A Post in 3D: with Dirt, Dirt and Dirt

You know, I make jokes a lot about us being under "destruction" (construction) around here, because sometimes that's pretty much what it feels like. It's hard sometimes trying to accomplish a multitude of large-ish projects (excuse me for swearing ;o) without such a feeling. You work until you either get stuck waiting for reinforcements (my reinforcement being DH), waiting for various and sundry painted pieces to dry (pieces that are scattered all over everywhere to dry), or because you ran out of something critical and don't have the dinero to get any more parts/pieces until the next paycheck. Mmmph. Even with all the hiccups and holdups, however, there is that hopeful glimmer shining brightly in encouragement. Said glimmer may be shining at the end of a very, very long tunnel, but the point is it's there. Sometimes it's a false alarm: that coveted light turns out to be a lightning bug. And then? Welllllll, then there are the times that light turns out to be a train: A fast-moving locomotive that squashes your burgeoning dreams of imminent completion like a bug.

I walked into the guest bedroom the other day, intent on giving the bathroom in there a quick once over. It doesn't really get dirty unless we have company. Actually, that's the one place in the entire house that stays nice all the time (well, it was anyway). Much to my dismay, I found a handful of tiny corpses littering the floor. Ick. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were termite bodies. Oh, NO. Sadly? Oh, yes. It turns out we have a plumbing leak.... somewhere. DH poked a few holes in the back wall looking; then he tore out a section of the wall in search of the leak. He tore out the sink, then another section of wall as he followed the damage. Then he went around to the other side: the outhouse. You know, the one that was almost finished? Well, he tore out a section of that wall too. *whimper* Although he found clear traces of water damage (on both sides of the wall), he still hadn't found the actual source. Then it was his turn to call for reinforcements. *gulp* After tearing out a lot more wall, they moved on to the floor and jackhammers. There are now ginormous holes in the concrete floor on both sides. The signs of water damage are increasing, but as of this post the source of it has yet to be found. It's so depressing.

So now my outside pictures look like this:

And this:

My inside pictures look like this (and why-oh-why can't guys cover stuff first? ARRGH!):

And this (see the water damage?):

Although we found this nice big hole drilled into a pipe, (seems the termite guys did it - oops) that isn't the biggest concern, though it obviously needs to be fixed. There is considerable water damage higher up in the wall, which could indicate a roof leak of some sort. I sure hope not. Yikes.

On the upside? If we wanted to put in an in-ground bath tub, we're more than halfway there ;o) Okay that was really reaching, but what do you expect? I did find a new little friend though, so the week wasn't a total bust. Isn't he cute?

As always, thank you for reading this far and have a blessed week!

P.S. For those of you who might be wondering? "Eleventy" is equal to 110 ;o)

I'm Baa-aaaack (with lots to tell you :o)

Have you ever noticed how many strange meanings are attached to words in English? I do, but that's probably because I spend so much time explaining such things to deaf children (including DD). We'll start with the "dirt" on Sarabear (a.k.a. the latest, the skinny, yadda yadda). I think half the time (maybe more) I totally forget to report back on some of the stuff I talk about here.
Gee, I was going to add to that, but I forgot what I was going to say... Do y'all have that problem? (I think it's called AAADD or Age-Activated ADD). Ha. I am deliriously happy to report that SmartPak's SmartBreathe Pellets worked. Sarabear ate them easily (which was a big worry) and even better? Her cough has disappeared completely - hooray! I tried to take a picture that was close enough you could see what the pellets looked like; I'm not a big fan of powder, as it tends to slip through the feed no matter where you put it. SmartPak is apparently trying to convert a number of their supplements to pellet form, which is awesome (click here to visit their site). For those of you who are dog owners, they also offer a great selection of supplements for canines (click here). No cats though (my apologies to Banjo and Sparkle, et.al.).

Took a trip to visit my bestest galpal, Sandy, which is part of the reason this post was seriously tardy. Can't tell you ahead of time, as it's not the brightest idea to post to the world you won't be home for a day or two. Is this not the cutest little bunny? I think Sandy said she found him when he was itty bitty, and hand fed him (and do I remember? Nope. *bangs head on desk*) So anyway, I had an absolute blast at her house (and don't I always?) I'll have some photos for you next time - although my camera battery died, so I didn't take as many as I wanted to. Forgot the charger at home. *snarl* Can you believe it? Of course you can; hardly a shocker. *sigh*
Speaking of such mental moments, I don't normally post videos from YouTube but I just couldn't resist this one in case I'm not the only who missed it (click here to watch it if you are an email friend):

It's like looking in a mirror, I'm telling ya.... Yeesh.

I've been spending my evenings hooking, and oh my doesn't that sound dirty. (Aha! There's another meaning). I joined Ravelry to confirm the fact that I am indeed a Duly Dedicated Dodobrain (another 3D reference for you ;o) After all, do I need anything else to do? Probably not. And do I need to expose myself (Ha. Another "dirty" sounding statement) to a site that contains thousands of free crochet patterns? Noooo, I most certainly do not, which made it absolutely irresistible. I'm under "EpicFarms" of course, and have no friends as yet (how sad). So if you're into crocheting or knitting, leave a comment here or look me up on Ravelry. I could use a friend or two.

The third and final meaning of the word dirt I'm going to talk about today is the one in the literal sense. We finally got some dirt for the pasture. Hooray!! Apparently, my concerns about The Girls' reaction to a monster dump truck invading their territory were groundless (hee). I was mostly sure that as long as I was out there with them, they wouldn't be too terrified (those things make an awful racket) but you never know; it only takes one horse to create a panic. I'm sayin' we all stayed pretty calm. You think?:

The Girls looked at me several times for confirmation that all was well, but other than that we just stood around, spectated, and snuffled at bits of dropped dirt (well, I didn't but they did ;o) Isn't that photo funny?

Bella was a bit mifffed by the humongous pile of dirt blocking her path to the hay pile. She actually turned around and looked at me, expecting me to move it out of her way. My "go around it, silly" response was distinctly unappreciated (but she did).

Lady had the same thought when she arrived at the pile we put by the hill leading down to the stalls and water trough:

Horses are what I would call OCD/COH (obsessively compulsive definitive creatures of habit) which was a contributing factor to all that erosion we had. Walking the same exact path every day created distinct trails, which were slightly lower than the rest of the ground. Since the pasture is on an incline, that's where the rainwater always went washing down (taking more and more dirt with it each time). The repeated combination of extreme droughts and "gully washers" over time made a heck of a mess with ruts everywhere. On top of that, we had a uber evil mole that tunneled all over the place and after a certain amount of topsoil was gone, they collapsed making an even bigger mess. We have a couple more loads coming this week (because the 3 loads we got didn't go as far as we'd hoped), and then we'll have to wait awhile for the rest. Stupid as it sounds, dirt is expensive :oP 

Sarabear did offer to help us spread it out though; wasn't that nice?

That's enough for now, I suppose. I've got to go work on the patio/visitor area - we're finally making some progress there too (and hot diggity dog! :-D Have a big horsey hug and a marvelous week everyone! (what's left of it anyway - Oy).

The first of which is:  I've figured out the actual definition of R and R. It's Running and Ragged. I am so very sorry that I did not get my regular posts out last week and the week before; things got a bit whack-o around here (and what else is new, right?) Did you miss me? I missed you ;o) Remember me telling you awhile back about my friend Sandy renting a booth at an antique mall? (here). Well, we made plans for me to haul some of my crapola er, creations up there over spring break to put in her booth. I wanted to pour some more candles to take too, and had to round up what I could get my hands on from my inventory, which is scattered all over everywhere in the house (anyplace it would fit).

Quick interjection here: LookLookLook! Our little Finch family came back again this year. Not the best shot, but considering that they were tucked in an empty waste basket underneath a shelf I was proud to get any kind of photo. I got to watch their first flights again too; lots of excitement there. *grin* (next pic :o) Everything had to be tagged, jotted down (gotta have an inventory list don'tcha know), then carefully packed up. Not too daunting a task if you spread out over time. Well. I was starting to stress somewhat by the week of jury duty; I'd hoped for an early dismissal each day, and instead got longer hours (grr). Just to make things more interesting (because we all know how much Jen loves a challenge, ha ha) my parents are moving and one of the little germinators at school got me again. Welcome to insanity squared. Meh. I woke up Saturday morning with a stuffy head and icky cough and by Monday was sick as a dog and making a beeline for the doctor's office; fine way to kick off spring break, eh? Not. Since I was heading to Sandy's on Thursday, I was hoping to be lots better by then. Hope springs eternal...*sigh* 

I did manage to get most of it done in between tissues, sneezing fits, and frantic calls from my Mom; although I think I have several new gray hairs added to my collection. The only thing that really bothered me was having to ask Sandy if she would write up the inventory as I tagged everything; I couldn't get to it before Thursday. I wanted to be completely finished with everything beforehand, but I just couldn't pull it off. Of course she was happy to help, but I was disappointed that we wouldn't have any real play time (we wanted to go for a trail ride :o/ Maybe next time. *sigh* I could not believe how hard we worked! From the time I got there Thursday afternoon until almost 10 that night; then back at it by 4:30a.m. Friday. Had to pause for a good laugh at Shrek (the peacock) and company bright and early Friday morning, who came marching around the corner of the house to glare suspiciously at the stranger in the dining room (that would be me) before exploring the exciting mysteries of the garage. Took it through the screen, which is why it looks funny (the splotch on Shrek's head is a hole in the screen) but you can still see them.

We finally finished up late morning and made a beeline for the booth to see how much of it we could fit in there. Would you believe I had eight pages worth of inventory? Good gravy. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 items. And I didn't even take everything either - eek. Good thing, as we were really hoppin' to get it all done (well I had to get at least one terrible pun in for the bunny hop photo, didn't I? HA). Neat shot - another one of those hoppy accidents. Wow, two lousy puns for the price of one. *rolls eyes* Okay, I think I've gotten it out of my system now. Probably. Maybe. We'll see. Anyhoo...

Would you like to see the booth? Here we are...doesn't it look nice?

Remember the card rack? That heinous painting project was worth it after all, don't you think? I put the joy boxes on top, and if you look carefully you can just see the brightly colored foam squares I stuck on each card rack to keep them from sliding down/falling flat (plus it makes it look nice and cheerful).

I spray painted a couple of cookie sheets and we hung them on opposite sides of the display shelves to hold the magnets I made (lots cheaper than buying a white board :o) She named her booth "Simply Heavenly" - don't you love it? Except for the lotions, soaps and scrubs (1st and 2nd shelves on the left) most of the rest of it is what I took.

I've never tried to sell any framed photos before, just pictures on cards, so we'll see what happens. I really liked the way they turned out, but that doesn't mean anyone else will. I'll confess to a rather large case of nerves here; worrying that everything will just sit there. Forever... Oy.

I sure hope everything sells well for her (and me too *laugh*). She spent half the time sniffing her way through the candles and rhapsodizing over how wonderful they all smelled - even through the plastic wrap and cellophane ;o)

I didn't take any of my drawings this time; I'll probably take those the next trip. I guess that's all for now - I'll sign off with some photos of the new arrival at Sandy's the day we got there. Isn't she adorable?

This is not the best shot, but look how tiny she is! Smaller than the chicken; do you believe it? In Southernese, that's what's known as "Tee-Niney" :o)

Honey, I know just how you feel ;o)

Hugs everyone!