Back porch project

The back porch project is underway and is turning out to be quite the construction project! As you can see the porch was stripped down to the barewood. Paul had to tear out the foundation on Saturday and jack the floor up so that he could replace the foundation block as there were a few problems. The porch will be completely insulated and will actually become a working part of the house. For those of you that have been in the house, the wall that separates the porch from the stairs (to the immediate left of the picture below) will come out and we will be replacing that narrow winding staircase with an open bannister that leads out onto the porch. It's a big project but needed to be done before winter came!

On a separate note, the septic system is going in today! HOORAY! The crew was out working in the downpours of rain that we had yesterday. They got the old tank pumped and pulled out and dug the hole for the new one. As of 9 a.m. today the new concrete tank was supposed to go in. They will be working on the leach fields for the remainder of the week. According to Al, the guy we hired to do the job, the tank that he pulled out was like an old farm diesel barrel and was rusting out. He said that perhaps we could have made it through the winter, but that's a BIG perhaps! So we got it done at just the right time! As of July of this year, Iowa has a new law that all septic systems on acreages have to be inspected and approved before title is allowed to transfer. Even though we are transferring title from family member to family member we still had to do this. So as soon as Al gets the job done and the sanitarians have given it the ok, we can close on our loan at the bank and the farm will officially be ours. I know that Paul is excited for the day that comes as he said he's been looking forward to owning the acreage for years.

Water heater! Hooray!

We have a new water heater! Hooray! 85-gallons of hot water is the best thing ever! In the past month it's always been that the first person in the shower got hot water and everyone else got cold water. Now we have 85 gallons!! We also have all new supply lines so alot of what was cobbled in is now fixed. Hooray!!

My Dale

I am so excited because as we speak a brand new water softener and reverse osmosis water system are being installed on the farm.
We had the Culligan man out on Tuesday. He tested the water and said that a 0 is very soft water, a 2 is ok and a 7 is extremely hard water. Ours tested at a 35!!!!!!! The new water softener he said will take care of a lot of those problems and they are installing a reverse osmosis system on the kitchen sink so that we will have better drinking water.
The story goes that Grandma Edith never liked the way that the well water tasted either so Grandpa Paul's friend Dale Curry used to bring in jugs of water from his farm because it tasted better. I understand where Edith was coming from now!
But now we have our own Dale - the Culligan man!!

The county was out yesterday to test for nitrates, bacteria, etc. in the well. We are keeping our fingers crossed. We don't have any other options for water besides that well. Xenia water lines run through the front of the farm, but it would cost $6-grand to hook into them and the company is going bankrupt and threatening to raise people's monthly bill by 63%!! We'd end up paying over $200 a month just in water. No way!

Love about the farm

It is so easy to make a list of things we love about the farm.

The number one thing though - the quiet!

There aren't cars screaming up and down the street at 2 a.m. or the Manson crotch rocket gang flying down Main Street at 4 in the morning. The kid with the booming bass isn't driving passed the house at 6 a.m. waking up the girls anymore. Truly the only sound that I have heard in the last two hours was Buddy, our farm dog, barking as he chased a young raccoon out of the nearby sweet corn patch. Otherwise all I hear are a few random crickets and the fantastic sound of SILENCE!!!!

Painting begins

I started painting over the weekend. I started with the dining room in a gorgeous khaki'ish color. It's Dutch Boy's Almond Oil. I really like the color and it accents the original woodwork. I've only gotten 1/2 of 2 walls done though. It's hard to paint when the girls are in bed because with Paul gone they really aren't sleeping that much. I may have to wait to finish this project when Paul is home...but we'll see.

Let the remodeling begin!

Let the remodeling begin...again. (I feel dumb for accidently deleting the blog and reposting pictures. Oh well!)
Well Paul started in on the bathroom before he left for grad school. The bathroom and pantry area were once connected by a doorway. That doorway was sealed up in the mid-50s, 1954 Paul thinks. We opened it back up for some easier storage space in the pantry. But after Paul is done with his grad school projects in August, the entire wall is coming down and we start in on the first BIG remodel of the farm - new bathroom!
I'm considering going with an Arts & Crafts style bathroom and found the cutest vanity and mirror at Menards. I just have to decide if I actually want to spend that much!!

The wall is back open!!

Halfway open on the pantry side.

This is the original linoleum that great-grandpa Emil put in for great-grandma Esther we are told. This also used to be the original kitchen and was used as a pantry.

The pantry prior to knocking out the doorway.

The bathroom prior to knocking out the doorway.