Hot Glue and Wild Imagination

Day 5

Heading home after our first long weekend at the Cabin, HOUSEMATE and I are feeling our age and also so happy with our new project.  We still have so much work to do.  As we are leaving the roofers arrive to start on the standing seam roof.  Somewhere in the middle of KY, the roofer called to let me know he found a 5 foot snake skin in our attic. He seemed to be quite amused to relay this information to me,  I was NOT!  There are few other things I am afraid of more than snakes.  For the next month I did some extensive research on snakes, particularly those in Tennessee.  It seems having snakes in your attic is not unusual there.  I even know what snake poop looks like, and having scrubbed every square inch of every nook and cranny in that cabin, I am satisfied there are none in the house.  I had to make a decision to make my peace with the snake population in Tennessee or giving up my dream, I named the snake Garrard and convinced myself that with all the ruckus of having the roof put on has caused Garrard to move to a more quiet location.

 

Day 6,7 and 8 four weeks later. . .

Our second long weekend to work on the Gray Wolf,  BBD and I headed out at 3:00 Thursday morning, stopped once and then munched pop tarts the rest of the way. ( She likes the strawberry ones.) Once there, I had to be very brave and go into the shed to turn on the water.  Making as much noise as possible, and allowing BBD to go first, I held my breath in the hope that Garrard had not made his new home in there.  No Garrard there, no water, either.  Once outside, I called the plumber -again – he is on his way.

Lots of taping and wall repair, then I started to paint the master bedroom. The room was painted a charcoal gray, way too dark, so a great coverage paint was necessary.  I decided to try Bahr paint as it is guaranteed to cover in one coat, I needed two coats – note to self, stick with Vaslpar.

HOUSEMATE arrived about 2:30 Friday morning, leaving right after work on Thursday. He mowed Friday, while I continued to paint inside. Once the mowing was done, I got very brave again and took a walk in the yard.  I found a lovely pear tree and bunches of raspberry bushes! No Garrard!

This weekend, I also painted the walls,  mantle and trim in the living room.

     

Our first official dinner cooked in our new cabin on our new appliances was hamburgers, after two hard days work, those were the best burgers ever.

We headed back to Indiana on Sunday, well satisfied with the progress we made this weekend.

 

Adventurously,

Contessa

 

 

Up at 6:30.  A quick trip into town for supplies and breakfast at McDonald’s

Once returned, we started ripping out carpet in the two bedrooms and I am reminded again that I am no longer 20.  I also remember why I no longer have carpet in my house – YUCK!

The new appliances arrive and HOUSEMATE gets them installed, he had to make some adjustments to the stove area, but genius that he is, it fits perfectly.

 

Before

after

The plumber arrived at 1:30 with the promise of water by 3:00.  HOUSEMATE begins battling some of the wasps and their nests outside.

I began to pull up carpet staples from the bedroom floors and there is the sweetest bird singing outside the window.  I hope he stays all summer!

About 5:00 p.m. the plumber says “IT’S READY”   Finally, inside plumbing!  He will flip the breaker and turn on our water!

1 minute   –   2 minutes   –   5 minutes    –   nothing.

Pump not working so HOUSEMATE heads into town once again and buys a new pump.

The mowing guy drops by to look at the yard/wheat field and he doesn’t think he can do the job, but he put me in touch with someone with a bush hog.

I start dinner using the Foreman grill and the microwave.  The microwave blew a breaker and HOUSEMATE  had to go outside and under the house in the dark to reset it.  A very brave thing to do if you’d seen what the underside of the house looks like.  However, I did save him from that big spider last night, so I guess we are even.

Four days without a shower, inside plumbing and lots of hard work, but we’ve made some progress on our first trip to refurb the Gray Wolf.  BBD is exhausted from sleeping on the mattress all afternoon and we are ready to pack it in and head back to Indiana in the morning.

Squirrels, mice, lizards, spiders and all kinds of birds – we have a regular wildlife habitat here.

The plumber is to come back tomorrow and get our new water pump installed and early Monday morning, we head back to Indiana still ecstatic about our new vacation home.  Once back, HOUSEMATE does the gentlemanly thing and lets me take the first shower.  It was THE BEST shower I’ve ever had in my life.

Never Fail to Appreciate Hot Running Water!

Contessa

Long, Long night. Up at 1:00 a.m. because all the air has leaked out of the ‘oh so comfortable’ air mattress.  We add air.  BBD decides she need to go out, so I take her out the back door where she refuses to leave the porch, just stands there with her head down and her ears perked, growling. We both hurry back inside after about 30 seconds.  Attempting to sleep again, my work phone rings about 2:30.  I jump up throwing HOUSEMATE on the floor and my body reminds me I’m not 20 any more.    Crisis averted at work, about 3:30, we again try to settle in on the air mattress, giggling like school kids on a sleep over because the air mattress requires major acrobatics just to stay on.

Up for good at 6:30 on Day two. Body aching, but the birds are singing and plenty of sunshine outside – we are ecstatic with our new vacation home.   HOUSEMATE and I are sitting in our rocking chairs using a ladder for an end table when we hear this terribly growling.  We both jump up ready to fight off what ever wild beast has invaded our haven only to discover it is the coffee maker.   While I drink my coffee, I am searching on line for furniture stores near us.  My first priority has changed and I make plans to go into town and purchase a new bed.

I do my best to make myself presentable with hot water from the coffee pot to wash up and fresh clothes then I head to town and buy new appliances and a new bed.  On the way back, I stop at a little road side stand and bought the best banana bread I’ve ever had and some Amish butter and Amish ham for HOUSEMATE’s lunch.  As I picked out new appliances at Lowe’s I strike up a conversation with the gentleman helping me.  I told him what I was doing and he just happens to be in the mowing business, so  I made arrangements for him to come in with his heavy equipment and mow our ‘wheat field’

Back at the cabin, we unload the mattress and bed, but just put the mattress on the floor for now.  Someone is much happier now:

Plumber is a no show again today, he ‘promises’ to be here tomorrow.

More cleaning inside and HOUSEMATE continues to cut down overgrowth around the house and yard and make some repairs to the deck.

before                                                                       after

 

We attempted to find a hotel room to shower, but this is a holiday weekend and there is absolutely nothing available.

 

When we first looked at this place, we noticed that across from us is a neighborhood with very large houses and each one has a huge garage.  I remembered wondering why anyone would need such a big garage.  Well, today we discovered the reason.  This neighborhood is built around a runway and all of the houses have such big garages to accommodate their airplanes.  It was such fun to stand on our front porch and watch our new neighbors land and take off in their 2 and 4 passenger planes.  They performed all sorts of aerobatics and entertained us all afternoon.

Baths from coffee pot water in the bathroom sink and dinner of pizza and wine.  The idea of sleeping on a real mattress tonight is a joyful thought.

Day three

Up at 5:45 thanks to BBD.  What a difference a real mattress makes!

The plumber arrives early with the promise of water very soon – this day just keeps getting better!

HOUSEMATE and I take out all the old appliances and carry them outside with nuts continuing to fall out of them as we go.  I stripped off all the wallpaper in the kitchen.

More cleaning in the kitchen.  The cabinets are very nice ones, but they have been ‘Mouse Disneyland’ for some time now and I’ve scrubbed every centimeter of them with bleach and a scrub brush.  I feel comfortable to put away our kitchen supplies now! I start spackling the bedroom walls as whoever lived here before was nail crazy.

Multiple trips to town for plumbing supplies later, the water is still not on.  Baths with coffee pot water in the sink for the third day.  We are getting quite ‘fragrant’ by now.

Outside the grounds are full of Honeysuckle bushes, all in bloom and it smells incredible out there.  There is a huge magnolia tree at the corner of the garage/guesthouse also in bloom.

As darkness falls, I sit on the front steps while HOUSEMATE chats with a new neighbor.  I looked just to my left and this is what I see –

That is an 8″ board on the porch.  I run to get my camera and a broom.  I sweep him away with the broom before HOUSEMATE has a chance to see him.

Good Night All!

Contessa

 

 

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With the car and truck fully loaded with everything we think we might need, Gas tanks full and BBD in the front seat so excited she can hardly sit still, HOUSEMATE and I begin our first trek toward the cabin we have now named Grey Wolf Retreat.  (HOUSEMATE fancies his totem is the grey wolf).  We leave our sleepy little burg in Indiana around 5:00 a.m. and arrive at noon to begin our great adventure.

The bank had cleared away nearly all of the trash and debris from the house and yard saving us a good two days work.  The electricity has been turned on and the new HVAC unit has been installed, but the water has not been turned on yet.  The house had been vacant for some time and the system for winterizing it was to cut off all the pipes.   Plumber is scheduled to arrive today.  Using bottled water and some strong bleach cleaner, I started my effort to get a space clean enough to unload all our ‘stuff’ and sleep while HOUSEMATE begins the daunting task of mowing the 3 feet of grass and weeds that cover the 2 1/2 acres.  He soon realizes that our mower is no match for the wheat field that is to be our yard.  As he explores the shed and guest house, he keeps commenting that we must have a lot of squirrels because he is finding stashes of nuts all over the place.  I thought he was being over dramatic until I looked in the old stove and found it full of nuts. Checking the old dishwasher reveals another huge stash. We decided we should probably get some new appliances.

The plumber calls and says he can’t make it today, will be here tomorrow, he ‘promises’

We wash up with bottled water that we heated in the coffee pot and head to town for some lunch and to Lowe’s to purchase new appliances.   BBD has had enough of this place as she bounds in to the car, I swear she was clicking her heels together with that ‘there’s no place like home’ look in her eye.

New appliances purchased (they will be delivered tomorrow)  and bellies full, we head back to the cabin.  I’ve managed to make a space clean enough to haul in our ‘stuff’ and  BBD settles in among the suitcases seemingly soothed by smells of home.

My first purchase after we bought the cabin was two big rocking chairs and HOUSEMATE put them together.  It is our only furniture at this point.

After more cleaning, and HOUSEMATE starting to clear away some of the overgrown bushes around the house, darkness falls and as we attempt to settle in for the night on the inflatable mattress that our son and daughter-in-law have slept on during their last two visits to our Indiana home,  and have solemnly sworn to us is ‘SOOOO comfortable”.  We discovered a disturbing fact about those children – THEY LIED!

The Before pictures: