit more of a challenge to grow.
- Herbs - we have a long list of herbs that we want to grow so we'll have a couple of herb growing areas. Plus a few of them are sprinkled around the roses and other plants already.
- Loofah & Aloe Vera - we'll try the loofah outside with the cucumbers and beans...but the aloe vera we'll try in the greenhouse or perhaps even the house.
- Tea - we'll need to reserve space in the greenhouse for this one.
- Mushrooms - these won't actually be growing in the garden but more likely in a stone room in the barn.
- Chilies - these will also be in the greenhouse. We're a bit nervous about what might be able to cross pollinate with them so things could get interesting.
Surfing the web, we came across a new kind of tool from Victorinox, the Victorinox Rescue Tool
for your car. Having lived in Miami we know how many people drown each year when they lose control of their car and go into a canal. Well, here the Swiss did it again, they developed a pocket knife for car accidents. It can be used to break your window (replacing that spark plug everyone of you should have in your glove compartment at all times anyways), cut through seatbelts, remove windows etc. Very cool indeed! We will probably get one of these for each car, because of 59 Euros theses things could come in quite handy if we ever have to get out of our car after and accident or help someone else who just wrecked. So, be safe out on the road, it's crazy out there!]]>What he wanted was the really basic version which basically only has a few tools, is the bigger version but still small enough to carry around everywhere. He always had one of those, which he got from his dad when he was 6 years old for carving sticks but that got lost not long after that. For Christmas when he was 10 his parents gave him one of the bulkier ones with everything but a kitchen sink in it which we take camping and 18 years later still works as good as the day he got it. But it's heavy and not really practical to carry in your pant pocket when working around the farm or going on hikes.
Let me tell you, these things are not very expensive anymore - we both remember them being much pricier when we where kids. Hubby found exactly the one he was looking for, and it only cost 13.99 Euros. So he is now the proud owner of a new gadget!
Victorinox Spartan
This is the one hubby had as a kid for that brief amount of time (I think losing that has scarred him for life), it is the old style that doesn't have useless things like magnifying glasses, staplers and other stuff they include in these things these days.The Victorinox Spartan really is the perfect little Swiss army knife. It is the 3.5" inch version which has a few basic tools. Most often it will likely be used to open a bottle of wine while camping or the occasional corona while BBQing on the farm but it will definitely get good use around here. Oh, and one thing we didn't know these things are even covered by a Lifetime Warranty. Hubby is very excited!]]>All you need is some old newspapers and a bit of sticky tape. Check out the instructions here.
We get a lot of free newspaper on a weekly basis which usually end up in the recycling bin, but now we actually have some use for it and get to safe some money at the garden supply store.]]>Here's some additional tips to combat slugs - some I saw elsewhere but others were original... Cultivation of the soil will help kill hibernating slugs and eggs is a rather promising one...especially since we're ultimately going to need to till everything before planting anyway.
Leave it to wikiHow to provide some other good alternatives. I really like "Put a tablespoon or two of cornmeal in a jar and lay it on its side wherever there is slug activity. The slugs love this stuff and after eating it they die." With this method we don't have to worry about the dog getting to it either.
And if we're willing to be more creative and play with glass, they have an interesting technique here. I do like the concept about attracting more birds though - it certainly seems practical. And as for making a "bird table" to offer up slug feasts...sounds like a plan to me!]]>
I've always been a fan of banana bread so when some of our bananas started going brown one day, I went to allrecipes.com to find myself a good recipe. What I found was Almost No Fat Banana Bread which has an excellent rating...but I modified that recipe quite a bit after reading a bunch of reviews and this is what it turned out to be...a moist, delicious banana bread which isn't so bad for you and tastes great as a snack or for breakfast.
A Better Almost No Far Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 2 egg whites
- 3-4 bananas, mashed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add milk, applesauce, egg whites, bananas and vanilla extract ; stir just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool before slicing.
I did a few modifications to it: added some mushrooms, bay leaves, a bit of chili powder, basil and some extra garlic pepper. I'm thinking 1 hour isn't really long enough to bring out all the flavors so I'm going to let it sit at least 2 and then see how it tastes. I usually make lasagna in at least two small portions and freeze one for later since there are usually only two of us eating it. This one actually turned out to be three and it was very good. We'll definitely be making it again although we may add a few more spices. Perhaps the frozen ones will have a bit more flavor...
Linda's Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 12 ounces cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef until brown. Drain. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour.
- While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, Parmesan and egg until smooth. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover sauce with 3 noodles. Cover noodles with one-third of remaining sauce. Top with half the mozzarella. Place another layer of noodles and one of sauce over the mozzarella; top that with the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining sauce.
- Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top and bake 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.
And we've got a long list of other recipes that we have found which sound great but we've not quite gotten around to making them yet. This one is a Rachel Ray recommendation from my mom which just sounds excellent. Hubby and I have made penne alla vodka a few times and loved it so this might become a staple in our house.Here's the recipe: You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta
I started soaking my beans on Thursday and I've changed the water a few times to help eliminate the gassiness of them. I read on Purely American that 4 hours tends to be enough time for soaking although many recipes suggest overnight primarily for convenience.
We usually use a recipe with seasons the beans with cumin and oregano, neither of which are in this recipe. I always found the oregano to be a bit strange although it tastes great in there so I may be modifying this recipe a bit as well.
We had plenty of left overs so we had bean burritos for lunch today. We're definitely going to need to make some modifications next time around and perhaps not burn the bacon...there wasn't much taste (and of course they're not supposed to have a lot) but the little taste that is there isn't all that good...but I will be trying again.
Refried beans Ingredients:
1 pound of pinto beans
1/4 pound of salt pork slit with a knife
Half an onion, whole
1/4 cup of onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 slices of bacon
Salt to taste
Method:
Soak the beans overnight or quick soak by bringing to a boil and then turning off the heat and letting them sit for an hour.
Drain soaked beans and then place back in the pot. Cover beans with fresh water to cover them two inches.
Throw half an onion in the pot and add a couple of dashes of salt. Can also add 1/4 pound of salt pork (if you do this there’s no need for extra salt.)
Bring beans to a boil, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.
The time it will take to cook the beans will depend on the freshness of the beans and the hardness of your water. If they’re not completely cooked after an hour, let them simmer a while longer until they’re done.
Remove salt pork and onion and then drain the beans, keeping 1/2 cup of the bean broth.
Chop the slices of bacon and fry them in a skillet on medium until crispy and all the fat is rendered.
Remove cooked pieces (you can either nibble on them while you’re cooking or save them for something else).
Fry the diced onion in the bacon grease for a couple of minutes, and then add the minced garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the drained cooked beans into the skillet, adding 1/4 cup of the bean broth.
Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding more bean broth for desired moisture.
Keep stirring the mashed beans in the bacon fat until the texture is a chunky paste.
Notes: You can substitute 1/4 cup of lard for the bacon grease. Or you can use 1/4 cup of peanut oil. If you don’t want to cook a pot of beans, two 16 oz. cans of cooked pintos can be used instead. You can also use black beans, just be sure and throw some epazote in the pot when cooking them. This recipe makes 4-6 servings.]]>
Let's face it not only does homegrown produce taste better, but there are more than a few good reasons to try to be as self reliant as possible:
Cost: It costs mere pennies to grow your own produce. Good, fresh vegetables at the store are expensive and with the help of a greenhouse we can extend our growing season and produce more than enough to replace our need to go shopping. We have a well on the property and plenty of containers of rainwater so the cost of watering is not a factor either. The start up cost will definitely not be cheap (especially for the greenhouse) but we will try our best to do this budget friendly.
Security: There is some wacky stuff going on in the world today. Global warming, wars, pandemics and various other threats are splashed all over the news every day. Not that we plan on building bunkers like some of the other self reliance websites out there, but it doesn't hurt to know that if the shit hits the fan or SHTF as they like to call it, you can survive on your own for a while.
Ecology: Did you know that the average yogurt has traveled more on its way from the utter to your fridge than you did last year? Well, it's true given the different places all the ingredients have traveled from to the manufacturing plant (nice that's where I want my food to come from) on to the store and then to your home. That is a lot of travel time for food to get to us and with global warming that is just not cool. Another issue is all of the packaging materials, no need for those either when you grow your own!
Here is what we plan to do:
Over the coming weeks we are beginning to rework the garden and plan to set up the greenhouse. While we already have a lot of stuff in mind for the garden (lettuce, tomatoes, corn, etc) we will also need to take a look at our shopping list to determine what we can grow ourselves and get locally. We already have a few things in mind which are most probably not on most people's mind when they think about self reliance, but that will be explored later on.
The Challenge:
We want to try to replace as many store bought products as possible. While that doesn't mean we will cut toilet paper from our shopping list, we will have to examine choices such as candy and "convenience food", such as frozen pizza. We certainly don't plan (or have the ability and space) to grow ALL our food ourselves so we will also allow ourselves to buy from local producers within a 10km range from the farm.
Keep reading as we embark on this adventure and let's hope our black thumbs are turning green sometime soon!]]>
Lately sneaky things have started to happen! First we noticed little holes in the dog food bag but we suspected that the dog may have been nibbling on it. Then there was the pitter patter of feet we seemed to hear every once in a blue moon in the mud room - hmmm, could be mice, or maybe something on the roof. The signs increased, so we bought some traps.
Apparently they like bacon a lot, and these little buggers are smart too. Bacon gone, trap not set off - very sneaky. The first real evidence of a four legged squatter! There was absolutely no way the dog could have sneaked a tasty bite of bacon, not only did we make sure she didn't follow us into the mud room, but her goofy 100lbs petite figure is not coordinated enough to slurp up a bacon bit without setting off the traps. This morning another sign of proof, we spotted some mouse droppings. Ah ha! Gotcha...time to call back up.
Hubby and I have been talking about adding to the zoo for a few weeks now. There is just too much space to patrol by ourselves, poison is not an option and apparently these little pests just laugh at traps we set out. We already have two cats, but these little girls are afraid of their own shadows and are pure inside cats - we need the meaner version of them. We will need to add one or two more cats - no, not cats but rather the meanest most vicious mousers out there. Ok in reality they will likely just sun themselves in the courtyard all day, but we hope their pure presence is enough to have rodents stick to the working farms around us.
A co-worker of hubby told us about a guy which apparently has a few issues and constantly finds himself with litter upon litter of kittens. Apparently there are more than 50 adult cats living a swinger lifestyle on his farm and he is happy for anyone who comes and adopts a kitten. From a work standpoint it really doesn't matter if there are two cats, or four of them and since these new additions will be mostly outdoor cats anyways, patrolling the courtyard and outbuildings, they wouldn't need to be in the house much. I guess after Easter it will be time to go adopt some kittens, ie. the enforcers.]]>
We bought some door handles on eBay on Friday. This is the photo of them from the auction itself. They are supposed to be from around 1900. They say the key covers are just painted so we'll hopefully be able to restore them. We are thinking of using them for the door to the living room and the bathroom but there's a second door in the bathroom so we may have to rethink things a bit.We've got our eye on a couple of other old handles on eBay which end later today...so with those we would have enough to replace most of the cheap, ugly, old handles on the doors now.]]>
Talk to yas soon!
Kevin]]>
We're actually still waiting for our seller to contact us...would be very sad if we can't get them now...but what can you do? ;) Hopefully we won't end up bidding against each other anytime soon lol]]>
Gayle wrote a great article about starting seeds which included the comments on mix below. So now I'm wondering where we can get coir :)
These are the ratios I prefer. If you don’t need a huge batch you can use this as a basis for choosing a store-bought seed-starting mix. Always read the label and look for an ingredients list. Most popular brands have chemical fertilizers added that are both unneccesary, but will defeat the purpose of growing organically. Instead, buy a basic mix and add in your own organic materials. I suggest adding a touch of vermicompost and watering your plants with a diluted sea-kelp mix. To be clear, seeds do not require any fertilizers until they produce their first set of “true leaves”. In basic terms this means the second set of leaves you will see. The first leaves that appear are called “seed leaves” and feed the seedling until the first “true leaves” appear.
- 1 part peat or coir (Coir is a sustainable peat substitute made from coconut husks. Peat is mined from marshland, destroying natural habitats. When you can, use coir.)
- 1 part perlite (popped volcanic ash that creates good drainage.)
- 1 part vermiculite (water absorbing material made from the mineral mica)
My mom sent me photos of her own compost bin at home which is made from a rabbit cage. The cage is set far enough off the ground that you can reach under it to get your fresh compost and hardly any effort is required for it to work. When the dead plant matter that you have dropped in the bin is composted, it will fall through the wire of the cage and onto the ground. No turning or digging is required...and it's a minimal investment. We actually only need to buy fresh wire to cover the cage and perhaps some lattice. Our PO (previous owner, not parole officer lol) left plenty of wood, screws and nails here for us to live off of for a while, even after we've disposed of a lot of it.
We had a couple of old chicken coop doors sitting on top of the wine cellar which we originally planned to throw away. But after looking at them a bit closer, we realized the wood would probably be perfect to construct the compost bin from them. The wood is sturdy and looks like it could be galvanized so it should hold up well outside.
We started by constructing the base. It measures 100 x 62 centimeters. Each board we used is 6 cm thick. Then we used 2 beams spaced 29 cm from each inner edge for support on the bottom. We're screwing everything together with 5 x 70 screws.
The sides we built 70 cm high. We cut two 70 cm pieces and braced them along the top with a 94 cm beam. Then we screwed the front and back on and cut two more support braces for the top of the sides. These ended up at 53.5 cm for us.
Now our basic box is finished and we need to decide the right height for the legs. We also need to cover the bin with chicken wire or a finer mesh wire which will keep all the compost inside the bin. We are also thinking about covering the sides with lattice just to beautify it a bit.
We called it quits since we don't have the wire yet to cover it or the lattice yet. And since it's Sunday we're not supposed to be making much noise. I don't think using the power tools in your barn really dampens the noise so we hope our neighbors weren't getting too perturbed. But we were inspired so we had to go with it...]]>
From there we went on to the wooden boards we had laid out across the yard to hand pick the slugs that had accumulated there over night. A website we came across recommended hand picking and then dropping them in a soap water solution and that pretty quickly took care of the smaller ones. Apparently the bigger ones need to soak little while before they meet their maker, though. When we poured them out later, some of them tried to crawl away so wee had to bring out the heavy ammo - salt. I know it's inhumane but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
We think our strategy may already be working. We also set out corn meal traps this morning and when we checked the yard this afternoon we didn't really find any more slugs - perhaps it was the warmth of the afternoon and they all went into hiding or we may be making a dent into the population. Only time will tell.]]>
Most of our beds will be about 4 feet wide and ranging from 12 to 9 feet long. We will also have two beds that will be 3 feet wide by 9 feet long. We'll also have a couple of smaller herb gardens near the greenhouse.
At the moment, we're planning to pour our own concrete dividers for the beds. We're probably going to try a vermiculite mix that we've read about and will post about soon. This will make the planters considerably lighter. And if we pour our own dividers, at least we'll have the opportunity to make them exactly the lengths we need instead of having to break stones apart. But we're seeing more or more raised beds made with 2x12s instead, though, which would likely be a much faster and cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, I don't think we have enough of those laying around here...
We've read that the beds should be at least 8 to 12 inches deep so we have to take that into consideration. We will need to raise the ground quite a bit but since we'll need to dig at least 4 inches of dirt out where the path will be laid and there will be more dirt from where we'll pour the foundation from the greenhouse, we will hopefully be enough dirt to fill the beds up.
Here's some great ideas from an article we found:
Another way to use the space is to plant quick growing plants like radishes under squash plants. Plant lettuce under bean vines growing on a trellis. Plant marigolds or other good companion plants around your garden to keep insects away. Put in a watering system with a timer. This will save you lots of time and you won't need to worry about your garden if you have to go away for a while. The watering will be taken care of automatically.
We've actually said that we'd like to lay the pipes for a watering system when we do this anyway. The PO actually has installed a water system which draws off the ground pump so we'd like to extend this throughout the garden for watering and also have a tap in the greenhouse to simplify things. We'll also run electricity to the greenhouse.
Here are some more great articles about building a raised bed garden:
Building Vegetable Beds at Urban Food Garden - They actually give a really great description about how to build up your beds and properly layer everything to get you started on your way to great beds.
A Raised Vegetable Garden at HGTV - These are really nice looking beds although it would somehow seem a bit too sterile for our yard.
Raised Bed Gardens - This is a great page and I love idea about building the PVC pipes into the beds to hold trellises and cold frames. We're definitely going to have to look into square foot gardening a bit more as well.]]>
I came across this article and thought it was so simple but yet has a really nice touch. I would not only consider using them in a bowl for an interesting touch but as placeholders for a party as well. The idea at the end about writing inspirational words on them, then having each guest pick one which becomes their special take home gift to inspire them is also interesting...something like this could be used really well at a wedding also. Now I just need to find a good FREE source for rocks like this around here...hmmm :)You can find many other quick craft ideas from this site as well, many of which kids could help out with. Some of the ideas are a bit strange but could provide some great inspiration that leads to other great projects!]]>
We will basically have space for 6 raised beds and our greenhouse and after inspecting our work we must say this will definitely work out for us. Every gardening book and website tells you to take detailed measurements of your garden and making a plan. This is definitely a good idea! We had to tweak our original plan a bit since we didn't spend enough time measuring, but now it works out great.
We started off marking the outside corners of the vegetable garden. Measure, measure and remeasure - this forms the basis of all the sub divisions for flower beds and such. One way to make sure that the perimeter is square is to measure the two diagonal distances - they should be exactly the same length. Use wood stakes and string to mark off the different sections of the yard. There is a 50cm walkway around our garden, so the next step was to make a second perimiter inside the rectangle. - This is actually much easier than the outside string, and as partitions get smaller the easier it becomes.
We are quite thankful we are now done with this process, the next step will be to dig out the path between the raised beds and setting up the beds. More on that next time.]]>
Originally we didn't intend to put this in just yet, but since we already need to dig up most of the yard anyway, we might as well lay the pipe now when we get going.
I am not sure if they sell their products in the US, but we will definitely need to get some of those modules when we hit the home improvement store tomorrow.
Check them out at www.gardena.com.]]>
Since we have said that we will focus most of the garden stuff on our other blog, selfreliantyuppies.blogspot.com there are more recent posts there. But we figure reworking the garden is also a major part of the farm so here is a quick summary of what's been going on:
Last weekend we got busy and started constructing a compost bin. We basically started that project since we came across a few pieces of a chicken coop and instead of just throwing them in the dumpster we actually pulled out the power tools and got busy.
Then we continued our fight against the slugs and believe it or not, our triple play strategy (beer traps, cornmeal and handpicking) have shown results already. There are by far less slugs out there than when we started.
Yesterday we finally began working on the garden for real. We staked out the paths, and the foundation of the greenhouse to the way we wanted it. This sounds easy, but it took us much longer than anticipated. They tell you to take detailed measurements and draw out a scale plan for your vegetable garden and if you only take one piece of advice from this website - do it! It keeps the headaches to a minimum. Our yard is very crooked so we had to "Mac Gyver" our original layout a bit, but ultimately we are very happy with it now.
Today the fun part began for hubby (I cleaned the car since we are going out of town for easter weekend) - digging the paths! We want to make the beds raised and have a gravel path between the beds, and that requires a trench wherever you see grey in the picture above. Hubby got about half way done today and we will finish the other side as soon as we return from our little vacation, these will be a little more difficult as that side needs a few plants to be transplanted.
Of course there is a more detailed description of these activities on the gardening blog we write, just click here to get there, or follow the links above.]]>
We had started yesterday to stake out the garden and since the ground is relatively dry and it was perfect weather, hubby decided he would get digging so we can get started full force when we return on Monday night...although it will more likely be Tuesday morning by the time anything useful gets done.
After a few hours of work it looks pretty good already. About half of the path is dug and come Tuesday we can begin working on the foundation of the greenhouse. The other side of the yard is a whole different story. There are quite a few plants that need to be transplanted to make room for the path and the raised flower beds. But as we are progressing we find that we enjoy gardening more than anticipated, so it's all good. The key to this activity is a good spade. I will write a little more on that later today, but this is absolutely key. We bought one this morning at the home improvement store and hubby loves it. Apparently it got ranked "best spade" in one of the major home improvement magazines over here and it even comes with a 10 year warranty - I always thought gardening tools where a commodity product.]]>
The control unit we wanted is called the C1060 Profi Solar. It is a computer which plugs into your garden faucet and controls the water flow through the drip hoses. This is the only Gardena control unit which can control 6 different zones and supports a moisture sensor. It really is quite ingenious.
While shopping at the local home improvement store we couldn't help ourselves and had to look at the irrigation stuff. Not that we wanted to buy anything today, but we just needed to see the things in real life rather than on the internet. the only thing we knew for certain was that the C1o6o would become the control unit. Normally these things retail for 115 Euros, but we happened to find one with an old price tag - 99 Euros. All the others were marked with the regular price. We decided we would go for it - the label said it was the right sticker on the right unit. If they said this was wrong the price, we could always fork over the extra money or leave it there.
When the girl at the checkout counter rang the item up the item came up at 115 Euro, darn it. But hubby inquired why it showed up at that price rather than the 99 Euro on the sticker and the girl said it must be wrong in the system, since this clearly is the sticker for that box. So, to make a long story short, we got it for 99 Euro - very sweet!]]>
Tomatoes - we started two different kinds, Black Krim - a black tomato we just couldn't pass by when we where ordering some other seeds online - and another kind called Colibri we found at the store today. We planted five of each.
Zucchini - another find at the store today, they are called Defender, and since I drive a Defender it had to be the Zucchini we wanted to try first. Planted 5 of those as well.
Lettuce - since the slugs at the succulent little seedlings we planted in the cold frame and we found a bunch of seed packets left behind by the previous owner we planted a few lettuce seeds as well, 5 in total.
Cucumbers - also five and not too much special to say about cucumbers
Eggplants - this was a request from hubbyH he really likes them sliced thin on his pizza with lots of garlic, or as eggplant parmigiana so having those in the garden is a given. We started 5 seeds of this as well, just to stay consistent, but this may yield way more eggplant than we will probably need.
Corn - we started 5 plants each of sweet corn and giant sweet corn (Jala Maize) we'll see how they turn out. But if they do well it will be one happy BBQ summer this year.
Stevia - my first attempt to sprout the spores on wet tissue paper failed. W.en I inspected them today, they were molded. So it's time to try, try again! Today we sprinkled a few of the seeds on moist soil in the starter greenhouse. We did a few seeds per pellet and will later on and leave only the strongest plant on each of these. Oh and you may have guessed, we started 5 pellets.
Peanuts - also 5. We really wanted to try those out since neither of us has seen them grow before, so these seeds got lucky and ended up in the first batch of seeds we started today.
]]>I find yellow Zuchinni grows really well and tastes better than the green ones. I'll start my seeds off towards the end of the month.
I grew eggplants (Aubergines) last year in the garden and also in pots and it worked out really well.
Good luck in your veggie gardening and hope you win the war against the slugs! :)]]>
Our neighbor told me that slugs seem to be very abundant in this area but had never heard of the corn meal approach. She is eager to give it a try since I told her we find mostly slug corpses now and all without having to use icky chemicals.
Of course we will need to keep a close eye on the situation, but so far it thinks our short week long assault has reduced their numbers quite drastically.]]>
Nightfinder II Travel Alarm ClockPrice: $19.50
Not only does it come in 6 very cool colors (I think I like the Sapphire best), it lights up at night when you tap on the screen, gives you the current temperature and has a snooze...just what I need on vacation. Of course there are not so many days when we need an alarm clock to wake me up since we have the canine alarm clock...but she likes to sleep later now too so if we need to get on the road, a good alarm clock is very essential.
Wilderness ReclinerPrice: $49.50
Now this is a bit on the expensive side for a chair that is going to get beaten around, dirty, stepped on, throw on the roof and possibly chewed by the Newf...but it's got a cup holder, it reclines and it folds up quite thin which is a major plus on a road trip. It says the capacity is 300 pounds - which means it could acutually hold me and Ayla...which it may have to at some point. Most excellent :)
There's much, much more but I think I'll save some for later...]]>
This dog is getting far too expensive these days! I almost regret thinking about going into the details but let's just say she chewed on the front bumper of hubby's car today which was interesting to say the least. Last week she ate a my sunglasses which I've had forever and loved. She actually started on them a while ago but they were still wearable. Now the lenses are completely gone and the frames are broken and bent way out of shape, not to mention heavily decorated with bite marks. We also lost a calculator to her last week which she stole out of the office...her favorite place to steal from. We've got a door now to close the office off but the door buzzer is also in there so keeping the door closed all the time can be a problem. But we did buy a hook eye thing to prop the door open like we did upstairs so this will work until we decide if we're moving the door buzzer or whatever.
Anyway, the apartment owners know we're bringing a dog but they don't know she's a 110 pound Newfie so we're a bit nervous about them seeing her. Hopefully if/when they do, they will fall in love with her and not freak out...and hopefully she doesn't act like a freak either :)
Ayla also got to meet the neighbor that lives behind us today. She thought she was the cutest thing ever and mentioned that she's never heard her barking. She couldn't believe it at all and mentioned that she should have heard her today, barking at the vacuum while I was cleaning out my Defender. But apparently the barn blocks out a lot of noise...thank goodness!]]>
Happy Easter!
Love ya lots,
Maggie]]>
The second back up system is a rain water system. The previous owner has installed about 5 big barrels near the various outbuildings of the farm. An elaborate gutter system goes to these barrels and keeps them nice an topped up. With these two systems we could be 100% self sufficient in terms of producing drinking quality water.]]>