Saturday, July 20, 2013

Heat Wave

It has been very hot here for the past 2 wks. Highs in upper 80s to mid 90s with high humidity. I know that sounds like a walk in the park in AR, but we have no central air. Bought 3 little room-sized window units, one for living room and 2 for bedrooms, so we are managing as long as we stay hunkered down. Supposed to break today with rain and front moving thru then 70s tomorrow. Wahoo!

We are still in construction hell. Just got the porch done but still have banisters to complete, attic fan to replace (1st one installed didn't work), chimney to patch, back porch to shore up, back steps to replace, and painting whole house, including lead paint removal, etc. plus repairing rotten sill plate in front room, and lots of other places. Oh, and trimming out now exposed beams in kitchen. We did find the leak that caused us to tear out the kitchen ceiling in the first place. Small victory.

But we really do love the house and neighborhood and town and setting.

The town is doing a lot to keep thriving--street fairs, free music every Friday night, Midnight Madness shopping, etc. and there is much to do in surrounding areas too. You would have to work at being bored.

Pat has been painting and I have been blogging at kathywagenknecht.com.  I haven't had the leftover energy to find an agility training center yet. 

Tomorrow we are going to a herding demonstration by Jon Katz, a writer of dog stories who lives just over in New York. Check out his book, Bedlam Farm.  I think you would like it.

We are getting our weekly veggies from the CSA, Mighty Food Farm. It is in a beautiful spot in the valley about 8 miles from here.


To give an example of their offerings, we picked up our produce yesterday and got 2 kinds of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, green beans, wax beans, cucumbers, mixed squash, zucchini, onions, and passed on kale, chard, beets, radishes, garlic, scallions, napa cabbage, and pick your own herbs and cutting flowers. They also have eggs. And sell bread, meat, cheese, jellies and other locally grown or produced food.

Friday, July 5, 2013

New Porch Ornament

All work has stopped for the long holiday weekend. We get to enjoy a lovely porch ornament for the duration.



Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Demolition Begins

Today the Kabota tractor and its driver, Joe, began rebuilding our saggy, rotten front porch.



Here it is before the destruction crew arrived.



Here it is after the day's digging.  See the huge rock in the foreground? The Kabota dragged it out of the hole where the porch was.  We are going to find something special to do with it.

Monday, July 1, 2013

On the Way to Wonderful

The electricians were here all day, separating circuits, adding receptacles in the bedrooms, and hanging the light fixtures we bought Saturday. 

Now we have lots of light in the kitchen.


There is still work to do, trimming out the top of the walls, painting wires to hide them against the beams, etc. but we are liking it!