Saturday, April 17, 2010

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!

17 comments:

Terri said...

Am so excited about the lake house for you! What a view! keep us updated with pics.
Lil mouse, get on over to mystic. Things are getting exciting!
Blessings,
Terri

Linds said...

I love the comforter set! Beautiful. It will be great to see the lake house when it is all finished - the view is spectacular! Vee said it was snowing at her place too. The weather is really odd at the moment.Have a great weekend!

Needled Mom said...

The view with those two sliders will be magnificient!!! You have really put all of that space to maximum use and I can't believe how quickly it all came together.

Glad that you and your dad are getting the exercise. I know how you have enjoyed those walks in the past.

The boys are coming home soon!!! Yeah. I know how you love to look out on them. Where did the winter go?

I am sure it was difficult to get rid of the harness, but it was great that it went to a good home. No sense in having it sit around and not be used.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. xoxo

hippo chick said...

My friends', Bruce and Shelly, have a house in the Adirondack mountains and they have a very similar comforter set in one of the guest bedrooms. I'm hoping and praying that Bruce will be able to go to the mountains this summer.

Looks like things are going well for you at the lake.

~hippo hugs~

Hollie said...

I can't wait to see the cabin finished. I love the quilt bedding set. That's my kind of style. Sounds like everything is busy, busy, busy at your place.

Dawn said...

Wow, it's going to be a whole new cabin! Does insurance cover all of that? What a great view you'll have now. I'd love to see it!

I'm glad you've been having good weather - we had a couple of nice days, then back to gray and chilly. It's very foggy this morning. We took a Minnesota friend on a ride yesterday and couldn't see the peaks - sad. But we had a great time together.

Kev's headed for Camp Champion somewhere in NY tomorrow for a week of fellowship, inspiration, and hopefully some rest. I don't know where it is.

We haven't mowed yet, obviously. But poor DC is digging huge holes in the yard because the sprinkling system has sprung at least 2 leaks. What a pain in the neck that system is - something every year.

Have a great Sunday!

sue said...

We got snow here too.. a couple of inches.. so sad to see all the flowers weighted down by the snow.. it will be gone by the am, as we have rain now.... the lake house looks grand.. you might find that there was a silver lining in the black cloud... always great to read your blog....

palmtreefanatic said...

The lake house is really coming along so nicely! yeah!
Yeah!
Such a nice comforter set! its perfect!

Julie Harward said...

Cute pic of the horse and cat! Your place is sure taking shape, looks great. Come say hi :D

hippo chick said...

Dear MM,

I use Corel Photo Album 7 software. It is really inexpensive and does most of what I want it to do.

www.corel.com

P.

Sharon said...

It sure does look like the cabin is coming along great. I love the view of the lake.
Thanks for updating everything I sure do enjoy coming here to see what you have been up to.
have a great day

Rising Rainbow said...

I can imagine how it felt parting with the harness but sounds like you found just the right people for it.

I guess I never thought about screwing stall mats down to keep them in place. I will have to pass that along to Dave.

The remodel of the cabin looks like a lot of work. Will look forward to pics when it's done.

Callie said...

Wow, maybe the broken water pipe and flood were a blessing. That is going to look so nice when it's finished!

Val said...

I am sorry that I haven't been around lately but I am catching up now. Through everything I am going through I have thought of you often. The lakehouse is looking great. I can't waitt o see it done.

Paula said...

The lake is wonderful! Like something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel!! My life as been crazy but I am so glad you keep up with me when I do get on this crazy thing! Thank you, Friend.

Blessings~
P.

Unknown said...

You seem to have a great set of horses there. I love horses however cannot keep any so i own a few virtual horses in the horse race game http://www.horseracegame.com/. I love playing the game and enjoying the fun when my horses win races.

KC said...

the cottage is coming along nicely.. I'm so excited for you and look forward to seeing pics when it is all finished.. funny how God works things together for good.. :-)