Ready for a New Week😞!! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

We returned from our little get away to the beach refreshed....until....we got that phone call. We arrived back in Hartselle on July 20th. We left the next morning to head to Tennessee. About 30 minutes from the farm, Paul gets a call from the Maury (pronounced Murry🤷🏼‍♀️) County Water Department. They asked what he was doing to use so much water. Paul said, "What do you mean, I'm not using water."  The lady proceeded to tell us that we had used over 100,000 gallons of water recently. Yes...100,000 gallons😳. We were headed to the farm to meet with Keegan and Anna, but Paul had to go by the Skelley barn to see where all this water was going and get it turned off. Four feet under ground a faulty fitting had broke and water had been gushing out for awhile, but nothing you would have ever really noticed had you not received the phone call. We basically have been supplying the creek with water.🙄

It took 4 trips to Lowes, to our favorite aisle, aka..plumbing,  to get that leak fixed.  Paul was so frustrated.  He fixed it 4 different times and it kept springing new leaks.  Finally on the 4th fix, it worked.  Water seems to be our enemy lately.  One thing I love about Paul is his persistence.  I have never seen him throw his hands up and say I quit.  He may get in a tiz, but he just keeps trying until he gets it right.  

I went on to meet with Keegan and Anna while Paul went to check on the water leak.  We decided on the cabinets for the kitchen.  I am using a very pale blue for cabinets with a little light colored maple wood mixed in.  The island will be a shade or 2 darker than the light blue cabinets.  The top of the island is going to be made with some of the old barn wood on the property.  Walls are going to be the sheathing on the walls already, but painted white. The framing should all be completed downstairs by the end of this week. Then they will begin framing the upstairs.

We are very disappointed about the living room floor.  They had to cut out the termite damage and cut more out to repair a joist that had dry rotted.  The framer and Keegan met on Tuesday and decided that the whole floor needed to be removed since it would be the most traveled room. 

He didn't feel like it was a good idea to leave any damaged wood because he says dry rot can travel like a disease overtime to other wood.  They believe this will be the most cost effective way to fix this area. We are so sad to see that beautiful old floor completely removed, but we know that this will be a clean slate for this room and will avoid future problems.

I purchased doors last week.  Keegan made me feel like I had done a really good job of finding quality doors at a great price.  I found all the doors except one at Southern Accents in Cullman, AL.  Their staff is the kindest and most helpful I have experienced in awhile.  They gladly answered my 1,001 questions, helped me pick out the perfect set of doors and loaded and strapped them down in my truck. 

For my farmhouse door, I had to drive to Oxford, MS to pick up.  That was a hoot!!  It was a door I had found on Marketplace.  Paul couldn't go with me, so I said I could get it myself.  I would be fine.  I got within 5 miles of my destination and had turned off onto a gravel road surrounded by woods.  I sent the seller a message and said "I am on a gravel road.  Am I going right?"  She messaged back yes it was a 3 mile gravel road.  I got so scared.  I was loosing signal, there was nothing but woods around me and I kept thinking, "who has a 3 mile gravel drive!!!"  It looked as if I was driving into a compound of some sort and looking at the GPS it was the only house out in the middle of nowhere.  I saw I had a little signal, so I text Paul to see if he could see me on Life360.  You know, so he would know where to look for my body!!😂  It took some time, but finally he found me.  I called him and said "I'm scared, I think I'm going to turn around.  I don't feel good about this".  We lost our connection.  I literally had a gun sitting in my lap!!!  Something just kept telling me to drive on, so I did.  After about 3+ miles I turned on to a paved road and began seeing other houses. 

When I arrived at the destination, I had about 4 houses around me and the nicest lady was standing outside waiting on me.  She helped me load the door and I told her where my GPS had taken me.  She said, "When you leave go to the Left, don't go the way you came in.  I don't know why it brought you in that way.  Turning left takes you to Hwy 6 and heads you toward Huntsville."  I had rolled down my passenger window to talk to her and as I was leaving I tried to roll it up.  It would not go up😩.  So, I had a 3 hour trip back home with the passenger window all the way down and yes, it started raining on me in Moulton.  I drove straight to the Jeep dealership and said, "I know you can't fix it right now, but can you at least get the window up."  They looked at it and thought the window had come off its track and said, "If you will leave it with us we will at least get the window back up and determine for sure what is wrong."  So, I left it and they took me home.  Only to get a phone call to say they couldn't get the window back up and a cable had broke. They would have to order a part and it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow🤦🏼‍♀️.  I did get my truck back late afternoon the next day, window all fixed and it was under warranty.

By the weekend, we were worn out from the hectic week.  I sanded on my doors a little.  After stripping and sanding, I was finally beginning to see a little of the wood underneath all the paint.  Paul planted more magnolia's. 

We are trying to create a screen from the intersection at the corner of our property.  Paul also mowed because well, that always has to be done.  Our motto is, when nothing else is working out, go mow.😄While mowing he found our Adirondack chairs, which we didn't know were lost, at the opposite end of the creek.🤷🏼‍♀️.  Guess water got a little high that last storm. 

We also took our dogs to the Pool Pup Party at the Maury County Coop.  We were very worried about Murf's behavior, but he actually did really well.  Bentley always behaves when he is out in public.  We had to literally pick up the dogs and put them in the pool.  Bentley decided he like it and got back in on his own.  Murf had to have a float and wanted OUT.  They both got popsicles that they loved!!!  (frozen yogurt and peanut butter)

I was able to spend more time with my cows.  Wilma has been coming up to the gate for me.  She is one that gets pushed around by the other cows, so I try to fix her her own bowl of treats.  She has started coming to the gate for me and lets me scratch her nose just a little bit. 

She will not get close at all if Paul is with me.  That drives him crazy, because he was the one that wanted Wilma first.😜  If I'm not there to give her treats, she won't eat.  Wilma reminds me of myself.  She is quiet, shy and a bit of a loner.  She is quite content hanging by herself, which is where we usually see her standing or laying at a distance from the others.  Paul has joked with me in the past when we saw a herd of cows in a field.  There would be one standing off from the herd all by herself and he would say "look, there you are, way over there, all by yourself!!"  I understand a girl needing her alone time to assess her situations. Us shy ladies have to stick together!☺️. 

Candy got her first brushing from me.  She was so still while I brushed.  She scares me a little, because she is super sassy. 

When I realized how much she was enjoying the brushing, I went into the pen to brush the other side.  She did not move until I finished.  I wonder if she would let me give her a bath??🤔  HaHa...Just joking, not even going to attempt that!!!

Britta is definitely the Alpha of the herd.  We wasn't sure if it was going to be Candy or Britta.  But we saw Britta head butt Candy, and Candy moved out of her way. 

Then Britta head butted poor little Lita,....for No Reason!!  Lita is at the very bottom of the pecking order. 

She comes to me for loving (and food😂) and I always tell her, "One day you will be as big as they are and then you can head butt back!!"

After the last storm that came through, (the one that damaged our culvert at the Skelley Barn) we were in the creek retrieving stones that had been washed away.  One thing I noticed after the storm was how clean the creek bottoms were.  All the sand and gravel had been washed away or pushed up on the creek sides.  It was just a beautiful stone bottom with crystal clear water. 

A phrase that has been stuck in my mind lately is "A Clean Slate".  After last week, I was looking forward to a new week, a fresh start, a clean slate to put all the frustrations of last week behind us.  Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  Mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone who deserves punishment or consequences.  The Bible also relates mercy to other qualities beyond love and forgiveness.  He doesn't give us what we deserve. He meets us where we are. He is kind, helpful, patient, self-controlled, and sympathetic.  He gives favors and blessings.   He alleviates or walks with us during our suffering.  He does this everyday, all day.  It's not weekly, monthly or yearly....Everyday he extends his mercies to us and He never grows weary.  Never reaches His limit.  This should give us hope for tomorrow,  regardless of the pain we find ourselves in today. His mercy gives us a fresh start or clean slate E V E R Y single morning!!!  Seek and receive God's mercy, but don't forget to thank Him for it.  Don't take His mercy for granted.  "Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever."  Psalm 136:2 (ESV)

Heavenly Father, please grant America a clean slate, a fresh start. Amen.

Check out our new website:  Silosprings

Funny video of Candy

NOTE:  School is gearing up next week.  I am going to keep updating the blog, but may only be once a month during the school year.  Writing the blog is a help to me. It helps me keep things in perspective as Paul and I go through this journey.  After writing this post, I realized our week wasn't as bad as I had thought.  We had some really good times too last week.  I sincerely appreciate all the positive comments that have been left on FB, text, or spoken to me.  It is very encouraging, especially for this introverted girl.  I have also had several people say they can't leave comments on the blog.  If anyone knows of a setting I may have overlooked or fix for it, please....call, text, email or message me.  Thanks and have a great rest of the week!!!!