Odds And Ends

     No this isn't my horse or cat, I just liked the picture.  :o)

I can't believe almost a week has gone by and I haven't posted anything.  With spring comes more things to get done around the homestead and it seems so nice to be outside in the fresh air.  Dad and I have been walking every day since he and Mom got home from Florida, usually twice a day.  My lame legs and feet are finally adjusting to the big hill that we go up but I am still puffing and panting a bit.  Dad walks all winter in Florida and I sit in front of this computer so he has the edge on me!  :o)

Quite a few of you were on the right track on this contraption.  It is a cream separator that my grandmother used on the farm.  My Dad said he spent many hours as a kid turning the crank at just the right speed or it wouldn't do its job properly. It is about 75 years old and he can remember when they bought it new.  

The boys will be coming home in the next week or so.  I am waiting for things to dry up a bit in the pasture so that they don't muddy it up racing and tearing around.  Nick is off stall rest finally after his injections in his back and has been running and leaping in the air in the indoor arena.   I bought new rubber mats for all the stalls and my yard man put them in for me and they look really good.  He put screws in them to keep them in place and then in the fall we can take them out and wash them with the power washer.

I sold the team harness that Kipper and Skipper have on in this picture.  I haven't used them in a long time and now with Skip gone I have no need for them.  A good friend of mine noticed an ad in Uncle Henry's that a family was looking for a team harness and she contacted them for me and they drove two hours to look at them and bought them yesterday.  It was bittersweet.  In a way I hated to see them go as it was part of Skip's history but I'm not one to have things sitting around until they are of no use so it only made sense to sell them.  The couple that bought them are delightful, we had a nice time talking horses and they brought pictures of theirs for me to see.  They will send me pictures of the harnesses on them when they get them adjusted.

DIL and I went to the lake yesterday to go over things with the project manager.  We are making a lot of changes that will utilize the space better as the cottage is very small.  We have moved the kitchen to the back and put two sets of sliding glass doors in the front so that we can have a better view of the water.

This is going to be the new bathroom downstairs.  There is just a half bath on the main floor.  There were two rooms, one being the full bath and the other the laundry room.  We decided to make it all one room so that it would be bigger and we could put in a tub and not just have a shower. They were putting down the new cement after reconfiguring the plumbing.

We left there and met the project manager at Loews and picked out new lights, ceiling fans, sink, faucets etc  so I think everything is picked out now.  The furniture is in and they will keep it at the store until we are ready for it.  It's been quite a process but will be nice when it is all finished.  We are upgrading the heating system and hot water system to propane to get rid of the furnace and oil tank which are already gone so that has given us about 30% more room in the basement.  When you are dealing with only about 1200 square feet you try to make the most of every inch.

I found this comforter set on sale in the JC Penny catalog and it's perfect for my bedroom at the lake.  I had one very similar before the Niagra Falls incident so was happy to find something so much like it with the bedskirt, comforter, pillow shams, decorative pillows and curtains.  I'm only going to use valances as the room is very small and has two windows so the curtain part would be overkill.

It snowed about 3 or 4 inches last night at my sisters house which is about two hours west of here in the foothills of the mountains!  She is really bummed but it won't last long.  I am going to mow this afternoon which is a first for me to be mowing in April!

Guess that's about it from the Great North Woods.  I know I haven't been getting around like I should to visit you all but will put that on the top of my priority list for next week!