WE HAVE GUTTERS

 We know, we know, another not so exciting topic.  Here it goes anyway, ha.  One thing that our builder didn't provide was gutters.  The reasoning is that every home sits differently on different properties and the way water flows off your roof and onto your land can be different. You want to make sure your gutters are designed around that flow of water. 

As they said, most people want to be in the home for a bit to decide how they are doing to do their landscaping, flower beds and such and where they want the rainwater to go.

We found a great local gutter company.  They came out and designed a plan for us and then came out and installed them all in an afternoon.

They are seamless gutters...meaning the long, straight sections are made of one continuous piece of metal.  The only seams are at the joints and downspouts like this.  They also matched our trim color perfectly.

Here is a picture of part of the back of the house.  Gutters all along the back with four downspouts (two are just out of the shot).

Here is one of them, the other side of the dining room by the back door to the garage...

...and here is the other one at the end of the garage.  This part will be nice to keep the water from pouring off the roof and splashing onto the concrete.

Here is the front...our roof lines presented some challenges, but they did it right, down to creating small sections of gutter (as above) to direct the water.

On corners, they added these "splash guards" (or damming deflectors as they are sometimes called).  This is to prevent heavy rainfall from becoming a high-volume overflow at those corner spots.

The last unique thing is this "captive area" we have.  We had to have a gutter downspout here since it was an important corner for handling runoff.  However, because of this area being surrounded on all sides by concrete (porch, driveway, sidewalk), we didn't want to create a ponding situation in there.  The concrete guy put in two underground drains there to handle the rainwater and direct it out of the area into the front yard.  What they did was connect this downspout to one of those drains so the water from there will flow under the sidewalk and into the front yard. They are coming back to dig a trench to put this underground.

Here is the front, the gutters blend in perfectly.  We love it and are excited to have them.  Now we just need a good rain to see how it all works, ha.

Side note, grass is greening up!  Spring is coming!

OH DEER

Check out these pictures!

One morning, as we were getting something ready for dinner, we looked out the dining room window and saw this!  A buck looking back this way.

The picture was through the window so it wasn't as sharp as I would have liked but if I had gone outside, he would have run off.

But here it is zoomed in.

Then a few days later, we looked out the front window at the kitchen sink and saw movement.  There were a couple more deer!

While the buck was on the property behind us, these two were on our property, the part of our acreage that is undeveloped/uncleared so there is no telling how many deer are out there.  It's about 7 acres or so of dense brush and trees so there could be a small herd out there.  We aren't hunters at all, so they are welcome to live their lives safely there.  Just don't eat the garden when we get it built, ha.  They have left the fruit trees alone since I put up the fishing line.

We love living out here!

PUTTING UP ROLLS INTO BREAD CUBES

2nd Man made some rolls recently and we ate a few but then we had a lot leftover.

That was by design because ultimately, we wanted to make them into bread cubes.

We cut them into cubes (more or less, ha).  I put them onto a couple of parchment lined sheet pans and popped them in the freezer overnight.

The next day, I took them off and put them in a gallon size freezer bag.  We didn't vacuum seal these because we didn't want to smash them...plus they'll be easy to pull out to use just a few at a time.

We had a salad the other night and 2nd Man threw a few in the air fryer after spritzing them with some avocado oil and some garlic and onion powder.

They were SO good.

THE CAT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM HAS FOUND US

Welp, it was bound to happen.

Just after the first of the year, well, about a month ago, it seems the famous cat distribution system found us out here in the country.

Not just once...

Not just twice...

BUT THREE times!

We have three kitties visiting us now!

The gray one apparently has only one good eye (he is blind in one it seems) and he is VERY feral.  If he just hears us at the door, he is gone.  We think he lives near or under the barn/shed right now.

The orange one lives up to his color, he's spicy!  Semi-feral.  He will run away too but not far as he maintains a safe enough distance from us and watches us.

The last one, well, she is a sweetheart.  She wants love in the worst way.  She rolls around when we talk to her.  We might have some luck with her.

SO one day at lunch, for the first time in months...

I found myself once again in the cat food aisle at the store!  We bought some cat food and a bowl.  Let the feline games begin!

Our goal is to get them tame enough to take them in to get them spayed and neutered to do the right thing.

In the meantime, it looks like we have some outdoor cats now.

#catdistributionsystem

GOOD FOOD ON DAYTONA WEEKEND

UPDATE:  The post referenced below will have to come tomorrow, we had errands last night and didn't get home until late and I haven't created it yet.

This post will be up Sunday and Monday, I didn't get a chance to create the next post but trust us, tune in Tuesday Wednesday for a surprise!

It's been a crazy weather weekend.  Saturday was humid and warm...

...then a front came through. Scary skies but it was quick moving.  Dumped a lot of rain but it was quick moving and today is beautiful, though a bit windy.

Saturday, I made our food for the weekend.

It is time for our semi-annual tradition of BBQ ribs and coleslaw.  I did the lean pork ribs, baked up on a rack for even less fat, and the coleslaw is broccoli slaw with all the seasonings and greek yogurt instead of mayo.  Homemade pickled onions and some sandwich bread.

We make this meal twice a year, once in the Summer (usually 4th of July weekend) and then the other is for this weekend...

 Daytona weekend!  We are racing fans and it's the big weekend for NASCAR.  Holding out hope the weather in Florida cooperates, so far it has, fingers crossed.  We have an amazing new TV in our new house and this has been the first race of the season.

Let's hope the green flag is in the air!

FRUIT GATHERING TOOLS

Here are a few additions to our list of tools and equipment, ha.  Can you guess them?

These are berry gathering tools.  You just hold it by the handle and run it through the berry vines/bushes and it gently pulls off the fruit.  With the prolific nature of our dewberry vines here at the farm, I felt like we needed a couple so we can gather dewberries this Spring.

Yes 2nd Man, you will be out there with me gathering dewberries!

These are the other items we got.

Do you know what they are?

They are orchard gathering tools for getting pears, apples, peaches, etc down off of the higher branches!  You put a rod/pole in one end (it comes with a clamp to screw it down) so you can make it as long as you need according to your tree height.  Then you put the open end around the fruit and just use it to pull them off (the pointed ends help maneuver through he leaves and smaller branches) and then the fruit can roll into the other end so it doesn't fall out.  They came in a set of four so I figured if we break one, we'll have a backup.

I used one of the crates I found downstairs back at the apartment in a "trash to treasure" find, put them in there and stored them away in the mower shed.  They are ready for this Spring now that we are out here and whatever nature wants to bring us.

SPICE DRAWER CREATION

One of the things I promised 2nd man was that I would figure out how to turn the kitchen into as much of his dream kitchen as possible.  I'm also big on organizing and I figured a new kitchen would have endless possibilities.  The first thing I did was check out how best to use the drawers and I had been planning for months while the house was being built.

So, these are the three drawers in the island.  I knew exactly what to do here with the top drawer!

Here it is, a blank slate, just ready and waiting for me to work my magic.

I ordered these from Amazon.  Link HERE if you are interested.  I ended up getting three sets because I needed one more solid row in the back.  Of course, they come in various sizes to fit different size drawers. 

It also came with jars and labels which was awesome.

I took our most often used spices, one by one, and put them into the new jars (which we will now just refill from whatever plastic/metal container they come in).  Then I stuck labels on.  Each set comes with 216 pre-made labels covering just about every spice plus some blanks to make your own on a printer.

Behold!

But wait, that's just barely open...

BOOM!

2nd Man has an amazing spice drawer at his fingertips!  It is directly behind us when we are at the stove and of course, being on the island, it makes prepping a dish/recipe for cooking super easy.  We open the drawer and take out what we need, use it and put it back up.

We could have filled another drawer but these are what we use most and have our overflow and backup in another drawer.  2nd Man was excited!

SUPER SUNDAY

 

It's the day of the big game.  We support the Houston Texans (who did really well this year, so close!) but not sure who we got in this game.  However, we ARE here for the commercials, ha!

It's been a good weekend.  Some more little things done around the house.  Had hoped to get the boxes out of the garage and into the barn but it was easier to do stuff inside and relax.

Last weekend when it was cold we did our version of a traditional beef pot roast, cooked low and slow all day, only we used a pork roast.  Same veggies (potatoes, carrots, celery and shallots instead of onions).  We opened a bottle of white wine to drink and use some in the cooking of the roast.  It was so good.  

We just enjoy our new house so much, we never want to leave!

JELLY BABIES AN UNEXPECTED TREAT

You know me, roaming around at lunch with too much time on my hands, ha.  I was in the grocery store and saw bags of these.  I immediately thought of growing up and watching Doctor Who (Tom Baker specifically) and his version of the Doctor had a favorite candy treat of Jelly Babies...

We know it's a British thing and not something we see everywhere here so I figured "we should try these!" so I bought a package.  We loved them!

It's hard to describe them but they are so soft and almost melt in your mouth.  We were expecting something more like a "gummy bear" texture, but nothing could be further from that.  Soft, delicate and full of flavor, each color actually tastes different.

We like them!

Now on to the Tardis!  If you know, you know...😆

Is there any other international candy treat we must try if we can find it?

PREVENTING SEPTIC TANK BACKUP INTO HOUSE

Since we are new to having a septic tank, we are learning the ropes as they say.

Recently, the company that installed the system came out to do what they call a "Septic 101" meeting and went over everything with us. What to do, what not to do, how everything worked, early warning signs for issues, maintenance, etc.  It was great.

One thing they suggested getting was a sewer popper cleanout and relief valve.

This is what a standard cap looks like, what it came with, this screw on cap.  It's access to the system to clean out clogs, etc.  What happens is if the sewage ever does back up, it goes to here but then it reaches a screwed on cap, can't escape and keeps flowing...INTO the house via the toilets etc.  Those are the horror stories you hear about sewage backing up into a house, destroying floors, tile, walls, etc.

So, he recommended this.  It is a sewer pop up protection device.  They have several different styles, we bought THIS ONE ON AMAZON.

You can read the details on the instructions above on how it works, how to install etc, but here are some photos of the process and how it works.

First, you unscrew the regular cap...

Then you screw this piece on.  This is it sitting on a hard surface so you can kind of see how it works.  The center piece is just sitting inside, not attached to anything and will pop up like this in the event of a sewer back up.

Here it is in place!  Super easy, took about 5 minutes (if that) to install.  How it works is really just the laws of physics.  If sewage ever starts to back up, it will flow backwards and up into here because of pressure.  But instead of it meeting resistance with the previous, screwed-on cap and heading further up the line into the house (the direction of least resistance), this little valve pops up and out and the sewage will flow out of this (outside) instead of into the house.  Sure, it's a mess outside if that happens but better outside than INSIDE!

Pretty cool little fix and DEFINITELY worth the peace of mind.