Progress

 

Good evening readers!  I hope the new year is treating you well so far!

 

If you came to see more photos and read about updates on The Homestead, you have come to the right place.  : )

Mainly, this post will wrap up the major outdoor projects and necessities, such as the four water hydrants we installed.

 

 

 

 

The men who did the foundations came out again and put in the entire septic system.  I wasn't there during most of the installation, but here are a few pictures of the progress.

The two large cement objects on the trailer are the septic tank.

 

 

In this picture, the septic tank is in the ground.

This picture shows where the sewage line come out of the boarding building.  When they first did the footer, they left a hole in it for the line to go through. 

A picture of the leach lines.

A view of the septic tank in the ground.

Another neighbor helped hook up the gas to the buildings.  He, Dad, and Big J. put the line through the wall in two places on each building so that we could get the heaters going.  There is one heater per large/class room.

 

While installing the heaters, Dad, Big J., Little J., and I could see our breath inside the buildings.  It was so cold in there!  Once we got a heater in, it was hard to leave the warm spot to go work on the heater in the other, much colder room.   

 

 

 

Dad and Big J. getting the heater ready to be hung and connected to the gas.

Three of the heaters are white and have orange colored bricks when turned on to heat the room.  The fourth heater is black and has a blue flame/light instead of orange bricks, and because of that, it doesn't put out as much light when the room is dark.  Therefore, the black one is in my bed room.

 



I took this picture right after turning on the heater.  Those bricks are still warming up; they'll be bright orange when hot.



  

Dad, Mom, Big and Little J, and I finished covering the ditches and lines, finalizing that huge part of this adventure. 

 

 

 

 

The Homestead

Looking East from the highway

Time for another update on the buildings. 

First of all, we are calling the place The Homestead.  Originally, there was a homestead on the land, just West of the buildings.  It included the normal homestead/farm structures like a dugout, windmill, shelter for pigs, and much more that time and wear has deteriorated.   
 

In amongst Thanksgiving, boarding pets, and keeping up with the ranch, we've been doing a bunch of work at The Homestead. 

1.  We have electricity!  The first time I got to see the classrooms and bathrooms with lights was the best.  And, since we have lights now, I've been able to vacuum and sweep and clean up a bit.
2.  We have water!  It's hooked up to both buildings and most of the lines are in the ground and covered/or mostly ready to be covered.  We still need to install the hydrants.
3.  The septic system is on the way!
4.  The propane tank is set, as of today. 

Since the last post, we got the ramps and decks moved.  (Both buildings came with a deck and ramp.)  Because I'll have dogs coming and going in the front and back of the boarding building, we put both ramps and one deck on it.  Eventually, we'll put in a back door.

Back of the boarding building

Front of the boarding building

The concrete men finished closing off the ends of the foundation. 

 

Front of the house

Back and side of the house

Back of boarding building

A kind neighbor is letting us borrow his ditcher and it has been a blessing considering how much we have to dig and as hard as the ground is.   

Water line going in

 

In the picture below, the water line goes under the foundation, up, and into the house.  Like I said, the ground there is super hard, so Dad was running through ideas on how to get the water line in.  One night, it came to him. 

When we kids were little, he'd show us how hydraulic pressure works with a water hose.  He'd press the hose to the ground and the pressure from the water would make way for the hose to go deep into the ground and make a hole.  That concept made it possible to get the water line into the house, under the foundation.  He attached a garden hose to a pvc pipe and pushed it through, making the hole we needed.  It worked like a charm!     

 



 

 

 
Until next time, here's a beautiful sunset at the Homestead. 

 

 

 

The Day We Bought a School Building

Big things are happening here and it's so exciting! 
 
Recently, some friends told us about their new house plan.  They have a place out in the country on which they've been wanting to build a home, but after one thing or another kept arising, they weren't able to and were forced to move into town for a while.  Until they bought a school building.  This school building is quite nice though.  With two large, open classrooms on both ends, a bathroom and an office in between them, they make for a great open floor plan for a house.  It sounded interesting when we heard about the building and it turned out that there were more for sale.
 
After much thought and prayer, we bought two of them. 
 
One will be my house and the other will be my pet boarding building, with better facilities for the business.  For example, the "boarding building" has the two classrooms and two bathrooms, instead of an office.  That leaves plenty of room to expand my services.  I'm not sure what all I'll end up doing, but I am toying with the idea and considering baths and nail trims.
 
We have a piece of pasture land right by the highway and set both buildings there.  Now clients won't have to drive so far into the middle of nowhere to leave their pet(s) in my care, it'll be easier to see, and all around better for my growing business.
 
There is still a ton to do, like hook up water and electricity, setup a septic system, cleaning, remodeling, etc. before I can get moved in and settled, but it'll be an amazing adventure full of learning new things and expanding.
 

 

     


The pink layer is Sill Seal, a thin foam that keeps out bugs, dirt, etc.

 

 

 

Summer Update

 

My graduation party was a success to say the least.  Friends and family from all over showed up and just made my day!  It was so, so good to see and talk to everybody.  The weather played a huge part in making the party a good one.  (You know it's nice in this part of the country when people actually sit/stand, talk, and play outside.)   

Dad made pulled pork from my very own Minnie and Pearl and there were makings for either sandwiches or tacos, along with all of the sides and sweets.

I had no cap and gown (at my request) and didn't want to be the center of attention; however, because I went to check on some of the 10 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 lizard I was watching, I ended up right smack dab in that spot.  Everybody was gathered to pray and start eating until someone realized I wasn't even in the house.  Needless to say, I had to walk through all of those clapping and cheering people before we would continue on with the evening.

I do believe it was one of the best get-togethers we've had here and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I was blessed with money, gifts, and true friendships that continue on with many people of all ages. 

~

Since then, life has been what I could call a whirlwind.  People have been asking me if I plan to go to college this fall and what I plan to do with my life, but in truth, I haven't had time to think about all of that or decide in favor of going to college.  I have been focused on pets nonstop since graduation. 

I housesat for 9 days in July.  Then I had my new record of boardies at one time, which was 18 dogs and a guinea pig.  I've been getting up at 5:40 every morning since the 19th to give a dog her medicine shot and knowing us, haven't gotten to bed until late in the evenings. And I housesat again in August.

Besides that, I've managed to help do a bit of cattle work (like moving, branding, and riding the horses), watch the last few baseball games of the season, and work in the garden.  

I have some post ideas for the near future, so keep checking in!

Have a good one, my blog readers!

 

2017 Grad.

This is the week, the week I've been waiting for since I was a little girl.  This week I graduate from high school.

I successfully finished the last of my school work last week and since then we've been working on getting things ready for a party this Saturday, the 24th.

People ask me if I'm excited to be done.  They ask me what I want, what I'm going to do next.

To these questions, I seem to give different answers each time, though they're still very similar.  It's a lot to think about, it's the whole future, and I'm free to do what I want.

I'm excited to be finished, though it's still settling in.  I was pretty much not doing any school a couple of months ago because I was busy and most of it was finished.  Then I had to really get at it and finish last week.  So in a way, it feels like I've been done for a while now, even though I haven't been.

In truth, this year hasn't been one of the best.  Things are changing, other things aren't.  I've been very active with cattle work, taking care of pets, and my own fun things that for a while, I was overwhelmed and tired.  So to have school finished and behind me, makes me really happy and it's one less thing I have to do.

There are so many choices, thoughts, desires, goals, and dreams floating around my head that I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I've been praying about it and for now, I'm going to try to simply enjoy living my life.

Anyway, we have quite a bit of cleaning, planning, and things to do before the celebration on Saturday, so I might get.