November is here...

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And things are still moving along.  :-)

We painted all the interior doors except the guest room bi-fold closet door.  Most of them are installed.  The few that are not will be installed after we get done with shelves and the geothermal heat pump.

I painted the trim board that the rain gutters attach to and the gutters were installed. It was just in time. It poured down the very next day! Winter weather is here, it's raining most days now.  I'm glad we got the gutters up when we did. I just wish we could have gotten moved in before the rains started but we didn't.

In regards to the exterior painting I still have the window and door trim to paint and then touch ups.  I did paint all the boards that the exterior light fixtures go on. Larry installed one light fixture next to the garage door and we didn't like it. The board is too small for the box type fixture we bought. It needs a smaller one or a lantern style fixture. I prefer the box style but I'm sure we can find an acceptable lantern style that will work.

We picked up the front yard so that some dirt work could be done. Larry had noticed a guy down the road grating a driveway. He went and asked if he had time to do some dirt work. And luckily he had time. :-) It was very reasonable and took him only two hours, if that.  We still don't know how we want the yard around the house to look but we really needed to get the dirt moved away from the house and smoothed out properly for drainage.  It came out really nice.  A bonus in cleaning the yard was we had to organize the shop/barn in order to put away wood and the stuff we needed to get out of the winter weather. I'm glad that chore is over. :-)  All summer we have reorganized that area over and over again because we were always getting things out from there and then putting new things in. I think this is the last time we will be in there until next spring.. :-)

Here are some pictures of the carpet fully installed. We Love it! The color and the feel. We put in an 8lb pad and it was soo worth it. :-)

Living Room

 Hallway

 Guest Room

 Master Bedroom

Since the cabinets arrived they have sat in the kitchen and garage. We finally broke down and hired someone to install them. It was well worth it. If Larry and I were to do it ourselves it might have taken a couple months. ;-)  We bought some prefab counter tops at Home Depot before the cabinet guys were done.  That way they could install those also. It was sooo worth it! :-)  Now we get to install the appliances. We bought a stainless steel double oven at a Sears Outlet in Portland and after we installed it we discovered there was damage to the doors that caused the lower oven to not work.  We called the service dept and they could not find anyone to fix it. We spent 2+ weeks working on trying to find someone. So, we drove it back to Portland and returned it. They normally charge a 15% restocking fee but since the repair dispatch couldn't find anyone who would come to our house to fix it, they gave us a full refund.  :-)  We had bought our cook-top and microwave from Oldfield's locally in Eugene, so we went back to them to purchase all our appliances.  It was a little more money but well worth it. They have great customer service and they will service our appliances if we have any problems. The good thing about returning the double oven is I can have white appliances. :-) We were going with stainless steel only because of the great price we got on the double oven. So we exchanged the stainless steel microwave for a white one, purchased a white double oven they had in stock and ordered a white dishwasher. They all came in today. I'm ecstatic! :-D

Well, that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by to see our progress on the project. :-)

We're sooo close!!!!

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But close only counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, right? LOL

This is what we have been up to on the ranch since the last time I posted:

Larry and Uncle Bill put under-layment down in the bathrooms and utility room for the vinyl to be put on. Here is what the vinyl looks like.

Canning room and Utility room...

Guest Bathroom and Master Bathroom...

The guys pulled up the last of the vinyl in the areas where hardwood flooring went.  I haven't taken any photo's of the hardwood except this one with the baseboards drying in the dinning room. You can see the floor in the kitchen area. The picture does it no justice!

They put all the plugs and light switches in. You can see them in the kitchen/dinning area in the previous photo.

Aunt Sally and I cleaned old caulking off the siding that had come loose. When I say old, it really isn't that old...only a few months!  I have been really disappointed in the workmanship of the contractor we hired to do framing and siding. :(  Then I re-caulked those areas and the areas where the contractor forgot to put caulking.

Uncle Bill, Aunt Sally and I sanded the original kitchen cabinets and primed them. They are in the canning room and are ready to be painted. :)  It's slow going. There is always something that needs to get done sooner than the cabinets.

We finally decided on the kind of interior doors...white! :-) They are installed but not painted yet. We are working on that today. Because it's pouring down rain the paint is not drying fast so we won't get the doors done today but by tomorrow evening they should be done.

The garden was busy also. LOL  There were enough Anaheim peppers to supply an army. Oh, and let's not forget the zucchini. We have always planted to many zucchini plants. Well this time Larry only planted one green and one yellow. Still too many. LOL It is finally starting to slow down with the cooler and wet weather.  Every time a contractor gets ready to leave at the end of the day, I give them a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes and peppers. :) And I still have too many!!!!  Here is the 4th picking....

Aunt Sally and Uncle Bill finally had to head south for the winter. We miss them! They have been such a huge help and we owe so much to them for all they have done. Thank You!! Love you Aunt Sally and Uncle Bill!!

We had more visitors just before Aunt Sally and Uncle Bill hit the road. Another Aunt of mine and Uncle came for a quick visit before going hunting. Uncle Ken helped Uncle Bill with installing the trim. Larry went to work so the Uncles were left in charge. :) They did a Great Job!! Thank you Uncle Ken!!! It was great to see you and Aunt Charlene.  Here is a picture of the trim in the master bedroom...

The carpet was put in shortly after I took this picture. It looks amazing. I am very pleased with the way things are looking.  Here are a couple pictures of the progress...this one is the last time we will see the 1970's green vinyl. :)

Here the living room is halfway done. I don't have any pictures of the carpet completely done. I will have that in the next post.

The carpet was put in on a Friday and the next day our cabinets arrived. I LOVE them!!! I could use a few more knots but I'm pleased with them. I can't wait till we get them installed.  I'll show them in the next post. ;)

Larry and I have been finishing up the exterior painting the past couple days. Larry and Uncle Bill painted the primer and then Uncle Bill and Aunt Sally had to hit the road so Larry was on his own. I was helpful but not quite as much as Uncle Bill. ;) We have touch up painting and then the second coat on the rain gutter board to do. But it's pouring down as I write this. I wasn't sure about the color of the house at first but it has grown on me. I think it looks good. I should be doing a million other things besides typing this blog entry. Like install cabinets, painting the canning room cabinets, installing doorhandles, laundry, or make dinner. ;-) But here I am. LOL  Here is a couple pictures of the exterior. I think prepping for painting is a longer process than painting it self.  In this first picture you can see all the white lines where I had to re-caulk. UGH!!

Larry priming...

Priming is done and the two coats of paint. Trim is still left to be done....

Like I said earlier the cabinets need to be installed, the kitchen appliances, we still need the HVAC to be installed and a hot water heater.  The doors are getting painted today and when those are done we will put them in the house. Then the closet sliding doors need to be installed and we need one more toilet.  We also have been shopping for a wood-stove, rain gutters and a new bed.  Despite the list of to do's, I am soooo ready to move in!!! :-D

We're so close, yet so far away!

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we're up too. :-)


Take Care!

It's September already?!!!!!!!

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Wow, time flies when your having fun. LOL ;-)

Since I posted last time we have passed electrical, plumbing and duct work inspections. :-)  The wall and crawl space insulation was installed. The drywall was done and Larry and Uncle Bill primed and painted the walls. And during all this we went to a wedding celebration and have had visitors throughout August. So needless to say it has been very busy and productive. :-) Here are photo's to bring you up to date of the work that has happened this past month......

Insulation: Since we have 2 x 4 exterior walls we put bat insulation and a 1 inch rigid board to give it more R-value. The shiny wall you see in the following photo's is the rigid board. It was a interesting look. ;-)

Then came drywall...

And then the paint! :-) The guys did a great job with the paint and they did it in only 3 days!!

Our company that was visiting this past weekend had asked what to bring. I told them, since the house was not done, they needed to bring everything for camping and we would supply the tent, LOL, the house made a great tent, matter of fact, it was pretty chilly in the night and the house has stayed nice and warm for them. We also installed a toilet in the Master Bathroom so they didn't need to come into the RV in the night. It has worked out great.

This next week the hardwood flooring will arrive and the following week they will install it. Carpet and vinyl will be the following week after that, hopefully. We have not ordered doors as of yet so that really has to be done soon before carpet and vinyl.  We just can't decide on whether to go with white doors or with wood with a natural finish. Our last house was decided in about two weeks, it is a bit daunting this go around. It's the big decision for the week. We have two weeks really before we are holding the project up, so, I'm not too worried about it.  The hard wood we chose is Red Oak #2 with a natural finish. I Love it cause it has more knots and variations in it. :-)  The carpet is a neutral beige with some flecks of different colors in it, too help hide the dirt. ;-)  We are putting vinyl in the bathrooms, utility room and canning room. The hardwood will be in the kitchen, dinning room, pantry, entry way from the garage and the front door. Carpet will be in the living room, hallway to bedrooms and all three of the bedrooms. After picking doors and ordering them the next decision is tile for the guest bathroom and the master bath. Lots to do still. :-)

Well, that is all I can think of for now. Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we are up too.
:-)

Week of 16th-22nd...I'm posting sooner than a month! :-)

This week has been very busy. Between having two drywall companies out to give us bids on doing the drywall and Larry driving to Portland to pick up the geothermal unit, the low voltage wiring was completed. :-)  That included the door bell, speaker wire and the CAT 6 for phone, tv and computer.

The duct work was also completed. I didn't take any pictures of the underfloor duct work but here are some of the attic space.

We also made a couple changes to the electrical that the inspector required. One was we needed to move the two plugs on each side of the kitchen sink closer to the sink. Kind of strange that there is a maximum  distance a plug can be from a sink.

The garden is doing great.  Aunt Sally pulled the pea plants and picked the peas off the plants.  I then shucked them. They were a little tough cause we waited a couple days too long to pick them so I'm going to dry them and see how they are in soups this winter.  We harvested 4 large heads of broccoli last week. I mean large! They were at least 12 to 15 inches wide!  We have two more that will be ready to harvest in the next couple days.  The strawberries have been ripening but the birds are getting to them before Larry does.  We need to get some netting for cover.  He was able to eat one tonight and the one below will be ready in the next day or so. Hopefully he will get to enjoy it. :-)  The peppers and tomatoes are doing well and I have a few yellow zucchini that should be ready tomorrow.  We have been having lots of salads and the onions are yummy. Aunt Sally saved some seeds from a squash and she planted them outside the garden fence. Their doing great. She put a few more in 4" pots and then after they got to big for them she put those plants in the garden area.  There is a tiny round thing growing from the one of the plants. It's really cute. 

The Japanese Lantern tree in front is blooming with bright yellow tiny flowers. It's gorgeous but we can hear the bees buzzing. It's a little nerving but I'm getting used to it.

The fruit trees have some fruit on them. The plum has just a few plums and the apple tree has more than I expected. They both need pruning badly, we will probably prune them clear back to the trunk next spring and see if they come back healthier.  I put the Fuji tree in the garden fenced area and it's doing great. We hope to get peaches, pears and maybe another apple tree for the orchard area.

As I was typing this post Larry called me to come outside with my camera. Low and behold there was an Elk in our pasture. :-) It's the first time we've seen Elk on the property.

Thanks for stopping by to see what we are up to. :-)

Here we are! :-)

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Once again I am posting a month later. LOL It is always busy around here with something going on I never seem to get to the blog. I'm going to keep trying to post more often. :-)

My nephew's wedding in Edmonds was beautiful. The setting was breath taking and the ceremony was perfect. We had a great time seeing family and friends, especially some of the boys from the little league baseball team that Larry coached when we lived in North Bend. The Little League Organization at the time didn't think our kids were that good. Well, that year the kids were undefeated and won the end of the season tournament! Those kids are now in their 20's and they are still talking about it. :-) Happy old memories and we made some new ones. I was privileged to make the bride and groom their cake, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese filling and Butter Cream frosting. My dear friend Deanna let me invade her kitchen to bake it and she helped me pull it together. :-) The bride and groom Loved it, which makes me happy. :-) It was a wonderful time meeting our new family members and seeing family and friends we hadn't seen a while. 

After we got back from the wedding it was back to work. Larry and Bill, my Great-Uncle, finished the electrical and then we had a sheet metal/HVAC business come in and install the duct work for the HVAC. It has been pretty hot around here so the duct work has been off and on. They will be back this week to finish. We ordered our system. It's a Geo-Thermal open loop system. Not sure when it will be here. As I type this I realize we haven't heard from them so I need to put that on the list of “To Do's” call them and see where it's at. Always something to do around here.  Larry built his first wall with the help of Uncle Bill. He was pretty proud of it. :-) Here is a snap shot of the plumbing and electrical work they have done. It's hard to get pictures of the scope of the work they have done.

 Guest bathroom...Laundry room...Pot filler in Canning room...Electrical Panel...Canning room sink plumbing...Kitchen plumbing and HVAC plumbing and electrical

One Sunday we were able see our granddaughter ride. We have never seen her compete and we were so excited she was near enough for us to see her! She is getting to know her new horse and is progressing in her skills. It was great to see her compete and afterwords we went to lunch and had a wonderful visit. We are so proud of the young lady that she is and the commitment she has to her sport. :-)

Larry did two weeks of contract work and my Aunt and Uncle and I worked on the yard around the house. Cleaning it up and taking stuff to the scrap yard and dump. It's looking good. Now I need to find someone who has a Cat to come do some dirt work for me. I need leveling and some dirt moved away from the house. It's on the list. ;-) Uncle Bill and I rebuilt the temporary steps also. The steps were going towards where the bay window is now. They would not fit that way anymore so we had to turn them around and rebuild the supports.

While Larry was gone his cousin and her husband came for a visit with their Motor-home. We have known they were coming for a couple months but Larry couldn't turn down the work so unfortunately he was gone the entire time they were here. While they were here we went wine tasting and I learned more about the area and growing and making wine. They got to swap RVing stories with my Aunt and Uncle which was fun to listen to. It was a great visit. We joked that we were running an RV park. We had 3 RV's in the driveway. LOL And while they were here I finally caught a humming bird at my feeder!

The garden is looking real good. My Aunt tended to it while Larry was gone and Larry and her work on it a little each night. We have been eating salad, peas and broccoli from the garden and I have an artichoke to pick and eat today. :-)

Noah is still around and sweet as ever. He really missed Larry while he was gone but is warming up to the rest of us. Larry and I bought a brush and more fly spray for him. Noah seems to really like being brushed so we are doing it often and keeping the fly spray on him. Our granddaughter gave us some tips on getting the fly spray on his face. He hates it! So we now spray it on our hands and rub it on his face. He likes it much better.  It's been pretty warm here and he hangs out in the barn to keep cool. It's on the list to clean out the area he stands in and to clean the water trough.

The quail are still around and I finally found the babies. But since I found them and took pictures they have been hiding out. We also found a sparrow's nest in the grass. Aunt Sally put a stick near it so we wouldn't mow over it. This bird is so tiny and the eggs were as big as the end of my thumb!! After they hatched they were there for about 4 days and then they were gone. We think they were eaten by some other wildlife. :-( The bucks are still hanging around but are being more sneaky. I think they sense I want them in my freezer. ;-) Boy their horns are sure growing! 

This past week Larry and I went to Pasco to our storage units to get boat electronics and fishing poles. It was a long trip but we thought it was worth it. Soon we will be doing less with the house and hopefully contractors will be doing more that way we can go fishing!!! And we can't go fishing without the electronics or the poles!! We also brought the patio furniture and weed sprayers down. Since we were making the trip we took the trailer and loaded it up! It was an overnight trip so not much visiting but we stayed at my dear friends house so I got to spend some quality time with her. It was so nice she had us stay with them. :-) Larry went up to the old neighborhood and got our weed sprayers from our old neighbors/friends. He had a good visit with them but was disappointed that the family who bought the house from us wasn't keeping up the pasture. Just before we left town we had lunch with my niece. It was a short visit but enough time to give hugs and catch up. :-)

I took this next picture in Roseburg. It's by the Hospital. I was surprised to see a piece of the Twin Towers in Roseburg, OR. :-)

4th of July day we took off for the mountains and geocached all day on Camp Creek Rd. It was a nice break. Here are a few pictures I took that day...

Well, that brings us up to date. :-) I will do my best to post more often than once a month. But I can't promise anything. LOL

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we're up to. :-)

We are still here! :-)

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It's been a month since my last post and alot has happened since then. So much so that I have not had time to sit down and write up a post!  Here is a short summary of what has been going on since the last time I posted...

I went to my Sister's and took care of her and her pug dogs for two weeks and then brought her home with me. The pugs stayed at home with the other family in the house. :-)

The day I got home my Great-Aunt and Uncle showed up. They are here for the summer to help us and they are a BIG help!!!! We wouldn't even be halfway as far into the project as we are now without them! :-)

My Sister, Aunt and I did some Geocashing while we drove out to the old family homestead in Myrtle Point.  It was a great day! So neat to see the property and the area where my family lived so many years ago.

The next day after I got home and my Great-Aunt arrived, her siblings came down for a family get together. So we had two Great-Aunts and one Great-Uncle and one Uncle with their spouses here for dinner. It was great to see everyone get together. It had been a while for all of them. It was also fun cause my Sister was here also.

There has been alot more wildlife around...deer, quail, a bobcat, hawks, turkeys, mice, snakes, snakes, and more snakes. EEEEUWWWWWWW!!! I HATE snakes!! Yes, Hate is a strong word but needed in this instance!

The plumbing is done thanks to my Uncle! We didn't know he was a plumber until the big family dinner. So we hired him. :-)

The electrical will be finished hopefully this week and then we can have inspections before we leave for our Nephew's wedding this weekend. :-)

Well, that brings us up to date. Here are some photo's from the last month. Enjoy! 

 Index, WA. My Sister and Sister-from another mister took me here. So beautiful!!

 I'm soo crazy about barns. This one is on the way to the family homestead in Mytrle Point, OR.

 My Great-Aunt in front of her childhood home in Mytrle Point, OR. It was moved up a block from the original corner it was on. Now stands some fuel storage tanks.

 This is where the house stood.

 Here is the theater my Great-Aunt watched movies while her Momma worked across the street. :-)

 Here is the family homestead property. The house burnt down many years after our family sold it. The only thing that stands is the cedar tree.

 This is a cool house so I had to take a picture. Come to find out my Grandmother lived here. lol

 Here we are at the coast for Memorial Day. :-)

 My two Great-Aunts. :-) And that beautiful whisteria.

 The resident quail. :-)

 My Auntie helping me mow the ranch. :-)

 The view from the RV. Love it!

 Had to get this picture. :-)

 I take hundreds of photo's of flowers and trees and barns. lol :-)

 We bought a Fuji apple tree. My first apples!!! :-)

Trees and stumps. Soooo cool!!!

 My favorite Lighthouse in the whole world. And my favorite fishing grounds. Winchester Bay, OR.

 The elk at Dean's Creek. OMGoodness!!! I LOVE the velvet antlers!!!!

 A barn on highway 38 on the way to Winchesterbay, OR. There is a Geocache near here.

 Ok, I also take lots of pictures of moss and old mans beard. :-)

This deer was right out our doorstep. :-)

My Great-Aunt took this of our property from up the hill across from us. OMGoodness!! So Cool! I Love it!!

 This is a picture of Elkton! So pretty!

 More deer!

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we are up to. Until next time! Love and Hugs

First week of May...

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Things here have been moving along. In the house this week we worked on the electrical wiring. Well, Larry did most of the work, I was some help.  He pulled wires out of the main in order to put in new.  Two new ground rods were put in and wired. It was a chore. In cleaning around the outside of the house, throughout the weeks, we found around 10 ground rods. None of which were wired properly. Larry pulled all the copper wire that was going to various ground rods and luckily there was one long enough to reuse. So now we have two new ground rods with reused wire that was wired Safely! :) Larry also put in the new RV circuit. It's up and running, ready for visitors. :)  He says it took him a day but it only took an afternoon. It was hard work though. That wire is thick and hard to get it to go where you want it too.  He also started wiring the can lights and ceiling fan in the living room. He spent a day at tearing out flooring and sub-flooring in what was a bathroom.  It was totally rotten. The blessing in that was it made it easier to get to the crawlspace to wire the ground rods.

This weeks wildlife....
I had Larry hang a hummingbird feeder for me in a tree. The feeder was hanging on the house and I cleaned it up and filled it. Hoping we would see some hummers. So far we have seen two and I'm shocked that two little birds can drink a feeder dry in two days!!

 One night while eating dinner we were entertained with the quail strolling by eating their dinner.

On Monday and Tuesday we cleaned around the outside of the house and loaded the truck up for Wednesday. Wednesday is dump day around here. As we were clearing the piles we came across huge worms! The pictures don't do them justice. If I had more time I would sell them to fisherman.   

Also we had a dishwasher to get rid of and the dump wouldn't take it as an appliance. So Larry took the motor off and put it in the metal pile and proceeded to use his saws-all to cut it into pieces.  He was having just a little too much fun. :)

I never thought I would say I love a tractor, but I Love our tractor!! We used it alot when we were building our house in WA but I didn't think we would here. I was wrong. She is a working horse!!

This Azalea went into full bloom this week.  It's a little scraggly but a pretty color.

Wednesday afternoon we were gone and got back around 7pm.  I wanted to see if I could record Noah acting all happy to see Larry. They have their routine everyday but sometimes Noah is soooo cute with his excitement, he talks and runs full boar to the barn. Larry went to the barn to get the feed and I stood outside so I could record. Before Larry could call him Noah came running and talking. And when he came to me he did this circle dance. It was so cute!  I wanted to upload the video but I can't figure out what the issue is. When I figure it out I will post it. :)

Today was the annual FFA plant sale. And yes we bought plants. Several tomato varieties, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, basil, chives and cilantro.  It was great to get out in the community and it was a perfect day for it. The sun was out and not a cloud in the sky. On our way home we stopped by the local restaurant and bought two cinnamon rolls. A perfect ending to the week. :)

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we're up to.
Larry and Shannon

Welcome to the Brier Ranch!

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I started this blog for the family and friends who are interested in seeing the progress of our new adventure. It was called retirement but now it's called remodeling. LOL Everyone told Hubby he was going to work harder in retirement than he ever did when he was working. They were right. ;-)

The remodeling of the 1969 ranch style home is in full swing. It started out as a 5 bedroom, two bath house. It is being reworked to a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a canning room and laundry room.  We started in December 2011 so the following photo's are from the start of the project up to today. You will see the 5th wheel in a few of the photos. Yes, we are camping on site, but it's not too bad, we have full hookups, phone, dish and the fastest internet we've ever had! :-)  

The contractor we hired to do some of the work is almost done with his tasks and then it's up to us to do the electrical and pluming. We hired him to do the roof, re-framing, put new windows in, build a bay window, replace sub-flooring where needed, fir out the garage for insulation and drywall, pull trees, move dirt, and put in new exterior doors. We will have other contractors to do insulation and drywall.

Now that I have finally started the blog there won't be as many photo's in one post as I have here. I plan on keeping things more up to date. :-) 

The before pictures.....