Two Silos Farm

With the den finished, and the computers moved, I’m finally making some room in the bedroom. We’ve had it wall-to-wall furniture for so long. It is nice to be able to spread out again.

I’m working on moving things around so I can open up the wall between the old living room (our bedroom) and the small bedroom that make up the downstairs area of the two story section. The stairway is between then, but it does not take up the whole width of the section. Based on the trim, I think there use to be a doorway in that location. Sure will make it easier to deal with if that is the case. Otherwise I’ll be using the reciprocating saw to get the job done.

Here is what the room looked like before I started. I had to move the loveseat out of the way. When I have the wall open, it will get moved to the bedroom (and stuff will get moved out of the bedroom) lots of “shift the shit” to be doing in the next weeks.

Here is a good picture of a bunch of what I have to move – my hubby’s reloading stuff.

Eventually we will have the reloading room finished, but for now it needs another home. I plan on putting it in the dining/living room temporarily. The reloading room is next on the work plan after I get stuff moved around.

Once I got the shelves and furniture out of the way, I removed the piece of trim. Nice wallpaper underneath. Turns out it was the bottom layer.

As I started pealing back the wallpaper, I found seven layers. See if you can pick them all out.

The top layer is the beige with the scroll work look. Underneath that was the dark brown with gold/yellow print. This picture shows what that looked like. Don’t know why this scrap was underneath the first layer of this print.

Under the brown is the yellow/white stripe. Then another beige with a brown stencil look design. Under that is a pink with dark pink/blue floral print. The next layer is another beige, with a pink stripe alternating with a vase/floral design. And finally, the pale green floral print.

Once through the “structural wall paper” as my husband call it, I was ready to remove plaster. And I was as I hoped, a blocked in doorway. This meant that the slats were cut on each side, and plaster had been “patched” in the area, so it all came out quite easily, leaving a relatively “finished” edge.

Once I had the lath/plaster removed on this side, hubby cut the nails from the patched in 2x4’s, and we pulled the opposing lath/plaster wall right out.

Well, some of the plaster stayed up at the bottom, but that was no big deal to clean up. Now we’ll need to make a dump run soon – the truck is getting full again.

There is a wardrobe on the other side of the wall, it will be moved into the dressing room. So right now it does not look much like a doorway. It’s particle board furniture, so weighs a ton!

I’ll move it out, move the couch in. Move some other stuff out, and move the bed, move the chair in, and move everything around . . . Not to bad, except I have a water bed, so that is an adventure in itself.

I've now got 6 pie fillings in the freezer, and a lot of apple slices in the dehydrator (first time using the dehydrator, don't know how the will turn out).

I still have over half of the apples I started with! I think once the pie fillings have frozen, I'll pop them out of the pie pans and make six more. 1 dozen apple pies ready to put into crusts doesn't sound like too many to have on hand.

I still haven't done anything with the squash, but they keep way better than apples.

Now I think I'll go do something fun. I need more storage in the kitchen, and I discovered that the one white pantry cupboard(particle board furniture) will fit in the opening I'll have if I take out the door to what while soon be my dressing room (that is also a temporary measure). Eventually there will be cabinets in that spot anyway. Then I'll have more room on the other side once I close up the door to the bedroom to get a second pantry cupboard(maybe even a bigger one). Eventually, all these temporary cupboards and shelves I've been using can end up upstairs in the guest bedroom, or in my garden shed or the shop.

First I've got to go play "shift the sh!t". I have to find someplace to put the two shelves full of hubby's reloading stuff so I can get to the door. I also have to move the loveseat and take all the books on the one wall done and remove the bookshelves so I can open up a new doorway in that wall (eventually that whole area will be gutted and the walls moved, so I don't have to be too careful - and its not a support wall).

I'll have to take all my work clothes out of my wardrobe in the bedroom so I can move that (particle board again, boy that stuff is HEAVY!!) because it against the wall that the new doorway will be in. Once I have the opening, the wardrobe will be moved into the adjoining room. Then I close up the door from the bedroom to the kitchen (that is a double glass door, so it will be real nice to hang a blanket over it so I'll no longer get woke up when someone (son) turns on the lights in the kitchen). It's a water bed, so moving it takes a bit more work than a regular bed.

Then I'll move some of the other dressers into the dressing room, and move the love seat and chair into the bedroom. Then I can move all my sewing stuff into the dressing room, and move the saddles upstairs to the storage room that my sewing stuff (and tons of other stuff) has been stored. The saddles (I have four) are in the dining room right now. I have them two on a stand, so they don't take up a huge amount of room.

BTW, I moved the fish tank (it is still not set up). When I went to vote, they had an old upright piano behind the voting boxes. One will fit right where I had the tank, and the piano is what I really wanted there anyway. Tank is now against the wall next to the patio door, and the chair (that will go in the bedroom) is now in the way between the den and the kitchen.

Once all that is done, then I can finally get back to working on the house. I think I can have the reloading room done by thanksgiving (so the reloading stuff won't have to sit out in the way for too long). Not sure what we'll do after that, as a lot depends on how much longer my husband will be working on this job. Once he is off work, then we'll get busy on rebuilding the laundry room floor, and then we can put in the second bath - I so miss having two toilets!!!!

Anyway, at least I'm feeling a bit motivated today. Probably will only get a fraction of what I want to get done - done, but at least I did something with those apples that I insisted my hubby pick long ago.

Took another day off work, and got the garden ready for spring. I sure do love my new tiller. Here is the garden before I started. I raked up the loose plant matter, and tossed it for the chickens to pick through.

Then I took out the tiller. Made one pass with counter rotation, and that ground up everything very well. Then one more pass on forward and it’s ready for spring. I sure do like the look with no footprints.

It won’t stay that way long, the cats and dog like playing in the dirt.

I brought my fish tank home from work. I still don’t know for sure where I want to put it. For now it is in the den. I really wanted to put a piano there – we will see. I’ll make sure I am happy where I have it before I fill it with water.

I also got the doors painted, patio, front and the exterior of the main door. I think I’ve about got the fall chores done.

I put away the hoses, and gave the small pine trees a good drink. Darn deer have been after the trees again – sure hope we can put some venison in the new freezer this season!

The deer killed a few last year, and who knows what this one will end up like come spring. With as close as these are to the house, one would think the deer would leave them alone. I find tracks in the back yard all the time, but come hunting season, they will probably not be anywhere around.

I took a few pictures of the house, sure is fun to go back and look at the pictures before we started. It’s been over two years.

The road side before

after

The back side before

and after

This is what the house had looked like for most of that time.

I know I’ll be taking the siding off the 2 story section when we fix the base, but I like having it looking finished for now.

Things have been going very slow. Hubby has not been home much, working 6-7 days a week. I’ve been trying not to have projects for him on the few days he is home.

I finally decided I really don’t like the off white trim in the den. I don’t know, guess I had a brain fart or something when I decided to paint it that color. Originally this room had paneling painted offwhite, with dark brown trim. I loved the look, and wanted to keep it. Then Hubby decided he didn’t want paneling, so I went with wallpaper that gives the look of paneling. Then I forgot I wanted dark brown trim, and painted it off white, and didn’t like it.

It’s a pain, now that the trim is up, but I’m repainting it. Hubby was teasing me about it having more of an old farmhouse (multi layers of paint) look now. In places, you can just see the white paint underneath (just barely) and it looks kind of neat. So I think I’ll keep it that way.

There is furniture in the way too, so it is taking a bit. I have to be extra careful not to get paint on the carpet. The new trowel I bought sure has come in handy. Bought it for taping sheetrock, but it works great as a paint guard too.

Here is a picture showing some of the trim painted the new brown, and some the old white. I like it a lot better already. This color also goes well in the dining area, so we’ll use it there too. The white looked funny, so we didn’t know how to handle the transition between the two rooms (the 6’ wide opening) now we don’t have to worry about that looking stupid.

We’ve been having some real nice weather so far. It was so cold for a while there, I’ve been surprised to have this warm weather here in November. I’m hoping to get some more outdoor work done. Have the garden to deal with, but the apples and squash have been picked and brought in. I have four bags of apples and several bags of squash. At least the squash will keep, but I’ll have to deal with the apples before long.

This last weekend I got the last of the siding up. Time to celebrate! I had hubby help with the facia at the peaks – I had a hard time getting that far up the ladder. He has quite a longer reach than I have, and he’s not really afraid of heights either. I get to the point where I just can’t seem to make myself go any farther up, but after going up and down a lot of time, I do get use to it. Sure am glad the ladders can be put away for now.

Here is the west side.

And finishing up on the east (road) side.

All Done!!!

Now I can get back to the inside of the house.

At least with the cool mornings, I have an excuse not to be outside with the sunrise. Was about 24 this morning. Yesterday I finished the siding on the west side, and today I will finish the siding on the east (road) side. Bought an octagon vent thing to put up under the sofits. Won't actually vent it, but it will give more visual appeal to the front of the house.

Have not finished painting the trim in the den yet. Good thing because we've decided the color is wrong. Went brain dead and forgot that I really wanted light paneling with very dark trim, and painted the trim the same color as the ceiling. Just don't like the look, so I'll be painting again. Will be a lot more work this time, as the trim was not installed when I painted it the first time. Oh well, been there done that before

My husband is pretty good about me changing my mind, but that is because in most cases, it only means more work for me. He's not near as good when I want him to change something he's done . . .

It's warming up outside, and I have strips of vinyl siding laying in the sun to warm them up and get them more flexible. If they are cold, I can't cut them with the tin snips (vinyl cracks) and it's way easier to use the snips than a utility knife.

Next project will be opening up the wall between the two downstairs bedrooms. This is a temporary measure, but will make getting from the master bedroom to the bathroom so much easier - will no longer include a trek across the kitchen. Then I'll bring my sewing stuff downstairs, and move the saddles (I have three horses and four saddles - go figure . . .) upstairs, and then we'll have room in the living room/dining area to start working on the railing (we have the pieces, just need to start putting it together).

And THEN, we may finally get to putting in the second bathroom. I'm getting tired of only having one stool in the house . . . It's not so bad for the "boys".

I think I'll be able to keep myself busy enough while hubby is working out of town. Don't know how long this project will last, but should be a few months.

I also hope to till up the garden and work on the runoff problem around the house. Guess I'd better grab something to eat and get to work.

Yesterday was our anniversary. 27 years (and three houses) together. Since I am writing this in December, I can’t remember if we did anything or not. Oh yea, I remember, we went out for dinner. Nothing fancy. I’ve gotten more sofits up, and a bit more siding.

We got the trim boards up on the bay window. It sure looks nice. Hubby is real happy to finally have that finished. The boards have been in the shop since early spring.

Slowly but surely we are getting the outside looking nice. I’ve been taking some extra time off work to get as much done before I take my trip to Mississippi. Don’t like the idea of giving up a whole weekend, but my boss really wanted me to take this trip. I’m sure it will be fun, but I’m such a homebody.

Hubby has been working out of town since the end of September. Have not seen a whole lot of him lately. Son will have to take care of things while I’m out of town.

Ok, I know it's not really morning here now, but I've already touched up the nail holes in the trim in the den, and put a coat of paint on the trim boards that hubby and I cut for around the bay (exterior). I'm about ready to put the meat in the crock pot for the day, and head back out to get to work on the siding. Chickens are already outside and eating scraps from last night's salad. Dog got some leftovers too, but the cats had to catch their own breakfast (Anna had a mouse, but the Dog wanted it . . .)

Here are a couple of pictures of the trim installed in the Den.

Now that I have the nail holes filled and painted, we can start moving in furniture.

Talked over selling the horses again, and again, we're not going to. I guess I should just give up the idea I'll actually ever sell them. Really need to send them somewhere to get some training. Just have not found someone within easy trailering distance. Have not tried too hard, maybe there is someone down in Howard's (NE) neck of the woods.

Hubby and I decided we'll make a real effort to get the outside of the house all finished up and nice looking. It's been in different stages of re-roofing/re-siding for three years. Neighbors' kids have even commented about the strange looking house LOL!!

I’ve been working on the sofits, they have to be done before I can go any higher with the siding. That sure is tedous work. You spend a lot of time and don’t have a lot of results to show for it.

The hay is drying, and we hope the neighbor will get it baled before we have more rain. No rain in the forecast until Tuesday. I think we may finally be out of the rainy cycle we've had since mid August. Hubby and I sure are glad we did the roof in the early summer, as we sure would not have had decent weather to do it this fall.

Yesterday Hubby and I went shopping. Spent too much money as always. I have to dress up for work, and am taking a trip to Mississippi next weekend so a few new outfits were in order. I prefer to wear my stuff until it's really worn out, but looking a bit threadbare at work is not a good idea. Got a BOD meeting on Thursday too. I draw the line at wearing makeup though LOL!

We also picked up a food saver unit. Was 1/2 off at Kohl’s, and I had a coupon for another 15% off. We've been thinking of getting one for quite a while. Now with that, and our grinder that has not been used yet (no deer last year) we'll be all set - hope the deer cooperate better this year.

Also got hubby a new computer desk. Isn't much of a desk, but he didn't want to spend much. I'm still using the old one that we built years ago for Son. He is using the bigger desk that daughter had. Yup, we seem to move furniture around like that. My old computer desk (a very large unit) is out in the shop doing duty as a junk holder now.

Well, that is life here in SD. Sun is shining and I've got work to do.

I’ve continued working on the siding. Slow but sure and it will get done. Decided against renting the lift, as I’m working on this bit by bit. So we bought a second 8’ ladder for me to use.

We also got a new freezer (25’ chest type). It’s a Frigidaire, and I’m quite happy with it. Almost got a larger one, but it turns out the salesman either lied or didn’t know what he was talking about. I’d looked online and decided on the Frigidaire because I liked the divider system they had. Sure there were other reasons, but that was the deciding factor between this and a whirlpool based one. They all had two rows of baskets, this one has dividers. I was hoping for a 19 cu foot one at the time, and the local dealer only had the 25’ model. We looked around a bit, and then ended up back at the local place and asked if they could order the 19’ one for us. Salesman said yes, but then it would cost us the same as the 25’ one they had in stock. Then he says “what a minute, we just got some 22’ ones in, I’ll sell them to you for cheaper”. I mentioned that I didn’t think Frigidaire made one that size, and said that I would take it if it also had the same divider system in it. So the salesman goes out back, comes back and says “Yup, it’s what you are looking for” so I paid for it and arranged to have it delivered the next week.

We made room for it in the basement, but it was going to be a tight fit. It’s a good thing my husband was home when they showed up. The delivery crew got it unpacked, and hubby was helping them get it in the house when he said “what a minute!” Then he asked me if I got an Amana. I said “No” it was supposed to be a Frigidaire. The sales slip had the number for the Amana, but didn’t list a name. Since the salesman had assured me it was a Frigidaire, I had no reason to question the model number.

I called the store, and talked to the manager. He said he wanted to “make things write” so I told him I wanted him to order the 19’ model for the price I paid on this one. He said that would be ok, but then I’d have to pay an additional $50 for delivery. At that price, it was cheaper for us to go pick one up ourselves in the town farther down the road. I told him I was real upset about the salesman’s tactics (salesman had the day off) and manager again assured me he would make it right. Since he had already declined my suggestion, I told him to credit my charge card back and told the delivery men to take it back out.

They were chuckling to my husband, turns out this sort of thing happened before – salesman sold the customer a different model than they thought they were getting. If I had wanted an Amana, I would have bought it from the dealer down the street for this place, as they were cheaper. But that is not the model I wanted.

Hubby and I talked about it, and ended up driving into Sioux Falls and picking up a 15’ freezer for a lot less. We decided we would keep the 9’ we already had in the basement, instead of moving it to the shop, so over all, we have plenty of storage. I sure do like that new freezer. Now I can get to work processing some of our produce.

We had a bumper apple crop this year. Most are still on the tree, but we’ll have to get them picked pretty soon, before the weather gets real cold. I love the look of the tree with all the red apples. We had none last year. It got warm real early, and the tree blossomed before there were many insects out. Then it got real cold, and what may have gotten pollinated probably got frozen. I think we had 3 – 4 apples in total. This year I expect 3-4 bags of apples.

On the remodeling front, Hubby made the trim for the den. He used the pine boards from the floor in the kitchen (old dining room). I painted it off white, the same color as the ceiling, but now I’m not sure if I like it. Here it is ready to be installed.

And like I mentioned at the start, I’m still making progress on the siding. Don’t know how long it will take, I just hope the weather stays warm long enough for me to get it done. Vinyl siding is very hard to work with in colder weather. It gets brittle and some times cracks when you try cutting it.

I’ve had to start working on the sofit also. This picture shows a bit of progress there.