Friday, July 13, 2012

Little Cuties Come for a Visit

Our friend down the road needed just a little break so I offered to watch her two kids for the evening.


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I let them flood the sandbox with water. That was one of my kids favorite activities and these girls loved it just as much!
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Snack time! I LOVE my little table in the kitchen! It has pull out boards that are just the right height for little girls and stools!
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They got to play in the Fairy Garden and make cookies, too. I didn't get photos of those for their mom because I was too busy playing with them!

One of our other young friends says, "Awesome Sauce", and I think that just about sums up the evening!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

It's Forge Time!

Our boys are sooooo lucky they have a dad that wants to help them enjoy their hobbies! Not only did they get a welder this summer, they also got a new forge. It's really for Son1, but I'm sure that Vet2Be will get to play with it, too!

It's a gas forge, but Son1 is also using the welder to build a coal-fired forge as well.
I'll get pictures of happy boys tomorrow. I was milking while Son1 was playing so all I could do was 'steal' his photo from Facebook.

Son1's title for his Facebook post was, "It's Forge Time!" Vet2Be posted the comment, "FIRE!!!!"

Yeah... boys and fire.... they go together!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Kitchen Progress

We are still puttering along on the kitchen remodel. Hubby got the floor done and then surprised me by taking me shopping for new appliances. We weren't planning on new appliances, the older ones were working (for the most part).

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I finally got the kitchen chairs repainted. Son1 installed them. I think it took about 2 hours to get them back on! We had to put a spacer between the chairs and the stand because the counter is about 2" taller than it was before.
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Here's the new fridge! The 17 year-old Whirlpool never died, although we wished it would because all the plastic supports on the inside of the fridge kept breaking. Yes.... we used duct tape to hold some of it together. But it kept the food at the right temperature, which is the most important job of a fridge. I'm planning on painting the bright white grill at the bottom of the cabinet. I'll probably paint it black, or one of the Rust Oleum metallic colors.
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We won't be replacing the dishwasher, it works just fine! It's nice to have the floor all done. I didn't expect that until sometime in August when it is too hot to work outside. You can see that we still have some work to do on the ceiling as well as get new overhead lights. We also have wires hanging below the cabinets that will eventually have under cabinet lights.
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The new microwave is in. It's a little higher than the old one which is great when I work on the stove with big pots. I used to have to pull the stove away from the wall to can or make cheese. The new stove is stored in the shed because we don't have the gas line hooked up yet. Once the gas line is in, I'll have a gas stove!!
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This is my favorite spot in the kitchen, the little table with the lamp on it. We still need to repaint the kitchen (and the rest of the house!) and get our message center more useable. Right now it's just a white board and clipboard pinned to the wall. I don't have big plans for the message center, just something that looks more 'on purpose' rather than stuff stuck to the wall.
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All in all, its great to have the kitchen this far along. It's nice to have counters and a sink! And it's great to be able to prepare food in a nice kitchen, even though it's not quite all done yet.

I've also been refinishing some furniture for Prion's room and Blondie's house. Nothing spectacular, but it's kept me busy. I LOVE spray paint! Especially the new Rust Oleum Painter's Touch! It's so much easier than a paint can and a brush and the finish is so much more durable. It was worth the extra money since I don't want to be doing this again anytime soon!

Maine Flowers

Spunky lives in Maine. She runs by these flowers every day and decided to pick a few yesterday.


So many of the home decorating blogs try to reproduce this wild, rustic look. They do a pretty good job, too!

But, oh! How beautiful it looks when it is real!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Sleepy Kids!

It's been hot here, just like everywhere it seems. In the afternoon the kids end up in the stall chillin' out! It's so fun to see them taking a break!



I hope you're staying cool!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Wild Fires

This is a fire burning near our house. It's about 5 miles away up the mountain. We're safe, and there is really no chance of it burning the area between the mountain and here.

About 80 homes have been evacuated in the town where the fire is burning.

There are so many fires burning in our state right now, and throughout the west. We are all praying for rain.

Source
My son-in-law took this photo from the roof of his parent's home which is right next door to our home. That's our barn in the center of the photo.

We've had 4 families within an hour that have offered to take us in, and our animals, if the fire gets close. We've got so many wonderful friends!

We're praying for rain and cooler weather out here. We're praying for better weather throughout the United States. It seems that almost everywhere is experiencing extreme difficulties right now.

We are all hoping that your family is safe this 4th of July!

The link for the other photos is here. And some spectacular black and white photos are here.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Sprayer for Sanitizing Solution

We had a brilliant idea!

We have been working very hard at spraying down the does, the milk stands, and the milking area of the barn with sanitizing solution.

 We were using a little spray bottle. And in the past we have brought out the sanitizing solution in a bowl to clean off udders before we milk.

But we bumped it up a notch by using a garden sprayer.

I LOVE it! We really spray down udders before we milk, and then we wipe them off with a wash cloth. I'm surprised at how much more dirt we get off using this method.

Vet2Be really loves spraying down everything when we're done. He thinks it's fun to use the sprayer.

Imagine, a 17 year old boy having fun using a garden sprayer to sanitize the milk stands and the floor.

I'm glad it works so well, and I'm glad he works well, too!