Tractor Dreams

I want a tractor. Or a skid steer. Or pretty much anything that has a bucket (or blade) on the front and will scoop manure. The horses live in a corral and their life consists of eating and pooping and occasionally chasing a goat around. That's it. The manure builds up at an alarming rate. So hubby gets out our little Cub Cadet garden tractor that has a blade on the front and runs it around the pen shoving the poo into a compost pile. Thus far the system has been somewhat successful and keeps the manure down. Problem is that I have to plead with Sean to do this chore. The little tractor has "issues" and Sean doesn't think I can run it with the blade as it destroys his hands by the time he's finished scooping. He doesn't want me to destroy my hands since that is what I make a living with (because you know he doesn't need his hands to do computer work, he claims he can type with his nose. Uh huh.).

So I told him I want a tractor. Something I can start, something with no funky knobs to kill my hands and something that I can go scoop out the pen whenever my little heart desires. My only criteria is that: 1. It needs to not be a ton of money. I just can't see spending $7,000 on a Kubota (drool) that will be used solely for poop removal. 2. It needs to start right up. None of this going out with the jump starter every time I want to use it and no asking Hubby to get it started each time. That's it. Shouldn't be that hard to find something right?

That was about a month ago. He's been combing Craigslist looking for that perfect John Deere and finally finding one...or rather two.

Yep, he hauls home two John Deere tractors. First one is the tractor we'll be fixing up and the other is the donor tractor. Can you guess which one is which? You see, I (in all of my ignorance) thought the one on the right was the desired tractor and the one on the left was the parts donor. Nope. The tractor on the left is the much more desirable one being a John Deere 332 diesel. The one on the right is a 317 with a blown motor. We already bought the blade to go on the front so all that's left is to make it look like a tractor again. Doh. Hubby sure listened to my criteria didn't he?

*palm to forehead*

I guess it was cheap. I'll give him that. He says I have no vision. I just hope his "vision" gets it completed while we still own horses. Kidding!

I must give them credit though, Sean and his Dad got the 332 running last weekend. So now I have to eat my words. Perhaps it will be finished in a somewhat timely manner. I do look forward to it and appreciate his hard work. Go hubby go!

The finished product will eventually have a home built front bucket on it. He's been wanting to do that for some time. I'm guessing it will look something like this:

But for now, it will start as this.

The "before" picture. Looking forward to the "after" picture.

The Hand Mutilator

Ok, so if you've been reading this little blog of mine then you know that I am the proud new owner of a handgun. The gun has been sitting in its box, untouched since we bought it at the gun show about a month ago. Deciding it was time to shoot it, I went to the gun range in town on Tuesday evening with my Dad. My father joined a pistol league at work and invited me to go shooting with him. Actually he invited me to join the pistol league too but since I don't work where he works I'd have to pay quite a bit of money to join and I doubt I was a very good shot anyways. SO, I decided to just go shooting with him.

Overall, it was quite an experience. My gun, a Ruger LCR, is definitely not a pleasure to shoot. I think I shall refer to it as the "hand mutilator" from hence forth. As a self defense weapon it will work wonderfully, but as something that you take and shoot with any regularity.....not gonna happen. I put 25 rounds through it and my hand felt like someone took a hammer to it. The meaty part between my thumb and pointer finger still hurts and it's been two days. I believe I hit the target with all 25 rounds but got worse as I shot because I was flinching as it went off in preparation for the pain. Ouch. So then I got to shoot dad's .22 that he shoots for the league. I believe it's a Ruger Mark III. So much nicer to shoot. Nearly zero recoil, and a nice heavy gun. Might have to pick up a .22 caliber gun in the near future if I want to go shooting with Dad every week. Which I think I'd like to. Heck maybe I'll join a league at the gun range. Because you know I'm not competitive at all. *wink

The Visit

Sean's folks left today. We had such a nice time seeing them. We'll be seeing quite a bit more of Rich in the near future. You see, we won the lottery you might say. He has a government job and his position down in New Mexico was cut leaving him looking for a job. Unfortunately there weren't any other positions for him where they live so he started looking elsewhere in the country. He specifically looked for jobs located near his children. For instance he applied for a position in Washington (near where Nate lives) and somewhere near South Dakota (where Jeremy lives). He also applied for a job near us and got it. So they purchased a travel trailer and pulled it up here and got him settled for his job that started this week. He'll be living in that while Randi keeps the home fires burning down in New Mexico. As much as we will love to see him when he comes up for weekends, we all hope this isn't a long term situation and can find government employment back at home. But in the mean time we can't wait for Grandpa to visit.

Randi stayed with us for six days and we enjoyed every minute of it.....well almost every minute of it.  You see, Randi brought her dog, Hildi. Hildi is a one year old shepherd mix that I've been hearing about for some time. Poor Hildi had a rough life before Rich and Randi came along. She was abused among other things, leaving her with some trust issues. Oh I'll just be blunt, she is one of the most neurotic dogs I've ever seen. Sweet dog, just neurotic. On the first night here she went upstairs to sleep with Rich and Randi in the spare bedroom. She'd never been on stairs before and went up but wouldn't come back down the next morning. We tried everything to get that dog down the stairs. She'd plant those giant paws and you couldn't drag her. She'd freak out like a cat in a bath if you tried to pick her up (she weighs 70 lbs). Oh and I haven't mentioned the best part. She pees when she's nervous. Did I mention we just got new carpet throughout the house? Yep, she got "nervous" in four different spots in the spare bedroom during this whole ordeal. sob. We finally got her down the stairs after practically tossing her down them and she never went back up, staying in her crate downstairs. After all that she didn't really like me much the rest of the visit. Imagine that.

Once we figured her out, she had a nice visit. She played great with the two big dogs but tried to murder poor Chance the terrier on more than one occasion. She's welcome back, just not welcome on the new carpet.

Friday I had to run to the pet store to get a hamster for Jessica's daughters birthday (Yeah I'm that awesome person that gives live animals as presents....insert evil laughter). Randi was nice enough to come with me and hold the little rodent on the trip home. Maybe you had to be there but the look on her face was priceless. She just kept praying the rodent wouldn't pee on her and/or chew it's way out on the 25 minute ride home.

Granny Randi was nice enough to watch the kids on several occasions while Sean and I escaped. Oddly enough we never escaped together. Sean took off to pick up his newest project (more on that later) and I took off to go to the gun range and get a movie in (Hunger Games was pretty good). Sure wish Granny Randi lived closer. :) Wesley was in hog heaven with an active Angry Birds audience.

Greta made Randi read her favorite book Mr. Silly Pants to her at least 75 times. Poor Granny Randi.

Upon further review we've discovered where Miss Greta's "crazy" hair comes from. What do you think?

Friday we got a call from Dru, our family friend, saying he was in town. We invited him and his girls out for a cookout. We had a nice full house with Sean's folks, my folks and Dru and his family. His oldest is the same age as Wesley (birthday is two days earlier) so they all had a blast together. It was sure nice seeing them all.

So I'm officially back to an empty house. It's sad. The kids are back to being bored and I'm wishing we all lived closer.

Easter

We have the privilege of having Sean's folks visiting over Easter this year and we couldn't be more thrilled. The kids are in hog heaven with Granny and Grandpa playing with them all day long. Easter was great, the Easter bunny came to visit in the form of Granny Randi and the kids were in awe. It was hilarious. We had a great time coloring eggs and hunting for them in the backyard. I hope you all had a great Easter!

Papa Rich and the Easter Bunny.

We call her the Hulk....you wouldn't like her when she's angry.

Fun times with Granny.

We love Papa Rich.

If a two year old doesn't want to wear an Easter dress, she doesn't wear one.

Mmmm candy.

Crash course in home beautification

I think some people work better under pressure. That would be us. About a week and a half ago I told Sean "wouldn't it be nice if the house looked awesome when your folks get here for Easter?" He said ok and thus started the daunting task of revamping a crumbled, cracked and all around crappy slab floor. Let me back up in case you've missed the not so exciting story of our house and its "issues". We bought the house back in 2004 as a repossession. It was built in 1985 so it's not that old. Not old enough to be having the problems it's having. It passed house inspection.....somehow. Almost immediately after moving in we noticed the terra cotta tiles in the dining room cracking along the entire length of the room. Over the next few years the crack got worse and the corner of the room started sinking at an alarming rate. Fast forward to fall of 2006. We hired a company to come out and place piers all over exterior of the back of the house and inside under the slab (house is part slab and the rest is a basement). They jacked it up until it looked normal again, gave us an extravagant bill and a warranty. After a few months it started cracking again. Knowing this was going to be an ongoing problem we chose not to put any floor covering down over the slab. Winter of 2009 the company came back out and readjusted the outside piers and jack hammered holes in the slab inside once again to reposition the floor. Ok, so there is the ugly history on this house.

It's been a mess. The floor has been torn up for years now. The kids have been running around on concrete and tile grout tearing up their knees when they fall. We were living in a construction zone and it was time for a change. So hubby took a week off last week and I rented a concrete grinder. All day Sunday he ground down the concrete and removed the last of the grout. Nobody warned us what a mess that would be! Although I'm pretty sure no one thought we'd be using it indoors. We decided to use water to keep the dust down which was a good idea, but what resulted was a concrete sludge that resembled snot. It was three inches deep in places and had to be scooped up with a shovel. But it worked! That floor was smooth (minus the crack that still had good depth to it). Now on to the leveling compound.

Dining room grinding in process. Day1.

Grinding away.

Nasty mess, had to mop it up before it dried.

Still smiling.

All mopped and ready for leveler. Cracks in sheet rock getting patched. Day 2.

We got eight bags of leveling compound and started mixing it up. The key was to have two buckets going. Hubby would mix it up and I would trowel it around making sure it got everywhere. We were a good team and had that room knocked out in no time. We poured the dining room and our bedroom, along with the seam where the slab meets up with the basement foundation.

We learned many lessons during this week long project. First one was to seal the cracks. We poured leveling compound and it literally just flow down the cracks. It sucks watching $35 dollar compound pour under the house. So we had to come back with cement patch and fill in the dips.

Leveling the big crack.

Leveler flowing down the cracks. Doh.

They call me the trowel girl.

All leveled and patched and sanded smooth. Walls with a fresh coat of paint. Day 4.

Then came the stairs. Whoever decided to carpet the walls is an idiot. Nothing screams 80's like carpet on the walls. So we stripped the carpet and wood trim from the stairs. They also had a wood runner on the tips of each step which had to come off. The screws had to be drilled out, then the wood hammered off and the remaining screws had to be cut off with a reciprocating saw. Nothing can be simple. The carpet was pulled from the walls (it had been glued on) leaving the sheet rock torn up and in need of pasting. I am not a fan of taping and pasting but I pulled up my sleeves and went to work (sure beat concrete grinding, glad I didn't have to do that). Four coats of paste later and more sanding than I'd ever like to do again, it is finished. We were able to find some carpet at a local carpet store that was in stock and almost exactly what we were looking for. They were able to get it installed yesterday and it looks fabulous! We carpeted everything, even upstairs. I can't be more happy with the end results. It's like we have a new house. There is so much living space that can now be utilized and it's heartwarming seeing your kids running around with glee on nice new carpet. No more bloody knees in the house!

Old stairs. Carpet on walls = 1980's (in my humble opinion).

Removal of wood on steps.

Stairs and wall all ready for carpet.

End result! Love it (and that cute naked kid).

Wall to wall carpet. We just need to put down new trim and it's done! Day 9.

Master bedroom. So happy with the outcome. What a week!

First Graze

The goats are thrilled to have nice green grass to eat so early in the season. Thank goodness for an early spring.

Hello Spring

It rained the entire last week. Nonstop. Then I looked out the window and, seemingly over night, it erupted into Spring. Glorious, wonderful Spring. Spend five days cooped up inside with two little megalomaniacs (during Spring Break I might add) and you too will bust open the door just as soon as that rain stops and lay in the sun for hours. And that is just what I did. I laid down on the drive way while my children drew chalk outlines around my comatose body. It looked like a murder scene when we were done that day. It made me think about why I like Spring, of course there are the easy ones: sun, flowers, baby animals and dancing happy kids. Here are a few more.

Coveralls and muck boots. Feeding the animals gets a bit messy but we all know April showers bring May flowers....and some really muddy horses. 

 

Weeds up to my knees (quite literally). I look forward to mowing. Not many things in this world bring the instant gratification as a nicely mowed and trimmed lawn. Bring on the mowing!

Running on the dirt. Spring means more running outside in nature, not inside with curious kids and the treadmill (seriously, have you ever tried to run on a treadmill while a two year old wants to investigate how it works?).

Outside time with the kids. Time to blow off all that winter energy! Did I mention I build a pretty mean sand castle?

Painting toe nails and getting out the cute sandals. I love girling it up with my mini me. You can hardly tell but she's got herself on a pair of Jelly shoes...blast from my past.

March 22nd

This is a date that I have etched into my subconscious.  If you are around my four year old son then this date is also etched in your mind. The kid is crazy obsessed with Angry Birds. I have mentioned this here before. Well the insanity continues because on March 22nd the newest Angry Birds game, Angry Birds Space, comes out. Since he's finished all the other games, including the facebook and Chrome versions, he now is just waiting on the new one. In the mean time he tells everyone he comes into contact with about the new one coming out. I mean everyone. Post office ladies, grocery store clerk and librarian. He even told the little old lady that was behind us in line at the post office about it. And poor Miss Cindy, his preschool teacher. She told me that he talks about it non stop at preschool. The kid is "ob", wait for it, "sessed".

So every day we take down the calendar from the refrigerator and put an "X" through the current day so that he can see how many more days until his precious Angry Birds Space comes out. The other day he dragged a chair over to the wall and just sat there starring at the calendar and the big black circle around March 22nd. I'd like to say I have no idea where his obsessiveness comes from but I know where it comes from. Both his parents are obsessive people. Once we get some idea in our minds we tend to dwell. Poor kid never had a chance.

I decided to make this obsession work in my favor and made a deal with the kid. Every night he cleans up all the toys before he goes to bed and he gets .50 cents towards buying the new game. It's marvelous! I get a clean house and he works towards a goal. March 22nd will be a bittersweet day, great because I never have to hear that date again and sad because I'll have to start cleaning the house again each evening.

The calendar watcher.

Children's Museum

My sister and her family is in town for the weekend so we decided to take the kids to the local children's museum. We went there when Wesley was just a little dude, not even walking yet, and couldn't really enjoy many of the exhibits. Boy how a few years make all the difference! He really enjoyed himself and Greta was even old enough for a lot of it. Fun times!

He's a happy dude.

Making a stained glass window....had to drag her away from here.

Catching some fish.

Flight simulator.

Medieval time out....wish I had one of these at home.

Family shot.

Emery waiting on chow.

Grandma with hungry youngins.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Picking wildflowers for Mom

The Wednesday Write-Up

-Wesley had Kindergarten round up last night. He's officially enrolled for kindergarten in the fall. He got to sit down with a teacher and write his name, draw a picture of himself and count blocks. He did great and I'm proud of him. One observation from the evening: I've never seen so many five year olds in cowboy boots, can't tell we are in a farming community. I got kind of sad last night thinking about him being gone all day at school. I've had my little dude home with me for so long it will be very strange with it just being Greta and I. She won't start kindergarten until 2015 so at least I'll have a little sidekick for a few more years.

-Greta disappeared for a few minutes the other day and I went looking for her only to find her dipping her head repeatedly into the toilet. Yep, life with a 2.5 year old is always exciting!

-I just baked a nice hot batch of chocolate chip cookies for the kids. Not for me since I have will power and I gave up sweets for lent. See? If I just keep telling myself that I have willpower I can do this. Who am I kidding, this is so darn difficult. Four and a half weeks left. The count down is on until Sugar Day.

-I just finished up another book last night. I've been devouring books this year and seem to have finally found the time to take up reading again. Last month I read the Hunger Games (all 3 books) because of everyone talking about them. In all honesty they were just ok. Nothing I'm going to rave about. The writing wasn't all that great and the story was weak at best. I always felt like the author had no plan when she started writing those books. I'd give them a B-. Looking forward to seeing the movie though. Then I picked up a book in the new book section of the library, titled "The Call". I'm drawn to stories about veterinarians so this book was right up my alley. It was about the different calls that came in for a country vet but then it took off on a strange path involving a space ship. Strange but fun. B+. Then this morning I finished up a book called "Wednesday Letters". Grown children clean out their parents house after both died to find all the letters their Dad had written their Mom every Wednesday. Geez I cried a lot. Good book A-. This afternoon I went to pick up a book the library was holding for me. It was highly recommended and is called "The Night Circus". It's a good sign when the librarian nudges her fellow librarian and says "Hey, she's getting ready to read The Night Circus" and the other lady goes "OHHHH, you are going to LOVE it!!" Can't wait to dive into it.

My very first handgun

I experienced a "first" this weekend. I attended my very first gun show. I've been married to what I like to call a "gun man" for over ten years now but have never went with him to a gun show. It was.....er....interesting. It was held in a building that I had been to for two other occasions. The first being a miniature horse show and the second a dog show. So to enter the building after seeing it full of cute tiny horses and fluffy show dogs was sure a change of scenery. Guns piled high on table after table and more black leather than I've ever seen in my life. I must admit that the people watching opportunities were worth the price of admission all on their own (the winner by far being the large hairy gentleman in the kilt).

It was actually pretty fun (can't believe I'd ever see myself write that). I've come along way with my attitude toward guns. I used to be very anti-gun when I was younger but things change. I don't know if it's living in the country or the need to protect my family and animals but I fully embrace guns now. Perhaps I've just become more of a redneck. I think it's a good thing to know how to shoot a gun, even though I hope I never have to find myself in a situation where I need to shoot a gun. Recently I saw a billboard for a conceal carry class and I though to myself "now that is something I'd like to do". So the first step is buying a handgun. We aren't new to owning guns, we have a couple of shot guns and used to have a rifle but this is my very first handgun. It's not just mine but it has to be something that I feel comfortable using, so it was pretty much my choice. I contacted our friend and fellow gun enthusiast about which gun he would recommend for me. He immediately suggested a compact revolver. His wife has a hard time racking a semi-automatic pistol so a good alternative is a compact revolver. His recommendation was a Ruger LCR. I don't have great hand strength and need to keep my hands protected because of all the sculpting I do so this sounded like a good alternative to the basic semi-automatic pistol. 

So that's what we had our eye out for when we went to the gun show yesterday. We'd done our research online and knew what we were looking for and what to expect price wise. Hubby said it was much nicer going in with an idea of what you were looking for, rather than just drifting around looking at everything. There were so many guns it was over whelming but we only found five Ruger LCR's. I tried out several different compact revolvers but did end up liking the Ruger the best. It was light and the grip was really nice.  So I am the proud owner of my very first handgun. Isn't she purdy? 

Don't worry we are going to buy a gun safe within the next couple of weeks and in the mean time we own no ammo for this gun (and it has a lock on it). I believe guns should be locked up tight with kids around. I am looking forward to shooting it. In true redneck fashion we will be moving a large pile of horse manure over to the back corner of the property and making a berm to shoot into (no neighbors back there). So now you know the story of how I acquired my very first handgun.