Project Update

We were busy last week putting in new windows and doors in Judy's mobile home, installing wainscoating in her bathroom, staining her porch and finishing up our house windows and doing more painting in the kitchen..we also bought a couple of calfs, hauled a load of mulch, hauled hay and feed for the neighbors, tilled the garden, planted potatoes, stocked more fish in the pond, finished the cattle gate from the pasture to the barn, did some electrical work at Judy's place, and even managed to squeeze in recertification in one and two man CPR, Infant CPR, AED operation and certification as an NOAA Weather Spotter. Just a normal retirement week. We arent through with the windows as we still need to install the two on the side of the house garage, the two in the stone garage and the windows for the well house but here is the progress so far.

The cattle gate from the pasture to the barn is finally done...still lots of fencing to go but we are making progress.

This kind of gives a view of what we had to do. The perimeter fence in the pasture is done and just needs a couple of areas to be tightened up but we had no way to get the animals from the pasture to the barn if needed...now we do.

We still found time to relax a bit at the pond.

I like!!

Bandit and Rose the Farm dog love the pond and wade into the water to eat the fish food when we feed the fish.

The neighbors cows keep eyeing our orchard.

We stopped at a saw mill down the road to see if we could get some mulch from their bark peeler..$20.00 for a heaping full sized 3/4 ton pickup full.

These two geese have been hanging out in our pond and then flying low over the barnyard making a racket.

Lots of rocks but the tiller did a great job.

We did this mostly by hand last year

We greatly expanded our main garden area and I still need to till the corn and sorghum fields along with the pumpkin and gourd pacth which will be in another area.

We stocked the pond with two grass carp to keep the weeds in check...

And 100 three inch hybrid blue gills

Of course now we have something else to feed.

The Forsythia is finally in full bloom..definitely spring.

Just the start of our potato plantings.

This is a terrible picture as it was dark but these are our two calfs (on the right).

The new windows in the kitchen bay window. We are still painting the bottom trim but they sure look better than the old drafty windows we had before. We could feel the air coming through and they would actually whistle when it was windy...now we have no drafts and its sooo quiet.

Replaced the window over the coffee maker stand in the kitchen...

Along with the window over the sink.

Replacing the old leaky single pane picture window in the living room was probably the most dramatic as far as eliminating drafts and noise..it really made a noticeable difference.

We replaced all of Judy's windows and doors with the same windows we used on the house. Pella low thermal Argon gas double paned vinyl clad double hung. Also a dramatic difference in the mobile home as far as drafts and noise. The old windows were single pane cheapo aluminum framed and the doors were badly fitting thin aluminum with no windows.

We also added a storm door for the back door on the deck.

Still need to touch up the trim paint from the install and of course paint the Hardi Plank but we really like the look of the new windows.

The new windows and door look so much better (I still need to add trim to the window on the left) and we stained the porch with Olympic Cedar Deck stain...came out nice.

So much brighter and warmer.

The wainscoating came out nice in one of Judy's bathrooms but the walls on a mobile home are thin and this one was full of electrical lines so it was more compolicated than initially thought.

The old door didnt fit well so it let in lots of cold air and it had no windows.

Its hard to show the difference in brightness but it is very noticeable.

Judy's new cat we got her..Wiskers. He is a great cat who loves the dogs and just hangs out everywhere you go...very affectionate.

And finally, we are not through installing windows. We still need to install the two in the house garage, the two in the rock garage and the windows in the well house.

Next projects..the vehicle gate from the pasture to the barn, reroofing Judy's trailer with a steel roof, installing the rest of the windows, getting the calfs home, more fencing, prepping for the pole barn build, more electrical work, building the stalls inside the barn......and lots of planting.