Joy

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

We made it!

 What a week it has been!


We left our house in AZ in tip top and spotless condition and put it on the market the night before we left. 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4009-W-Dailey-St-Phoenix-AZ-85053/7945187_zpid/?mmlb=g,1

We had several showings over the weekend and accepted one of the offers that was over asking price.  We are still in escrow but everything is going smoothly and we are set to close at the end of the month if no issues arise.

It was strange pulling away from our house that last time knowing that in just a few minutes showing were scheduled and strangers would be walking through it.   I loved that house.

The drive out here went as well as could be expected,  uneventful and the kids were good but it was brutal.  It's just SO LONG.   We stopped at Flagstaff, the petrified forest, Cadillac ranch and for a quick parking lot visit with Josh's friend near Wichita Falls in Texas. 

The cats traveled well but Gandalf did go pee in Josh's car.

We finally arrived at our new home on Sunday mid morning.  (we had left AZ on Friday morning)

My parents arrived to the property a week earlier and set up their temporary home until they are ready to build.   They had been sending us pictures of different things so we knew that the house is in  rougher shape than we had seen/remembered from our quick walk through last month


Nothing terrible but just, dirty and old and needing replacing... and trash, the prior owner left a TON of trash!  We've already had big bonfire.  There will be many, many, many trips to the dump. It is beyond our comprehension at the way the people just throw threw their trash out in the forest.

I knew before that the floors needed help but upon our arrival we decided that they need help sooner rather than later and since we had a few days before our moving trailer would be delivered, I decided to save a few thousand dollars and rather than replace the floors with vinyl plank( which I had in our old house and loved) I would just sand and re-stain the existing wood floors. There are, or were, huge gaps between some of the planks that my mom and I painstakingly whittled down shims to custom fit each board crack to fill in the gaps.  Besides replacing, this was the best way to repair as caulk, or wood putty would crumble and break down over time.  It turned out well I think..

Taking out the yucky tile entry.

My mom and I got up early the next day,  drove to Little Rock to rent a floor sander and started right in on it.   It was a LOT of work to sand these floors. Claire, my dad and Josh all took a turn when my arms couldn't fight that thing anymore.

  

 Staining them was easy and putting the polyurethane coat was pretty easy too.   We ran into some hiccups and ended up needing to put down a second coat of the satin finish but I am so glad we did.  I am pretty happy with the results however,  I do not understand why people glorify wood floors. 

 

They are so fussy.

There are MANY home improvements that need to take place soon. Apparently the people before us either didn't have a level, or the level they did have was broken.

After the floors were finally done,  I had a chance to explore outside a little and we have spent some time exploring our land.

This little cat, that is yet to be named, had kittens our first day here. 

 We moved her to inside the chicken coop to keep her safe from coyotes and to keep her with the kittens.  I am not interested in bottle feeding kittens right now. 

We gained another sweet cat,  Ember, we call her.  She is a sweetheart and a prissy princess.  She is also pregnant and will have her babies any day now.  Josh is sure she will have them on our bed. She loves to sleep ON Josh in bed.   If anyone in the area happens to be reading this and wants a kitten,  please let me know. 

The outside cat problem is worse than we thought.  We counted at least 13 wild feral cats.  My mom and I got some traps from the county animal control and caught 7 in one afternoon.  We had to stop because we ran out of cages to put them in. We took them to the shelter today and then caught 2 more when we got home. 

The kids are loving the property.   They run around and play more than they ever have before.  They are sleeping in a lot later too!

Claire is the most excited about the Mule.

 

(It's my parents' but she chooses t o believe it is hers)  She drives that thing any chance she gets. 

  She is always eager to drive the trash to the bin by the barn and gives rides frequently.   This is a trip to the barn where the trash and mailbox are,  and then she drove on the road beyond on the main road.



My dad, (Poppy) has been enjoying the tractor and has been mowing, clearing brush, and collecting trash and junk from the various dumping sites and cleaning up the property.  



The previous homeowners ended up keeping the dog that we were supposed to take.  We found out later that he was a naughty dog and the electric fencing that is all over the property was to keep him in!  We had assumed it was to keep coyotes out!   We decided that this was a blessing and now Josh can choose any dog he wants. 

The weather here has been glorious.   It is chilly in the mornings and warm in the afternoon.  It is raining today which means we have had more days of rain since we arrived here than we did the entire year in Phx.   I can't believe that we have bulbs growing in our yard!

   

My favorite time of day is just before dinner, about 6:30, everything is warm and golden and beautiful. 


Well,  that's all I have pictures of for right now.  Next up; exploring the barn, putting in upper kitchen cabinets, re-tiling the entries, snake control, pond dredging?,  well water testing,  more cat escapades.  Further down the line, (but not too much further I hope!) gutting both bathroom showers!










1 comment:

  1. What an adventure! Nothing but respect and admiration for you guys and your parents. Love to come by and see you all someday.

    ReplyDelete