Farmland

Gareld left the tractor parked out back last weekend so it was the perfect opportunity to get a photo of the old house in the background.  Summer is on the way out and Fall is on the way.

As of this year 2012 this is a century farm.  It has been in the same family for 100 years!

Neighbors

Here's the fenceline at the top of our property.  We have 80 acres.  As we were driving up the road to the neighbors house I said to Gareld, "we have a lot of property I've never seen."  I guess I need to walk the fenceline sometime like Morgan has done.  It sure was pretty up there looking out over the valley.

Our neighbors have a beautiful, big house filled with hunting trophies, head mounts, full body mounts and georgeous furnishings.  It was fun to walk through and see it all.  It was like a wildlife museum...in fact they had a wildlife museum in Joseph at one time so when they built the house they built it big enough to house all the animals.  There are fullbody mounts of cow and bull elk, cougars, wolves, coyote, racoons, lion, zebra, moose, deer, african animals, sheep, goats, bears, and caribou just to name a few.  Many years of successful hunting are represented.  There was an awesome head mount of a red stag that he got in New Zealand last year.  The reason I was up there was to see her vintage trailer and antiques that she is going to have at our Shabulous show in October.  It was nice to be invited up.

Here's a view of our place on the way down.  There's extra cars and kids down there.  Morgan had some friends and cousins over to shoot clay pigeons.  We really need to get that storage trailer emptied out and torn down.  It's an  eyesore.  There's a hand made sign going up the road that says "mobile home road".  We wondered if it was named for our ugly single wide we bought to live in if we needed a temporary home before the house was ready.  It was a pretty drive on a pretty day.

Pie Day

The berries are on.  I passed these beauties on my walk today so I grabbed the pick-up and parked beside this bush and filled up a big bowl in no time.

Self portrait..me and the berries.

Beautiful, fresh, fruit.

It's nice having a daughter around that loves to bake!!

Thanks, Morgan

Hardware Bins

This hardware bin (or cubby, as I call it)  is one of my very favorite items.  I found it in an antique store in Hood River on my way to the antique show one year.  I was in my car so I had to make a trip back a few days later to pick it up.  I love it.  I had it in my kitchen in our other house.  It looked really cute loaded with vintage kitchen items.  It then went into storage for two years.  I missed it a lot.  I was hoping it would fit in the layout of our new home and it did.  It now has a perfect spot in our home.

Can you imagine the excitement when I went to an estate sale this morning at a plumbing business that had been around for 50 years.  That guy had bins on every wall in every room.  I bought a couple of them.  Dad got some for his shop.  A friend was there putting her name on some.  They were priced to move out fast.

Here's one of them.  It was a steal at $15.

Now where will we put them.  As much as I would love to have another in the house there is just no room.  I don't even think I could fit one in the Shabby Shack.  The bigger one of the two will go in Gareld's shop.  They were just too good to pass up.  Right place at the right time.  I love it when that happens.  We were in such a hurry to get on the road to Kennewick or I may have gotten carried away and bought more.

Priorities....my playhouse porch.

So we really should be working on porches for the house but look what we are doing instead.

Brace it up.

I helped by measuring.

Today I painted it.

We put up a fence to keep the critters out....especially cats and skunks.

It's looking pretty awesome.

Tomorrow we will add rocks to the ends and put in the steps and it will be finished.  I always wanted a covered porch!



Man Cave

We finally worked on Gareld's room and his trophies have a new home.  After spending a couple years at his friend, Doug's house, they are on the wall down in the shop.  These are the five animals he got on his trip to Africa in 2004.

I told him to bring home souvenirs so he bought these four mats that I framed.  They are pieced together out of plant material.  He did pretty good in the shopping department.

We have a few family furniture pieces we wanted to save but had no room in the house for them.  The old gun cabinet/desk between the windows was his dad's.  The table behind the couch expands to 12' and is great for family dinners and was his mom's.  The rocker is one Gareld bought me when I was pregnant with Jeremy.  They all found a good home here.

The bigger the room, the bigger the gun safe.

I brought the branches from Union when we moved.  The chainsaw carved bear was from his parents.  They picked up two on a trip to the coast one year and each son got one.

Another wall of head mounts.  A couple didn't make the cut.  There's still room to add more.

I bought a couch and loveseat before we got the house set up.  They both wouldn't fit in the living room so the loveseat ended up down here.

The huge thing in the corner was a gun cabinet at one time.  We are going to use it for the TV.  See the Pachinko game.  We have had it for almost 20 years.  I want it out where it can be played.  I have to order replacement steel balls but they are available on ebay.  He will mount it to the wall for the grandkids to have fun with when they come to stay.

I love this wall.  Those are old targets in the frames.  You can't see the kill shot lines but they are pretty neat.  I got them at a yard sale a long time ago and knew we would have a place for them eventually.  I was looking at the antique show for the perfect sign to hang above the door but I never found just the right thing.  I decided I could make one myself.  I wanted it to look like a guy slapped it together to direct his buddies to camp and it turned out just how I wanted it to.

A very nice room.

Happy Fourth of July

I have a flag and a flag pole and neither of them are out today.  Shame on me!  I should be flying the colors.  I love the freedom we enjoy in this bountiful country.  My son spent two tours in Iraq and made it home so I am grateful.  Three cheers for the red, white and blue.