Going Free Range

After I went and did a few errands this morning, I decided to let the chickens loose for the afternoon. Their chicken tractor hasn't been moved in a couple of days and their ground is getting pretty picked over. (It's time to move the chicken tractor but it needs to go back up the hill and it's too heavy for me to move it.)

Today was also a good day to release the chickens because the dog is off at day care again and Jeff is coming home tonight, so if I can't manage to gather them up myself, Jeff can help corral them tonight when he gets home.

It's pretty fun to watch them. Willow keeps digging spots to lie down in. Buffy is quite the explorer and Anya follows her all around.

Masonry Done!

The masons have finally finished. It looks nice, but it took them quite a while to get finished.

Now we just have to deal with the leaking driveway roof before the rains start.










Jeff is driving back from California today. Poor guy, another too long day with no help from another driver.

I'm trying to be productive by doing a bunch of neglected errands today.

Bad Masonry Fix Patched

The mason has finally gotten around to patching the ugly bad repair in the porch brickwork. This is how it looked when we bought the house.

The mason stripped out all the bad brick and then he grabbed some matching bricks from the backside of one of the planters along the front of the porch. We really couldn't find anything remotely matching among new bricks currently available. I'm assuming the mortar will also match once it dries.

We've decided to just use the old bricks from the bad patch to rebuild the planter. All this work, and we didn't actually end up using any new bricks. We reused everything.

Cleaned for Company

We had a friend come for lunch today. We took this opportunity to straighten up the house. It's still not clean, but it was much worse. =)






We managed to spend a couple hours this week unpacking the upstairs bedroom as well. It's getting much better.

Jeff made ebelskivers for lunch today; they were yummy.

This afternoon Jeff retrieved the trailer from the trailer repair place. He's getting set to travel south on Sunday.

Jeff, the Apprentice Mason

Luckily, our current brick mason is happy to let Jeff help in repointing our bricks. Most contractors aren't so tolerant. =)

Jeff seems to really be enjoying himself and learning a lot. Thanks to Pedro at A Better Chimney for letting him help like this.

Picked Up Our Trailer

Yesterday we did a bunch of westside errands, including picking up our trailer. The trailer has been out at Wendy and Ross' since February 2009; I'm grateful they were willing to store it for us.

Once we arrived back at home, we unloaded most of the SCA gear into the garage, which is now getting really full. This morning, Jeff drove the trailer into a trailer repair place to have them repack the bearings.

Our current plan is for Jeff to drive the trailer down to California for one more trip to retrieve the last pile of stuff, and then when he returns, to sell it. It's just too big for the driveway here, especially with the porte-cochère over the driveway. We've already had a lot of interest from potential buyers, but nothing included any kind of dollar amount, so we'll see how easy it is to sell.

Once we sell the current trailer, which is a 6'x10', we're probably going to buy another smaller one, maybe a 5'x8' or smaller (we'll figure it out once we go shopping). We're hoping if we keep a trailer, then we'll be able to downsize to one vehicle. The main reason we were keeping the Ford Ranger was to haul stuff, like yard waste. But, if we have a trailer on hand, then we can haul stuff in it instead.

Unpacking Progress

We've got the front part of the parlor mostly set up. There's still too much loose stuff everywhere, but we're really making progress. I think this front part of the parlor is going to be our "reading nook." We really hope to do more reading now that Jeff is unemployed and we've downgraded the priority of SCA. I had to put dragons in one of the bookcases, because there was really nowhere else to put them yet.

We're doing an experiment with the living room. I have the crazy idea that when we remodel we should build in bookcases on either side of the fireplace, as was so often found in classic craftsman design. Jeff isn't crazy about the idea, because he thinks the room will be too dark. So, we're giving a bookcase in front of the window a try and see how it goes. Once November hits, Jeff may win this round.

Jeff's kitchen is looking pretty well unpacked and organized and we've been enjoying his awesome home-cooked meals. The finished porch is our temporary internet station until we can get the phone wired into the basement.

Our master bedroom is virtually untouched as we've been focusing on other rooms of higher importance. We've got a bedroom set up in the basement so the upstairs master bedroom isn't really needed yet.

We managed to cram six bookcases and a lateral file into the spare bedroom. It's also ended up being the room where we are storing all the boxes and furniture that otherwise don't have a place to go, so the room is cramped and hard to take pictures of.

I can't seem to stop reorganizing fabric stacks in my sewing room. I must stop now! =)