Losing my shingles!

Time to quit focusing on lost shingles and start counting the blessings.  We may have had a dozy of a storm and lost more shingles on the house and barn but the neighbour 2 miles south lost the metal roof on his new dairy barn.  :)  They aren't saying tornado but maybe 'sheer' winds.

This flower bed has a small ditch at the back to facilitate moving water from the back yard to the front of the yard.  It does need some leveling but I shall tell the hollyhocks to consider how the raspberries are overcoming and quit fussing over their lack of lower leaves.  Well, yes, then;  no leaves and virtually naked but then their blooms where really lovely.  ???

Eliana arrived to help get ready for the cousins.  We managed to get everything presentable 15 minutes before they arrived by stuffing closets and shoving miscellaneous under the bed. Phew!

I think I just may have ruined my best paintbrush by shoving it under the bed uncleaned and forgetting all about it.  But we did look good!  :}

  Now to deal with the aftermath of hanging about with the relatives and dodging lightening bolts thrown by particularly nasty prairie thunderstorms.

We just finished a long weekend and the Rooster was in charge of the agenda.  The main floor of the big barn was long overdue for cleaning.

This could be the before but it is actually the front door from which  everything is leaving.  At one time this barn housed the feeder hogs from our farrow to finish hog operation.  Back in 'the day' it likely was meant for horses with hay storage up in the loft. 

 We actually are starting from the back and working forward.  There will be no more animals housed here so we are giving everything a good scrubbing.  I am the shovel man and the Rooster is the man on the wheel barrow.  And that is good because I like seeing the progress from fast and furious first level cleaning.  He is better at deciding what stays and where it should go.  Not to mention my wheel barrow skills are kinda shaky!  lol

I have been telling him that if houses are styled for selling then so should a barn be looking its best.  ;^)

But speaking of losing ones shingles...

I have neglected to follow the green juice detox lately.  Things do get worse before they get better and in getting rid of blue funks and itchy eczema...  well, the toxins do leave me through my skin and what with all that needed doing I paused the program.   The blue funk has been replaced by blue skies and the breeze of ambition but I may have to rub my hands together for a bit of relief for one more day.  Then its back on the  green juice ladder if I don't personally want to lose anymore shingles!  lol

A hard day's night!

Working on Wonderland

The time has come. 

The roof on the barn has been fixed.

New windows were ordered for the upstairs of the house and I'm hoping to make use of  the square glass sections from the old ones for my workroom.

The siding on the barn needs replacing but not this year.

The fence is down and ready for remodeling.  The walk has been scraped and is ready for sand and the cement pavers.

I hate to think how many times we've handled these pavers but I'm pleased to see that the long discussions on where to lay them have ended and we are committed to this line.  The decision wasn't so straightforward as originally they were to curve a bit to follow the curve in the flower bed border surrounding the front lawn.  But that  worked better with a full cement sidewalk than with the pavers.  Another consideration is that the house is parallel to the road but the barn is skewed somewhat.  And then the new beams under the veranda from last year's work project stick out about 12 inches which means the walk can't be centred on the front step.  So we get creative. 

Now that the excitement is all over the grand kiddies will be returned to their life in the city this morning and I will pick up Jenn.

My creativity 101 student is available for some extra work these next two weeks.

Today we will make some room for maneuvering in the barn.  In the front are the boards for the fence and the bag of wool.  They'll leave soon. But we can certainly shuffle some of the stuff around. We will take a tape and some graph paper and do a bit of figuring once some of the dust settles. 

Just maybe all the excitement isn't quite over!

A bigger playground

Bearing in mind that I will probably never have the ideal, I have decided to make myself a better/bigger play ground.

The Coop and Saucer Playroom is really the best place to sew.  For some time I have realized that it is not conducive to the messy aspects of my creativity.

The view from my playroom overlooks the chicken coop, the potting shed and the garden area.  It is a pretty area with a lovely shaded area I call That Faerie Place. Hmmm, it also seems to have accumulated a goodly collection of singing, swinging frogs!

My Rooster said I could turn the potting shed into a Shed to Dye for! I'm up for the creative challenge.  But the reality is that it is only 8' x 12'.  It has no power and the water source is a very long garden hose. The floor is dirt.  It would not be very comfortable in the winter. And, last but not least, it is actually pretty useful as a garden shed!  

This barn, which is slated for some work this summer, is 30' x 60'.  The roof leaks and it needs a bit of luving.  The back half is for livestock.  The front half is up for grabs!  My Rooster wants one quarter for his hobbies.  I think I am going to claim the north east corner for me and my hobbies!  It is insulated.  It has power and water.  I would have a 13' x 26' space!  Should be enough!!!

The windows need to be put back in.  My son in law can operate a compressor with accompanying paint nozzle.  The ceilings are high, the floor cement, and layout long and narrow.  It is far from the phone and the temptation to google one more web site.  A mental check of shelving, tables, laundry tubs, the Rooster's lumber stash and tools and I'm feeling quite confident that we (he) can do this.  In fact, I can hardly come up with a negative.  lol

I will also remind him that it will be a great place for the grand kiddies to hide out!