Chapter 10...Princess Niki, Post Hole Diggers, And Yard Work

Off Grid...Chapter 10 Hi everyone. I'm sorry to say this was not an overly productive week. It's been raining off and on most of the week. Just enough to interfere with work. Even now we stopped working early because it started to rain. On Thursday we got ready to go to the property to work even though it was drizzling out. This is what our dog, Niki, does all day while we work our tails off. The Princess I want to come back as a spoiled dog next time around. What a life! When we got to there the cows got through the string again. Mike and I started working on putting up more T-posts and an end post for our fence. This is me using a post hole digger to get the pole in the ground. I am so thankful the land isn't very rocky at least nothing big. Shh! Don't say anything I don't want to jinx us. While we were working on that Howard showed up with his grandaughter to check on the cows. He offered to help us with the fencing which was a really nice thing for him to do. We told him we were fine but really appreciated the offer. I told him he could help when we re-fence the 40 acres ha,ha. One of the calf's was missing so they were going to check the woods. Two things happened while we were talking 1.The calf showed up and joined the rest of the cows and 2.It started to pour(again). We pretty much got nothing on the property done today. We decided to drive over to Mike's daughter's house. She lives about 4 miles away. She is remodeling her bathroom and she needed a piece of wood from us. She got a great deal on a vanity because the back was broken. We helped her fix the back of it and got to spend time with her and her 2 children. It was nice to visit. Friday- We really need to get some work done. We still have to finish putting siding in front of the trusses and do the eaves. Mike started cutting boards for the front of the trusses. I painted them all and we let them dry. Mike had to spend some extra time putting up some 2x4's so he had something to screw the siding into. While he was doing that I went up to finish my hill(I always have a hill). Mike called me down to help and we realized that the lines in the boards didn't match up. Mike had to take all the boards down and re-install them. He was not happy about that. I felt so bad for him. I know he is really tired and has a ton on his mind. I went back up and "finished" my hill. This is the "back hill" we have to work on next. And our back yard area Finally after a lot of climbing up and down the ladder and screwing boards in Mike finished the siding on the front of the trusses. This is Mike putting up the last board This is what Mike got done today. Yeah! I did some touch up painting on the top of the house and that was all for today. We didn't bother with the string tonight because the cows just knock it down. Saturday- Mike told me he wants to bring the motorhome to the new property next week so we can start living there. I'm really excited about that but I told Mike " cool, Niki and I will watch you go up the hill". He thinks he can make it without a problem as long as it is dry. I hope so. At least it is supposed to be dry next week. So that means we have to get our current property in really good shape and start getting the motorhome ready for moving. We spent the day with both of us mowing. Mike on the rider and me with the push mower. We got all the mowing done and sprayed some of the creeks. We still have to spray the back creek and use the weedeater around the pond. And then we will be caught up(until next week). Sunday- We got to the property and Mike started caulking. I started working on another hill, the big one in the back, and also on our back yard area. We have to rake it all and then seed everything. Mike came up with the tractor to help pick up the small rocks. We shoveled the excess into the bucket of the tractor and Mike used it around the house. It doesn't seem like much but it will take awhile to finish. Mike and I both love doing the outside work. Mike put in another end post for our gate. Then he seeded the area that I finished raking. And then it rained. The story of our life lately. At least Mike got the seed down. That's the week for you. Not too exciting but we are moving foward. Starting tomorrow we have to concentrate on getting the property ready for the motorhome. We need to trim trees, work on the roads a little more, and fence off the top area to keep the cows out. It will be a busy week for us. Lisa and Mike