A Look Inside

 

I'm sure if you have been following along during this new experience with us, you are more than ready to see some pictures of the inside of the school buildings.  At long last, I finally have some to show you.  So, please "step" right in and take a look around. 

First up, is the building I'll live in.  The first two pictures show what will be the dining room/living room. (All of these pictures were taken before we put in the heaters.)

And, yes, most everything you see in the rooms came with the buildings.  It's kind of surprising what they left!  For example-- multiple cork boards, two older TVs, tables, shelves, a metal desk, filing cabinet, telephones, and more.  

 

 

This next picture is a look in the hallway, and office which will eventually become my kitchen.  I don't have any pictures of the bathrooms yet.

 

 

Below is the other classroom.  It will be my bedroom/writing room/whatever else.  Right now, we don't want to put up any walls, but having this huge open floor plan definitely gives a lot of options to play with, should we decide to make more rooms. 

 

And yes, there is a water fountain in my bedroom.  : )

 

 

That does it for the house, but below are pictures of the boarding building, even though they are basically the same.

 

I will board pets in this room.  As you can see, we have a little bit of cleaning up to do.

 

 

This is the hallway between the two bathrooms.

 

In this room, I want to have an area (lobby of sorts) where I can greet clients and get them checked in/picked up without a lot of barking dogs.  Also, I am considering putting a few kennels in here for cats and other small animals so they won't have to be with all of the dogs.

My family also likes the idea of having part of the room for craft/leather projects and such.

 

Dad and I have been fixing minor cracks in the drywall which were caused by moving the buildings and it has been a fairly simple task, but requires quite a few layers.

 

I am kicking myself, so to speak, for not getting a before photo of the hole in the wall in the pic below.  If you look at the repaired spot on the far left, you can see the outline of a rectangle.  Before Dad fixed it, that was a huge hole that not only went through the drywall, but clear through everything else.  It was huge!  As you can see in this picture, which was taken during the progress of fixing it, that you can hardly tell there was a hole that big.  I guess, since Dad and I were the only one to see the hole before, we'll be the only ones who will truly admire this fix in the wall. 

 

 
Here are a couple more photos of different cracks and holes we were/are repairing.

 

 

I am already loving the views up at The Homestead even though I'm not moved in and I look forward to showing you more in future posts!

 

 

 

 

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.