Sunday evening

Today was without a doubt the most depressing day of fireplace destruction. Not only did we find more rotten wood on the sides of the fireplace, but we also found mold behind the drywall and TERMITE damage! :( Now the drywall on both sides has to come down and be replaced as well as the support structure. This is not what we bargained for when purchasing our "dream" home! We now have holes to the outside all along the outside fireplace walls. We have stuffed fiberglass in temporarily until we can figure out what to do next. It is supposed to rain more this week which is not a good sign. I guess this is just another test! Sabina once said that we were the King and Queen of perseverance....until now, I would have agreed. I just look at the mess now and want to give up.

Holly Bush Removal

Late Saturday afternoon our good neighbor, the original owner/builder of our house, Dr. Sundstrom, whom I will from now on refer to as "Farmer Frank", came to help remove two overgrown old Holly bushes from our walkway by the front door. Since it had rained most of the day they just pulled right out with the aid of a chain and his trusty John Deere! We are going to plant Elephand Ears in their place.

Getting the firebox out of the house took some of Ron's genius techniques! It was extremely heavy and just fit through the doors. The clean-up from this disaster will last for months. :(

Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent hauling concrete blocks out to the truck and shoveling up ash and debree.

Fireplace destruction!

No, nothing was wrong with the camera! This is the cloud of dust that swept through our house when Ron dumped the firebox out of the wall and onto the floor! I'm sure the cough I now have is all cement dust and ash!

Sat. April 24th 2010

The rain started early this morning so the garden work came to a screeching halt! We worked inside all day on the fireplace destruction and managed to accomplish quite a bit. The big ugly rotted out firebox is outside now and most of the surrounding concrete block is gone. WHAT A MESS! I will be so glad when this project is over.

April 22, 2010

Today we woke to the sound of much needed rain! Yesterday I mowed most of the day and Ron worked on the patch of ground behind the barn where we are going to plant corn. He did have to enlist my help to remove the stump of an old cedar tree which was in the way. It was quite a job, requiring the aid of chains, picks, shovels and the Suburban in 4 wheel drive to get it out. Hopefully the rototiller man will be able to come with his tractor and tiller next week.
I swept up the grass from mowing (with my lawn sweeper, not a broom!) and dumped it in piles in the future corn patch and Ron spread it around with a pitch fork. He was nearly dead from exhaustion last night. Once again, I must say, "getting old is not much fun"!
Now I am listening to the sound of rain dripping into the bucket in the fireplace! I guess we'll get back to that project someday.

April 20, 2010

Our garden is finally starting to grow! We planted 9 tomato plants on Sunday, with many more to go. We are trying several new varieties this year, one of which I'm hoping will be of great benefit to us..."The Mortgage Lifter"! Lifting our mortgage would be a dream come true!

We saw our first Humming Bird on Sunday morning too! That is always a happy sign of Spring and warmer days ahead to me. I put a feeder on our bedroom window and they have managed to drink half of the food already. They seem to like the lemon tree out there too.