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!

Our Garden was Vandalized!

We arrived at the Country House Saturday around noon. Looked out at the garden & said "What the ..?".

From the house it looked like very large Dandelions had sprouted over several of the beds.

Upon closer inspection I realized it was newspaper, wet newspaper.

A few weekends ago I had stuffed newspaper in the concrete block holes in four of the beds. I had hoped the newspaper would help with the weeds. I'm planning on adding leaf compost on top of the paper, eventually. Hopefully before the weeds start to spring free.

But someone had come behind me & pulled up all the newspaper, out . of . all . four . beds. What the ...?

Upon closer inspection I see in the bottom of one of the holes, a cigarette butt. Why would someone pull up all that newspaper I had taken about 3 hours to painstakingly crush and put into each . and . every . blasted hole?

What had I done to anger someone so?

Upon even closer inspection I realized it wasn't a cigarette butt after all ....... It was Goose Poop!

Geese come and go all year long & apparently they thought there Must Be Something Good underneath all that paper.

Geesh, if it isn't the Beavers, it's the Geese. I stuffed it all back in, hoping they realize there isn't anything underneath & leave it alone.

Daggum Geese!