Literally.

Yes, we are closer to being able to move in.  And the Ft. Jackson Bridge is quickly coming into focus.  It is supposed to be finished by July - a bit ahead of schedule.  Now it is a race to see who will be finished first - will the Beornings get to move before the bridge is ready??? 




I have news about getting an offer on the Ft. Jackson house but I'm too disgruntled to talk about it today.  Maybe tomorrow.  In the meantime, please enjoy these fun tilt-shift photos of the bridge's progress.

This Saturday, we all went to do some work at the Beorningstead. 

Bryan worked on our Teeny Tiny temporary Shower. It still needs water and some waterproof walls and a vent.

Ya.  It's not going to be fun.  But we have determined that we will have to wait for summer vacation to get the roof work done on the back part of the house, which means that the main bathroom will have to wait until the roof is done. 










After sweeping upstairs and pulling off a bunch of loose wallpaper in preparation for priming the upstairs bedrooms and hallway, we determined that it was a good time to get this abomination out of my studio.

It is the sink/counter top that Barbara used to use.  There was a disgusting rickety old improvised hand pump attached to it.  The pump came off with just a teeny bit of prying and promptly fell apart as I pulled it up out of the counter.  The rest of the de-construction was a bit more challenging.  I started in on the project myself but Molly & Maxx, seeing something they could pound on, promptly promoted me to supervisor/journalist and set to the task quite happily themselves.

As mentioned in previous posts, the Amish used huge nails to hold all sorts of things together.  They used several rail-road spike sized nails to secure the counter top to the back wall.   The bottom was inset into the floor and was nailed to the wall, the riser around the counter bottom and to the floor.  Some nails were pounded into the structure from down BELOW.

That thing did not want to MOVE. 




(Don't you love how Maxx had to insert himself into that photo?!)
It was finally dragged out, after much sweating and prying and now I have an empty spot with a lowered floor in my studio.  This is where I plan to put my long dyeing table.  I'm not sure how I will deal with the inset in the floor but I surely am glad to have that icky sink thing out of there.

Oh - our swallows are back.  As I was packing up our lunch gear, I head this little guy singing away about springtime, nests, old barns and bugs to eat as his mate swooped around the eaves.

Molly took some beautiful photos this weekend.











We all love the Dinner Bell.  However, seeing this photo, I can sense trouble a-brewing.  One of these days, Maxx will start yanking on that chain and all 50 feet of it will come slithering down out of the sky onto his head. 

He will cry and then someone will have to climb up onto the roof to wire it back on.










We have running hot and cold water.
















We have a potty to flush.

Yes.  This is a teeneency little room.  That's O.K. 

It will be very handy when Sissy is using the washroom upstairs and Maxx begins pounding on the door insisting that he has AN EMERGENCY! and needs to come in right now.  Very few things rouse contention as quickly as that scenario. 


There are also two working lights in the kitchen, one on the front porch and an outside motion sensor light above the side entry door.  Thanks, Mom!


This is a poor photo because it was getting dark and we were in a hurry to get home for baths and bed.  We're making progress!!

This is between us in Ft. Jackson and The Beorningstead.











The drive is now 12 miles instead of 6 - and we have to backtrack to get there.  Sigh. . . .















It makes fun tilt-shift fodder, though

















. . . ..

And our own chickens and a piggy and a bigger garden.

Harvard magazine has an interesting article about Modern Milk over here.  

Sustained milking and unnatural gestation are just one problem with modern milk.  Our modern dairy foods not only have excess hormones, they also lack Omega 3-6-9 fatty acids due to an unnatural diet and no pasture time, come from highly medicated cows, and don't even ask my opinion about rGBH, CAFOs and manure disposal.  We really don't want to go into all that.

I've been doing some research and, while I love the idea of a hairy coo (Scottish Highlander)  I'm just not sure about all that shagginess about the milking area.  I think we want one of these  - A Canadienne.

Lovely creatures, hardy, good browsers, small, great milk for cheese, pleasant dispositions and good meat-makers, too.  Plus, the breed originates in the same place as about a quarter of my ancestors - how could it be wrong?

These seedlings represent a deadline.  We need to move in time to get the garden ready for these little babies.  They are growing fast.  There is no way I will drive 12 miles to tend a garden - it is hard enough to convince myself to walk out the back door to garden.

On another note - we chose to attend conference this weekend instead of working at the Beorningstead.  It was a tough decision.  Bry and his mom got three light fixtures installed and working on Friday.  Today the pump may be functional. 




Still no news on the roof.  We need some more escrow cash to move on that but that may happen very soon - what with all the fixtures and water related stuff happening over there.


The boys played soccer between sessions in Saturday in the 89 degree weather.  Later, there was more soccer related stuff (and some hero worship) in the parking lot.

Here are some photos of the outside of the Beorningstead

Yes, it looks a bit beaten.  It is beaten, to a certain extent.  It is an old, old house that hasn't had any real TLC in a long time.  There is a new addition that is still a bit shoddy and has no siding on it at all.  The front porch is in desperate need of new supports, bottom enclosure, trim and finishing.  The asphalt siding has pretty much seen the end of its useful life.  The well house needs either to go away completely or be completely re-built.  And new trim or a good paint job is needed around all of the windows, doors and soffits.

But the structure itself is amazingly sound.  AND there are no bats and the water is clean.  We all love the layout downstairs.  The rooms are very open and connect in ways that make air and traffic flow through the house very smoothly.  There will be lots of wonderful hide & chase games with the dog & kids in the new house!  The upstairs rooms feel bigger in spite of it being a smaller house overall.  Plus we will have two potties.  Yes!  Two potties!






This photo shows the old, rusty roof that needs to be replaced as well as the recent "sun porch" addition that needs siding and trim.  That big window does amazing things to light and warm my studio. I can't wait to get moved in!  (The dead tree needs to go, even though the kids like to climb on it.)







You can see the well house here - see how it sits so close to the house?  Our well is under there and when this was a working farm,  milk was stored there in a cooler until it was picked up by a dairy truck.  Bry likes the idea of maintaining that bit of history but I would like that side of the house to look cleaner,  the well house also blocks my view of the back side yard from my studio.  Alternatively, there has been discussion about taking the well house down and building it back to join with the house, making our woodshed larger.




Inside, Bryan has finished the beams to replace the supports that used to be in the livingroom.  The wodstove will nestle into a tiled area right there between the two beams.  We are very glad to have the pole gone from the center of the room.  We are also very glad to have had so much help from friends and family getting those beams installed.  It wasn't a one man job!

Now that the beams are done and most of the wiring has been run, we can start putting insulation in the living room and kitchen areas.  Then wallboard can be put up and we can get another escrow check out to work on the roof.  We might be able to do that this week! 

Have I mentioned how eager I am to move over there, even though the place is still a shambles?  We are all so happy in that space.  Maxx is happier with the landscape around the house - there are so many more ways to get hurt and messy there!  Plus I am tired of having Bry gone so much to work over there.  I may change my mind, but at this point, I would rather live in the project than have to keep running over there to work on it.  It is also a pain to drag everything over there, pull materials out of storage and then lock it all up again when it is time to leave.  Mom & Dad, Jonathan and Mrs. Proper are all right there keeping an eye on things, but it is a bit worry some to not be right there all the time.

Here are some more neighbors.

Jenna ran over to say hello when Maxx and I went to Jonathan's to take distance photos of the Beorningstead. 











 And Lyra announced to us that she will be providing the neighborhood with some kittens soon.


















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