Many hands make light work. A cherry picker makes it a little easier too!

It's been quite a while since our last post and let me tell you, a lot has happened. Let's start with plumbing.

So Here is the new pressure tank and all the other bits. All of the supply lines and fittings are new. The tank is sitting on a galvanized steel bracket Verrill made for me and I tied it into the foundation wall so that puppy isn't going anywhere. The nice thing about having it all new is that I know where every pipe is run and how it's plumbed.  The not so nice thing about it is I put in every pipe in the house so it took a bit.

 Oh and if you haven't figured out by this point, this is Jeff. So prepare yourself for a bit drier of a post. But we'll see. Back to topic, the saving grace in all of the plumbing is the PEX tubing. This stuff is incredible. No soldering, preheating, or any of that. It's just a matter of getting your lengths of tubing straightened out from the roll, cut it to length, put a crimp ring on it, jamb a fitting on there, and crimp it. Amazing and scary all at the same time. This past Monday morning, I put the last of the valves on the system and double and triple checked that I actually crimped all of the unions. Not a leak to be found when I pressurized the system.

Next on to what everyone who only looks at the pictures has been waiting for. Drywall!!

Then

Now

 

I'd like to thank Patrick who helped me out last Monday. We put up all the rigid foam insulation and the strapping in the den and weren't out of the house until 1:30am. 5:30 the next morning cam a bit too soon for me on Tuesday. The drywallers are coming back on Monday (10/24) to do a final coat of mud and then sand it all down.  As long as it stays relatively dry the next couple of days we should be able to start priming everything on Wednesday night. 

This is a door we found in the attic that match another door in the house. This afternoon I stripped off the hinge plates and knobs and put the pocket door hardware on it. It sort of looks like it's floating in the opening in the picture but it is correctly installed.

I brought the lawn mower down with me today to cut down the jungle that's been growing. The area beside the road was bushwhacked down is little time.

Unfortunately, you can't go very far on a dead battery and turning it into a push mower wasn't going to happen, I tried. 

Advances in painting were made over the weekend as well. Our friends George and Sarah are quite a blessing. It just so happens George's father owns a cherry picker and they came over with it to lend a hand. It really made for quick work of the high spots.

Today we mourn the loss of . . . . . . The radio.

Today is a now a somber day at the farm. We mourn the loss of hearing all 20 songs the radio would play from the only two stations it would get. His last words will be written until the end of time. "Here's to the freak'n weekend, and I drinks it up, yeah yeah yeah." So poinient on a Monday morning. After his passing we had a moment, well more like the rest of the day, of silence. He is survived by Laura's hanson cd that was inside.

The Two Weekend Roundup

Over the past week and a half we've been busy-busy at the Farm. Jeff has been really plugging away at the plumbing of the house. Kathi's been helping out with everything and anything. And Gary's been building us a beautiful set of bulkhead doors (who would've thought they can be kinda beautiful).

 Last weekend Kathi and I insulated all the walls in the Den! It was such a challenge- because all of the studs seemed to be very different measurements.

        Is it just me? Or do they seem annoyed with my picture taking?

 Jeff removed the last of the beams that would've been the ceiling but we're going with semi-cathedral ceilings!

All the walls are insulated!

 Another find! A presumably old Coca-Cola bottle opener... I tried to search out the possible year, but no luck, maybe someone out there is a Coca-Cola antiques expert?

Jeff had Thursday off this past week and used the opportunity to log more hours at the house... And he took some liberties with the renovation while I was away. Like taking out the entire Kitchen. We had agreed upon taking out the cabinets that were closest to the Living Room (the partial white ones you can still see in the above pic). Well, Jeff decided that adding an entire Kitchen renovation to his long list of To-Dos was no big deal. Gotta love his optimism!

             We have no sink. Oh well, it's not like it was usable anyways! No plumbing will do that to a sink.

        Our Electricians have added the cans- recessed lighting is on it's way!

                                                 Cans in the Den!

This past week has also marked the start of me spending a lot of very-very uncomfortable time up on a very-very tall ladder dodging a lot of wasps/hornets. On Saturday, work had to be suspended because the stinging insects were out in full-force. I wasn't terribly disappointed.

          Haha, I forced them to do this. The transaction is official! Gary hands Jeff the keys to the bulkhead.

 
Beautiful doors.

                    Jeff and Kathi worked this past weekend to add insulation to the ceiling in the Den.

 Evidence of Jeff's plumbing in the Upstairs Bath. The cutout to the right of the yellow insulation is where a closet with a stacking washer and dryer will go.

 Detail pic of Jeff's plumbing to the washer and dryer. I'm pretty sure Jeff will be horrified at my lack of description as to all the work he's done, but since he's not around to ask- this is what you get! Pretty much- he's been plumbing- a lot -yep- that sums it up.

    Gloucester Hill Saturday evening...

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