A/C Love and Snake Hate Crimes

It's still crazy hot outside which is why I about fainted when the contractors told me the A/C was on upstairs. Granted, we aren't living upstairs yet, but we're still grateful! All the house work was supposed to have been completed by last week but there have been little things here and there that have delayed the process. I'm hoping the Money Pit mantra of "two weeks" will actually apply here!

The big step in the last few days was the kitchen faucet going in and the master shower door and mirror getting installed. We chose the higher end option for the faucet and the shower door and it really has made a difference. I just like staring at the kitchen faucet. It's so pretty and since we're always covered in dirt and sweaty these days it takes me to a place in my mind where everything is nicer and cleaner!

We've been told we can use the master shower if we want but things are still in disarray in there, dust all over, hammers and caulking guns laying around so I'll wait. It wouldn't do the shower justice!

The mirror-

They're coming back to replace that outlet cover with a mirrored one, the sconces will all be installed next week and I'm going to frame the mirror myself with trim from HD.

Louis bought a table saw and we're going to make the screen door I found fit into the porch opening by shaving it down an inch. Hopefully we don't screw it up too bad!

We met with a landscaper about what we can do to make the property look better and quickly realized how expensive landscapers are. SO- I bought some half priced hydrangeas and did a little landscaping job of my own with free mulch from the local dump. I'm just going to work my way around the house planting whatever I can this year and hopefully get a jump on it next spring. 

You know those people who make you look at tons of pictures of their newborn babies? So annoying right? Well I'm getting like that with my baby watermelons so enjoy the newest pics!

See the tiny green watermelon directly below my shoe? There are tons all over the field now! I decided to start watering them every night instead of every other night since it's so dry and now they're going crazy. 

The blooms and baby watermelons they leave behind just keep coming! At least someone is enjoying the heat wave. 

Things are going well in the garden save for two plants. Eggplant and Artichoke. Those are my two unruly goth teens who skulk about all day and refuse to tell me what's wrong. 

Eggplant-

 

Eggplant is a handful. It says it likes full sun but looks miserable and refuses to bloom. 

Artichoke-

The picture says it all. Pathetic. Again, it says it likes full sun but won't grow and mopes around. I have two so I may dig one up and try growing it in a container on the porch where everything is thriving. 

I spend most of my garden time with the goal of keeping things alive and yet the day that I go out to run errands and leave Louis and Farmer John unattended is the day I return to hear a horrible story....

Here's the thing- since moving to the farm I've tried to let things live that in the city I wouldn't have. Spiders live because they eat the flies, weird bugs live because they feed the frogs and while I expect to run across a snake any day I would just turn and walk away because snakes are very useful on a farm or anywhere really. Snakes eat mice and rats and unlike some of our neighbors, we haven't seen any mice or rats around or in the house. Sure, I'd kill a poisonous snake like a copperhead but not a garter or black snake. Those are worth gold out here! 

So back to the story- I walk in from my errand and Louis chirps. "Me and Farmer John killed a huuuge black snake in the barn! We shot it!" 

Me: Why did you kill it? 

Louis: I dunno, it scared us. 

Me: *eyeroll* and *sigh* 

Poor snake. Louis promised not to kill anymore and hopefully we won't see any mice now that the big snake that was probably dining on them all is gone. 

I've seen a ton of deer recently, in the picture below you can barely make them out but two deer are in the field behind the house. We let the grass grow because Farmer John is supposed to put some horses back there any day now. Until then, it's a deer playground. 

Summer Solstice Sans A/C

Today was the longest day of the year and damn was it hot. Turns out, this June has been the hottest on record in this area. It also happens to be the June that we're spending without air conditioning in a basement on a farm, nice. We do have a little portable unit that we stand in front of and aim directly at us while we sleep.

We wouldn't have survived the almost 100 degree weather and extreme humidity of this week without it. I would have cracked and been at a hotel in town. There's drywall next to the air conditioner because the contractors had to cut open the ceiling in our little room to fix a problem. Louis was taking a nap and woke up with a yell when he saw our three main contractors standing next to the bed staring at the ceiling. They didn't even notice he was there when they walked in so they yelled when he yelled. Wish I had it on tape! 

Today was a big day because the countertops arrived! Two Chinese brothers do the delivery and installation for the company we're working with. They both wore back braces which made it seem like they were going to jump on each others shoulders and do a Circ du Soleil routine at any minute. Here they are carrying it in-

Here's a picture of Jeff (our main contractor) at the island-

I'm LOVING the granite. It brings in all the whites, creams and browns in the kitchen. It's like the rug from the Big Lebowski, it just pulls the room together. And now, let's take a minute and enjoy a few gratuitous White Spring granite pics-

OooOooOOoo!

Aaaahhhhh!

Yeah!

When they were going to set the counters they noticed that the cabinets weren't level at the ends near the double oven and the fridge. FYI- there were lots of quirky issues during cabinet install because neither the ceilings or floors in the house are level, they wave all over the place. SO- the cabinet guy has to come back out....no kitchen for us just yet. BUT countertops are half the battle!

On a positive note, almost all of the plumbing is done! CQ has been working away to install all the toilets, sinks and the tub faucet that I am in love with. If anyone needs me, you can find me sitting in the tub, likely fully clothed. I just like it there! The tub faucet is so pretty-

The telephone sprayer is awesome!

The half bath is ready to go now which means my search for wallpaper is game ON. Only problem is, I have no idea where to shop for wallpaper. Online forums can't be trusted. I need to see samples. 

I'm really happy with the way that floor came out and I'm glad I went with a new pedestal sink from HD instead of trying to refinish an old one. That might have taken forever. 

Lots of wallpaper area in there, as you can see, so I need to pick something good. My battle is to find something classic, farm-y, garden, bird or floral but not girlie. 

The full shared bath is also ready to go now which means I'm on the hunt for a shower curtain and rod. Sounds like a nice excuse to go outlet mall shopping during the hottest part of the day tomorrow, yay!

CQ also installed the master bath pump-style faucets and I'm super excited to use them! 

The mirror is getting installed tomorrow as well as the lighting fixtures. Speaking of lighting fixtures, here's the kitchen chandelier with bulbs we finally remembered to buy-

I'm still tinkering around with my jar lights for the pantry and I'm getting close! I'm really enjoying making my own lighting fixture. 

I got the rest of the supplies I needed today and then had to decide between the big jar or the small ones. I ended up choosing the small ones because they look cuter in a cluster of three and they are jars given to me by my mom last summer when she canned beets. See mom? Your legendary beets will live on! 

The little light bulbs I got are the perfect size. Here's a sneak peek of two jars whose wires I have yet to wrap. 

The terra cotta pots in the picture are my porch herb garden. They love it out there and are all thriving. I think it's the compost-tea I've been drizzling over everything. The ONE thing giving me crap is an eggplant...plant that I...planted last week. It's listless and sad no matter what I do. Too much sun? Too much water? Who knows. 

The squash, watermelon, corn, beans, brussel sprouts, dahlias and tomatoes are doing great. Here are a few garden pics, my shoe is for scale!

Watermelon-

 

Squash-

Brussel Sprouts-

Corn- 

(that will DEFINITELY be knee high by the 4th of July! It was touch and go but they're almost knee high right now!)

Cow Peas planted last week-

Soybeans planted on the same day last week-

Radishes planted last week-

My circle design in the middle of the garden is still just dirt. Only those little radishes have sprouted, everything else has a two week germination period. I'm waiting patiently for two patches of sunflowers I planted to sprout as well. I'm really looking forward to using them for cut flowers and snacking on sunflower seeds!

There are two apple and one pear tree in the front yard. I'd thought they were all apple but I got a closer look when I was on the tractor. I knew it wasn't apples when I got close but then I debated between fig or pear and after some research I realized it's pear! I love pears despite my jokes that they're not worth buying unless you can carry them around 24/7 since they're ripe for a whole minute before going bad!

Pear tree pic-

It's no wonder the deer love our property. It'll be interesting to see if a bunch come around when the apples and pears ripen. I saw a pack of deer running in a field next to the garden yesterday. I'm sure I can rig something to scare them off, cans tied to strings maybe. A baby fawn ran up to us the other day and when we moved it turned and raced away. No mother in sight and you'd better believe that within the 30 seconds it got close to us I envisioned raising it myself like the Yearling except it can have all the apples it wants and stay forever! Oh well.  

New Friends, Interior Decor and Deceptacon Weeds

I love driving down dirt roads with tree canopies like this one. The area around the house is getting built up by the day and this is the last functional gravel road. A big development at the end of our street means the city will likely get around to paving this one too. I'll enjoy the bumpy ride while I can!

So, the house is looking pretty damn good. I realize I'm biased but still! The rest of the lighting fixtures arrived today and as of last night, there's power in the kitchen. I walked upstairs last night and flipped the kitchen switch...it was mesmerizing. After not having power on that floor for months to then have bright inset lights twinkling away. Amazing.

All the inset lights are dimmable which is exciting to me at this juncture in my life. The under cabinet lights are being installed tomorrow. Here's a daytime pic of the other side of the room/the dining area.

That table is really small for the space but it'll do for now. I'll take a better picture of the chandelier tomorrow.

The faucet arrived which is awesome because I was worried it would take the full 6 weeks to get here.

So pretty! I bought a bigger window ledge to go behind the faucet since the crappy ledge of yesteryear was only 2 inches wide which would never be able to support a little herb garden. So for $7 I bought a new ledge at Home Depot (again, much respect to the big HD), ripped out the old one and had Andre (in the blue shirt by the sink in the pic above and below) install the new ledge. Voila'! Herb garden ledge!  

You may notice the biggest event to happen to the house recently...the floors were stained over the weekend. It was the most stressed I've been since renovations started. I wasn't sure about that color I'd previously been so sure about when they started rubbing it in the wood. For about 20 minutes I was convinced I'd picked the wrong color and ruined the entire house.  I did what anyone would do. I took a break and ate an ice cream sandwich in silence. When I went back upstairs and saw the main area done I realized it was a great fit and everything was fine. Here's the before pic-

I actually really liked the unstained, IKEA-esque color but the darker stain blows that out of the water. The grain of the wood is gorgeous and you'd never see it with a lighter stain. All hail Minwax Provincial!

Countertops are getting installed on Monday or Tuesday which leaves only plumbing work to be done. That reminds me, I have a bedet in the back of my car. I gotta bring it in the house. I keep forgetting. I trekked over an hour away to pick it up because almost no one stocks bedets or the elusive hardware that goes with them, so I had to drive to an industrial park in Fredericksburg, VA to get it. Then I decided to take the more scenic route home and got lost for three hours. Turns out gps, maps AND a compass on my phone when service is sketchy is pretty much like not having anything at all. I had a full tank of gas and it was a pretty day so it could've been worse.

Let me introduce you to some new friends! See, we've been noticing that there are quite a few flies out in the country which made me think of one thing...one thing I always wanted as a kid and never bought.... A VENUS FLY TRAP!  

*WARNING: The picture below is graphic*

What can I say? That fly had it coming. I couldn't love this plant more. It's my Little Shop of Horrors. I also bought a tiny cousin to the venus flytrap-

This little plant doesn't have mouths that snap shut, instead its little leaves are covered in prongs of syrup that stick to gnats and then dissolve them. Nature is amazing. With these two plants and the dozens of frogs hopping around the house outside, I'm hoping the slow flying raisins dissipate.

With almost everything getting done next week, we have to paint as much as possible this weekend. What I'm realizing is that the hard work is just beginning. Louis looked at me today and said, "What colors are we painting the rooms?" Well, what a fine question Louis. Looks like I'll be staring at interior design websites all night!

I'm thinking of doing an old school finish on the walls of the main room/hallway so I need to brush up on that technique- pun intended.

As you can see, I need to finish the ceilings now that the floor is free of death trap objects to maneuver around. Taping drop cloths over the floor is easier than hurdling buckets, fans and table saws. 

Our contractors are so lovely, they decided to replace the screen on our porch as a gift to us. I won't say it didn't come without a price though...Rob had Rush Limbaugh blaring the whole time and this feminazi's head almost exploded. I had to sequester myself downstairs. 

The last drivel I heard was about Obama's dumb idea to pursue clean energy technology and how he's just like that idiot Carter- cut to my dilated pupils and clenched fists. Yeah and the oil spill is a part of nature and the ocean will heal itself and don't worry about there being more carbon in the atmosphere than EVER before because living in a man made science experiment is natural and who needs clean energy anyway my hefty pill popping ass will be dead soon so who cares?! SUCH a test of my patience- to the basement!

Lastly, I made a very, very, very cool discovery yesterday. When I got back from my three hour bedet tour I went to the garden where I planted more corn, soybeans and cow peas. I noticed that this one type of weed has practically taken over since Farmer John tilled the area for me yet it's nowhere else on the property. I've been pulling it like a weed but every time I do I say to myself, "Self, this weed is too pretty to be a weed and it looks kinda familiar". SO, I did some research and it turns out that this "weed" is actually something called Purslane. 

It turns out that Purslane is not only edible and revered in Europe, Mexico and Asia but it's also AMAZINGLY good for you. Here's an excerpt of the description:

Purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy vegetable plant. Purslane has .01 mg/g of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). This is an extraordinary amount of EPA for land based vegetable sources. EPA is an Omega-3 fatty acid normally found mostly in fish, some algae and flax seeds. ^[5] It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and somevitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron. Also present are two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins (visible in the coloration of the stems) and the yellow betaxanthins (noticeable in the flowers and in the slight yellowish cast of the leaves). Both of these pigment types are potent antioxidants and have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies.^[6]

100 grams of fresh purslane leaves (about 1 cup) contain 300 to 400 mg of alpha-linolenic acid.^[7] One cup of cooked leaves contains 90 mg of calcium, 561 mg of potassium, and more than 2,000 IUs of vitamin A. 

WOWZA! I've been pulling it like a weed for weeks! I'm going to try making it for dinner tomorrow. It can be eaten raw or cooked like spinach and it has a salty taste. 

Then I'm at HD tonight and I was drawn to a brilliant red/pink flower and wouldn't you know it...

The tags may be hard to read but they say, "Rio Purslane"! There are a ton of varieties. Mine have yellow flowers. I've been paying for omega-3 oil for years so the idea that I magically have a field of it is pretty exciting! 

The Home Stretch

Things are coming together! The contractors only have about another week left so everything "should" be done by next weekend. I realized I haven't shown the area around the house since early spring when things were still dead. It's pretty now so have a look-

I discovered there are three apple tress in the front yard! I'm really excited to find out what kind they are.

Ok, back to the inside of the house. The idea of using my own bathroom and not having to shower in flip flops is pretty damned exciting. Sharing the only working bathroom with a bunch of men could definitely have been worse, I'll say that but it'll still be nice to not carry a shower caddy. The great thing about the bathroom we share is the view of sunrises I get when I wake up before the guys get here- 

That plant was a good buy. It really brightens up the drab bathroom and hopefully reminds the guys that a girl lives there and to put the seat down. Thanks plant. 

I had a cookout for everyone at lunch on Friday because they've all been working so hard. Our foreman on the job is C.Q.- I wish I was half as talented. I showed him this picture of a pantry I love-

And he altered the layout of my shelves to mimic them, I found cheap beadboard slabs at Home Depot (shocking) so we threw that up behind the shelves. 

Now I just need to paint the shelves and I can always add a decorative trim later. I have the BEST plan for a pantry light....I saw this at potterybarn.com-

But of course it's overpriced and I don't really need that many lights SO I'm making my own cluster of three lights from old canning jars I used last year! I feel pretty confident about it and have all the electrical parts I need so that's my project for this weekend. 

A lot has happened over the last week. Doorknobs were installed and they look awesome-

The mosaic for the front entry is in and grouted with travertine tiles around it-

The tub was moved into place for when the plumbers come to hook up everything on Monday-

That window looks odd because it's not installed yet. That's just a clear piece of glass. It didn't fit right so they're coming back to fix it next week.

I've never had a bathtub so I'm really excited for it. I spent a few minutes testing it out when it arrived-

I  can stretch out in it so I'm excited for winter! Baths in winter are the best.

View of the shower.

View of the vanity area. I'm pretty happy about those french-style basin sinks. The well pump style faucets are going to look great. 

I added beadboard to the little half bath and will select a nice wallpaper to go above it. I'm on the lookout for a classic farm/country pattern.

The kitchen cabinets are all installed.

Here's a picture after the glass was added-

I left a lot of room around the island so more than one person can be cooking and milling about. I'm really liking my last minute decision to add decorative legs to the sides of the cooktop and sink, they'll match the legs on the island where the granite overhangs.

That open spot is where the dishwasher will be installed. I got a cabinet cover panel for it so it'll be camouflaged. 

The next big decisions were, 1. What countertops?  and 2. What color floor stain? 

I had a few options for countertops and I was seriously considering marble because I love, love the look but finally decided to go with granite because it's perfect for a kitchen. The first two from the top down are marble and the sample on the bottom is the granite I chose. 

To select a granite I went to a few granite warehouses where you walk through aisles and aisles of towering slabs to see what they have in stock. I saw some of the most amazing colors I've ever seen in my life. It's seems awful that anyone would cut some of those slabs! They look like aurora borealis. 

The swirls of cream, brown and white work perfectly with the kitchen and any floor stain I go with. It's called White Spring and unlike most of the slabs above, we can afford it! 

The marbles were beautiful but you can't cut on marble because it scratches easily and it stains if dark colored juices or acids like tomatoes touch the surface for too long...granite is pretty indestructible. Granite wins.  

Selecting a floor stain...this was hard. As you can see, I bought a lot of tiny cans of sample stains to try out before making a selection. We thought we'd go super dark brown when we first bought the place but it seems too contemporary for the style now. Out of those colors, I chose the one touching the bottom right of the granite sample. It's called "Provincial" and it's a chocolate color. As I type this, the floor team is upstairs sanding and prepping to stain. 

Here's the color up close. I've been told it may look darker when it's done which is fine with us. 

I ended up buying the cheapest chandelier available in the style I was considering because why pay a lot when I might hate it. Here it is-

Now that the house is kinda-sorta taken care of I'm finally turning my full attention to the garden and landscaping. My corn is doing well, I'm going to plant a few rows every two weeks so we should have corn from mid-summer through fall. These little stalks are 6 inches high and they were planted a week and a half ago!

The brussel sprouts, squash and melons are growing up and vining out. I bought a bunch of tomato plants this morning since I completely missed the boat on growing from seed this year. It was just too much. I've got a lot of seeds for next year and can be better prepared for all the attention they need. 

Until then I'm hoping my dahlia tubers pop up and we have enough tomatoes for me to can!