Home and Still Busy!!!!!!!!!

Daughter Steph, working in Sioux Falls SD just called to ask why I hadn't posted any pictures from our trip to see granddaughter Renee, and post other pictures of what I've been doing for craft shows, etc., etc.  Had to explain that I'm still so busy, as have another craft sale this weekend, and some orders for crocheted hats and pedestal plates that need to get completed and in mail.   She hadn't seen any of those pictures either, so I did tell her I had a picture of the set up of last craft show, and getting plates done (recycling old glassware).  So that is my post today.  She also hadn't seen the garage done, so a couple of pictures of that too, and the "pea" building that replaced an old sow pen.  Our trip was so great - traveled home in terrible snow storm, but made it safe and sound.  Have over 500 pictures to go through for next blog!

These pedestal plates can be used for lots of things; candy, to hold candles, cakes, cup cakes and wonderful for a buffet.

The red sign says "New Life for Refused Glassware"

For the base, I've used flower vases, candle holders, drinking glasses, bud vases, etc. A great way to deliver a plate of cookies to neighbors for the holidays.   Sure has been fun making them.  The hunt for the glassware is great fun!

Hats and headbands were good sellers too!

Sold a few tea cup pin cushions also.

We didn't have enough room to put all the hats up, so had to keep refilling up that space as they sold.  That was a fun day.  Leah and I hadn't done a craft show for quite a few years.  We'll see how this coming Saturday goes.   

Here is a picture of our completed garage - now no one knows if we're home or not, because the vehicles are inside!!!!!   Nice and warm!!!!

The building that houses the peas Steve planted to mix in with pig feed.  A good source of protein, and is replacing soy.  The protein is about half of what soy beans are.  The pigs are loving it, and it is working out great.  Didn't have to get different equipment to do peas.  Would have had to to grow soy beans.

Hope you all have a great day!

Almost done!

Our garage that we started this spring is almost done!!!!!!!!   

Got two garage doors installed yesterday and today.  Oh, I can't wait to start parking inside.  We have had the outside done for a few weeks, and have done some dirt work and set bricks around where we will have river rock installed in the spring.  I think I'll plant some slow growing greens, like mugo pine or another low growing decorative bushes.  Just not sure what I want yet. 
We bought our garage doors from an installer that is now retired, but he did sell them to us, and came to help install two of them.  Steve is going to do the third door by himself.   So he'll work on that next week, while I'll be painting inside walls.  I've painted this east side with the two doors, and he has the west wall up, so I can start painting that. 

West wall - it takes a base coat and another coat of paint to cover this OSB board.  Our walls are 9' high, so there is a foot of plyboard at the bottom - so that if any water splashes when washing cars, etc. it won't be absorbed by the OSB board.  We have a drain in the middle of the floor and water faucet on the west wall.  This west wall will have a work table for Steve.  I'll get some extra storage for me on the south wall.

South side of the garage.

North side of garage and the third garage door.  Skidsteer and other farm equipment will be able to come in and get warmed up!

Lookin good.

My flowers have frozen, and little scarecrow boy is pretty cold.  Time to put him away soon!  Snow will be flying again soon, and next time it'll probably stay on the ground.  Look at how icey the deck is.  It did melt off later as it warmed up.  Our wet snowy week is past, and now a couple of nicer days are here again.
Are you all ready for the Halloween goblins?  We will have a few.  Looking forward to them coming.  Wishing my kids were little again - it was always fun to clean out pumpkins, decorate and help with the 4-H haunted house that we did as a 4-H club for years.  Happy Halloween to you all!

 

The Nilson Hog Trough!

Hubby made new hog troughs this summer and I wanted one too!  He made them out of big PVC and here is my project!  Mine is for keeping salads cold on our many summer get togethers!  Fill the inside with ice and set in the salads.  We already used this one for the family wedding a week ago, and I just painted it today.  Several people want Steve to make them one. 

The pvc comes in a blue, but is faded and scratched, so I painted a base coat of cream on.  Didn't care if a little blue showed thru, as I'm sure with use and getting carried and moved around, it will get scratched up a little.  I then free hand painted on watermelon slices and stained the wood ends and feet.  I'll spray on acrylic satin finish tomorrow on the dried painted area for protection.

Here's the inside.  It is 14 inches across, and 45 inches long.  Handles on each end.  Filled up with ice and set in the bowls, and you're ready to party!   We had 4 big salads, and a couple of little ones in there at the wedding.  Sure worked good.  The end is caulked with silicone caulking so it doesn't leak.  Our first outing, one end leaked a little, but we recaulked it before I started painting.  This was a  good day's project for me.

Here is our garage - now ready for the siding.  The steel is on order, so hopefully will get it on by the weekend.  We've had so much rain, that our cement work isn't all done yet, but that's okey.  It will get done soon.  We plan on having a BIG party when the kids are all home the week after the 4th.  We'll be able to use the garage even tho it won't be finish completely.

My knee is feeling better.  Still can't kneel down, but I'm getting some range of motion back and can walk better.  Swelling is better, but does bother in evening if I've done too much!  Slowly healing, and I'm happy about that.  Keep smiling everyone! 

Framed!

Garage walls are up, rafters are up!  Now just a few little things left to do before the steel walls and roof go on.  Saturday afternoon, grandson Blake, Steven and husband worked in the hot sun to get the rafters up.  This last week, my Steve worked during the day to get the walls framed, and then Steven would come after work and they'd get the walls finished and up.  I had to help a couple of times = more like just hold something for them.  Those walls are really heavy. 

We're getting a few sprinkles now this Sunday morning, (we need rain again), but maybe the guys will do a few things again today if it gets nice out.  They have to put up some perlings (what the steel will be screwed into), and more support boards on the rafters. 
Here is picture of what the garage looks like after yesterdays work.  I'm mad at myself because I forgot to take pictures with all three of them working!  So hope Blake comes back to help today so I can get some more pictures with him in them.

Garage Floor

Cement trucks came; out  flowed the cement; busy were the workers to get it in place before it got hard!
A busy morning last week.  Hubby with the red cap, his brother and his son and son-in-law.  It's so nice to have carpenters and cement guys in the family!

The last corner to pour.  Hubby pulling the cement.  He has bad shoulders, and he has really been hurting since doing this hard work! 

Mike (brother Don's son-in-law) finished troweling with this power troweler (spelling?).  He did this for about 3 hours over and over the whole floor. It really saves time with the power troweler.   I had to get the grass blower out because several gusts of wind blew apple blossoms all over and we didn't want to goof up the finish of the floor.  Now after a couple of days, it is all dry and looks great.  Now we're waiting for the wood materials to be delivered so we can frame it up.

They're at it again!

Yup! Finally Mike (married to our neice) came over to frame for the cement pour.  Cement is ordered and will be be here at 7 am on Friday!   Excited that more is starting to happen with the garage building!  Here are a couple of pictures of Steve and Mike working today.  It got hot here today. The last I checked it was 79 degrees Farenheit.  So maybe it turned 80, but I'm not sure.  There was a nice breeze today, and if there would not have been a breeze, it really would have been hot.  Of course, we do not know hot, as those in southern states know hot!!   But after a long winter, and a couple of rainy weeks,  it was a wonderfully nice day.

Here Mike is squaring up the corner.  Odda is coming over to check things out!  Now she can't dig in the sand any more!!!!!

They didn't get it completely framed, but will finish that tomorrow and  they will finish leveling the sand and put in the rebar for stabilizing the cement.  Steve says this is called a floating floor.  There is like a ditch on the inside of the wood frame that will be the base for the walls.  Of course, I'll do more pictures as things proceed.  I'm glad that work is starting again.  Weather got in the way - but that happens to all contractors.  Just get started on something and weather can put you back a couple of weeks real easy.  Then than screws up your scheduled jobs that are waiting for you to get their jobs started.

Monday we visited the neighbors goat farm again.  Gene and Connie went with us.  Connie was still in her jamies when we got there!  She really hadn't been up very long.   I had rhubarb left over dessert - so we all ate that for breakfast before going to the other neighbors farm.  Those goat babies are so o o o  cute!

Nathan showing Steve some of the moma's.  They are all so friendly, and want to be petted.

Remember the two baby pigs that Trish bottle fed.  They are now in the great outdoors (yes with shelter), and this one was snuggled down in straw, just peeking out at us!  Cute!  That goats milk sure works good when piggy moma didn't.

Be sure to comment again for another chance for the giveaway!

Check out Leah's blog too!  Livin It Up Country to register for hers too!

Oh - Do you want to see something really cute!?!?!    Stop over at my other daughters blog to see granddaughter Renee's short video!!  It's so cute:  Feelin the Wind .  She isn't walking yet, so gets a little unsteady.  Wish they lived closer!

Day 2 of Garage preparation!

The second day was only a half day for the crew.  They installed the drainage system for the floor, so when we wash cars in the winter in the garage the water has some place to go.  Also got the trench dug for changing a span of overhead wire to underground.  When the garage is up, we'll connect that wire to the garage junction box, and take out the pole and connect the existing underground wire to the garage junction box. 

There will be drainage from the center of the garage floor, and then the water will flow to the black tube and drain out the bottom.

  

Back hoed a trench from this pole (where our meter is) over to the north side of the garage.

The electrician holding the wire and eye measuring to make sure it will be long enough to go up the pole to connect when we're ready.  They unrolled the wire, and then back filled over it. 

They also covered the area that the sand was dug up behind our barn.  Now you wouldn't eve know that there had been a huge hole dug there.   Saved a lot of money by using our own sand!  Didn't have to pay for sand hauled in.

Oh my !  Someone already has parked in our new garage!

Leah and Steven did that the other night when they came over! 

Funny kids!

Now we'll wait until next weekend to start the cement.  This weekend we'll be busy getting ready and then having our Pig Production Sale.  So with all that going on, no time for the garage.  More blogging pics when we do work on it again.  Hope you all have a great weekend.  I'm praying for some rain this weekend.  We need it bad here.  Steve has all is wheat, barley and peas planted.  This is the earliest he's gotten that done.  Next week, he'll be getting corn in the ground.

I delivered 2 boxes of pin cushions to a lady that has a small consigment shop in our area that tourist and locals stop.  She was very excited to get them.  I'm hoping they will sell.  It is so much fun to make them, and I have several more at home, and more to make, but don't want to make any more up until I know they will sell.  It'll be a shame to make too many up, and then not be able to sell them.  So we'll see how it goes.  I many even try to find another place to consign them, but that will have to wait until next week.

  

A demi cup and saucer.  Had two of these, pink and this green one.  They are so dainty!

  

Changed the ribbon on Amanda's friends wrist corsage from black daisy ribbon to purple  so it matches her dress better.

Odda, our Bernese Mt Dog has the kennel that now is too close to the new garage.  She has not been eating good the last 3 days, and I think she may be nervous over all the excitement and loud machinery we've had here this week.  We will be moving the fenced area of her kennel so it will be easier to enter.  I don't think Odda likes to walk on all the uneven dirty ground now.  She also hates mud puddles, so we'll see how things are for her this weekend before I take her to the vet.  I got some Lamb and Rice food for her again - maybe a little change in her food will help. 

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Garage Groundwork

Today started early with the sound of the big equipment starting up and running.  Last week Son-in-law cut down the tree, and today the crew came in to remove tree stumps, the old garage foundation, an old silo ring, and tv tower.  Pictures below will tell the story.  Our ground is not level, and I could hardly believe the level after all was done.  We will now be moving Odda's kennel, as the new garage will be so close. 

The old foundation of the little garage, the contractors dump truck

Odda's red kennel, and the tree stump by the front that looks

like it is next to the front tire of the truck.

Removing the tree stump.  It was larger than I thought it would be.

Removing the old foundation and loading into the dump truck.

View from our back step.

The old tv tower coming down.  The bird feeder was pulled out so we

can reinstall it.  I now want it closer to the kitchen window!

Big equipment sure does the job!  It beats doing it by hand.

Added many loads of sand for the base to prepare for new floor and foundation.

After the guys were done.  Look at the ground level of Odda's kennel

compared to what the garage floor will be! 

Later we cut down the lilac bush that is to the top rightof the picture.  It encircled the main power pole, and we will be changing from overhead service to underground service coming from the pole where the lilac bush was; and the pole by the right edge of the picture will be coming out.    It will be hard to get used to the fact that we won't be able to see the barns now from our kitchen window!  That will take some getting used too!

The guys come back tomorrow to install the drain in the the ground.  I don't know if they will be doing the trench for the power or not.  Now things will go a little slower.  We won't be home this weekend to work on the cement work, so that will start the weekend of May 1st.   

This prepared area for the garage seems to make our house look really little!  That's a thought.  Maybe we should move into the garage!  All one level, and you know, we're getting older!   ha.