It's beginning to look a lot like christmas....



Notice the nice cupola Chris built on top.

Well, not really,  but the spirit of christmas is here.  We have no snow and a 5 inch tree,  but the gift of a completed barn has brought us the holiday spirit.  This weekend we are unloading another pod, so we officially have 1/2 of our stuff. 



Inside on the 1/3 of the barn that is living space.

After having spent the past few months on the barn, we are giddy to not be building the barn, but to be moving stuff in.  The large freezer was in this load, as well as the gun safe.  You know what that means.....the deer will now have to be afraid.

We plan to spend the break with a little trip to Florida and moving our stuf out of the old house and into the barn,  as well as moving stuff out of the old shed.  We need to get that shed cleaned out as we are on the list to adopt some 4-h chickens in the spring. 

This week we came to the realization that it is going to be really hard(and long) to build the house ourselves, so we are interviewing builders.  We may decide that it will be more cost effective to just do it ourselves,  but it is fun to think about having someone else manage the whole process. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Until 2012.....

What are we thankful for....

10. Dry weather for working on the barn
9. Warm weather for working on the barn
8. Home depot. Chris noted the other day that he averages a new tool each week
7. Warm puppy on cold mornings.
6. 4 wheel drive. We traded in the fancy schmancy car for a GMC with AWD.
5. Straw. We used it to insulate under the trailer, protect the strawberries, asparagus ans artichokes, and plant 90lbs of grass seed.
4. Wildlife. Every day we we see amazing wildlife, from squirrels to turkeys, white deer to huge woodpeckers. Life in the woods is better that we expected.
3. Brothers who love to play with each other and get along well. We don't always have this, but when we do, we are thankful.
2. Friends and family, some of you stop buy to help out, or just check on the progress. We get so much encouragement from everyone who likes to keep tabs on our adventure. Thanks for the constant support.
1. Our health, after 1 pneumonia and 2 bronchitis this fall we are all thankful to be healthy again and back up on the ladders hanging siding.

Wildlife

Today is a cold Saturday morning.  26 oF  We are happy to have running water today.  We had two days recently when the water froze.  Chris built a wooden box around the water spigot and put  light bulb in it and that seems to keep things just warm enough.
As we wait for things to warm up a bit before we go out to the barn we have seen quite a bit of wild life this morning.

Two foxes have be around.  They hung out around the trailer for a good bit.  Long enough to look up that fox season is for fox chase only and we can't kill them.  To bad, cause the look like they'd make a nice warm coat!

Then we saw the white deer and her friends just behind the trailer.  They looked at us for a while then moved on.  Deer season starts in 6 days.

We have bird feeders just by our kitchen window with safflower seeds and one with wood pecker mix.  Just this morning we have seen: Carolina Chic-a-dee, Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White breasted Nuthatch, Mourning Dove, Purple Finch.

We also have two squirrels who frequent the bird feeder who the boys have named fatso1 and fatso2.

In the time it took to type this it has warmed enough to go out and work.  We'll be hanging more siding and working on the garden reconstruction.

Have a great weekend!

6 months of camping

It is hard to believe we have passed the 6 month mark.  We have learned a lot of things these past months....

• I am an expert at small space storage.
• Happy people are made with hot showers, grumpy people are made with cold ones.  After 6 months we finally got the hot water heater working on a regular basis.  It clearly improved everyone's disposition.
• Water Pipes can freeze at 32 degrees.  With the recent snow one pipe froze, but did not burst.  This week my todo list includes a trailer full of straw to close up the bottom of the trailer.
• Building anything takes longer than you think.  After 6 months I would have thought we'd be started on the house by now.  Too many glitches and hopefully we will start before the year ends.
• RV toilet does not create the same sense of contentment as a regular toilet.  It is sort of sad that when we go to home depot the kids are excited to use the real pottys.
• One small dog can bring his weight in dirt indoors in any 24hr period.
• Eating out is our primary dinner option. Cooking with a 1 sq ft of counter space is not easy.  Try it.  Our oven barely fits a tombstone pizza and there is no way we are cooking a turkey this thanksgiving.
• We love some wild animals, turkey, deer, fox, woodpeckers, owls, hawks, but not raccoons, skunk, and groundhogs. 
• When the sun is out so are we.  Any chance to escape to the out of doors is capitalized on.  The boys rarely fight when they are outside and the smell better too.  Recently I have often quoted my grandma N.  "Go outside and blow the stink off ya".
• Love really does grow best in small spaces.  Since we are forced to always be in each others business we seem to know more about what is going on with each other and care more about it.

So the past 6 months truly have been both a learning experience and a pleasure.  Maybe we don't need to build a house.....NOT

Coupoula-Hoopla

Chris up top. View is from the back side of the barn

WooHoo, The coupoula is up and that means we are ready for shingles!  Chris built it from scratch.  We are still on the look out for a cool weathervane to put up there, but for now we are just happy to be progressing to the next step.  We are waiting on the excavator to do final grading then we will have the siding delivered and Chris and I can get to work hanging that.  yes,  he did buy several new tools to put up the siding.  Any excuse to get more tools ;)

William and Cooper

Jackson hauling a really long pallett

Jackson has been helping quite a bit.  He will haul anything and takes great care and pride in hooking things to the tractor with a chain and dragging it to the burn pile.  While Cooper has been helpful too he would much rather spend his day down at the creek catching crawdads.  He and his friend William caught quite a few the other day.

Weekend warriors



The barn as seen from the driveway.  It is 32 x 60.



Chris finishing the corner sofit.

This past weekend we completed the soffits and facia on the barn. It has not been easy.  It rains 3/4 days so even on the days without rain,  it is still really muddy.  Chris started to build the cupola and when that is complete we can order the roofer to put shingles on. I am really happy that I don't have to go way up on the high ladder any more. Those gable end were tricky.

We have started the process for our construction loan, so hopefully construction will begin befor the year ends.

In other news I have passed my test to be a Virginia Certified Land Disturber.   You need to hire one before the county will issue you a building permit.  So we decided It would be cheaper for me to take the test.  Just one less contractor we will have to pay. I am sure plenty of you will get a good laugh out of that one.  I even have an official certificate!  What I really want is a big digger I can drive to make it official.

Earthquake, Hurricane and life goes on

After surviving the Earthquake and Hurricane in the same week, we are back to business.  Work on the barn is slow going.  We have had lots of rain lately and lots more rain in the forecast.  We did get the trim boards and soffits delivered last week and got one side of soffits installed, 1/2 of the skirt board up for the siding, garage doors trimmed and half of the windows trimmed.

This week the health inspector will make his first trip out to look at the well and septic for clearance to release the building permit. We should also be getting the garage doors installed. Chris is back at work full time now so things will have to be completed on weekends only.

Pear shaped puffball mushrooms from our yard.  They are supposed to be delicious, but I am not sure I am ready to test that.

Artichoke Flowers in the garden. 

Just a cool little mushroom.  I have got to find out what it is.

Skunked

We are all happy to be done with traveling for the summer and spending the last days at home.

Yoda continues to be the best puppy ever. No accidents for 8 days now and he is so sweet. The boys are really good about taking him out for walks, although Cooper is the only willing pooper scooper, Jackson flat out refuses!

We continue to try and trap animals to make the place safer for when we get chickens. The raccoons continue to steal the bait. We did manage to trap a skunk with pepperoni and peanut butter. I wish I had a good photo, but I was not willing to get that close to a live skunk. Once dead I tried to roll him over to get a snapshot, but that caused the stink to leak out. Needless to say Chris and the boys were not happy with me.

Last week we got or final house plans from the architect so we are chomping at the bit to get our permits and begin lineing up contractors.

School starts in two weeks and the boys are not thrilled. Chris has some job prospects that he is really excited about. Things are really coming together here in Watermark Woods.

The Dog Days of Summer

We have been pretty lazy lately.  Chris hurt his ankle about 3 weeks ago and he is just now walking with a shoe on.

We are getting lots of tomatos, peppers, artichokes and eggplants from the garden.  I am anxiously awaiting my parsnips.

We adopted a dog last week and he has kept us all busy.  Yoda is a yorkie-poo and has proven to be a very good breed for us.  He is not a barker and is starting to get the hang of potty training.  He already knows sit and the boys can't wait for him to learn some more advanced tricks.

No Water

We have all returned from yet another vacation.  Chris and Jackson spent a week in the mountains with scouts and Julie and Cooper went to Sara's.

We came home to find the pool emptied of water.  That was such a let down as we had bought sand to level the spot and we were careful to put the cover on.  So it looks like we will have to call Danny the water guy once again.

The garden is a jungle.  I picked 20+ pounds of food and delivered to the food pantry. We had zucchini, peppers, jalapenos, cukes and eggplant.  I had 6 artichokes...SO cool! I am just not sure how to cook them.  The pumpkins and gourds are have fruit on the vines.  The squash bugs are sure giving me a run for my money.  I am constantly picking off the eggs.  The beds were badly in need of weeding.  Unfortunately both the push mower and the weed whipper are broken so mowing between the beds will have to wait another few days.

The barn raising is in full swing.  The concrete pad was poured this week and 2.5 of the wall are up.  It won't be long and we can get our stuff out of storage and into the new storage. 

The bees are looking very active.  This week they have been bearding which is what bees do when they are hot.  It looks really cool and hopefully I can add in a photo soon.  All the bees gather at the entrance and there can bee a lot of bees!

We also had a racoon get int my worms.  He knocked over the condo and broke off the spigot.  I lost alot of castings and plenty of tea,  but I still have a good population of worms and I am confidant that they will recover.

Varmint Hunters

Chris has been under the weather with some dental problems so it has been quiet the past couple of weeks.

We did get the little pool set up, but it has been quite a process.  Apparently 3000 gallons was too much for our well and we started to get mud in the lines and the well went dry.  It has since recovered, but it left the pool very appealing to pigs and not appealing to children.  That problem was quickly solved one evening when we about to leave for dinner.  The four of us stood speechless as the pool side collapsed and all the water rushed off into the woods.  It was quite a site to see.  With the muddy waters gone, we moved the pool to higher ground and called in Danny the water guy(That is a separate story.  He was quite a character.).  We now have a pool that is level(mostly) and full of clean water.  Cooper played in it the whole time we were filling it, then declared it too small and got out.  Uugh!!

Yesterday Jackson went into the old house to fetch his model airplane and thought there was a fake snake on the ground so he stepped on it.  Much to his surprise it was real.  We all got a good laugh out of that.

I am also happy to report we have trapped and killed 2 ground hogs and 1 raccoon.  I am a bit disturbed at how satisfying it is to come out in the morning and find my trap full.  I guess I am really embracing the country life.

Grow, Build, Swim.

We just arrived home after a 2 week vacation.  We had a great time visiting family, zip lining, swimming and riding the Dell's ducks.  It was so nice to come back to our RV home,  we were surprised how much we missed the little place.

The garden produced an enormous amount while I was gone.  I picked everything and donated 79 pounds of food to interfaith relief.  They were SO happy to get the fresh veggies.

Everything is growing so fast and I was pleased that it was not completely taken over with weeds.  I did find a huge success ..... 3 artichoke blooms!!!  Last year they grew all season and I was hesitant to try again, but I think the new watering system has really paid off.

We came home to find the footers, walls and plumbing roughed in for the barn.  The trusses also showed up while we were gone. The slab should be poured early next week and the framing will begin shortly after that.

After spending so much time in other people's lovely spacious homes, parent guilt kicked in and we bought one of those above ground pools.  I just can't wait to get in ... heeeheee

Caterpillar

I saw this spice bush swallowtail caterpillar today while setting up my new watering timer. He was about 2 inches long and hanging out on a broccoli plant so I had to move him to the woods. Just thought it was cool and wanted to log it!

Our first month is a success

We are loving life here in the woods.  The garden is flourishing and we even expanded this year with a size able pumpkin and gourd patch.  Construction on the barn should start next week.

With such a small house to clean I have had loads of time to catch up on my reading.  Now that the kids are out of school, we will see how that goes.

Our biggest treat has been seeing all the wildlife.  While playing Uno,  Cooper says 'turkey' and sure enough there is a big ol' tom the turkey taking a dust bath. We see or hear the turkeys every day.   Another evening after the boys were in bed Chris and I watched a pair of white barn owls swoop down at our lights.  Very cool!  We have so may cardinals living right outside our window along with bluebirds, humming birds and a Baltimore oriel. 

We also have some not so cool wildlife.  I am personally on a mission to rid the place of ground hogs and raccoons.  Yesterday I caught my first groundhog in the live trap and Chris 'disposed' of it.  I am still waiting for my first raccoon,  now I am using tuna as bait any other suggestions??

For those of you who have been so concerned about Chris' Internet access,  I am online via his new Verizon MiFi. 

New tennants at Watermark Woods

WooHoo!  We officially reside at Watermanrk Woods.  We closed on our house today and are so proud to call the Woods home. 

Things are still a bit rough around the edges.  We are working at getting the septic and water hooked to our new temporary dwelling(RV) and there is no Internet or phone yet,  but it is such a treat to hear the owls as we drift off to sleep each night.

As I type this at a local coffee shop with free WiFi Jackson is anxiously awaiting me to return the use of his lap top.  So a short and sweet posting for now but know that we are so happy  to be in our new surroundings and as the next chapter in our adventure begins we have great dreams for the future of our family. Stay tuned......

The Bees Have Arrived

Our bees arrived 5/12.  We picked them up in cardboard boxes which we were told that they could easily chew their way out of.  The first colony Chris and Jackson installed was very active and made a lot of buzzing.  The second colony was very docile and were so easy to manipulate. They got them into the hive and no one go stung.

Link to a video of Chris and Jackson putting the bees in their new hive:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6-5ytpMyIOAODMxMjU4ODAtODgzNS00NmRlLTliMGMtNjBjYmQ0M2ZhZWU3&hl=en&authkey=CNiL14kM

On another topic,  remember when Chris' stihl chainsaw got stolen.  Well he got a new one about 6 weeks age.  Today it got ran over with the end loader.  What a mess! He took it into Tommy the chainsaw man (who looks eerily like Robert DeNiro) and it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one,  so we have purchased our 3rd new chainsaw. 

The garden is doing great,  we are up to our ears in lettuce and some is actually going to seed.   I need to get on the ball and prune it back some.  Things are looking green and healthy,  except the strawberries which are looking red and healthy!

We think we will be living at Watermark Woods in less than a week.  WooHoo!!!

Robbed Again

We are very sad to report that the theif has struck again.  This time they took our game camera.  At least we got a few cool photos. 

We have been very busy the past couple of weeks.  With Chris home all the time,  a lot is getting accomplished.  He and our excavator Ron, located and uncovered the septic system.  It looks to be in good shape and hopefully the county will approve it for use.  Ron and Chris have also began the excavation for a barn.  Chris has been working hard to nail down quotes from the masonry, framers and roofers so that we can get the barn built and have a place to store our stuff.

The garden is coming along nicely.  The strawberries are thriving and have loads of blooms.  The asparagus I transplanted last fall is pokeing thru.  Peas and beans are about 4in high and I can almost taste them already!  The lettuce should be ready any day now.  It is so hard to have patience.  Tomatos, peppers, broccoli, artichokes and herbs are all in.  Lots more seeds to go in this week.

Our current house is only ours for 4 more weeks.  We have gotten into full packing mode and have started trying to sell a lot of our furniture.  The pool is open and warm so the boys have been squeezing in every spare minute of swim time they can before we move. 

So things are moving along and we promise to do our best to keep the blog updated, but things are happening so fast. 

BeeKeepers

Last weekend Sara, RJ And Tyler Garcia came and helped us clean out the attic portion of the house.  We had a great time just playing around out there and the weather was fantastic.

Beekeeper Jackson

Beekeeper Cooper in his improvised suit.

This week is a bit cooler,  and we have spent Saturday at the beekeeper field day.  We have officially finished our class and are certified beekeepers.  Our new bee colony should arrive in the next few weeks and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new tenants.

Sunday promises warmer weather and we plan to hike the woods to plant the 100 native red bud and dogwood trees we got from the county extension office.  We also hope to dig the hole for our new mailbox and a new entrance gate.

We receive our official certificate and sign from the National Wildlife Federation and we are now a certified wild life habitat.  We are still waiting on the results of the Audubon Society's survey of the land.

Chris is working hard on quotes for the well and looking in to possibly building a pole barn to store our furniture in the event that we do end up moving out there.  Thank goodness he does not have to work at a real job right now because he is really busy!

Albino

We have been doing lots of work but nothing that makes a big impact.  Chris has spent the last couple of weeks preparing for the bees.  He built some heavy duty hive stands and we installed them at Watermark Woods last weekend.  Chris worked in the woods clearing brush and other things.  I spent quite a bit of time in the garden cleaning things ups and getting ready for more planting.

The lettuces have poked their heads thru the soil and I am having dreams of fresh salad.  This past weekend brought a chance of snow, but we saw very little of that, however it was quite chilly so we stayed home.

We did have the good fortune to capture the resident albino deer in the game camera. 

Welcome Spring!!

What a fantastic weekend!  Saturday we spent the entire day cleaning up the yard at home and Sunday we spent the day at Watermark Woods.  We replaced one of the chainsaws and the gas hedger so we were anxious to get to work!

Chris cleared some brush around the deer stand.  We really like that area because it is right along the creek and it would make such a pretty picnic spot someday.  As we were standing along the edge of the creek admiring the water flow,  Chris noticed green handlebars across the creek.  We discovered it was a lawn mower.  That is just so typical of the things we find.  It was as if it quit working so they just left it where it was.

Jackson and I worked the garden.  We got 6 of the 12 beds turned over and ready for planting and we dug rows for corn at the rear of the garden.  Then we planted peas, limas, and fava beans.  We also dug outside the garden fence and planted a row of flowers.  Jackson scoped out a great spot in the woods and we planted mushroom spores.  Unfortunately none of the native herbs we planted last fall survived.  Next week is the native plant sale so maybe we can stock up and re-plant. 

Chris also hung some blue bird boxes by the garden.  On our way out we fixed the front gate and we were able to lock things up as we left.  Hopefully we have seen the last of those pesky thieves.

Below are some photos from our new deer camera.

Sorry for the lapse in postings.....

So much has been going on that I just don't want to post all the bad stuff so I'll start with the good stuff. 

Beekeeping class is going well and all four of us are enjoying it.  Our hives were delivered last week and the bees should be here in April or May.  Chris, Jackson and Cooper spent all of last weekend assembling and painting the equipment.  We all look so cute in our beekeeping costumes. 

We sold the tractor,  what a load off! We got almost what we paid for it so we are really pleased.  Now we can keep our eyes peeled for a smaller, newer model.  This time 4-WD will be a must!

All the seeds arrived for the garden this year.  I hope to plant lettuce this weekend and peas and beans next weekend.  We are supposed to have great weather both Saturday and Sunday so it will be a great weekend to work.

We put up the game camera(thanks Jim and Marie) and got a few shots of deer and a nice photo of four humans walking away! 

We are also working on getting certified as an Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary.  Wouldn't that be a cool thing?!

I am so glad I listed the good stuff first,  because now I realize there is more good than bad ;)

It has been really crummy weather and lots of rain on the weekends.  So we have not been out there as much as we'd like and the progress is slow.  After getting so much done in the fall it is a little depressing to have such little progress now.

Two weeks ago we were out for a hike and realized someone had gotten into our shed.  The took all our nice Stihl chainsaws, Stihl gas hedge trimmer, and loads of tools.  That was a big blow for us, both financially and mentally.  It is hard to think of some crook on our land and going thru our stuff.  There is so much more they could have taken so we are lucky, and we have insurance. 

Hopefully, over the next few weeks we will have a renewed energy and get lots accomplished. 

Winter aaaahs

Just spending time pouring over the seed catalogs and waiting for things to thaw.

New Year: Same Old Junk

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month.  After all the progress we made in late November-early December,  progress seems so slow.  With just the 4 of us working we have made some progress.  We have been cutting down trees and cleaning up some of the areas the scrappers cleaned out.  We have had a burn pile every weekend and got the small porch area of the house cleaned out. 

There have been some woes with flat tires and the tractor and a dead battery, but it is all fixed up now and back on craigs list for sale.  Hopefully it will sell soon and we will have the funds to get the septic and well in working order. 

This week we are expecting snow, so we may not be able to get out there soon.  Hopefully it will not be another monthe before I write again!