Misc Country Post

I spent the last week of February at the Country House. Or, more appropriately, the barn apartment. This thing is going to wear me out. In January, I primed all walls & painted the bead board that was going up in the kitchen ceiling before the cabinets were to be installed. Next was to get the whole thing painted before the trim & flooring goes in. The living area has a 16 foot peak! Plus all the 9 & 12 foot walls. The sheet rock guys offered to leave their scaffolding but it was much to rickity(sp?) for my sense of balance. So I decided to stick w/my trusty painters ladder for the 9 foot walls (hallway, bedroom, bathroom, etc.). After Greg cut in the ceilings & corners I used an extension pole for the bigger & higher walls.

I have always used either BMoore or SWilliams paint & have always been pleased. But ... this time I had a gift card from one of the big box stores from Christmas & decided to buy from them. It's been almost 10 years since I did a major paint job & the girl at the store talked me into buying the top of the line - VSpar. It was guaranteed to cover in one coat, even unprimed walls! I thought, wow, paint has come a long way. So, I spent the extra $10 per can & bought 4 of them. Well ... they lied. Streaks, roller lines, etc. I did a 2nd coat & even that wasn't enough! I may not be a professional but I know how to paint. This will be my 3rd house that I've painted, 4th if you count our remodel in the city. I know to feather the brush strokes on the ceiling & corner cut ins. And, to let the roller do the work by not pressing down to hard. It just wasn't working for me.

I eventually broke down & went to the SWilliams store. They matched the color & recommended a different roller & that 3rd coat did the trick. It was nice to have someone who knows paint help me, unlike the big box store where it was a 20 something person that I never should have listened to in the first place. Live & learn. I still have the bedroom & bathroom left but feel much better with the better paint.

Here's a pic of the almost finished kitchen:

Almost done. But I made a mistake in measuring. I only measured one side & didn't take into account the wrapped steel beam on the other side. It was 4" too short & one of the cabinets is drawers so the installer couldn't cut it down to make it fit. I had to order 2 more cabinets & couldn't return the others because they were obviously already assembled. Oh well, the 2 extra cabinets will go into the pantry.

It also rained over 3" one night & our dock was under water for 2 days. It was just so much rain at one time that the pond was very slow to drain.

The birds are migrating. The geese are back.

Thought the next 2 pics were kind of neat

Here's a shot above the little barn of a bare tree

And, the same trees 2 minutes later, full of black birds. There are literally 1000's of them in all the trees along the fence line. It's something to watch when they all land & then ascend. It's like they are orchestrated.

Also, the Purple Martins are back. This will be the 8th or 9th year they have returned. These are just scouts & housekeepers getting ready for the rest that will come to live for a few months while they have their babies. This pic was taken around 7:00a. It is the stillest they will be all day.

Finally, I'll leave you with a shot of the now spoiled Nelly,sitting on the couch w/Greg.

I'll be back up there next week for some appliance deliveries & to paint trim & finish the bedroom before flooring is put down. 

I'll be glad when I can start moving stuff from the city that I've been accumulating from various Estate Sales over the past year or so. You can barely open the front door in our foyer!

Oh Nelly

I spent most of the end of January at the Country House. We are having some work done on the barn apartment so I needed to be there while the sheet rock, gas guy, carpenter, etc. came & went.

The 2nd weekend I was there  I was sitting on the back porch around dusk on Sunday (1/24). I happened to look up & saw what I thought was a cat walking near the gas tank by the barn. I would love to have a cat up there to help with any mice problems so I ran inside & grabbed a small baggy of cat food that I keep on hand & went back out & called to it.

It was almost dark by this time & when the poor thing came up to me it wasn't a cat at all but a small Chihuahua. She was skin & bones & could barely use her back legs. Plus, it looked like she had had puppies recently.

She looked at the food & then back at me & whined a bit. She finally ate the food & just sat at my feet. I picked her up because she was shivering. I brought her in on the porch & tucked her under my jacket at my side. She was having a really hard time breathing & I thought that she might be on her way over the rainbow bridge. Since it was going down in the 20s that night I couldn't let her stay out so I put newspaper down in the bathroom & brought her in for the night. The next morning she ate a little more but it was obvious that she just wanted to be held & loved. It also became obvious that she wasn't house broken, oh joy.

Don't know if she ran away or was dumped. This will be the 5th dog that has shown up at the house (a lab, 2 lab mix puppies & a border collie mix). We found good owners for all of them.

I bought her some food & since it was warmer the next few day/nights I got some rugs, towels & a box & made her a bed on the carport. The sheet rock guys finished on Tuesday & I needed to get started priming the walls. The barn is right by the house & faces the carport so I was back & forth all day for the next few days & she got a little stronger each day. I posted her pic on FB but no one came forth. By the end of the week she was still skinny but much more lively & of course I had named her by then. Nelly as in nervous. Greg came in on Friday night & she barked at him like she owned the place.

We agreed that it would be best if she could find a new home. I have a cousin in-law that works for animal control & she offered to take her to work w/her. She came by on Monday morning to pick her up. Nelly was shocked when I handed her off & I surprised myself by tearing up a bit. As I continued with my painting I found that I was missing her more & more as the day went on. While talking with Greg that night I told him I felt bad that I had helped her get better just to give her away. And, I missed having her around. After we hung up I started tearing up again. Unexpectedly, Greg texted me a little while later to tell me to go get her, that we would make it work somehow.

So, long story short I went to get her the next morning & we are now the proud owners of a yipper dog as we have always called that breed. She is the sweetest thing & smart as well. The Vet wants her to gain a pound or two & then she will be spayed at the end of the month. I am in the process of crate training her. She hasn't had an accident in the house since Saturday morning. We've never had an inside dog or a dog this small before & the responsibility is quite different.

Wish me luck in getting her house trained.