Looking Through Plastic

Time is flying.... that's a fact.  As sure as time seemed to be dragging by in the Spring, it is now officially screaming past as we try to get everything finished before the cold and wet of winter visit us once again.  And, I suppose it comes as no surprise to others who have been down this "remodeling and renovating" road, things change, projects grow... and time just keeps marching by, oblivious to the fact that we need more time to accomplish our latest and greatest "vision."

The deck was to be a simple fire escape solution...nothing fancy, though, because of the height of the deck, it would be able to serve a dual purpose as a carport.  So, we secured bids and built the deck.  The bid included the replacing of windows in the garage and in the apartment above the garage with doors.

Once the job was completed, we had a lovely deck, two new doors, a new carport underdeck and .... a couple of windows now available for another project....  Upstairs, the apartment was quite nice, but I immediately realized I should have considered that replacing the window with a door, while providing better exit options in times of emergency, also cut down on the "cross breezes" of open windows....

Deck Complete...the first time

After considering a few options and discussing the possibilities with our "construction guy," we settled on adding one of the windows back into the garage, next to the door, and using two of the windows we had in storage to add the additional cross ventilation upstairs in the apartment....and THEN we decided we would add another window into the stairwell that leads from the garage to the apartment...(it tends to get dark in that stairwell).

More Windows

So...... here it is, Thursday, more than a week since the deck was "finished" and we are still making modifications.  The last window (the stairwell window) will be in place today and the "temporary" railing on the deck by the door will be replaced with the permanent railing...and THEN....  we will have the fun of finishing the INSIDE of our creation!  As I sit here, enjoying the new view from the apartment, it is through a wall of plastic, that keeps the construction "dust" to a minimum in our living space.

Through a Plastic Wall

Meanwhile, we are planting trees like crazy, getting bids for more old farmhouse work, getting bids for semi trailer modifications, preparing the parking pads and the driveways for the two new carports to be installed on..........SATURDAY... And, of course, I have to leave on Sunday for essentially a month or more of travel for work.  There just really isn't enough time!

Fig Tree Planted

Last Sunday we took a break from the construction, digging, planting, etc. and had a nice time with our friends.  We ate, talked, laughed, played music, sang.  We need to do that more often.

Milling in the Kitchen....Judy, sans overalls!

Milling on the Porch

Yesterday, while I was talking with my neighbor, who'd walked down the long driveway to "see what we were doing," and while she was annoying me with her, "I would've put the deck on the other side of the garage," and "I would've made a bedroom in that apartment," and, "why do you want to plant fruit trees????" I looked at the fruit trees awaiting planting and my eye caught the buckets of "sticks" we'd been keeping in water.  The sticks were actually Joe's prunings from mature trees owned by the man who sold us the tractor three weeks ago.  We'd placed the sticks in buckets of nutrient water in an experiment to see whether we could grow fruit trees from prunings.  They looked dead when we put them in the buckets, and deader still a week later.  But we continued to add water and nutrients, and yesterday I noticed we'd been rewarded for our efforts....LOTS of new leaves and the beginnings of new roots on the sticks!

New Leaves on "sticks"

The neighbor, after informing me that she'd leased the 25 acres across the road to a hunt club (oh joy), finally left and I was able to get back to completing as much before I leave as I can.  While I am NOT looking forward to missing time here with all of the changes underway, I AM looking forward to the visiting I will include in my work travels. While in Florida, I will be meeting up with a few of my very best friends from days long ago, and while in California I will be enjoying time with family.

Today will be another full one, that is a given.  I get to visit the oral surgeon today....he will extract the tooth that the dentist declared too broken to re-crown.... I am NOT anticipating a fun time with this one.  As I write this, while enjoying my cup of tea, and enjoying the early morning view through the plastic, I am hopeful that tomorrow's tea will be enjoyed without the blurring of the plastic and without the stepladder obstructing the view. Still, I am amazed at the transformation of this place in very little time.

Flowers Still Giving Their All

Beautiful Skies

And Another Phase of the Moon Passes