Happy Birthday, Levi!

 

Hope it is your best year yet!

Happy Birthday, Lillie!

Sweet 16 you are!

 

Goat Business

My husband is an animal lover. He is a putterer. He is a nurturer. He needs something to keep him busy. So, while I want as few responsibilities as possible, he has been talking about taking on more responsibilities and does not seem to take my discouragement of such endeavors.

Back in the fall, he mentioned to our son, Stephen, that he would like to have some goats. A goat herd has been something Stephen has kept for several years. While I love to watch the little kids jump and run and climb, I am satisfied to do so from afar. Mike, on the other hand, wanted some to pet on and putter with. Stephen finally relented and gave him a pair of females. They were part of a set of triplets and were small and didn't really fit with Stephen's other goats who were twins and singles of that age-group. After consulting with several of the grandchildren, the girls were named Lulu and Billie.

Goats in a trough

The two little goats were set up in a stall in the barn. Shortly thereafter, Mike went to an auction and bought a couple of feeders and a crate for hauling a goat in the back of a pickup truck. So, he was officially in the goat business. He began watching online auctions and visiting goat herds and looking at goats. He had a canvas cover made for the goat crate so that transportation during cold weather or a rain storm would be safer for a goat. He spent time visiting with the goats and feeding them to get them tame enough to pet on. 

Lulu

Billie

Well, this past weekend Mike did a little goat business with what I would call some professional goat guys. They have their own delivery business and equipment. These two young gentlemen delivered a buck to Mike's barn so that the young fellow could become friends with Lulu and Billie for a while. 

Professional Goat Guys

Making a Delivery

This is to be a temporary friendship and the only cost for us will be the feed that the young buck eats while visiting Mike's girl goats. Mike got lots of instructions from these professionals. He was instructed to watch the goats closely so that the two girls would not pick on the new guy. He was told to watch and make sure they didn't crowd him out or butt him away from the feed and water troughs. There were many instructions imparted. Plus, there was a promise that the guys would check back in after a day or so to see how things were going.

Wisdom Being Shared

The customer relations representative also made a visit. She had her chauffeur bring her down the hill to check things out during the delivery transaction. (The chauffeur was not photographed, however.) She supervised and oversaw the introduction of the new visitor. She seems to be quite the company spokesperson and shared friendly smiles and information about goat names, habits, and friendships as well.

The Goat Guys and Gal

Now that Mike is dealing with this highly regarded group of folks, it will be interesting to see how things go and whether his goat business will grow and prosper. Stay tuned for updates in the future!

Gallery Wall Refresh

Do you ever get an idea for a refresh and it just seems to snowball from one thing into another and another? Well, that is certainly the case for me lately. First, there was the laundry/pantry update and, more recently, I've tackled another.

Years ago I created a gallery wall of family photos in the hallway that the guest bedrooms and guest bath open into. I added to it a bit as time went on and new family members were added. Then, it seemed to become full and cluttered. I didn't really know what I wanted to do about it and thus, ignored it for a while (a few years). It was so out of date that a couple or three of our family members were not even represented on it and the youngest grandchild is now three years old. 

I got a germ of an idea earlier in the spring and decided that it would be one of my 'summer projects' this year while I was out of school for the summer. I had tried to schedule a family photo session back in the spring and a friend who is a photographer and I could not work out a good time to coordinate things when I thought all four of our childrens' families could be there. My idea was sparked when I noticed that our youngest had recently been a participant in a family photo shoot with his wife, children, and in-laws. 

I knew that I could get group shots of each child and his/her family from photos they had posted online or that I had shot at various times within the past couple of years. So, I began checking to see where I could get those photos printed on canvas. My thinking was that I could take down the eighteen 8" x 10" frames and 16 5" x 7" frames and replace them with those canvas prints. My plan was to just have the canvas prints done with a black edge and not even frame them since that is all that would be on that wall. This would make a nice, clean update and have all of our family represented as well. My goal was to order the canvas prints and give them to Mike as a Father's Day gift. 

I selected photos of each family group that were somewhat similar. All of them are pictures with a casual feel where they are wearing jeans and the family members are just clustered close to one another facing the camera. I found that I could enlarge the digital shots I had to a size 12" x 16" canvas with very little distortion. So, I ordered them and patiently awaited shipping. As is often the case lately, the prints did not arrive prior to Father's Day. Yet, they did come a couple of days later and that was really alright for me as well as Mike, who is always humbled by a gift from me.

I was excited to show them to him and called him to come to the house as soon as I unboxed them. He was thrilled with them and the idea that we finally had family pictures of all of them even if we still don't have a huge photo of everybody together. I explained where I planned to hang them and he frowned. "Nobody will ever see them there unless they happen to go back there to the bathroom. Can't we put them somewhere so that anybody who visits us will see them and we can see them more often as well?"

So, my plan was foiled. I began thinking and a new idea crept upon me. In our den we have a wall where I hung high school portraits of Bridgette and Bryan alongside a beautiful portrait of a young Stephen and Laura. Both sets of photos were made at about the same time and captured our children at about the same age. So, it had worked together well when we blended our families.

Family Portraits in the Background

I decided that I could move those photos to the hallway and that would update and clean up the clutter there. Then, I could hang the new canvas prints in the space occupied by these formal portraits. As I stood there in the den, I realized that the canvas prints would be the only artwork that would not have a frame. In there we have some paintings and prints with antique frames that have gilding on them hanging above the the sofa. There are also some prints with antique frames. So, in my opinion, the casual vibe of the canvas prints needed to be dressed up a bit in order to fit.

Then, the search for reasonably priced frames of the correct size began. I found a place that made some standard frames that had a similar vibe to these prints I inherited from my Granny. I needed something that would not be too fancy but would still add a finished and polished look to the casual canvas prints. I decided the style shown below would do the job and ordered them.

Frame Style

Of course, these frames were designed for photos and came with glass. So, when they arrived, I realized that I would need to find some sort of clips or clamps to hold the canvas frame in the picture frame. Again, the search began. I measured the depth of the canvas when set inside the frame and found an appropriate clip. Then, ordered those.

Mike helped me attach the canvas prints to the frames. Then, I added the picture hanging hardware and finally hung the family portrait collection. While the entire project was a couple or three weeks in the making, we are really pleased with the finished product. Every time I catch a glimpse of the photos of the entire crew, I smile and have a little flutter of pride that we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Laundry/Pantry Update!

Our laundry room and pantry are actually just a hallway with closets for the washer and dryer and for food storage. There is a doorway leading out onto the back porch on one end and the other end is open toward a little space where the main bedroom and basement doors are. It is an important part of our house but the only ones who spend much time there are Toby and me. Therefore, it has been somewhat neglected the entire time I have lived in this house. Oh, I've organized the pantry and had hung some sundries on the wall but really, it was just left to be a functional space with no love...until this spring.

Way back in the summer of 2018, we splurged on a house update and had the windows replaced. We also had one of the doors replaced at that time - the one that leads out of the laundry room onto the back porch. In the process of that, a part of the floor needed replacing due to water damage where the rain and weather had leaked in from the previous door. So, we were left with a space that looked like this:

Dated linoleum with a hole cut into it and nice roughed-in plywood space for the floor. Bifold closet doors that were off-track and dragged across the floor in one spot. One might say it was a space where sadness abounds. However, Toby and I just made the best of things and went on about our business. I gave him a nice little pallet to lay on and we were careful to make certain the doors didn't fall off when washing and drying clothes. 

The washer and dryer were a bit old-school. The dryer came second-hand from a 2014 or 2016 Facebook post where Mike's nephew needed a washer for the dairy barn and we needed a dryer because our old one was going through a couple of cycles to get clothes dry. We each gave the Facebook poster a $100 bill and we had new-to-us appliances. Both the washer and dryer were noisy but serviceable. Then, last summer, the dryer started needing a bit more time on heavy loads to get things dry. So, our eldest grandson, Harris, and I pulled it out to suck lint out of the vent. In doing so, we found that the plastic pipe that led outside had begun to crumble from years of age and use. We did a really marvelous job of duct taping it to repair and hold it in place. However, over the winter, the dryer started making a high-pitched squeak and squawk and often needed a second cycle to get the clothes dry. Mike and I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new one. 

Ordering a new washer and dryer sounds simple until one takes a pause to consider that the vent pipe needed replacing and the floor needed replacing first. Plus, finding a handyman to take care of those jobs in this era proved difficult. We checked locally and found nobody would even respond to our call. So, we decided to call on my cousin's husband who had done some work for us during the pandemic, Richard Stanaland with The Tool Chest. He was willing to put us on his list even though the drive is almost an hour from his house. He and cousin Faye came over and gave things a good look. We agreed that adding bead board to the long wall opposite the washer/dryer closet and pantry would be a good idea and found a couple of non-working fluorescent light fixtures in the pantry and washer/dryer closet that I didn't even know were there. Richard agreed to replace them as well. He took measurements and gave me the dimensions for the amount of flooring to order. Then, about seven weeks later, he sent me a text message saying he would see us in a couple of days. 

Now, my hope was to put a tile floor down in this area because I wanted it dog and waterproof. After all, this serves as Toby's 'room' most of the time. However, that was not a possibility without some major reconstruction on the door opening because it was so near to the plywood sub-floor. We all decided that reconstruction wasn't a good option and Richard suggested we look at vinyl plank flooring to get similar protective covering. Wow! there were so many options. So, right after Richard's initial visit, I surfed the net and looked at all the options. Mike quickly told me that whatever I thought would suit him fine. So, I landed on one and ordered a sample. Within a couple of days, I ordered the amount that was suggested by Lowe's according to the measurements and it was delivered by the end of the week. So, we slid it under the bed and it lived there acclimating till our opportunity on Richard's list came up. 

Mike called a friend who said he'd take the washer and dryer away and Stephen, Mike, and I moved them out onto the back porch. I cleaned things up a bit and removed everything that was on the floor of the pantry and the items on the wall to be ready for our handyman. Richard's first steps were to remove the baseboard and shoe molding. Then, he went straight to work cutting and laying the flooring. By day's end, the floor was installed, baseboard and shoe molding was re-installed on the closet side of the area, and things already looked lots better!

Inside the pantry

Inside the washer/dryer closet

View down the hallway while standing at the outside door

Since school was still in session, during my lunch break, I ordered the washer and dryer that I'd decided would best suit our needs and found that it would be delivered promptly within a couple of days. The late afternoon found me at the local Ace Hardware store selecting paint. I had originally thought about using a green because I was really amazed at how great this Butler's Pantry looked. However, I knew that I wanted to paint the entire long wall from baseboard to crown molding and worried that it would be a bit dark and overwhelming for such a small space. I then decided I would paint the same color as the outside of the doors on the back of the house, Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore. However, as I stood in the paint aisle, an image on one of the inspiration pamphlets jumped out at me and I landed on Gossamer Blue by Benjamin Moore. Soon, the paint was tinted and shaken and I was on my way. 

The next day, our handyman installed the new vent piping for the dryer and the bead board along the long wall shown in the image above. Using the style with a little ledge and a couple of molding pieces that is in our guest bath, he topped off the five-foot run of bead board. Then, replaced the baseboard and shoe mold and rehung the bifold doors for the washer/dryer closet and pantry. He finished out the day by replacing the newly discovered light fixtures, swapping out the outlets and light switch plates from dated cream to modern white, swept up the dust, and was on his way. Quick work! Plus, everything looked so much better!

I got a notice that the washer and dryer would be delivered the following day. So, after I finished up work for the day, I rolled paint on the walls in the washer/dryer closet. I knew that we would not want to pull those appliances back out when the painter came and figured Toby and I would be the only ones to ever see that area. I didn't even care if the odd nail holes were patched and repaired - just wanted everything in there covered with a new coat of paint. So, by bedtime I'd slapped a couple of coats of paint on the wall.

Sad looking before of the washer/dryer closet

Brighter, cleaner looking after

Shiny new vent pipe and paint coating the walls

The young men who delivered the new washer and dryer were so patient and careful. They were patient with Mike and I chatting with them throughout the process and were patient in maneuvering the appliances into tight quarters. They were careful not to mess anything up and to be sure that the appliances were installed properly. So far the entire process was a wonderfully satisfying experience.

The new appliances in the freshly-painted washer/dryer closet

When I ordered the washer and dryer, Mike had called a local painter who had done work for us before. He said he would work us in soon since it was just a small job. So, after a couple more weeks, we got a message that he would show up the next day, bright and early in the morning. After I finished up work that day, I made a quick dash to the local Ace Hardware and they tinted a primer for the bead board for us. Then, after dinner that evening, I emptied out the pantry and gave everything a good cleaning. 

Pantry contents stashed to the side of the den

Pantry contents piled atop the dining room table

Empty but clean pantry shelves

Empty shelving in the pantry

(Richard, our handyman, had done a bit of adjustment on the pantry shelving back when he installed the front door a couple of years ago. Instead of having shelves that were two shelving boards wide, we now had brackets and the shelving wrapped around the walls. Very little storage space was lost and seeing everything on the shelves made things easier for me to keep organized. The only expense beyond paying Richard was the brackets for the old shelves that were cut to fit.)

At the end of the next day, all the walls had been painted and everything looked fresh and clean! While I had hoped to have walls, brackets, and shelving all painted, the painter told me that he thought the shelving should be painted with a trim type of paint rather than what I had purchased for the walls. So, he removed the the shelving, which would remain white and everything else got a good coat of paint.

The bead board wall, painted

The pantry, painted

A couple of days later, my daughter, Bridgette, made a visit. Since she is one who likes to use power tools (and Mike is not much of a handyman), she and her girls helped me to re-install the pantry shelving. 

Nice, clean shelving and walls

Stocked and organized

I replaced all the stuff and even ordered a couple more storage bins and turntables to keep things organized in the pantry. Now, the corners each have these Lazy Susan Turntables in the corner and ample bins to hold like items for easy organization and retrieval. 

The lights in the pantry and the washer/dryer space are so nice and brighten up even the most mundane chore and search. While the entire process took more than a couple of months, it was well worth the wait, the temporary disorder, and the expense. I love my new quiet and efficient appliances and the space is fresh and welcoming even when the chores required in that space are not thrilling or exciting. I've made a couple of tweaks that I will share in a different post but Toby and I are really happy with this little workhorse space!

Happy Independence Day!

From our house to yours!