Its been a while...

I haven't blogged in a while. I don't know why; it just seems like summer comes and everything gets busy. I could go back and fill in the gaps, but I don't want to get bogged down in ancient history so I will just start from September...
Sept.6th Elizabeth left for Boot Camp (Army) in South Carolina. She was able to facebook from her cell for the first few days, but now- silence. We haven't been out of touch completely for this long since, well... birth!
Our dear old dog Harry Potter managed to hold on to see Elizabeth off then died within the hour.
With a newly empty house, school starting up again, days getting shorter and the summer weather turning cooler, you can really feel the fall approaching.
I have started to think about spending another long, dark, empty winter in this house. Now, don't get me wrong, I love our small cozy home, but I need something more in my life. So I was hoping to get a job. I  interviewed with a WorkForce agent. She explained to me that any payment I earned (even as a part timer) would directly influence my social security benefits, including my SSI, medical benefits and COPES (those are caregivers), so unless I am able to work full time (40hrs a week) it really wouldn't be worth the disruption. *Sigh* Well, I don't think I'm in a place where I can "support myself" I'm not able or interested in such an undertaking. Just wanted something to fill my days. I mean I have a Bachelors degree after all, I hate to let a good education go to waste! Maybe the high school needs a tutor (Ewww teenagers!) But who am I kidding, who will hire me... I'm nonverbal! With my limited communication, I wouldn't even be able to volunteer as a tutor. I guess I just need to embrace the abundance in my life (I have enough money, enough to eat, a warm home, a wonderful husband and lots of friends...). I was just hoping to find a way to give back to the universe.

A celebration of life, an event of death.

April 8th was Elizabeth's 17th birthday! She was at Job Corps in White swan, still, so John and I picked up her bff Monica and headed over the mountains for the weekend. We picked her up friday afternoon and back tracked into Toppenish in search of a sushi feast (Not easy to find 200 miles inland) Everybody had their fill and we drove back to settle in at the super 8. Next day we girls hit the Yakima valley mall. Some shopping, some snaps, lunch at applebee's with Daniel "a prospective squeeze", and we took in a movie, some girl /power film noir waste of time. The girls hadn't had enough but I went back to the hotel and waited for my friend Carrie and her husband and their 2 girls. They live in Richland, so Toppenish is not too far to drive for a pizza and a nice long visit. Everybody went home early; we new we had a long hall in front of us back to Whiteswan, then Seattle. All in all it was a fabulous weekend!

Poultry on parade

TTR
  

This is my latest addition to our happy family. TTR (Tony The Rooster), a beautiful little bantam for sure. I've never had a rooster. Originally we had 5 hens as a laying flock. They were sooo sweet, we brought them home at one day old and they lived in our kitchen in a cardboard box. Even the cats loved them! They outgrew their box and needed a new home, so John emptied the old smoke house, patched the holes and spread cedar chips on the floor. He and his friend Carl built an enclosed chicken run on the southern, sunny side, and the chickens moved in.

By the end of summer, the coyotes had discovered the smorgasbord and... a weakness in the fence!

Sweetie was our soul survivor. She is the biggest black chicken. But she was lonely! A friend of ours had an extra rooster she was trying to find a home for. Then another friend had four hens that needed a new home as well. Suddenly we had a full hen house again! They spent the winter getting to know each other and recuperating. Now here they are healthy and ready for another spring! I wonder who will be our first to set??

To boldly go where no-one has gone before.

When we first moved into this house, it was very small, dark and cramped- everything I, personally, don't like. Getting around in a wheelchair I generally find it easier to not have a lot of extra "stuff". Once we got the hard wood floor in and 90% of the furniture out, it was much easier to see what we were working with. The house itself is about 35' x 45' with two bedroom, 2 bathrooms. Once we took out a wall to expand the living room, it aloud a LOT more light with access to a third window. On the other side of the house, there was a small dinning area with a small window. We decided it was the PERFECT place for a sliding door, opening the house to the southern exposure! Like any remodeling project, once you start to open a wall, there can be unexpected... surprises. We ended up having an electrician divert all the wires in the house. TIME and MONEY! But once we got the door in...

I think it was worth it!

Now we have added a small porch outside, looking out over my garden... I'm in heaven!

Harry Potter

Aw... look at this face!! Can you believe the neighbor called the police on Harry? Apparently she felt a little threatened by the sweetest, cutest, friendliest, gentlest and most easy-going dog you ever met! This is Harry Potter, our seven yr old Border Collie/Lab mix. Pound rescue. So the weather is turning BEAUTIFUL here-65 degrees, sunny, low tide... what? Am I suppose to tie him up?! 

Recap

To begin, lets recap the last year...
John's mom passed away in November, leaving him her home. After some initial resistance, I conceded and we moved in in March.  "Moving" is quite a project! It took us nearly two months to empty every closet and drawer, throw out the oven, (which had mice living in it) clean EVERYTHING and give every room a fresh coat of paint..(Phew!!)

Just as we were finishing the inside, it was warming up and getting beautiful outside; it was time to tackle the yard! Harriette had been in-firmed toward the end of her life and hadn't spent much time outdoors in a decade- obviously.  Rusted out trailers, dead car bodies, old rusted bikes, broken chairs and mounds of refuse had to be cleared; weed-eating and slash-burning till John had blisters! I'm sooo proud of him, it looks beautiful! We will have a very nice spring this year.

Mark cutting out the wall

Super Dad lifting carpet!

 As the summer ended, we turned our attention back indoors. With my "nest" recently emptied (Elizabeth started Job Corps in Yakima Washington on September 7th), I was looking for a distraction.  We started on the remodeling projects we had been putting off. The first order of business was to pull out that nasty carpet and put in hard wood floors. We also needed to remove a wall and make the living room more spacious. We hired John's friend, Mark, who is a professional contractor and has been absolutely invaluable! Remodeling in November is quite a  juggling act. We had to pull carpet from each room one at a time, lay hard wood then move everything out of the next room, and repeat. At one point we were sleeping in the kitchen; then a few days later we were sleeping in the tv room! One freak winter blizzard and two major holidays later, we were FINALLY done with the floors.

Happy St Paddy's Day!!

Happy March everyone... I love March! Things are thawing and starting to grow in the back pasture, there is a coyote den with pups! I think I finally thought of a good theme for my blog. We recently celebrated our one year anniversary of living in this house, so I looked around and was amazed at all the changes we have made in a year! We got the little trailer on 2 1/2 acres of land in a pretty "used" state. It was sort of depressing to move into, but we were determined to make the best of it!  After a year of scratching around, we are starting to gain some noticeable headway. (Phew!!) I think my blog will follow the day to day struggle with remodeling, landscaping and otherwise renovating our new home.