Weekend past

Himself and I had a good weekend at the cabin.  Himself has been "down in the back" but if he's careful and slow and "easy does it", he gets by.  So Saturday, he put up an electrical box in the new cabin and began the detail-oriented, painstaking work of wiring the new cabin.  Me? I slap-dashed a "board walk" together.  We have decided it is going to be a wet summer.  (Oh really? as we in Southern Iowa are working on the 6th inch of rain in two days.  Six? or will it be seven?)  And with the new boardwalk we will be able to walk from the old cabin to the new in our bare feet.  No tracking mud!  Yay!!!!

A small bit of the wiring. 

The new "boardwalk" with a couple of cuties keeping their tootsies out of the mud! 

Himself has spent a lot of time on the wiring.  He has enjoyed it, he said.  And yet, I don't have a photo of the "box" and the junction of all the wires coming together in the new cabin.  I will have to rectify this situation.  You will be impressed when you see the new breaker box and all the wires coming together to give us light, heat and entertainment in the years to come.  I'm SO impressed. 

II UPDATE-from Himself

Things are proceeding very well at the new cabin. We have pretty much finished installing the insulation in the loft, just a couple of side walls to go, and it should be ready for drywall.
We have hopefully secured what I need to run electrical wiring from the old cabin to the new electrical box in the new cabin. I just hope the plumber has done his "digging" and has the new cabin connected to the sewer and new underground water supply installed so I can dig a trench (by hand, actually by spade) to run the new wiring.
Then we should have electricity, then on to the finish plumbing, wiring the new exhaust fan/heater in the bathroom, and all kinds of odds and ends. There are so many things we have to think of as we go cause we've never done this before. Anyway, its still fun. I am looking forward to July as I and hopefully herself will have a week off to work.
Boi

Odds and ends

Little cabin visitors find it difficult to get the screen door open, even with that low door knob on there so Nana installed a door bell.  Actually, there are three little brass bells on that braided strip and they tinkle.  These bells are about the prettiest ringing bells I ever did hear.  So a small child (once trained) will be able to stand down and ring the bells and Nana will come running to open the door.  (Much better than one little one standing and screeching "Nana!  NaNa!  NANA! NNNaaaaaNNNNaaaa!

These bales of R19 insulation now have new homes in the wall of the second story.  We have cut, measured and installed the bats between the studs in preparation of the dry wall.  oh no!  I dread the drywall!!!!!!   

And this photo, dear ones, is what Grampsy would have labeled "The End".  : )

Perfect June weekend

The weather was about perfect.  It did rain a little Friday but by Saturday the ground was drying out and the sun was shining.  The evenings were cool but the days pleasantly warm.  Himself mowed the grounds.  Not once, but twice!  The grass is so thick and it was tall and a little wet when he mowed the first time so it really did look a lot nicer after the second mowing.  If you read Nana's View, you will know I've been struggling with writing lately so here are some photos to help me tell you about the weekend. 

All spring, our visits have been met with rains or we came just after heavy rains and the ground has been soggy and wet.  We've had boards thrown down to walk on, between the cabins.  This weekend started out that way too, on Friday.  Saturday, midday, the ground was drying out, the sun shining and the temps a rising.  Saturday turned out to be a perfect "outdoor" working day so we did. 

We moved the brackets that hold the wasp trap and the hummingbird feeder from hanging over the porch to "over hanging" the porch.  Hhmm.   We kill creatures at one end of the porch and nuture them at the other????  I might need to think about this!

I made more syrup for the Oriole/Hummingbird feeder.  And we watched the Orioles and the Hummers when we could, while we were taking breaks or walking by.  Himself has been standing at the feeder and had a hummingbird zip through within itches of his head.  The hummers are feisting, aggresive tiny birds.  Some hummingbirds live in Iowa in the summer and winter in South America.  Isn't that amazing?   That boggles my mind how far they fly, which is why the stuff themselves all summer in Iowa on honey and nectar. 

Himself climbed on the roof of the little cabin and cut tree limbs back that were hitting the vent and the TV antenna.  While he was up there, we decided he may as well do what he needed to do to take the old television antenna down.  Between the two of us, we got that accomplished.  30 years worth of rusted metal made it a bit of a challenge but we gotterdone AND I now have the materials I need to build a handrail.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story there! 

I changed my mind about Gramps old bench.  I had painted it gray and while it looked so much better than it had, I just kept noticing it as we were working around outside.  Finally, I said to Himself.  Shouldn't that bench be red?  And he agreed.  I think it will now be a great accent to our front porch. 

We not only bird watched this weekend, we critter watched too.  This is a little ground squirrel. Some folks call them Squinties.  My neighbor up the hill told me how just the day before, a Squinty ran into her trailer and how they had to corral it and run it back out!  We have had a pair of squinties living under the bridge but now they have moved under the cabin and their family is inhabiting our entire lot.  We see them everywhere.  We may have to declare war.  Himself also saw a badger this weekend.  He has zero tolerance for badgers so I imagine he is planning war strategies and cleaning the rifle. 

Himself and I did a little planting and rearranging this weekend, too.  We left the Illinois Katchutree on the hill and moved the honeysuckle.  I dug out around the Katchur hoping it will take off -- but if it doesn't very soon, it will be transplanted to a sunnier, lower area.  The honeysuckle was transplanted to the front corner of the new porch where I have visions of the future flowerbed.  It will be the basis for a new shade garden. 

So we mowed and weed eated and pruned and polished and plumped and planned.

 Did I mention it was a perfect weekend to work outside? lol

The Little Cabin

and the big cabin aren't big enough for the two of us tonight!  Himself and I had a difference of opinion. Well, an altercation.  No, not that.  We had an unpleasant moment -- and we hadn't even started working on the new cabin!

We got here shortly after 6:00.  Himself went to mowing and I went to talking on the phone.  I called the (potential) plumber and left a message, then called cousin Jim in Texas.  While talking to Jim, I suddenly said, "Jim, I've got to go.  My husband is waving at me from the mower.  There must be a problem."  and we said our goodbyes and hung up quickly.  (usually it takes Jim 30 minutes to say goodbye.) 

Then I went outside and Himself was mowing contently so I pulled some weeds and some wild flowers that were in the way.  I admired the blooming lilacs and the redbud and puttered about.  When suddenly, the calm peaceful evening  was broken by some shrill whistling.  It got my attention.  I looked around.  There's Himself beckoning (just as I had imagined!)  so I drop everything (the weeds) and struggle up the hill.  Himself is glaring and gesturing at some rocks and ends of boards and waving towards the porch.  As the mower is right there and running, the conversation was a bit limited.

Move them?  I ask in charade language?  motioning and mouthing big words. 

MOVE THEM! 

Hands turned up and shrugging . . . I tried to transmit telepathically "I thought we were going to have a rock pile here for drainage?" 

MOVE THEM!

chin down, eyebrows meeting in the middle, eyes small and dark.  He looks like a picture of Thor. 

He's furious . . . MOVE THEM! 

At this level, I can read lips. 

So I did.

I moved them. 

But not cheerfully and not willingly and when I'm speaking to him again, I'll ask him "but I thought we were going to pile rocks here for a natural, drainage water way?"