YARDWORK ACCOMPLISHED

It's been such a terrible weekend in Texas with the devastation in the Hill Country flooding.  Such loss of life.  Those heavy rains were just like a tropical storm.  We figured some of the rain had made its way to the farm.  I was planning on going to the farm to at least finish the edging when we woke up to the horrible news and rain possibly heading this direction as well.

I waited until Saturday and when I got there, it was virtually bone dry!  Not sure why, but thankfully, most of that heavy rain missed us out there.  I was happy to unexpectedly mow.  I broke out the Zen Machine 2.

About the same amount as last time.  I've stopped mowing the trails since we'll be clearing large areas after we move in, seems kind of pointless in this heat to do extra work that might not be needed.

Look, it's the new house AND the barn and shed!

The driveway is a conundrum.  It's so much higher now that there is a drop off on the side, it's hard to mow.  I do what I can, but I need to figure out a solution.  I'll just wait until the Fall, and we'll figure it out then.

The main reason I went out there was to finish what I started last weekend with the new cordless trimmer.  I was able to do it, and the trimmer did a wonderful job.

Before...

After.

Another before...

And after.

It was such a relief.  I feel accomplished.  I still need to fix up the inside of the beds, add some soil and top it off with mulch.  It will be easier since the hard part is done, so one of these weekends, I'll take the farm truck and buy some bags to toss in the back.

In the meantime, if you see the sky pics in the after photos, rain was coming.

I finished, put everything up and headed out...that blue arrow is the farm.  I left just before we did get some of that heavy rain finally moving in from the Hill Country to here.

Keep Texas in your thoughts, it's going to be a long recovery for that area.

 

Tomorrow, a house update...

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

It's been a relaxing weekend, which we needed.  At the farm yesterday to edge AND mow, more on that tomorrow.  Lots of good food too.

We had some pork tenderloin that we used some BBQ rub on and then basted with sauce, it was delicious.  We put it with some green beans and turkey bacon and 2nd Man made some cornbread with whole kernel corn and peppers.  It was a great meal.

Hobart is unimpressed.  Time to rest in his ACTUAL CAT BED!  No hard floor, no mat in front of the fridge, no blanket on a chair, no cardboard box, he is actually in a cat bed that we've had for years.  Yeah it happens on occasion.  But we keep it just for these moments.  Because...

#notspoiled

4TH OF JULY 2025

An extra day off, we'll take it!

The plan, as this posts, is to check the weather at the farm.  I would like to head out to at least finish the edging around the orchard area...but yesterday we had some fairly decent rains out there (and some flooding in Houston) so I may have to put it off until this weekend.

Might be better to stay off the roads anyway in the afternoon.  Tonight will be all the fireworks events around the country.  Remember, if you have pets, take extra good care of them with the loud noises as they (and indeed many people as well) can be sensitive during this time.

Be safe in your celebrating!

BLUE PORCH CEILINGS NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Well, last week, we showed the exterior red and white of the house.

This one shows the porch ceilings.  

Here's the back porch (that will eventually be screened in), we did the blue here...

...and here is the front porch, also the same blue.

Many call it "haint blue".  

The word "haint" comes from the Southern Gullah (a community in South Carolina) word for "haunt" or "spirit".  They believed that spirits couldn’t cross water and so painting things a watery blue color was intended to trick the spirits into seeing water and it would stop them in their tracks.  There is also some urban legend about wasps not building nests but that is probably more anecdotal.  Original haint blue porch ceilings had lye in the paint and lye repels insects. So that's probably where that came from.  

But hey, wasps, ghosts, spirits, whatever it keeps away, we're OK with that!

It just creates such an open and airy feeling when you're standing under it.  It's very calming and peaceful and on a blue sky day, it really does seem kind of like the sky.  It also reflects a lot of light so it makes it brighter.

We LOVE it!

RAN OUT OF JUICE

 NO, not the new cordless trimmer, it was great!

"I" ran out of juice, ha.

I had the new trimmer fully charged and ready to go.  I haven't been able to use a trimmer for a few weeks in this area.  The mower won't fit in the small areas and then our  trimmer/weedeater died and we had to get a new one.

We opted for the battery operated EGO professional powerhead plus.  It worked great.  More on that later in another post.  As for me, not so much.

It was so hot, I didn't get many pictures since I wanted to just get right to it, but here are a few.

Here is a "before".

Believe it or not, there's a round raised bed in between those two square beds.

There it is!

Here's another raised bed before pic.

This is the fig tree.  At least somewhere in there is a fig tree in a raised bed.

Oh yeah, there it is, ha!

The trimmer was great and I left with a little more charge on it but dang it, it was just SO hot. 

Feels like was 107.  That was at 1:26pm.  Yep, that's when I decided to call it a day and head back into town.

The new trimmer was great, as I mentioned, will do a full post review on it later.  There is a turbo boost mode which runs down the battery more, but you only do that for heavy grass.  We had some heavy grass.  But still, I could have finished had I not run out of juice, ha. 

It will just have to be a "trimming in two parts".

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Another week, another month, gone.  Can you believe it's almost JULY?!?

Recently, 2nd Man made his spin on a Spanish tortilla, also called a Spanish egg and potato omelette.  It's onions, potatoes and eggs.  He used one whole egg and then a carton of egg whites, to make it heart healthy.  Topped with some fresh parsley and salsa.  So good!

And here is Hobart, living his best life.  Not sure if the pillow from the couch is enveloping him or if he's melting into it, but either way, he was happy.  Because...

#notspoiled

OFF TO THE FARM WITH A NEW TOOL TO USE

It's a clear day, a little warm of course, but at least no rain (that comes tomorrow apparently).  So 2nd Man is staying in town and I'm heading out to the farm.  

First, need to see what has been done, though with third party inspections and stuff, it was a relatively quiet week out there.  Secondly, I need to edge the fruit tree area.  Haven't done that in a. few weeks since the trimmer died so we had to break down and buy...

...a new string trimmer!  Got a good one too AND it's electric.  While researching, we decided to get the E-Go brand.  But we didn't just buy a trimmer, which they make, we went with their powerhead plus series, this one packaged with the string trimmer.  The system is awesome because of this:

One powerhead has all sorts of tools and attachments.  We upgraded to the bigger battery, with a runtime of 60 minutes on a full charge and takes about 45 minutes to fully recharge.  Eventually we'll get a second (and third or even fourth) battery so we're always ready to go.  Anyway, lots more about all this in a future post.  For now, I can clean that area up and make it look good once again.

That's the only thing I want to do out there, shouldn't need to mow so it's a quick trip with a lot of work and then back to recover the rest of the weekend.

Hope your weekend is off to a good start!

EASTER BASKET STORAGE SCORE

 You all know I like to find a bargain...well check this out!  This was a bargain we can use for a completely different purpose than originally intended.

Found these at Walmart on my lunch break after Easter...they are Easter baskets (!?).  Doesn't really remind us of an Easter basket but hey, maybe it's a contemporary version, ha.  They are metal wire mesh with a folding wooden handle.

They are a great size and even better...

They were 80% off!  At an original price of $8.98, they were $1.80 each.  I texted a picture to 2nd Man and he said, "wow, YES buy more!"  So of course...

I bought all they had left in white (also came in pastel blue and green but we just wanted white for the new house).  Now we have eight!  We were thinking of all the things we could use them for.  In the new pantry for storing produce (potatoes, onions, garlic, etc), packages of pasta or seasoning packets, maybe even in the extra fridge or freezer for smaller items to be contained like small bottles or jars or even in the bathroom for storing smaller items.

Sometimes, you have to see beyond something to use it for something else.

Win/win!

EXTERIOR PAINTED AND ROOF FINISHED NEW HOUSE UPDATE

OK, here it is!  What you've been waiting for:

The reveal of the exterior painting!

Behold!  This is the front.

It's not QUITE finished...keep in mind, all the wood details you see (the corbels, the wood above the windows, and the porch posts) will be painted white to match the house trim.  The porch railing will be also be white, but it goes on at the end to make it easier for workers in and out. The garage door will also be white.  Oh and there will be white shutters on each side of the windows on the front.

Walking around, another view of the front porch from the garage side.   Again, porch railing and the front door will be 8' feet tall and black with wavy glass.

Walking around to the back, this is the grilling and cooking porch and the back door into the garage.

Continuing along the back, you can see the future screened-in porch and where the screen door will be on the end.  The windows on the far left are the dining room and these two windows on the right side are the master bedroom.

Continuing on around, here is the other end of the house.  The window is the master bathroom shower.  Too bad this doesn't convey the height...that window is 7 feet off the ground.  It almost feels like a two story house on the end when yo stand there.  I guess there will lots of space to stand up in the attic, at least there!

Here is a closeup of the roof.  It's a premium shingle, mildly impact resistant (hail) and the color is black onyx.  We asked about black roofs and they said with the insulation, radiant barrier decking and the way homes are built these days, it's not a big deal to put on a darker roof.  So we went with the aesthetic look for the rest of the house.

We will put on our own gutters.  Well, I mean, we have to pick someone and they do it, the builder doesn't provide them.  So that's coming up at some point.

They only made one mistake; the interior of the screened in porch was painted the same exterior barn red color.  We want this to be the white we chose for the trim.  That way, from the interior, you will only see it as another extension of the interior rooms that will be also be white.  We don't have to decorate the inside around a barn red color that you can see from the living room, ha.  They'll be redoing that this week, we're just waiting on weather.

It all looks beautiful and exactly what we imagined and hoped for, dreams coming true! 

On the next post, we'll show the porch ceilings.

HOT MOWING DAY AND BONUS RABBIT

It was hot.  But I mowed.  I had to.  It's out of control, ha, since it's been two weeks since the last mowing and regular rain.

I mowed what I could. I couldn't use the weedeater/trimmer since it died.  Working on that now.  Hope to have a new before next weekend because the orchard area is WILDLY out of control.

This is the Barnabas area, it's starting to grow up more but I can't get in the area much with the mower, there is a lot of concrete scrap over there (they will clear that later) that they are using for driveway repairs.

Here is the area off the back of the garage, you can see the new well (it's still so awesome finally having our own well, ha).  That wooden, walled-in area is where they keep scraps and construction trash.  The grass will grow back here eventually but this area might end up with a wooden deck as extension of the concrete, later.

It was only about an hour on the mower since there is not as much to mow because I can't get to a lot of it with construction stuff.  We've also given up worrying about the trails.  We're going to have so much clearing done after we close, it's more practical to just not waste energy and resources on getting that cleared.

But about 4pm, I called it a day.  With a "feels like" of 106, it was time.  The nice thing, I could go in the house and sit and relax and there was a nice breeze and it was out of the sun.  Here in another week or so, I'll be able to plug in a fan and THAT will be awesome!

Before I started, I saw a bunny!  It's always so fun to see rabbits.  We can't wait till we're out there and we see them more often, though I'm sure I won't want them in my garden!  Anyway, they sure are cute!

OK, tomorrow, check back for the long awaited finished (almost) exterior!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Here we are, another week has flown by.  I went to the farm yesterday and mowed, it was hot.  Not much progress on the house but Tuesday, you all will get to see the painted exterior so watch for that!!

Last weekend, we had this wonderful comfort food. Being the first NASCAR cup race in Mexico City, we did a Mexican American meal.  For the main course, we had Mexican red (rojo) pozole.  It's a pork stew of peppers and hominy.  It was delicious with some homemade corn tortillas and all the garnishes.

Then for dessert, I made us a special treat:

Root beer floats!  Nothing more American than that, ha.  And before you think "but that's not healthy", this is an almost fat free vanilla ice cream and the root beer is from Poppi!  It was SO good and healthy!

Is there any picture that conveys spoiled more than this?  Oh wait, we forgot, he's definitely...

#notspoiled

A PILE OF DIRT

After they did the foundation, and then graded out all the dirt around it away from the slab, they had a lot left over.  They asked where we wanted it, we asked if they hauled it off?  Nope, we paid for it, it's ours...

As the building foreman said, "congratulations, you have some dirt!"

We just had them put it into a pile, or as 2nd Man said, a pile or a possible volcano?

Not sure what we'll do it with it right away, if the house was almost finished, it would be great to fill in low spots, make some little planting areas, mix with compost and soil for some raised beds, etc.  But we still have months of them driving trucks around and just making general construction messes.  We asked "J" if she needed any dirt and she was excited and said yes, she would take some to fill in some low spots.  We told her she could come on up anytime and grab some buckets or a wheelbarrow and have at it.

As if this isn't enough, we were reminded that when the do the septic...we're going to have even more dirt! 

Mount Seda Bolsa!

SURPRISE A MAJOR HOUSE TEASER

 OK, they aren't entirely finished and the roof is being completed but we know y'all need a big update.  And this is a pretty big one.  They still have to paint some more things on the front of the house but we can't resist sharing a tease of the house colors:

Behold!

It looks SO good.  We are beyond excited.  Barn red with white trim...our dreams coming true!

They did make one minor mistake, the inside of the screened in porch is supposed to be the white color but it was done in the red.  They are fixing that.  Still have to use a white paint stain on the wood details on the front and no porch railing yet, so it's not quite ready for its reveal just yet but it's coming.  Perhaps after this weekend, weather depending!

We also have our pale blue porch ceilings!

Wait until you see the whole house all at once.

FARM TRUCK GETS A NEW BATTERY

Well, we had to break down and get a new battery for the farm truck.

Back in March, when I went to start it so I could move it to mow, it was dead.  The very hard Winter temps the last couple of years with it being parked outside and not driven weekly at times, finally killed the battery.  The portable jump starter worked great, as it always does, but I had to use it every single time and that just become too much of a hassle.  Not to mention if I drove the truck somewhere, I was afraid to turn it off.

Time for a new battery.

It took a few special tools (thanks Dad!) but I got the old one out.  Remember, disconnect negative (black) first and positive (red) second.  I cleaned out the battery box and then I used this cool gadget that I got recently:

It's a battery cleaning kit.  The terminals can be cleaned using the large open end (put over the top and twist) and then you can open it and use the spiral end to clean the cables and connectors themselves.  Lastly, you place the felt washers on before you attach and tighten the cables.  I figured this will work for future battery issues, cleaning the mower battery, our own cars, etc.

Lastly I put the new one in, reconnect in opposite order, positive (red) first and negative (black) second.  I got in, crossed my fingers and turned the key.

It started right up.  I let it run for a bit while I cleaned up everything and then took it on a drive to a nearby store to pick up a cold bottle of water for me.

It ran smoothly and has started up every time just perfectly.  Life is back to normal.  Well, other than the new home construction, LOL!