DEMO DAYS (Romans 12:12)

Demo began on June 30. It's a little scary uncovering everything. You never know what they will find that may add extra cost to the renovations. Our budget is super tight, so everything is major to us. So far the only thing that has turned up is termite damage on the living room floor. We are hoping and praying there is not excessive termite damage on the exterior wood siding, which is now covered with vinyl. As the sheet rock has been taken down, we have seen a lot of layers of very unique wallpaper.😊

Paul and I have completed a little work ourselves. We purchased a horse trailer awhile back. We thought we were going to Oklahoma this past weekend to purchase an additional cow and donkey. However, that fell through when they sold the wrong cow (our cow) to someone else. We did have the trailer ready to travel. I had tore out the old wood, knocked all the rust off with a steel brush and sprayed the inside with rust neutralizer. I then repainted the inside area with gray rust-Oleum paint and sprayed the rims black. Paul replaced the wood on the inside. We just have to buy a spare tire and do a little work on the lights.

We finally got the wood we had been waiting for to finish up the outside of the stalls.  Paul did a great job enclosing 2 bays of the implement shed.  Now Lita will be safe and secure through the night.  Hopefully, the other ladies will be joining her this Friday, if they all pass a pregnancy test.  Lita will not have to be put up at night, once she has company in the pastures.  We are still working hard to find a donkey to have on guard, but not having any luck so far. 

While Paul is doing all his construction work, I try to help out with the mowing.  So, this weekend I was mowing away at the farm.  I hate for the creek areas to get all grown up, so I try to mow as close as I can to the banks.  As I was mowing around the creek, I noticed I was a little closer to the bank than usual.  I stopped and thought about whether or not I could make this turn.  According to my calculations, I had just enough room to make a turn.  Next thing I knew I was up in the air and then sitting in the bottom of the creek. (Obviously, my calculations were a off!!)   The first thought I had was...did I land on a snake?!?!?!  The next thought was, is the mower going to fall on me.  I jumped up...no snakes and lawn mower was stuck.  NO ONE in my family came to check on me.  Brantlee was sitting on the front porch, oblivious to all that had happened.

Paul was finishing up the siding on the shed.  I was wet from my waist down and started my long walk back to Paul.  Brantlee never said a word as I passed her, but as I rounded the corner and saw Paul...... his face was red from laughing and when he saw me he doubled over with another round of laughter.  Apparently, he could see the lawn mower and knew what had happened.  I couldn't help but start laughing too.  When Paul could speak again he said, "Well little lady, let me finish this up and then we will go down and see what we can do about your lawn mower."  When he is doing handyman chores, he always calls me "Little Lady".🤷🏼‍♀️.

On a positive note, while mowing I discovered we had grapes and blackberries growing behind the chicken coop and saw some pretty little flowers I had not seen before.

Paul became a K9 Officer 3 years ago.  In order to accept the position he had to have an address that was within 50 miles of his office in Nashville, TN.  So we purchased a small piece of property to satisfy that requirement (we call it Skelley, because that's the name of the road its on).  It is approximately 5 miles from the farm and about a 10 minute drive.  Our initial plan was to build on the Skelley property, but plans changed.  Last fall, Paul built a barn out there so he would have somewhere to secure his work vehicle when he was gone and we needed a bathroom.  Since the demo has begun, Paul has pulled his camper back to Skelley and put it in the barn.  He has been working so hard to get a functioning bathroom.  We have brought the bathroom vanity from the farmhouse to the barn and Paul is saving some of the wood out of the farmhouse to use for the walls and the ceiling in the barn bathroom. 

I said to Paul, "So basically we are taking all the stuff from the old farmhouse and putting it in the new barn and then going to put new stuff in the old farmhouse.”😂

We are so close to having a shower, if we could just get the electrician back out to hook up the hot water heater. Currently, we have been taking pot baths. Let me explain "Pot Baths".

You take 2 pots of water and heat them on the stove. You take the pots to the bathroom. You stand in shower as if you were taking a real shower. Dip your rag in the pot of hot water and add soap to rag. Wash your body as you normally would in a real shower. Then pour remaining hot water over your body to rinse.

There you have it...A pot bath. Not ideal, but works in a pinch. Our kids think it is barbaric.😂.

The Skelley property has a beautiful rock bottom creek on it.  When we take our morning or evening strolls in the creek, it's like walking through an enchanted forest.  We have also been enjoying our morning coffees on the barn balcony.  There is a little groundhog that we often get to watch and deer come by frequently too.  We had planned to sell Skelley to pay for renovations, but Paul and I just can't bring ourselves to put it up for sale. So we are trying to do the renovations without selling it for now.

Paul had to work on July 4th🙁.  It was actually pretty funny.  There was a mandate sent down that said all monuments must be protected through the weekend of the 4th.  In Columbia there is an old Federal Building and it has a stone eagle attached to the building that was 60 feet in the air. Somehow it made the monument list. Paul reported to his supervisor that there was nothing there that needed protecting, especially in Columbia.  He was told he had to go protect the Eagle whether anyone could get to it or not.  Brantlee and I went to check up on Paul and make sure he was doing his job and we took him out to lunch😂.  I'm happy to report the eagle is safe and secure.

Paul and I hope we don't have anymore unexpected expense with the house renovations, we hope we are making a good decision by holding on to Skelley property, we hope we have made the right decision to move to TN, we hope we are making a smart decision by investing in cows, we hope Paul stays safe while at work and we really hope our country will be restored to its former glory.  The Bible says, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer" Romans 12:12.  There is some pretty scary stuff going on in the world today...terrifying actually.  I can get myself in a tizz fairly quickly if I'm not careful with what I'm reading or watching.  God created Hope, so true hope comes by trusting God even when times are difficult. Hope, powered by the Holy Spirit, allows us to have confidence, joy, peace, power and love, even in hard & scary times.  Hoping in God will never lead us into despair, because He has a plan for all of us who look to Him.  Romans 15:13 says "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope".  Hope in the Lord, but be constant in prayer. Please pray for our country without ceasing.  God can restore our country in the same way He restored Nineveh. (Pray, Trust, Hope and Obey)