GOOD 1ST MAN BIRTHDAY FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 My birthday was earlier in the week but we celebrated this weekend. 

One of my most favorites meals he makes for us; roast pork loin with herbs de Provence (love the lavender) and then mashed roasted sweet potatoes with garlic and fresh spring peas. Yummy!

We had some Pinot Grigio as it goes so well with the pork loin.

When we discussed cakes, we decided on an Angel food cake.  It's completely fat free (only egg whites, no oil, no butter, no milk) which means we could have as much as we want!  It came out amazing.

I made a mixed berry compote (blueberries, raspberries and strawberries) to drizzle over it and we found some wonderful fat free whipped cream to top it with.  It was the absolute perfect birthday cake and is SO good.

Hobart, as usual was unimpressed by all the festivities.  Side note, we have noticed that when the light hits his fur just right, we see more gray than we used to.  He's coming up on 19 1/2!   Anyway, we let him sleep.  Because...

#notspoiled

AND THE OTHER COLOR IS

There were two miniature roses that I rescued from the trash and repotted them.  Last week, one finally bloomed and it was bright yellow.

This week the other one bloomed and the color is...

WHITE!  Or maybe cream?  Either way, it's really pretty.  So glad we have two colors.  At some point, I'll repot them individually and let them get even bigger.  Not sure how big a miniature rose gets, but it'll be fun to watch them do their thing.

We have a few clay pots at the farm that we saved from the house here in town and took out there for future use...well this will be perfect future use, ha.

We love that we saved these two plants from the trash and will give them a second chance at the farm.  2nd Man said they would be really pretty on the covered porch, but not sure if the would have enough sun.

Anyway have any tried and true tips for growing miniature roses?

WHITE MOUNTAIN ICE CREAM MAKER

The packing and moving we did at the old house was fun because we got to see an inventory of what all we have that we'll finally be able to enjoy and use at the farm when we move out there permanently.

Here is one of those items:

It's a White Mountain ice cream maker.  It was my grandfathers, now it's mine.  Now, it's not from like the 1920's or anything, ha, I think he bought it in the mid 70's when I used to spend summers with them.  But I do remember grandma cooking the vanilla base on the stove top, the rock salt and ice, the towels around it, the cranking and that moment of taking the top off and taking the dasher out and OMG, just amazing.

I told 2nd Man that one of the first things I want to do (if we can since our house will be finished in the late Summer) is to get this out and sit on the porch and make some old fashioned homemade ice cream.  We might have to just splurge for a special treat.

He approved. 😋

Time to look for some ice cream recipes we can use with our homemade vanilla!

REBAR POST TENSION CABLE NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Getting closer:

This...

and this...

...were put together to make this (a closeup).

Here it was last weekend...

...and now all of that was put together for it to look like this Saturday!

The black plastic sheeting covering the ground is a vapor barrier.  It’s placed over the compacted soil to prevent moisture from the ground from seeping up into the concrete slab.  This helps protect the foundation from water damage and reduces the risk of cracking due to moisture expansion.

The red cables laid out in a grid pattern are the post-tension tendons. They’re high-strength steel cables encased in plastic sheathing (to prevent corrosion). You can see them running both horizontally and vertically across the slab area, and they extend into the trenches where they’ll be anchored.

The deep trenches are what they call the "beams".  Sometimes beams are just around the perimeter but for ours, they went all out.  The trenches are important because they form the beams that give the foundation its strength.  In a post-tension slab like we'll have, these beams act like a deep footing, anchoring the slab into the ground and providing extra support against soil movement. The grid pattern of trenches also helps the slab resist bending or cracking, especially in areas where the soil might swell or shrink due to moisture changes and with our clay soil, that can happen.  

They dug down pretty deep.  It was hard to tell in the photos so I stuck a tape measure down and it's just shy of four feet deep.  Ours was made to be a little deeper than normal and as the guy told us Saturday, "this foundation ain't going anywhere", ha. 

The depth of the trench is necessary for a few reasons:

• Soil Stability: The trench needs to extend down to a stable layer of soil, below the topsoil and any organic material that might compress or shift over time to make sure the foundation has a solid base.

• Load Distribution: The deeper beams can better distribute the weight of the house, especially for larger or heavier structures.

• Anchoring the Post-Tension Cables: The depth provides enough concrete mass in the beam to securely anchor the post-tension cables and withstand the forces applied during tensioning.

This is the trench they dig (there is one on the other side) where they pour in the concrete and it flows around through the "grid" of the beams.  Think of them as a support for the entire slab which is then poured on top of the concrete filled beams and then it's smoothed out and allowed to dry.

They call this phase the "make up" phase.  We asked why it's called that and they said what they are doing is considered "making up" the foundation, getting it ready for the next phase.  Makes sense to us!

Next step: OMG it's the concrete slab pour!

GOOD 2ND MAN BIRTHDAY FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 2nd Man had a birthday last week and we had his favorite treat courtesy of me and he made a cake since, well, he is the baker in the family, ha.

I made a couple of salads, good old American iceberg with shredded veggies and whole wheat croutons topped with his favorite dressing, blue cheese, in a low fat version.

Then for the main course, I made tuna casserole.  I know, a polarizing dish you either love or hate.  Starting last year, I made it heart healthy.  I use a really good quality canned tuna and then my favorite vegan mayonnaise (no fat), low fat cream of mushroom soup, 2% milk shredded cheese, peas, etc.  He LOVED it.

Now for his birthday cake, he wanted chocolate ganache frosting and filling on the outside...

And classic yellow cake on the inside.  Four layers.  It was a retro-classic for sure.

Since we couldn't really go healthy on this, we opted for the next best thing: portion control.  We had one slice each and my coworkers enjoyed the rest (and they were definitely happy, ha).

We loved it all!

Happy Birthday 2nd Man!

Hobart was unimpressed.  As long as he has his comfy place to sleep and a favorite item nearby (in this case a sock that we rub catnip on) his happy.  He got his catnip high and then slept.  Because...

#notspoiled

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Spring is officially here and the plants know it!

The apple trees are starting to bloom out...

And so are the plum trees!

Speaking of blooming...

Colleen was right!

The miniature rose (at least one of the two) that I rescued (STORY HERE), is blooming and it is YELLOW!  So pretty!  We're taking it as a sign for the new house.  It might be really pretty to do something like this:

OK, we know this isn't exactly what our house will look like, we wish we would have a porch like that, but it does show how pretty yellow roses are with a red and white farmhouse style.  We will have one really great spot between the porch and the garage/driveway that might be the perfect place to start.

Plus, "Yellow Rose of Texas" is a think, so there IS that to inspire us as well.

Happy Spring!

WATER SUPPLY AND SEWER LINES NEW HOUSE UPDATE

 Once the driveway was done, they picked up in earnest and got a lot done.  In just two days, they got all this done.  It was time to lay the sewer pipes and water supply lines that go in trenches before the slab is poured.  We will take a trip through the house from entry to exit, via the pipes, ha.

Here is the progress:

Here is where it starts.  This is where the water well will be.  That big plywood box is the place for trash/scrap, that won't be there when the house is done, ha.

The pipe sticking up is near where the well will go.  The blue flag on the stake is where they will drill.  The pipe goes to the back corner of the house, the entrance will be by the garage and carry the water into the house.

After the water comes into the house this first pipe will be water heater in the garage.  The one down from that is the utility sink in the garage.  The square box is the floor drain the laundry room and the pipe along the back edge is the washing machine drain.

It runs down the hall and then into the dining room, turns and then it runs right under the island.  The two pipes sticking up will be the kitchen sink/dishwasher area in the kitchen.

This is standing by the kitchen sink.  The pipe runs through the living room/foyer and parallels the hallway and those pipes at the end are the two bathrooms.

Here is the guest bathroom, the toilet and the tub drain.  The pipe in the middle is the master bathroom dual sink area and the ones along the edge are the master bathroom walk in shower drain (the square box) and the shower water supply and then the toilet.

All these pipes and drains in the house lead to here:

This is the main sewer line where it exits the house and will then connect to the septic tank.  This wall is the other end of the house, just outside the master bath etc.  The septic is put in later in the process.

Here is a view from the front.  They got a lot accomplished in just a couple of days.  There is one thing that they are going to correct though: they put the main water shutoff right in the spot where we want to put our "park grills" that go in the ground.  Right in our "future" patio area.  Of course, they didn't know that part of our plans, but if we have to have it, it will be much easier to have it on the side of the garage.

We say "if" because they are not sure if we need the shutoff by the house.  The well is SO close to the house that they can put the manual shutoff there.  We are having a special device put in, the "Flo" by Moen that will shut off the water automatically if it detects a leak or busted pipe, but code (and peace of mind) still requires a manual way to turn it off in case of power failure.  Anyway, one small tweak and everything else is perfect!

Next step:  Rebar and vapor barrier!

IT WAS A ZEN KIND OF DAY

Saturday was the first mowing of the season.  The weather was perfect, well, it was a bit windy but temperature wise, it was perfect.  I fired up the Zen Machine 2 and it was happy to be useful again.

The grass (weeds?) were definitely saying "it's time", ha!  I had a new mowing routine to do.

Lots of new mowing around Barnabas, but I had to skip a few spots where I encountered some small stumps they missed from the clearing.  I'm going to buy some fluorescent landscaping paint and spray around them so I won't have to worry about it the next time until I can get them out of the ground later (they are small, like 3 or 4 inches in diameter).

After I was almost done, I had to move the truck, but it had been sitting there for a few weeks since I couldn't move it with all the construction equipment out there and rainy weekends and driveway issue...

And the battery was dead.

I grabbed the Halo Bolt charger, hooked it up and once again, it saved the day.  Started right up!  I was at a quarter tank of gas so I decided a nice, long drive was what it needed.  Took it a few miles down the road and filled it up and then drove over and aired up the tires (they were all a little low).  Came back to the farm and parked it and finished mowing.

Afterward, it was looking good and back to normal.  I used the truck to go down to "J" and filled up with 5 gallon buckets so I could water all the plants and then I decided to call it a day.

My distance was about normal but coverage was less and the time was almost the same but the speed was slower.  That's all a factor of trying figure out a new routine of mowing.  New paths, new routes, things to skip.  The driveway as interesting, much less to mow of course, but a bit more difficult.

We did find that when they built the driveway, they had to cut down large pieces of the vitex along the driveway.  We were ok with it, we told them whatever they needed to do as the driveway was priority.  We might have to rethink that area.

Surprisingly, they had scraped up and removed most of the rocks and gravel that might have spilled over the edge of the driveway, so no worries there.  It was just a lot of forward and back and up and down and blades on and blades off. 

Still...it was a wonderful day to be back out there.  I enjoyed spending my time thinking about all the possibilities for our yard in a a few months.

Tomorrow, house update!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 

It's been a good weekend..  Beautiful weather and some Zen Machine time yesterday.  Also big progress on the house.  More updates on those this week.

We had another modified healthier meal.  I made my broccoli coleslaw that's I've made before, swapping out the mayo for heart healthy mayo, using greek yogurt instead of heavy cream, etc.  For the hotdogs we found some all natural turkey hotdogs (made with 100% white meat and ZERO fat) and whole wheat hot dog buns.  A little relish, mustard, etc and it was all good.

And of course, what would Sunday be without Hobart.  Here is on "his towel" covering his face (as cats often do) and just spending his day sleeping.  Because...

#notspoiled

GUESS WHAT TODAY IS

It's time to break out the Zen Machine after its long Winter nap and get to mowing!

Took this picture last weekend and I'm pretty sure that by today, it will definitely be time to mow!

Could probably wait another week, but I'd rather nip it in the bud now (no pun intended).  I will have to see how it changes around the driveway, but better to figure all this out now before the summer heat sets in.

I also need to trim back the bushes along the side of the driveway, they were kind of in the way as they were working, and some branches were broken.  We told them that was fine, we were going to trim them earlier (they are out of control), but we couldn't since the driveway was "not a driveway".  Today, I'll drive the truck and park on the new driveway, trim them back and load the cuttings in the truck bed.

Will also get to see what they've done as the driveway was opened up Thursday and plumbing was supposed to be laid inside the forms yesterday.

Big updates next week!

Looking forward to a Zen kind of day!

GARDEN AT THE OFFICE

I have been meaning to post this since last Summer and it got pushed down the list and I forgot. So here it is now, and with Spring around the corner, seems like good timing, ha.

This is at my office.  In front of the building in one of the flower beds.  We began noticing a vine spreading and I told my coworkers it looked like some sort of squash.  Wasn't sure what.  Then someone at the building put in...

...a trellis!

That made us wonder if it was growing on purpose or accidental? Did someone toss something in there and this sprung up? Or did one of the groundskeepers do it on purpose? We'll never know the answer to that, but it didn't take long to figure out what they were...

Cucumbers!

Here are a couple doing their thing.  We watched them with great joy every morning and afternoon coming and going from work.  We would notice a few would be missing from morning to evening or evening to morning.  We weren't sure if it was animals or other office people in the building.  We finally thought "we want some too!" and so I would occasionally step in and get one for us.

Here is one that I grabbed one off the vine and brought it home.  Less than 20 minutes after pulling it...

...it ended up sliced into our salads and it was SO good.  We can't wait to have fresh cucumbers at the farm!

Still thinking about where that new garden is going to go in relation to the house!