Work hard, play hard

Yesterday morning I took Hunter to meet his new doctor to establish care. The doctor was very nice and did great with Hunter. So I guess she is a keeper. Afterwards, we stopped by a local Amish store called The Dinner Bell and got some cookies for breakfast (they had oatmeal in them, so they are healthy right?).

We stopped and got some groceries and headed back to the farm. I finished up grinding the old paint off the tub and then washed it down with hydrochloric acid. After washing it down it has to be dried completely with a blow dryer or heat gun. I must admit I felt a little strange out there blow drying the bathtub. I dried it the best I could and then let the sunshine dry it some more.

We decided it was time to move the wood heater into the house. The wood heater weighs about 500 lbs and is not easy to move. We have a large wagon named George that has removable sides on it. We took the sides off and lifted it onto the wagon to push up the hill towards the house. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. When we got it to the house it was time to be a bit more creative since the wood stove barely fit in the door. We used a dolly to lift up on one side and picked up the other side with muscle power.

We fought and fought with it all the way across the mud room and then up a step into the kitchen area. Finally we got it set on the mat exactly centered in front of the chimney where the metal pipe is encased. Were now are one step closer to having it ready to heat the house. I just love wood heat!

We hopped in the car and headed to get some stove pipe. We found some stove pipe at a place called Peddlers Market for $10 but just needed the elbow so we headed next door to tractor supply but they only had it in black and the other pipe was silver and I being the brat I am, wanted them to match. We headed over to Lowe’s, there we found out that we could not use the silver (galvanized) pipe. Apparently it will put off toxic fumes into your home, so we went and got all the pipes in black that we needed and got it all hooked up.

Mom, Hunter, and I were unpacking some of the boxes we had brought up and I found cat toy mouse that squeaks like a mouse. I acted like I found a real mouse and tossed it my mom, she squealed and threw it across the room. Hunter and I died laughing, she called me some not so nice things but it was totally worth it! I just wish I had video taped it so I could enjoy that moment over and over again.

We did have a little surprise in the barn in the afternoon. Hunter went to get a tool out of the barn and came back and said “uh mom, there is a newborn kitten on the floor by itself in the barn”. Of course I went to investigate. We looked all around to see if the mama cat (a stray that decided to make a home in the barn) was somewhere close or what was going on. We looked all around but could not find her, finally I noticed a home in the floor of the hay loft directly above the kitten. Hunter climbed up the built in ladder to see if the mama car was up there, as soon as Hunter peeked his head up he heard her hiss at him. She was up there with her other babies and we put this sweet little one back with her. I climbed up to check on mama cat and try to see how many kittens were there. I could see she was panting a lot so I had Hunter to hand me up a couple of bowls for food and water. She did not want me close to her babies, so I kept tossing her some treats and gave her some food and water. She is a good mama and would not leave the babies to even get a drink of water, but she was eating the treats that I tossed to her. We placed some boards over the hole so the babies wouldn’t fall down anymore. My mom had found some store bought kitten milk before she knew we had found the mama cat. Shortly after, here came Payton and wanted to know what was going on. She didn’t know there was kittens yet like we thought, she was actually on the way to play with the rabbits. She crawled up in the hay loft to try to see the kittens to. I’m sure the mama cat was not excited about us being up there but we just love animals!

I went to work on the bathtub some more. It was now time to mix the paint and epoxy. I had to stir it for 10 minutes, let it set for 5 minutes, the stir again for 3 minutes, then start pouring on the tub. This was the scary part, and hard part. I had not idea what I was doing but it had to be done. I am by no means a professional and I’m sure if a professional looked at it they would point out all the flaws. Even though it is not perfect by any means, I did my best and that in itself is pure satisfaction. It has to dry over night and we plan to move it into the house in the morning.

After dinner my dad decided it would be fun to ride the wagon down the hill. I think he was trying to break a hip or something so he didn’t have to help move the tub tomorrow. I video taped it from above and Payton video taped it from below, for your enjoyment. You are never too old to have some fun.

Well this morning I was awaken by thunder and rain. My first thought was please let the tub be dry and not ruined by the rain, but every inch of my body was aching so I didn’t move. I finally got up and went down to eat breakfast, my mom had made biscuits and gravy. I was actually glad it was raining, man my body is achy from all the manual labor I did yesterday. I am definitely not used to that. Payton had went before breakfast to play with the rabbits and the had to get busy on school work.

We went back to town to get a tool my dad needed to put in another outlet in the kitchen, I got a light fixture for one of the stairways at Lowe’s and get some groceries from Walmart. We stopped at Goodwill and found some lamps and light fixtures for the house. I didn’t get pictures of them all but I will when they are installed.

Checked on the kittens and the mama cat moved them down out of the hay loft and into the big bay in the barn where we moved a bunch of manure and old yucky hay to, but at least they won’t fall down again. We worked upstairs moving stuff into the attic and organizing some boxes, I cooked Jambalaya and cornbread for dinner, and painted the area that we will be putting the tub in tomorrow. I did not want to paint around the tub after it is installed.

We built a fire in the wood stove to see if the smoke was exiting properly, which it was. I saw the sky outside and had to go take some pictures. I went and checked on the chickens while I was up on the hill and now it is time for bed.