What's Yellow and Green with Rusty spots all over?

The Big News from the weekend... We're now proud tractor owners! And not just any kind of tractor, we've got ourselves a genuine yellow and green John Deere tractor. Jeff has been teaching me to distinguish between a lawn tractor and a garden tractor. We have a garden tractor which means we can attach all sorts of cool things like: a snow-blower, a rototiller, and of course the mower.

So this tractor was an interesting purchase... Jeff found it on Craigslist, described it to me and I asked, "how old is it?" To which he replied, "it's a 1983." Um. Yeah, that's as old as me. Anyhow long story shorter...  We went back and forth on the values of having a lawn tractor (one that only mows the lawn) bought new for a few hundred dollars more versus having a garden tractor. It took me a long while to grasp my head around it, but he eventually convinced me that even with it's age being what it is and the rust spots being as rusty as they are, that it's better to have the garden tractor.

                     View of the back yard/ back field the seed and loam is really taking hold.

So Jeff's Dad, Gary decided that he wanted to build us our bulk head! Which was hugely exciting for us because no standard bulkhead will fit the concrete footprint and it was one more thing on Jeff's long "To Do" list. Here's what he's got so far!

                              
                                                    Surveying the work

I Give to You: a Series: a Progression

*Hum inspirational music of your choice while scrolling... well that's what I did anyways

                                          Ta-Da!

I know, it's still not quite done...

The top front of the house is complete- at least to where I can reach! We'll have someone come and do the higher part... because I think I found my limit with crawling all around the porch roof and would prefer not to push my luck any further.

We're Moving the House!

So last weekend when Jeff and my Dad cleaned up our little mess of a farmhouse we misplaced our prized 1898 Indian Head penny (you know the one we found heads up!). I had put it in a plastic zip-lock baggy for safe-keeping and then placed it in my purse. Well I took it out last weekend to show Dad and then -rather smartly- left it on the really messy kitchen counter top. The same counter top that was to be cleaned. Well, needless to say, that penny got swept up into one of the following 6 really big bags of groddy construction debris. Yesterday I set out to find our lucky penny... when I opened the first bag and began sifting through insulation, boards with nails, and bits of drywall- well, I felt really discouraged. BUT! As luck would have it... Our lucky penny must be very lucky because I had been searching for all of four minutes and I spotted it!

                                                              Found it!

              Our Marden's deals from over a year and a half ago are finally going to pay off!

Jeff bleached the well, so no more E coli in our drinking water! Yay! The first few sips tasted a little cloroxy... but now we don't need to use water bottles anymore!

                                               Thompson's Orchard Horses

                                             Gloucester Hill Friday evening


We're changing our address! Why? Because they (the town office) said we can! Ok, since we're on the corner of two roads we're able to simply block off one of our driveway entrances (we have two) and use only the one. Well, when Jeff told me he'd like to change our address, I thought he was ridiculous. You can't just change your address because you don't really care for the name of the road you're on. Turns out he was right- we definitely can change our address- so we are!

We can choose between the numbers 404 and 406... which should we go with??? Let us know what you think in the comments section! ...So as the title suggests: we're moving the house! Well, sort of!

                                               Bedroom #1 has new color!

                                        Bedroom #2 also has new color!
                  (It looks pretty sad in this picture... it's supposed to be a gray-lilac color)

Jeff leveled up the bathroom's floor, added under-layment, installed the shower, and added a toilet just for looks! The toilet's will be installed shortly.

                                             Gloucester Hill this evening

Let there be light!

Jacques is here this morning wiring up the first floor and the den. It's pretty exciting to see how quickly a lot of this goes. There are a few switches and outlets with some "interesting" wiring that are making the process a bit more difficult.

The framing is done! ... almost

This is Jeff and this is my first post, so you'll need to bear with me. With Laura starting back up with school and an internship its been an adjustment from our summer routine. At this point, all of the demolition is done and I just need to put a few more studs in the washer and dryer alcove in the upstairs bathroom.

Our electrician, Jacques Electrical, was at the Farm the beginning of the week and chased wires through the house so this weekend we had all the lights and outlets in the upstairs working. The big push for us this upcoming week is for Laura to finish up painting everywhere on the house she can reach from a ladder and I'll be running all hot and cold water lines throughout the house. There are still a few more fittings I need to order before I really get into it. I've been buying most of my plumbing supplies from an eBay store called the PEX Tubing Store, quite a clever name. Here is where she is at with the painting at this point. 

 Laura's that spot on the roof towards the left.

The recent cold snap and the steady breeze we got made painting this weekend pretty interesting for Laura. Kathi came down on Friday to help with some of the trim painting. It was good for Laura to have someone else there working on it as well. The trim just isn't nearly as gratifying as the blue clapboard paint.  Once she had the trim done on the top half, it made a huge difference. So she didn't get paint on the outside of her paint carrier, I Macgyvered a paint ladle for her out of a piece of sheathing and the top to a spray can.

I'm pretty proud of that.

While she was doing that I put together the archway going from the kitchen into the den.

On this one I stapled together the two halves with some stub 2x4s to get the right wall thickness, framed out the opening to help support the 2nd floor outer beam and nailed them up.



I didn't have the jack stud in on one side on these picture, but you get the idea. Also, take note that the few subfloor pieces I had left out for a while have been put in. The first floor bathroom should really start taking shape this week. We will be picking up the shower, pedestal sink and toilet some night this week and we'll have the shower stall in hopefully next Friday.

On Saturday we got help from Tim. We went through the house cleaning and organizing the tools as it had gotten a bit messy over the past few weeks of work.

This will make the Jacques happy when he comes back this week to not have to work around all our stuff. Here's an action shot of Tim tossing some wood on to the bonfire pile.

WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!! I'm not sure where Tim's wand is but he made short work of moving the debris.

Here are a few things semi related to the house. Miss Lucy got some new eye protection to keep the bugs and road debris out.

Giant Dog + Dog Wearing Goggles = Ridiculous Squared
I think this was Pythagoras' other Theorem

We got our first piece of mail this Friday. Nothing fancy, but if we don't fill it out and put back in the box it will be the last piece of mail we get too. Lucy is not impressed.

Here is a shot from the top of Gloucester Hill as we left the Farm on Friday as the sun was setting. I'll put some smaller post together as things happen through the week.

Oh Sweet Little Mess

The rain over the past few days has delayed progress and delayed updates on here! But we're back and at it now! These pictures span the past six days- so once again, without further ado... the pics...

Labor Day Weekend Sales at Lowes! We were like kids in a candy shop! Yes, that is TEN gallons of paint. One for each room in the house. The deal was for every $50 of paint (and supplies) bought- you get $10 off. We couldn't let this pass up as it tends to come around only a few times throughout the year. Plus, we can always get the cans re-shook right before we paint the room.

Lucy approves of my paint choices. Isn't she pretty?

Instead of eventually covering up this wall of 16" wide boards- we decided to pull them off and plan to place them back up after the drywall phase and sort of frame them for a rustic-focal-point-type-of-deal.

The Boards

The Den is moving along! Thanks to that hard-workin' guy in the corner!

The bathroom is framed up! Ceiling and walls... including what will be a Pocket Door!

Ceiling Progression

The new beams are completely up and I helped! I was pretty uneasy being 4 feet off the ground while juggling a beam and a nail gun... I can't imagine how well being on the roof is going to be! Jeff had us both up balancing on 2 2x4s set between 2 ladders, it was interesting. We're so excited to see this room when it's dry walled- this ceiling could be glorious.

Oh, Sweet Little Mess

Hello, Grasshopper.

These little guys are all over the place!

This trim has become the bane of my existence... I've scraped it, sanded it, primed it, and now I've painted it a sort of cream color- BUT it needs a second coat and every time I look around I realized that I haven't painted yet another spot of bare wood. Oh, and while looking over this picture I've remembered there's still the whole second floor to think of!

September 5th

September 9th: It's very difficult to see- but there IS more trim painted versus the last picture.

September 9th

I love the contrast between the old beams and the new cream trim.

An attempt to show that there is a difference between the old and the new... and that I actually have been doing something over the past week!

Thompson's Orchard in the evening

Gloucester Hill