Looky Who I Found This Morning

I got up this morning all excited to go see the arena and I happened to notice something moving around in Jeannine's car. Turns out it was Neen herself!! She heard me come out and was sitting up in the car, waving like she always slept in my driveway.

The obvious question was "wha???" I opened the door and we started laughing, partly because she was trying to explain what happened and partly because Cooper jumped in the car and was wiggling around in her pile of clothes.

Turns out her flight from NY was delayed so she didn't get in until late and was tired of traveling but my door was locked. Being the good camper and not wanting to wake me up she crawled in the car and snoozed until I woke her up.

I made her some coffee and we walked to the arena. Here's a shot of Neener next to the arena. She's not posing--she was madly flapping her arms at mosquitos.



I worked hard this week to finish off the arena. Last night me, Barbara and the neighbors (Joe, Diana, Mike) laid down the weed barrier on the arena. We were about 60' short. Doh. The sand isn't arriving until Monday afternoon so I'll make a run for the last 60' I need.

Here's how it looks with the sun coming up. The thumb in the photo is for size reference. bahaha.
We got chased inside by the mosquitos so Neen showed me her photos from Philadelphia and NY. Here she is on the couch with Cooper and Gabby who immediately sat next to her and starting play fighting.

I'm sooo happy to have the arena so close to being done. If it doesn't pour buckets in the next few days I'll have a finished arena on Monday afternoon. Time to get the flower pots ready for the entrance!

toodles.

Entering week 4 of Kitchen Remodel

Here's the new patio door off the southwest corner of the house. It's got a great view of the side yard and alfalfa fields beyond. The kitchen remodel is moving into a week of installation and prep for some electrical work. We've discovered a whole lot of shady wiring in this place. Quel surprise.

On the weather front it rained hard yesterday but I was ok with it. I've decided to make the pond a permanent feature. I'm researching pond liners and will have a jolly good koy farm.

The arena was just starting to dry out when it rained yesterday. The ground is just so saturated with water than even a "normal" downpour now causes problems.

On the flooding note, I drove to Grafton, a town about 60 miles east of here on Lake Michigan on Saturday for a bike race. The team was here for that race so I suited up. (we won). There were 2 detours because bridges were out or dams had failed. So strange to live in an area that was so devasted by Mother Nature.

Not much else to report. It's officially summer and the mosquitos are plentiful. Where is my bat colony when I need it???
b

Rain Rain Go Away

And don't come back for 100 years. Please. So the news of the week? More rain. On top of the "i-lost-count-total" we got more heavy rain on Thursday. On Friday I discovered my sump pump quit. Wow. It doesn't get any better than having a pond in your yard and one in your basement.

Aaaaakkk, skip that. let's talk about happier things. Like my kitchen remodel which has been going on since about when the monsoon started. Here's a photo of the old (weird) cabinet being removed. That's Anthony, the Russian, playing with Cooper. Normally he works in Florida with Barbara but she hauled him to Wisconsin to preserve my kitchen. He has friends here (also from Russia) so he's happy to be here and he loves dogs. Even thieving, little turds like Mini Cooper.
And here's a shot of the same spot two days later, after the brick chimney came out. The bricks are now ringing burn spot #1. That's where I put miscellaneous wood, weeds and other things that need to be burned. It's nice to have a bit of house history out in the yard serving a purpose.
And here's how the new kitchen alcove looks. It's not done yet, but you get the picture. The alcove is beadboard, with a recessed cabinet and one more coming above it. The best thing is now I have a work triangle. Before, it was 15' to go from the stove to the fridge. Barbara is staying true to the farmhouse theme which is authentic to my antique house.

This week will feature replacing the art deco ceiling fan, installing the sliding door, the built in table and some brackets. It's slow going as every single feature is built for this house. No one works like Barbara does and she's worth the $150/hour fee. She's saved me a ton of money because she knows her construction methods, design and historic preservation.

I know this much from bike racing: once you are at the top, you know where you can adapt situations to get the same results. There are a lot of posers in the bike racing world and even more in the design world. I'm lucky, just plain lucky to have the best brain in the historic preservation world on this project.

And on top of the the rain and kitchen rehab, I've been riding Willow to relieve stress. I love this mare. She's gem and what a fantastic influence on Oscar. They complement each other well: Oscar bosses her around the barn and fields, and she leads him down the trails in the wild woods.This photo is of Amy on Oscar, holding onto Willow. Disregard her skinny neck. Between her regular excericse inflicted by Oscar and me, she'll be looking like a mini hunter in no time.


Stay tune for more....and here's to dry days.
b

Monsoon Season is Here

Don't be fooled...this photo of me and Oz was taken just before the monsoon started. It looks so sunny and warm but that was the first sunny and warm day all year. The pic was taken next to the old chicken coop where the iris is blooming. It's some old variety that smells like grapes.

It's not lost on me that the last post I wrote a mere three weeks ago I was bummed that it was so cold. Since then we've had 10" of rain. To say it's been an eventful couple of weeks is understating the obvious. Here's the list:
- Beep had to go to horsey heaven; she was a pony with chronic founder and I did all I could for her but I had to admit I had lost the battle
- Willow arrived the day Beep left. Willow is the sweetest morgan/arab blend you'll ever meet
- Lady B arrived and is going at the kitchen with Anthony, the Estonian apprentice
- Cooper has reached his terrible twos and it's dicey every day whether he'll get a pass to stay another day.
- The pond has returned to the front yard with a vengance. On Saturday we had massive storms and tornados all around us. By writing this post I am putting off (for a few minutes anyway) wading in to put the pump in and start the bailout process.
- Oscar got a case of gas colic due to the pressure drops, go figure. But he returned to his pesky self after the vet gave him a shot of banamine and since I had to pay an emergency visit fee ($$!) I had the vet give all his spring shots.

Here's a few photos....

Sunday morning I got up after listening to pounding rain all night.
I walked into the kitchen and there was the greenest little froggie in the middle of the kitchen. I was admiring his color when Cooper arrived and started tormenting the frog. In this photo Coop is pouncing on the frog (the small black spot). Note: two yellow rubber duckies brought in from the bathtub by the dog.

Here's a shot of Miss Willow meeting up with Oz. He's saying to her "You can call me Bossy Boots."

Last photo is of all of the siblings at Dad's 70th b-day on Memorial day weekend. We had a surprise party for him and he was surprised, although he suspected something was up. Aside from telling Dad stories my favorite part of the weekend was going for a run with all of my siblings. I don't run much anymore but we had a good time teasing each other for 3 miles.
Time to get to putting the pump in the yard or face a mosquito invasion. toodles for now...